Welcome Piper!

My friend Shanna finally gave birth to a beautiful baby girl yesterday. Kathyrn Piper Davis (will be called Piper) arrived yesterday and is doing well. We (my friends and I) went to visit Shanna today and to meet Piper. I can't believe how cute Piper is and how good Shanna looks. As you can see from this picture she does not look like she gave birth yesterday. It was interesting to talk to her and see how different it is to give birth in the Czech Republic compared to the United States. The first thing that stands out is the amount of time spent in the hospital. For a normal delivery you are required by law to stay in the hospital for 72 hours! That is unheard on in the States. Some other things that are different is that Shanna has to take the baby's temperature and bathe her every day. The nurses do that for you while you are in the hospital in the States. Then there is of course the Czech obsession with bundling babies. The baby needs to have at least 5 blankets on as well as the heat turned up to 10 on a 1-10 scale. Shanna has continued to turn the heat down to a bearable level. It was hot when I was visiting her and the heat was only at 2.5 so I can't imagine how hot her room was at 10!! With all the differences though Shanna seemed to take it all in stride and was happy. I'm happy that she and the baby are doing well and I'm glad I got to learn something else about the Czech Republic.

Bumps and friends

Today after school Sofia wanted to play with some of her friends in the school yard so i hung out for a little bit while she played. It was nice to see her playing with her school friends. They were running around and playing chase. All was well until Sofia went to run up the ramp onto the playground. She slipped and fell and then her friend fell on top of her. She cut her lip which was bleeding profusely when i picked her up and brought her inside the school. I asked one of the other moms to watch Ali for me while I took care of Sofia. Sofia's school is such a nice community. They watched Ali for me while I and Mrs. Clarke (Sofia's teacher) took care of Sofia. Anna (who is the mom of one of Sofia's classmates and was also a nurse in England) took a look at Sofia to see if she was OK. It was nice to hear from a nurse that Sofia looked OK and what I should do if the bleeding didn't stop in an hour. We came home and Sofia is fine except for a huge fat lip. Once the kids were in bed I received two text messages, one from Mrs Clarke and one from Anna, to see how Sofia was doing. I just thought that was so nice of them to check in with me. Once again I am happy we chose this school for Sofia.

Burns Night

Tonight Jason and I went to Burns Night. Burns night is a night of dinner and dancing organized by Sofia's primary school. There are a number of the faculty who are Scottish including one of Sofia's teachers. There are also a number of students who are Scottish. Apparently, Robert Burns is a much celebrated poet in Scotland. Since I am not a big reader of poetry I was not familiar with him. You can read more about Robert Burns on wikipedia if you are interested. In any event, the night was a blast! I'm so glad we went. We tried haggis for dinner which sounds really disgusting since it is sheep's liver, heart, and lungs with onion, oatmeal, suet, spices, salt and stock and boiled in sheeps stomach but it was actually quite tasty. After dinner there was dancing. The tables were pushed aside and good old Scottish dancing took place. I have never seen nor partaken in Scottish dancing until tonight. It was a lot of fun with a lot of spinning, clapping, stomping and swinging partners around. Since I forgot my camera I don't really have any pictures to share. I snagged this picture from someone who was there so you could get a sense of the revelry. The picture is of Mrs. Clark, Sofia's teacher, and her husband who is also a teacher at Sofia's school. Next year I will definitely be ready with a camera. We finally decided to call it a night at 1am to relieve our babysitter. Next year we will know that Burns night is an all night event and will forewarn the babysitter that we will be home very late so that we can stay longer if we want to.

Busy week

This week has been very busy for me. On Tuesday I had to bring Watson to the vet to have the bandage removed. He is much happier having that off his head. He also looks much better since with the bandage on it looked like he had some massive brain surgery. On Tuesday afternoon after picking Sofia up from school I brought the girls to their doctor to have more vaccinations. Having two things in one day doesn't sound like much but without a car things take longer and become more of a production. The girls were very brave with their shots and didn't cry at all. They were rewarded with a donut after the doctor visit. I have been trying to find a place that sells Trebbiano d' Abruzzo whine in Prague since I have found it is a wine i enjoy so we stopped at two wine shops near the doctors office but to no avail. On Wednesday I got together with my friend Joanna and her daughter Natalie. It was great to see them since we hadn't gotten together since before Christmas. Yesterday I had an appointment to get my hair cut. I decided to try a new place since I haven't been thrilled with the haircuts I had been getting and the guy I had been going to was no longer doing mornings or wasn't doing them for the next couple weeks. Since I have to have my appointments in the morning due to Jason's work schedule and I needed a haircut desperately I decided to try a new place. I am thrilled that I did go somewhere new. It wasn't cheap but she did an excellent job. I now have my hair cut and highlighted. I decided to go back to highlights. I had stopped highlighting my hair before I got pregnant with Sofia but having kids made my hair drastically darker. I decided I was just going to accept the new me and just be happy with my new dark hair. Well, I lived with it for 4 years and I'm done! I decided I wanted my old hair back. The only downside to my hair appointment is that it took 4 hours!! This morning I went to have my annual doctor check up. I chose to go to a doctor that could speak English even though it was going to cost me 600Kc to join his practice. I decided that that was not much ($40) and was well worth paying the premium to get a doctor who spoke English. To my surprise I didn't need to pay the 600Kc since I don't work! This is one of the things that is great about the Czech Republic...you actually get benefits for being a stay at home mom! It isn't much but it still made me happy. Tonight we are going out to dinner with friends and tomorrow night we are going to a dinner party for Sofia's school. I'll post about how that goes on Sunday.

