Apr 15, 2022 • 10M

More French than the French Themselves | How Much Did I Spend Last Week? April 4-10, 2022

Mieux vaut prévenir que guérir, that's always been my motto…

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Rosemary Mac Cabe
thoughts that should be private, shared
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For a while in the early ‘oughts, there was a spate of books that told you how to live like French women. How to diet like a French woman; how to dress like a French woman; how to embody that certain je ne sais quoi attributed to French women.

I haven’t read any of those books because I truly believe that the best way to behave like a French woman is not to dye your hair or, if you do, dye it as close to your natural colour as possible (you never see a French woman with streaky highlights, let me tell you) but I can guarantee that nowhere in a single one of these books does it talk about suppositories.

And yet. Without exception, every single person I spoke to about my decision this week to stuff a tiny little painkilling pill up my baby’s bum remarked, “How very French of you!” Ooh la la.

Monday

I get a text from my sister, Bea, first thing, to ask if I want to come to lunch with her and the boys downtown. It’s their Spring Break – our boys are in a different school district so theirs was last week which kind of sucks, they would have loved to have some time to hang out with their cousins! – and she’s taken the week off to hang out with them so is trying to think of some fun things to do.

So I spend the morning trying to get some work bits done and playing with Atlas. He’s… starting (am I jinxing this?!) to get into a bit more of a naptime routine, so he’ll usually sleep from 9am or so for an hour or two, and then again around lunchtime for an hour or two.

I’m still working on getting him to take those naps in his own bed, rather than in my arms, so that I can occasionally get some work done!

When Atlas wakes up I feed and change him, get all of our bits ready and we head downtown to meet Bea and the boys at Mercado for 12.30pm.

It’s a kind of, I’d say Mexican tapas restaurant(?) and I haven’t been before but I’m pretty impressed. My main indicator of good Mexican (LOL as if I have a clue!) is always the guacamole and theirs doesn’t disappoint.

Atlas also behaves admirably, chatting away in his buggy while we eat.

Afterwards, I head back home for his next nap and to do a little more work – he actually takes this nap in his bed! – before Brandin gets home with the boys.

We have orange chicken for dinner which, last time, the boys loved but surprise, surprise! They hate it now. I love this for us.

After the boys’ 8pm bedtime, Brandin and I tidy up and watch some Baking Impossible on Netflix.

Daily total: $0

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