Fast Forward 4x

22 February  –  When we returned to Germany, we made sure that we went to the regular Friday playgroup, but unfortunately, no one else made it as kids naps were all haywire.

Missing E :*(

C had also gotten CD a gift – to help him continue his love affair at home.

B & E Buds

All MINE!

23 February  –  We learned to climb on the chair to get to the radio…and brought Bert with us as a co-conspiritor.

Music and Men

25 February  –  We had some donkey fun and showed off our locks after a sweaty nap.

Rody the Donkey

He looks a little sleepy still- or contemplating a hard question

26 February  –  We went shopping and stood in the little bit of snow that was left.  Of course I didn’t have his boots on, so we played and then got inside to dry off his feet.

Still a winter wonderland

28 February  –  We hung out with some friends.

They’re Back!

Can’t WAIT to take him to Sesame Place!!!  That will be SO much fun!

Young love

J and I were strolling the kids next to each other and then we look down and what do we see?!?!?!  They are holding hands.  Sweet!

1 March  –  Am I SOOOO glad that this day is in my past!  I have been trying to find a travel stroller for CD for some of our upcoming trips but don’t want to spend a fortune on one.  They are really expensive here or you get the kind that looks like they are only meant to hold a baby doll and you see a 4 year old crumpled up in it trying to “look” comfotrable as mom or dad wheels them along.  Not going for either of those.  So I did as much research as possible and found one that seems like it would be good.  I scoured the Internet to try to buy it online- non available.  Then I went to the manufacturer’s website- they only sell to stores, you can’t buy direct from them.  I then emailed and called stores in Germany and within Europe to see if they have/will ship to Germany.  Found one in UK and put them on my “wait” list if I couldn’t find it in Germany.  Called Toys R Us here, since their website said they had them but I needed someone to put the order in for me as my bank card here literally lets me do nothing online.  So, I bundled CD up and headed on the long journey to Toys R Us to have them order it for me.  I got confirmation over the phone that they could do this prior to legging it to the place.  Needless to say after 2.5+ hours in the store “waiting”, I voiced my disgust with them and left.  I will not get into further details because my “southern” mom taught me that if I don’t have anything nice to say, don’t say anything.

CD did however make out on this trip.  The one store clerk felt bad for him as he was screaming and squirming a lot.  She gave him free bubbles, balloon, tokens to ride the rides.  I made sure that I told her I was not angry with her as she was just the poor pawn that the manager “put out there” so they would not have to deal with me.  Good idea on their part.  🙂

Free balloon- free static

Little Ferris Wheel Type Ride – YouTube

And what do you do after a stressful morning and some new fun?  You pass out on the ride home.  🙂

Napping Joe Cool Style

And after you have rested and regained your sense that it was in fact a CRAZY morning, you then go and tell your friends about it.

Listening buddy

Oh yeah, and you take another friend’s dummy (pacifier) to help soothe the reliving of the morning.

2 March  –   I have started to let CD walk, as he doesn’t enjoy just riding in the stroller too much anymore.  He wants to be out there, touching everything and exploring his world.  I will usually let him walk back from the stores as we go on the non-busy streets.  He has been a champ at doing this and I usually give him something light to carry to slow him down a bit.

Carrying his groceries

This day was also one of the birthday parties of this year.  Birthdays Galore

4 March  –  We decided to meet up with J and L to have lunch since we would not be seeing L for a few days as she was going on holiday.  This was an awful plan as it was right at CD’s nap time.  I decided that I would wear him in the baby carrier so that he would be more likely to fall asleep than in the stroller.  He did not.  We got our food and as we were all enjoying it, CD THREW UP.  And I did what any mama would do.  I stuck my hands under his mouth to catch it.  And you know who was right behind me to do the same thing????  L.  She grabbed the napkins and put her hands under mine!!  Kinda gross but that’s love.  🙂  All I could think was, “we are about to eat, CD puked in front of a pregnant girl.  I bet she still has her appetite.”

CD had been under the weather due to teething again.  His bottom left far back tooth popped through and now we are just waiting on the last three.  They are swollen lumps in his mouth right now so I know it is going to be a tough time.  He then finally fell asleep in my arms as the other girls were having their coffees- I don’t drink coffee so I declined it.

Self portrait

We did however have some fun on the way back to the apartment.

Park Time- Come here Mama

Driving the firetruck

Picking Daisies

And after a hard day of playing, as boy needs to eat.

Forget the stick, I’m going straight for the hummus!

What?!?! The “stick” is a breadstick?

Ok. I will eat that too!

5 March  –  I had found another indoor play area that is meant for older kids but on Tuesday mornings, they shut the place down so that only 0-2 year olds can go and play.  And not fear getting trampled by the older kids.  Plus they give out free coffee.  That was what I used to lure my friends to go with me.  I also told them that they could draw sticks to see who would get my cup as I don’t drink coffee.  We had been trying to go for a while (since January) but never made it.  First, I was incredibly sick and could not peel myself off the bathroom floor let alone go and bounce around with CD.  I was glad that we finally went.  J and her daughter E came along for the journey along with M and her son O.  We also explored a new area of town as none of us had ever been there.  After the play area, we headed back to the city to grab lunch.  No throwing up this time, phew!  Then we went to the park because this week’s weather had been wonderful.  Sun, warmer temperature.  Lovely!

Riding the car

Car up close

“Slide”

Germany has these “slide” type things where it is a conveyor belt with tubes that roll.  Then you put your kid in a plastic carton and send them down the belt.  We were introduced to these last year at the Frankfurt kids fest.  CD loves them and has a good time doing it.

Then there was trampoline time with O.

Come on O, let’s jump!

I bounce you!

