New Years Eve 2013

Happy (rather belated) New Year 2014!

Lets be frank, 2013 was not my year. It ended up more than wonderful with the healthy arrival of Jelly Bean into our family. But it wasn't a lovely year. I'm pretty sure that a pie chart of how I spent my time would have the three largest slices would be in order:
1. laying down (and feeling icky)
2. sitting around (and feeling icky)
3. on my knees (and puking).

So, yeah, 2013 wasn't my year.

But 2013 is over and 2014 as already started in an awesome way.

My kiddos acting silly together. These moments are too damn precious.

My brother and his soon-to-be celebrated with us. We started out watching Dinner for One, a bizarre German tradition.

Watching the movie

Snapshot of the movie

Then we enjoyed raclette together. It was both of Uncle Frannie's and Aunt Kiwi's first time eating raclette and I hope that they both enjoyed it. I did - so much that I forgot to snag a picture.

Then, since our visitors were heading into Heidelberg and PJ has started to sleep through the night, we all headed out to set off some fireworks.

Correct footwear is very important.

Unfortunately PJ grabbed onto the wrong end of a sparkler before we went outside and burnt his finger, so he wasn't really all that into the fireworks this year (a big change from the last few years). Good thing Aunt Kiwi helped make some other noises:

And the men, as usual, went a little crazy with the fireworks. Because, well, why not?

Afterwards, it was already bedtime for our little man (Jelly Bean was already asleep in her little Ergo), and Uncle and Aunt headed into Heidelberg for some adventures. Thankfully a neighbor came by and took a picture of us all.

Good looking group of good people, eh?

The Mr. and I struggled to stay away until midnight - I made him start watching Say Anything - but in the end, gave in and toasted in bed, and then went to sleep. That's what I call winning ;)

xo

Happy New Year 2013!

Happy 2013!

We got to celebrate with Sweetheart and her mom who were visiting Germany from the US. It was a great couple of days together and PJ and Sweetheart had an excellent time together.

 

Beautiful Sweetheart and her mommy.

It took PJ a little while to warm up to sharing his toys but within 30 minutes, he was so overwhelmed with the joy of having Sweetheart in the house that he was a goof the vast majority of the time. We actually have a video of him flipping out with joy but I can't get it to load. Instead, here is one of many silly faces he made at the camera.

 

And once they started playing with each other, there was no stopping them.  Here is one short video.

 

And two pictures. Please don't let these fool you, Sophie isn't passive; she is a pro and holding her own ground. Its just that I was able to get decent pictures when PJ had whatever toy it was at the time and wasn't trying to steal back his toys.

 

Though to be honest, those pictures are pretty funny.

 

 

 

To see how much they've grown, check out this blog post with the same toy.

 

Of course, the mommies enjoyed the time that the babies were playing with each other to finally catch up and reconnect. As much as we may try to send back emails and keep up over Facebook and phone calls, face-to-face is just better. Especially now that we are both moms of children the same age, its great to see how similar and how different they - and we - have become. Our children are so different and we have become different parents too, which is such a blessing!

 

Now she just needs to move back to Germany already!

 



We also confirmed, for all three of us adults, that while twins would be somehow manageable, it sure keeps your hands super full! While we were at the local playground, the Mr. took over both kids on the swings. Hilarity ensued.

Before feeding the kids dinner, we put off a short firework display for them. Sophie was totally into it!



After a looooong process of getting - and keeping - the kids asleep on New Years Eve, we finally enjoyed significant amounts of wine and champagne and a relaxed meal with just the adults. Then, per German tradition, the fireworks started. Just like last year, PJ joined us for the excitement. Sweetheart slept through the chaos.

The Steinbach clan at midnight.

Little PJ or Lisa from the Simpsons?

 

 

2012 was a good year; 2013 is going to be epic!

xx
The Sandy Hook survivors returned to school today. Please continue to pray for them and please join me in Demanding a Plan.



Happy 2012!

Here's to a wonderful 2012! I hope you all failed to make resolutions, or if you did that you've already broken yours!

We enjoyed a pretty laid-back, baby-friendly-ish New Years Eve, unlike other years. We had raclette for dinner with ham, mushrooms, lots of different sauces, including sour cream. Had I made a resolution to lose more baby (cookie) weight, I would have broken it before midnight. Good thing I skipped making it in the first place.

Speaking of cookie weight - this one was (and is) super yummy!

Our little man was just as excited about dinner as we were. We could hardly keep him away from the table:

Raclette is a fabulous family meal because it takes hours to slowly melt the single servings of cheese with ham or mushrooms. Thankfully, little man was a real trooper and lasted almost the entire meal at the table with us, in great part because he looooooves chewing on his new-ish sippy cup.


PJ went to bed around 6pm (as usual) but as more party-goers filled the streets - and the air with their fireworks - he woke up quite frequently. The Mr. and I watched South Park and Dinner for One (seriously, click this link to learn about one of the most entertaining but bizarre German traditions) until about midnight, pausing to calm little man back to sleep each time he woke. Then the clock hit midnight and the German people once again lost their collective minds in firework excitement.

After years of trying I finally got a video:

And can you believe it? PJ slept through the first ten minutes of the chaos!



Who knows what finally woke him up but he finally came to join us and was enthralled with the noise, the sights, and the smell. Which is great because I think our downstairs neighbors spent half a year's salary on their fireworks.





So, here we are in 2012! A lot of great things happened in 2011 - the biggest being the smallest: our little man. Yet, I am pretty excited about 2012. There is a lot to look forward to: a shared month of parental leave in March; (hopefully) a new house; my return to work; some bundles of joy that will be born this year into other families; and tons that I'm not aware of yet. But the thing I'm definitely most looking forward is introducing our little man to his American uncle and his fabulous girlfriend in April. Exciiiited!

How about you guys - what are you looking forward to? What have you got planned for 2012?

xo