Court papers from the other mother

I have a good life, one which I thoroughly enjoy. But it tends to be somewhat of a rollercoaster ride most of the time. Some of this rollercoaster is due to factors that many other people also experience; money problems, selling a house, family highs and lows etc. But I have an added factor that not all people have, a special and unique factor that is a constant thorn in my side. This thorn is also known as the other mother, or the wicked witch. I wonder sometimes how my life would be without her and the many little surprises she throws our way. Normal I imagine!

For example, one Friday afternoon a few weeks ago I was busy getting Emmeline ready to go to the swimming pool when the doorbell went. I looked through the peep hole and seriously considered not opening the door to the rather serious looking gentleman outside, but when he buzzed again I decided that he wasn’t selling life insurance and really did want one of us and so I opened up. 5 minutes later I was closing the door with court papers in my hand for xavi from the other mother! Definitely not life insurance then.

So I tore open the envelope and had a quick read through it, which turned out to be not so quick as it was a legal document in Spanish! But I got the gist of it and boy did it make me laugh and infuriate me at the same time! It made me laugh because the things she claimed just made her sound like such a victim – something she does all the time! But infuriating because these same claims were actually lies about Xavi, blatant, blatant lies!

I immediately got on the phone to Xavi. I told him about the papers but he was all calm about it and told me not to stress and that he would have a look at it when we got home. Ok, not what I needed, I needed to bitch about it in English! So I got on the phone to my mom and had a good old bitch about it!

So what were the court papers all about? Well the other mother has asked for a modification for the shared custody papers. What modification? Well, currently they each have to deposit 200eu into Yaincoa’s account to pay for his school fees, school books, extra medical expenses etc. Well the other mother doesn’t want to pay anything at all now. Nothing. Zero. Nada! She wants Xavi to pay everything. Why? Apparently she doesn’t have enough money. She used to own a company, she doesn’t anymore because it went bust, and when it went bust she was in about 20,000euros or so of debt. So instead of sorting it all out, she didn’t and it is now at the point where the government automatically take out a portion of her salary every month (‘Embargo’ in Spanish). We already have a court order against her for not paying her share of this maintenance for more than two years, and the court ruled that when her current embargo’s are finished, they will start a new embargo for the maintenance money. She now owes around 5000 eu to the account. This embargo could and probably will only occur in several years time. Probably when yaincoa is in high school or starting bloody university!

So anyway, she says she doesn’t have enough to pay her maintenance. Now on paper this may be the case. Salary of 1000eu, rent of 675eu. Where would you find another 200eu for child maintenance and then buy food, clothing, mobile phones etc? Sounds bad huh? Except that we are pretty convinced that she gets cash in hand for some of her hours she works. She drives a car everywhere (petrol costs more than metro), I am sure that she eats at least one meal a day in the restaurant by her work (plus coffees etc), she naturally has brown, curly hair but recently changed it to blonde and straight – how much does that cost in a hairdresser? And she bought Yaincoa a 360eu X Box and possibly the 150eu Kinect for Christmas. She always walks around done up from head to toe in clothing that is certainly not from H&M. Now is it just me or does that not exactly sound like someone who is down and out in the money dumps? And seriously, if you had to pay maintenance for your child but things were slightly tight, would you not pack yourself a sandwich to take to lunch every day to save money? Or get the metro? Or not have a complete hair overhaul that has got to have cost hundreds? Or perhaps find a second job during the weeks that you didn’t have your child?

The other thing that strikes me as bizarre is this. After receiving our original court order for not paying, she started to deposit 90eu a month for her son (as advised by her lawyer). She has done this for 5 months. So, if she had been depositing this money for 5 months, and nothing has changed in her financial situation, why can she suddenly not pay one cent?

Apparently the solution is to try and get the daddy to pay for everything. Until yaincoa was 6, she had full custody, therefore xavi paid her 300eu every month and he obviously had his visitation with Yaincoa. She paid for everything else, how it is when someone has custody. However in the eyes of the other mother she paid everything all by her lonely little self. She doesn’t remember this 300eu that paid for school, she doesn’t remember that it was her choice to have a private doctor for him, she doesn’t remember that when xavi had him every single weekend, he paid for everything necessary during this time with his son. So there is a big part of me that is sure that she is doing this as revenge as so many of her emails from the last 2 years are filled with statements of ‘I paid everything, now you pay everything. You owe me a lot of money’

Our lawyers have gone to her lawyers and offered that she pays 150eu and Xavi pays 200eu. She said no.

Our lawyers then went to her lawyers and offered that she pays 100eu and Xavi pays 250eu. She said no.

Our lawyers then went to her lawyers and offered that she pays 70eu and xavi pays 250eu. Looks like she has said no.