I have a daredevil on my hands.  Other kids are wary of some things, CD, eh, not so much.  O didn’t really make it on to the trampoline, so I jumped on and helped CD bounce.  He enjoyed it and let out his full belly laugh.

And we found the mechanical rides as well.  🙂

Lightning McQueen

Kangaroo!

And we push the chairs here too.

Chair pushing. Loads of fun!

Then we nap.

Sweet dreams

Then we play while moms try to eat.

Boy time

Park time

So here are CD and O in the sand at the park.  O is covering himself with sand and CD is helping him.  CD decides he wants to eat the sand and get messy too.  Oh wait, J and E were with us too.  Where could E be?  She has on her new shoes and refuses to touch her feet to the sand in fear of getting her feet/shoes dirty and grimy.  J ends up carrying her.  HA!  Boys and girls.

And after a long day, Mama finally bought her spring flowers.  On the walk home a lady commented on how nicely I decorated the stroller.  🙂  P.S.  The flowers look awful now.  There is no point in “buying” flowers.  ARGH!

Primrose

6 March –  We again went to the park with M and J as the weather was gorgeous.  I walked around in only a tank top and thinner sweater, but still bigger boots.  (Need to pull out/buy spring time shoes as I don’t really have transition shoes).  We had a fun time and CD has been enjoying the use of other kid’s sandbox toys.  Little does he know what he is getting for Easter!  Mama asked the Easter Bunny if CD could have some sand toys!

More flower…picking.  🙂

Flower time

Park truck

Pinwheel Pose

I had bought CD a pinwheel and he loves it.  Great use of a Euro!

March 7  –  Busy, busy day.  I picked up a used toy for CD that I thought he would like.  Then I had to go to the bank as my card was not working much anymore and that is my only way that I pay for things.  Then it was off to the main train station to get a train card since we will be traveling by train a bit in the near future.  Now, everyone talks about how seedy the train station area is.  I didn’t really notice it on the walk to the train station, but when I left is when I noticed things.  Europe doesn’t really sensor nudity so imagine bilboards in seedy areas without nudity sensors.  🙂  Not wild but still a little shocking.

We then went to meet M and J for lunch, however it got prolonged since J took awhile to get to us.  M and I let the boys run around a bit as it was nice outside.  CD enjoyed the music guys that we see a lot and he got a few dances in before J arrived.

FYI: Not CD’s cup

“Helping” O take a drink

Dance time – YouTube

Dance Time 2 – YouTube

Dance Time 3 – YouTube

And then there was entertaining O, who HATES to be out of the stroller.  Peek-A-Boo – YouTube

Lunch was fabulous!  The food was good, the service was fabulous and fast that we all decided we would be going back to the location again.  J and I have past it many times and kept saying we should go there, but never really made it definite until today.  Sorry we waited so long.

Sharing toys

The boxes that the kids have were part of the kids fun box that the restaurant gives out to children who eat there.  It contains a few toys, a drink, snack and some other things I don’t remember.  Well worth it even if it is just for them to play with while you shovel food into your mouth.  🙂

Stinky Toes – YouTube

March 8 – I finally went to the mom and baby workout group that I have bookmarked on my computer ages ago.  We made it just in time and had a good time.  It is nice because the instructor doesn’t speak much English so she says everything in German.  I just follow the moves for the most part and remember key words.  We did the warm-up and CD was fine with it.  Then the second group of exercises we did was when CD started to not like it.  I basically begged, pleaded, whined to him to let me get through the hour-long session and then we could play in the park.  He wasn’t buying it (even though it was the truth).  My only option was to get him out of the stroller and pray that he stayed close to me.  Well, he did.  When we were doing lunges, he was holding my hand and doing them right by my side.  All of the other moms thought it was cute- all of their kids were still little and not rambunctious.  We made it through the workout…kind of and then I let CD play in the playground.  By this time it was close to being lunch time so I wanted to walk home….well, CD wanted to walk home too and not be pushed in the stroller.  It was a LONG walk out of the park and onto the first road as CD pointed to everything and said “I see”.  He gained a walking stick for the long journey and also tried to break into a BMW car.  He apparently thought we were going to go for a drive.  He walked right up to it, put his hand on the handle and pulled it.  No alarm went off, thankfully.  CD then made it home to have lunch and nap. Then it was our regular meetup at the restaurant with the girls.

Meeting at the usual spot

Look Mama!

Yup, that is CD standing on the chair, O looking at CD knowing that he is going to get into trouble.  Then CD looks as us as to say “what are you going to do about this Mama?”.  Then O looks at us with a concerned look on his face.  And O then does what any upstanding friend would do when you are going to get into trouble.  He bolts and leaves CD standing on the chair to get into trouble by himself.  🙂

Mode of Transportation – YouTube

March 9 – CD woke up in a BADDDDDD mood.  Gave him some medicine and he just was not happy.   Loved to throw everything at me.  CD got his first haircut from C and did pretty well with it.  We went out to get some groceries and then came home for lunch and nap.  After his nap I got to go out and work on the blog while C watched CD.  This sounded like a great idea, but the blog work never really happened as I could not connect to the Internet.  So in the end I just lugged extra weight (laptop) around that I did need to.

Home haircut

Yes, we did it during snack time so that CD could have something to focus on while the haircut was happening.  It was a good idea in theory and it did work, however, I did have to replace a few snacks before he ate them because they got covered in hair.

Happy Hair!

He looks like such a big boy now it’s crazy!

March 10 – Chatted with GM, N and Aunt C.  Busy FaceTime day.  Went to park.  Started raining on walk to park.  Stayed to play at park and then rode bus home…about 2 blocks!

Snack- Go Temple!

Up close and personal

Park- with someone else’s shovel!

