General goings-on with Margaux

I'm so aware of all the milestones and achievements Margaux is reaching, and yet none of them is significant enough to write a blog about - especially since I tend not to have photos or videos of them!



Until now, she has been taking any toys given to her during dinner (it's frequently only by distraction that she'll open her mouth for food!) and thrown them on the floor - and then wondered what's happened to them. Thomas and I aren't in the habit of picking up things she's dropped, so we go through quite a few toys each meal! By 'toys' here, I'm meaning anything I don't mind going in her mouth, like clothes pegs, jar lids, and foam dice. And they keep her just as entertained as anything else!

Recently, however, she's grasped the concept of give and take... once she has a toy that I've given her, I'll put out my hand and say, 'for me, please' and she'll put it on my palm. Then I shower her with thankyous and smiles, which seem to make it all worthwhile for her.

Eventually she'll get bored with that toy and throw it on the ground, ready for her next piece of entertainment.

Give and take has also led to putting things in and taking them out... like in the washing machine or dryer. I thought I had been pretty thorough, but yesterday I found a jar lid that had been rolling around in the dryer for the previous couple of hours...

The other photos below show Margaux with some of her friends at Mums and Tots, and her looking at me through the mirror in a new pyjama outfit I bought for her in Belfast. Sooo cute!

Maybe it's stupid, but I really get upset when people assume or ask me if Margaux is a boy. I know I shouldn't but really, I dress her in a pink dress and still get asked. Seriously, do people think I'm conducting a social experiment???

The big photo in the collage below is just one demonstration of what she wears when people compliment Margaux on being beautiful/ cute, or congratulate me on having a beautiful son.

To remedy this, while we were shopping yesterday I beelined for the headwear section and bought Margaux some very girly hair clips... hopefully this will deter the commenters!

In Portuguese, beautiful and cute are gender specific: i.e. a beautiful boy is 'lindo', while a girl is 'linda'. Same goes for cute: giro/ gira, which makes it very clear whether the person saying it is referring to my son (menino) or daughter (menina).

And here we have a mix of photos or Margaux as she gets bigger by the day! In the first photo, we were out for a coffee. Then we see what happens when Thomas comes home from work and has a nap for 20 minutes. I usually leave him alone, but sometimes Margaux can't get enough of him! The following is a photo from when Margaux and I were out and about shopping; and finally we have a selfie. Just because we can.

A girls' weekend in Ireland: shopping in Belfast

We three girls left Flynn with Jonathon again, timing our trip to accommodate feed and sleep cycles, and headed out to Belfast for a spot of shopping.

This time we were prepared for Margaux's potential grumpiness at being in the pram: we dressed her in Flynn's snowsuit (her little legs were freezing at the lights festival... they had been in a foot muff in the pram so we didn't think padded leggings were needed) and brought the front pack.

This time our planning paid off: it wasn't long before Bron was pushing a pram filled with bags and I was carting Margaux around in the front pack! You may be wondering why we don't start with the front pack and not worry about the pram... my back is still a bit delicate, so pushing a pram is far better for me than carrying almost 9kg on my person.

We went to two clothes shops (one that had a section dedicated to baby clothes and another that was entirely for babies) and I managed to steel myself from buying an entire wardrobe for Margaux. I tell you, it was hard!!

A girls' weekend in Ireland: The Festival of Lights

Friday night saw Bronwen, Jonathon, Flynn, Margaux, and I head off to Mount Stewart to wander through the annual Festival of Lights. The weather had been relatively OK during the day, so we had (unrealistic) hopes that the night would remain that way.

The festival itself was great: it's amazing what the effect of lights under trees can be! Unfortunately, the weather took a turn for the worse, and our best laid plans were seriously waylaid.

Added to this, Margaux became ridiculously distressed at the fact that she couldn't see the spectacle from her usual advantaged position of the front pack! The result was that Jonathon pushed an empty pram, Bron pushed Flynn in his pram, and I carried Margaux on my hip (she wouldn't go to Jonathon, even though he offered).

The rain bucketed down, but thankfully we were prepared with big umbrellas and an appreciation of the rainfall through the lights!

A girls' weekend in Ireland: When Toot (Flynn) met Toot Sweet (Margaux - pronounced toute suite!); and giving the Mums some time off.

As much as I had been looking forward to time away from family responsibilities, it was great for Margaux to meet Flynn and Co. Apart from Margaux, I have never met such a chilled out, smiley baby. Oh, he is just SOOO cute!

