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Posts tagged with "family"

How do you squeeze a family of 4 into 60 sqm?

Monday, 20. October 2008, 19:49:06

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Well it's rather like squeezing an elephant into a Mini, but slightly less hazardous!

And since it'll only be for the next two months the "elephant" won't mind too much. It was either we all squeezed into this one bedroom cosy appartment which is rented out until January by the company I work for. Or we'd have to move to a new one and move out of it also by January - when we'll be moving into our own and considerably larger abode! So this way we avoid the extra move and see to it that we're all a lot closer to each other than we've been since August.

Because this appartment was rented furnished it had no extra beds the kids could use, and there was just no way I could get "real beds" to fit in the living room. But it's not quite so bad. It'll be our little camp out!:raider: I got the kids two inflatable beds that are nicely tucked away in the living room corner.



Julia's eating chair is also an inflatable contraption that will come in handy on the many trips we'll be taking around our new little neck of the northern european woods!

3 comments

Long overdue update!

Monday, 13. October 2008, 17:26:16

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I am now posting from the fair city of Düsseldorf, in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany.
As planned, I started my new job here in August. The work is more or less similar to my former position in Portugal so settling in has been relatively easy.

In many ways Germany has really exceeded my expectations! Like I told my mother once, a couple of weeks after I had arrived here, the weather is bad, the coffee is worse but the rest is all great!!!

Düsseldorf is a lovely city and having the Rhein close by makes me feel closer to home. I have always lived near the water and would miss it dearly. But here I have a lovely view of the river right out of my office window. I can even see sheep grazing across it on the green banks.

The people are also a lot warmer than I was expecting. I must admit that being from southern europe my expectations were rather low on that respect, but fortunately here they are quite used to foreigners (after all nearly 15% of the town's population is foreign). And even though English is not so widely spoken as I thought it would be, it's really easy to find someone who speaks a least one other european language aside from German. So when English is not an option I am usually still able to get by with my Spanish, Italian, French or sometimes even Portuguese, while my German skills are still... errr slowly progressing.

The hardest part, as I had expected, is obviously being away from my children and my husband. I knew that coming over would mean being away from them for at least a couple of months. The plan was that I would come over and prepare everything for them, whilst my husband searched also for a job here and they would come once he had got one. There was no way we could forsee just how long it would take us to be reunited, but we gathered our strenght and hoped for the best.

And now our efforts are just about to be rewarded. Bruno has been offered a position here, starting next November and in just under two weeks now we are going to be together again, all four of us.

My German adventure is now turning into our German adventure. Samuel is really excited, he has already come over on a visit for a weekend and is even eager to learn German and make new German friends. Julia is still a little too young to understand the concept of a foreign land or language for that matter, but just because of that I think she will even adjust faster than her brother.

There is a quote from an old Greek historian, Thucydides I believe, that states that "the secret to happiness is freedom and the secret to freedom is courage" and I find that we are living those words. In fact I cannot remember a time that I felt happier, or freer - and that I owe to one moment of brave clarity when we dared to believe that we could take on this challenge, and work to make our lifes better instead of just sit around wishing that things would miraculously start to go the way we hoped.

One thing I have learnt is that the old saying that "good things come to those who wait" is not entirely true. Waiting is a part of life, and wars are seldom won in just one battle but a truer statement would be that "good things come to those who go after them" and persevere in their goals!

[more photos here]

4 comments

Courage

Wednesday, 22. August 2007, 10:29:34

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Courage, [kur-ij, kuhr-]

noun,

From Latin cor, heart.

steadfastness, energy when faced with danger, intrepidity, spirit, valor, perseverance.

This is what is written in the dictionary but, for me at least, there is another book, one of flesh and bones that spells out the meaning of courage in ways the dictionary could never do. To me courage is a noun indeed, one that can be spelled with just three letters: MUM.

Courage is not the absence of fear, but rather the ability to face life with your head held high, even when you are trembling inside. This is not in the dictionary, but I know it to be true, I have read this in my mother's eyes for a long time.

Some seven years ago she was diagnosed with breast cancer. She told me one afternoon, as I was coming back from college. She was straightforward, I searched inside for a reaction and none was available to me, there was no time. The treatments started immediately, chemo and radiotherapy and inevitably the surgery, removing her breast. This all came to pass, not without fear, but always with courage, her courage and an unshaken faith, I do not share but admire.

My mother today is recovering from a new surgery, one that placed a pacemaker to correct a slight arrhythmia in her heart. Nothing as frightening as the previous scares but still...

She called me yesterday at lunchtime, worried about my slightly sore throat. She called me from a hospital bed worried about my throat!

Courage is not the absence of fear, it is the realization that love brings us of what truly matters: enjoying the people we love and sharing our lifes with them. Sharing our strengths and weaknesses, holding and by held by them.