March 11 – Cleaning lady came.  CD so excited to see her.  Went to meet L and E at bakery to catch up after their trip.  Bitter cold outside.  Did I say bitter?  I meant BITTER COLD OUTSIDE!!!!!!!  So we spent most of today inside doing this:

Shape Train

March 12 – Snow overnight.  Decided to go out and get groceries since there were no open spots to have them delivered.  Got out, bitter cold, got groceries and then on walk home, BITTER COLD and felt awful.  Almost passed out when got home but was able to sit before it happened.  Stayed in and watched the snow pile up outside.  Then went out for a late trip to see Ernie and Bert with J and E.  J was locked out of her building so she had to wait a bit to get in so we also had dinner.  Was tasty, but tough with two toddlers that new it was bedtime.  Lift was out at Ubahn station and had to lug stroller up 2 flights of stairs.  We saw tons of places where the snow fell from the rooftops and they had the sidewalks marked off in tape so that no one would walk under them.  That was how much snow fell, how quickly it fell and how heavy it was.

Snow Time

Street in the morning- before most of the snow fell

Our balcony which NEVER gets snow on it. Now had it piled up.

Thankful for the big-wheels!

B & E Again

CD, B and E squared

Ball Pit

Climbing

Escape the spiked ball!

At night we booked trip to Brussles online with the friend that we were going to travel with.  Looking forward to it.  Look for that post soon!

March 13 – Headed out in the morning to meet with J and E and M and O to have the kids play in the snow that fell.  It was still pretty cold but it was a good idea.  We headed on the bus there so that we would not be out in the cold too long.

CD, O and M

“Deep” snow

Playing with someone else’s toys

Halfway through our outing, we decided to warm up and get something to eat.  The kids had just as much fun inside as they did outside.

E entertaining CD – YouTube

Sporting Mama’s sunglasses

Borrowing a friend’s sled

Side note:  Someone needs to make waterproof GOOD gloves for toddlers.  Yes, toddlers DO play with things and will also play with snow.  Their hands WILL get wet if companies ONLY make fleece “gloves”.  Another million dollar idea.  Who is willing to do the brunt work??  I will definitely back you!!!  Along with other moms of toddler BOYS….because guess what??  E was here too and she refused to stand in the snow.  J had to put her in the swing so that she would not be upset.  🙂

Building…

…our snowman!

Heading for the slide

SO hungry after a big day!

14 March  –  We headed out to meet friends for lunch.  Grown people sit at tables to eat.  Toddlers sit…well…in the middle of everything!

Lunching in the middle

Or they hide in corners!

We then went “shopping” to see ALL the SURPLUS of BOYS clothing that they have out there.  Um, what?!?!  What I really meant to say is the 5 shirts for boys aged 0-10 and the whole departments set up for girls aged 0-3 months, 6-12 months, 12-24 months.  Not really but you get the picture.  Boys clothes?  NOTHING.  Girls clothes?  Masses to choose from.

We did however see this shirt…none the less in the GIRLS section.

Miss you Brother Bear

L and I then had Girls Night.  Since no one else could make it, we did not want to cancel and headed to a small little place near her apartment.  We had an amazing time and it was actually really nice just being the 2 of us as we learned a lot about each other.  Another good night with L!

15 March  –  We cleaned as we were preparing for our trip to Brussels.  I had an AWESOME video of CD vacuuming, but he deleted it from my phone before I could put it on my computer.  Argh!

I’ll help Mama

16 March  –  I walk out of the kitchen to find…THIS…..!!!!!

Being a boy. I must climb!

Throwing my first snowball

Also had a great video of CD with the snowball, but yes, he deleted that one too!  🙂

 

Watching Toy Story

I should have placed a drool rag under his chin in the above picture!

17 March  – Happy St. Patrick’s Day!  CD had a BIG breakfast that he used both hands and big spoons to shovel it into his mouth.

Yummy!

And then CD had HIS FIRST REAL BABYSITTER!!!!!!  I went to the movies with L to see Les Misérables.  It was great! I did keep thinking about CD, but as I know the babysitter and L has used her for over a year with her 2 kids and J has used her with E- who is cool with her and not many other people.  I knew CD would be ok and she would not harm him. They only thing that did not work is it took him a long time to fall asleep, but he did with her, which was good.  L and I then got to have a quick bite to eat before heading home in the snow.

Irish Flag Lunch- Green beans, chicken, sweet potato

I had told the babysitter that he may eat more than what was on the above plate so there was more in the fridge.  She told me when I got home that he ate his plateful, and then half of everything in the fridge.  She said he was a “good eater” as she meant he will eat you out of house…I mean apartment and home…I mean flat.  

CD was happy to see me when he woke up, which was literally as soon as I was finished talking to the babysitter and was taking my shoes off of my feet.

Lucky Irish Shirt

 

We then made sure all of our things were in order as we were heading to Brussels, Belgium the following morning!

 

***Please excuse if I ended my sentences in prepositions.  I hate that with a passion, but I fall into the BAD habit when I’m tired, or hunkering down and weeding through stuff…as I am doing now.  Also, I know I have switched how I list the dates (# first or after the month), but let’s face it, I’m not going back to check it.  If something doesn’t make sense, breeze over it as I also have not proof-read it.  I am praying that I don’t have any obscene typos.  If I do, please let me know so I can fix those.  Also, I must go and rest as I gave myself Carpal tunnel syndrome in my left hand.

Look forward to the Brussles post!

Ski Holiday

This is the continuation of the last post.  Figured I would break it into chunks for you.

13 February

I actually had a night out as it was the goodbye party for my friend E who was moving.  It was weird to see everything lit up at night as I haven’t really seen it before- have always been inside with CD.

