Our last road trip of the year was to Lyon, 90 minutes or so from Geneva and a city we had on our must visit list for awhile.
The St. Lucian Lad came with us for the trip, which I find lowers my stress level on day trips because I am not worried about him home alone desperate to go out for a walk. As long as the weather cooperates and we can find underground parking, he is very content to nap in the car while we visit museums etc.
First stop was the Lyon zoo (surprisingly mostly dog friendly) located within a huge park in the middle of the city.
While Lyon is known for its fine dining we know the limits of our Tiny Humans and conscious of time given it was just a day trip, we found a little burger chain King Marcel. While not fine dining, the burgers were adequately fancy and we were back out exploring the old part of the city. Shopping for Tiny Humans 1&2, pigeon chasing for Tiny Human 3 and a cathedral for the adults.
Next up the Museum of Confluence, Lyon’s Natural History Museum. Tiny Human 3 was not a fan of wandering through the museum on his own steam but did enjoy the birds and the girls are in their element wandering through museums like this.
After a quick pit stop for me check out a kitchen store I had been eyeing we headed out of town. Lesson learned from previous trips, we stopped for dinner at a brewpub for a brewery we like rather than trying to stop somewhere on the way home.
We arrived in before 23h but a lot of driving for M and we barely scratched the surface of the city so we will have to find time for a return visit soon.
Fun fact up until this past weekend I don’t think Tiny Human #3 had ever seen a cow in real life. We crossed that off his bucket list on Saturday when we took a short hike around the top of Mont Salève a mountain in the French pre alps conveniently located about a 30 minute drive from our house. The Salève is one of the dominating views from our street when I am out walking the dog. In fact, according to wiki the mountain is known as the “balcony of Geneva.”
We parked in the parking lot next to a cell phone tower and restaurant (apres-hike beverages are critical to happy ladies). There are a variety of options for hiking around the top of the mountain. M plotted out about an hour long (including cow watching time) loop right around the top of the mountain but if we’d had more time we could have explored a bit of the side of the mountain. Our route took us through fields with delightful French bovine happily eating grass on their side of the wire fence, their bells ringing in the cool mountain breeze. It was a Tiny Human #1 put it, a living cheese commercial. While we probably should have chosen better footwear, it was a good practice hike for longer hikes we are hoping to do this summer.
The ear popping as we drove up to the top should have been a good signal that we were quite high up but the cool breeze still took the Tiny Humans by surprise (note to self, pack wind shells in the Mommy Bag) none the less they scampered over the rocky trail in search of cows with the promise of a jus d’orange et un sirop grenadine at the end of the trail.
My father has given me a great deal of practical advice over the years but one of the big ones was “Don’t try to catch a falling knife.” My dad meant this I am sure literally, he is a butcher by profession after all. But over the past few weeks that piece of advice has been running through my head in a figurative sense.
When something is falling your instinct is to try to catch it. BUT as my dad drilled into me, when it comes to knives and other things that could hurt you, just let it fall, clean it throughly then get back to work.
I’ve been dropping a fair bit of figurative knives lately. Christmas was busy with houseguests, the girls at home for 3 weeks, an increasingly mobile Tiny Human #3 and general holiday pressure. I felt guilty I didn’t even post a Merry Christmas social media post let alone reach out to family and friends. December was a blur of getting the house ready, trying to keep some of our old Christmas traditions and making new ones.
Then January was getting the house put back together again, getting back into routine, finishing tasks at work and applying for positions here. Just when I felt like we were turning a corner, BAM. M fell breaking his wrist while taking the girls skating at a local outdoor rink. His attempt to give me a Sunday afternoon free of distractions ended up being quite painful for him.
Thankfully we have access to great medical care, he had surgery 24 hours after his fall and is slowly on the mend. But it has been challenging, especially for the first few weeks when he couldn’t really use his hand.
I am parenting, working, job hunting, trying not to watch the news and picking up the things M usually does around the house. Not to mention helping him with tasks he cannot do one handed. (Every week he can do a little bit more and he can now button up his shirts making mornings a bit less chaotic.)
