Thursday Bullets

• Halloween will probably go largely unnoticed here today except that I will try to make pumpkin soup for dinner. I had plans to buy a pumpkin and carve it together with Isolde but we never got around to it. She doesn't care yet though so it doesn't matter and besides, she already celebrated Halloween at school last week. This weekend we will probably visit a pumpkin patch (with the usual Halloween activities) though when we see friends in the UK. 
• Isolde has autumn holiday this week and has been home with Peter and Harald (and keeping her dad busy). They had planned to go to the Swedish church to check out their play groups but turns out it is also closed this week. So instead they've been frequenting playgrounds and met up with P & kid(s) a couple of times. 
• Early tomorrow morning we're heading to the UK by car. Hopefully the kids will sleep part of the 6-hour journey. I'm really grateful that we hadn't planned to go last weekend with the storm that we felt parts of also here in Belgium even though we were just on the periphery of it.
• We will be coming back from our weekend trip very late Sunday night so I've taken Monday off (tomorrow Friday is a Belgian and also Commission holiday, All Saints Day).  I'm looking forward to sleeping in a little and hanging with Peter and the kids. We may take the opportunity to go to Ikea for some supplies (candles for the approaching dark season) and we also really need to buy some plants for both indoors and the balconies. It gets very humid in the flat due to tight windows so I hope the plants will help a little. 
• Peter has bought tickets to go home to see friends in December when my mum visits. I'm happy that he decided to go, as he doesn't have as many opportunities to meet people as me at work and I don't want him to get bored. That weekend is also his office's Christmas party so a good time to go home. And of course it's also good timing, as my mum will be here anyway to keep me and the kids company. 
• Last weekend we had a really nice time when P, O & kids came over for dinner. We managed to eat a three-course dinner even though it took us a few hours :) We clearly need to have more friends with kids over so Isolde learns how to share her toys. At the moment she's in a very non-sharing mood also with her brother. But I guess it's a phase and probably also due to the fact that she isn't used to having friends over anymore since we moved here. 
• We have registered the family with a doctor (thanks P for the recommendation). It's a one-minute walk from  home so very convenient.  To continue on the medical theme, I took this year's flu shot (offered at work) yesterday. I have never had the flu but I don't want to risk anything so since a few years back I usually take it every year. 
• I finally put Harald on the waiting list for the Commission's crèche (childcare) and also started contacting a few alternatives where we live (the Commission one is near work but it would be more convenient to have one near Isolde's school). He won't start until next autumn (September 2014) but there are queues almost everywhere so it cannot wait. 

Friday Gallery: Doors/Portals

I decided to tackle today's theme - doors or portals (portar in Swedish) - by taking some photos on my way home from the metro station after work today.

Every day I pass this beautiful entrance to someone's home just outside Isolde's school. 

And further down almost the same street there's a little chapel in disguise. Or a electricity station in disguise depending on what direction you are coming from. I wonder if it was a chapel (or altar, as you can't actually go into it) first or an electricity station first. 

And after that I'm almost home. I like the entrance to our building and especially the name of our building. Why don't Swedish buildings have names? 

Brussels Points on a Thursday

Just a few things I have discovered about Brussels/Belgium since I moved here.

• There is no hot water in public toilets (or in the lavatories at my workplace either for that matter).  A bit of a contrast to e.g. the UK where there's usually only hot water and often too hot water (e.g. Heathrow).
• Similarly, there is only cold water in the guest loo in people's home usually as well, including in our flat (luckily we have hot water coming out of the taps in the bathroom ha ha).
• What's up with all the dog poo in the street??  Have you heard of those little bags?  Or show your dog to a bush at least where it can be hidden.
• The police often close of streets for no apparent reason??  I think they just need something to do and/or assert their power.
• At work, the men (who are from a range of European, and mostly continental, countries, so this is not particularly or only Belgian) are all very gentlemanny and want to open doors and let you lead the way, but that's all wasted on a Swede of course.  I don't see the point of having to squeeze by someone from the back of the lift or through a door, just because the man should hold the door to the woman.  It makes more sense for whoever is closest to the exit of the lift to go first and that whoever is closest to the door, man or woman, opens it and holds it for the other.
• Belgian houses are made of brick, brick and brick.  In different shapes and colours.  I like it!  Very little maintenance for house owners and it's easy to vary the design of the houses.
• Speaking of house design, almost every house is different from the next one, even if they are townhouses in a row and share a wall.  Well, except that they are all made of brick.
• Very few parents (seen a handful since we got here) use (or even buy) a carrycot for their pram and instead only use the carseat.  It can't be that "dangerous" as some Swedish parents seem to think (not me, though I do think babies sleep better in a carrycot), as then the majority of European children would have crooked backs.
• Why do some metro stations play such loud music?  I don't mind some background music but in some stations it's like small concert.  Aren't commuters already stressed enough (not even lous classical music is relaxing in my view)?
• I'm often surprised at how many young, well-educated people (e.g. doctors and teachers) don't speak English.  Okay, I know the Belgian complexities with language, the French v. the Dutch speaking, etc., but still.
• More people seem to smoke here, and also many young people.
• Our neighbours are friendly and polite and not only says hi/bye (which our neighbours in Sweden also do, yes, I promise), but also wish you a good day.  This is also the case at work.  There is a lot of bonne journée, bonne soirée and bon appétit (at lunch time they assume you're going out for lunch).  I will start wishing my neighbours god kväll when we've moved back to Sweden, even if it's not a neighbour I see that often.
• Belgian (and many other European) supermarkets have not "discovered" the brilliant idea of dividing the checkout band, which means the next customer have to wait until the other person has paid and packed their stuff, before the cashier can start scanning the products.  And sometimes the band is so short so they the cashier has to take pauses in the scanning to allow the customer to pack.  We shouldn't stress, I know, but I rather spend 10 minutes less in the supermarket and 10 minutes more with my children on a given evening.  (I'll deal with customer service and efficiency some other time...).