Why have we made so many offers? Because on paper the personal tax paper they have order that xavi shows to show his earnings for 2009 (2010 hasn’t been done yet) show that he has earned quite a lot. It was a good year yes, every other year shows half or one third of that amount. And he has about 3 times the outgoings as she does.

So what will we do now? We will go to court and we will fight. We will show everything we can to show that we are not in the best position and whilst we have no problem accepting that we pay more, we will fight so that she has to pay something, anything for her own child! What are our chances? Well it probably depends on what kind of judge we get! Worst case scenario is that we have to pay all school costs, medical costs and court costs. Best case is that she has to pay something!! Even though we may lose, we want to fight, we want to give it everything we can and we don’t just want to lie down and accept what she says simply because she is a bitter cow. I am slightly optimistic, but not hugely as the law is still so unfair to fathers. Just the other day a man got denied shared custody of his child because he lost his job. And yet here we have a mother who does nothing for her child and is claiming that she cannot pay for him however there is no danger of her losing her shared custody.

I don’t know, but I am hoping for the best.

Let the crawling commence

Emmeline got big!

It feels like it was only a few weeks ago that my waters broke and I was being wheeled in for an emergency caesarean for a prolapsed umbilical cord amongst the real danger that Emmeline could suffocate herself.

It feels like only a few weeks ago that her little umbilical cord fell off whilst I was changing her, only a few weeks ago that she smiled, only a few weeks ago that she would curl up on my chest and sleep like an angel, only a few weeks ago she held herself up for a few seconds whilst on her tummy.

It feels like only a few days ago that she laughed, a few days ago that she rolled over, a few days ago that she tried solids for the first time, a few days ago that she started saying mama and papa.

Then a few weeks ago whilst she was playing in her little crib next to my desk in the office, she pulled herself up to a standing position all by herself. She was getting too curious to know what was going on outside the boundaries of those 4 cotton candy walls! Not long after that, she finally worked out the crawl position! She managed to get her bum up and her legs under her, hands poised and ready to go. And off she went . . . backwards! But at least there was movement, that was enough for us. But apparently it was not enough for Emmeline because 4 or 5 days after going backwards she took her first wobbly movements forwards whilst in the park! Part of me thought it was a fluke, but when I got home and put her on the bed, off she went wobbling her way forwards!

My little tiny newborn baby that I cradled in my arms for the first time in what felt like only a few moments before was crawling all by herself. She was no longer a tiny newborn baby, she no longer wants to be cradled in my arms, she no longer wants to fall asleep on my chest and she is now becoming more and more independent using me simply as a human mountain to try and climb over!

Where did the time go?

She is only 8.5 months old.

She is already 8.5 months old.

I have accepted my fate and I bought corner protectors, plug protectors and various other protectors to stop the little crawler we now have in the house from doing more harm to herself than the many bumps on the head she is going to encounter along the way to stability! Today alone bought us three naughty little bumps, but as much as I tell her that this is a consequence of holding onto things with just one hand, she refuses to take me seriously! Hopefully she will learn that lesson soon enough. I also hope that she learns that she will continue to get more naughty little bumps when she rolls off the nice soft cushion I have placed on the floor onto the hard tiled floors. Stop at the edge of the cushion child!

Bump, ouch, waaaaah!

A common sound in my house now.

I know that walking is just around the corner, and I am happy with her development and her new found independence. I don’t mind about all my magazines being pulled off the shelf and ripped apart. I will clean up the strewn books on the floor that she herself has strewn there for the umpteenth time; I will put the blank DVD’s back in their cases every time she pulls them out one by one by one. I will do all of this and more if she will repay me by falling asleep on my chest every now and then and being my little girl who needs her mommy

please . . . .

Wasted trip to the Zoo

I think that whilst I was pregnant and my body was making little Emmeline, something went wrong somewhere between week 18 and week 38. I appear to have not manufactured whatever gene is necessary for my child to show any interest whatsoever in animals at the zoo!!! She totally lacks the animal interest gene much to my dismay!

It all began in the morning. I was at a loss as to what to do and then like a lightning bolt out of the blue, it hit me – let’s go to the zoo. I thought that it was a fantastic idea! I imagined little noodles face lighting up when she saw the giraffes, squealing with little baby delight at the monkeys and awestruck by the bears. I have way too much imagination and I do believe that what I was actually imagining was some piece of crap Disney movie, because these kinds of reactions from an 8 month old baby could only happen in the land of Walt!

The day started as it meant to continue, not remarkably well! Xavi and Yaincoa had things to do, so I got us ready and decided to walk down to the zoo so that Emmeline could doze off whilst we were walking and then wake up and refreshed for when we got there! Off we trundled. . .  

A quarter of the way there and Emmeline had eyes like saucers. Still awake.

Half way there and she was screaming her lungs out at me due to tiredness (everyone was looking at me like I was an evil mommy who had abandoned her baby). Still awake.

