I think that The Plague is ceding defeat. While I'm not healed, I definitely don't feel as terrible. Sleep is still elusive...which I'm sure has prolonged the illness.

I brought Ivy to a doctor's appointment for ongoing back pain (2 years) that is constant low-grade and gets acute after she plays sports. She now has a prescription to visit a kiné. If it doesn't improve after treatment, then we could do an x-ray, but the doctor doesn't think it's necessary at the moment.

I spent most of my day video editing and organizing redundant files. When you have 2.3 TB of files to maintain, it's a necessary task.

Ivy came home from her sleepover and announced that she and her friend had stayed up until about 4 am (ironically, probably about the same time that I fell asleep!). Okay, I may have to rethink sleepovers because that's excessive.

We're watching the new season of Stranger Things. It's ok but there's just so much violence and nonstop adrenaline that it seems too much.

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Vitamin D therapy

I still felt terrible today, but I dragged myself to the beach after lunch for some sunbathing. It felt great. Eric, Zari, and I read books and rested.

I am feeling slightly less like I have The Plague late this evening, so I am hoping that this is a turning point.

Ivy is at a sleepover with her friend who likes a block away. I keep forgetting she's away and find myself looking for her!

The other kids decorated their gingerbread houses. "House" is a bit of a stretch this year, as Inga made a truck, Zari made Rapunzel's tower, and Ivy made the Eiffel Tower. Dio is the only one who has a traditional house, because he was too sick to choose his own design when we were rolling out the dough.

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Still super sick...can barely get off the couch. Also didn't sleep more than about 3 hours due to 1) fever 2) coughing 3) trying not to cough but it hurts my abs like I've pulled a muscle. Ugh.

I've either been so exhausted or so sick that I've only been outside (briefly) like 3 times since we arrived 11 days ago. This has definitely not been an easy reentry!

The kids are assembling and decorating homemade gingerbread houses. Pictures will come once they're finished.

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Christmas Day

Despite me and Dio being sick--huddled on the couch with blankets and hot water bottles most of the day--it was a great Christmas. We opened presents with Eric writing down everything in his journal, as usual.

I directed the kids how to make pancakes from my perch on the couch. We had a pancake breakfast with blueberries, pomegranate seeds, whipped cream, and maple syrup.

Those who weren't sick went out in the sunny afternoon. Zari saw the new coulée verte for the first time. Then she and Eric went to the beach for some Vitamin D. She keeps saying, "I can't believe how warm it is here!"

When I went shopping yesterday morning, I suspected that I was getting sick. So I bought all sorts of amazing delicacies, already prepared, for Christmas dinner. Thank you Lidl for a delicious and easy dinner! We had an assortment of 4 different verrines de fruit de mer (fancy little cups of salmon, some sort of smoked first, or shrimp layered with fillings and toppings)...feuilletées aux noix de St. Jacques ou canard (puff pastry shells stuffed with a sea scallop or duck filling)....boneless chicken stuff with a pork & apricot filling...bûche de Noël (Yule log).

We watched a ridiculously entertaining movie tonight, "Heads of State." A great way to end the day. Now the kids are playing cards.

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Sick on Christmas Eve, Zari is here!!!

Well, the illness that made its way through Inga and then Ivy has hit me and Dio today--hard. I went to the grocery store this morning feeling a bit off (but I also only slept from 5-8 am...so I chalked it up to being tired). By time I got back, I was feeling it. I've been staying on the couch with a hot water bottle all day.

Zari arrived mid-afternoon from Toronto and it's so great to have her! The house is definitely a lot noisier with her added in 🙂

Oh and just for fun...a picture of our first "child" Zeke before we had kids. He died when Zari was 1 year old and it still hurts.

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I slept 8 hours last night--what a gift.

The ridiculously tiny Christmas tree has a litter of presents. It's been multiplying a lot today.

Zari leaves this evening to come visit us! She'll arrive around 3 pm tomorrow. Super excited! She wants to make gingerbread houses and work on the book nook and go hiking and sun herself on the beach. Great life goals.

We took a walk to see the Christmas Village downtown, but it was already closed. Eric did his best to embarrass the kids. We bought a doughnut and churros to share.

We baked the Freeze Family Funny Faces cookies and they turned out amazing! I was worried they'd lose all their details.

We watched "Last Christmas" tonight. It wasn't bad for a cheesy Christmas movie.

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Jetlag + insomnia = torture

We arrived in France on the 16th. The first night I slept maybe 5- hours and then every night after that it's been 2 or 3 hours. Night after night, so frustrating. It doesn't help that I'm dealing with an incredibly stressful situation at the moment.

I feel like I've hardly processed that we've moved overseas. I've been feeling so physically icky that running or brisk walking is not possible.

Oh, and on top of that we've had a bout of illness, first Inga and then Ivy!

It's not all bad, of course, but it's been challenging.

We hauled out the Christmas decorations today and made Lebkuchen. Inga made Funny Freeze Family Faces. So clever! She doesn't want to make them because it will mess up her hard work.

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We arrived yesterday afternoon without any travel problems! 3 flights as usual but at least they were all heading in the same direction this time. Some years our connections send us through airports that are further out of the way.