Friday Gallery: Lock(s)

This was a difficult theme.  I couldn't really find any photos of locks (lås) in my albums and I didn't have time to take any new photos. But in the end I found one that fit the theme.  It's taken by Isolde at last weekend's visit to the automobile museum Auto World.  Isolde has just recently become interested in taking photos herself - before it was just looking at the photos afterwards - and you can see that she needs some practice :)

Birgitta is our hostess for the month of October. If you want to participate in Friday Gallery, let us know through the widget on Annika's blog.

Thursday Again

This post is dedicated to Mette! ;)

• This week has been busy work-wise (not too many extra hours but hectic while at work) and I can't wait for the weekend to come! I'm looking forward to getting some sleep (as much as you can get with two small children - luckily they don't wake up as early as they used to) and hanging out with my family.
• This weekend I'm also looking forward to having our lovely neighbours over for dinner. Peter has seen them (or at least three out of four family members) several times but I haven't seen them for over a month (since E was one week old and now she's six weeks!). 
• Today and tomorrow I'm attending a conference on youth unemployment. I discovered that the venue also has a spa - must check if it would be a nice place to spend a day or even spend the night. It's located outside of town in the - currently very autumn beautiful and colourful - forest. 
• Harald turned 8 months last weekend (12th) and it reminded me that I haven't posted his 6-7 month-old report yet. On the to do-list for this weekend!
• Last weekend we had a lovely visit by my parents. The weather wasn't cooperating for most of the visit except for on Saturday when we were even able to have lunch outside. But more about visits in a separate post!
• We have finally booked tickets to go and visit friends in the UK at the turn of the month! We'll be driving and on the way there we'll cross the English Channel by ferry and on the way home we'll take Le Shuttle, i.e. the train for cars. 
• Isolde will have a week off pre-school at the end of the month (just before our England trip) and when she returns she'll start attending full days (08:30-15:30), which means she will also eat and nap there. We just filled out her food order for November. The food sounds really good - it's always three-course lunches - and sounds much better than Swedish preschool and especially school lunches, but I heard at the parent teacher conference that there's a new provider and people aren't that happy, so we'll see. But you have to agree with me that this sounds delicious! 

5 November: turnip soup - salmon, macaroni and spinach cream - gruyère - biscuit
6 November: split pea soup - diced chicken, haricots provencale, bulgur - fruit yoghurt
7 November: parsnip soup - beef stew, garden vegetables, parsley puré - dried fruits

8 Months Today!

I almost forgot that Harald turns 8 months old today!

Friday Gallery: Windows

My plan was to show my windows and our new (or recycled from our previous homes really) curtains but I didn't get around to take any pictures yet so I had to think of something else. A quick look through my iPhone, which I recently emptied, didn't come up with much but I did find two pictures of the kids (of course) who fit this week's theme.

Harald was looking through the window at Isolde playing with her friend Daniel in the garden last weekend. He was really interested in what they were doing and would have crawled outside if the glass hadn't stopped him. It made me reflect over how amazing the world is to him all the time. He's experiencing new things every day and his big eyes are following his sister wherever she goes and whatever she does. He's almost always happy and hardly ever bored. And even she's picking a fight he's smiling :) 

Thursday Points

• My parents have just arrived to spend the weekend with us. My mum came with the kids and me when we moved here at the end of August and also visited me when I lived here back in 2002/2003, but my dad has never been to Belgium. So we'll do some touristy stuff at the weekend, probably a repeat of when Maria and Daniel were here a couple of weeks ago. Tomorrow I am working but my parents, Peter and the kids will explore our neighbourhood and/or go to Tervuren (forest/park). 
• This week I've attended a three day training course on working for the EU covering everything from basic EU knowledge (mainly on institutions and the links between them) to working in an extremely multicultural environment (I'm still amazed every day just how many nationalities there are - I knew it already of course, but now I'm really realising it) to problem-solving skills to procedures. It was a really interesting and good course that really concentrated on our work situation and personal skills and competences. It was extremely interactive (sometimes a bit too much for my taste, such as making short plays to illustrate situations; acting is not my thing) and almost everything was done in pair or groups. The majority of the participants were newcomers like me who have arrived within the last six months. Really good crowd, and I hope to see some of them again. 
• Tomorrow it's back to (real) work again and I have several urgent tasks waiting and next week looks to be a busy one too. The honeymoon is definitely over! But it's fun so I'm not complaining, just stating fact! 
• We're planning to drive to the UK to visit friends for a long weekend at beginning of November. We just need to book the train or the ferry to cross the channel. Can't believe we can actually drive from here to see our friends! It's supposed to take 5,5 hours non-stop but travelling with two young children means we'll take our time. 

Friday Gallery: Walls

I had missed that Friday Gallery started up again in September due to our move to a new country (I think I'm excused for missing it!), but now with life having returned to some sort of normalcy, I should be able to blog on a more regular basis.  So here's the first post for October.  Birgitta is our hostess (as in picking the themes) this month and for today she has picked "walls".

Today I can only think of one thing when I think of "walls", and that is the grim pictures from the latest accident involving people wanting to get to Europe from across the Mediterranean.  Over 100 are dead and even though many have been rescued from the burning and sinking boat, about 200 are still unaccounted for.  I know the issue is very complex (or, you could actually argue it is not), but in principle I think we should really welcome everybody.  I don't like so-called Fortress Europe.  If we had more normal routes for migration, whether it is political, economic or human reasons, we wouldn't thousands of people arriving dead (or never arriving at all) on the shores of Europe.

Image borrowed

Thursday Points

An update is long overdue.  What has happened since last?

I like the "Thursday in bullet points" that Annika started so will try to post a list every Thursday at least, even if there's no time to write much else (and I'll try to join the Friday Gallery crowd too).

