Carpe diem with kids

3 months in isolation and we managed to book a flight for my Mum to return back home. I’ve got mixed feelings about it - I am mainly worried about the time spent in the airport and during the flight surrounded by people. A bit sad because the girls, mostly Emma keeps saying she doesn’t want her to go, so she’ll be quite disappointed for a while. But knowing Emma, she’ll quickly get over it. Relieved - because we really needed to get back to being us four and get back to our normal (haha!) life. It can be tricky to live with our parents. There are expectations on both sides, and not all the time these are being met. And when this extends over a long period of time, it becomes even more difficult. There may be choices we make and our parents don't agree to, just because they've lived different, they are just a different generation. I believe the generation gap deepens when it comes to parenting styles and it’s very difficult to view the comments as constructive. It may be a Ro...

After moving here to the UK, and after Ariana was well settled into the new nursery, I started a new job in IT. It was a complete turn of my career, from academia where I already knew the drills and was comfortably climbing up the professional ladder. So I felt totallyout of my depth, really nervous and soon I realised I had all the reasons to be. I was dealing with all sort of clients, each quite different (in attitude as well as in infrastructure) and every single issue that came up was new and something I've not dealt with before. And then the language barrier - not a massive one, but added up to the load. So one day, a colleague said: be like a duck. I thought, WTF?! So he explained: a duck on the water looks very calm and serene, while under the water is peddling like hell. So when speaking to clients or being on the phone to them, seem like everything's under control and you know exactly what to do, while actually you will do your best to sort out their issue. Do look co...

My first day of annual leave! Ah, the thrill of that, it's finally here! No, I have not spent the morning making to do lists or planning what I've got to do (although they're in my head but I keep ignoring them). Didn't even go for a run, although I was planning to. Instead, I joined Emma on her dance class, then sorted out Legos with Ariana and Dan. I need to focus on not setting expectations for the next week. In my head, lists are building up, plans, tasks, increasing my awareness of all the shit piling up over the last 2 months, all that needs done. If I get any of that done, fine! If not, fine! Now that I've written it, it's like a pact with myself. The main thing we need to catch up on is spending more quality time and playing with the girls. There's been a bit of planning on that side, and a camping night in the garden is in the cards, some Star Wars folded flyers, star gazing, and other 'whatever makes them happy' activities. Yesterday ...