The Worst Part of our US Trip 2014

Another delayed post from summer - maybe even the last.

While I loved our trip and our extended time in the US, there was definitely a Worst Part. Since we visited Detroit, the Cincinnati area, the Dayton area, Pittsburgh, Cleveland and the Cleveland area, and well as a few others locations....we spent a good chunk of time in the car.

As in: I started to calculate the time but even four months later I started to feel panicked about the numbers I was starting to reach...and had to stop. Yeah, that many hours.

Certain members of the family had strong feelings about those hours at some point:

PJ's face says quite a lot. 

I'd like to believe my finger does as well.

Anyone else not feel hours in the car? Anyone out there want to teach me (us?) how to love those hours instead?

XO

Granny's Birthday 2014

Another delayed posting from summer.

Late August is my mom's birthday. This year she got to celebrate it with her husband, two daughters, our (crazy enough to marry into our family) husbands, and both grandkids. Her son also gave her a birthday phone call. Guess which part she was most excited about.

Yup...these two:

While I did enjoy sharing my kiddos with my mom on her birthday, I must admit my sister's gift to her was MY favorite part of the day: 

I really wanted to take fourths (yes, I ate three servings) but Jelly Bean wouldn't give me hers. Sigh.

Afterwards we sat around and made fun of me. Or at least that's how I remember it.

xo

First American Parade

While we were in the US visiting family and friends, PJ and Jelly Bean got to see their first American parade. It was everything one could hope for:

It started out with four gentlemen carrying the American flag with everyone standing to honor it as it passed.

Followed closely by a series of firetrucks and emergency vehicles.

So many firetrucks! So many family members!

A few more groups went past - mostly politicians - and then these fabulous motorcycles roared by.

Which was only topped by these vehicles goofying by.

And finally horses! Lots of horses!

With cowboys!

Cowboys that we know!

Even better: a cowgirl we know ON A HORSE!

All in all, it was a stupendous afternoon with lovely family members and yummy donuts.



XO

Boating Fun with Grannie and Grampie

Even before we flew off to Ohio, PJ told me that he was going to go "fishing with Grampie." He was pretty insistent about it. So weeks in advance I warned Grampie that he was going fishing. Of course, Grandpa was all about it.

Then just days before we flew, PJ threw another detail in: he was going fishing with Grampie on a boat. 

Yeah, my parents don't have a boat. So I called them again, giving them a heads-up. "I'll get it taken care of," was Grandpa's response.

And he totally did. Not only did he arrange a boat for us all but PJ also got to drive the boat. Seriously. Picture proof:

Not to be left out, Jelly Bean got into the fun. Though at this point, she was more interested in opening and closing the glove department.

Once the excitement of the boat started to settle, Grandpie pulled out another surprise: a Spider-Man fishing rod.




It was such a relaxed day. We even found time for a full family picture.

After the full of the boat slowed down, we walked over to a picnic table for a lunch. At that point, our little girl still needed help walking around. It was also the time of her picking up sticks to carry around with her.

Grandpie put together a lovely grill for hotdogs and we all dug in.

And somehow, I'm not sure how (cough: the Mr.), Jelly Bean got soaking, soaking, soaking wet. She was soooo happy.

It was a fabulous day! Thanks Grampie and Grannie!

XO

Driveway Fun in Detroit City

Yes, yes, these posts are totally out of order. Enjoy!

Our last stop on our USA trip 2014, was a few restful days in Detroit. Sadly my dear friend and her daughter Sweetheart were not in the country, so we missed them. But we did not miss having a lot of fun on all of Sweetheart's toys.

Both of my kiddos had an especially great time in the American-sized driveway. When we first arrived in the States, Jelly Bean was too small to jump into the play too much. Just six weeks later she was right in the middle of it all.

First the kids played on different toys. Jelly Bean on the traditional move-it-yourself car and PJ on the motorized car. 

But quickly PJ invited Jelly Bean to get in the car with him. She was T.H.R.I.L.L.E.D.

PJ was fabulous with the responsibility, even letting her steer a little bit and reaching around her carefully to 'switch gears'. Jelly Bean just squealed with joy.

At some point PJ wanted to go faster and Jelly Bean wanted to move. So while PJ whipped around the driveway in the car, Jelly Bean ran around pushing an empty toy stroller in front of her.

It was loud. It was fun. It was sweet. It was wonderful.

XO

Adventures in Measuring

PJ is having a ball with his grandpa in Ohio. Grandpa is a jack-of-all-trades and PJ is learning lots of new skills, like measuring.

For the record, this door is VERY big. 

Grandpa's feet are not the right size.

My feet are not the same size and that is a "problem!" And his papa's butt is "big."

And PJ himself is "just the right size." Of course. 

XO

Jelly Bean: 10 Months

Our little girl is now 10 months old! She is standing on her own, took her first steps, has six teeth, and has finally met her American family. 

She's been having a grand time. There have been far too many new experiences to capture here, so here are some of the highlights so far.

Of course, food remains a highlight with this one. 

And keeping with her "I can do everything big brother can do!" trend, she started riding a bike. Of course with her favorite new person: grandpa! 

And chilling with granny and her big brother outside in the sun. 

She also got her to meet my aunt, my uncle, and my nana. I think they were all impressed with each other. 

Double digits people! 

XO

The Halfway Mark

My pregnancy with our little jelly bean is half-way through. Today I’ve hit 20 weeks (the 21^st week for you Germans out there).  Half-way through. Wow.

 

This pregnancy has been different from my pregnancy with PJ. The first trimester was ugly: I missed nine weeks of work (!!) due to recurring strep throat, followed by too much weight loss, irregular blood pressure, some not-too-serious heart issues (mine), significant vomiting, and almost constant nausea.