Jet lag has been rough--going east is hard. On top of that, Inga woke up with a fever and started puking. She's been flat on the couch all day, unable to keep anything down except juice and water.

Ivy was determined to go to school because there are 2 field trips tomorrow and the next day. She was too tired to go to soccer practice in the afternoon, though. I think Eric was relieved because he was tired, too!

I woke up at 3 am and spent a long time reading before I was able to get back to sleep.

Oh--and our water heater isn't working so no hot showers yesterday or today. It finally heated about halfway after over 24 hours. I did all sorts of troubleshooting and emailed our plumber. Whatever it is (something to do with resistance of a certain part) it's not something I can fix myself.

I had to get right back to work because I had meetings set up. Ah well, it's probably good to keep myself going.

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T-12

We'll be driving away in about 12 hours...goodbye USA, hello France for the next 7+ months! It's been a day of cleaning, packing, saying goodbye to friends, showing the house to the new tenants (things like water shutoffs, thermostats, etc.). We're in a massive cold snap with 6" of dry, fluffy snow and bright sun. A nice way to say goodbye to Indiana.

Zari's finals and final papers have gone well so far. She has one final left on Friday. She just got back her grades from her final project for her "What is Canada" class and she got 100%! The teacher was gushing with praise, so much that Zari was super embarrassed to read it. The professor offered to help her get research fellowships, write letters of recommendation, etc. Wow! She mapped the history of the Freeze family as they settled and migrated throughout Canada, all the way back to the 1700s, and tied it into regional and national trends and controversies.

She's been baking Lebkuchen. I love seeing my child carrying on a family tradition.

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Snow!

We had snow falling all day. The girls had their last indoor game this morning, which they won against the best team in Dio's age category. They stopped by a Mexican restaurant for lunch.

It's been a full day of cleaning and packing. I see the end in sight, although two certain teenagers have overpacked and can't get all their clothes into one carryon. We keep telling them they can leave some stuff here but they want to bring more than we have space for!

Tomorrow's to-do list:
- buy more AC/furnace filters
- house tour to our renters to show them where shutoffs are, how things work, etc
- meet with my repair guy to go over things to do while we're gone
- disconnect the car battery
- wash all of the sheets
- eat, toss, or freeze all of our food
- continue taking pictures of every room (good for documentation, insurance, etc)

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Poor Ivy. She woke up with a fever and feeling terrible. She wanted to go to school so badly! She had several big assignments due, and it's her 2nd to last day of class. But there was no way she could go. I assured her I would drop off her big science project and get in touch with her teachers.

She got to hear me give Grand Rounds to BC Women's in Vancouver...meet with a charitable foundation about a grant for open-access medical/surgical training modules...meet with my grant writer. A day in the life of mama.

We're only a few days from leaving and we still have so much to pack and clean. I keep asking the kids to work on their own rooms but they've had too much homework.

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Tiling, studying, cleaning, & packing

I've been helping renovate one of our rental apartments, sneaking over many evenings and weekends and working alongside our miracle worker Larry--brick mason, former general contractor, plumber, electrician, welder. You name it, he can do it!

Today we laid the kitchen countertops--2x4' tiles with Schluter metal edging. I've never laid tiles this big before! I also did a bunch of painting. We only have a few days left since the tenant is moving in on Saturday!

Tomorrow is backsplash tile, Tuesday is grout, Wednesday is installing the upper cabinets, Thursday is deep cleaning. Phew!

The kids all had a lot of homework this afternoon and evening. Dio had to watch The Truman Show for his English class--I caught the last half of it with him.

I did some packing and deep cleaning. Only 1 week left!

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A few pictures from life over the past few days...

Today's theme: frozen soccer

I drove 5 hours bringing kids back and forth to soccer games an hour away...froze while watching the games...same with for Eric with the other kids. We even did an exchange along the highway, finding a halfway point and switching carfuls of kids.

They had to plow the snow off the fields so the kids could play.

Ivy went to her first school dance last night and had a blast.

Inga, 2 friends, and I went to a cookie contest & gingerbread decorating activity tonight. They were the cookie judges. I don't even want to know how much sugar they consumed.

We had fun decorating the gingerbread manger...they had some fun details, like a swimming pool with miniature gingerbread men lounging in their pool floats...3 girls holding hands and a soccer ball at their feet...

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Go Inga!

It's super late and I've been not sleeping much and so this is all you get from me today!

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My day was so full going from one meeting or appointment to another...then I finally had a few minutes, only to turn around and drive Dio to soccer practice! Whew! Eric and Inga also had practice, and she went to the other team's practice after and then they got something to eat. It was a late night for them.

Meanwhile poor Ivy was at home with no one around and no one to make dinner...

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More snow!

Because we're leaving for sunny Nice in 2 weeks, I'm happy to see more snow and cold weather. Plus snow is better than frozen gray-brown ugliness.

I had some intense meetings today, so in the late afternoon I took a mental health break (aka going to the rental apartment and painting!). After dinner, I took Ivy and Inga and a friend to a discount clothing/home goods store. Inga found 2 pairs of jeans.

What else? I can't think of much so off to bed for me!

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