Alte Oper

L and I went and met up with the party crew.  It took us a little while to actually find the place as we were talking and walked past the place..twice before realizing it.  It was also in a dark back alley, kind of, so we made sure we stayed close to each other and walked in the middle of the street versus near the sides of the buildings.  Don’t know what type of looky-loos are there.  😉  The only thing that literally stinks is that smoking is still allowed in places here.  The smell was nasty and it just soaks into your clothes and your hair.  That is why I don’t like going out at night.  I want to wash my hair before I go to bed and then would have to dry it, but you can’t if you get in late.  Good thing I don’t go out often then right??  It was a blast and L and I make a pretty good team!  We do miss E though, but are trying to plan a trip to go and see her.

Then we had the Valentine’s Day Party

15 February – We got ready for our ski holiday.

Preparing for the ski trip. CD has a thing with wearing my shoes, boots, slippers, etc.

It is so stressful packing with a child.  You pack something in a bag and they pull 12 things out of it.  Then you have the bright idea to pack when they are asleep.  And then you realize that everything you need is in their room as you only really end up packing for them.  You forget that you actually need clothes.  You pack 5 more shirts than they will EVER need and you say to yourself “I can wear the same underwear while doing a hard-core workout in a sauna”.  That is just what happens and it’s true.  Anyway, we were all packed and ready to go on 16 February.

Ready to ride

By the end of our journey, which had taken much longer than expected due to us listening to the GPS- stupid us, we were happy to get out and stretch our legs at our holiday location (Zurs/St. Anton).  It was picturesque and glorious!  When it was time to take CD out of the carseat, I picked him up and realized he had peed through his diaper and onto his sweater, pants and soaked the carseat too.  We had even stopped at a rest stop to change him, but I guess those extra 5 shirts are meant for things like this.  Good thing I don’t pee in my pants…a lot.  HA!

17 February

I headed out onto the slopes.  It was breathtaking and gorgeous.  The first fall I took was because I wasn’t paying attention to what I was doing and looking at the monsterous mountains that surrounded me.  I had to get used to using much shorter and wider skis, as that is what they do now.  And also wearing a helmet.  Thank goodness for that because  it just made me feel “safer”.  I didn’t get to use the ski hat I purchased because the helmets are insulated.  Good thing as I look like a real idiot in hats…besides baseball ones.

Ski Gear

It was amazing because I  have a problem getting my feet into ski boots (extremely high arches) and these boots were heaven sent.  They were great and I was able to slip those puppies on in no time.  No stress there, right Aunt C?  😉

The Ski Partners

No real trail markers

It was a bit of a ski as you please- with not many trail markers, but you have to watch as you can literally ski off a cliff.  I watched from the other side of the mountain as 2 guys almost did this.  I almost fainted.  Luckily, at the last second the guy who was going first signaled that there was a cliff and then quickly tried to backtrack as snow clumps from his skis fell off the cliff.  There were trails though, and I stuck to them, most of the time.  🙂

18 February

One of my favorite shots!

And this is what happens after a LONG day of skiing.  I guess they couldn’t make it to their rooms to pass out.

Tired Skiers- Laying down on the slope

It was nice to ski by myself.  I got to go at my pace and to stop when I wanted to enjoy the surroundings.  I also got to think a lot about how “tiny and meaningless” I am in this world next to these mountains.

The Alps

So that there are no avalanches- you hope, they installed these wooden “gates” to hold back the snow.  You can see them in the following picture.

Wooden Gates

Self portrait- couldn’t see so shot was not that good

While I skied, CD had some fun too.  Once I recorded this, he found it on my phone and would continually play it until it drove me nuts hearing myself go “Yeay” in a high-pitched way.  CD loved it however, so I let him continue with it.  ***No child was injured in the following video.  CD is wearing the safety harness and is strapped in so he can’t get out.  It was at a low speed and a very slight downhill grade.***  For any of you who would have a heart attack.  😉  Sleigh Ride Time – YouTube

Mama Time

Hungry fellow, but must hold on in lift (elevator) just like Mama taught him.

View from our room’s balcony

Nightime view from our room’s balcony

Our Hotel

20 February

Drink and Snack Time

CD also celebrated his 20-month birthday while on holiday.

Happy 20-month CD!

This was also the day that everyone was really waiting to ski.  Over night, a bunch of snow fell and it continued to snow throughout the morning.  I made sure I ate breakfast quickly and then got out on the slopes to blaze some of my own trails in the newly fallen powder.  That was amazing as I have never really skied on powder.  I’m used to the East Coast mountains where it is icy with some real snow and then man-made snow.  I had a great time burying my skis and boots into the new snow.  The only thing that comes with a snowfall like that at that type of altitude with mountains surrounding you is that visibility gets a little tricky…to say the least.  Many times I used my head and stopped and waited until it cleared a bit so that you could actually see where you were going.  There were times where you couldn’t see the SHORT skis that were attached to your feet because of the fog.  You just hoped as you stopped that the people behind you did too.

You can see one of the markers in the middle of the picture- this was “good” visibility. HA!

21 February  We headed back to Germany after a wonderful holiday.

Bye Ski Holiday!

I know: purple and red.  UGH!!!!

Asleep in no time- in his ski sweater

And the funny picture for the post?  Everyone takes pictures of the exit signs for the roads in Germany because it is funny (Ausfahrt).  But I saw this one when we were driving to the hotel, but since I was driving and CD was in the car, I dare not do much else than drive.  So I waited until our return trip and snapped (HA!- no pun intended) this picture:

Braz

Fast Forward 2X

Here is the post where I pick and choose what to tell you from our time back in Germany from the beginning of the year, since it is now March.  Good luck and make sure you are wearing your reading glasses!

I will try to put a timeline stamp on it all so there is some chronological order.

31 January:  We cleaned up a lot and went to the Dinosaur Museum with a new friend.

Mama’s Little Helper

Look Mama a Moose!

