Summer holidays are over

Summer vacation for us is over! The 2 weeks that Fred got off work just passed in a blur! I have to say that I am glad that F has gone back to work tho' and that Hugo is back with his grandparents. It was not easy having to take care of the 3 boys. Taking care of Lucas is my priority, couple that with the other 2 demanding we do this and we go there is almost unbearable and outright irritating as I do not want Lucas to divert from his schedule. As Lucas is the baby and has a regular schedule that he likes to follow, we therefore try to accomodate as much as possible to Lucas. But then since F does not get Hugo so often, he runs himself ragged trying to accomodate an active 12 year old who is used to being busy and doing "stuff" all the time with his mom. So you can imagine the stress! And to make things worst, Fred wanted the family to be together at all times! At the end of the 2 weeks, Fred declared that next holiday he will go away with Hugo for a week, just the 2 of them - thank God!!!!

This vacation, we spent a lot of time outdoors and Lucas has tan lines :)
We were at Grand Aunt Janet's farm, we were at Boudrex where Hugo and Lucas both spent hours in the water, we were at Toulouse, and in between Fred took the boys cycling to the farms and to the horses. The Summer has been really scorching hot, with the sun setting at 10 pm. Yesterday it was rainy and cool for once.

We went to Toulouse last week - Toulouse is 150 kms away and it took us a little over an hour to get there. We arrived early for my appointment so we parked the car and took the metro into the city (4 stops away). Being in Toulouse felt like I was going home! It felt so good to be back in the city! I felt so happy just being in the metro. Needless to say, the happier I was, the joy and excitement of being in a city must have shone out of my face! Fred of course got all stroppy and declared that he will NEVER EVER move to Toulouse and started complaining about city life.
Anyway, he said that if I wanted to move to Toulouse I'd have to do it without him...

At the immigration & integration meeting, I was in a room with 7 others ( 2 Algerians and the rest were dark skinned, and they all spoke fluent French) The woman who did the introduction did it in French. I tried to follow what she was saying but she was talking really fast. At the end of her welcome note I had to interrupt her as she was switching on the video for us to watch. She was abrupt with me but I guess its because she could not speak English at all. She got some other people to help me and they were all really nice! In the end after asking me if I intend to work later and what I wanted to do ( I told her ideally I wanted to work in a Bank doing what I've been doing in KL), I have 250 hours of french lessons signed up, starting in September (as in August, most French people are on vacation). The woman who tested my language ability also arranged for a day of civic training in October as she explained that she needed to get me a translator for the civic training which lasts a whole day.

Lucas will also be starting his creche in September - on Monday mornings at 830 am - 1230 pm and on Thursday afternoons from 130 pm to 530 pm. We went on a tour to the creche. I really didn't expect the area to be so nice. Its a real school with divided rooms for different activities. They also have a sleeping room with cots, and toddler sized toilets for potty training. The bathrooms have got toddler sized showers and a small toddler paddling pool. We are charged by the hour and its not expensive at all as its a government creche. We will pay 1 euro an hour.
If I was a working mom, Lucas would be enrolled full time. They take babies from 3 months old! But since I am not working and places are limited, Lucas only gets 2 slots a week. For a start its great. We were really lucky to get the slots.

Recently Lucas has really been fighting sleep, making nap time and sleep time difficult. Maybe its because his brother is here and he doesn't want to miss out on playing time but he's also been crying and throwing all his toys and pillows from his cot the past 2 days since Hugo left. Lucas has also been pulling on my hand to the bookshelf and then pointing out what he wants from the shelves. No new words so far, it seems that he's gone backwards in the times that Hugo's been here, prefering to sign instead of talk. These days Lucas takes his milk and cereal for breaky ( I mix baby cereal into his milk) when he gets up, and then he takes a biscuit. For lunch at 1130 am, I am mixing his baby cereal with food (salmon & trout with peas, carrots & corn/ macaroni & mixed veges/ rice & chicken - I'm not cooking all these food, we buy the ready toddler foods). His tea time is milk and biscuits and CHOCOLATE (he just discovered chocolate) and for dinner Lucas usually has pasta (spag bol without the meat - somehow he doesn't like the meat) or pizza.

Its a sunny day today - I'm going to take Lucas for a walk to the petit Casino to buy some coffee!