It’s been interesting around here. Tiring, exciting, heart-warming, frustrating, silly, irritable, and perfect all at once. Life with two is certainly much more difficult that with one, but I think it’s also much more rewarding. If I had a Euro for every time Annalie said “That’s my baby brother!”, I’d be pretty loaded by now. I’ll just have to settle for the warm fuzzy feeling it gives me instead!

I’ve been trying to learn how to balance everything and make everyone happy these past few weeks. I’ve failed often, but when I succeed, I feel like a million bucks. Our Craft 365 project certainly helps. Annalie and I get some good bonding time in there, and she just loves creating anything and everything. We try to make it a silly time too, as you can see below.

Thomas is seriously getting more in love with his sister every day. He is often times most content in her lap. It’s because of that and the total cuteness of it all, that I’ve been a bad tv-showing mommy. Annalie is obsessed with Dinosaur Train on PBS right now, and I find it fairly cute and pretty educational as well. So she sits with Thomas in lap and watches her show while eating breakfast every day. It gives me a few moments to become a human being with a change of clothes and a cup of coffee (all within viewing distance of the kids, of course!)

The morning routine. Lovely, huh?

I know, I know–I always preached about no TV. Well, sue me. I didn’t know what I was in for. I don’t feel great about it, and I hope to change it in the near future. But honestly, I’d rather have a kid that watches a few educational shows a day than a mommy that is completely spread too thin and therefore a bitch to be around. I think that the rest of my family would agree.

So here I am, not doing much of anything that isn’t caring-for-kids-related. Not much cleaning being done, hardly any sewing much to my chagrin, and not even grocery shopping with all this snow. Once I get our stroller up and running again, we’ll be off to the store more often, so at least Don can get home sooner in the evening. And I try to do the cleaning and sewing as I have spare moments. I finally finished a bib today that I had started a week ago! And I won’t even begin to go into the state of our floors….let’s just say that I wish the vacuum fairy would head this way.

But this isn’t meant to be depressing, it’s just our reality. And I like our reality, I really do. It’s crazy, but it’s very loving and fun. I melt completely when I hear Annalie say “Thomas, I love you so much!” while giving him the most beautiful smile ever. It makes every last second of the craziness be totally 100% worth it!

And on one final good note, here’s a much-awaited Thomas video finally. It ends with fussiness, as he let out the world’s biggest fart after I turned the camera off. Turning out just like Daddy already!

The makings of snow cream

Life in 2010 has been good to our family so far, so I’ll share a tad with you! We’ve been getting our new schedule figured out with Don back full-time at work, and it’s starting to come together. Annalie and I are reconnecting and snuggling lots, Thomas is growing and grunting, and Don is working his arse off trying to make up for lost time.

In Thomas news–he just had his U3 (6-week checkup) the other day and he’s doing great! He’s got a bit of a skin issue that should go away as his skin gets used to the crazy outside world, but other than that he’s fantastic. He weighs approximately 10lbs4oz, so he’s up 3 pounds now. He went from being in the 20% group for height/weight to right smack in the middle. I feel so proud that my super booby milk is to thank for those tasty baby rolls!

This boy gets stinky fast (just like Daddy)!

I’ve been finally trying to get some sewing/crafting done, just to feel like I have a piece of “me” outside of mommydom again. Not that I don’t adore mommydom, but creating for my kids just feels so nice! I started simple–a pretty new felt embroidered barrette for Annalie and a pair of reversible flannel pants for Thomas. I feel the itch to sew, sew, sew much more, so we’ll see how that works out for me…I have to sleep too unfortunately.

Cute stuff for cuter kids!

Annalie and I have been really enjoying our crafting endeavors, so go check them out on Create 365.

And for more pictures of our January, along with some photos that my mom took on her visit, go here and here.

Well, sorry if this was all a bit disjointed…I’m still getting used to this level of sleeplessness. It’ll get better with time, and the blog will eventually not read like a random bunch of Twitter updates. Until then, off for some coffee and brownies….

The New Years fairy is giving Thomas some good luck

Yes, that is a baby with Annalie. Yes, he is our baby. And yes, I suck balls at updating this site with news/pictures of said baby. I apologize yet again. Life has certainly been hectic since his birth!!! Hectic, but absolutely wonderful in so many ways. I will now tell you some of them and start this year off on the right blogger foot.

First of all, here is our son Thomas Edwin:

A few hours old, and already perfect!