Three quarters of the way there she had given up crying and was now just listlessly staring at the walls of her pram. Still awake

When we got there (or more so, to the park at the entrance of the zoo), she started to wail at me again. Still awake.

I was screwed. I knew that if we went into the gym she would fall straight asleep – Murphy’s Law.

So I decided to walk around the park and in a last ditch effort I whipped out the emergency dummy and plonked it into her mouth. She decided to really push me by then playing with the stupid dummy and putting it in her mouth, chewing it, taking it out and waving it about as if she was about to throw it away! Silly cow!

I gave up and eventually just decided to go into the zoo and see what happened. 17eu later and we were in. I had put Emmeline into the baby sling so that she could see all the animals better, I had my camera out ready to start recording one of life’s beautiful moments, and I had a really dumb grin of a new parent on my face.

First up, an ostrich! It was right in front of us, it is from my home country of South Africa and it was huge. I pointed it out to Emmeline, used an appropriate sing song voice, went ‘ooh’, ‘aah’ and ‘wow’. Emmeline looked more amused at me than the big bird! So I shut up and just pointed. Nope, still grinning at me like an idiot! Took out the camera to at least get a picture of the stupid bird I had seen a thousand times and my dud daughter launched at the camera finding it much more amusing than the bird. I told myself that perhaps in her little baby eyes, the ostrich was camouflaged?

I was determined and so off we went. Next up: flamingos. Bright, big flamingos right in front of us, playing in the water! LOTS OF BIG BRIGHT BIRDS! Nothing! Once again, my dud of a baby was more interested in me and the camera than the wildlife that surrounded us.

Hmmmmmmm, starting to get an uncomfortable feeling . . .

I heard the monkeys and headed in that direction thinking they would definitely get some kind of reaction from my daughter. By the time I got there, Emmeline was snoring away on my chest! Silly cow.

So there I was, a lone adult (absolutely parched, with no water and no money and convinced I couldn’t pay for anything by card) pushing around an empty pram with her (increasingly heavy) daughter strapped to her chest fast asleep and snoring. Uncomfortable and thirsty!

Had I not have seen many animals before it could have been alright, but I spent 2 months touring AFRICA! I have seen the big 5! I have touched a cheetah; I have been 1 meter away from wild silverback gorillas, wild elephants and wild giraffe! I watched a hyena chase down a baby gazelle, I have seen whales swimming just off the shore in front of me and I have swam with dolphins! I have seen all of this in the wild, in their natural environments! And so for me, not only does the zoo not compare, it is also just a little but sad!

But there I was bidding my time until sleeping beauty woke up! Coincidentally, the lions were also sleeping, the panther was sleeping, the jaguar was sleeping, the tiger was sleeping, the hippopotamus was sleeping, the wolves were sleeping . . . . In fact it would seem that the only moron who was not asleep was ME!

Eventually Emmeline woke up, and I was buoyed on by new optimism! We quickly did lunch and then went over to the chimpanzees. There was only one and it was kind of far away, so when she did not pay much interest I thought it must be camouflaged again. How much can 8 month olds really see?

Then along came a lady throwing bread at the monkeys – something I am pretty sure you are not allowed to do but something that no-one cared about because with the bread thrower came 5 chimpanzees!!! And every time she hurfed bread at them, they performed tricks! TRICKS! Their arms would move and they would strike poses; they would clap their hands and move about – actual performing chimpanzee’s right in front of us! I had to elbow a few dodgy looking gypsies out the way so that Emmeline could see, and you know what my little angel did?? She launched herself at the camera every opportunity she got and when she couldn’t do that, she kept trying to grab some mans leather jacket!! She didn’t give a stuff about the performing chimpanzees, oh no, a leather jacket was way more interesting.

Everyone, please meet my dud of a daughter Emmeline.

Somewhere, someone is laughing their arse off at my expense.

The final straw came when she paid no interest to the giant elephant standing in front of us! I gave up, I put her back in her pram and I gave her the lid of her bottle to keep her entertained!

I eventually checked if I could buy something and pay by card and yes, I could. I bought water, coke, and chips and replenished myself! Managed at least to get a photo of Emmeline with some giraffe in the background to remember her first zoo trip! Although I think the picture of her trying to grab the camera out of my hand is a much more accurate picture!!!

What made the whole day worse? Whilst walking home, Emmeline spotted a pigeon. An average, every day, common street pigeon. What did she do?

Shrieked with delight . . .

p.s. update: at least we didn’t go 2 weeks later – mommy wolf escaped with her babies in tow and had several areas of Barcelona on alert whilst they rounded her and her little ones up to go back to the zoo!

Flying with a baby

The last time I flew I was 5 months pregnant. All I had to think of back then was being careful of my bump and looking after myself. The time before that was with Xavi on a little trip to UK to go and get the restof my stuff to bring to Barcelona. All I had to think about that time was organising my crap as quick as possible so that we would have time free to do some sightseeing, have a few drinks, dinners out and have fun.

