Mothers Day

From Bambini

A couple of weeks ago I was banished to get some rest and relaxation from the trenches at the front line. Through the long months before pregnancy, I was banned from hot springs because the hot water decreases fertility.

There is a place off the beaten path that was bought a few years ago and restored. The pool is spring water, no chlorine and the tubs in the corral provide hours of peace by the fire as it grows dark.

It was a very welcome reprieve after these long months of sleepless nights and felt like a new man upon returning.

Unfortunately, Barbara decided to conduct a 72 hour sleep deprivation experiment in my absence to "fully appreciate" the depths of the effects of this on me, despite scheduling our new nanny to come at the weekend.

Remarkably, she was still alive and had not thrown the babies out of the window when I returned! She was wearing mismatched clothes and mumbling incoherantly so I called the doctor, but he said apart from the wardrobe failure, it was normal. If she had been wearing mis-matched shoes, I would have rushed her to the emergency room.

This week, Luca AKA mellow Boo, has been making more of a fuss if he is not being held, earning him the new nickname "Drama Boo". Crank Boo is still living up to his name, but his communication skills have gotten much better. He only uses a few well directed grunts of frustration to send three adults scurrying around the kitchen.

They have both been recognizing us a great deal more and are doing very well. They smile a lot, and seem to be enjoying their walks to the park. we use a couple of baby holsters so they ride against out chests and they seem to prefer this.

This Sunday I took Barbara out for mothers day to a local French restaurant. The owner is a friend of Barbara's swimming partner, Elena, and everything he cooks is fantastic.

It was our first outing with the boys. We took them inside firmly strapped into their car seats in case we had to make a quick dash. We were hoping the restaurant would be empty in the evening so we went for dinner and not lunch. There were still quite a few people in there, but it was not too noisy.

We have been using an alarm clock in the last few weeks that I bought Barbara last year. I liked it because it projects the time onto the ceiling so I can crack an eye open and see the time without having to sit up, and it has an array of "White Noise" sounds like a waterfall and rain.

The background noise in the restaurant would have made an ideal addition to the alarm clock. They went straight to sleep and we had a lovely meal to celebrate Barbara's first Mothers day. I bought her some roses and some friends brought over more roses for dinner on Saturday. She was very happy.