Ain’t he a beaut?! He was born on Thanksgiving Day, November 26th at 11:30 am (German time) after a very interesting but fantastic labor. He was born naturally in St. Hildigardis Krankenhaus with no interventions/medications on my part, and having a VBAC made me feel like a total rockstar! He made it safely to his 37 week mark and came to us just a day later. Don believes that I held him in until then with mind power, I think he may be right! Even being three weeks early, he weighed in at 3300g (~7lbs4oz) and 49cm (~19.29″) long. He was slightly yellow but otherwise perfectly healthy. We came home from the hospital the next day because I just didn’t want to be away from home any longer, and it’s been a whirlwind of sleeplessness and excitement ever since. For more birth/early Thomas photos, go to this Flickr album.

Thomas is a pretty chill little man, so far. He loves to be held, really loves to be in the carrier, and also loves to sleep only during the day. Doh! He apparently thinks we’re a vampire family, but that’s okay. He’ll get it figured out soon. Until then, Don and I swap out with him and I am learning that late-night eBay-ing is the best way to find a good deal. :P

Annalie has taken to him very well. In fact, she’s absolutely enamored with him! She hugs and kisses him every time she gets a chance, and she really enjoys holding him in her lap. She always talks about “my little brother” and tries to make him happy when he cries. Often times her “help” is a tad bit stressful, but her intentions are beautiful and she melts our heart daily with her love for him. I hope it never fades! Of course she does get jealous at times and can act out a bit, but that’s to be expected. Over all, we feel that she has adjusted quite well for her age. She’s just continuing to get more fabulous every day!

As far as the rest of the year, my mother came to visit us for the holidays! She stayed for 11 days, and it was really fantastic having her here! Annalie got to bond with her over lots of Christmas crafting, and she took a bit of the brunt off of the nighttime Thomas-holding (happily, of course). It was sad to see her go, but now we have a visit from Don’s mother and sister in March to look forward to! For photos of my mom’s visit and the holidays, go to this Flickr album.

Santa’s little helpers

So, now 2010 has begun and I guess it’s time for some resolutions. I’m not usually big on such things, but as a parent I think I should certainly always work to do better for my family. So here it is: I resolve to learn better patience, start waking up earlier (breakfast as a family daily is ideal!), get myself and the family healthier through exercise and better eating, and work on my self-confidence so that I can impart it on my children. I also have a little idea for a challenge I’m giving myself–I’m calling it “Create 365″, and I hope to document it somewhat on the blog (which I also resolve to do a better job on!) I plan on doing a daily craft with Annalie throughout the entire year. It may be very small some days, like coloring sheets or a continuation of the previous day’s craft, but it should be daily. She is at such a beautiful creative stage right now, and I would love to keep seeing it blossom! Plus, I feel that one can learn so much from children, and her creativity certainly inspires the heck out of me! So I’ll chronicle it here and that will at least force me to come onto this blog more often, as well! See, who ever said I couldn’t multi-task??

So now it’s time to get back to my kick-ass family. Here’s to a wonderful, successful, healthy, growing year for each and every one of you!

Our last “family of three” vacation

So yeah, almost a month with no update. I’m awesome. BUT I have lots of great excuses…

So first for the fun excuse–we went to Paris! It was beautiful, breathtaking, romantic, fun, vast, and tiring all at once. We were there for four days and tried to see a little of all the major things. One day was spent at the Louvre drooling over amazing artwork. The other days, we managed to hit up the Montmartre Cemetary, the Sacré-Coeur Basilica, the Jardin des Tuileries outside of the Louvre, the Eiffel Tower of course (at night–wow!!!!), Paris children’s museum, a boat tour, a ton of yummy food stands, some great restaurants, and we managed to do a little bit of shopping. Whew, that was tiring just recapping it! Seriously though, we loved every moment of it. And the people were fantastic. Sooooo many kindnesses towards my big preggo self. I rarely had to wait in line for anything or stand up on a train. And it never seemed out of pity, but out of genuine friendliness.

Annalie had a blast and still talks about going back to Paris. She went with the notion that she would meet “The Aristocats”, since the movie takes place in Paris. We didn’t want to ruin her dreams, but we didn’t want to lie either. So we felt incredibly lucky when, on the first day at the cemetary, we saw a ton of stray cats. She immediately identified each movie character and was satisfied for the rest of the trip. We also had a lot of interludes for her so that she wouldn’t just have to do all our boring adult stuff. We went to some lovely gardens, let her feed ducks and watch toy sailboats, went to a fantastic toy store and museum, and let her jump on the bed nightly to get any extra energy out. She was happy.

