belgianwaffle

Family

Two things


Posted in: Family, Work

1. Received the following text message from my husband “got a call asking whether you would like to go election monitoring in Burundi, said no”.

2. Despite arriving at the Ryanair bus stop 10 minutes before the bus’s due departure time, my unfortunate mother in law discovered that it had already left and ended up having to get a taxi to Charleroi (she could have phoned her son for a lift, but she has an independent stubborn streak which her son has inherited).  She will clearly never visit us again. 6 days of intensive babysitting followed by a traumatic taxi ride.  Am gutted.  On the plus side, you will be surprised to hear that we have the kind of contacts in Ryanair which mean that any complaints will be thoroughly followed up.

Comments
Bobble

on 26 May 2005 at 12:38

I need a contact at Easyjet – any friends there..?

Beth

(Homepage)

on 26 May 2005 at 16:39

How could you pass on Burundi?

jackdalton

on 27 May 2005 at 01:43

That’s 100odd euro you owe her….. 😉

Friar Tuck

on 27 May 2005 at 04:11

What’s so bad about a taxi? The drivers in Brussels are so charming.

jackdalton

on 27 May 2005 at 11:44

ps if you can get anyone in RyanAir to follow up anything, you deserve some kind of recognition as a national treasure.

belgianwaffle

on 29 May 2005 at 13:48

Visage, Beth, I bet Burundi is lovely this time of year, but in this patriarchal household, my chance to visit was cruelly turned down. Sigh.
Bobble, no chance, I fear. Jack, I know. Guilt. Good point FT.

Scholl sandals – why?


Posted in: Family, Princess, Travel, Work

I went to buy new slippers at the weekend. I know, my life is full of thrills. I decided that thought I would buy Scholl sandals rather than slippers so that if I had to go out to put out the bins I wouldn’t look quite so weird. Why has nobody ever told me how profoundly uncomfortable these yokes are? And also that they are very noisy. And quite expensive. I am bitter.

In other news, Princess continues a bit unwell and her saintly grandmother is staying for an extra couple of days to tend to her. Doctor today pronounced himself satisfied that she is on the mend, though baffled as to what might have been wrong. Am informed by my husband that Princess wailed convulsively for the entire appointment despite sustaining no injury whatsoever except, one assumes, to her dignity.

Royal grandparents have flooded the house with newsprint and I am fully up to speed with Jools Oliver’s new book which the Guardian described as like a “common or garden baby blog”. Have realised to my horror that I am the owner of a common or garden baby blog and I thought that there was so much more to me.

The Princess is speaking far more English following her grandparents’ visit as evidenced by the following exchange.

Princess (shouting from the bathroom where she is sitting on her pot): Je fais caca, Papa, tu veux faire caca?

Her father: Non merci.

Princess: Mummy, you want to go poo?

Me: Thanks, I’m ok.

And finally, I am off on a work trip tomorrow, so blogging for the remainder of the week may be somewhat limited as I labour in a distant land.

Comments

poggle Those scholls will feel comfortable if you persevered, waffley – they’re kind of like acupressure and take a bit of getting used to. Your feet will thank you for it eventually. But, sadly, the loud clacking is par for the course.
Princess has a bit of a poo fixation at the moment, doesn’t she? I foresee a lucrative future as a stand-up comedienne …..

beachhutman >on 24 May 2005 at 17:24 Ah, so she’s twigged her mama is Monolingual…..

belgianwaffle on 25 May 2005 at 11:12 >Oh, Jojo, if only you knew, you would laugh cruelly.
Pog, thank you for both these pieces of information. Will persevere with deeply uncomfy Scholls.
BHM, well, only temporarily, I suspect. JoJo Birmingham? Calais? Bognor? Bradford???

Even sexier than Bradford…

Recovering


Posted in: Family, Princess

We’re all much better. Well, Mr. Waffle is but you will, I know, be upset to hear that my paper cut injury is causing lingering difficulties and poor old Princess despite an excellent day yesterday was sick again this afternoon.

