Author: Oana

Parenting with less grace. Remedies

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I have been struggling with some of Emma’s behaviour lately. Or maybe not only lately but my reactions have become more dramatic and anything to be proud of. I shout and I smack. There, I said it. I do it in certain circumstances and I thought I might be brave and share them with you just in case other mothers struggle with the same things. 1. My number one trigger is TIREDNESS. Both mine and hers. When we’re both tired and short-fused and when I expect Emma to sleep and she plays up(quite expertly lately, I must add!) I lose it. And it’s not a pretty sight. Remedy: stick to a sleeping routine even if it’s painstakingly difficult to do it. Reinforce your words and actions(thank you, Supernanny!) until the child understands you mean business. Even if that means putting her back into her bed 100 times until she’s dead tired of playing the same boring game. AVOID sleepover with relatives less aware of routine/unwilling/unsupportive. 2. BOREDOM. Yeap, we’re all guilty of it as mothers. …

Random thoughts

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I have been wishing for another child for a while. Convincing hubby is another story given the rough start with Emma, his being self-employed and working all hours and what I call a man-characteristic fear of  increased responsibility. This post is not to give you the good news I managed to convince him but just to reminiscence over Emma’s growth through pictures from my old phone. The quality may not be great, but the cuteness is extreme, be warned :-)! P.S. – Emma is doing a much better job at convincing daddy anyway, she has been carrying this baby doll around for the past two days,cuddling and kissing it and meeting its every need and melting his heart…

Waiting for my mummy

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As we speak, my mummy should be arriving in Thessaloniki;she  is visiting us for a few weeks. Her love gave her strength to face a 17-hour bus trip and come and see us. I can’t wait to spend time with her. To take her to the beach and show her how well Emma can swim. To take her to laiki(open market) and do the shopping together. To take her with us(Emma and I while hubby is working) and spend the day in Ikea looking for bargains. To spend the evenings together watching Greek T.V. To witness her experience yet another culture and take joy in it. I love my mum. She has been my pillar and my strength since I can remember. And I am happy she’s healthy and well and we’ll be able to enjoy Greece together for a few days. Kalinixta everybody!!  

Rejuvenation, reconnection and reflection time

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There are three reasons I always look forward to our “time away” as a couple. The first is rejuvenation. We get time to sleep and awake according to our natural body clocks, time to enjoy a few meals uninterrupted and time to sunbathe without worrying about armbands, sunscreen and routines. We also get to reconnect with each other. We don’t get a lot of quality couple time at home because there is always work, computers and tantrums to get in the way. I especially treasure drives as a couple as I can speak to Alex about things that have been on my mind, about books I’ve read and we get the time to plan the future, short and long term… As an introvert I especially appreciate my reflection time during our breaks. This is for me precious time when I allow myself to switch off completely from worries,cares and miscellaneous. This is the time God uses to speak to me about the future, giving comfort, guidance and encouragement. During our last couple retreat my blog …

Visiting grandparents and routine chaos

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We made it safe to Patra to my in-laws. The seven-hour journey went better than expected as Emma fell asleep at her usual time and woke up only for half an hour when we arrived in my in-laws house around 1 a.m. What really didn’t go well(and it never goes well, every time we have visited them in the summer) was the afternoon nap. It must be the heat or the excitement of seeing them or the change or…but Emma goes from perfect sleeper to crazy sleep-deprived maniac when we come over.  I have been wrecked after a cold and two nights of going to bed at 2 a.m. and have been soo looking forward to having a siesta today,especially since the temperatures soared to 40 Celsius. No such luck for me but…I tried EVERYTHING to coax her into sleeping  and so did her dad, from speaking softly to making threats to leaving her in her room for 10 minutes to cry it off to pretending we were both asleep to taking her into our …