belgianwaffle

Middle Child

Tiring in a Whole New Way


Posted in: Middle Child, Princess, Twins, Youngest Child

Email from my friend D:

Saw this and thought of you -particularly your description of bringing Princess to school with the twins in tow, one in a sling and the other in the buggy. I feel that this is not a viable option into the future as the twins get bigger..http://www.magicmum.com/phpBB/viewtopic.php?t=18600

Hope all is ok with you. Baby A has a cold and was awake crying from 1am to 4 am last night. I am shattered. I don’t know how you possibly manage with three. In fact I am surprised that anyone in the world has siblings at all, now that reliable contraception is available….

Yours in exhausted bewilderment,

You will note her wisdom in the matter of siblings.

Comments

belgianwaffle

on 23 January 2006 at 09:08
Good Lord Kristin, how extraordinary.

School and logistics


Posted in: Middle Child, Princess, Twins, Youngest Child


Monday went fine. Tuesday was ok. This morning she was in floods of tears. The problem is that she won’t sleep at school and she’s exhausted. I am collecting her at 12.10 today with a view to
giving her a nice long nap at home. If she does not nap at home,
I will shoot myself. Mr. Waffle is away on a business trip and
not coming back until tomorrow. Blind terror prevails.

Today will also be the first time that I have to collect her with the
boys as on Monday and Tuesday, I had people in to mind them. I am a little concerned that I will not be able to marshall all three of
them home (Princess on foot, Michael in sling and Daniel in buggy) so, despite the fact that the school is only around the corner, I think I might drive to collect her. Farewell, ozone layer. I cannot
tell you how much I am looking forward to trying to get her out the door to school tomorrow (up to now this has been her loving father’s task) with the boys in tow.

Thought I should mention that yesterday I was superwoman. Drove to the creche to drop off a little present and pick up a portrait of the Princess. Went to my place of work and passed the (immensely well behaved) boys to swarms of admirers. Left before they started to cry. Breastfed them both for half an hour in the back of the car while covered by cloth of decency and reading the LRB.

Lunched with Mr. Waffle while saintly Michael slept and I breastfed Daniel. Mercifully, a kind providence had placed us sitting beside two nordic gentlemen so, being Scandinavian and right on, they didn’t bat an eyelid, I’m not even sure that they noticed.

Came home, dropped the boys with G, set out for school, took Princess to the park and for a cup of tea. Came home, relieved G. With the Princess’s assistance, bathed both boys and prepared dinner for Mr. Waffle’s return at 6.45. Promptly collapsed with exhaustion thereafter.

Comments
NorahSplog
on 11 January 2006 at 10:22

Good lord woman – you’ve transcended mere human and appear to have evolved into some sort of super-being. 1
Sweetie(s) given

UndercoverCookie

on 11 January 2006 at 10:23

you were superwoman not just yesterday but are so every day. Just the logistic of two babies and a (demanding) princess sound a nightmare, never mind all the other stuff. 0
Sweetie(s) given ���

geepeemum

on 11 January 2006 at 14:49

Just reading that makes me tired. And I’m worried about the ski trip? Actually – yes, I’m still worried about the ski trip. 1
Sweetie(s) given ���

kristin

(Homepage)

on 11 January 2006 at 23:33

could the princess be more precious?! clever girl! ���

Bobble

on 12 January 2006 at 08:40

You should patent the phrase ‘cloth of decency’ my dear. 0
Sweetie(s) given ���

belgianwaffle

on 12 January 2006 at 09:56

Bobble, stolen from himself, I fear.
Ta Kristin, GPM, UC and Ms. Splog. Special thanks for the sweeties GPM and Ms. Splog. You are wise to continue to be scared of the week alone GPM..
SSC, yes, I used to love the sandpit myself.


Posted in: Family, Middle Child, Princess, Twins, Youngest Child

The boys were christened. Rejoice. Mr. Waffle got two blankets from Marks and Spencer to serve as spotless garments. By the time we got to the church, one of them had been trailed in the mud. Alas.

The boys were very virtuous and slept and were therefore left in the hall. In fact the poor mites spent a lot of Christmas sleeping in halls.

As promised earlier, please admire photograph of me breastfeeding twins and maintaining a
semblance of decency. Yes, I know you were all desperate to see that.

The Princess eats eggs. My parents-in-law are the proud possessors of one egg cup.  One day it went missing.  My mother-in-law said, “Don’Â’t worry, you know what makes a great egg cup? A toilet roll”.”  She scurried off to the bathroom to get a roll of toilet paper. I said defiantly, ““I am not feeding my daughter an egg from a roll of toilet paper”.” ““But it’Â’s a fresh roll,”” she said.  The
Princess started to wail. I conceded defeat and gave her the egg from the roll of toilet paper.   It works perfectly.  I said to my mother-in-law, ““I’Â’m almost afraid to ask but how do you know this?””  ““Well,” she said “”when I was an air hostess in the 60s and we went to New York overnight, you would get a breakfast allowance. We wanted to save the money, so we would buy eggs and boil them in the hotel kettle and eat them from the roll of toilet paper.  That woman is determined to ruin my vision of the glamour of the glory days of aviation.

Comments

jackdalton

on 09 January 2006 at 11:13

All of life is, in a sense, about one of two blankets trailing in the mud. 😉
Lovely pics: I particularly like the one where Cha is sleeping among the wine bottles…

Friar Tuck

on 09 January 2006 at 16:07

After drinking all that wine, it is no wonder that they were snockered!
Great pics though. Your breastfeeding pic is even decent enough to be shown in America. It was surely a disappointment to the NSA folks, who, I am sure, have set a filter to find all references to ‘breastfeeding’ passing through the air.
Ha ha. Just kidding. I’m sure they are only looking for terrorists. No, really. I love America. I love G.W. Bush. Please don’t arrest me.