This time I flew with my little 8 month baby girl. There was a whole lot more to think of and very little of it was about me! It was all about her. Packing was an arse ache but I did it! Getting to the airport was made super easy as my dad gave us a lift there. I would really prefer to not think of how difficult the journey on the trains to the airport would have been with a baby in a sling, a backpack, shoulder bag and wheelie giant suitcase all alone!

Anyway, so my dad took us there, and helped me in with my bags. He took care of Emmeline while I got us checked in and then we stopped for a coffee where once again he took care of Emmeline while I went to the toilet etc. So far everything was going swimmingly! We then found ourselves at security. I had a backpack filled with liquids, all Emmeline’s! 1 bottle of her water (125ml), 1 bottle of milk (125ml), another bottle of milk (240ml), her Apiritol (baby paracetamol) and then my lip cream. Ordinarily all this should be in a clear plastic bag, divided into 100ml bottles blah blah blah blah! I didn’t bother doing any of this because I knew that Barcelona was a lot more relaxed, realistic and practical than other places. And as I thought, when the security man sitting at his little x-ray table saw my bag go through, he raised his head lazily and looked over. I pointed to Emmeline and raised my eyebrows as if to ask if it was a problem? He shook his head and motioned all in one go that it wasn’t a problem and that I could go through! Fantastic! What was not so fantastic is that even with a baby strapped to my chest, they still made me pull off my boots so they could check them. I gave them an incredulous look of ‘really? Seriously? Baby strapped to my chest so this is kind of awkward!’ My look had no effect whatsoever and so I dutifully removed my shoes. The problem was that on the other side my slip on shoes that slid on so easily at home seemed to get stuck! So there I was in front of a row of 5 bemused looking security guards bending over trying to put my shoes on with Emmeline looking like she was going to slip out of the sling at any minute! I hid my embarrassment by looking down and starting a deep conversation with Emmeline whilst doing what I should have done in the first place – walk over to the chair and sit down to put on my shoes!

Once I had successfully put my shoes back on, we had to walk a million miles to get to the check in gate. There was a queue already! Poo! I flashed my baby at the Ryan smelly bum Air check in ladies hoping that one of them would say ‘ooh, I see you are travelling alone with a small baby strapped to your chest! Would you like to board before the rest of the people in order to get yourself and your baby organised without being in anyone else’s way’. They didn’t! They simply took my ticket and moved on. Crap, I was at the end of the queue. Poo! Thankfully the flight was not totally full and we managed to get a seat towards the back and by the window. The air steward gave me the baby seat belt as we got into the plane and told me to ask if I need help. Help? How hard could it be? It was for me! But thankfully I had a helpful lady sitting in the same row as me who helped me to put on this little contraption around Emmeline! She very nicely left the middle seat empty allowing me to use that seat to leave Emmeline’s many things on it. She spoke to me for a few minutes whilst we were waiting to take off, she slept the whole journey, and then she stayed with me until almost everyone had gotten off the plane to see if I needed help with my bags! The perfect person to have next to you! I declined her offer of help and loaded myself up with bags and baby and was the last person off the plane! Although being the last person off the plane and into the bus somehow meant that I was the first one off at the other side and one of the first ones to get through the doors of arrivals!

Then came the return journey. Security at Edinburgh was quite different to security at Barcelona. At both airports I had 3 bottles for Emmeline in my bag - 2 with milk and 1 with water. I also had her medicine and lip cream. At Barcelona I left everything in my backpack all organised for the flight and had no problems at all. However at Edinburgh it was a different story. There I was with the same 3 bottles all in a plastic bag in my hand along with her medicine and my lip cream. I had to put the plastic bag through separately. I knew that they would be a bit more anal about everything! Once again I had to remove my shoes despite looking at the lady with a look of ‘Are you serious?’ Especially as I had seen that not everyone had been taking off their shoes! So why me? Why the lady with the baby still strapped to her chest? Once again I imagine that the fuchsia baby sling must have terrorist written all over it . . .

The bottles went through and I saw the lady rewind the conveyer belt to have another look and quickly look up. I wondered if her heart had started to beat a little quicker when she saw so many uncontrolled liquids. Did her pulse quicken? Was she thinking ‘ooh, we might have a situation here? A highlight of my day! I will have a great story to tell at the dinner table tonight’ I motioned to her that they were mine and that I first needed to put back on my terrorist looking shoes and then I would be over. I came over and said they were for Emmeline. I had already prepared myself for a fight in case they said anything about me not being able to take the bottles on. But no, no fight, instead she simply made me drink a little bit from each bottle. Ridiculous. Firstly, do I look like a suicide bomber? Perhaps the tiny baby would indicate that I am not? Secondly, if I was on a suicide mission, the ENTIRE world now knows that airports test liquid. Even tiny villages in the middle of Africa are probably aware of this fact. So, I would have to be a pretty stupid terrorist to try get through security with my little liquid explosions and if I decided to give this a go anyway, surely I could just as easily divide my liquid explosions into several 100ml shampoo bottles? Anyway, a bic pen can be equally dangerous in the wrong hands, so chill the hell out with the liquid obsessions for god’s sake! Ridiculous!

