I devoted much of the day to doing BWB taxes and bookkeeping. I broke up the monotony by going for a short swim in the afternoon with Eric and my brother.

Ivy got treated out to a (late) birthday lunch with my brother.

Eric and I were invited out to dinner with an interesting group of people--from England, Lithuania, Canada (Quebec), US, and France. Fun conversation. We haven't gone out with a large group for...I don't even know how long!

My brother spoiled our kids while we were gone. I think he brings someone out for ice cream on a daily basis!

Today felt unproductive. I suppose I'm allowed to have some days like that. I woke up at 7 to get the kids up for school and then I went back to bed for a little while. I was tired!

My brother and I went grocery shopping. I get so excited when I think of all the delicious things I still want to cook for him. And him too--he is constantly amazed at the variety and quality of food items, not to mention their affordability.

He made us an amazing lunch today. He made a mixture of tuna, greek olives, red onions, capers, anchovies, cherry tomatoes, olive oil, and herbes de provence, which we spread on toasted baguette slices. Amazing! 10/10 from all the kids.

Then it was my turn to cook dinner: roasted Toulouse sausages with fennel in mustard, thyme, and red wine sauce. Dessert was a cherry clafoutis that had a crust underneath the custard and concentrated cherry sauce on top. Pretty simple recipes but so good!

Zari and I went with Eric to the beach, hoping to swim. But we lost our sun and it was windy, so only Eric got up the courage to get in the water.

Mawwige is whut bwings us togevveh today...

I was gone much of the day at a wedding out in the middle of nowhere, Provence at a chateau/vineyard. Between being the driver and then playing my violin for a few hours, I'm beat!

I rustled up the energy to go on a walk with my brother. He's having fun doing All The Things All The Time. Like tonight, he got a triple scoop of ice cream from Fenocchio (cacao sorbet, pistachio, and cinnamon) because why not?

Inga raided my closet and found several things she liked, mostly nicer shirts and jackets.

I did some light weightlifting and leg exercises today. Still feeling very stable! Woohoo!

I've been feeling very normal the past few days. I had a visit with the kine this morning and all looks good on his end as well. He said it would be fine to resume my normal high-impact sports by the weekend.

I forgot to write yesterday and honestly I am struggling to remember what I did! Oh yeah, one thing that was fun was we all went up to the Freeze family soccer training. I dropped them off and then my brother and I went to my favorite antique/consignment store that's on the outskirts of town, then we rejoined them for the rest of practice. Since it was late when we got home, my brother treated us to pizza (5 different flavors!).

Dio just got back from a friendly soccer match in Antibes. His team lost by a large margin, sadly.

More gorgeous weather...not too hot but good enough to be at the beach and swim. I didn't make it today, but Zari went with my brother.

Anti-inertia

It's great having my brother here because he gets the kids up and out of the house! After lunch we headed to the beach for swimming, napping, and/or reading. Eric took a long swim/treasure hunt. Zari, Ivy, my brother, and I swam. Inga and Dio enjoyed the sun but didn't want to get in. There's a warm layer of water for the first few inches. It's really not bad--getting in is the worst part.

I prepared dinner and then joined my brother at a local pub to watch the last part of the Grand Prix. It was surprisingly fun. He told me all sorts of facts he had learned from his time in Monaco yesterday. I was super impressed watching the 2-second tire changes during pit stops. Seriously amazing.

After dinner but before dessert, we went outside again on the Promenade des Anglais. He brought his skateboard and taught the kids how to ride on it.

It's one of those days where we feel so lucky to live here and to have so many visitors. Hint to all our friends & family members: please come see us!

It's Mother's Day in France so I got some handmade cards from the kids--always very creative of course. Ivy also gave me some cookies she made at school.

Eric and Ivy had a marathon soccer tournament, from 6 am - 8 pm. I went to Inga's game in the afternoon, while Zari and Dio opted to take a bike ride out to the Var and back.

I felt well enough today to do some exercise--squats, lifting weights. Nothing too jumpy or jarring. Today I feel the most normal since my vertigo started.

