Big revamps in our lives

Over the weekend, it snowed in Paris. This is not very usual for beginning of Dec. The snow did not stay as it rained after. However, it did snow heavily and my balcony had a layer of snow. It was a beautiful sight from the living room but I think my flowers had froze to death.

Baby A2 is getting better. Despite the cold, we had to bring him for theraphy sessions to clear his lungs. I'm glad that after 2 sessions, we were told that he was in the pink of health. For the next months, we would keep ourselves warm at home and avoid outdoors unless necessary.

With baby A1 at the childcare, there are some organisations to be done. Seb brings him to childcare and in the evening, my neighbour, whose son is also at the child care would help me to bring back baby A1. I won't have to take baby A2 with me to pick up his brother. This arrangement would last for these 2 weeks. After which, Seb would be on his 11 days of father's leave. Yeah, another work benefit in France.

Then comes the new year. Major changes would occur come 2011. We were disappointed that baby A2 did not have a place at the childcare. So the best decision for us was to pull baby A1 out of childcare and enaged a nanny. We found a chinese nanny who would come to take care of the 2 boys at home. She would speak chinese to them. She would work every weekday except wed and alternate friday.

For me, I will stop working full time. By law, yeah, another work benefit in France, I can reduce my work hours to 80% and get some financial help from the governement. This means I get to spend every wed and alternate fridays at home with my boys. The loss of income is about 10% after aids from govt which ends on the third birthday of the last child.

France is really a social country. I just realised that with 2 kids,I get about 120€ from the govt each month. I did not realise this until I checked my bank account a few days ago. The amount increased with the number of kids. No wonder some people just keep having babies to get this aid.

At the moment, I'm on maternity leave until 20 Dec but I decided to start work on 2011. After all, I still have 5 weeks of leave. I hope to be fresh for year 2011. I'm just exhausted now and nursing a cold. Hopefully, I won't pass it to the babies.