Uncle TS & Aunt P, Stay far away from this!

Sled, seat, what’s the difference?

1 February

Make new friends

But keep the old

CD and E

4 February

We listened to some music

Radio Rant

And sucked our thumb

6 February

Balcony Ball

And gave hugs

7 February

We rode the “bus”

And got our first grocery delivery

9 February

We cleaned and listened to the radio more.  🙂  That is how I like to do my housework!

Groove while you work

We explored a new “little” play area in town.

He has all the new toys to play with, but he chooses the shopping cart! 🙂

Firetruck Time

Helping with groceries

Eating the Groceries

10 February was the Fasching Parade.  I organized a group of us to watch it with the little ones.  CD was the same thing he was last year- a frog.  And I was a ladybug.  I was too exhausted from being sick to find a costume for CD and all the stuff was already in the house-including the ladybug stuff- so I used those.

Part of our group- CD in the middle with the green hat

CD and O- the owl

CD thinking he is the main attraction

CD loved the horses

Float

Mr. Potato Head Pirate??? My best guess 🙂

By the end we were all freezing and decided to break up into groups based on where we live to grab something hot to drink.  That meant E and I headed off together.  We had a good time and it was nice to chat with her as she was getting ready to move.

CD and E’s daughter S

Little Ladybug

And this was CD’s inside Fasching costume:

Steeler Strong!

12 February

Get me in, get me in, get me in!

The love affair continues

CD telling me I’m not moving fast enough to put the money in so he could drive Bert and Ernie.  I guess this is me handing over the car keys…I mean coins?

CD basically started screaming with excitement when he knew where we were going.  When we went into the place, he was frantically trying to get out of the stroller to get to Bert and Ernie first so that he could have the car all to himself- and no one else could get it.  🙂

I was able to peel him away to actually interact with his friends…the real reason we were there.  🙂

Ball Pit

Ball Pit Bud O

Slide with O and M

Lego Play with O

Race car time

Not impressed

Impressed:  The coolest thing ever

Want to know what the other BIG attraction for CD is at this place?  It is a BIG attraction for most of the kids in our group as they all take turns doing it.  It is something that you wish you don’t pay for, but you end up doing anyway as they love to do it there.  Here it is:

Moving the chair!

Valentine’s Day Party

So I decided that I would host a Valentine’s Day party.  Now when I thought about doing this, it sounded great, but as time went by, I got a little stressed as this was not just another play date at my place.  If I was going to do a party, it was going to be done correct.

And let me tell you it was!

I prepared as much as I could in advance, some decorations and some food.  FYI: the balloons here in Germany are EXTREMELY hard to blow up and tie.  This has been confirmed by multiple people.  So, I only was able to blow up 4 balloons, but it was enough.  There was kid’s Valentine’s Day songs playing in the background too.

Then the big day came.  Everyone was told to wear pink or red and everything was in the theme of those colors or hearts…even the drinks!

CD allowed me some time to get things ready as he napped before guests arrived and well into the party.  He woke up to the party in full swing and then had a blast.

V-Day Decoration

The decorations were just in the living room and anchored above the 2 doorways.

Heart Pizzas

Heart Pasta Salad

Bleeding Heart Cupcakes

Favor Bags

There was TONS of candy in all flavors and all heart shaped.  Everyone loved it!

Table Decor

Hanging out in the hallway

Eating Cheerios with a real Brit!

There were more pictures of the other foods I had, but lets be serious, it would take WAY too long to load them.

At the end of the party, when I was cleaning up, I looked in my friend M’s coffee cup and this is what I saw.  No one made the shape.  It was just there.  Pretty cool I think.  🙂

Heart shaped coffee stain

After everyone left, it was time for me to focus on getting us ready for our ski holiday (16-21 February!

Birthdays Galore

Since we have returned to Frankfurt, we have finally really started the kid’s birthday bashes.  There were 3 in January, 2 in February and 1 in March.  I basically went to the Toys R Us and bought the whole store.

CD did get to enjoy the Toys R Us run as he got to ride the moving train there again.  He was much better at it this time.

Trolley Train

Trolley Train Video – YouTube

Here are pictures from some of the birthday parties that we went to:

The first one was for a little boy.  The mom actually picked the location for the party based on my recommendation.  Maybe I should be an event planner?!?!?

Mastering the slide- TONS of static

Rocking to sleep

Trampoline Time

Then there was Happy Birthday Brother Bear!

Another party was for my friend L’s daughter E.  We got to taste test a few of the scones and the clotted cream!  It was fabulous!

Girl Party- But More Boys!

And then back to the grind

This post is from the timeframe of 14-25 January.

Well back to the grind, somewhat.  We returned to Frankfurt after our trip to London CD got sick.  He was throwing up about every 15 minutes.  Now this was something new to us as he hasn’t done it since he was a baby.  Man, were we both freaked out about it.  All he wanted to do was lay on the floor and roll in it.  DISGUSTING!  I know, but it was pretty awful.  I think we went through his whole wardrobe that day.  He recovered and then the next day…

I immediately got sick.  Started out with cough, chills, sick stomach, fever, sweating, body aches.  All the normal signs of the flu, but I’m not able to take medicine so it was fight through it…while watching a toddler who is NOT sick and wanting to play outside…or jump on Mama’s stomach and make her want to you know what from your stomach not feeling well.

Once I got somewhat better we ventured out to have some play for CD as he was a caged bear in a confined space that was a BILLION times too small for his mass.  And then he was happy as I sweated and struggled to breathe and push the stroller through the sloppy muck that the snow had turned into since it snowed basically every day that we got back from London for a week. Sidenote though- I then would look at the people with the baby wheeled strollers and feel much better because I knew that they were struggling much more than I was to push my massive wheel stroller.  Still a fabulous purchase and well worth all the money for a place like Europe where you use your stroller through rain, sleet, snow, ice, you name it.