Check out our Flickr photos, and enjoy this fun video of Annalie at the Jardin des Tuileries enjoying the world’s sweetest chocolate ice cream:

So, after good times were had by all and we came home, life was about to go back to normal. But it didn’t. So, here’s the not-so-fun excuse–I started having some issues that gave us a little scare, and ended up having a fun hospital visit. That visit led to more midwife visits, a doctor visit, a new doctor visit, and a bunch of different “diagnoses”. Each one basically said the same thing though–I am not to do much of anything until I get to the 37 week point (November 25th) for fear of early labor. The baby is totally perfect, my health is just fine, the placenta looks great, but I have a rather weak, wobbly cervix in need of some down-time. My old doc actually tried to hospitalize me! With the help of my wonderful friend Karo I was able to tell him heck no, and he actually made us leave! Super-turd, huh? So now I have a great new doc, much closer by, whom my midwife seems happy with, and who actually scoffed at the hospitalization idea. So I went from “be careful”, to strict bedrest, to fear of hospitalization, back to be careful. I’m being way more careful now, to say the least!

So the past week has been Don at home doing all the work, and my pitiful butt is either on the sofa or in our bed. I’m fine with it most of the time, but sometimes I get pretty down about everyone having to care for me. But I have a fantastic support system, some of the best friends anyone could ever have (Kelly and Karo–love you!), and the most incredible family in the entire world. Right now, they’re out at the Gonsenheim Wildpark feeding deer and goats. Needless to say, Annalie is having a BLAST with Daddy to play with and Mommy for the occasional snuggle.

So thirteen more days, and I’m free from my forced resting. I’ll be allowed to take walks in the crisp German air, hit up the Christmas market, do a little nesting, and HAVE A BABY!!!!! Life isn’t so bad, after all. :)

So, this past weekend we did something a little special–we got some belly photos taken! Our friend Stephan Dinges took them for us, and we’re extremely happy with the results. It was his first attempt at maternity photos, and certainly my first attempt at getting them taken. But we all had a blast, and Annalie was her amazingly photogenic self, as always. Plus he gave us an amazing rate and then donated half of that to the WWF (not the wrestlers, but the dudes who help save the rainforests and such). Cool, huh?

Anyway, here is the link for the photo shoot, enjoy!!

Modeling her new winter scarf with her signature “smile”

Man, the weather was autumn-ish and gorgeous for about a week. Then, poof! In came highs of 40 degrees. But at least the sun is still shining!

I’m not up to writing much right now, as Annalie was sick last week and my body is exhausted from trying to fight off her illness. Fortunately, it seems to be working. Anyway, other than random sicknesses brought on probably by the severe weather change, we’ve been doing well here. I’ve begun making Christmas gifts! I know, it seems early. But I’m guessing that the entire month of December will be out for me because of either end-of-pregnancy exhaustion or a new babe. So, I’m getting my goodies done early and helping the time pass by making a tiny little project each day during the kiddo’s nap. Except today, of course. I’m writing to you wonderful people instead!

So that’s it. Annalie is a trooper. Don and I are our normal selves. Life is cold, but good. Now for a few pictures from a recent weekend playground trip through the orchards. These prove that we really did have a wonderful fall week before this nastiness:

I’m feeling so so so much better lately! Praise Jeebus for cheapo Target iron supplements! I found that my body absorbs them better than the ones here, so I have a steady supply from the States, enough for the rest of the pregnancy. Thanks, Claudia! :)

That being said, I can finally offer some insight as to what’s been going on with us. Not that it’s exciting really. Just life, Cho style. Don is working hard and trucking away with his studies, and he’s starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel. I’m feeling good, sewing any chance I can get (creative energy buildup is overloading me!!), and Annalie is getting braver, cuter, smarter, and more vocal each day. I didn’t think she could talk more than she already did, but she appears to have mama’s gift of gab. She’s using tons of complete sentences, and she likes to tell made-up stories or recap the day’s events.

Recently, we went to the Opel Zoo, which was fantastic. We couldn’t have gone without the help of the van that our friends had loaned us, so I’m glad we got the opportunity. I posted a few YouTube videos from the day, including a romp in the ball pit, an elephant viewing (this video is mainly for Annalie to watch), and this one:

She still calls the ostriches “big chickens”, haha. Her most memorable moment of the day, though, is her experience with the raccoon. We were feeding the animals, and Don kept reminding her that she had to throw in the food for the raccoon instead of giving it to him directly. Well, she stopped listening (ah, gotta love selective toddler hearing) and he grabbed her hand with his sharp claws. She was fine, no blood drawn, but it scared the piss out of her. Here’s how she recaps the story to this day:

“Annalie saw raccoons! Annalie feed raccoons! Annalie throw food in cage! Raccoon hold annalie’s hand! Annalie cried. Daddy kissed it. All better.”

