Let it snow! (not)

Bode Wm at Deer Valley last January.

Everyone, repeat it with me:  I am so tired.  It seems like this is my constant refrain, or response any time Bob asks how I am doing. I say, "I am so tired!" How boring, right?  But I can't seem to get beyond it. I haven't even been doing that much for the move. Bob has been handling all of it, on top of his full-time job! And I certainly haven't been cooking. Or cleaning, for that matter. It is entirely thanks to jet lag, and our children, who wake at 3 AM and want to stay awake.   Gianna, I'm looking at you.

Bode's first ski lesson with Bob.

Today we went out and did some more winter weather gear shopping.  Bob and I both got snow boots.  I love my boots! Hopefully I will continue to love them as I'm trudging through 5 inches (or more) of snow. Since they don't make snow boots in her tiny size, Gianna got the most darling little snow covers. I've never heard of snow covers before. They are little water-repellent sleeves that fit over regular shoes. 
I really know nothing about living in a cold climate! I have a lot to learn. 

xo

Home, for a short time

Bode and Priscilla at Byrne today.

We are home. We are struggling through the jet lag (oh, the exhaustion!) and time difference (curse you, fall back!).  The babies are doing as well as can be expected.  Bode is incredibly loopy when he is not sleeping. Gianna is incredibly clingy when she is not sleeping. I am incredibly irritable when I am not sleeping. Bob is incredibly busy when he is not sleeping. 

It is back to reality for me.  I have to admit that I was feeling safely cocooned from reality (the reality of our big move to New York) while in Germany.  I hope that tomorrow I feel a little more "normal" and can start to tackle the many things that need to be done before the move.  I really have no choice. Things must be done. 

Two things I wanted to do as soon as we returned home were to visit Starbucks and Whole Foods. I did both today. I nearly fell to my knees and kissed the floor when I entered Whole Foods this afternoon.

The best part of this weekend, next to being home?  Seeing Priscilla again! I missed her so much. Saturday felt weird because we were home, but a big part of our home was still missing. Priscilla came home on Sunday. She looks great! Thank you, Andrew, for taking such good care of her. Bob, Bode and Priscilla went to Byrne this afternoon for a big walk. When Bob showed me pictures from the walk, I almost couldn't look at them. It is hard to believe that many of our favorite things will soon only be pictures and memories.

Happy Tuesday.

xo
Photo: RWF

And we're (almost) AUF!

Taken yesterday, before the "incident"

This morning I took the babies to the bakery and to the park for the last time!  I spent the afternoon packing, purging, and cleaning. In my "spare" time, I enjoyed coloring and doing puzzles with Bode.  Gianna's swelling has gone down, but she still has a fat lip.  She was clingy today, too. I don't know if she's physically wrecked, teething, or knows something's up tomorrow.  Tonight, after reading stories, I was excited telling Bode that tomorrow we will be on the plane and headed to home.  But then I felt bad, because I immediately thought, "Home, but not for long," thinking of our New York trip (and new home) just around the corner.

I took pictures today but I was too busy to upload them. That just means I'll be sharing more later! ;)

We have a 4 A.M. wake-up call and a taxi pick-up at 5:30 A.M.  So we are going to bed early tonight and getting mentally/emotionally ready for a very, very long flight tomorrow.  Auf Wiedersehen, Berlin!

Happy weekend.

xo

Babylein

This morning at the bakery. Injury-free and happy.

One of my fears happened today.  One of those fears that almost stopped me from taking this trip. "Injury to one (or both) of my children" was top on my list of reasons not to go.

Gianna fell and and busted her mouth while we were at the park. She was on the boat, and had turned to  slide off the seat. She misjudged where to put her hand (I guess?), and she fell. It was one of those hard falls where the baby's mouth is wide open but there is no sound coming out. One of those injuries that hurts so much that there is a delay until the brain activates the other reactions of screaming and crying. And there was blood. A lot of blood.  Strangely enough, I remember reassuring myself, "It will be okay, it's not as bad as it looks..." as I grabbed a baby wipe and tried to stop the bleeding. But she kept bleeding. Then, I was panicking because I couldn't tell where the blood was coming from. And was that blood in her nose? A couple of German women came over to look. They both looked at each other and spoke German. One pointed to the offices across the street, and said, "Kinder..."  I snapped Gianna into the stroller, screaming and bleeding.  Bode was already in the stroller. I guess I had already yelled at him to get in because we had to leave NOW. 

I remembered that there was a pediatrician's office across the street when the lady pointed and said, "Kinder." I remember that I saw it in the early days of our trip, and had made a mental note of its location.  

I ran across the street and busted through the door.  "Sprecken sie English?" I asked.  The lady behind the counter shook her head No, but pointed to a man with a baby.  He looked at me expectantly.  I told him that Gianna had fallen in the park.  He translated. The lady gestured for me to take the stroller and babies, and led us into an examination room.  She disappeared and a few seconds later, a man came through the door.  He was wearing a striped t-shirt and jeans (not like a doctor, with a white coat, for example). 

He nodded, and immediately took Gianna out of my arms and laid her down on the examination table.  Of course this made Gianna scream more.  The receptionist (?) came  back in and held Gianna down while the doctor looked at her mouth, her neck, her nose.   He got up, grabbed some other implement and went back to examining a still-screaming Gianna.  I stood by helplessly and said, "She fell. In the park." 

He looked up at me and nodded toward Gianna, like, "you can take her now."  So I held Gianna and tried to soothe her.  He told me that Gianna had ripped her frenum.  He showed me Gianna's top lip, causing her to scream again. "Uh...frenulum is all I know..." he said after I repeated, "Frenum? This?" and gestured toward my own top lip.  He said that it does not require an operation.  He said that her teeth look intact and everything seemed in order.  

