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Skies ablaze
Posted by Thomas in Reflexive blurbs on December 3rd, 2005
News from our Clan
Posted by Thomas in Reflexive blurbs on September 27th, 2005
Hey all,
Our little family is doing great, we have now adapted to our new “situation” and enjoy every discovery Clara makes.
She started the vegetables at noon and the fruits at 4PM and seems to appreciate this. Sometimes you’ll find more food on her than in her stomach but I guess that discovering a new way of eating is easier if you can have fun and put the food everywhere: all over yourself (even between the toes…), all over mom, on the chair, on the ground, … wherever food can reach!!!
On the developmental level, Clara rolls over all the time, she’s like a rolling machine, she can reach one point just by rolling towards it. She tries to sit but is not there yet, just a question of days I suppose. She grabs everything and puts it in her mouth. She makes lots of noises and loves it when we answer her in the same way. We are extremely lucky that she does not cry too much. She’s a smiling baby. It’s hard to catch her crying even for the picture (but we try as you can see).
We have put in place a great ritual at night: I give her her bath and
her massage then Maya feeds her and read her a story. Then time for big kisses and good night, turn off the light. 5 minutes later she’s sleeping. Full nights are not yet there but it shouldn’t be too long now.
We would be glad to hear from you all, leaving close by or far away.
Clan update
Posted by Thomas in Reflexive blurbs on August 26th, 2005
So, Clara is almost 4 and a half months old already. Time flies! These last weeks our little girl made many discoveries: she giggles and sometimes bursts out in laughter, she turns over on her tummy and scoots around. We can’t leave her on playmattress anymore without “supervision”: she rolls over and goes exploring the neighbourhood. Maya and I never tire of watching her. She smiles as much as ever, she grabs things, puts them in her mouth and dribbles abundantly, no need to water the plants anymore … When she’s in Maya’s arms she grabs her hair chirping with pleasure (and Maya screaming in pain!!!).
We spent 6 weeks in Provence and have thoroughly enjoyed the warm climate, olives and tapenades. We stayed with Clara’s grandparents who were all too pleased to spend time with their granddaughter, rivaling to have her in their arms or making her smile. Cute …
We went northward stopping in Auvergne before spending a couple of days exploring the Loire and its castles.
I’ll be starting a new job at FedEx on the first of September managing IT projects. I took a month parental leave in August to spend time with my cuties. We’re all very pleased not to be separated 3 days a week anymore when I had to be in Bonn.
Maya and I are really enjoying our time off. Today we’ll go to the ‘baby swimmers’ with Clara and she’ll also get her first taste of fruit. I really appreciate the time away from work. A child does put things into perspective a little.
All we need now is for Clara to sleep through the night!! Maya still gets up once a night to feed her - I would but she’s still breastfeeding - which is tireing, especially if Clara then decides it’s time to play and won’t go back to sleep. It will come (we hope soon).
Enclosed a couple of pictures of Clara and her parents.
Last days
Posted by Thomas in Reflexive blurbs on July 28th, 2005
The time for me to leave is drawing near. I mentionned earlier that this would happen, or at least that a change of job was in the air.
It was prompted by my desire to once again live together with my family on a regular basis and my inability to come to grips with the management style and culture I was experiencing in my current function. Working 235 Km away from home 3 or more days a week is not the way to go, at least not for me, not with a newborn.
Even so, the decision to leave was not an easy one. I like my colleagues and the company. There was also a great internal project management opportunity for me in Prague which would have solved the issues my family and I were facing. So, while continueing to advance matters with Prague, I also hunted the local job market in Brussels, just in case.
Prague took too long to materialise into a firm offer. In the meatime I knew I had to reunite my familiy one way or the other. After a number of interviews at various prospective employers in Brussels I found what I was looking for. Large and relatively young international companies, with an Anglo-saxon culture looking for experienced project managers are not exactly easy to come by in Brussels but it appears I’ve found myself one.
A rainbow appeared right next to the tower. A good omen?
