A Mommy in Brazil

Haven’t I been a lousy blogger so say!? No updates, not a word from me for months! I feel a little explanation is in order to tell you what happened.

Well In May, me and Revka started talking and planning various projects so we got a bit busy doing that. Then I was blessed with a trip to Sweden. After not seeing my family for five years God finally opened the doors for me so I was able to go with little Choriço. It was a fantastic moment and we had a wonderful time. We stayed for six weeks and would have liked to stay longer if it hadn’t been for the fact that we missed dear Daddy here at home. And of course I had to go back home as I had clients waiting for me.

I was quite busy during my trip, my mom has had two strokes and there was a lot that needed to be done as she doesn’t have any help. So unfortunately I didn’t take long walks along the seashore as planned to, but I’m not complaining, it was nice to hear the seagulls ad see them floating around.

Choriço also learned a lot of Swedish which I of course am thrilled about. Now I only need to keep it up, which isn’t easy I have to admit.

Since I came back I have had a lot of work and have restructured many things for my business. I have become a lot more focused and I have seen a big increase in productivity which is great.

And now? I am back, busy busy but focused. You’ll see a lot more of me here now! At least that is my plan

Yesterday was  another day that will always be remembered. First it was when my son almost lost his finger, now this.

Yesterday at 8.02 the phone rang. My husband had just taken our son to school. School starts at 8.00 normally. First I couldn’t understand who it was that was calling, because we get so many sales calls and she couldn’t get my name right I almost got irritated. It was from school; Choriço had fallen and hit his chin. I asked if he was bleeding and the answer was yes and he will probably need stitching. It was that last part that upset me.

I quickly called a friend of mine whose son is a classmate of Choriço. Only that yesterday she hadn’t taken him to school. She quickly took me to school where little Choriço was waiting. He started crying when I came and was bleeding a little. The cut wasn’t very deep, but deep enough to need stitching. So I took him to the local health center and then off to the hospital. Amazingly we were attended to quickly. He needed four stitches. As the doctor was doing her job I held his arms and looked the other way talking about Christmas and Transformers.

As the doctor applied the anastetic he screamed, but the pain was over in an instant and he got so quiet that I was afraid something had happend and had to ask if he was OK. A quick look and he was.

It was a scary experience, not as scary as the finger one, but surely something I will remeber.. and he as well…

Ask me if I want to change my WAHM life to a 9-5 job for a higher salary and I’ll tell you no! (Well if you catch me on a day when I’m feeling down I might just take you up on that offer) However there are days when I wish I had a more 9-5 alike job, where someone tells you what to do, how to do it and when to do it. I often find that on those days it is because I am lacking structure and haven’t planned what I will be doing. When you are a WAHM you have to rely on yourself to do those things and that can be challenging.

As a WAHM you have the option of doing things when you want to and how you want to. Of course, there are a times when you can’t change how something is done or there are deadlines to be met, but many times you are pretty flexible and can go off for a break whenever you want. Not to say you should take a break every ten minutes, you sure can if you want to, but you probably won’t work very effectively. In fact I have to remind myself of taking breaks more frequently. When I talk about breaks I mean a break where you distract yourself or gather your thoughts so that when you go back to your tasks you can focus better.

Because of the liberty that WAHM life brings it also means you have to act as your own boss and included in that job is watching over yourself, tell yourself what to do, when to do it and how to do it. If you are not very structured that can be very hard and you might find yourself missing out on deadlines and always trying to catch up on work that needs to be done.

Here are a three basic tips to help you get structured and work a bit more efficiently;

• Make lists, both for the household and your business. Make a list of the days when the bathroom will be cleaned, what day laundry is done and when the clothes will be ironed. Have set days for your business as well, what day you do specific tasks and how to ensure you meet deadlines.

• Always have goal. If you can clearly see your goal it will be much easier for you to ensure you do what is needed.

• Don’t be afraid to ask for help or invest in something that will help you work better. That can include a babysitter, a new program that will help you save time or anything else that in the long turn will be well worth the money.

With a basic structure your WAHM life will be so much easier and you will definitely not long back to your old 9-5 job.

How do you stay focused a as WAHM?

As I was cleaning up piles of cut papers, toys, crayons and additional mess my son made last night I couldn’t help thinking that there will be a day when I will miss this mess.

Right now I think it is pretty boring and time consuming to clean up after him and I was thinking just that a moment ago when a different thought came into mind and made the cleaning much easier. There will be a day when there won’t be any mess to clean up…

And that is a pretty sad thought actually, not at all nice as you might think. Instead I am reminded that these years will soon be gone to never come back. Son my son will be grown up and won’t need me to pick up after him any longer. He will be able to fix his sandwiches himself (actually he could really be doing that), he won’t need me to tell him what not to do or what to do.

I see how big my son already is, he is five now and I find that incredibly hard to believe. Where did my baby go?? That tiny little thing I held in my arms on New Years Eve 2003? Actually he was meant to be born January 1st on 2004, but instead the doctors decided that Dec 29 2003 would be a better day. I remember it like it was yesterday yet those days are so far away….

I’ll just continue to clean up this mess and be thankful that I have some mess to clean up, that is a blessing I was given.

One of the reasons I love living in Brazil is just because of the weather. The warm climate suits me perfectly!

But not in the winter.

In the winter it is cold.  Cold.  Cold. Did I say cold enough times? Once more?:  Cold.

If there had only been snow and really warm clothes to buy I guess that would have been OK.

But no snow, and it is hard to find really good warm clothes that don’t cost you a fortune. The cold came slowly about two weeks ago and yesterday it rained all day and today it is freezing!  I had to go into town today to pay some bills so I also took the opportunity to go to my favorite shop and see if they had any new warm clothes that would suit my critical taste. And they had imported clothes. Doesn’t that just say something about the clothes quality here?

Maybe it ’s just me, but I prefer European clothes in both styles and fabric. Finding anything with cotton here is difficult and more expensive, in Europe it’s normal and not necessarily more expensive. Well I managed to find a wonderful knitted imported cardigan and will now stay warm.

Now I just need to swap the flip flops for something warmer….