Will Dig Life

Man, we're busy again! There's our regular activity schedule - Co-op every other Monday, Gymnastics on Wednesday, Grandparents Thursday and Lego Club Friday - but since we've had Cody, we've also been forced to be out and about a lot more than we did with Fred. If Cody doesn't get out for a really good run at least once a day, nothing at home is safe from his mischief! We are blessed to have a wonderful nature reserve literally behind our house, which is a bit of a best-kept secret: it's really rare to meet anybody there. And while we did know of it ever since moving here, and did visit the tadpole pond in it almost daily during lockdown 2022, it's only now that we are really exploring it and trying different paths. I often go there on my own, when the kids aren't around, just me and Cody: a good hour of walking, praying, enjoying nature. Never thought walking the same area so many times could feed my soul like that - but it's really become something

With N(8) we are very firmly in middle childhood right now. Her birthday was about six weeks ago and I didn't say much then, so I felt it's time for an in-depth post about life with this eight-year-old girl. A long time ago, before I had kids, an acquaintance in passing mentioned that her mother, when asked what was her favourite phase in her children's childhood, said: I loved every phase. At that time, hearing that, I couldn't quite wrap my mind around that... apart from thinking that kids are hard work in one way or another throughout, I was sure there were easier and harder times and that correspondingly, any sane mother would say the easier times were the best. And yet - now I've been through a few phases with them myself - I have to say the same thing: I've loved every stage. The wonder and cuddliness of the baby. The discovery and insatiable curiosity of the toddler. The preschoolers' wondrous ideas and imaginative play. And their kind hearts and inno

Note: The “Get to know me” tags are mainly intended for my kids to read when they’re older, a way of getting to know me better, answering questions they may not think to ask. Everyone’s welcome to read, of course, but it may not be terribly interesting to you!  My family or origin was dysfunctional, there’s no doubt about it. But looking back, I’ve been incredibly blessed with mentors coming into my life at just the right times to support, teach, and form me – I owe them an awful lot. Here are a few of them.  My first real job: Siemens / Martin Fischer  I had a summer job at Siemens in Vienna, in the office. Martin Fischer, the department head, really saw me and appreciated my work (this was in a sometimes rather uncomfortable environment, all middle aged males apart from myself who was barely out of my teens, and I distinctly recall one co-worker having a very explicit pornographic image of a woman’s private parts as his screensaver) and he offered me a project management job for 10 h