United States OR America??

Since we moved here I have noticed that people refer to the U.S. as America. I never really thought anything about it until this past week. As you know, Jason went to the U.S. this week. At two separate times this week someone has asked Sofia if her Dad was in America and both times she said, "No. He is in the United States.". I thought this was really funny and have since explained to Sofia that it is the United States of America and that people sometimes call it America and sometimes call it U.S. and sometimes call it the United States. I'm not sure she really gets it at this point but I will keep trying to explain.

In the home stretch....

I'm very happy that it is Friday. Yes, I'm happy that the weekend is here and happy that I don't have to worry about getting Sofia off to school but mainly I'm just happy that it means Jason will be home tomorrow. Beyond the fact that I will be happy to have the love of my life and best friend home (I know, corny!), it means I don't have to parent alone and can actually have a moment to myself. It means I will have adult conversation in the evenings. It means I don't have to get the kids dressed and bundled to go outside in the morning to take Watson out or get them redressed and rebundled at 6pm to take Watson out again. It means I'm not the only one seeing Watson unhappy after his surgery and it means that there is someone to reassure me that Watson is fine. It means I don't have to cook AND do the dishes. Although Jason will be very happy to see that the house is clean especially the kitchen. I have had a real aversion to doing dishes for the last couple of years so he often is the one who cleans the kitchen. I knew that I needed to keep up with the dishes though if the kitchen was going to be clean when he got home so I have been diligent in the upkeep. It has been a long week and while I can handle everything it is nice that the week is coming to a close.

Poor Watson

With two of my nephews recently getting tubes in their ears, Watson didn't want to be left out. He had his own ear surgery today. He has had a bunch of ear infections since we moved here and 3 within the past 6 months. The last ear infection was particularly difficult to get rid of so we decided it was time to have the surgery. Once his last ear infection was cleared I made the appointment to have the surgery done. The vet and I wanted to get it done as soon as possible before another ear infection set in so I scheduled it for this week. Unfortunately, after I booked the surgery we found out Jason wasn't going to be here but I decided to go ahead with it anyway. I didn't want Watson to have to suffer through another ear infection b/c I didn't want the hassle of taking care of him myself. So like a good mom I trucked out to the vet this morning and dropped him off. After picking Sofia up from school the girls and I went to pick up Watson from the vet. With his head completely wrapped in a bandage and covering most of his eyes he was shaky from the anesthesia and bumping into things since he couldn't see that well b/c of the bandage. We made our way to the train and made it home. Watson finally settled down in the kitchen. I will have to help him back to bed tonight since he doesn't seem to like going through doorways with the bog cone on his head. I have to bring him back to the vet tomorrow morning for more antibiotics and pain killers and then again on Saturday to have the bandage rewrapped. He will be on meds for the next two weeks as well as having the cone on his head for 14+ days. I'm hoping he will feel a little soon.

Jason off to the US

Jason left for the US yesterday. It was a nice leisurely morning though since he didn't have to leave until 12:30. It was nice not to have to rush. This morning was the first morning where I have had to get both kids dressed and Watson walked before bringing Sofia to school. I was a little worried about it since it would mean having to get up earlier and rushing. To my surprise everything went very smoothly. I wouldn't want to have to do it all the time but at least now I know it isn't too bad. We actually got to school a little early! Ali had fun going to Sofia's school this morning as well. The two of them sat down at the table in the classroom and played with play dough. When Sofia was ready to move on with other thing and play with her friends Ali and I headed for home. Ali was tired so we didn't do much once we got home. We ventured out a little later to take Watson out and to meet some friends for lunch. After nap we headed back to Sofia's school and then back home again. It is strange now that Sofia goes to school until 3 since by the time we get home it is almost 4pm. That means there is only a little over an hour before the kids have dinner. I am use to having more time so the time I have now goes by very fast.

Kitchen update

Today our landlords came over to take measurements of the kitchen. They have decided to have a new kitchen installed. We are very relieved that they have chosen to replace the kitchen. I was feeling very unsettled since I didn't know if we were going to move or not so it is nice to know we can stay were we are. It will take some time to get the new kitchen installed so we will have to live without cabinets for a little bit longer but that is fine. Once it is installed I will post pictures but that may not be until March.