• To pick up where I left off last, Isolde is still enjoying maternelle.  She did have a dip after that first week and after the weekend, where she was really miserable on the following Monday and Tuesday, and didn't want to go and was very upset when we left her.  But Wednesday it was a little bit better and Thursday and Friday she was back to her happy self, and skipping into the classroom.  The week after went well, not a single tear, and this week has been the same.  She has a new teacher - unfortunately the first one was only substituting while the ordinary teacher was recovering from appendicitis - but the ordinary one seems good too, even if she isn't as sweet as the old one (and the new one doesn't speak English, which the old one did*).
• Last week I attended a two-hour parent-teacher conference in French and even though I didn't understand more than a third of the words spoken, I think I got the gist of it.  I was pretty tired afterwards after all that concentrating!  We first gathered in the refectory for the first 45 minutes or so and then continued in the classroom for class specific information with the teacher.  It was interesting to find out a little bit more about a day at preschool, or half-a-day in Isolde's case.  For example, in the morning they assemble and sing a welcome song and go through who's there and what day it is.  They have a painting of the school building where they put cutout dolls made of photos of the children and the school mascot to show who's at school that day.  And they learn the names of the days of the week through putting a different stuffed animal in the basket for that day.  Isolde's favourite activity at preschool is painting and gymnastics. 
• We've had our first "dinner party", to which we invited our friends Chris and Jacqui whom we know from Stockholm (C. and I used to be colleagues) and who have been living here now for three years but will sadly move to the UK in April.  We took the opportunity to eat some crayfish for our starter dish, since we had discovered that Ikea sold crayfish packets.  They were actually pretty good, considering they came from Ikea!  C. also invited us to join them for "champagne tea" at the British Embassy, which sounds fancy but was a low-key affair, although the surroundings were very nice as the Residence of the Ambassador (or Ambassadors, as the ambassadors to Belgium, EU and Nato share the building for entertainment purposes) is an old château-like house, which has recently been refurbished to its original glory. It was the first time since we moved here that we had available babysitters - Peter's parents - so it was nice to get away just the two of us for a few hours. 
• We've had our first sets of visitors (not counting my mother who accompanied us when we arrived and stay over that first weekend).  Our friends Maria and Daniel were here this past weekend and Peter's parents the weekend before.  Now we have a "free" weekend before my parents arrive next Thursday.  When Peter's parents were here we mostly hung out in the neighbourhood, as they lived in Brussels for three years in the mid-2000s and know the city very well already, but as M & D had never been here we spent Saturday exploring the usual tourist sites including Grand Place and Manneken Pis.  We took both sets of visitors to a brasserie in Parc Woluwe , as they serve great food but also have a playground, and we'll probably take my parents there too.  Otherwise we had almost all meals at home, and took the opportunity to have three-course dinners and drink plenty of nice wine.  When Peter's parents visited Sunday was a car-free day as part of mobility week, so it was a perfect day for a long walk, and we took M & D on a similar walk to show them our beautiful neighbourhood.  We were very lucky with the weather both weekends, especially this past weekend (and today it was 20 degrees and I had lunch outside with some work colleagues).
• We celebrated our dear neighbours' son V's second birthday, and of course the arrival of his baby sister E a few days before. I visited P and E in the hospital and it was interesting to see the insides of a Belgian maternity ward and hear about giving birth in Belgium. Not that dissimilar from Sweden but at the same time some differences in practices and methods. 
• The "honeymoon" at work is over and I've started being quite busy, which is fun but also a bit "scary" since there's still so much to learn.  Today I had to give a presentation to a group of Swedish visitors.  It was on quite basic stuff but since I only found out about it yesterday - my colleague who was supposed to present has back problems and couldn't come to work - it resulted in a little bit of nervousness.  It went well, but they had a few tricky questions that I had to admit I couldn't answer right now.  Anyway, good to have that first presentation out of the day!  I have also been to my first conference and also attended several training courses.  Next week I'm doing a three-day course that is mandatory when you're new, Working for the EU, which I'm really looking forward to.
• Peter has taken Harald to the child health centre (called ONE here; BVC in Sweden), once just for a weigh-in a couple of weeks ago, and for a check-up, vaccination and weigh-in this week.  He's now 9 kg and 67 cm tall (or short, as he hasn't grown much length-wise in the last month).  He's starting to crawl now and he also wants to stand up - holding our hands or standing against a piece of furniture - all the time.  But more about Harald in a separate post!
• We now have a dishwasher since a couple of weeks back - having to live without one our first few weeks here was horrible haha! 
• I've tried to start going to bed earlier now that I'm a working girl, but usually I'm failing, and so too tonight as the time is already 23:30.  But it's Thursday and only one more working day, so I don't care!  But Sunday night onwards it's bedtime at 10pm!  Wish me luck, I need it :)

* I'm astonished over how few speak English here, especially (or mainly) among the Francophone (the Flemish are better), even young(ish) people, and even among those with higher education, e.g. teacher and doctors.

Maternelle

Monday Isolde started maternelle, which is what Belgian preschool is called, and she has now completed her first week.  The Belgians call it school and it's also (usually) housed in a regular school, but in effect it is like Swedish preschool förskola, with some differences.  Some maternelles don't admit children until the age of four (e.g. the European Schools) but most Belgian schools, and especially the municipal ones, welcome children from the age of two and a half.  Before that there are nurseries, crèches, for babies and toddlers from three months old and up, and most of them welcome children up to four years old.  Maternelle, as it's considered school, is free of charge (but not free of expenses), whilst crèche can be quite pricey (at least compared to Swedish fees), around 6-800 euros per month. 

Isolde is only attending in the morning to start with, 08:30-11:45, but eventually, when we feel she's got used to it, especially a new language, she will stay the whole day until 15:30.   Then she will eat lunch and also nap there.  Once we're both working she will have a longer day, but then she will take part in after-school care (and before school if we need it), garderie, that is offered in the school but not necessarily in her classroom. 

So what is different from a Swedish preschool?