Thankfully my mom was here for part of the time and the Mr. is patient. Because I am not an easy sick person; I am, however, an excellent complainer about being sick. Right, mom?

The second trimester has been going much better – because really, Einstein hit the nail on the head, everything is relative – but it still isn’t what I would call “easy”.  Last time I flew to Ireland, Russia, and the US during the second trimester. This time I’m not permitted to fly and my doctor encouraged me to stay relatively close (think: Germany, northern Italy, eastern France and the like). Thankfully the vomiting has stopped but I’m still dealing with irregular and short waves of nausea, flat out exhaustion, unpleasant stomach issues, continued blood pressure stuff, and now daily shooting pain in my back and left leg.

 

Pregnancy, how glamorous.

We’ve managed some of the symptoms by permitting me to be lazy (with a limited bad conscious). That means while I'm laid up on the couch, PJ is goofing around and often a movie is running. He can call out some of the lines in Monsters Inc; has shown a real liking to Ratatouille; and can sing and dance along to a German early morning cartoon called Kika. He even has a movie-watching chair. I'm not sure that is something to be proud of but we're getting on together.

 

Those problems also mean that a number of those garden projects that need to get done this spring have been one-man jobs. Let  it be known that the Mr. does NOT enjoy garden projects and suffers from some pretty nasty allergies. So it is impressive that he is doing the garden work on his own - sneezing the entire time - while I take pictures and try to keep my “suggestions” of how he could (read: should) be doing the work to myself. Very impressive.

One of the garden projects that the Mr. has done alone, before...

 

 

...and after.

And lastly, all these negative symptoms led to a larger tweak in our diet for the last two weeks. I have a tough time absorbing fructose, like that found in High Fructose Corn Syrup (HFCS), household sugar, and fruit. Most of the time I can remain in my 'okay' range by balancing the amount fructose in my diet through avoiding HFCS almost completely and thoughtful choosing my other foods. Other time, like during periods of stress (like this pregnancy), I can't and I need to be strict and go almost fructose-free to flush out my system, meaning: nothing packaged (not hard for us), nothing homemade with household sugar (a little harder but I can replace the sugar with glucose), no fresh or dried fruit, honey, or juice, (hard), and no garlic or onions (the hardest part).

Since we eat as a family, that means that the Mr. has also been going without his garlic and onions at dinner. Bless him.

But what it also means is unlimited fresh sushi!! Yeah!!

Lots of vegetarian, pregnant-lady-friendly options.

 

See, it isn’t all bad.

 

I do, also, have that lovely glowing skin and my hair shines like I’ve gotten prepped for a Pantene commercial.  And I can feel the baby moving and stretching in there. And the Mr. can occassionally feel the jelly bean poking around too. And we got to see his/her face on a 3D scan (those are so cool). And PJ runs up to pat my “baby belly” and sometimes he insists that he has to kiss it too.

Yup, it’s not all bad. In fact, it’s pretty great. I’m growing a human and no matter how I look at that, all I see is a miracle.

 

XO

 

Why My Brother-in-Law is Pretty Cool

A few weeks before we flew to the States, my brother-in-law turned 25. 25 is an awesome year - right in the middle of a great decade of fun. But for a lot of good reasons, he didn't get to celebrate his entry into his "mid-20s". My sister and I agreed that we needed to do something for him when we all got together in Hilton Head. Brownies we agreed because he likes brownies. Funfetti icing we agreed because that really annoys him. And we knew he would totally get the joke and appreciate it.

So, as soon as we could, we ran out and picked up a box of brownie mix and funfetti icing to bake back at the place we were staying and surprise him for a delayed birthday.

But then we got busy looking at alligators, whipped by jet lag, thrilled by the ocean, eating ice cream, taking bike rides ... and just, well, we just ran out of time. We never forgot; we just failed to bake the damn brownies.

Lets just say the birthday surprise was really delayed.

Then we got back to Ohio and got our shit together (thanks Mom!). We missed the funfetti but finally greeted him with some brownies and a happy birthday song.

Mom with the fabulous brownies and a candle that matched his shirt.

Lets just say that Uncle B was totally not expecting a birthday surprise. When he walked through the front door at my parent's house and my sister, parents, and I started singing the birthday song ... he started to sing along.

He didn't know whose birthday it was but, to quote him, "someone was singing and so [he] jumped in." It was only when we got to "Happy Birthday, dear Bxxxx!" that he actually realized we were singing for him. 

And that, my friends, family, and readers, is why my brother-in-law is pretty cool: he leaps right towards whatever comes his way. There have been times that took my breath away when I heard about one of his leaps, but this kid lands. He might roll a bit or flub the landing, but he lands. When he sticks the landing, he usually doesn't get that what he just did was darn cool. And when he flubs the landing, he brushes himself off, complains a bit (cause lets keep it real, we are all human), and moves on. Moves forward.

Then he leaps right towards the next thing.

Uncle B and his brownies. I missed the leap towards them.

The other thing about my brother-in-law is his sense of humor. At the end of our Hilton Head trip he didn't have any clean shirts and my sister made him borrow one of hers. One of her v-neck, shaped t-shirts. Not only did the guy put it on, and let us make a ton of jokes about the whole situation, he also posed for a series of really ridiculous pictures.

My favorite of the ridiculous pictures.

And that is why my brother-in-law is pretty cool.



xo

Our Little American

We took our little PJ up to the American consulate yesterday to apply for his American passport and social security number. The process was surprisingly organized and simple; we were out in about 90 minutes. Way to go Frankfurt people!

To celebrate we taught PJ an American tradition: we stopped at McDonald's and then ate in the car. He was less than impressed.

Our little American:

xo