By the time this whole thing was finished and I had to walk another million miles through this airport boarding had started on my flight. Again I tried to flash my baby at smelly bum check in ladies and again this failed miserably. Should have flown sleazy jet, even though they steal from you at least they let you board first! In the end I was one of the last people to get on the plane. And it was a full flight! I found a seat but I could not sit down because I had my backpack under the seat in front of me and there was no space for my other bag because all the other stupid passengers had taken up all the space with all their stupid hard suitcases! So I tried to find a stewardess who of course was nowhere to be seen! And they hadn’t given me the seatbelt for Emmeline. I was boiling and ready for a fight. Not normal in me. So I held up everyone if my attempt to flag down someone. Eventually I did and told her that I needed help as my bag wouldn’t fit in the overhead locker. She very ‘helpfully’ told me to put it under my seat. Yes you total waste of space, I am aware that is an option, however I already have a bag there! So she put my bag on the other end of the plane. Hmm, thanks, now it will be so much fun to try and find my bag when we are in Barcelona! I looked down and the Spanish man sitting there had this look on his face of ‘oh great, I get stuck next to the lady and the baby’. He looked like he was trying to find a way to escape, but alas, there was none! I still had no baby seatbelt and was starting to get pissy. The stewardess´s took their time about giving it to me, and all appeared to have been sucking on lemons before we all boarded. A Scottish girl then sat next to me and although she was very nice, this did mean that I was crammed the entire flight in the smallest chair in the world with a baby on my lap who spent the first hour trying to grab everything of the Scottish girl she possibly could and kicking the Spanish man at every opportunity. Eventually Emmeline fell asleep and I spent the rest of the flight dying from thirst and hunger, supremely uncomfortable holding up my sleeping baby whilst my eyes were getting heavier and heavier and unable to do anything to relieve neither my thirst, hunger or uncomfortableness due to the sleeping baby on top of me, the fact that my bag was totally unreachable due to the fact that the seats in airplanes are not so small I feel like I am in a chicken coop and even if I had managed to get money, I would have to sell a kidney just to be able to afford to buy anything on their menu.

Even though Emmeline is a pretty chilled out baby who doesn’t cry much, flying with a baby is not easy! No one thinks to let you board first. It is not because I think we should get special treatment, but it is in everyone´s interest to let people with kids get on first. There are things to organise! I had to make sure that I had her bottle, I had her dummy, I had a little toy, that she was strapped in, that she wasn’t too warm or cold. It is not as easy as others who simply walk on, switch on their mp3 and switch off their mobile. If we are able to board first, we can choose the seats at the back out of the way or the seats with slightly more leg room so that the huge amount of stuff we need can be with us and not in the overhead lockers where we need to keep getting things. Letting us on first keeps us out of everyone else way, because I know that a lot of the other passengers don't have the patience for us. I used to be one of them! Boy did karma come back and bite me on the arse for that! I know how some people looked at me thinking 'oh no, screaming baby the whole flight!' The stewardess´s didn’t ask if I needed help with anything not even one single time. I remember a time when their job was to help, not to just stand there trying to sell overpriced water and fecking lottery tickets. They actually made my flight worse, not better. It never used to be like that. There were apparently baby changing facilities in the toilets. Thank god I didn’t have to use them! Just the thought of trying to squeeze out of the chairs with Emmeline in my arms sent shudders of fear through my spine, let alone thinking about the rest. It was stressful, but we made it! I would obviously do it again, but this time I would definitely pay the extra and get priority boarding! Just another thing that Ryan smelly bum air makes you pay for, a service that should really be free. I remember when it used to be free, travelling used to be a lot more enjoyable back then!

Our Scotland Trip

We did it, we went to Scotland to see my sister Chantal and meet my nephew Zack! And we had a fantastic time! Let me tell you how it went!