There was a little bit of healthy trepidation at the start before two of them got on like a house on fire, which was great. Margaux was very clingy though, which surprised me. If I was out of sight for more than about a minute she got uncontrollably distressed.

There was one afternoon, however, when Margaux had slept and had her lunch that she was perfectly happy to spend some time with just Jonathon and Flynn. This was brilliantly timed, as Bron had organised for us to have a facial and manicure... ahhh heaven!!

It was a wonderful escape for us to natter and debrief and have in-depth conversations and catch up - the way we had planned to do initially. You know those friends who you don't see for ages and then, when you do catch up, it's like you never left? Bron is one of those special people, for me.

Having been completely blissed out, we headed back home and relieved Jonathon of his duties. What a champion!

A girls' weekend in Ireland: Adapting when plans go awry

Well, my plans for a girls' weekend with Bronwen had been in the making since the start of September, so for over 2 months I had been looking forward to spending some quality adult time with one of my best friends and her little family, while Thomas spent some quality time with Margaux (and experienced life as I do when he goes away for work or pleasure)!

The schedule was that I would take a plane on Thursday afternoon to Dublin and get a bus up to Belfast, while Maria (my helper) stayed with Margaux all day. Thomas would then take Friday off work, so he would be alone with Margaux until my plane touched down on Sunday afternoon.

All of that took an unexpected turn when Thomas woke up feeling very ill on Thursday morning and scratching all over, leading us to believe he had chickenpox. It turns out he didn't, although he was still very unwell and generally stayed in a cocoon over the weekend.

We discussed various options, including me going as planned, leaving Margaux because she would be infected now anyway, and me not going at all... and then Bron suggested I take her with me. So it was... our girls' weekend acquired another girl, and I was in fervent packing mode to get Miss Maggie organised for 4 days away!

We made it to the airport with just enough time to check in and run to our gate... only to find, once we were through security and customs checks, that the plane was delayed by over an hour. Poor Margaux! She was bored witless within about 2 minutes, so I let her run (crawl) loose as much as possible, even though I knew the floors were filthy.

Eventually, we made our way to Belfast and were warmly welcomed by Bron, Jonathon and Flynn 8 hours after we left home!

And now... a standing ovation!

The girl has got it going on now! As long as she has something to support her, she's up and at 'em everywhere she can be...

... on the beach front; in the bathroom; while I'm changing the bedsheets; in front of her highchair - and of course low tables, open cupboards, lower drawers, trying to climb into the washing machine... it's all happening! :)

A whole family visit on Sunday

We were all leaving mid-afternoon on Sunday, so we took the opportunity to have a joint exploration of our land. I decided to leave Thomas and his parents to do the whole thing in French, while I spent some quality time with Margaux.

 

Margaux went through a few failed attempts of trying to eat acorns - while I went through some more successful attempts of retrieving them from her mouth - before she realised the effort was futile, and instead contented herself to playing with the leaves. Honestly, you can throw all the designer toys and teddies at her that you want, but it was near on impossible to distract her from those leaves.

 

 

 

This is it, in all its beauty. It's ridiculous how much it reminds me of my upbringing, which I'm appreciating much more these days!

 

And here we are, in various combinations, proving that we enjoyed exploring the place together. :) As if proof were needed!

We headed straight from this visit to the airport for some temporary goodbyes... we'll be seeing them, plus the rest of that side of the family, in the last weekend of November!

Thomas and I enjoying exploring our land

We used Saturday to really explore the property ourselves, while Rita and Jean-Paul happily looked after Margaux.

 

 

 

Here it is! It's really hard to explain where everything is in relation to everything else, but it all goes down one slope - the photo with me in it is from the other direction! 

 

The photo in the bottom right shows the land from the bottom upwards. And yes, you can see that stunning castle from our place. :)

 

 

WELCOME TO OUR LITTLE WOODLAND!

 

 

 

Chestnuts! Like so many other things, I'd never really thought about where chestnuts actually come from... and then there they were! We have loads of chestnut trees shedding leaves and nuts in copious amounts at the moment. I never properly understood the term 'leaf litter' before coming here.

 

 

 

There is something hidden in the photos below. I didn't see it at first, I just heard a movement and looked towards it. I called for Thomas to come carefully over and I pointed out where it was. He kept repeating that he didn't know what I was pointing at until I got really quite close.

 

Try to find the animal in the first photo. If you can't see it, go to the following one. I think it's relatively obvious in the third. :)

 

 

We continued on our way and came upon a ramshackle shell of a small dwelling, for want of a better word. In the photo below, I am standing in front of a wall of it. It reminded me of The Secret Garden.