SO bored…inside

Finally, she let me outside!!!

New Hairstyle

Look at my muscles!

Park Day

Park Day 2

Park Day 2

Indoor Play

I love ballons!

Blueberry Pop – YouTube

Reading

Rocker

And then on 24 January, our love affair began…with Bert and Ernie!

Driving Bert & Ernie – YouTube

The Buds

Got your nose!

3 Countries in 5 Days!

We had been in the US (first country) for a while where we did a lot of fun stuff.  See USA “Quick” Post

We returned to Germany (second country) on 5 January and then quickly unpacked and packed again to fly to London, UK (third country).

On the flight from the States to Germany, I gave CD medicine to see if he would sleep.  Guess what?  It was absolutely POINTLESS.  Will never do that again.  I thought I would be able to get some rest before getting into the craziness of being back in Germany.  NOPE.  And the only time that he was in the bassinett and resting was for about 20 minutes.  In that time I went to the loo, then could not get out as all the flight attendants had opened the emergency medical bags in the aisle right there, so I was stuck in the loo.  When they finally moved, I quickly went to my seat and then ended up talking to the young boy who was with the person having the medical emergency mid-flight.  I guess that is what a mom would do though…try to calm the boy as flight attendants go to work.    It was kind of scary but in the end everything was fine.

All of our time immediately in Germany was for unpacking, booking flights and then packing again.  We did celebrate Little Christmas though.

Little Christmas

And CD must have known that he would be getting on another plane soon:

Look d plane!

And we did get in some Germany playground time!

Play time

We flew out to visit J and E in London on Thursday, 10 January.  Now let me tell you about this flight.  All that is needed to be said is it was less than 2 hours.  WOW!  We had the whole row to ourselves and CD even NAPPED!  WHAT?!?!  I know, I couldn’t believe it either but I will take it when it comes.  🙂  It was fabulous after coming off of the long flight with a non-sleeping baby from the States flight to Germany.

Pre-flight picture

Hired car ride to J’s

London was fun.  We had a great time.  The only thing is it is not very stroller friendly.  So we lugged babies in carriers along with diaper bags full of anything you would need while out all around town.  It was well worth it though.  E and CD had a blast, had bath time together and the most amazing thing?  As soon as we walked into J’s place, CD was right at ease and immediately started playing and talking to E.  He remembered her and they were best buddies again.  We had Skyped a few times over the holidays and it was a lot of fun.  Thank goodness for technology that way!

Here are some pictures from the trip.

The National Gallery

Trafalgar Square- Nelson’s Column

I told J about the artist who did the lions and how he crafted the hind legs after his dogs because he never saw lions before and lions can’t sit like that!  She didn’t know!  Or at least that is what the tour guide told me on my last visit to London.

Trafalgar Square Gate

Horse Guards

PM’s Place

You can see all the reporters outside the gray building waiting for someone to come outside.

Big Ben with double decker buses!

Big B at night

London Eye

The Eye at night

You can see a loose CD below it.  He had a great time running loose in this area.  He was entertaining everyone who walked past him.

CD running free!

This is the same area near the London Eye.  You can see the buildings in the background of the picture.  That is what I like about it and why I snapped the picture quickly before he ran away.  J and I planned on riding on the Eye, but it had been closed those few days that we were on holiday for regular maintenance.  Bummer.  Would have loved to see the view from there.  Instead we went to the playground and a restaurant that I just happened to see that they offered FREE GOOD baby food.  We took them up on that offer.  Then we headed to the Aquarium.  I had told J multiple times we have tried to make it to the Baltimore Aquarium in the States, but never did.  So I made sure we did it here.

Playground Sheep

London Aquarium

CD outline with stingray

Let me in

I see!

Sharks

Almost through the aquarium

#3

Phone Booth

Now the only picture I did not get was of the taxis.    I got the double decker bus and the phone booth, so 2 out of 3 isn’t bad I guess when you are lugging extra poundage around!  😉

On Saturday, we had planned to go to the Natural History museum so we headed into town.  It was so cold that we ended up at a restaurant that had hanging puppets from the ceiling- kind of creepy but CD thought they were cool.  We then “tried” to have a meal as both kiddos were running around.  Towards the end when we said it was enough and we would never be able to take them to the museum in the state they were in, I decided to take CD to the bathroom to change his diaper before we left.  Well, in the bathroom CD SCREAMED at the top of his lungs and I thought, I wonder if anyone could hear him since the bathrooms were kind of out of the way and there was music playing in the restaurant.  Well, when we got back to the table, J said she heard CD and we both just broke out laughing.  HA!  That ended our day.

We did walk around a few places and visited some of the same things that I had done on my previous trip to London.  We purchased the pug shirt that CD wore on Brother Bear’s birthday at one of the street markets.  Happy Birthday Brother Bear!

The only bad part of the trip was that I had lost one of CD’s shoes that I brought with us…the new ones from GM- the cool little boy sneakers!  I was SO upset that once the kids were to bed, I left J’s apartment and trekked back as far as I could trying to desperately find it.  There was no luck.  I panicked as I knew I would not be able to replace shoes for him in Germany as the shoes in Germany don’t fit his feet.  J told me that we could take the kids on Sunday to see if we could find something for CD in London.  We both got the kiddos feet sized and the lady said that CD’s feet were one size short of registering as the fattest feet.  HA!!!  Well, I told her I knew that and asked her to point me in the direction of the “chunky” feet shoes.  🙂   Luckily I was able to get a pair that fit his foot.  They are now if full use almost every day.  🙂

Our last day there we headed to Camden Lock for some lunch and to browse around the shops.  This was fun and I enjoyed it a lot.