We're looking forward to a chill day tomorrow with, weather permitting, some time at the beach.

My brother's view of the Grand Prix, right at the Monaco harbor.

I feel muddy

I had a consult with a ENT who specializes in treating vertigo and other inner-ear issues. A real specialty with in a specialty. He said it's a bit harder to determine what's going on 10 days after my vertigo started, but he is about 99% sure it is BPPV (back to the original diagnosis from my family doctor, but different from what the osteopath/kine said). Anyway, he did all sorts of tests on me, asked all sorts of questions, and sent me with a big list of bloodwork just to rule out all sorts of very rare things.

There's a word he used to describe my type of vertigo--it's less of a "crise" and more a state of being "vaseux." I looked at him blankly because that's a word I've never heard before. And looking up the translation didn't help, because "muddy, slimy, sludgy" are the most direct translations of vaseux. He described it as a general state of feeling unstable and off-balance rather than distinct episodes of vertigo. I agreed that much of the time, that's what it feels like. General unsteadiness and the room spinning around or shifting any time I'm moving.

I did more painting today--final touch-ups in Le Catamaran.

My brother came with me grocery shopping and then he made some delicious lamb kebabs for dinner: some with garlic & rosemary, others with orange teriyaki sauce. He's going to the Moncao Grand Prix tomorrow--it's the day for many qualifying races before the Big Race on Sunday. He will still see cars racing on the same track, so it should be super exciting.

Eric and Ivy will be gone all day at a tournament. Inga has one game here in town. I'm not sure what I'm going to do besides go to her game!

A stormy lunch

The highlight of the day was having lunch with Eric and my brother. We ate at Peixes, which is a seafood restaurant that has a 20 Euro lunch menu. So good!

It started out hot and sunny, turned cold and cloudy, and then it started hailing and pouring by the end of the meal. We were seated outdoors so that was fun. They extended the awning right before the hail hit, but it didn't stop everything. We were pretty much done eating anyway so we moved to a more protected area to wait out the worst of the storm.

I have a ENT consult tomorrow with someone who specializes in vertigo and other inner-ear issues. I'm curious to see what they say.

Brothers are the best

My brother arrived last night! He's here for 3 weeks and we are all super excited. He is determined to spoil the kids and earn (or rather, keep) "favorite uncle" status.

We've already done tons of fun things today:
1. He and Ivy went for a morning walk and bought pastries
2. He and I went to my favorite antique/consignment store plus ran an errand to Decathlon.
3. He and Dio went to a skate shop, where he bought a deck and then built a skateboard with trucks and wheels he brought from home
4. He and the kids designed the pattern for the grip strip on the top of the skateboard
5. He bought Dio a fancy patissserie
6. He convinced Dio, Inga, and Zari to come to the beach. He and I swam while the rest enjoyed the sun. It was amazing! We stayed in for a good 15-20 minutes.
7. He and Ivy went skateboarding/rollerblading together
8. After dinner, he invited some of the kids downstairs to to "very boring things" (aka going out for ice cream)

We have determined that we need to find him a sexy French boyfriend while he is here 🙂

I had another visit with the osteopath/kine. He did more tests with his fancy equipment and said that it looks improved since last time. One of the things he had me do, while wearing some fancy eyecoverings that track eye moments, was lie down and turn my head quicky from side to side a few times. That definitely provoked some vertigo and on his end he was seeing something on his equipment. Then he did one Epley maneuver and immediately after it was much better than it had been all day.

I'm supposed to see an ENT and also come back to the osteopath in a week.

Circuit de la Forna

We had a holiday today, our last until the summer break. I decided it was time for a hike! We tried the Circuit de la Forna today, which starts and ends at La Turbie, a little village high above Monaco.

I had some vertigo but was able to do the hike and mostly keep up.

We ended up cutting the loop short since the kids found some side paths they wanted to explore. Had I been at 100%, I would have insisted on doing the whole thing. But we got a good 5 km in instead of the 8 or so on the full hike.