Mr. Waffle’s parents arrived yesterday. We did some preparatory work on the way home from the creche last night.
Me: Who’s coming to visit us this evening?
Princess: Grandma et Grandad.
Me: Is that nice?
Princess: Yes.
Me: What are you going to say to them?
Princess: Present for me?
Granparents duly arrived and were greeted with great delight. They did, of
course, bring a present. And they have more stashed away to give out during the weekend should their popularity show any signs of flagging. So, today, instead of going to the creche, the Princess bonded with her grandparents. I think they were a little concerned that she might be upset at the prospect of being left at home but they needn’t have worried. She happily kissed us good bye and rushed back to the grandparents. As we went out the door she was spinning in circles with an empty box on her head while hurling magnetic letters round the room.  Alas, although she had an
excellent morning, our poor mite was again sick in the afternoon and her poor grandparents were covered in vomit and spent some time devoming the bathroom. What is wrong with our angel? Worrying no?
Comments
belgianwaffleon 21 May 2005 at 11:42

Thanks Bob, grandparents are already doing the child minding thing and she seems fine again…

poggleon 23 May 2005 at 11:38

Poor Princess.
Her ‘present for me?’ reminds me of my niece when she was little. She was asked if would like a slice of pizza. ‘Yes’, she said. ‘Magic word?’, says Mum. Frowns. Thinks hard. Light dawns. ‘Now??’

belgianwaffleon 25 May 2005 at 11:12

SUPERB Pog.

Stalked by illness


Posted in: Family, Mr. Waffle, Princess

Me

Pregnancy related maladies
Return of rash leading to scabrous arms and legs (thankfully the weather is not such as to encourage baring of same)
Sore toe (no sniggering – last night while rushing to the aid of my howling infant, I stubbed my toe and today I am limping pitifully)
Industrial accident (painful paper cut on top of middle finger making typing
excrutiating)
Mr. Waffle
Sore neck (leading to a certain stiffness in bearing)
Headache
Princess
Has for three nights in a row thrown up in the middle of the night. She has no other symptoms. No temperature. Nothing. Last night when I picked her out of her cot she said she was sick and we rushed to the bathroom where she dutifully threw up. Though obviously worried that she was ill, I was pleased that I had explained to her that if she felt sick it was a good idea to go to the bathroom; particularly since our supply of clean bedding was nearly exhausted.   In my triumph, about the controlled vomitting incident I had forgotten that my daughter is like her father – very cautious.  So for the next hour my loving husband and I took it in turns to sit with her on the bathroom floor. Every time we tried to persuade her back to her bed or ours she said piteously “dans la salle de bain”. Anyway eventually she went back to bed and slept for the rest of the night and this morning she seemed fine, though a bit tired and crabby. Alas, this evening, she was not fine when I picked her up from the creche.  The new person said she had spent most of the day lying on the floor with Hop Hop crying. She had her nap and ate her lunch and didn’t have a temperature and when questioned said she was not sick but sad. I am a bit annoyed that they didn’t call us. I mean, she’s only 2 she may not be fully au fait with the difference between existential angst and feeling nauseous and tired.  Anyhow I brought her down to the car and strapped her in and she said “Sick Mummy” so I rapidly unstrapped her and she threw up all over the pavement. Poor mite. She was anxious that I should clean up the pavement but I held back. When we got home she was sick again and she’s now gone to bed where I hope she will recover before her paternal grandparents arrive tomorrow. I must say, it makes me feel very sad to think of my baby girl lying on the floor crying while I was quiet at work and could easily have taken a half day and brought her home. This working mother thing can be trying.
Comments
beachhutman

on 19 May 2005 at 08:49

Yeah, hope it comes out well.
That could have been put in a more felicitous way I guess.