I am told that leaving your first employer is like leaving your first love. It’s tough, but it gets easier with practice - not that I particularly expect a lot of practice. In taking up the firm offer I had in Brussels over the promises of Prague I chose to leave the company, my colleagues and what was my world for the last five years.
Sales are on
Posted by Thomas in Reflexive blurbs on July 1st, 2005
The bargain hunting season has just stated. Some stores, Gucci in this case, just seem to get all the early birds.
picture taken before opening hours….
60k ppl and a band
Posted by Thomas in Reflexive blurbs on June 12th, 2005
Months ago I was lucky enough to get a ticket for one of the hottest summer shows in Brussels. To give you an idea of how hot these tickets were, suffice it to say that a mere 3 hours after ticket sales started all 60.000 of them were gone. People went absolutely mad over this. The web server which was responsible for dishing out these oh-so-valuable items was besieged for hours. Most of the time the only response it gave was “server too busy”. Nevertheless, me, my brother in law and countless others dutifully clicked away - hoping that by luck the request would be served with the much anticipated message “your tickets have been ordered”.This was definitely going to be a big, very big show.
Arriving on location at around 4PM we are still among the early birds. The gates open 30 minutes later to let us in. A steady stream of people, youngsters and others, start filling the “Roi Baudouin” stadium - that same stadium which only weeks earlier held a commemorative event of the tragic events which took place 20 there years earlier.
After two opening acts, the latter of which, Snow Patrol, was quite good it was finally time for the big boys to take the stage. The crowd was ready, you could feel the excitement in the air. A few more minutes and U2 would enter the stage.
It was a night to remember. Since I didn’t know much of the new album I feared much of the concert would be wasted on me. Fortunately most of the set list was made up of older, more known stuff which allowed me to enjoy the music that much more.
Being politically very engaged, Bono did not pass on the occasion. He spread the good word once more, pleading for mankind to coexist and for us to eradicate poverty wherever it is found, particularly in Africa. Needless to say I applaud the effort although I somehow feel a rock concert is not the ideal place for this. Nevertheless, he’s Bono, it’s U2 and we’re happy to put up with that small eccentricity.
Going mushy in the head
Posted by Thomas in Reflexive blurbs on June 10th, 2005
So I’ve finally given in. I can’t resist her any longer. I’ve gone completely mush-brained.
For years I swore to myself: you will never do the baby talk thing, never be one of those that looses all perspective and just regresses into childhood as soon as they see a baby. Alas, I have to admit my weakness. Only 8 weeks into parenthood and I find myself comming home only wanting to play with my daughter and make all the sounds which I so despised only months, nay, weeks ago.
When I change her: Areu Areu flabel flabel …. When I play with her in the crib: Areu Areu blop plop …. When she’s in the baby-chair: Areu Areu Aaaa Oooo ….
You get the picture.
Summer’s back
Posted by Thomas in Reflexive blurbs on June 6th, 2005
The latest in summer fashion as seen in Brussels.
Momentous
Posted by Thomas in Reflexive blurbs on April 17th, 2005
What would it take to have me back on the blog after an absence of a little over 9 months? In asking the question I think I already gave it away…
Maya and I are proud to introduce Clara, our beautiful daughter born early evening Friday, April 15th. She weighs a little over 3.1Kg and is 51cm tall. Both mother and daughter - and father - are doing fine.
Visiting Bonn
Posted by Thomas in Reflexive blurbs on June 6th, 2004
The company invited us to visit Bonn (Germany) over the weekend. To get a feel of what it would be like to live there. In true Germanic tradition everything was well organised. We were treated to city tours, tours of residential areas, the outskirts, a speach by the Mayor and part of our office was reconverted to booths where one could pick up information regarding housing, schooling, etc. In the evening we were treated to dinner and a concert. In French one would say the put the little dishes in the large ones, they pampered us.
Lets wait and see. There’s a lot more to this than meets the eye
Bonn, a city of contrasts!