Xavi left to go work down the coast on Monday, so I had a few days to get everything organised, and wow there turned out to be a whole lot to organise, starting with a bigger suitcase! I don’t know how I even thought I would be able to fit all of our stuff into the ridiculously tiny bag I had! It was not easy packing though. I am so used to just having to pack for myself, which is normally a pretty difficult task as I am a ‘just in case’ packer! This tends to mean that my bag gets filled up with stuff I never actually get around to using. Now that I have a baby to think about, I am full of even more ‘just in case’ than ever before – jacket just in case it is very cold, fleece just in case it is just cold, jersey just in case it is only a little cold, long sleeve tops just in case it is just breezy . . . and so on! But a remarkable thing happened that happens more and more now that I have Emmeline. I seemed to not think about what I needed or wanted or would have ordinarily taken to put Emmeline’s needs first. Normally I would have packed loads, this time I went with one pair of tights, a few long sleeve t-shirts and 2 jerseys. Emmeline of course had half her wardrobe with us just in case! The same was to be said with the bag that I took on the plane with me. Normally when travelling BB (before baby) I would take a fair size bag on the plane with me. I would need my music, phone, book, diary, magazine, water etc. This time the fair size bag I took with me was filled with nappies, change of clothing (just in case Emmeline graced me with an exploding poo), wet wipes, bottles, toys etc! What did I pack for me? Wallet, passport, phone! I packed like a man – the bare essentials!!

Well we had a fabulous time there! We started off by meeting my good friend Lynne the next day for lunch. I met Lynne in Australia and we have been the bestest friends ever since. We don’t get to see each other that often but she is a wonderful person! Over the next few days, Chantal and I went shopping, we took the babies swimming, we ate out, we went to baby shops together, we went sightseeing to the centre of Edinburgh, we went to have a look at a few possible wedding venues for Steven and Chantal, we went to butterfly world and we chilled out at home. I had an absolutely fantastic time with my sister, the best time actually. We chatted for ages about heaps of things, we gave each other advice about our babies, we laughed together and we just generally got on like a house on fire, something we don’t always manage to do! It was great! I also got to spend more time with her fiancé Steven, who I have met several times but not for any great lengths of time. So it was really nice for me to get to know him a little bit more as well. And yes, as I always thought, he is a lovely guy, laid back and chilled out, kind, funny and patient - perfect for Chantal. They make such a cute couple and seem to be perfectly suited!

And then there was Zack, my little nephew. Well actually I don’t think that I can really use the word little here as he is not! He is 4 months younger than Emmeline but he weighs pretty much the same and is the same length! He has big hands and big feet and I think he is going to take after his (tall) daddy! But what a character he is! I think that he was born with a frown on his face, this look that says ´what do you want? ´! This may be due to the fact that he was induced and eventually came out by c section. He was very probably still in the tummy because he was damned well comfortable, he didn’t want to come out, the world made him come out, and for this he looks at the world like 'damn you, I was comfortable, so leave me alone will you'. He is adorable! He looks at you all frowny when you go over and made funny faces and start to eat his belly, then he breaks out into this gorgeous little smile and gives you some little giggles. Then he looks at you like 'damnit it, you won, you made me giggle'! I love him! And he has a gorgeous smile and the most beautiful blue eyes ever! He looks at you sometimes with such curiosity and sometimes with total amusement and I would love to know what is going on in his little baby head! He has his own special baby smell and his own special looks and his own special noises that are totally different to Emmeline and equally adorable.

Then we put the two cousins together! They checked each other out with curiosity, the whole time Zack kept looking at Emmeline a little bit like 'who are you?' and the whole time Emmeline decided that it was acceptable to try and eat her cousin! I had seen it happen before, so when she reached out to gently 'grab’ his face I had to quickly pull away her grabby grabby hands whilst I had images in my head of her pulling out his eyes! She then lovingly grabbed his hands in hers and it looked at cute until I noted Zack´s hands going white. It seems Emmeline has an iron grip. She also turned out to be a little bit of a bully by stealing his bottle one morning! But they sat and played together and shared toys and had a great tie together!

Emmeline got so spoilt! Not only did she get new presents, but she got heaps of attention and play time from her aunty and her uncle! She never had a dull moment! It was great because they could play with Emmeline, I could play with Zack, or we could look after each other babies whilst the other was busy. Since Zack is the same size, I didn’t have to worry about packing nappies o anything as Chantal had all the baby stuff I needed. It made life so much easier but left me thinking 'crap, how hard will this be when we go on a holiday to a place where there isn’t already a baby? We will have to pack a lot more stuff!'

The holiday ended far too quickly and before I knew it, I was trying to squeeze things into my bag and freaking out as I knew I would be over the weight limit! Not too much of a surprise there thought, I did buy clothing, toiletries, and about 6 books, so I don’t know why I was freaking out! Oh that´s right, because stupid Ryan smelly bum air charge you 20eu per extra kilo! This on top of the fact that they charged me 20eu each way for Emmeline (even though she has to sit on my lap the whole time) makes me like them even less. We got to airport thinking that we had more than enough time to spare except that we didn’t imagine the possibility that Ryan smelly bum air would be checking in 5 flights at the same 3 check in desks. They were. Hence the million mile queue. Poo. Got through the queue much quicker than I had anticipated and before you knew it we were upstairs and I was being waved off by a sister who was very nervous about sending me off with no phone because if I had a problem, they wouldn’t be there and I wouldn’t have anyone to help me! Bless her, such a worry wart. The flight went without a hitch and when we landed although I was sad at having to say goodbye to my sister, I was happy to be back home. My dad was there and waiting for us and couldn’t wait to hold Emmeline! We got home and Xavi was already waiting downstairs for us! He was already hugging me hello before I had even managed to get out the car properly and the minute I got Emmeline out of the car seat, he only had eyes for his daughter! And I don't blame him . . .