Minkleberry

on 19 May 2005 at 09:09

awww poor little girl. But what control. I still don’t quite make it to the toilet everytime I’m sick!

poggle

on 19 May 2005 at 10:42

Oh dear.
Poor mite does seem to have a v delicate stomach …..

kat

(Homepage)

on 19 May 2005 at 22:02

My goodness…sending you get well vibes asap!

belgianwaffle

on 20 May 2005 at 18:16

Aw thank you all for good health wishes. So far they only seem to be really working for my loving husband but he is very grateful..

dmts

on 20 May 2005 at 18:26

Oh it is pitiful – ‘not sick but sad’. Poor princess – may she be up and telling you all to fuck off before too long

belgianwaffle

on 21 May 2005 at 11:42

Thanks HJB. How did the furry animal grilling go?

dmts

on 21 May 2005 at 15:35

they grilled neither small fluffy animals or children. The fluffies were there to be pretty and the grilled stuff was sausages.

belgianwaffle

on 25 May 2005 at 11:10

Disappointing H.

Rash in Cork


Posted in: Family, Twins

All in all a little tiring. On Thursday afternoon following three medical consultations, I decided to go with the majority and risk travelling.  I paid a fortune to get to Cork over Easter and I wasn’t going to let a rash stop me (no poor puns, please).

You will be delighted to hear that my rash has improved enormously, thus, obviously, vindicating my decision to travel. This morning I had the stitches taken out of my neck so I spent today loping around the office like Frankenstein’s monster. It is, of course, absolutely forbidden to cover up my scars with a scarf or a polo neck. Snort. Also, I can’t get my neck wet for 48 hours. Good lord. And all this to find out that they don’t know what it was but isn’t it good that it’s getting better of its own accord. Double snort.

So, epic journey to Cork. It took us the best part of a day to get there and the same length of time to get back.  My sister who came home from Chicago actually got back there faster than we got to Brussels. Of course she was actually flying for most of her trip whereas we spent the vast bulk of ours sampling the many delights which Dublin airport offers.
Actual time in Cork was very pleasant with babysitting services on high alert and significant food supplies laid in to meet our needs. On Easter Sunday, Mr. Waffle and I abandoned the Princess to her loving grandparents and went for a walk on the beach and a drink in Ballycotton. All very civilised. We also met the heart surgeon and her husband and their lovely month old baby whom they are managing with alarming efficiency. They have already been to play tennis three times while the infant watched from the sidelines. And they have been to the cinema. I am impressed beyond measure. Alas, they are moving to Burlington, Vermont in June so, I fear, we will see a lot less of them after that. Though, of course, it is probably as easy to get from Brussels to Burlington as it is to get from Brussels to Cork.
Comments
belgianwaffleon 01 April 2005 at 20:10

Am glad to hear that you had a typical trip to Ireland pog. Weather was surprisingly clement over Easter though.

Early promise


Posted in: Family, Princess

The other morning the Princess was having her porridge and playing with her letters. We put them all into their slots but, horror, the z was missing. “Mummy, mummy, missing z!” “Well, never mind, sweetie, it’ll turn up.” Sad shake of the royal head “Z lost mummy, find the z mummy.” Off we went, z-less, to the creche and work respectively and, on our return home the Princess skipped off to her toys. Almost immediately she ran over to me shrieking in delight “Mummy, I find the missing z” and waving the lost z enthusiastically. Our genius.

In other news, my parents still have no heating. The fifth man to look at the parental boiler blew it up. Also the house is elderly and the wiring is not all it might be, so my mother was watching the telly the other night with the electric and blow heaters on and a hot water bottle at her feet and she suddenly found herself plunged into darkness and had to wrestle with fuses. Weather shows no sign of clearing either. Much grimness in Cork. And finally, thank you to my greatest fan who emailed me the following
“You haven’t had a blog entry since 23 February. Is all ok. Not like you. Your
public is v. disappointed.”I feel loved!
Comments
dmtson 06 March 2005 at 19:40Now I feel mean for not bothering to send you an email.
Do you think the princess stole the letter Z from the creche? No…I’m sorry – I shouldn’t apply my dirty low-down standards to other peoples’ children.
belgianwaffle on 10 March 2005 at 09:42HJB, FT, you clearly just don’t care as much as my other friend. Yes, HJB, it is quite likely that she stole the Z from the creche…