Work, work, work ... and story telling

I’m swamped again. I have barely seen Manel this week and it won’t get any better soon. ZM has been my life saver, as usual, and has been taking care of the kids and the house. No wonder my son’s first word was Pai (dad) and now that he says about 10 or 12 words, Mãe (mom), is still not one of them. He loves me to death though, so all is well.

I did go to R’s school yesterday, in the middle of the day, to read the kids a story. They have been inviting the parents to come read a story and R has been insisting that I go for a while, so I went. Her school is a 10 minute walk from my office, and with the 20 minutes it took me to read them the story I was back at the office less than an hour after I left. And it’s amazing how much something so small meant to her. She talked about it all evening and this morning.

I’m going to Paris on Sunday, to take a course, and I’ll be back on Wednesday. The course is from 9 am to 5 pm Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, which should give me some time to go shopping and to just veg out in my hotel room. I’ll write again when I’m back.

Babies and Ski trips

I’m not sure if I had told you guys, but my sister in law, the one who got married last June, is pregnant. She’s due in July, and found out last week that she’s having a boy, who will be named José Maria, after my husband.
I love children, and I love it that my kids will have cousins around their age and I’m hoping that my own sister will get pregnant again soon, too. And having babies around will temporarily numb my own desire for another child, which I clearly and rationally can not indulge in right now.

I got a bonus last week. 15,000 euros. I guess the ski trip is paid for!

The start of a new cycle

A couple of days ago I posted an update on myself on a message board some friends and I have. I thought I would post it here so, here it goes:

Work
Things at work changed quite a bit since I came back from maternity leave last February. My old boss went to Poland and I have a new one. This boss is so much better in almost every way, and I feel so much more motivated working with him. The only problem is he likes team work and he likes to delegate, so while on one hand I have much more responsibility and direct contact with the clients (and am loving it!!), on the other I am always swamped and am having a bit of a hard time juggling everything.This is the main reason why I haven’t been posting here nearly as often as I used to. The other reason is they moved my desk and my computer screen is now directly facing my boss. Also, my boss’ boss (the one who told me she wouldn’t promote me because it would be a dangerous precedent to promote a mom, blah, blah, blah) had a baby in November (ironic hun?) and she left most of her work (which is mostly administrative) to me. She says she was surprised with my good reaction to the non-promotion and wants to compensate for it, so in February I’m going to Paris to take a Leveraged Finance course, and she promised I’d get the promotion this year… we’ll see about it.

Family
Because of all the changes at work, things at home have been a bit complicated as well. As you guys probably know (or maybe not) I have a nanny/housekeeper from 8.30 am to 7 pm on weekdays. It used to be a nice arrangement but lately I have had to work later than 7 pm much more often. So I have to ask either DH or my Mom to be there at 7 pm and take care of the kids (dinner, etc). DH is the best husband ever and he’s been absolutely great. He says he’s never seen me so motivated and happy with my work and he is more than willing to help out as much as he can with the kids. And my Mom has also been great. But the fact is I can’t help but feel I’m being a negligent mother sometimes. I keep telling myself (and others) this is just a phase and I’m trying to achieve a certain position at work that will later allow me to work less. I just hope it’s true.

The Kids
The kids are doing great. R turned 4 and she thinks she’s all grown up now. We are taking her skiing in March and it makes her feel like a grown up. She tortures her brother because she always wants to pick him up, feed him, comb his hair, read him a story, help him do whatever it is he wants to do... you get the picture. Poor M is a saint and he loves his big sister, but he does get frustrated sometimes, poor kid. To defend himself he started walking before he turned one and has developed the gross motor skills of a 2 year old. He climbs and crawls and jumps, it’s actually funny to see such a small kid doing all these things. He’s the absolute opposite of my nephew (who’s one week younger), who just started walking.We do want one more child, but we will have to postpone that plan for a little longer than we first thought.

I promise I will post at least one new entry every week from now on. Cross my heart!

One year ago

First of all, let me wish all of you a wonderful and happy new year. I hope your holidays were good, as mine were, and I hope this year is a great one.

As I was saying, a year ago today we were at the hospital, so that my dear husband could donate his kidney to his older brother. We were terrified, especially my MIL, who had two of her sons in surgery. It was an emotional day, but also a very good one.

Today we are going to my inlaws for a mini-celebration. The fact is we never thought this first year (the critical one, the doctors had told us) would go by so smoothly. BIL is doing great, he is 10 years younger and is doing things he hadn't done in 13 years, things as simple as traveling, drinking and playing soccer. We really couldn't have asked for more.