It's The Little Things

When I first found out we would be moving to Poland I have to admit I didn't know anything about the country...but I assumed the worst, and that they would be behind-the-times in every way possible. I am happy to say that Poland has proven me wrong, and I am constantly pleasantly surprised by the little things here and there. For example, when I was pregnant with Jack I discovered a nail polish brand called Zoya, which does not contain toulene, formaldehyde, or DBP. I had to order it on-line because I didn't find it in any stores and I certainly didn't ever see it in a nail salon. A few weeks ago I went for a manicure/pedicure and could not believe my eyes when I saw that they had a whole wall full of Zoya colors!!  Unfortunately the manicurist butchered me and made several of my fingers/toes bleed - not sure if it was the cuticle cutting or the high powered buffer that she used (which by the way was very similar to one of my dad's sanding tools that I asked him to use on one of my toes one Christmas, which I quickly discovered should never be used on human flesh...but I digress....)  I really want to go back to this salon so I will just have to find out this woman's name and make sure I don't get her again.

Another happy discovery was in the giant toy store called Smyks, something very similar to a Babies-R-Us. When Jack was a baby I made sure that any plastic pacifiers, bottles, bowls, cups, etc. that I used were BPA-Free. I couldn't ever find anything without BPA in Dublin so I had to have people send me things, or I would stock my suitcase whenever I went back home for a visit. While I was walking through the toy store I noticed shelves of products with big 'BPA-Free' signs on them. I was really happy, even though I don't need to buy pacifiers or bottles anymore - but I did notice some BPA-free food containers in the supermarket so I grabbed a few of those. I guess Poland is more on the ball than I thought! Now they just need to work on this pollution problem - we just returned from a weekend in Copenhagen and when I ran out to the grocery store I could barely breathe when I was outside. My throat was absolutely burning, it really felt like I had my face up against someone's car exhaust. When I got home I walked over to Mike and asked him to smell me because all I could smell was 'exhaust' and he was pretty grossed out. City center is very polluted because of the traffic and most cars I have seen are diesel and you can just see the clouds pumping out of the backs of the cars - but out in the suburbs it's caused by people burning coal (or their garbage). I don't know how we are going to make it through the winter, if I find any of those ER-looking masks you can bet I will buy some - even just to wear in the car because it's awful just sitting in traffic, especially when I am stuck in a tunnel. Something tells me Mike and the kids won't want to be walking around town in those masks, but I'll buy them some just in case : )

Snow!

I know I am falling behind in the blog - we went back for a visit to Dublin at the end of September, then Mike's mom came to Poland for a visit and now my parents are here so I have been busy! Anyway, the other morning the kids were up really early and came running and screaming from Nana and Poppy's room into our bedroom to look outside - everything was covered in a few inches of snow!! They were so excited, we weren't expecting it al all so it was a nice surprise. Unfortunately the kids have very little snow gear since we didn't really need it in Dublin and whatever they had they grew out of. They didn't care though, they ran right outside and were so happy to play in it. Later that day we went to the mall and bought Ava some snow pants, Jack snow boots and both of them winter coats. We just need to find Ava some boots and waterproof gloves and hopefully we will be all set - for them at least, Mike and I are another story. It was SO cold the next few days and my boots really did not keep my feet warm at all.  I think we need to find some sub-zero weather gear, it seems like it is going to be a long winter!

Our white backyard

snowman

Ava with her friends