All this to say, the tidy little division of responsibilities we had settled into has been uprooted. Our consumption of dish tabs has increased because I lack his ninja like patience to properly load the dishwasher.
So back to the knives, I don’t know if it is extra stress but I have suddenly started dropping things, the glass water jug, two jars of vanilla 😢 and knives.
One night in particular, I was rushing to cut an onion for dinner while feeding Tiny Human #3, listening to Tiny Human #2 describe her latest invention and timing Tiny Human #1’s piano practice when the knife slipped right out of my hand. I felt my brain fight my reflexes and the knife dropped to the ground.
I couldn’t help but laugh, life can feel overwhelming sometimes, family, finances, school, jobs, relationships, volunteer commitments. There are a lot of balls in the air or in this case knives on the counter and sometimes we drop a knife. When that happens we can try to catch it and probably cut ourselves or we can let it fall, pick it up, clean it off and get back to work. I hope that doesn’t sound too corny but it made me feel better to write it.
The St. Lucian Lad waiting to board his flight in Montreal
It’s been a busy few months but I am trying to catch up on my blog posts, starting with the new grey hairs the St. Lucian Lad gave me our first full day in Geneva.
I admit I was a little nervous about flying internationally with the St. Lucian Lad. He can be a bit of a head case but armed with a magic calming collar from the vet and his government paperwork, he did awesome. I think it helped that I was able to take him out for a little walk in YUL before our flight to GVA.
Anyway, fresh off his second successful international flight, the St. Lucian Lad nearly began his time as a diplomatic pup in JAIL. We arrived in GVA on a Monday morning and had the rest of the day to settle in, take the kids to a local park, buy groceries, etc.
The Tuesday though, M was back to work and we were on our own. Anxious to be on time his first day M flew out the front door of our flat with seconds to spare to catch the bus he was aiming for. I was in our bedroom unpacking, Tiny Human #1 was lying on our loaner couch playing on her iPad and the littles were in bed. Suddenly I heard a dog bark that sounded an awful lot like the St. Lucian Lad. I called out to Tiny Human #1 and asked her if she had fed the dog. A few seconds later she appeared in the doorway with a panicked look on her face. She couldn’t find the dog… We yelled for him, nothing… We shook his food dish, nothing… We checked in Tiny Human 2 & 3’s bedrooms, nothing…
Then I noticed the front door was ajar, panic hit me, in his rush, M must not have locked the door behind him. I threw on my shoes, grabbed his leash, my phone and keys and went tearing off down the stairs yelling for him. NOTHING… no little brown dog trotting up to me. Our building is set off the road and backs on to a walking path, where I had taken him the day before. I ran to the back gate, no sign of him. I remembered he was still wearing the Apple AirTag M put on him for the flight. I called M in a panic, he had to hang up so he could try to track him using the tag. As I ran out to street, I saw two police officers walking towards me leading a little brown dog using handcuffs as a leash, not just any little brown dog, MY DOG!
I called after them and they stopped, dressed in my jogging pants and pyjama top I tried to explain in my best FR that they had my dog. The police officers were not impressed he didn’t have the proper tag, apparently a woman had called them after the St. Lucian Lad had run up to her and her dog on the street. Off leash dogs on the street are a big NON NON. We just arrived, and he slipped out of our flat, I tried to explain. He didn’t have a phone number on his collar, but he did I said pointing to his travel tag with my Canadian phone number. I tried calling M, what good is a bilingual diplomatic husband if not to negotiate with police officers while you stand in the street in your PJ’s, but the call wouldn’t go through. Finally in desperation I showed them my boarding pass and the copy of his paper work on my phone. Finally after taking down, my name, my address, M’s name, M’s employer’s address and many promises that we were visiting the police station to register him with the canton by the end of the week, did they finally release the St. Lucian Lad into my custody. I called M who was relieved our dog hadn’t become a consular case and resumed his bus ride to work. St. Lucian Lad sheepishly followed me back into the building and up to our flat where he spent the next two hours cuddling with Tiny Human #1 who was much more forgiving than I was.