She’s quite the liguist, huh? She’s very dramatic about it too, she wants to make sure we all know that she did, indeed, cry. She also liked to insist that she had a scratch, but there was nothing that we could tell. She still loves raccoons though, and she wants to visit them daily. Here are a few more pics of the day, and the rest can be seen on Flickr:

She has also been very into painting and drawing, and we’ve started working a lot with fingerpaints in particular. She made our fall centerpiece by painting pinecones, and she will be hopefully doing more stuff as I can buy more art supplies. Grandparents, be ready to get some kick-ass toddler art in the mail!

Like I said, I’ve also gotten my creative mojo back and going. I’ve made a few things for the baby and Annalie, and I just finished a massive mama purse for myself. It’s big enough for all the goodies of two children, and I’m already using it! Here it is:

I also made a cute fleece-lined baby blanket/play mat for Belly Cho:

I’ve been doing my best to sew a little something every single day, even if it’s just a credit card holder or some doll clothes. I don’t want to fall off the wagon again until the baby comes!!

So, that’s our update. All is well, life is good, we’re ready for a baby, and we’re looking towards the future. Yippee!

Wow, it’s been completely insane around here lately! First off, Annalie is in her teen-angst phase about 12 years too early. Some would call it the “terrible twos”, but I despise that term, so I won’t use it. ;) Honestly, two is such a fabulous age with so many new discoveries and advances in independence, education, creativity, language, and everything else you can think of. So, of course the child is going to have a hard time processing it all, that doesn’t make her “terrible”! So Annalie is in her “touchy twos” phase, and it’s a wild ride!

We’re also house-sitting for our wonderful neighbors, and we’re staying there off-and-on for the next three weeks during their vacation. It’s a lovely home with a large yard and much more room than we’re used to. It kinda feels like we’re playing house in there, whee! And while we’re using their place, we’re using it as an excuse to completely destroy and redo our place. So yeah, two homes, one not really ours and one a warzone, fun times. Oooh, but they did also loan us a van for the three weeks! Man, it’s awesome just getting to jump in and go somewhere, without having to look up bus schedules and make sure everything I need fits in one shoulder bag. I could get used to this!

Then, of course, is the fact that I’m six months pregnant. BUT I’m feeling a ton better! Each day I feel slightly more like myself, and iron pills/Krauterblut are to thank for that. I’m nearing the third trimester (1 more week!!!!!) and starting to really feel the urge to completely hose down and/or throw out all of our belongings and start fresh. I’m absorbing my last bit of time alone with Annalie as much as possible, and I’m growing so excited to share our new little boy with her!

I also recently signed up to take the Wardrobe Refasion 6-month pledge. It is really a great way to break yourself from the cloth-buying spiral of wallet doom, while also being creative at the same time. I’ll be doing my best to not get anything new for myself over the next 6 months, and I’ll work hard thinking of fun ways to repurpose my old stuff during this time of “expansion”. I’ll be including the rest of the family in it as well; let’s hope I can make it through!

So that’s it, it’s been busy. And fun. And chaotic. And wonderful. I love our family!!!

(Disclaimer–I know I always share photos/videos, but the camera is at our temporary house right now. I’ll share some as soon as I get a chance, I promise!)

Yep, I know, it’s just September. But that’s the way things work these days, right? Anyway, I figure I’ll throw it out there for you guys and you can get a head start if you so desire. Or don’t get us anything at all. Chances are that we won’t be able to do much for anyone else this Christmas! Well, that is, other than sharing an adorable new baby boy with you! ;)

But here is our very short, very simple wishlist for Christmas 2009:

Don and I
Nothing. Save the money!

Annalie
Art and craft supplies–preferably stuff that she can be totally creative with. Paints, crayons, blank paper, ribbons, popsicle sticks, etc.

Books–We like Dr. Seuss, Little Golden Books, and anything else that’s fun and not Nickelodeon-related.

Play food–not big fans of the cheap plastic stuff, though. Things such as felt, wooden, crocheted/knitted, or cloth foods are perfect because they last much longer and can be used for the next child.

Belly Cho
We should be fine for him, except for late winter/early spring stuff for 3-6 months. No toys please, we’re set! And if for some reason you want to buy us some cute cloth diapers or boyish leg warmers, we’ll gladly accept them!

