10 Days

Jon and I are just finishing up 10 days apart.  

It all started with what was supposed to be a family trip, but turned into a Girls only trip back to Leipzig to visit some friends and see the Christmas Markets.  

Alessandra and Sophia Enjoying the "Classic Car Carousel" in the Leipzig Hauptbahnhof

Jon had to cancel due to some last minute business trip changes.  But the good news from Jon not being with us was that he was able to add a quick trip to Colorado where he was able to see his family and drop Ripley off with Stan and Mary Kay.  

If you have been keeping up with my blog at all, or have talked to me in the last two years you probably heard me mention that Ripley hasn't been doing well.  She wasn't able to settle into city life.  She was always stressed, at first her stress was coming across as barking, panting, and pacing but in the past six months that stress was starting to turn a bit more aggressive.  We needed to get her out of the city, so that all of us could be a little less stressed.  Well, it happened.  Jon stopped by Colorado for a quick visit with his family and to get Ripley to her new/old home back on the Ranch with Grandpa, Oma, and the horses.  I am happy to report that Ripley seems to be settling in quite nicely and Dotty has only had one setback in the form of an "accident" on Alessandra's pillows.  Dotty has been quite clingy but I have to say the stress level in the house has gone down considerably.  

Okay, back to our Leipzig trip.  

It started out and ended a bit bumpy but all in all it was so relaxing.  We had some plans fall through with one of our friends but it ended up working out perfectly because it gave us an entire day to sleep in, enjoy an awesome breakfast, get into town, wander around the city center which is essentially one big Christmas Market.  Then we went to check out the new mall, and then one more quick trip through the train station and then back home.  Saturday we spent the entire day with The GKS's.  And Sunday we traveled back home.  

The beginning of the week was slow enough, I purposely cancelled our usual routine so we could be home with Dot.  So that translated to all of us going over to My-tilda's house on Monday afternoon, and My-tilda and her mum Alice coming over to our house on Tuesday afternoon.  But then it all turned - and quite suddenly too.  Alessandra got really sick, and really quickly.  In the matter of a few hours she went from this...

 to this... 

it was horrible.  And it has only been in the last half of today that I would say she's back to normal.  And when I say that please read, asking for ice cream for every meal.  :o)  

Well, luckily for us, or maybe just me, Jon will be back home tomorrow.  And I will have another person to take care of.  No just kidding.  I will have another person to help take care of everything.

Charmian 

Last Minute Dinner

A quick stay over in Leipzig before our little biking adventure left us with the tiniest bit of time to be able to see our GKS's.  We had a great dinner, some good wine, great homemade beer, stories, and lots of laughs.  

I was amazed how well the girls got along.  It's been over six months since they've seen each other and they played just like they did when they were seeing each other every week.  Is it possible that they remembered each other?  

They colored.

How stinkin' adorable is Sophia?!?

Look at those curls - too cute!

We finished off the night with Ring Around the Roses.   

Too much fun.  I can't wait until next time.  

Charmian

Cinco de Mayo...

...and The Expat Phenomena!

Jon has been here in Germany for going on 2 years and I'm just shy of a year and a half and in that time I've come across a really cool phenomena.  I'll call it the Expat phenomena.  When you meet an expat (or a spouse of an expat) there is this bond - friendship - respect (okay so I'm not exactly sure what it is) that instantly forms and you find yourself connected to each other more quickly and deeply than in a normal relationship.  Let me tell you five little stories to demonstrate my point.


I moved to Germany and didn't have a single friend besides my busy husband and 3 month old baby.  Jon arranged for his friends wife to come and pick me up so we could go "climbing" with them.  I was scared to death.  I don't know this woman and I'm going to get in her car with my baby and have her drive us to an abandoned query.  Smart!  Well it was actually the smartest thing I did.  That was my good friend Katrin and we were fast friends and I can see us staying in touch for years and years to come.


I was sitting with Alessandra and the girls in the park when a mother/daughter pair approached me and started chatting.  I apologized for my bad German and we started talking in English.  Just like that I found myself with two new American friends that live right across the street. Knowing I have these English speaking ladies so close puts me at ease a bit.  Now I know if anything were to happen, if God forgive there was an emergency, I have someone close by who can help me.


Since the move we haven't found a babysitter or more importantly a puppysitter.  I put up an inquiry on facebook if anyone knew of a good puppysitter in the area. Then I added, more out of humor than anything else, or would anyone want to cuddle on our pups for the weekend?  And what happnes... you guessed it, an expat comes to my rescue.  These particular expats are from England and they took our girls without a second thought.  And what was more impressive is the girls were returned happy and healthy.  AMAZING!!


When we were preparing for our May Day trip I was desperately searching for a used Ergo baby carrier to buy for our trip.  You may remember that half of my carrier got stolen along with the stroller while we were in Leipzig and since then I've just used Jon's carrier - which starts to hurt my back after about 15 minutes because it's too large.  Or use the remaining half of mine with half of Jon's - not ideal but it works. I really want a carrier that is soft/structured, easy to put on/take off, and could go on my back or front - the Ergo does all of these things.  Everyone I know who owns an Ergo says they love it but I was not willing to spend the money for a new one.