We parked right next to the Trophée d'Auguste, which is a Roman memorial boasting about Augustus' victory over the local Gallic tribes over 2000 years ago. The original monument was 15 stories high! The part that's left is still quite imposing and towers over the old town of La Turbie.

But...the monument itself was closed on Mondays! So we weren't able to get very close. We wandered around some of the narrow streets in the old town and the kids were raving about how beautiful it was and how it was so much better than Eze ("no tourists!").

I also took a picture of the AS Monaco training facility, literally cut out of the side of a mountain. Pretty impressive.

I slept poorly last night, so I let myself sleep in a bit this morning. Not much vertigo today! I went on two walks, one in the morning by myself and one in the evening with Eric. He ran into a ENT specialist friend of ours, who says my vertigo is likely labyrinthitis and vestibular neuritis, caused by a virus.

We had a restful afternoon at home--doing homework, playing video games, napping. Eric cooked half of the sériole (amberjack) he caught yesterday. It fed our family with some left over! Apparently this species is one of the most highly prized varieties for sushi meat in Japan.

I did a few renovating things down in Le Chateau, getting ready for my brother's visit starting on Tuesday. He is determined to cement his status of Favorite Uncle by going on lots of trips with the kids, treating them out to restaurants, going out for ice cream, and generally having tons of fun with them.

We had a family discussion during dinner about screen time--what the research says about what is optimal, what patterns we're seeing in our own family, how might we better manage our use of devices, etc. This prompted the kids to pull out our Legos and now they are building a Lego zoo filled with all sorts of fun animals.

50!! And fish!!

It was a momentous day: Eric turned 50! I can't believe it because it sounds so OLD. But I don't feel much older than I did 10 or 20 years ago.

Eric and Ivy had a soccer practice in the morning. As soon as they left, we started birthday preparations. Zari helped me mix up a batch of Streuselkuchen. Then I send all three kids to the store to buy decorations. They had a carte blanche and they came back with lots of stuff!

We got almost everything done before they came home. They made Eric wait downstairs in Le Chateau for about 10 minutes while we finished hanging up the last balloons.

 



Later in the afternoon, Eric went spearfishing and came home with his biggest catch ever, in terms of size and weight. He caught a 3 kg (6.6 lb) seriole, plus a big barracuda and a mackerel.

The kids invented balloon volleyball with the "joyeux anniversaire" sign.

My vertigo is a lot worse today. I was barely able to walk to the beach and back and probably looked like I had imbibed way too much alcohol.

I gave myself a summer haircut. My hair grows fast so I didn't mind parting with a good amount. I have a large bag of hair now, which I would like to donate, from me, Ivy, Inga, and my brother back when he had "Jesus" hair.

We watched "The Map of Tiny Perfect Things" this evening, which was a fun way to end a very fun day.

We just got done watching The Quiet Place 2 and we are all suitably spooked. So many jump scares!

I ran errands all over town trying to find a store that can replace the battery on Eric's dive watch. I finally found a place...but it would cost just a few Euros less than buying the watch all over again! Fortunately, Eric did more digging around and discovered the Decathlon does it for 15 Euros. Much more reasonable.

Big day tomorrow. You'll know why...tomorrow!

I worked on CME applications much of the day. It feels almost like writing another book except way more boring. I painted the last edges of the two doors for Le Chateau (WC and electerical cupboard) so we can finally put them up tomorrow!

The mystery deepens...

I had my appointment this evening with the kine, who also turned out to be a DO who specializes in treating vertigo. He did all sorts of fancy tests on me with differnet machines and maniuplations of the body. And...good news...he can't find anything abnormal.

Weird news...he also doesn't think I have BPPV! He doesn't know what it is, really, except that he's ruled out a whole bunch of possibilities.

I left with instructions to contact him if it persisted or got worse, but if it goes away then no need to come back. He also suggested getting a workup from an audiologist. I am feeling more vertigo today, but not as bad as the first day.

Anyway enough about my weird inner-ear issues!