Camden Lock

We then headed back to Germany.

USA “Quick” Post

So I have been away for awhile.  I am trying to get back in the swing of things with the posts.  Lets face it.  When I got back to Germany, I started watching movies at night instead of doing my “homework” and posting in the blog.  Well, I’m back to the grind and will try to get a lot of posts out to catch everyone up on what we have been doing.  Just be aware that with this post there was no editing or anything.  I just had to post it to move on to the next set of posts.

We were in the States from the end of Novemeber 2012 to the beginning of January 2013.  If there is a picture or event missing, blame it on my weak memory or the fact of doing the post over multiple weeks..ahem I mean months and trying to go through all of the pictures I have…or I didn’t have a picture for it.

Pre-flight

On our flight to the States, CD stayed awake on flight.  This is no biggie as he does this every time.  He was well behaved but just awake.  Meanwhile, in the bassinett next to him was a little girl.  Now here is the differences between little girls and little boys: she fell asleep right after take-off and had to be awakened for landing because she had to sit on her mom’s lap.  At one point during the flight, she rolled over and CD was like “whoa, there is someone in there” and rightfully so because she barely moved.  Crazy!

We had gone to the doctor right before our flight to the States because CD was sick and I’m terrified of ear infections since I had them when I was little and remember them.  There was no way I was going to get on a plane with him if he was congested or had any sort of problems with his ears.  The doc cleared us for take-off.

We first went and stayed at GM and G-D’s house.  Here we saw Santa, got professional pictures taken, went to the park, went to My Gym and got new shoes!  These were fantastic shoes!  They fit CD’s foot and were SO easy to put on his foot.  Thanks GM!!

“Thanksgiving” @ GM & G-D’s

Yes, we thought we were going to the States for Thanksgiving, but found out we were a week late- November had 5 weeks in 2012.  Ugh!  Still got to celebrate and CD loved the new experience.

He did what any true American does after a Thanksgiving feast:

Naptime on the floor

The above picture wasn’t really after the feast, but I thought it was cute and it was at GM and G-D’s house.

 

Jungle Gym

Getting ready to tumble

Swinging

Swinging x2

Circle Time

On our drive to N and GP’s house, we decided that it was time to flip CD’s carseat to face forward.  I wanted him rear-facing for as long as possible because it is better for them if there happened to be a car accident.  CD had a blast and it was a whole new world for him riding like this.

Forward Facing

While at N and GP’s house, we went shopping a lot.  Got a lot of clothes and stocked up on some things to bring back to Germany.

Mama LOVES Tar-jay

In the beginning of December, CD got his first haircut.  Let’s face it, it was a crazy time.  He was cool with the flying airplane at first but not cool with the scissors and buzzer near his head.  In the end we stopped the haircut a little early and decided we would go back for a touch up at a later date.  I also cried.  It was another milestone in little CD’s life to becoming big CD.

Airplane- precut

Help me…during the cut

A lolli makes it better- after cut

And a park visit…even better after cut

CD also started to teethe again and got a relapse of being sick.  We took him to a doctor to check him out and make sure everything was ok.  Here is where I saw a real difference in the treatment of children in the States vs. Germany.  Right away the doctor in the States said he should probably be on steriod treatments while the doctor in Germany is more in line with my way of thinking- aka hippie- and said we will watch and monitor it and go from there.  No harm was done to CD and I went with my motherly instinct and did what was right for my baby.  And the States wonder why there are so many sick people and issues???  Well, at least the people who are aware of it do.  No worries of pumping our bodies full of chemicals and gross things just because.  WHEW!  Ok, over that rant.

One of the best parts of being home was seeing Sampson.  CD had SO much fun with him and loved feeding him, taking him for walks and just playing with him.  Best buds for life!

Brother Bear Getting Snacks – YouTube

Snack Time

“Walking” Brother Bear – YouTube

Happy walk time

Jail Break

Buddies

Let’s scribble

Snuggle Pumpkins

Brother Bear: “I thought this was my bed.”

CD: “Nope. What’s your’s is MINE!”

Looks like Timeout, but not.

Give Me Paw

Give me kiss

And yes, that is the tried and true way to babyproof your house.  See the paper towel cardboard tube holding the cabinet doors closed???  Works for both CD and Brother Bear who also likes to open cabinets when no one is paying 112% attention to him.

We sat down to be small (above pictures) and stood up to be tall (below picture)…inside joke.

Standing up with Great GP’s help!

Step Up To Be Tall

I SOOOOOO want one of these (below) and it would be fabulous to have here in Germany as I am starting to get back into cooking and want to have CD near me to help.  Great for him to see stuff prepared in the process, but unfortunately Germany doesn’t have anything like this.  I will wait until we are back in the States and then see if he would still be interested in it.  I like it because the kids can be counter level height but still contained so they don’t hurt themselves.  I have tried multiple times to pre-heat the oven with CD in helping me and he is just too fascinated by the oven light and wants to touch the oven.  This is a BIG HUGE NO in our apartment as the outside oven door gets as hot as the inside of the oven.  I have burned myself multiple times just by grazing it.  Needless to say cooking has not taken place much when CD is around.  Just look how happy both the mom and kid are in the picture!  Have no idea if they are as great as they are made out to be, but would love to try a version of it!

funpod

See how much CD likes to help in the kitchen?!?!  He is picking out the ingredients for some meal…or getting ready to shake the spice.  🙂

Getting the goods

And here he has set the table!

Table Setting

Tablescaping

I even got some cuddle time from Brother Bear.  🙂

Cuddles!

Mama and her boys

Growing up, we celebrated St. Nick.  I will continue that tradition with CD.  He arrived at N and GP’s house and CD got his little goodies in his shoes.