That afternoon, the Tiny Humans and I took the St. Lucian Lad for a walk behind our building and ran into a friendly older man who lives in the building next door and his little dog. He stopped me and inquired if my dog had been loose earlier, oui I responded preparing to launch into an explanation when he started laughing. He was just returning from his morning walk he explained when he observed the St. Lucian Lad trying to follow a tall man with a black briefcase (M) down the walk from our building and out on to the street.
The St. Lucian Lad still refuses to tell us the full story but our working theory is that the door popped up after M left and the St. Lucian Lad having not been taken for his morning walk took matters into his own paws. M didn’t hear him following him because we had taken off the St. Lucian Lad’s jingling tags for the airplane ride, he just had a flat tag with our name and phone number and his Apple AirTag.
Thankfully, the St. Lucian Lad has not tried any further escape attempts and after bureaucratic hurdles to complete the right paper work in the right order, the St. Lucian Lad is duly registered in GVA.
As you can tell from the title I started this entry before we left Canada but…. Moving to a new country with 3 Tiny Humans while working part-time didn’t quite leave a great deal of time for writing.
It’s a bit surreal seeing strangers pack up all of your belongings. I had to leave the house when they loaded my piano on the the shipping container that will be transporting our belongings to GVA, I just couldn’t watch in case they dropped it. The actual move took three days and now that we are in our staff quarters I worry we may have brought too much. I guess we will find out when our sea shipment finally reaches us.
My dad and sister graciously offered to drive us to the airport so we started moving things to my parents over the course of the summer. My cousin drove up to take the last few bags and random things we were leaving in Port Hope. We stuffed her car then the next day filled our car to the brim. Literally to the brim, I am not sure how M managed it but he put his Tetris skills to good use.
As someone who regularly does one week vacations from a backpack, I was a bit sheepish at the number of bags we were bringing. Looking back a month later, I don’t regret the amount of luggage we brought, the Mission did provide basic furniture and kitchen supplies but the girls have appreciated having some of their own toys.
M put an AirTag in our shipment and took a picture of the shipping container so we were able to chart its progress across the Atlantic. At last look, our belongings are at the port waiting to come by truck to Switzerland. While I dread unpacking, I am looking forward to having a fully functioning kitchen and the girls (especially Tiny Human #2) are eagerly awaiting their stuffed animals. Tiny Human #1 is more concerned with having a space where she can do homework away from her siblings.
For anyone planning a move like this, here is what I am glad I added to our suitcases:
Water bottles
Tupperware containers
Reusable food storage bags
Bag clips (though I wish I brought more)
Scissors, tape and pens
Blank paper and colouring supplies
Sticker books
#3’s Go Pod
#3’s clip on high chair
Dog bed
Girls’ scooters (though they haven’t used them as much as I thought they would)
I do wish we had brought more books, the girls have access to a library at school but they miss their books. I also miss my little frying pan, garlic press and pizza cutter. (I am planning a separate post on my adventures cooking with two pots and frying pan).
Now that we are getting more settled I am hoping to blog a bit more about our adventures.
I had high hopes for my mat leave. I was going to turn my list of blog ideas into actual entries. I was going finally knit awesome things with the wool in my closet. I was going to steal my in-laws’ Netflix password and rewatch 16 years or so of Grey’s Anatomy.
The universe had other plans. Tiny Human #3 is a pandemic baby. Our extended family, for him, live in our computer. He thinks the people on TV giving COVID updates are talking to him. Pretty much everyone he sees is wearing a mask. Aside from a few blissful weeks of order and routine when his sisters were able to return to school, he has had to share cuddle time 24/7 with his siblings.
M who normally travels every 6 to 12 weeks is now camped out in the playroom/office. Tiny Human #1 is tucked away behind her bedroom door and Tiny Human #2 has taken over the family room. The upside is that Tiny Human #3 has access to spontaneous cuddles throughout the day. The downside is that some days I feel like I need to buy him baby earmuffs to drown out the yelling.
I find myself grieving the mat leave I was expecting. I cannot cuddle on the couch with Tiny Human #3 while he naps, or meet a friend for tea. We are fortunate to live in a decent sized house but it feels like I am constantly juggling everyone’s needs and I am never really alone. I am also constantly worried about all of our mental health.
