At 7 months, Eloise is starting to be able to keep herself busy for little moments at a time. More in control of her body, she can twist and turn and crawl and slide all over the floor in search of toys to carefully analyse and eventually chew on. As a result, she is keeping me pretty busy too, having to constantly be watching her and fishing things out of her mouth. On the other hand, it means I don't have to carry her quite as much when she is awake. I still have to carry her when she is asleep though... Something I am slowly trying to address with very little success. Thankfully, our nights remain peaceful and we are all rested enough.
Hugo meanwhile is turning into a little chatterbox. While pronunciation continued to be approximative, he is able to make himself understood more and more. With Chris, we often laugh about some things Hugo has said that day. It is funny and adorable to listen to him express himself, but more importantly, it is a great relief for him. I have noticed that he complains less often and I think it is due to his ability to describe what he wants better. We have spent some time at his pre-school in the last couple of weeks and I am so excited for him to start. I think he will love it and I hope he thrives there. The staff are wonderful and the atmosphere friendly and caring. He will have plenty of freedom as well as structured activities. It should be wonderful for all of us.
Chris continues to be very busy at work but he is still so helpful at home. I have been talking recently with a few friends who have extremely unhelpful partners and I feel so grateful with such a caring and loving husband and father. Despite it being a pretty ambitious goal, Chris was successful in passing his Architecture registration exams which is a great achievement, particularly when preparing for it with a newborn. At last, he can now call himself an Architect.
And finally, after several frantic weeks of knotting, packaging, photographing, and planning, I set up my bright and cheerful stall at the Olive Tree Market yesterday and had a great day. The crowds were modest for the time of year but I still made plenty of sales and excitedly added up my earnings last night. In addition to the sales, I also received so much positive feedback that I feel quite confident that the next two markets will go very well too. I just wonder if I will have enough stock to sell... In any case, carving out this creative activity for myself has been such a breath of fresh air. It has also been very challenging and stressful at times but I love the challenge of making it work and finally gaining some first-hand insight into the life of the many creative people I have interviewed in the past. I feel that I will probably go back to writing for work eventually but for the time being, this experience certainly is food for my soul. I have no doubt it will lead me to other exciting pursuits later, in whichever form they take.
