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Week 13, 14 & 15 of 2024 (In Review) – Easter & April Heatwave
The weeks have flown by and I dropped the ball a little bit, so reviewing the past three weeks: Easter week and the first gorgeous weeks of our current month, April. Truly hope to be on time in about a week from now bringing us current. Man, besides this cold snap Central Europe is undergoing at the moment, haven’t we been so spoiled this year? Easter week was generally uneventful and wholly relaxing – even more so than spring break. I was so pleased that it was our little one’s first time participating in Easter traditions like an Easter egg hunt around the living room on Easter Sunday and his…
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Week 9 & 10 of 2024 (In Review)
Spring is in the air! Buds are noticeable, the first blooms are out, plant growth on the forest floor has begun, nests are furiously being built in trees all around us (peep the one above). But it’s been a beautiful past two weeks of crisp, sunny days were wonderful for being just normal winter weeks of the year. Fully embracing my maternity leave days this year (balanced with a wee bit of teaching) has been going so well and although we’ve weathered through colds cycling through everyone in the house and some health challenges here and there, they have been beautiful. Last week was particularly, accidentally magical. Baby play dates…
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Week 7 & 8 of 2024 (In Review)
Even writing week in review posts is proving to be challenging but it’s a special exercise this year only so I hope you are enjoying them so far! The past two weeks brought us Valentine’s Day, which is always a fun week to observe. It was a little bit cold and windy but I had a little coffee date with my Little Man in the monastery courtyard. It was fun watching him wander around. He’s in that phase right now where he’s discovering walking around outside and every single thing is new and exciting. The other day we all went on a family walk to a playground — the first…
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Week 5 & 6 of 2024 (In Review)
It’s nearly mid-February and I’m feeling the urge to settle as deep as possible into winter before March, when it still is very much winter but everyone seems to have spring on their minds. February is still true winter so I’m embracing the hot chocolates, movies, diving into books, flannel pajamas and plentiful cups of tea and coffee. Our little M suffered from a a particularly wretched cold in Week 5 so we kept our activities to almost nothing besides some daily fresh air. You feel so bad for the little ones who don’t know how to blow their nose! Fortunately that’s done and we’ve been able to do our…
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Week 3 & 4 of 2024 (In Review)
Last week was a light and abundant week of loads of baby activities. We visited two different baby cafes and the time outside the house (when we finally manage it!) always feels good for both of us, I think. If you’re not sure what I mean by “baby cafes”, these are entire cafe spaces completely dedicated to babies and toddlers. There is usually play equipment, things to climb on and loads of toys strewn about while also having tables and chairs for mamas to have a coffee and chat. There is a cover charge per child over one year old (usually). We are so lucky to have three or four…
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Week 1 & 2 of 2024 (In Review)
I’m trying something new this year. Every week (or two) I’m writing in just to document the usual daily life stuff that went on this year, my last year on maternity leave. This might just be mostly text, not a lot of photos, but the point is just to document the little things in an effort to blog more. Let’s see how it goes. It was another quiet New Year’s Eve night for us new parents, eating nachos and watching The Big Fat Quiz of the Year while baby slumbered, and I’d been anxious (for months!) about him waking thanks to the war-zone-like New Years’ fireworks around the city center.…
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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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The Perks of a Summer Spent at Home
The only other August I’ve ever spent so much time here in the Czech Republic was the year I got married (2015), and that was after two months away! I’ve called this year our “Baby Summer of 2022” as things are clearly a bit different with an infant. As we’ve been very much around, one thing which has firmly taken a place in our summer rituals is that of the weekly farmer’s market visit. We have a beautiful bi-weekly market in Piaristické Square here in Budejovice… I think I’ve never been to a market in a more beautiful setting than this one. As we aren’t getting a CSA (community-supported agriculture)…
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The Moments That Remind Me Why I’m Here
I’m on my way back from a lesson with a student (who is also my friend, gynecologist, etcetera, etcetera) where I’ve just successfully got her to use the present perfect unasked for the first time, and it’s a moody but refreshingly cool spring day. The clouds are sort of shifty characters and look like rain could spring forth from them at any minute. Without thinking much about it, other things on my mind, I cross the blue bridge across the river where one of my favorite spots in Budejovice is. I like it because it reminds me of the banks of the Seine in Paris. But you know, in southwestern…
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Autumn Celebrations + A Delicious Drink {Recipe}
I am already beside myself with excitement that the holiday season starts in two weeks! After last year’s Christmas market cancellation, I think I got my sense of joy and whimsy back and I’m ready to enjoy the coming season to the fullest! I couldn’t believe that in the single-digits of November the market was already under construction in the square! I have already smelled the ceremonial first waft of spiced punch, a phenomenon which happens every year and is always ceaselessly thrilling, as the punch stands are already out and blazing with business. Alex was joking that every year we have the same conversation, “Are you excited? It doesn’t…