While on this last minute, frantic search, two amazing expats came out of the wood work.  Now keep in mind these two folks aren't my friends in fact when this story came about I hadn't even met them yet.  The first offered to let me borrow his carrier for the long weekend.  How did he know he could trust me?  That I wouldn't ruin it, or lose it, or steal it.  He didn't, but I was in need so he took that chance for me - a fellow expat.  The second told me about an Ergo carrier she saw at a store, she not only let me know about it but offered to pick it up for me.  What?!?  Once again she didn't know me but offered to go out of her way to help me.  I was humbled and floored - what an amazing little community I've stumbled upon.


The fifth and final story brings us to today.  We headed to the grocery store but I had a hankering for a coffee and some down time before we did our shopping.  We were enjoying our warm drinks and conversation when Jon says to me - "He's an American."  about a guy who came in and placed his order.
"What?  How can you tell?"  I asked.

"He has an American Accent."  Jon said assuredly.

As we were leaving I noticed he was right.  The man was speaking English with his wife and sure enough they were American.  I asked them where they were from and before we knew it we were making dinner plans with them for that evening to celebrate Cinco de Mayo.

We had such a good time.  We enjoyed our (slightly more) Mexican cuisine, each others company, and margaritas, margaritas, and more margaritas.  It was such an easygoing night.  We visited like we were old friends that were trying to catch up on the last few years.  But the few years we were catching up on was our lives.  We talked about everything from first dates, to babies, to accidents, to the things we missed the most.  We left that evening with loose plans to meet up again for another round of margaritas and stories.


I am missing my friends and family from back home so much.  It's been almost a year since I've been home.  But finding this amazing community has really helped Germany and this little adventure we've gone on seem a little less scary and a lot less lonely.

Charmian

Christmas Concert

Katrin was singing at the Nikolaikirche so we got dolled up and headed into town.  We sat with Gabe and Sophia so the girls could see each other, share snacks, and help to keep each othr a bit distracted.

 Alessandra was so good and only needed two walk-abouts to make it through the whole concert.  During one of her walk-abouts Sophia (who is now walking) came around the corner and Alessandra squealed with delight and tried to run over to her.  She fell down and then looked up at me like I somehow stopped her from walking like Sophia.  It was so funny.  I picked her up and walked her over to Sophia where she assaulted her with hugs and kisses.  She's so sweet and really loves her best buddy.

Afterwards we met up with Katrin at the Christmas Market to chat and sip some gluhwein.  After  our cups were empty and our hands were cold we decided it was time to head home.

It was such a good time and Jon and I agree that we need to keep exposing Alessandra to different concerts, plays, and other cultural events so she can learn how to behave so we can continue to take her as she grows up.

So - what have you all been up to this Christmas Season?

Charmian

Odds and Ends

Thanksgiving Day

A day of errands with my Mom, 

and the realization that I have so much to be thankful for...

We started the morning with Alessandra's one year checkup and her next round of immunizations.  

I left with the discovery that 

Alessandra is healthy, 

TINY,

and she will not perform on demand 

(when asked by the doctor to do several simple tasks - 

some she's had mastered since 6 months of age - 

she stared at him in horror like he just ripped off her dolls head).

I left feeling thankful that I have a healthy, active, vivacious, curious, joyful, opinionated, noisy, loving, brave little stink pot to call my own.

We started to make our way around the city, seeing all of the sights we had missed in our previous days outing.

I walked around feeling thankful for this amazing opportunity my family has been given to live in this absolutely beautiful part of the world.  

We stopped to take a squishy with the biggest leaf we could find.

My heart was overflowing with love.  

My Mom used her vacation to fly, by herself, 

half way around the world to celebrate my daughters birthday 

and spend Thanksgiving with me.

We met up with Katrin and Sophia for a quick playdate at the park.

I couldn't stop thinking about how grateful I am for my friends, 

both here in Leipzig and around the world.  

And although it was not a typical Thanksgiving - filled with turkey, pie, and football.

It was a pretty good one and that showed me just how much I have to be thankful for.

Charmian

Wuz Up Dawg?

Just a quick update.  Lots of news but no pictures, my camera's acting up a bit.  I'll start with today and work my way backwards.

25 - Alessandra and I enjoyed a beautiful walk today through the forest and then stopped by HHL to surprise Daddy at school.

24 - We got to visit with our Enfumes for a little bit and we finally got our replacement stroller ordered.

23 - Found ridiculously cheap tickets to Spain so we're going to go meet up with the Enfume's for a long weekend in Barcelona.

22 - Jon's birthday!!  We had a great time with some friends at our little kegeln alley.  A little bowling, great food, a few drinks, and some awesome cake made for a pretty great night.

21 - After going to 3 different bakeries to find out they don't know what carrot cake is (Jon's favorite) I headed over to Katrin's house to make one from scratch.  All we had to do was find a German recipe for this American cake, do a little shopping, baking, and hope for the best.

20 - Pumpkin Carving with Katrin and Sophia.  It was the girls first time carving pumpkins and when I say girls I mean Katrin too.  We had such a good time - I'm hoping Katrin will share her pictures with me so I can share them with you :o)

19 - We took a walk through the farmers market - man I love fall.

Well that's what we've been up to this week.  I think I failed to mention earlier that the hookers moved out so there's one more thing to be happy about.

Okay, I think that's all I've been up to - what about you?

Charmian

Firsts

Carving Pumpkins

Inspection Complete

 

Time to Dig In

Slimey

Stringy

Seedy

Slippery

A Total Mess but So Much Fun!

 Bath Time

(and yes those are pumpkin floaters)

 Picture Time

 and of course...

...a few squishies!

Charmian