"Ooohh. Yummy, yummy, YUMMY!"

Aunt Robin came through yet again. She seems to know that the key to every niece and nephew's heart is through sugar. She put together an amazing Easter box that arrived today. The plethora of candy should last us well into summer. Too bad Lydia is much more aware of the pleasure of candy than she was last Easter. Besides lots of Easter-themed games there were stuffed pink and blue bunnies. Lydia promptly claimed the blue one, stating the pink one was for Marcus! Thankfully he's still blissfully unaware. He'll only put up with that for another year or two.

So many, many thanks dear Aunt Robin. Lydia will be talking about you compulsively for days to come... (p.s. she doesn't even know about "Moe and his big exit" yet... we haven't made it past the first layer o' fun!

Hold that thought.

Just got an email from Lydia's future preschool. Seems there have been some cases of scarlet fever... and so the cycle of "fun" begins: Enroll healthy child in preschool. Healthy child is suddenly ill every other week. Child recovers, returns to school for a day, home again for a week.

We were scheduled to begin on Monday, but now I'm not so sure. I mean really, scarlet fever?!?! Didn't even know that one still exists. In my mind, it's filed in the same category as rickets, gangrene, scurvy... ya know. Agh.

Have any experience with this one? Not sure if I should follow my "overprotective Mom" instinct or throw her to the den of wolves and hope she comes out on top of the "survival of the fittest" experiment.

Pet Psychiatrist

"My doctor says I might be 'depressed' due to my condition."

"Can you blame me?"

Everyone is entitled to a bad hair day

It's just that mine is becoming a regular occurance.

I can sit and chew my sock at the same time

How's that for coordination?

Enjoying Spring

"Nellie fought the vet and the vet won"

Nellie had her first real rendevous with a Czech vet (other than routine vaccinations). Here's the outcome: Nellie in a cone.


Without going into all the unpleasant details, suffice to say Nellie needs to be prohibited from licking her wounds in the posterior region. This morning was Round 1 of the treatment plan. I will need to return with her Thursday, Friday and Monday for followup treatment. Not to mention, Lydia is also supposed to be starting preschool on Monday.

Housewife-schmousewife... I prefer to think of myself as a Logistical Engineer. A REALLY low-paid one.

Brandon's only input? "Please buy me an 'I LOVE my dog!' T-shirt now." Those of you who know Brandon & Nellie's relationship can sense the sarcasm dripping forth.

Yep. We're gonna get along just fine.

Blind kittens and crepes. What's NOT to love?!?!

Sunny introduced Lydia and I to our new favorite crepes place. Ok, maybe it's the ONLY crepes place we've been to, but it's still our favorite! The name of the place is Creperie U Slepe Kočička (at the Blind Kitten) and it was appropriately decked out in kitten paintings, figurines, statues. You name it (if it's a kitten), they've got it! A visual smörgsbord for Lydia's eyes.

Sunny and I both ordered the spinach, chicken, cheese option, hers with garlic. Then after we were both so stuffed we agreed we couldn't finish the plateful of crepey goodness... we ordered dessert. Crepe with bananas, caramel and almonds, smothered in whipped cream, chocolate and nuts. Finished that one without looking back.


Lydia didn't care so much about the crepes. She had her eyes and heart set on the strawberry ice cream decorated like a bug since we walked through the door. It's all good.


Blind Kitty, do not fear. We'll be back.

Our first duet

...make that a trio.

So You Think You Can Be a Mom?

The first episode of Prague's hottest new reality show, "So You Think You Can Be a Mom?" aired in our home this weekend. Sensing his wife's exhaustion and mental basketcase state, Brandon summoned assistance by lining up our two friends Sunny and Jess to spend the night with our kids. Our role: escape to a hotel downtown to SLEEP IN. Granted, my greatest fears came true when I was wide awake at 7:15am... But that was nothing that a little "pharmaceutical assistance" couldn't cure, enabling a 10:00 wakeup! Sheer heaven.


We returned home at noon to a house still standing, kids still alive, and the stand-in mommies not reluctant to relinquish their duties.

For the first time that I remember in a very long time, it's Saturday afternoon and I feel really good! Dare I say, I even feel a bit energetic!


Our contestants earned points for such things as:
- putting kids to sleep
- diaper changes
- feeding
- Bi-lingual story hour
- waking up at 6am
- cleanup

But, had points DEDUCTED for such things as:
- "colorful" language in the vicinity of small ears
- poor swaddling job
- Nellie neglect
- forgetting diaper ointment
- burning waffles
- recapping the teen drama "One Tree Hill"

Honorable mentions went to:
Nellie; 10 points for not being TOO annoying
Marcus; 15 points for being so smiley
Lydia; 20 points for choosing the Veggie Tales video featuring the "Barbara Manatee" silly song with Larry (Jess' all-time favorite silly song)

The final tally calculation crowned Sunny the winner by a hair. We are currently accepting applications for the next episode. If interested, please send your resume and short video on why YOU have what it takes to be a Mommy.

THANK YOU, THANK YOU Sunny and Jess for making this a possibility. And special kudos to my wonderful husband who saw my need and found a way to make it happen.