Gianna was still crying a little bit, off and on. I was crying a little bit, because of what had happened and for his reassurance that everything was going to be okay.  The receptionist tried to soothe me, patting my back, while I held and soothed Gianna.  Before he left, he stopped and told me that we could "rest" in this room for 20 minutes, before we set out again. 

We had to wait to get a shot and medicine (to clean her mouth).  I had gone to the restroom and had seen a noisy roomful of children and parents waiting. I was grateful that we could wait in a private (quiet) room.   We sat together in our private room, playing with the iPhone and camera. 

The receptionist was really nice about checking on us.  She gave Bode packages of Gummi Bears and chocolates. He was happy to play with them (not knowing that they were actually treats to eat).  He was so good about waiting. It is funny how you think that something so dramatic is unfolding in your life, while your (injured) child screams, cries and bleeds, and your (other) child is calmly observing things around him and playing happily. 

And poor Bob! He wasn't at his Berlin office, but in a meeting in Dresden. I texted him with one hand while I was trying to clean Gianna's mouth at the park, to see how bad the damage was.  My text?  "need to take g to the dr she fell and is bleeding"  My phone rang like 5 seconds later.  By then, I was running across the street and didn't have the patience to hold my phone to tell him what had happened.  We communicated quickly as I was being led into an exam room with our bleeding child.  (I texted him later when the doctor told me that she was okay.)

Danke! Danke! I am so thankful.  I am thankful: that the German lady reminded me of the "kinder" office across the street, that there was a pediatrician's office across the street from the park where Gianna fell, that Gianna didn't suffer any injury worse than she did, that the doctor and receptionist/nurse were so helpful, that we could wait in our own private room, that Bode was so good about waiting and sitting, and that I had enough Euros to pay the doctor.  Thankful! It is always so scary and traumatic when your baby is hurt.  Gianna has huge swollen lips right now. Her top lip is about 20x bigger than normal. Hopefully that is the extent of this drama. She is napping.  Bode has now consumed all the Gummi Bears and chocolates (I caved when we got home, and let him eat them as a reward for being so good at the doctor's office).

Ouch.

Hope your Thursday is injury and drama free!
xo

Leafing

Yesterday we went to the Charlottenburg Palace early, and the morning sun was beautiful. The leaves reminded me that we missed "leafing" in New York.  I have it on my "to do" list for next Fall.  I know that the leaves shown here are nothing like what we will enjoy next year!  But it was a beautiful morning.

I am having a lazy week.  Here are some pics taken from the park (at Schloss Charlottenburg) while I contemplate what to do today.

Happy Thursday!

xo

Bode and Gianna: hide and seek

While I was in the kitchen "making dinner" yesterday evening (i.e., setting the kitchen table for our take-out), Bob shot this video of Bode "hiding" under the table and Gianna "finding" him.

Turn your volume up, so that you can hear Bode giggling and Gianna saying "Hi."

Watch Hide and Seek.
Happy Wednesday!
xo

Bode: 37 months

Dear Bode,

A week after you turned 3, your whole world changed in a BIG way.   We flew to Berlin, Germany and are living here for a month.  You handled the transition in your usual calm fashion.  It took you four nights to get on "German" time and to sleep through the night.  The hardest change for you was the milk. For some reason, it tasted different.  You would cry for your "old milk" and it would break my heart.  The first three days, you would cry, "I want to go home! I want to go home!" and I had serious misgivings about this trip. 

Somersaults with Daddy in Potsdam

We came to Berlin so that we could stay together as a family, and to have new experiences that this travel opportunity presented. As a bonus, you've grown more confident in other things.  Physically, you take more risks, such as trying new things at the park. You are outgoing, and will 'crash' someone else's sand party at the park and say "Hi!" You continue to smile even when the German children give you  strange looks in return, or ignore you completely.  Intellectually and emotionally, I think you've stretched yourself on this trip, learning about a new place (Germany), and living in a new house, sleeping in a new bed in a new room, and being amongst people who speak a different language.  

At the "Charlottenburg Castle." Our apartment is across the street (behind the blue van)

Being in Germany and away from your usual stuff in California has brought you even closer to Gianna.  I think, because you don't have the usual toys and distractions, you look to Gianna for laughs and companionship.  You are also very protective of her. Whenever we are in the elevator, you always say, "Don't forgot Gianna, Mommy. Don't forgot Gianna!"  I assure you every time that I would never forget her (or you).  But you always say this any time we are in the elevator, as if short term memory loss is going to strike your mother and leave your sister an orphan.  This statement worries me, in that I wonder if this trip has been harder on you than we know.  I wonder if you do have separation anxiety, and your statement about Gianna is your way of seeking reassurance.  Hopefully, you are just looking out for your  little sister.

At the park

Now for the not-so-pretty-nitty-gritty:  you are living on air, refusing to eat anything unless it is a "schnecken" or something from the bakery, you YELL and SHRIEK constantly and it drives me crazy, you have been wearing diapers for the past month and show no signs of wanting to be a "big boy" anymore. Dr. Sepetka believes that you reverting to babyhood has everything to do with the big changes that we've been experiencing. She thinks, once we get settled in New York, and you are in preschool, you'll be the 3 year old that you were on your way to becoming before we left for Berlin. 

I'm guessing that Daddy was "negotiating" with you when I took these shots!

Other than these small quirks, you have handled all these changes exceptionally well.  I really am not surprised. You are my happy little guy, and I think you will (hopefully) always roll with the changes.   You've got another big change coming up in a couple of weeks, when we move permanently to New York. The good news is, it is permanent and will be "home" as soon as you've settled.  I hope that this also proves to be a good change for you.  We are going to do everything we can to make it that way.

I love you, my little schnecken!

Mommy

xo