2 YEARS & 2 MONTHS- 12 September 2012

I don't know what to do with this blog; I'd really love to keep writing it, I often think about what to write for my next post, but then I never get around to doing it. In Barcelona I worked from home and was on the computer all day, not being on the computer made me feel guilty. Writing this blog was a welcome break from work, without feeling guilty because I was still on the computer. Now I'm hardly ever on my computer. I check e-mail and facebook on my phone, and I don't do any work whatsoever on the computer. It's almost a hassle having to go into the computerroom, switch on the computer, sit here and look at the screen...
But I've decided to try to keep this blog going, because I do really enjoy writig it! :)

Liva and Laia had a lovely birthday, my mother-in-law was here from Spain. Liva and Laia had loads of presents in the morning, mainly from their Iaia but also some from Albert & me. I had the day off so Iaia and I had a nice day with the girls. In the evening my parents came over for a birthday dinner, it was a lovely day. Two days later we had a small celebration in the garden for some family, that was great as well, Liva and Laia loved the day and were extremely happy!
Presents in the morning
Birthday dinner
Birthday in the garden
Birthdaycake in the garden

Liva and Laia still love daycare, even more now that they are in the daycare that Albert & I originally wanted them to go to. They started September 1st, I was very worried about how they would manage, they were so happy in the other daycare and had been there for 3 months. I took them to the new daycare 3 Friday afternoons and played with them on the playground, talked to the adults who work there, and made sure Liva and Laia met some of the other kids. The Monday they started I went with them and stayed for about 30 minutes, then I went home to teach for 2 hours, and rushed back to pick them up after lunchtime, before naptime. They were happy and had had a great time. According to the adults there they hadn't cried at any point. The next day Albert and I both dropped them off in th morning, Albert stayed for about 10 minutes, I stayed for about 20. We had agreed they should try napping there, but if there were any problems at all the daycare should call me, my students were warned that I might have to leave suddenly. But there was no phonecall, when I finished teaching I rushed up to the daycare and got there at 14ish, shortly after Liva and Laia had woken up from their nap. They were having such a good time playing that they refused to leave. I ended up staying there with them until almost 16:00. It felt sooo good seeing them so happy there - much happier than in the old daycare! This new daycare has a fixed schedule - there's breakfast until 8:00 (something Liva and Laia never experience since they never get there until just after 8:00), a fruit-snack at 9:00, then they all go play outside on the playground. At 11:00 there's lunch, after lunch all the kids are put down for a nap. At 14:00 there's another snack, then they all go outside and play again, at 17:00 there's another little snack, which Liva and Laia have so far only had once because they're normally picked up between 15:00 and 16:00. Yesterday it was pouring rain all day and I really didn't feel like walking up there with the stroller, so we agreed Albert should pick them up after work, the only day they were picked up at 17:00. When he picked them up that late from the other daycare they were cranky, hungry, wet and mostly crying. When he picked them up yesterday he said they were having their snack and in a great mood. They were happy when they arrived at home and nothing like how they used to be after 9 hours in the other daycare. Albert and I are som much more relaxed and so relieved that they are in this new place. We're not worried about leaving them there for 9 hours once or twice a week because they clearly love being there!

Albert and I still have the same jobs, but I now work only daytime, usually between 8:00 and 14:30, meaning I can pick up the girls at a normal time every day. It's been a rough summer because I only had about 10 teaching hours per week for almost 7 weeks, and Albert couldn't sell very much in August since Spain shuts down completely all that month - and Spain isn't exactly an easy country to be selling in at the moment....
I have a job interview this afternoon as administrative worker at a school 2 evenings per week. I don't really want to work evenings, but if it's onlt twice a week it's OK - and just getting a foot inside the Helsingør school system would be great! So I'm really hoping I get this job!

Though some parts of living here are still difficult (much more so than we had anticipated before moving up here), we're all still very happy here! It's annoying that our financial situation still sucks, but it's starting to lighten up a bit. Albert of course misses his family loads and I miss my friend Susan and her little boy Luca - Liva and Laia still talk about Luca! - as well as our babysitter Emily! We had hoped to go to Barcelona for a long weekend in October, but for different reasons we probably won't be able to. We love the apartment we live in, our neighbors are wonderful, the girls and I love the area (Albert gets a little bored sometimes, he's a city-man!) and we love seeing my family so often (I think Albert gets a little sick of that sometimes, but I completely understand (as does my family) and we have an agreement that he can say no to coming along anytime! That gives him some breaks every once in a while as well).So all in all things are great, and are starting to look like they will only be getting better in the future! :)

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