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My Two-and-a-Half Year Maternity Leave in the Czech Republic
In mere days, the curtain falls on my two-and-a-half year long maternity leave here in the Czech Republic. It was everything I had hoped it would be and more. How it actually works is that there is a six-month-long maternity leave if you are an employee (read: not a freelance worker) that you are granted through your organization and the state, then after this six month period you previously got to choose a two, three or four year parental leave which can be divided or taken by either parent. For the purposes of this post and because I am the parent who took the leave, I will refer to it…
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Weeks 23-26 of 2024 (In Review) – The Month of June
Happy summer, (Northern hemisphere) friends! I’m lumping the update together into a nice and tidy June bundle so I get on track with the seemingly impossible-to-complete Year in Review challenge. June has been lovely this year, with Alex off work, things are just going nice and slow. Lots of time for playing in the park, naps, cooking, visiting and just all the good things in life. But first, let’s get to the important thing as our little one turned two a couple weeks ago! We went to the zoo to celebrate and some friends of ours met us there on that completely rainy June Monday, still a perfect way to…
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Week 19 & 20 of 2024 (In Review)
I can’t complain about early May – my spring fatigue and illness were over and it was birthday week! My early May birthday fell on a Wednesday this year but we were still able to make a one night getaway trip to Cesky Krumlov – the obvious choice for a fairytale experience within a thirty-minute drive. The actual day was pretty overcast but still did all the things such as plenty of outdoor time, coffees, playgrounds for the little one, sushi for a celebration dinner — it’s always what I request. This year I treated myself to a stay at the Zamecka Apartments at the very foot of the castle…
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Life, Lately: Autumn With a One-Year-Old
Happy autumn! I thought a catch-up was overdue, so here’s what’s been going on with us lately here in South Bohemia – life on maternity leave with a seventeen-month old toddler. THINKING… When I get free time, my mind is just a jumble of the hundred things I have been wanting to do. Writing it down in my planner, a series of random papers or a Google Doc has been saving me. Right now, Mouse is have an unusually long midday nap and I’ve been frenetically choosing activities: have lunch, pay bills/life admin, weekend plans… but then “which learning tower should I buy?”, I need to plan Christmas things already!,…
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Postcards from Summer
Well folks, it’s already the middle of October and the mornings have officially veered into “crispy” territory. The longer between posts, the harder it is to write because I feel like I have to catch the reader up on everything, but I also know that just writing is better than nothing at all, so here I am, talking about the summer our baby was one year old and what a special summer it was. July started off beautifully with our first visit to KVIFF (Karlovy Vary International Film Festival) as a family, complete with dog and baby. It was also our first festival after the pandemic, mostly because Alex wisely…
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Summer, Lately: Celebrations & Life With a 12 Month Old
We had a beautiful month of June here in South Bohemia. I have to say that I feel like I was so tired for at least half the month and had no idea why… until I realized that the allergy meds I am taking every other day for hay fever make me terribly drowsy. I am quite ready for allergy season to be over (still sneezing) but at least June was spent in a dreamy sort of daze. It started with a beautiful choir concert performed at a little festival in an apple orchard near Lišov. What an amazing setting and reminder (just when I really needed it) of how…
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I Want You To Know.
Dear Our One-Year-Old Growing Little Mouse, This week you turned one! Your first year has both flown by and yet also I can recall every little step of the way, every week with every little new change that happened between last summer and now. It has been one of the greatest years of our lives, being together with you and seeing you grow. Your parents traveled to the Czech Republic over ten years ago – we decided to embark on a big adventure, partially because of the yet unsatisfied curiosity of wanting to experience living in another country and have some international adventures. I felt that there was always some…
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Going to Rome With a Baby! Our Experience & Tips
Ciao, all! We had our first family vacation that was just the three of us last month. Sadly, Ferdie couldn’t come as we were headed to ROME, home to some of the best museums in the world and managing it with a dog plus a nine-month-old wasn’t the most relaxing-sounding thing. It was a wonderful trip! I’d been dreaming of returning to Italy for a long while now… and then the pandemic happened. As of last summer, things are running pretty normally in Italy and even though we couldn’t have our babymoon there as I wanted, it was so fun taking Baby M there and enjoying it as a family.…
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Life Lately: And That Was Autumn With a Baby
Now with a five-month-old, I can barely sit at a computer for more than ten minutes each day – I’m embarrassed that this post took me about two months to finally publish. I am really taking to heart “sleep when the baby sleeps” so my very few minutes of free time is going to rest and self-care. Sometimes I manage to write a whole e-mail. With an infant that is demanding more and more attention daily, that is definitely what’s working for me right now. With Alex back to work in mid-September after about two and a half months as a new little family, things have reached a new level…
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The Third Trimester & My Pregnancy Favorites
Happy summer, friends! We’ve been hanging out in South Bohemia as a new little family since our release from the hospital and it’s been such a nice slow time getting adjusted to the rhythms of life with a newborn. Our little one is already two months old now and I’ve been so lucky to have Alex off work until the start of the new school year and here at home. Thanks again for all the kind well wishes, messages and even gifts from some dear online friends. I never got to do a third trimester recap (clearly) – it was my shortest and unexpectedly toughest trimester, having been diagnosed with…
