My mother agreed to do it from the 3rd to the 13th of august, therefore there was a problem for the other days. Fortunately the children of whom Sabrina looks after were on holiday, therefore she could help us. I was always in sick leave, but I preferred that her to be there so that I don’t tire myself too much. Therefore, I profited to do the housework and some paper work.
The 3rd, my mother arrived in the evening, but Sabrina decided to spend the weekend with us. They had a good time together and my mother had a public for her jokes which I still don’t understand.
We all went to the swimming pool and Arthur was quite glad to have all these people around him to look at him. As usual, he had quickly enough of it and started to play with all the open lockers of the swimming pool.
We took advantage from two baby-sitters in the house, to go to the cinema with Marc. We went to see the last Harry Potter and as usual it was full of differences and missing part compared to the book, but we nevertheless spent a good time.
From the 6th my mother took care of Arthur all alone as I went back to work after more than two weeks of absence. I was a little nervous because the last time that my mother had looked after Arthur (in April for his birthday), he absolutely didn’t want her to touch him. As Marc worked away from home, this time it was simpler for her, because he didn’t have a choice. Everything went very well, but my mother being 69 years old, she was quite tired in the evening when I was coming back from work.
The 8th of august, Marc went to Paris, so in the evening I have to do everything on my own (bathing Arthur, giving his meal and preparing ours, preparing Arthur’s bag for the following day, doing the washing up, making the bread and to start a load in the washing machine) because my mum was too tired to help me. It was rather hard for me. When Marc came back I was much happier than usually.
The weekend before mum leaves, the 12th we went to see my cousin and her children who live close to Reading at 40 minutes away from us. Mum was happy because she doesn’t have a lot of occasion to see Sandrine.
A last word about my mum staying: during a card game, she said to us that she studied to be a social worker and that she had been before the birth of my first sister until her second pregnancy (about two years!!) It was a shock for both of us and it took me a while to recover from that news. For those who know my mother, you will understand why, for those who don’t understand, I can explain to you why by email ;)

On Monday the 13th mum went back to Strasbourg and Kathia arrived with Mazarine (Marc’s sister and our common niece!) to take the changing of the guard. Apparently mum had tears in her eyes when leaving Arthur. It is touching!
Kathia managed very well with the two little ones. The first day, Arthur didn’t want Mazarine to play with his toys so he took them off her hands. From time to time she didn’t care, but often she cried. Arthur not liking to see her crying gave her back the toy!
There were also some incidents where he was a little bit too violent with her, but he quickly realized that he had made a naughty thing because he was crying with her. Both of them had to be comforted at the same time, but it always finished well. The first day, when Kathia gave them their lunch, Mazarine wasn’t very hungry and she ate slowly. Arthur having finished very quickly started to eat in Mazarine’s plate. From this moment, Kathia gave their lunch separately to be sure that her daughter has something at the end. What a greddy boyll!
The weekend of the 17th of august, Sabrina joined us and we spent a great weekend to chat until late hours. We discussed about a lot of thing and even very personal subject. I will never have thought it was possible. It was very constructive and interesting, but we all were very tired.

After Kathia went back home, we only have two evenings by ourselves, then on Wednesday the 22nd of august, our friends David and Melanie arrived with their 8 month old son Samuel.
Arthur was with Samuel exactly the same than with Mazarine at the beginning, but as with Mazarine he got used to his presence and was adorable. With them we visited the surroundings of the area like Newbury and Goring, but of course also Oxford and Wallingford!!
Samuel is as cool as Arthur, I completely fall in love with him and he seemed also to like me as he smiled each time that he saw me.
During their stay Marc and I set up a challenge. I would like a deep fat fryer for a very long time, but Marc doesn’t see the utility of it because he thinks that it will be a machine used as often as our fondue set. My mother lent me her yoghurt maker two years ago, which I never used. So he gave me the challenge to make 10 batches of yoghurt to have my deep fat fryer. That weekend, I began my first batch with some chocolate yoghurt. They were very liquid, but relatively good (quality was not taken into account in the challenge, it’s all right).
Since I did my fifth batch and they are perfect!
Here we go, since the 28th of august, we took again our small daily routine with difficulty. It was a very good summer, but very tiring.
Of course it doesn’t prevent me from saying to you all that you are all welcome at our place!!