Well, i just wanted to say sorry for the lack of blogs, but me and Emmeline are currently in Edinburgh, Scotland staying with my sister to meet my little nephew Zack!

We are having such a good time, and my little nephew is gorgeous!!

Will be back tomorrow, so will be catching up and posting many a long story!!!

Us

xxxx

Travel Document Rush

So looks like we are going to Scotland next week to visit my sister Chantal and my nephew Zack! He is 4 months younger than Emmeline and I have never met him before!

We were planning to go over there together, Xavi, Emmeline and I but Xavi’s job is very unpredictable.  We don’t know when a job is going to be accepted, and when it is accepted, he works Monday – Saturday which means there is no time for a holiday! So we have waited and waited for a free few days, but with no joy. We were going to go together in March, but in February another n=job got accepted and so March went out the window. Then the boat that they are working on now had to go to a different marina which means that xavi has to go and work down the coast for a week to 10 days. And so I decided to use this time to go to Scotland with Emmeline and visit them!

Then it hit me that if I was planning on travelling with Emmeline I would need to get her an identity document, her DNI! Freak out!

So it started by waking up at 7am to get ready and leaving home at 8:15 – Emmeline in the Baby Bjorn and my bag filled with milk, water, toys etc fully prepared for a long day! By 08:40am I was in the queue at the ‘Registro Civil’ (Civil Registry) to get Emmeline’s birth certificate. I was kind of hoping that having a baby strapped to my chest would give me some kind of advantage but I was too shy to try. Although the Brazilian man who was behind me was convinced that I should try and see if they would let me in first due to the fact that I had a baby. I meekly went to the front of the queue and asked the security guard if I had to wait in the queue just to get a birth certificate. That was my way of asking if there was any chance that I could jump the queue. The answer was that I did indeed have to wait in the whole queue, therefore No; I could not jump the queue!!

So we got her birth certificate and jumped into a taxi up to the ‘Comiseria’ (Police station) to get her DNI done. But first we had to get her photos done. This involved waking a very tired Emmeline – not a good idea! Eventually got the photos done and off we went, but as I got the comiseria, I realised that I had no money to pay for it, so back out to draw some cash. Back in we went but the lady at the front desk informed me that the ‘Padron’ (document stating where you live) that I have for Emmeline was out of date and that I would need a current one in order to get her DNI.

CRAP!!!!

So back in a taxi, down to the pardon office got a new pardon for Emmeline, back in a taxi and back to the comiseria. Phew!

Then came the 2 – 2.5hr wait. So much fun!!

Eventually we got called up and 10 minutes and 10euros later, Emmeline had her identity card!!

Yaay, we can go to Scotland!!

Car drama

I decided that today was finally the day to go and get the ITV for the car (it is like annual check up of the car to make sure that t is still safe and roadworthy). I have been dragging my heels about it since . . . October when the last one ran out! It is just a total schlep to have to do it and we don’t use the car that often anymore. Even when we go down to Valls to stay at the house or see Xavi’s parent, we tend to catch the train. Xavi’s brother died in a car accident when xavi was a teenager and I had a car accident in Australia where the people in the other car involved both died, so we are fully aware of how dangerous cars and roads are! For this we have no problem catching the train instead of driving, especially with little Emmeline. But alas, the time has come. Th weather is getting better and it would be nice to have the car ready for if we want to go somewhere for the day or the weekend.

I think the real thing that has been stopping me is the door lock. Something so tiny has become a huge obstacle for me. You see, the top of the door lock broke, actually let me rephrase that, xavi broke the top of the door lock! So when they door is locked, you can’t actually open the door from the inside as the lock is broken more or less in half. Now to me, this would appear to be a safety hazard – if there was an accident, the person on the passenger side wouldn’t be able to get out of the car. All I actually had to do was to stop in any mechanic and buy a new door lock. The car is parked in the parking of the marina where we used to live because finding parking in Barcelona is nigh on impossible! And paying for a parking space in a parking garage is much more expensive than paying for parking in the marina. But it does mean a 15 minute metro ride to get to the car! So the whole thing about getting Emmeline in her pram, get down to the marina to get the car, find a mechanic to get a new door lock (driving illegally the whole time as I have no ITV) and then actually having to go and do the ITV thing just wasn’t appealing to me! But as my mom was in Barcelona today, I decided to leave Emmeline with her and just get it over and done with!