I have come to treasure pandemic pauses, right now I am sitting outside in the sunshine typing away on my iPad. I am sure at any moment someone will come bursting out with a problem for me to solve but until then I will enjoy the wonderful sound of my fingers hitting the keys. I held off on writing this for months because I didn’t want to sound whiny but 5 weeks left until I return to work I find myself hitting a wall. I cannot control my anger and after anger come the tears. I have loved the time with my children but I cannot help but feel frustrated.
Oh the icing on the cake (I know I am burying the lead) is that in less than three months we are moving to Switzerland. What would already be an emotional and busy time is even more complicated. I feel guilty taking a pandemic pause when I should be spending time with my children, cleaning or organizing but with no light at the end of the tunnel I need to let it go and just try to enjoy the brief snippets of what I imagined my mat leave to be.
I confess that there are likely bobby pins in every room of my house.
Tiny Humans #1, #2 and I are notorious for playing with our hair and taking out our barrettes. This usually drives M nuts BUT Tiny Human #2 has discovered a new use for our favourite hair accessory.
As I have mentioned before, the Tiny Humans are huge craft fans. Lately, they have been VERY into beading, but Tiny Human #2 struggles to thread a needle. After a couple of failed attempts with wire, I realized that bobby pins are the perfect size to use as a needle for large beads. Best of all, no more frustration when she accidentally unthreads her needle.
One of our better parenting decisions early on with Tiny Human #1 was have M give a night bottle to allow me an extra couple hours of sleep.
This means there are usually 2-3 bottles of milk lurking in our fridge, identical bottles with an identical amount, making it hard to know which bottle to use first. That is until we instituted:
The Banzet Milk Management System
I place a rubber band around the oldest bottle in the fridge so M knows which bottle to use first. BUT what if you don’t give a bottle everyday (which we don’t). I pump a bottle everyday but M doesn’t necessarily give Tiny Human #3 a bottle everyday.
Milk only lasts in the fridge for 4 days. I have started to use coloured stickers to mark each bottle and just jot down on a sticky note the date I pumped the bottle.
I admit it is a little Type A but it does keep us organized.
After often seeing it listed on Top Ten Lists of the most unnecessary baby gear, I feel the need to come to the defence of one of our most surprisingly useful pieces of baby gear, The Baby Bullet.
While the Baby Bullet was handy for preparing and storing baby food, the device really came into its own when Tiny Humans 1 and 2 became toddlers. In fact it is one of the few pieces of baby gear we received as a gift for Tiny Human 1 that we have used consistently ever since.
Why has a baby food blender taken up valuable cupboard real estate for the past 8 years?
The Blender Bowl is the perfect size for 2 Tiny Human size portions of smoothie.
The Blender Cup is the perfect size for 1 Tiny Human portion of smoothie.
The Grinding Blade is great for making up to one cup of oatmeal or rice flour.
The Snack Cups are easy for tiny hands to open in their lunch box. We use them to take berries, cereal or small crackers to school OR if they are really lucky small amounts of Smarties or marshmallows. We have also brought them with us travelling to hold single servings of rice cereal or to hold left overs to snack on later.
The Silicone Mould is is useful for freezing left over juice for smoothies. I also recently realized that the mould is the perfect size to make egg bites in the Instant Pot.
The Spatula is small enough to get into the corners of jars to get out that last little bit of food.
I admit I rolled my eyes when Tiny Human received the blender for her first Christmas. We were still living in the condo and space was at a premium but the happy little blender has proved its utility time and time again.
A couple of years ago I wrote about my tips for coping with a sick Tiny Human. One of the tips I found was to place a vinyl tablecloth on your couch for easy clean ups. But what about the everyday mess that comes with Tiny Humans, especially Tiny Humans prone to spitting up (looking at you Tiny Human #3). I realized while folding laundry on the couch one day that the Len Mattress Protectors from IKEA are the same size as our couch cushions. I just slip the mattress protector between the cushion and the foam to place an extra layer of protection between the couch and the Tiny Humans.
Inside the Mommy Bag 