I did a little bit of a lot of things today:

• painting
• helping Eric cut down 2 doors with a table saw
• turning a loose men's button-down shirt into a semi-fitted women's shirt to fit Zari
• a few small grocery errands
• going to the beach to read with Eric...although we lost our sun after 5 minutes as a thunderstorm rolled in
• lots of breech stuff
• watching Coraline with the family. I've seen it several times and it's still just as creepy!

Ivy was supposed to have a huge sports day with many schools participating. But with the big storms rolling through, one in the morning and one in the afternoon, it got cancelled. She was so disappointed because she was determined to win the race!

I'm feeling much better, enough to do some painting, get around town a bit, and go on a walk. I'm so thankful that I can move and eat.

I had a morning meeting with a team who will be working on a breech birth video analysis project. I'm so excited to work on it! Our goal is to have around 200 physiologic breech birth videos to analyize. So far I have about 130 in my library so I think it's a doable goal.

Ivy has a big race tomorrow. I wanted to go, but I have a meeting at the same time. Eric is going with instructions to take some videos of the race for me. Last year she was determined to win, but in the final race she hit a wall and started hyperventilating. It took her over an hour to be able to breathe normally. Eric has been working with her this year on pacing and mental preparation.

Dio got 100% on his oral presentation for the brevet blanc! Wow! It's super rare to get 100% on anything.

Random picture of Ivy I found on my phone

I'm still dizzy but it's better than yesterday. I was able to eat a bit in the afternoon and again at dinner.

Lots of computer work today but sitting at the table instead of lying down.

That's about it for news!

Vertigo

Yesterday morning I had a brief spell of vertigo as I was going down our loft stairs. I almost fell over but thought nothing of it.

This morning, I woke up and was so dizzy I could barely crawl out of bed. It didn't go away so I consulted Dr. Google as well as my brother (he's an internal medicine MD) and, fortunately, got an appointment with my family doctor this evening.

I somehow made it through the day by moving as little as possible and keeping my eyes closed through long parts of it. Eating was out of the question.

After my appointment, which ruled out anything concerning, the diagnosis was BPPV (benign paroxysmal positional vertigo)...not surprising. I came home with two prescriptions (of course!): one for 10 sessions with a kiné who is specialized in treating vertigo, the other for an anti-vertigo medication of some sort.

Kristine Lauria has been my vertigo doula this evening since she has dealt with it herself. I did the Epley maneuvers twice and puked my guts out. So I called it good. I'm even more dizzy and more nauseated.

So yeah, that's my super exciting day. I tried eating after the doctor's appointment but it all came back up. Vomiting: 5, Rixa: 0.

I've been checked out all day and periperhally part of the family's life, huddled up in my spot on the couch. I'm so glad that at least I can huddle into a motionless lump and not, say, have to go to a workplace for 8 hours.

On the up side...the printer's proofs arrived from South Korea!

Yesterday was a big soccer day for 3 of the 4 kids. Dio's team, unfortunately, lost 12-0! By the end, he said he and the goalie who were the only ones even trying. Ivy's team lost 3-2. But...Inga's team won 2-0, even though they were ranked much lower and had many younger players compared to the other team. She and Eric came home very happy.

This afternoon was relaxing. We read books, did some homework, played video games, went on a walk, went spearfishing (Eric), read a bit at the beach (me). The weather is turning into summer all of a sudden and it's glorious.

Another day of school vacation...some soccer practices...time for the kids to relax and do some homework. Not a whole lot else going on.

Oh, we went to see a movie yesterday morning: Fall Guy. It was silly and funny and over-the-top. Just what I was expecting. Dio brought a friend along and he put up with watching it in VOST (English with subtitles). Most foreign films over here are dubbed, so you have to go out of your way to find them in the original language with subtitles. Dio's friend looked at us like we were crazy when we told him that in the US, foreign films aren't dubbed. They are subtitled.