I met mom at the metro and we walked over to the mechanic together as Emmeline was asleep in the Baby Bjorn, however for some unknown reason, the mechanic was closed! This posed an even bigger problem as the last thing that I needed was to be driving around (illegally) looking for a mechanic. So I did what any person would do, I super glued the two pieces together and hoped for the best!

I kept checking the door lock the whole way there, opening and closing it – the superglue appears to have worked! Although I was opening and closing it quite gently. If a big brute of man decided to do it, he may break it again. And so I decided, whilst picking super glue off my fingers and waiting in the car for my turn for the ITV, that if someone broke it, I would blame them! “But what did you do? How did you break my door lock? You gonna have to fix that you know!”

I was super nervous and figured my best plan was to play little girl lost, which I learnt from my very own mother and can work a treat when necessary. I got through the whole ITV without a single person either opening or closing the damned door lock

SERIOUSLY????

All that work and worry for absolutely nothing! No-one even touched the door lock, they didn’t even look at it!

Ridiculous!

Happy 7 Months!

HAPPY 7 MONTHS EMMELINE!

My little girl turns 7 months today. How did it go so fast? Where did the time go? It goes too quickly and I am worried that I am not going to remember everything!

Well as usual xavi had to work this morning, but thankfully not for too long. So Emmeline and I got ready and then met him down at the arc de triomf where xavi was waiting for us with Jimi. We all then headed over to Badalona to have a stroll along the beachfront, stop off for some tapas and then to sit on the beach for a little bit and take some photos. The weather was lovely and we stopped at a little bar that had a lovely terrace right by the beach and ordered a few tapas. Xavi knows me so well, as long as he orders me patatas bravas, he can order anything else he wants, just be sure that I get some potatoes! Scrumptious!

The beach was lovely and thankfully the sun decided to show her whole face just as we lay down our blanket! Emmeline seemed mesmerised once again by the water, the waves, the sand and the seagulls! I managed to get some nice shots of xavi and Emmeline and got some of Jimi and Emmeline as well.

Jimi then took some photos of us, and you know what I couldn’t help but notice when I looked at the photos later? I have GIGANTIC boobs! Where did they come from? They have always been slightly larger than some, but this is crazy! I am like a giant frigging milk storage factory! It is no wonder Emmeline turns her nose up at eating vegetables, she has ample supplies of the white stuff in me! Please tell me that they are going to shrink a little when I eventually stop breastfeeding for good? PLEASE!!

Anyhow, here are some of the photos from today

And my personal favourite . . .

Babies, Mommies and Coffee chaos

What a lovely sunny day today! Emmeline and I got up early (she seems to have decided that waking up early is acceptable) and we went down to Barceloneta to meet Katie and Elsie, Suzanne and Julia, Tsering and Elena and Andrea and Julia. We must have been quite a sight – 4 mommies with prams all heading for the beach front only to be joined by a fifth mommy and pram!! I must say that we do get our fair share of looks all seated around a ridiculously inadequate table loaded up with a various array or plates, trays, coffee cups, bottles, rice cakes, food pots, toys, dummies etc. and with babies of all about the same age propped on laps or stuck to our chests whilst somehow trying to eat a very fattening pastry and drink a decaf coffee without spilling it over our babies and managing to not let the babies grab everything and pull it off the table! It is an art! I love meeting up with the other mommies and I find it fascinating to watch the babies interacting with each other! They touch each other’s faces; they grab jackets, arms, hair – basically anything in grabbing distance. They bite, chew and suck their new little friends without any problems and when one cries, the others appear to follow suite quite shortly afterwards!

As for us mommies, we start conversations that get cut off half way the minute we have to quickly turn our attention back to our little ones. We try to find out about the other mommy and not just the other babies, but we tend to forget the answers, once again because we always have half our attention focused on our babies! There is some sort of general routine whereby we arrive, find a table and reorganise, juggle babies in order to go inside and order a coffee, attend to the little ones and make sure that they have something to keep them entertained (albeit only momentarily) relax just long enough to be able to gulp down a coffee and think ‘Thank god my baby seems quite relaxed’ before the inevitable. Your baby starts to get a bit irritable because she is bored, she starts to try to grab everything or put everything in her mouth, she starts to whinge, you look at the clock and realise that it takes so long to get ready, out the house and down here that it is almost time for baby to eat lunch . . . and you still have to get home. Before you know it, all the mommies are starting to pack up the bags and babies in order to head home!! We were seated a total of maybe 30 – 45 minutes!

Gone are the days of having a leisurely drink with friends, maybe followed by some tapas and perhaps another wine whilst watching the world pass you by. Everything is now scheduled; organised and controlled down to the last 20ml of milk that baby did not drink!! It is nothing like it was before, but then I never thought it would be!