Music is music in any language

We were invited by a Czech mom to join her daughter, Sabrina, this Friday morning at a music class for kids. It was a big step for us because, besides the fact that the class was in Czech, I didn't stay with Lydia in the class. Alone with the teacher in a sea of Czech kids, I wasn't sure how she'd react. She did great! Although she didn't participate much, preferring to stand in the background and just observe the commotion. But I really can't blame her... I'm not sure I would know how to react to "Hokey Pokey" in Czech!

When I asked her what she likes better: Czech music with Sabrina or Czech excercise class with Sophie, she said she wanted to go to the exercise class. I'm not sure how much I should bank on her response though. Afterall, this is the same girl whose "favorite" color just happens to be the same color as her shirt on that particular day... She's a little chameleon, that Lydia.

Still, I was pleasantly surprised at her willingness to stay without me. It especially gives me confidence since she'll be starting preschool a few mornings a week in April. And it's an English-speaking preschool... should be a cakewalk for Little Miss Lydia!

The Curry-mobile

Restaurants offering delivery in Prague are as rare as the Hope Diamond. So when word had it that an Indian restaurant downtown offers this hard-to-find service it was amazing how quickly I developed a hankerin' for Indian food! I convinced Brandon that we should give it a shot; Never mind that our address is so new it cannot be found on maps and I'd have to give directions to someone speaking English as a second language and that it took an hour and a half to get here and we had to pay an extra $15 for delivery (didn't know this beforehand) and the food was cold. No, the real kicker was when our food arrived by taxi!

Alas, not all was a loss. We were able to make a new entry on our ever-expanding "List of Life's Lessons": When in Prague, go pick it up yourself, you lazy bum!

America. In a nutshell.

Ever wonder how the rest of the world views America?

We stumbled upon this children's book at a local cafe Lydia and I like to visit with our friend Sunny. It was an alphabet book, and each letter of the alphabet highlighted a different country. The picture alone is worth a thousand words. A basketball, Mickey Mouse, casual dress code and an endless array of skyscrapers. What a great work environment Americans have! The only thing missing is a giant cup o' Starbucks. Here it goes:


A for America
(didn't you know cowboy hats are very popular in America?)

In the land called America
Everyone addresses everyone else informally.
Everywhere it's the same "you, you, you"
and "I give them my approval".

In the land called America
Don't be surprised
Almost everyone wears T-shirts.
I love T-shirts.

In the land called America
Many new ideas are thought of.
It isn't a coincidence,
That is the land of freedom.

"George, you are SO cute!"

That's a quote.

The Sun is Ours

We returned to Prague and took the sun with us. Today is a sunshiny day, easing our return to real life. The entire stay in Barcelona we had weather in the 70s and sunshine, sunshine, sunshine. This week, Barcelona is expecting clouds, rain and cooler temps.

It was a truly amazing place, and I want to go back. Here are just a few items on my list of "Things in Barcelona, Not in Prague":
1. Sunshine
2. Starbucks x 9
3. Palm trees
4. Beach
5. Golden Grahams
6. Friendly people who help people travelling with children without being asked!
7. Pizza Hut / Burger King / Dunkin' Donuts
8. Beautiful, yummy inexpensive fresh produce
9. Abundant clean playgrounds
10. People who clean up after their dogs

But, there IS no perfect place on earth. Here are just a few items on my list of "Things I don't mind leaving in Barcelona"
1. Scary devil-looking street performers
2. Old 100% naked man with full-body tattoos and conspicuous piercings walking on La Rambla (the most popular tourist promenade).
3. One billion scooters traversing the streets ALL hours of the night
4. Garbage trucks gathering garbage ALL hours of the night
5. Squid, mussels, octopus on my dinnerplate

And Saturday wins the award for Most Surreal Day Ever. Jess saw 100% naked man for the second day in a row (thankfully I only had to see him once); In the morning there were 3 hearses outside the building across the street (Brandon suggested maybe it's a casket warehouse but I don't buy it... As a CourtTV obsessee, I'm thinking murder-suicide pact); and finally... Jess was unknowingly used as a pawn to shield a failed pickpocket attempt at the table next to her in Starbucks.

Wise in our old age

Travelling with kids is a new kind of travel. It has taken 3 years, but gone are the days of an endless checklist of popular tourist sites, monuments and churches to see, photograph and promptly forget. Now a good day means just walking, relaxing, having a picnic, or stopping at a playground for Lydia while sipping our Starbucks. Then we nap in the afternoon when the kids do. This time we were even lucky enough to have our friend Jess come along to help with the kids, allowing Brandon and I some free time alone. She made all the difference in the world. I was reminded no less than 5 times a day how blessed we were to have her with us.

It's taken some not-so-good travel experiences to get to this point. Can you believe we once tried to take our 2-year old daughter on a tour of the parliament in Budapest?!?!? We are slowly learning that this is the stuff memories are made of. Just enjoying time as a family. So the pictures we came home with are more about our experience, not the monuments of Barcelona. For that, we can always buy postcards.

Playa Barcoloneta

Playground beneath Gaudi's unfinished Sagrada Familia

Mountains of Montserrat

Flamenco Dancer

Spectacular Spain

Whew. Just walked through the door after a brief winter getaway to Spain. We are tired and couldn't have had more beautiful weather. Spain was truly amazing. There will be more stories and pictures coming soon. Gotta unpack and crawl into my OWN bed! Ahhhhhh.....