The Balance: An Update

I was contacted a few weeks back by a genetic counselor who works for my company in New York. She was given permission to work remotely for two months while traveling through Europe and was going to be visiting Amsterdam. We met up for dinner on Thursday night along with Meghan, another GC who also got a job working for Recombine after moving here and learning about my experience. It was so refreshing to have a night out with "coworkers." Something that hasn't happened in over 3 years!! We enjoyed hearing updates on the status of our company as we often feel pretty far removed working remotely abroad. It is such a great fit for us both right now and we feel so incredibly lucky to be able to work in our field and live in this amazing place. 

For me, it is not only the ability to work here and work from home, but also the ability to make my own hours. Not to mention the ability to take vacation whenever I want. Working 2 days (plus some evenings) a week is the perfect balance for me right now as I get 3 full days with Maeve and Friday mornings with both. Having 2 days to myself energizes me for the mama days. I have no future career ambitions for the moment. I just want to enjoy these early years. I am fortunate that my career is in very high demand, so I know that jobs will be waiting for me when I am ready to return full time. I had a realization the other day that in 17 months, Maeve will also be going full time to ISA and then I will be on my own! Bittersweet.

I have started taking Maeve to Montessori on Thursdays and love spending time with her there like I did with Jude. 

Then on Friday, I was able to use a make up day to send Maeve to day care so I could chaperone Jude's field trip to the zoo. I loved seeing his interactions with his two best friends.

Doing his flamingo

Flying Solo (Literally) with the Kiddos

On Friday, our last full day in Portugal, Pete left the apartment at 4:30am to catch his flight back to Chicago for his cousins' memorial service. When we were discussing whether he should fly home for it, his main concern (and mine) was leaving me on my own with the kids in a foreign country. I channeled Emily's amazing mother and thought, "I can do this!"

It was just one day alone with them in a beautiful, sunny beach town, much preferable to cold, dreary Amsterdam! How hard could it be?! We spent the morning at the beautiful park where there was a massive playground. I circled Jude with Maeve in the stroller until she fell asleep. We made our lives simple and had Pizza Hut (horray!) for lunch and later Burger King for dinner :) We played in the apartment in the afternoon and then went to the beach. I sat with Maeve while Jude made trip after trip down to the water's edge to fill his bucket in the calm sea. We made friends with some other little kids on the beach. It was the first day of carnival and the town celebrated with all of the children dressed up parading the streets like Halloween. So Jude got to play with a fairy and spiderman while asking me over and over again why we didn't bring his Mickey costume... 

One final evening spent packing, tidying and drinking wine, wishing that our trip wasn't over so soon.

The idea of flying alone with the kiddos was also daunting, but Pete had taken the majority of our luggage with him so I had just our essentials to lug around. And then Pete's coworker offered me a ride to the airport Saturday morning and escorted me into the terminal. She gave me the biggest compliant when I saw her this week at ISA. She said she couldn't believe how calm I was about flying on my own. And I really was calm. With the stroller, we got to go to a special security screening area that was empty. Jude was so good. Sticking with me in the airport, walking everywhere and then happily watching his shows and playing games on the Ipad on the flight. Maeve fell asleep in the carrier as I paced the aisle on the plane and then kind strangers helped me get my luggage off the plane and all the way to the baggage claim. I was happy to have help at that point as Jude reached his level of tiredness where he starts to act naughty- running away from me and refusing to listen. Boy was I happy when we got home and I was able to put both kids down for their nap and get into bed myself. And happier still when Pete arrived home Monday after I'd gotten Maeve to day care, Jude to school and had started working. Single parenting is hard, but now I know it can be done!

Discovering Lisbon

We barely scratched the surface on our one day tour of Lisbon. Better to visit Lisbon for many days and opt to tackle one hill a day I think! We started the day at Jardim de Estrela so Jude could play some of his sillies out before we forced him to sight see.

Spring is coming!!

We stopped for lunch at a traditional cafe near the park, visited a bakery for pasteis de nata and then boarded the famed Cable Car 28 for a rickety ride through the city. Not really designed for children, we made it work and Jude actually fell asleep on Pete's lap and transferred to the stroller. Good thing because I was convinced he was going to propel himself out the open windows! I told him we couldn't put our hands out the windows and he really tested me. "Just a finger, mommy? Two fingers?" We ran into one of Pete's coworkers who was also vacationing in Lisbon. Small world!

Completely open window. Hang on to your children! 

We missed our stop to start a recommended walking tour and ended up at the end of the line (and the bottom of a hill). Up, up and away. We made it to the top at the entrance of the Castelo de S. Jorge, but with Jude still asleep, we decided that we didn't want to spend time touring the castle. So we found another spot with great views over the city and gave Maeve some time to play before getting her back into the carrier. 

Future travel planner like her momma?

The part of the city that we wanted to walk around and explore was the medieval Alfama district with its narrow, winding streets. Still relatively high up in the city, we had a ways to go to get back down to the old Cathedral. We set google maps to direct us, but soon found that the most direct way down was often by long, steep staircases. Jude was still sleeping so we meandered just following our decent sense of direction. That walk was definitely the highlight of Lisbon for us. You really had the sense that working class people lived here and there were colorful surprises around every corner. Pete found a public bath house and I had read that most homes in this area don't have their own bathrooms so the residents use these communal bath houses.

Time kept ticking and Jude kept sleeping. At one point he flipped himself over and continued to sleep on his belly. Boy must have been tired from all our adventuring! 

I have to mention the wine of Lisbon. So delicious and so cheap. We'll come with an empty suitcase on our next visit!

Last stop of the tour was the Se Cathedral. Pete schooled me on the architecture. The main nave of the cathedral dates to the 1100s and has a Romanesque style with smooth, round arches. Later, gothic elements were added. It managed to survive the Great Lisbon Earthquake of 1755, which destroyed the city. 

Back in Cascais, Jude was rewarded for his "hard work" with a few rides on the town carousel. And the adults were rewarded with burgers and fries for all of the calories burned traipsing around Lisbon!