 

We also found a very basic shelter made of branches, which is in another of the photos and which I hope I can find again! I have no idea what its original purpose was, but it seems like a really lovely place for reflection.

 

 

And, at the bottom of the hill, there is some rather large and thorny shrubbery which leads onto a walking path. We carefully picked our way through it, but decided to come back a different way!

 

We have a lot more exploring to do before we can declare the place discovered, that's for sure!

Let the Project begin!

Thomas, Margaux and I set out on Thursday for our first big meeting with all the specialists in Sarlat who will be guiding us, advising us, educating us, and working with us to get our project from paper to straw, as it were.

Margaux and I meet Thomas at the airport, where we boarded the plane to Toulouse. We met Mammy and Pappy there, who were delighted to see Margaux. It was a two-and-a-half hour drive to Sarlat, which Margaux endured wonderfully well – as did the rest of us.

I had a rather nervous moment on Thursday night, full of apprehension about what our work with the specialists would involve, how I would fit in, how I see the project, and – very importantly – how I would cope with it all in French. Thomas reassured me that everything would be fine.

And then it was the Big Day! At 09:30 on Friday Helene, the architect; Moilamain, the Permaculturalist; Phillipe, the straw-bale house designer-builder; Jean-Paul; Thomas; Rita; Margaux; and I met at Helene’s office. We had a very brief hello between us all before Margaux was too agitated and Rita had to leave with her.

 

 

We key stakeholders continued, with a very interesting and involved meeting, beginning with a more detailed introduction of our specialty, our perspective of the project, and how we believe we will be able to contribute. I struggled with the French, unsurprisingly, but Thomas translated where needed and made sure I was part of the discussion.

We all visited the land and viewed it through each specialist’s eyes, which was great for some collective brainstorming. In fact, that’s what the whole day was: a collective brainstorming dump of information.

When lunchtime came I was quite relieved at the prospect of having some family time… only I suddenly found out that we were all having lunch together. All of us, including Rita and Margaux, who were inseparable. Poor Margaux wanted to get out and explore on her hands and knees, but that was impossible. I could see that she was so tired of being cooped up in the pram all day, so I carried her for a meander around the old town.

After lunch it was back to work, this time focussing on the house. We continued to brainstorm and dump, with Helene and Phillipe working to problem-solve and develop ideas for what will become our home.

By the end of the day I was exhausted, overwhelmed, and in tears. It was extremely productive and wonderful in that sense, but the continuous French from 09:30-16:30, the lack of time with Margaux, and the information overload was all a bit much in the end.

Thomas, Margaux and I enjoyed dinner that night at one of the few restaurants that offered more than one vegetarian dish (Sarlat being the capital of foie gras), which was fabulous - both the down-time for us and the food! We were having far too good a time to take photos...

A round of applause for Margaux!

Margaux has developed a couple of new talents recently, including clapping! Sometimes it’s like she’s cheering herself on. So cute. She plays games where she claps and then waits for you to respond in kind, and then continues. She also does the same thing with shaking her head.

 

Margaux is so desperate to stand up these days! She’s got the crawling thing down pat… already I’m running around after her and having to make the house as free from low-standing moveable items as possible. Now she’ll grab any sturdy object and use both hands plus her mouth to try to get hold of it and use it to pull herself up. Oh, the frustration for her! And the gutter immunity…

Unfortunately, if I happen to be standing still and within crawling distance, often means my legs. Then she pokes her head through the hole and sees her landscape from this new perspective. Great fun for her; not so great for me when I'm trying to do the wash-up! Of course there have been falls forwards, backwards, and twisting sideways from this, but she literally keeps getting back on her feet and trying again. What a champion!

 

 

(When I get some photos I'll amend this post...)

Latest Margaux Montage Continues...

The last post was terribly short, so I'm trying to redeem myself and Margaux...

 

Margaux enjoyed some of the last days of summer out on the lawn with a bunch of her toys. She was really starting to get mobile with crawling at this point!

 

 

Some mornings see Thomas taking Maggie out for a walk... I just love this hat on her.
She's so proud of being able to crawl, and she's been demonstrating it endlessly. Look at those teeth!
There is an absolutely gorgeous old fashioned merry-go-round near where we live, which she really enjoys. I haven't got her onto the moving toys yet, but we'll get there. I think it's more my hesitation than hers...
We were at a farewell afternoon tea for a fellow Mum when Margaux pulled this ripper of a face.