Back to normal life

Since Leah left and the holidays are over we have gotten back to normal life. Sofia is back at school but she is now going all day rather than 1/2 day. She seems to love being there the full day and is so happy when I pick her up. Ali is happy having her lunch at the table rather than in the stroller and she gets to take a nap on time rather than having to go get Sofia. Since both kids are happier so am I! The mid day struggle for pickup at school was growing tiresome so it is nice that this change is making such a positive difference. Jason is back at work and is busy. He is flying back to the US next week. Unfortunately the girls and I can't go with him. I think we are going to try and go back to US at the end of March (but no guarantee!) It will be a busy week for me next week without Jason here. Getting the girls dressed and Sofia to school, Watson walked, and picking Sofia up from school will be enough but added to that is that Watson is scheduled for his ear surgery next week as well. It will be an interesting week.

We are also still dealing with our kitchen. Our landlords wanted to just put the cabinets back up on the wall. We did not like that idea since many of the cabinets are broken and fixing them just doesn't seem like it will look good or be safe since I'm not sure how you fix particle board cabinets. They also wanted to just cut off the part of the counter that was broken and leave the floor with a giant stain and gouges in it. My main concern it the safety since I just wouldn't feel safe if the same cabinets were put back on the wall. We have told them that they can either install a new kitchen or we will move. I'm hoping that they install a new kitchen but if not then I guess we were just meant to move. There are other apartments out there so I'm not concerned with finding another apartment. I'll keep you posted.

I'm off to buy my new yearly pass for the public transit system. I tried twice yesterday but never got it done. I tried to do it before picking up Sofia but I didn't anticipate the line so I tried again after getting Sofia. By that time the line was very long and after waiting 45 minutes (with the two kids with me) and only getting through half the line I gave up. I'm hoping the line will be shorter this morning.

Snow!!

It finally snowed here this last weekend. Sofia was very excited about the snow. She was the first to notice it on Sunday morning. She got out of bed and went to the window and announced it was snowing. I hadn't realized that she had been checking for snow in the mornings. We had breakfast and headed outside. I thought we would go to the park and take Watson with us while Jason was sleeping in but when we got out to the sidewalk the kids just wanted to play there. Since it was so early the snow was still pretty much untouched so I let them play on the sidewalk. It made me laugh to see that my kids have really embraced city life. Who would have thought my kids would want to just play on the sidewalk. I finally convinced them to go to the park and they had a great time. I can't wait to get Sofia on skis this year. The snow has made running a little harder but I'll live with running a little more carefully in order to have snow. I ran in Stromovka Park on Sunday afternoon and it was beautiful. There were a lot of people out enjoying the snow which is nice to see. Watson had a great time running and playing with other dogs in the snow as well. It still makes me smile to see how many people just openly stare at Watson. He is such an unusual dog that people are always wondering what he is. There are times I even wonder if people know I'm his owner since they never take their eyes off him to even see me.

Leah goes home

Leah, my cousin, left last night after our family dinner of faj-rittos (fajita/burrito combo) to head back to Uzbekistan. She has a long trip ahead since she has a long layover in Moscow. At least she has a friend in Moscow so she will be able to leave the airport and see a little bit of Moscow before she gets back on the plane. It was a real pleasure having her here. She was a very easy guest. I didn't have to entertain her at all and she did all the dishes! As I have said before (I think) it was the first time we have ever hung out without the parental units in attendance. While we love our parents it is definitely a different dynamic. We laughed and joked and learned things about the family and each other. We realized we needed to clarify our "end of the world" plan. For those of you who don't know, our family has always had this "end of the world" plan . . . if something happened in the US in RI where would we meet up with the family? or if the US was not an option where would we meet up internationally? I know it is bizarre and it is of course said mostly joking but what Leah and I realized was that the places had changed and we each had different locations. So much for meeting up with the family in a catastrophe!! Also being together with another member of my mother's family makes me realize how much of that family is in me. I would notice Leah doing things that I do. For example, the kids would say something and I would start to sing and Leah would join in the song or Leah would be doing dishes and she would be singing. This is something our parents do. I remember saying to my Mom, "Why do you have a song for everything I say?". Now I, as well as Leah, do the same thing! I am also happy to report I am passing this trait down to my girls. Sofia asked me something the other day and I sang the reply back to her. To my surprised she responded by singing her answer.

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year! This is our second New Year's Eve in Prague. Last year we were not aware of the Czech love of fireworks so we went to bed early. At midnight we woke up to the sound of fireworks coming from all directions around our apartment and they continued for a good 45 minutes. This year, with my cousin here, we decided we would stay up until midnight (since we figured the fireworks would wake up up anyway). We kept our New Year's eve tradition alive and had Chinese food. This year we were able to make our homemade orange chicken. We didn't make it last year since we were new to Prague and the thought of trying to find all the ingredients was daunting. We thoroughly enjoyed our Chinese food and then we decided to watch a movie and play Scrabble. Nothing like shouting, "I'm old" by playing Scrabble on New Year's Eve! It was a fun game and very evenly matched throughout. Leah did win the game at the end with the use of the word "ba". Yes, it is a word but we have given her grief over it and she has been a good sport. We stayed up through the 45 minutes of fireworks and then called it a night. It was a fun New Year's eve.