I took ivy to the doctor today about her constant back pain. I was a bit surprised that he only looked at her for like 30 seconds. He said that her lower back seems a bit more arched than typical and recommended doing planks every other day to strengthen her core. He also prescribed an x-ray to check on the alignment of her spine. And of course prescribed doliprane (tylenol). They love that over here! Ivy is not convinced that his diagnosis is correct but I told her that doing planks is a good thing regardless.

We're on vacation again until next Monday! Dio said his presentation went pretty well; the biggest critique was on some of the images he used in his optional PowerPoint presentation. Weirdly specific critiques of some of the images. Zari had her big test on hundreds of dates and felt good about it.

We took a short trip to the beach mid-afternoon to read in the sun. We left earlier than normal due to thunderclouds building and starting to block the sun.

I painted window exteriors this morning and caulked in the evening. One more coat tomorrow and then they are done!

Inga and Ivy have tournaments tomorrow morning with a very early departure.

I made Dio's favorite dish tonight: salmon fennel soup. It's so good when the salmon is barely cooked through, perfectly tender.

I did something I haven't done for several weeks: some renovating! I worked on the window exteriors in Le Chateau, the windows that open into the staircase. Today I applied MAP around all of the big gaps. Tomorrow I can sand and caulk.

Dio has been prepping for his big oral presentation tomorrow. Zari has been memorizing hundreds of dates. Big stress tomorrow and then a nice 5-day wekeend 🙂

Ivy's back has been hurting for 5-6 weeks now, every time after she plays soccer. We keep thinking it will get better but it hasn't. I booked an appointment with our family doctor, who I predict will order MRIs and/or X-rays and/or physical therapy. Maybe all of the above?

With nothing scheduled at all this afternoon, we were able to take it easy together. We found time to watch one episode of Good Omens. Zari is memorizing aboug 450 dates for her big geopolitics exam. Dio is memorizing an oral presentation for Tuesday.

Eric and I even had time to sneak away for a nap downstairs in Le Chateau.

Back to school tomorrow after 2 weeks of vacation. But due to some holidays, our school week is only 2 days long!

I'm working on book 13 of Wheel of Time. I still can't keep most of the side characters straight. But it's been fun to have something that is low-key. Interesting enough to keep going through way too many volumes, but not so interesting that I drop everything else to read.

Ivy came home this afternoon, tired and happy, after a sleepover with her friend, plus yesterday all day with her friend at tennis camp (her dad is the coach). Zari and Inga both had soccer games.

Zari's team won 17-0, with Zari scoring 5 goals! I missed this one as I was waiting for Ivy to come home.

Ivy and I joined Zari and Eric to watch Inga's game, which they lost 0-3. It was a lovely sunny afternoon. During halftime, I gave Zari and Ivy some money and they walked to a nearby Aldi to buy some snacks.

We've started watching Good Omens, which is also a very fun book to read.

Rain...and more rain!

The 3 oldest kids were supposed to be on a 3-day camping trip. We're all glad it was cancelled, because they would have already been in day 2 of steady rain.

I finally managed to dry some of my breech-related items enough to pack them away. I had to put them on heaters and run fans on them. Putting them outside on the laundry lines just got them wetter!

Ivy and I are working on a quilt for one of her friends. It's mostly done. I told the kids, "Good thing I love you so much that I make cool things for your friends!"

Our fridge, which has been broken for something like 2 months now, has been declared unrepairable. We got a purchase credit and today went to the store and bought a new fridge. It's only 3 years old and has broken down so many times. I hope this new one will actually last and function properly. This is fridge #4 in 10 years.

Back home!

I got home last evening and tried hard not to do anything but the most urgent emails. We've been doing some crafty things, watching Doctor Who, lots of laundry and some deep cleaning. Some scary things were growing on leftovers in the fridge...Eric hadn't taken them out since before I left in early April!

It's been raining on and off all day, which has frustrated my attempts to do laundry. I did three loads but they're all wetter now than when I took them out of the washer.

Ivy and Inga made a "green space" today, finding every green object in the house and decorating a corner of the living room. They also dressed entirely in green. Now they're preparing for a blue space tomorrow. Where do they come up with these ideas? I love it!