Again in Paris

Last time I was in Paris in November I caught a terrible cold. Now I flew to Paris already with a terrible cold, but I'm hoping to leave it here and not take a new one back.

Our whole family has been quite ill during the past three weeks. First Risto and Tuomas were home with Clara for a week due to influenza. A challenge for everybody, but Tuomas was so sick that he was even able to smile to Clara and not just hate her. Since Jaakko got a shot against influenza back in December I hoped that he'd stay healthy, but he started coughing the following week and it was his turn to spend a couple of days home with Clara. She said that being home with just Jaakko was on the other hand easier (he had no one to fight with), but on the other hand more difficult since Jaakko demanded a lot of attention. DH sneezed every now and then and I started getting symptoms last Thursday (but went to the gym anyway, which resulted in the cold getting worse and muscle pain so bad that walking the stairs was more or less painful....yeah, not wise!). The night before flying to Paris Tuomas started crying around midnight and complained that his ears hurt. The pain killers worked for a couple of hours (he 'slept' in our bed, kicking the blanket, I climbed to his bunk bed), but around 5am he started crying (more like screaming) again and DH took him to the doctor. We knew the diagnose: ear infection. It was actually quite good that Tuomas stayed home with Clara again, but now just by himself. Clara said that they had a nice time, Tuomas was very cuddly and cute. Hopefully he'll stop hating her.

So now I'm in Paris, the Mecca of shopping... DH should be grateful that his wife is such a bad shopper. I can't find anything nice, even a 10% discount coupon to Printemps didn't help. I guess -10% isn't really enough of a discount when looking at handbags that are fastened with cables against theft. Well, I did find something nice for DH, but I simply won't spend €200 on a men's shirt (even though he definately is worth it!!) since I wasn't sure he'd like it. The boys will be disappointed that I won't bring them toys or something special, but in my opinion we have enough of toys and stuff and it is also important for them to learn about disappointment (ok, I've bought some goodies...).

Now I'm back in my room at the hotel after a quick meal at a sushi restaurant next door. My cold has not gone away, and I guess I miss the hullabaloo at home since I can't be in a quiet room all by myself (remind me of this when I complain about the noise at home...), the TV is on, something in French, I'm not even watching it. Soon I'll go to bed and continue knitting the hat I started working on the plane.

This time no pictures from Paris, since I left the camera at home. Au revoir!