St. Nick Shoes

St. Nick Surprises

My birthday came and I was surprised at night by Aunt C coming home for the celebration.  I should have known that she couldn’t stay away from seeing us!  Thanks for the lovely surprise!  I didn’t get to celebrate much on the day as I had a meeting in the morning and then at night CD was fussy.  CD got to check out the trains with C in the morning of my birthday and had a good time.

CD and C Train

P.S.  CD’s shirt even had a little train on it for the experience.  🙂

Train hat and whistle

Conductor’s Hat

Birthday Cakes…Yes, Plural

CD had a blast playing with my birthday balloon.  He LOVES balloons as he enjoyed his, Aunt C’s and now mine.  🙂  I just feel bad for the poor balloon.  Towards the very end of the video you can hear CD say one of his famous words- “Wow”.  Balloon Fun – YouTube

And then this is what happens after the balloon attack….However I have NO IDEA what Brother Bear was tired from besides he saw an opportunity to nap with someone.  🙂

EXHAUSTED!

CD doing a Brother Bear sleep position- head off the couch

Finally, both on the couch!

CD had a blast helping to decorate the Christmas tree.  Every few days he would decide he needed to change his design and would go back and move things around.  He was so gentle with it and I liked that the tree had a little bit of CD touch to it.

Decorating the tree

CD loved the decorations.  He would say “Hi” to the Santa decorations inside and outside of N and GP’s house.

Hi Santa

I took CD on the Santa Trolley and he had a blast.  We will be doing this again, as it was a fun little ride and cute too.  The only thing that had me confused was that Santa kept saying his “tree” elves and I had no clue what they were.  Growing up I never heard of Santa’s “tree” elves.  I guess I have been gone too long as “tree” was meant to be “three”.  🙂

Trolley Train

Mama Fav!

Ghost Train

Santa Time

N was sick so I took over making some Christmas cookies.  I only made a few but they were good.  CD had fun helping me make them.

Baking

Peanut Butter Kiss

Chock-O-Chip

Christmas came and the best present happened.  Uncle TS and Aunt P showed up at the doorstep!  This brought me great joy because they were able to meet CD and Brother Bear.  I still get teary-eyed thinking about spending time with them.  It was wonderful.

Finally getting the keyboard!

CD Christmas 2012

Meeting “Andy’s Toy” for the first time – YouTube

Meeting Woody – Hi – YouTube  CD tells Woody “hi” in the video.

N had bought CD a little truck to ride around the house and as she was unpacking the car, CD happened to see it and freaked out until he got it.  He enjoyed it and had a good time with it.

New Wheels

Here is CD installing the amped up stereo system into his new ride.

The radio obsession continues

Taking Brother Bear for a spin…not really but it looks like it, right?!?! 🙂

Popper

CD also turned 18 months old.  Happy Birthday!!!  A whole year and a half!  WOW!

18 months

We also got candy from the firetruck Santa!

Santa Firetruck

We celebrated Christmas at GM and G-D’s house too.

Christmas Bow

Caterpillar

Christmas Gift

There was SO much snow!  I had lost track of how many days it snowed in a row.  Made a perfect visit for a little one to ride on the sleighs and for the warm weather folk to enjoy a white Christmas.  🙂

Bundle Up

Snow pants

Bundle Me

Snow Stance

Who is going to pull me???

GP will!!!

Or Uncle T

Or Aunt C

Sled Time

So sweet!

Look at me smirk

Riding with Mama

Brother Bear got to have some fun in the snow too.

White beard

Agile creature!

Shoveling

Shoveling…indoors

Snow Time

Uncle TS Time

Hide-n-Seek

Found him!

Photo Op with Aunt P

Notice who is holding Uncle TS’s snowball 🙂

Aunt P and Uncle TS

“European” woman 🙂

We went to see the famous house near us with all the Christmas lights.  However, the first time we went, they did not have them turned on at the time.  We needed to return to see the splendor of it.  It really was amazing!  And of course we took Brother Bear with us.  He wanted to see the shiny things too!

We’re off to see the w…winter lights! The wonderful winter lights!

You can’t quite grasp how splendid it is unless you see it in person.

Christmas House

Christmas House 2

We played with friends.

Little L

And family.

Headbutt

N Silly Play – YouTube

We ate yummy food while in the States.

Pancakes!

Good Ole Cheerios

Banana!

Rocking to the Rolling Stones – YouTube

Black beans and cheese

Spoon

So proud- big boy meal

And got to drink from a Big Boy Cup.

Thomas the Train Cup

Double!

Cup Cap

We danced and made some good music.   CD dancing while mixing the tunes! – YouTube

We also got to puddle jump!  This is a TRUE difference between boys and girls.  Girls would want NOTHING to do with the water, mud, mess in general.  CD, a boy, however found it fabulous!

Check out the still splash

Puddle Jumping – YouTube

Puddle Jumping and Wandering – YouTube – Yup.  And you can even see the girl – ME- jump away from the muddy mess with my NEW boots.  HA!

CD stole my slippers!  He has a habit of doing this.  Slipper Steal – YouTube  And also got a hold of Uncle TS’s shoes.

Walking in Uncle TS’s Shoes

New Year’s Eve came and CD had a little celebration…just a bit earlier than most as he was in bed for the real one.

New Year’s Eve Streamer Pop – YouTube

New Year’s Eve 2012 Stomping Poppers – YouTube

New Year’s Eve 2012- So Happy – YouTube

We then said goodbye to Uncle TS and Aunt P.  CD got one last haircut fix and professional pictures before we headed back to Germany in the beginning of January.

It really was a great trip back to the States.  Some things were different but in all the joy that was had was amazing.