• As it is in a school the activities take place in a classroom rather than in several smaller rooms (at least at Isolde's school; some maternelles are different), though the toys and materials are similar to Sweden (just a bit more plastic haha) and they have organised the room so it feels like several rooms.
• The children wear their shoes indoors, i.e. the same shoes they arrived in (and that is also true for a lot of other countries of course but not Sweden).
• The children must have a backpack so that they can bring a snack and also take home notes from the school.
• There are set school hours (but garderie outside of those hours as explained above).
• There's no induction and parents are not allowed to stay, not even on the first day.  Crèches on the other hand have an induction period, but usually they are still only babies when they start there.  Two and a half is not that old either in my view, but when in Rome...
• The school requires the children to be potty trained though accidents are allowed of course and some schools help more actively with the training than this particular one.  This is why we had to get Isolde dry and as you know, we were successful!  Though she had two accident this week but only two in a whole week is alright I think.  The toilets are very typically French/Belgian - no seat and they have to sit directly on the cold porcelain, poor things! The children attending all day are allowed to wear nappies for the sieste however.
• We have to provide the school with certain items such as wipes (2 packs), tissues (2 boxes), paper towels (1 roll), glue (3 sticks) and plastic bags for dirty or soiled clothes, as well as a box for Isolde change of clothes. 
• We have to pack a snack, mainly fruit, every day for morning snack time and when she goes a full day, also for the afternoon I think.
• Once she starts attending all day we will pay for lunch.  It's not too expensive though and they get a two-course lunch (main meal and dessert), and also soup if we want.  At some school you can also pay for milk to go with morning snack time but I haven't heard anything from our school about that yet at least.
• Staff levels are lower.  I don't know yet exactly how many they are in Isolde's class but I think at least 12 and there's one teacher and one teacher assistant.  Many of the children only attend the morning like Isolde though.
• They follow school hours, so this means the day starts 08:30 and finishes either 11:45 or 15:30 (garderie available outside these hours as mentioned earlier) and if you want to pick them up earlier than 15:30 you can't do it before 14:30 because before that it's lunch and nap time. 
• On Wednesdays, like in France, school is only a half-day (earlier there used to be a half-day on Saturday instead but while that has been abolished the half-day Wednesday remains.  Not very practical for working parents, but fortunately the garderie simply opens earlier on Wednesdays.
• As it's part of school, once we're both working we need to find a solution for the school holidays such as Easter and the summer (Christmas we'll be in Sweden for two weeks anyway), as the school closes during these periods.  Crèches on the other hand are open throughout usually though apparently close for a certain period around Christmas and Easter.  In the summer there are other places that offer activities, so eventually we'd have to enrol Isolde in camp or similar during the summer.

What else could be interesting to know?  Most schools in Belgium are divided according to language (French and Dutch), and some are very strict and only allow one language to be spoken and sometimes even have separate school yards (won't go into Belgium's historical political, cultural and lingual complexities now...), but as Isolde's school is a municipal school, both languages are spoken but I think the teaching is in French only, or at least the main language is French.

Beyond the two Belgian languages (well, actually there are three; German as well), many other languages are spoken at Isolde's school as it's a very international area we live in.  Apparently it has as many as 40 nationalities.  In Isolde's class there are several Japanese children, and in the school in general, which is due to a Toyota factory and test runway nearby.

You can read more about the school here and if you go to galerie there are lots of pictures.

So how was Isolde's first week?  Well, it went far beyond our expectations.  We were quite worried about the first day, as we wouldn't be allowed to stay with her.  And we were also worried about the fact that the doesn't understand the language.  And finally we were worried she would not want to use the toilet or that they wouldn't be able to remind her often enough (or that she wouldn't understand), and that there would be a lot of accidents (and we were really hoping she wouldn't do no 2 there!).

Isolde ready for her first day

But turns out we didn't have to worry (although we are prepared there could be a backlash at some point)!  Isolde is just amazing, we're so proud of her!  We had talked about her going to preschool again and she was looking forward to it.  We had also talked about making new friends but I think maybe she still thought it was her old preschool in Sweden she was going to, or maybe not as she seems to have understood that we now live here and Sweden and other things are not here.  So even though she didn't really want to stay long when we visited the week before (although it might have been because there weren't any other children there then), she was very happy on her first day and wanted to start playing right away and she didn't mind being left there at all.  When Peter picked her up three hours later there had been no tears and no wee wee (well, only in the toilet where it should be). 

The week has continued in the same fashion - she skips happily through the corridor to her classroom and says "bye mummy" even before I've had the chance to help her take her sweater off and hang up her backpack.  Wednesday morning I didn't leave right away because on the Tuesday she had peed her pants after I had left, so I wanted to double-check that she didn't need to go to the toilet.  But then she wanted to leave with me again.  But I started talking about the toy cars and that maybe they would get to paint (she loves painting) and then she was fine again and I took the chance and left.  One day she had been a bit upset because we had packed peach for her and she apparently wanted other fruit, and on Thursday she didn't make it to the toilet again, but otherwise, no difficulties.  It probably helps that she's been to preschool before and that the concept is not new to her (even if it's a bit different from what she's used to).  And maybe the fact that she's quite a late talker, and she's used to people not understanding her and having to make herself understood with body language, helps her now in an environment where she doesn't understand the language.  They say that the language won't be an issue before long.  They told us that the children usually pick up quite a lot in two-three weeks; they have more trouble with the parents!  Luckily Peter and I speak a little bit of French (and we're planning to refreshen our knowledge of course) and one of the teachers also speak English.  So a very good first week!

Now a well-deserved for all of us before another week of preschool, work and daddy duty!

7 Months Old Today!

Anna Lindh

Remembering this fantastic politician today. Ten years since here life was ended way too early.


Image from the Internet



Big Girl

Isolde has almost stopped wearing nappies now except for at night and for the occasional no 2. We're so proud of her! Once she was ready it went quickly. We started last weekend and during the week Peter has continued training her while I've been at work. Already after a couple of days she was peeing almost every time on the toilet (once or twice on the potty but she prefers the toilet where we've put one of those kiddy seats).

