Chez Corcutt has moved...

Since we can't easily access Blogger in Syria, plus we've had issues about not having a local copy of our blog for some time (we had a scare once where we lost access to the blog), we're setting up a new blog here which we will use from now on...

Macarons at Paris airport

Flo will be over the moon to discover that she can stock up on her return to Damascus, since a little stall has appeared at the otherwise pretty sparse Charlie of Gaulle airport!

Back in Nederland

We arrived back in Nederland on Sunday to prepare for the arrival of number two in September, since we decided against having the delivery in Damascus. We took Beatrice to see auntie apple and uncle pear at the little fruit and veg stall, who were of course delighted to see her!

Beatrice Counting in the Bath

Beatrice instructed me to go and fetch my phone this evening to take a photo of her lying in the bath. She then put on a little show, counting to ten for the camera. I've now started on teaching her the alphabet, but I must add that we don't have high expectations of little B.

Beatrice loves bubbles

Beatrice adores bubbles. Every bath time she insists that I blow some bubbles for her to catch and on this occasion I turned my back for 5 seconds (talking to Flo) and she'd opened and dispensed half a bottle of Flo's expensive shampoo into the bath. I had no option but to make the most of the situation and froth up the water into a mass of bubbles, much to Beatrice's delight!

Healthy Narcissism

Beatrice loves looking at herself. We often find her watching her own reflection in windows and she keeps grabbing my phone and handing it to me saying "picture", encouraging me to take a picture of her so that I can show it to her. This is one of those pictures. She's learnt to strike a pose, smiling for the camera; looks like she's lining herself up for a career as a model!

Trip to Aleppo

This weekend we took a trip to Aleppo with my parents who are visiting us this week. Aleppo is great and far more charming than Damascus, although I prefer to live in Damascus simply because it's more convenient.

On the way back we drove through the Dead Cities between Aleppo and Hama, stopping off at Serjilla to eat lunch in the shelter of an abandoned Byzantine inn, where this picture was taken.

B's first junk food

We stopped off at a McDonald's on the way to Beirut last week, where Beatrice sampled her first burger and fries. As you can see from her expression, she wasn't overly impressed.

B in Beirut

Here's Beatrice in Beirut enjoying playing with a napkin more than her pasta at Napoletana on Hamra Street.

Beatrice with arm in sling

Beatrice with arm in sling
Originally uploaded by jonnycorcutt

Poor little Beatice now has her arm in a sling after fracturing it yesterday. The sling will be on for at least two weeks while the fracture repairs.

She's quickly adapted to using only one arm however and it hasn't stopped her from running around the house like a mad thing, despite our best attempts to slow her down.

Beatrice's first haircut

Beatrice's first haircut
Originally uploaded by jonnycorcutt

It's been a while since we posted anything... everything is fine other than us not getting access to our blog here in Syria since Blogger is blocked. However, seems I can post from Flickr, so here we are.

As you can see, Beatrice is growing fast! She's now on to three word sentences (but her favourite expression is "zelf doen" meaning she wants to do everything herself) and is well on her way to being potty trained, pretty much going without nappies during the day now.

But the big news is... Flo's pregnant again! We're now mid term with the due date around 9th September. After years of trying to get pregnant back in Holland, we went for ICSI treatment here in Damascus (we were advised by our GP that they didn't even do ICSI treatment here) and we got lucky first time with only a single egg! So moving to Damascus has been proven very worth while.

We found a specialist here in Damascus who used to be a professor at Nottingham University in the UK. We found out about him through Flo's friendship with a European lady living over here who's married to a Syrian; her daughter had been treated by the specialist and she kindly passed on his details. The hospital is very basic and the bedside manner and general care is poor, but we're prepared to overlook all that given the outcome!