True love is courage! Even before I became a mother myself I learned this from my mum, as I know she learned it from hers.

Courage is not the absence of fear, the absence of fear is ignorance. Just as happiness is not the absence of sadness, but rather the presence of hope.



My mother and grandmother!

1 comment

On the beach!

Wednesday, 6. June 2007, 23:21:45

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Currently spending some well deserved vacation time in the Algarve (southern continental Portugal).
More photos on the Carvoeiro album.

2 comments

Yesterday was Sam's 2nd Birthday!

Thursday, 25. January 2007, 17:53:52

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I cannot believe it my baby is a toddler! A fully toothed mouth and a cheeky attitude towards life, speaking of cheeks he's still got his baby ones and his tiny baby nose that's just like his sister's.

Oh well I'm getting emotional now... hey I'm entitled: I've been a Mom for two years now! When do we start geting good at this motherhood thingy? Hey they're happy healthy and at least reasonably clean :wink:

Julia is doing fine almost four months now.

I started potty training Sam, well more like letting him know he can choose to use the potty, even if he does seem to be more attracted to the notion of going wee wee behind the living room curtains (gee that was fun cleaning up!)

Here are the birthday party photos:

4 comments

Cozy family evening!

Saturday, 18. November 2006, 18:20:36

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It's finally feeling like Summer is over, for a couple of weeks now it's been raining (quite a lot sometimes!) and the thermometer is down from the upper mid 20s where it was all through October.

So I decided to light a good warm fire one of these evenings and after dinner we all just relaxed watching tv and goofing out by the warm and beautiful fire!

Life is good! :D

5 comments

Bruno's back at work or Home Alone with 2 kids!

Wednesday, 25. October 2006, 10:28:40

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So far so good, the first hours of being home alone with my two kids have been peaceful! 9AM Breastfed Júlia, 10AM gave Samuel his breakfast.
Jú is still sleeping and Sam is playing with his toys in the living room while I type this very post.

But it'll not always be this easy I am sure! :eyes:
I am used to dealing with stress, I can handle impossible dealines on a project, I can handle more than a few beserk marketing product managers, why oh why am I not able to convince myself I can handle two small kids?... nervous

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Everything and the kitchen sink!

Sunday, 22. October 2006, 13:00:22

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Let me start out by saying I am not a great cook, nor do I harbour hopes of becoming one! I do however know the value of fast, tasty and healthy meals. With that in mind, and also knowing that most of our monthly budget used to go into restaurant / fast food meals we decided to invest in a kitchen gadget.

And gadget people that we are we went and got the "ultimate" (yet not exactly cheap) knick-knack we could get. The "Bimby", also called Thermomix in other countries (like Spain and the UK) in the words of its makers...

Thermomix is a super fast food blender and processor that also weighs, cooks, simmers and steams
One Thermomix with One Bowl and One Blade can do all this:
Thermomix weighs - with built-in electronic scales
Thermomix grates - nuts, cheese, chocolate, parmesan
Thermomix mills - rice, grains and pulses to flour
Thermomix purées vegetables, fruits, baby food
Thermomix grinds - coffee beans, sugar to icing sugar, wet or dry spices
Thermomix blends soups, smoothies, milkshakes
Thermomix cooks, boils & simmers - soups, sauces, preserves, pulses, complete meals
Thermomix heats baby food to 37ºC
Thermomix steams - vegetables, meat, fish, fruits, rice, pasta
Thermomix holds chocolate at 37ºC
Thermomix crushes - ice, cocktails, ice creams, sorbet

and...

Thermomix whisks - egg whites, cappuccino-style foam on soups and milk, zabaglione
Thermomix emulsifies - salad dressings, mayonnaise, batters, cream
Thermomix kneads - bread dough, pizza dough, pasta dough, pastry, scones
Thermomix chops & minces - nuts, herbs, vegetables, salads, meats

......and after all this add some water and washing up liquid and Thermomix cleans itself!

See oficial sites (International and PT) here: Vorwerk Bimby

My first cake! Yummy! Apple cake ready in 30 minutes! And believe me this was the very 1st time I ever baked a cake (succesfuly)
:chef: 		Yesterday's lunch, also very yummy and even though it looks like it took forever to cook, it was only a 1/2 hour during which I was breasfeeding Júlia!
:yes:

Another huge advantage with this contraption - it reduces your mess considerably! After cooking your meals, the washing up is done in a couple of minutes. All you have to clean is the Bimby thingies!
:up:

7 comments

My Babies

Tuesday, 10. October 2006, 23:28:59

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4 comments

Julia!

Tuesday, 3. October 2006, 22:40:24

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Here she is:

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