I tried to train her (and I guess it was the start of the process and helped towards this week's progress, but she certainly wasn't ready then to "cross over") earlier in the summer, at the end of July, beginning of August, as I wanted to try to make her dry before the move to Belgium. She peed a few times then but there were also many accidents, or she held it for a long time until we eventually put a nappy on because she was going to bed or similar. The first week of her two last weeks of pre-school she wasn't wearing nappies and did reasonably well but there were at least one accident at pre-school and sometimes several at home because we were also too busy with the packing that we forgot to ask her if she needed to go. Throughout she was also very anti the whole thing and it was a lot of "no, no, no" and we had to force her to sit on the toilet or potty, which didn't feel too helpful. So we decided to take a break and take it up again when we felt we had time to focus on her and when we had settled in a little in our new home.

We haven't been here for that long and we have still not unpacked everything, but last weekend we felt Isolde had settled in pretty well and we also had the pressure of her new school, where she starts next week, not allowing nappies (except at nap time, but she will only attend in the mornings). At first Isolde was reluctant and refused to sit but when we succeeded in getting her to sit still on the toilet for a while, she could usually pee. The breakthrough came last Sunday, only two days into training, when she wanted to take a bath with Harald and we said "only if you pee on the toilet first". In less than two seconds she had jumped up on the toilet (we've put a child stool/step by the toilet so she easily get up by herself) and peed! 

We knew then that she could do it when and if she wanted too. We also used incentives or, if not "bribed" beforehand, gave her a reward afterwards like an yoghurt icecream, telly time or visit to the playground again (or other just little things like getting the sticker book out). A  very good incentive for her has also been new underwear, especially panties with cars on them (which are really boy's briefs as the girl dept didn't have any with cars...) I bought them earlier in the summer but then she wasn't as receptive - she wanted to wear them but they didn't do the trick so-to-speak. 

I also think she was ready now because she wants to be a big girl now. As I mentioned in my previous post she's been telling us that she is "stor" for a couple of weeks (I think she said it once or twice before the move but certainly since we arrived here) and we have utilised this by telling her that big girls go on the toilet and not in a nappy.

So hopefully she should be fine at school on Monday! She still needs reminding to go - and at school they have pee times where they all have to (try to) go - but she also tells us that she needs to go or just goes to the toilet herself. 

And in other news Harald has two teeth that are about to come up and he's trying to crawl but more about that in another post!

Have a nice weekend! 

Our First Week In Brussels

Our first week in Belgium is over.  There are still boxes everywhere but it's been a good week and we're really feeling at home in the flat.  I can feel that we'll be happy here. 

This is what we've been up to:

Monday
We had been told the movers would arrive Monday or Tuesday but when I still hadn't heard anything Sunday evening I emailed them and around 10pm I was told that they would come already Monday around 3pm.  We got a bit worried because the company was supposed to reserve a part of the street to park the lorry, something which needs to be done in advance, at least 48 hours before but preferably earlier, but Sunday evening this hadn't been done.  So Monday morning I texted the driver to alert him to the fact and also informed him when they called a bit later to check the address (which they should have had but apparently they had brought an old work order). It wasn't their fault of course but they're the ones that need to deal with it.  Luckily when they did arrive, already at 13:00, there was space at the bottom of our street but it meant that they had to haul our boxes quite far.

Can you spot the lorry at the bottom of the street?

There were two of them and Peter helped put so they were done within an hour.  We started unpacking in the evening, but didn't get that far, but it was good to start to get the kitchen ready and at least the boxes were still neatly stacked at that point.

Shortly after this photo was taken it did not look this organised anymore...

Tuesday
Tuesday was a stressful day relating to our flat in Stockholm.  The tenants have been great so far but our condominium association a pain in...  Luckily it's now sorted, for now at least (and I'm grateful to Peter for dealing with all of it!).  We didn't get much unpacking done on Tuesday but in the evening we had time to switch the guest room and the kids' room.  We opted for a smaller children's room and a bigger guest room (though both rooms are small, maybe 8 sqm), mainly because I didn't want the children's room to have a balcony for safety reasons.  Also, it's nice for the guests to be able to move around a little bit in the room and have a "private" balcony, and the kids will play a lot in the kitchen/living room (open plan) anyway I'm sure. For the moment Harald will continue to sleep in our room so Isolde has a little bit more space in her room.  Harald sleeps through the night (from 21-22 to 07) and is not easily disturbed so he could easily share with Isolde, but for the same reason, he can also stay with us as we don't disturb each other.  Isolde on the other hand, when she was a baby, moved to her own room at age 4-5 months as she was making a lot of noise in her sleep and we also seemed to disturb her sleep.

As you can see it's quite small.  If Harald's bed was in there too, we'd have it by the window opposite Isolde's bed, and put the white table away or somewhere else.  The bed, rug and curtains, as well as the shelves in the next picture, came with the flat but we brought the rest from Sweden.

Once Harald moves in here it will be pretty crowded in that righthand corner...

Tuesday we also checked out a big playground near us, Parc Malou - about 15 minutes by foot (either through streets or on La Promenade Verte) or a few minutes by car.

The playground continues to the right of this picture so it's very large.

Wednesday
I went into town to have lunch with two colleagues.  It was a really nice (on the rooftop terrace of my colleague's new flat in the centre of Brussels) and useful lunch.  While at lunch I felt really excited and was looking forward to starting to work on Monday but then when I got back home and had a cuddle with my family I instead felt really jealous of Peter who will be home with the kids.  In reality it's mixed of course.  I know I will love work but at the same time I will really miss the children, and especially Harald of course as I'm used to being with him 24/7.  Oh how I wish I could have the cake and eat it! 

Wednesday afternoon we went over to our friends C and J (although just J and the baby were home), as J was going to help us call (our French is very rusty and over the telephone when you don't see the person it's even more difficult) the school where Isolde will go but they had already left for the day, as term doesn't start until next week.  She called for us the next morning instead and also made an appointment for us with the headmistress for Thursday afternoon.

Thursday
We had to visit the mothership, aka Ikea, of course, and not just for fun, we needed stuff :)  This flat is great in most ways but what it doesn't have is storage, and we brought a lot of stuff with us from Sweden, so we bought a few canvas storage bags/boxes to store linen, towels and clothes (e.g. the kids' clothes and shoes in the next sizes) underneath our bed and the guest beds. We may buy an extra wardrobe or chest of drawers later depending on how we get on with the existing wardrobes. We also bought some pillows, hangers, minor kitchen items, and (frozen) meatballs, and of course, sweets (lördagsgodis!), and the following day Peter went back to buy a mattress, furniture for the balconies and the top part to Isolde's toy kitchen.

Thursday afternoon we visited Isolde's new (pre)school to register her, and checked our her classroom and play grounds.  The premises are a bit rundown but the teachers (and the headmaster) seemed cheerful and the atmosphere was nice and welcoming. She'll start on Monday 9 September - but more about that in a different post!

Friday
Yesterday we went to register at the muncipality (Woluwe-Saint-Pierre commune) in the morning (until you're registered in Belgium it's very difficult to do something, e.g. to get mobile phone accounts) and after that Peter did his round at Ikea while the kids and I hung out at home.  In the afternoon Peter took them to the playground for a couple of hours while I got some unpacking done at home.  Finally we can see the kitchen counters and floor and Isolde has books to read (in the guest room) and all their clothes are unpacked.  I also did several loads of laundry (also earlier in the week), and since the weather has been nice all week I've hung it to dry outside.  Love the smell of airdried laundry, especially sheets and towels!

Saturday/today
Today we headed out pretty early (10ish) to meet (blog friend and now lovely neighbour) P, O and V to check out the local market (where I also ran into an old mate from Oxford who I hadn't seen for ten years - we agreed to organise a playdate with his kids and mine) and to fika at a local café (will write more about the area later), and afterwards we checked out another playground nearby (which was almost empty - where is everyone?!) and walked a bit down La Promenade Verte before returning to the flat for some further unpacking while the kids napped.  In the afternoon we checked out another supermarket and before dinner Peter cycled with Isolde to Parc Malou while Harald and I chilled at home.  And in the evening, more unpacking in between fighting with Isolde about peeing on the potty/toilet (more on that later) and going to bed... :)

So that pretty much sums up our first week in Belgium.  It has only rained one day so every day we have spent quite a lot of time outside and made at least one stop to the local playground.  We have also checked out almost all nearby supermarkets, both the big ones and the smaller express ones (more on Belgian supermarkets and foot items in a later post). 

With two kids unpacking is a bit of a challenge... You have to make a lot of time for playtime (thus all the playground visits) and also for cuddles.  Harald doesn't care where he is of course, as long as he's fed and cuddled, but Isolde is of course aware that we've made a change in our lives and that everything is new.  I'm really amazed how well she's handling it.  There are lots of tantrums of course, not that many more than normal for her/her age, but she's been acting up a little bit when we haven't had time for her (we have to devote time to unpacking of course), and it's also her way of dealing with this big change in her life.  Her way of causing trouble usually revolves around Harald.  Sometimes she just wants to cuddle with him but more often she wants to irritate him by laying on top of him or pushing him down when he wants to sit up and she thinks he should lie down so she can finger his ear.  She's also very strong-willed and the other day she was angry with us because she wanted ice cream (really frozen Danonini yoghurt) but we said that she had to eat dinner first.  After about 10-15 minutes she "caved" and was becoming calm on my lap and then that question came: "when are we going home?" I said that this is our home now for a while and that all our stuff is here, that her toys are here.  After that she was happy again and she ate her dinner (with ice cream for dessert).  It's like she needed to talk about it, but that was it, she was happy with the answer.  That was it, at least right there and then; it's probably not the last time she'll ask or miss our (old) home.  It was one of those moment where love your child so much you want to squeeze her.  Both Peter and I had tears in our eyes and felt so proud of her for being able to voice her feelings.  Our little big girl.  Lately, I'm not sure if it's the age, or because shes recently had a sibling, or if it's related to the move, but she's been telling us a lot that she's "stor" (big) and that Harald is little.  I sometimes call her "min stora bebis" (my big baby) but she's started saying that no, she's a big girl.  So cute. 

Good learning swing at our nearest playground

We're Here

And so it begins. A new phase in life. New every-day life. New home. New neighbourhood and surroundings. New languages (or languages if we opt to learn Dutch as well; and Isolde will hear a lot of English too which is also new to her). New places to get used. Streets, playgrounds, supermarkets.

I thought for a while that we were going to miss our plane. We (my mum, me and the kids) got there in time, one hour early and we were already checked in, but the queue to bag drop was long and after that we were supposed to drop off Harald's car seat at special baggage and go through security and make our way all the way to a gate furthest down the terminal. The lady at bag-drop acknowledged that we may be short of time, so she offered to take our car seat (and she also gave us a bag for it for free; only 40 SEK but still) - so nice of her! But while queuing for security I realised we had less than 25 minutes to take-off, and the queue was pretty long, so I explained our predicament (including played the "I'm travelling with two small children-card") and asked if we could go through the fast track. There was a queue there too (and by Murphy's Law we chose the slow of the two lanes there) but we saved some time and then we jogged through the terminal to our gate. There were a few other passengers arriving at the same time and a few after us so in the end we were fine, but for a while there I was a bit worried. 

The children did really well on the flight and the plane landed almost 15 mins early. Peter picked us up - it was wonderful to see him after a few days apart and it felt very symbolic: now our new life begins. When we arrived at our new home Peter popped open the champagne and we toasted to new beginnings. The flat felt really homely already as Peter had already been to the supermarket for supplies - and our new neighbour Petra had lent us some crockery and cutlery for the weekend until our stuff arrives - and even bought a TV. For some reason we have already spread our stuff around the flat and I'm wondering where our 40 boxes of stuff will fit and wishing a little we were just starting afresh with what was in our suitcases and in the car with Peter haha :)

Here's the view from one of our two balconies of the street and the buildings opposite.  

After champagne and dinner - tomato and mozzarella followed by pasta - we went to the nearest playground 5 minutes away, and now both kids have been sleeping for a while (Isolde seems to like her new room and bed) and it's time for us adults to go to bed too. 

Getting Close

It's almost midnight and I've just gone to bed here at my parents' place. The children have already been sleeping for a few hours (the big one is taking up most of the bed and kicking my back even though it's just the two of us in a double bed). Peter is spending the night at his parents before the big drive tomorrow. He left early this morning to meet the movers and to make sure the cleaners got in afterwards (he reported this evening that the flat has never been so clean haha). He also took the opportunity to lunch with a few friends and take a long walk along Djurgården. The kids and I meanwhile hung out in my parents' garden and had Maria and Daniel over for a final fika. Otherwise my parents are working so we're on our own during the day, though my dad gets home pretty early every day, around three. Harald has a pretty bad cold so I don't want to venture out much and besides, I don't have his pram here as Peter is taking it with him in the car. We have the BabyBjörn and the Yoyo so we may go to Torekällberget (local petting zoo and open air museum) tomorrow to pass time, we'll see. Isolde has a lot of energy so it would be good to get out. Thursday Malin and little Dexter (and perhaps the rest of her little rascals?) are coming over after lunch and I'm also hoping Helena & kids might stop by briefly. We saw my cousin Henrik and family for dinner on Sunday evening as well - nice to see them again too before we leave. 

It was weird to say bye to Peter this morning. Not that three and a half days are that long (though the last time one of us were away for that long was when I went to London with my mum for four days in December) but next time we'll see each other, it'll be in a new country and in many ways in a new life, or phase of life at least! Exciting but also big! It's now less than two weeks until I start my new job. Yikes!  I've started thinking a lot about it now. I asked my new colleagues for some reading material so will try to get that done this and next week, and I'm meeting them for lunch next week. I'm feeling excited but also a bit nervous. I've also thought a lot about having to leave my little darling Harald and it breaks my heart a little. I know he'll be fine with his dad but I will miss being with him and see him grow every minute. I will need to spend every minute at home in the evenings and on the weekend with him. And of course not forget about Isolde. We need our time together too. I'm also a bit worried about how my breasts will survive in the beginning. Getting Harald to eat solids (well, mostly puréed form) is going slowly and I'm mostly breast-feeding still. I'm not too worried about him, he'll quickly understand that there's nothing else to eat during the day (and we have bought formula too) but I wonder how my breasts will cope! Might be a bit difficult first few days! Might need to bring the pump with me haha!

To be continued on all counts...

Random Numbers

• 7 days left until the removers come and collect our stuff (20th)
• 8 days until Peter drives down together with his mum as company
• 10 days left until the children and I fly down, with my mum as extra helper on the plane and over the weekend 
• 5 or 6 days (depending on if we move out Sunday or Monday) left in the flat before we go and spend our last few days at my parents 
• 20 days of maternity leave left until I start working
• Harald turned 6 months old yesterday - time flies!
• I manage to get an appointment with my hairdresser in 2 days because someone else cancelled.  So happy!  Otherwise who knows when I would find an equally fantastic hairdresser in Brussels.
• 20 boxes packed, 20 to go if we fill our space in the lorry (and just my shoes are about 5 boxes...)
• 5 boxes worth of books but don't intend to bring them with us when we move back - looking forward to reading on the 20 minute commute to work
• Harald and I got to cuddle little Dexter today, 8 days old

Harald and little Dexter

• Peter has made 3 trips to Myrorna (Salvation Army) to drop off stuff and I think we can probably fill another couple of boxes.  Moving from time to time is really good to keep us from becoming hoarders!
• Isolde has 2 days left at her pre-school - she (and us parents) will really miss that place!
• 1 lunch date booked this week and hope to squeeze in a few more friends between packing
• 11 minutes to midnight and I should really get some sleep.  New packing day tomorrow!

And if you have missed reading about our big move, here is the post again!

Almost 6 Months

Check-up for Harald today for the first time in over a month. He didn't mind being weighed and measured as usual but was not happy about the vaccination shots. Isolde used to only cry for a few seconds afterwards (and still has a high pain threshold) but Harald was upset for a couple of minutes and cried out again back in the waiting room. He's a little sensitive, our boy, but as we don't see him cry very often "mean mummy" thought it was kind of cute :)  When he got the first set of vaccinations at three months, he had a cold and was miserable overnight but I hope it won't be too bad this time.

It feels like we have a big boy, as he's much bigger than Isolde was at the same age, but he's not that much bigger than average for boys (but girls are generally smaller of course). He weighed 8,340gr and was 67cm today (Isolde was 6,990 and 64 cm at 6 months), which means he's grown taller lately and continues to weigh a little bit over average. The nurse thought his gums were a bit swollen, and it feels like he's been drooling and chewing (and biting when I'm nursing - not allowed!), so he may be teething, we'll see. Next visit is in just 10 days as we want to do the six-month examination with the doctor before we move. Last one was at two months and next one at 12 months (or we'll do it in Belgium), otherwise we just see the nurse for check-ups. 

Getting steadier and steadier

Just love those lashes!



Weight

 



Length

Brussels Sprouts

We have some exciting times ahead of us! It's old news for some of you, as we've known for some time now - it's been in the process since February and was finally confirmed in early June - but for the rest of you; we're moving to Brussels, Belgium, at the end of August! This is the main reason why it's been quiet on the blog at times. Well, that and having had another baby in February, resulting in lack of "me time" since then. But the main reason has been that the move - the decisions related to it and all the stuff that needs to be organised - has taken a lot of energy. In a positive way of course since this is something we really want to do, but it is still something that has occupied my mind a lot. Before the job was finally confirmed in June I didn't want to reveal anything on the blog.  But I have felt like I've been hiding something from you and posting about other stuff has felt unimportant and a bit pointless. Except for about the kids and especially about Harald of course. Now when I have "come clean" about our plans I can go all in and write every day of course! :) Though I doubt I'll have time now when I have less three weeks to pack! Yikes!

So why are we going? I've been offered and accepted a job at the European Commission. Initially I felt the timing wasn't great as I had planned to stay home longer with Harald - and when the Commission contacted me the first time in late January - early February he hadn't even been born yet - but as I didn't know if I'd ever get the chance again I wanted to give it a shot. And in many ways the timing is very good, as Peter can take parental leave to start with and doesn't need to find a job right away. It would probably have been a more difficult decision if we'd have had the stress of him finding a job (we could live on one salary for a while but would prefer not to). My contract is one year to begin with, with a possible (and probable) extension up to three years*. I have been granted a leave of absence from my job here in Sweden, which give us both job security if we do return after a year.  Our intention is to stay in Brussels for three years but we also like the fact that we have the first year to see how it goes and if we like it.  There's also the risk that the Commission may not be able to extend after the first year, as this position is always dependent on the availability of funding, so again, very grateful for the leave of absence / parental leave.  Peter has to find a job and we don't want the move to affect the children, especially Isolde (Harald will probably care less where we are), in any negative way.  Isolde is a very social and carefree little girl so we hope she'll adjust fine even though she may find it difficult at start not understanding the language of course.  But children learn so quickly.  I've heard people say that kids start picking up new words already after a couple of weeks.  As it looks now she'll stay at home with Peter for the first month or two (he'll have a handful!) and then start pre-school, maternelle (more on that later).  For the children the timing couldn't be better, as I think it's much easier for them to make the transition at this age before they have started school and made too many friends, etc. (though I'm all for it at any age in theory) compared to if this opportunity had come in five years' time.

I've dreamt about going abroad again (I've lived abroad for almost 6 years before but I've been home in Sweden for ten years now) for a long time, and living real life (not student or trainee life) abroad, and also about working for the EU institutions, but when the opportunity actually arose it was a different matter!  In many ways the decision was easy for the reasons explained above - I couldn't really turn it down - but I don't only have myself to think about now but a whole family, and we wanted to make an informed decision.  So we spent a few days doing research about what it would mean for us financially to move and also, and perhaps more importantly, move back to Sweden in a few years' time.  What would happen to our parental benefits, pensions, mortgage payments, student loan payments, tax, insurances, etc.?  What impact it would have on us as a family, our children, our extended family? Lots of things to think about.  Not all affecting the decision as such, but good to think about and to be aware of.  I only had a few days to accept the offer, but after that there was a period of a couple of months when I waited for the next step in the process, whereby I had to present evidence of my qualifications, job experience, etc. and also go through a medical examination (mainly for the medical insurance that comes with the job), before the position was made final.  The interview took place in early March**, the "evidence and medical visit" to Brussels in early May, and in June it was all finally confirmed.  And 2 September I start!

The drawback of moving to another country is of course being far away from our family and friends.  We're "taking away" the grandchildren from mormor, morfar, farmor & farfar but we hope they as well as our friends (you!) will come and visit often (we have a guest room!) and we'll also spend most of our holidays back in Sweden.  We're grateful that it's 2013 and the communication opportunities are endless - Skype, Viber, Facebook, Instagram, email, sms, etc.  We have some friends in Brussels already, which is nice, and some of them have young children as well.  Peter is a bit nervous about how to "entertain" two kids in a new place in the beginning but luckily there are two mothers Peter can hang out***.  One of them is the wife (and now friend) of a former colleague of mine who's expecting their second child any day now (and they have a four-year old already).  Unfortunately they are moving back to the UK in April next year but we'll have almost nine months to hang out with them.

The other mother is fellow blogger and Swede Petra whom we've both met a few times - once in Stockholm (just me), once in New York and once in Brussels (now in May) and maybe on one further occasion??  She's expecting number two in the next few weeks - and big brother V is just eight months younger than Isolde - and will be home with the baby and can hang out with Peter.  We'll actually be neighbours - same building, different flights of stairs - as Petra has very kindly helped us find accommodation****!  Very fortunate for us, Petra and her (Spanish) husband Oscar (whom we haven't had the chance to meet yet but are looking forward to getting to know!), have some (also Swedish) friends who happened to plan to return to Sweden during almost the same period we were looking to rent somewhere, so that has worked out perfectly!   Petra and Oscar rented their flat for a while a couple of years ago before they decided to buy in the same building!  We really liked the flat when we visited in May so we think it's going to be a great year, both living in the flat and having Petra and family nextdoors!  Even though Petra and I have only met IRL a few times it feels like we know each other so well, as we're been following each other's blogs for several years.  Can't wait to become proper IRL friends! :)

We're very excited about this new phase in our lives!  Now we just need to get through these next couple of weeks of sorting out the last bits of various paperwork and packing all of our stuff.  We're not bringing any furniture, "only" boxes with clothes and kitchen items, etc. as well as our bicycles and larger children's items, but it still takes time!  The removers come on 19 or 20 August and Peter leaves on 21 August to drive down with our car and I fly down with the kids (and my parents) on the 23rd.  Our stuff will arrive on 26 or 27th, which will give us almost a week to unpack and settle in before I start work.

So that's our big news!  Now I have to book those flights so we can definitely go! :)

* So called "contractual agent" contract (there are two categories; the one other is up to six years).  I have been in a database for contractual agent jobs since 2007 when I took and passed an exam, a so-called concours.  This was the third interview but the first actual offer, and it was also the first opportunity at the European Commission; the other jobs have been at other EU organs.
** I was meant to do the interview on 18 February but when Harald arrived unexpectedly on 12 February, I was able to change the date to 6 March.  It was always planned to be over VTC though, as I wouldn't have been able to travel that late in the pregnancy, and when I Harald was only
*** The Swedish church has a play group twice a week that I'm sure he and the kids will be frequent visitors too.
**** And helped me with my thousand other questions!  Thank you so much!  I'm eternally grateful!