Diva

on 09 January 2006 at 16:49

Wow, haven’t they grown! They look smashing :o)

Lilo

on 10 January 2006 at 21:16

So THATs how you breastfeed two – I’ve always wondered – they’re very accommodating little chaps aren’t they?

belgianwaffle

on 11 January 2006 at 10:03

Lilo, yup, they are what is known as “good babies”.
Thanks Diva.
Friar Tuck, where have you gone? Why are you wearing an orange jump suit?
JD, profound.
Ta Norah.

dmts

on 11 January 2006 at 20:15

I love Friar Tuck. Perhaps this is the wrong thing to be saying about a man of the cloth and all that jazz and I may be going straight to hell, but I shall quote him come the day of being judged….

ali

(Homepage)

on 12 January 2006 at 01:54

you definitely are a wonderwoman! i have enough trouble breastfeeding one!!!!

belgianwaffle

on 12 January 2006 at 09:52

HJB, quite. I think he should start his own blog..
Ali, forget breast feeding, am deeply indebted to you for the info that Angelina Jolie is pregnant.

http://www.belgianwaffle.net/2006/01/500/

Leaving on a Jet Plane


Posted in: Middle Child, Princess, Travel, Twins, Youngest Child

Yes, indeed we are off to Ireland for Christmas this afternoon with our mountain of luggage, as yet unpacked. As it happens, I do know when I’Â’ll be back again. We will return to the kingdom of the Belgians on January 4 and I expect updates, if any, to be few and far between until then. Pause here to laugh cruelly at the duration of American holidays as opposed to European ones.

In the interim, I wish you all a very happy Christmas and leave you with a Christmas photo. Note the look of fear on the boysÂ’ faces.

Comments

poggle
on 17 December 2005 at 10:06
Note the evil smile on the face of the Princess … oooh dear.

kristin (Homepage) on 17 December 2005 at 12:17 I agree with pog — not only the fear on the boys’ face, but the gleeful mischievousness on the princess. have lovely hols, waffley.

Friar Tuck
on 17 December 2005 at 16:21
They do have that “deer in the headlights” look about them.

Lilo
on 18 December 2005 at 11:32
I think your boys look like they’re trying to keep very, very still.
Happy Christmas Ms Waffle x

jackdalton
on 18 December 2005 at 18:12
‘Now if I just knock these together…’ thought Princess. But then she realised there was a camera present. So she smiled her big smile and waited for a better, less camera-prone moment.
🙂
Have a Happy Christmas, ‘waf and co.

Minkleberry
on 19 December 2005 at 07:37
Those pregnancy hormones have really kicked in. This piccie’s got me wailing. So adoreable!

Bobble
on 21 December 2005 at 11:07
Have a fabulous natale all of you – hope my card arrived?!

belgianwaffle
on 09 January 2006 at 10:20
Thank you all very much – have been poor at replying to comments recently but all is now restored to normal…

Christening


Posted in: Cork, Family, Ireland, Middle Child, Princess, Twins, Youngest Child

My sons will be baptised in Cork over Christmas thus ensuring for my mother a lifetime of retrieving ecclesiastical paperwork for her grandchildren.

We’re hoping to be more prepared than we were for the PrincessÂ’’s christening. We didn’Â’t know that you needed a candle.  When the crucial moment arrived, I hissed at my aunt, ““You’Â’re very religious, why didn’Â’t you tell us we needed a candle?””  ““I thought you knew”,” she hissed
back. Her highness was christened under a night light retrieved from a side altar. Your baptismal candle is supposed to enjoy further outings at your communion and confirmation.  That’Â’s probably why they donÂ’t use night lights. We knew that she needed a white garment alright and proudly produced a white cot blanket.  We were somewhat abashed to see that the little overachiever being christened at the same time as the Princess had an elaborate lacy number with her name embroidered on it.  It was probably vomit free too.

My religious aunt is to be godmother to Daniel. I phoned her the other day to confirm dates
and times and she told me tartly that she has purchased two christening candles. Now, who will buy lacy garments and embroider their names on them?

Comments

Manboobs

on 09 December 2005 at 15:22

Dirty Nappy; Clean Soul. Congratulations

Minkleberry

on 09 December 2005 at 19:13

Bobble, that’s such a relief- my poor Nanny has been so worried about mine and my sisters’ eternity in limbo.

Friar Tuck

on 09 December 2005 at 19:28

Minkle, only infants get a pass. Unless you are a precocious two year-old, your Nanny should continue worrying, not about Limbo, but worse!  But back to the baptismal garment, I know someone who makes their living selling handmade ones. It’s too late for flapjack and pancake, but I can put you in touch for any subsequent progeny.

kristin

(Homepage)

on 09 December 2005 at 23:06

My daughter was christened in a haze of high, high episcopalian incense, and my poor baptist mother still hasn’t recovered. She only stood the christening dress because lucy looked so adorable in it, but once the recitation of the saints started, she looked very pale. the event was particularly memorable because my sister’s hair caught fire from the candle she was holding during the procession to the font. the mom of the other baby who was being baptised that day offered to give us the videotape of kera on fire, for posterity. i think she was just jealous that lucy was such a cutie.

beachhutman

on 11 December 2005 at 10:36

If you think THAT’s a palaver, wait for first communions !

belgianwaffle

on 14 December 2005 at 09:13

Bob, Minks, MB, aren’t you glad that we have FT to sort these things out for us? FT, start your own blog in the new year or face dire consequences.
Kristin, that’s hilarious, superb story.
BHM, I know, I know.