**Keep in mind though that we’re probably leaving next Spring/Summer! And we have no clue as to where or if they’ll pay for our move. Most likely they will, but we still would prefer not to gather too much more in the meantime. So like I said, you can skip this year for us if you want to, we certainly won’t have our feelings hurt. Your love and healthy, happy birthing wishes are all that we need!!! :)

And here is another note from our sponsor and her partner in ridiculously adorable crimes:

So I don’t have much to update on us. I’m starting to feel better, Don is back from the States, and Annalie is adorable and fabulous as always. So I kinda just feel like writing some lists for a while. Don’t really know why, maybe it’s just a way to clear my mind. So here’s list number one:

Things I like better in Germany:

1) Public Transportation–easy, cheap (except for Mainz, of course), and takes you most anywhere you want to go. Unless you’re up for hiking in the middle of nowhere, it’s always going to get you where you need to be!

2) Grocery Stores–they’re small and comfortable, instead of disgustingly overwhelming and loud (ahem, Wal-Mart). You can find a bakery and a butcher in all of them, which is wonderful for fresh goodies. And each time you buy these fresh goodies, they’ll usually give your kid a treat! Plus, it’s just really nice to be able to walk into a store and not have to worry about losing your toddler in the masses.

3) The old shit–there is seriously beautiful old shit almost everywhere you go! Our backup hospital for the birth has massive Roman columns right outside; one of our local train stations has a Roman theatre being uncovered, and there’s old Roman passageways beneath our shopping district. We can look at Johann Gutenberg’s childhood church while shopping, and it goes on and on…

4) No disgusting power lines or parking garages–these are all underground. You’ll find the occasional lot above ground, but not often. It really clears up space and makes everything feel a lot more open, airy, and slightly more natural.

5) Recycling–we have five different kinds of trash bins outside our house, so they can recycle everything possible! Heck, if you even want to get rid of large furniture, you just leave it by your trash area and call someone to come pick it up. They’ll either recycle/trash what’s not reusable or some towns take it to a Goodwill-ish place for cheap resale.

6) The food–the foods here that are consistently better than in the States include cheese, chocolate, breads, coffee (not food, but worth mentioning), beer (again, totally worth mentioning), ice cream, and sausage. Even the Coke is better here, because it doesn’t have HFCS in it!

7) Our neighborhood–We can walk easily to two different grocery stores, two different playgrounds, some gorgeous orchards, and a forest with walking trails. We’re not anywhere near a dangerous street, and we can see the stars at night!

Things I like better in the States:

1) Owning a car–okay, so we just didn’t have that option here. And if we go somewhere large, we’ll still use PT when possible and get by with just one car hopefully. But it would be nice if on occasion I could just hop in the car and drive somewhere!

2) Grocery Stores–the ONLY thing bad about German grocery stores are the hours. Close by 9pm and closed on Sundays. I like that Sunday is a family day here, but if I run out of food, I’m not a big fan of hitting up a restaurant at the last minute. Still, I prefer the little shops that don’t make me feel like I’m having a panic attack.

3) House construction–I am a big fan of windows with screens and central heating/air. I don’t much need the crazy blasting A/C, but I like that it keeps the mold out. Radiators suck big balls. And because of these radiators, we have to constantly open our windows and allow the flies and spiders in. So it’s either spiders or mold. I’d personally prefer neither!

4) Craft stores–the ones here are ridiculous. Fabric is SO expensive, and so is everything else for that matter. And the shops don’t have a third of what I’m used to. I guess Michael’s spoiled me a tad. ;)

5) “International” restaurants–Chinese food tastes like German food with Chinese noodles. Mexican food tastes like German food with tortillas. Pizza is crap. I need some spicy salsa, deep dish pizza and Pad Thai, people!!!

6) Making friends–much, much harder here. Even without a language barrier, it’s just more difficult I think. Many people get into a comfort zone with very few others and they don’t step out of it as much here. It would be unheard of to go to a playground, meet a nice mama, and exchange numbers. Shit, I’m just happy if they make eye contact with me!

7) Shopping–cheaper and easier in the States, by far. Particularly for clothes and shoes. I have to go one town over to find decently priced maternity wear that doesn’t look like flower vomit. At home, I could just find a Target. Such is life.

So there’s a list from the top of my head. I’m sure I have more for both sides, but naptime is almost over. Thanks for tuning in, and here’s a message from our bubble-loving sponser: