Procrastinating

So on the first day I truly feel overwhelmed by all the moving stuff I have to do... what do I do???  I have a melt down, I eat and then I get on stupid Blogger.

I've got open mouthed boxes staring me down with their appetite to be stuffed and closed.  I've got our cleaning lady coming tomorrow to... what... dust boxes??  Or perhaps try and find the floor to vacuum it.

I've got to cancel services and bank stuff...

I've got to strategize fitting a truck-load of stuff into our car (plus a driver and 2 passengers)... one of whom has more accessories than his parents combined.

I've got to shower before Alex wakes up for round II of this nights awakedness and...

I've got to finish-up doctor appointments etc. before we take-off.

All this and I haven't gotten to the Christmas shopping, nor a million other things.  Again, blasted blogger for being a haven.

I hope you're stressed out now after reading this - I need to diffuse my burden!

Okay, okay, I'll get off the computer now.  Blahhhhhh!

Cool kids stuff

Haba's "Bratwurst with bun"

Some sites I found:

Engel (funky flag decorations) I liked the "Cool Boy" and "Fresh Apple" flag sets.

Virgo - Textile Book (French & English)  It's awesome!  Really special and a rare find.  I think I'll get one!  I also really liked "Crocolino". He's a wooden crocodile who crawls up a string.

Haba Toys  I love wooden toys.  Germany is the MECA of wooden toys!  Haba has block sets (of assorted sizes and types, rolling ball sets and all sorts of things to entice your (and your kids') imagination.  They also have a huge selection of wooden fruit and veggies (and what ever other item you might find in a grocery store for that matter...).  They also have cloth food including a roasted chicken with removable drumsticks and even a Frankfurter/ Bratwurst in a bun!!   I admit, I bought a fish with a skeleton that comes out.  It's fun!

If you like these and you are outside Germany, try Amazon.  I have tried the Canadian, UK and French Amazon sites and they carry Haba for sure.  Not sure about the other sites, they're more obscure from North America.

I have found tons of sites.  If you liked these let me know and I'll post more.

Enjoy!!

Pencil carpet from Kateha by Karin Mannerstål

Pencil carpet from Kateha by Karin Mannerstål

Kay, so I found a bunch of great name brands the other day and I stumbled upon this rug. Please tell me they didn't spell RED wrong! This is a kids rug! Whoops!

Red or Read?  Hummm...

Ode to a friend

First day of School

In the past year I've been catching-up with my oldest best friend.  Hummm, or rather my first best friend.

You know the one, the one you played with since kindergarden, the one who easily understood how you played and how your early personality worked and the one with whom you could share everything?

Yes, well, as the years went by we got older, made-up languages (mostly one).  Communicated easily in that language and our mother tongue, shared travel experiences (well hers since I didn't travel much that I can remember), shared family experiences and stories.  Then suddenly, just as things were reaching a new stage, the move.

Yes, I moved.  Not too far, but in a kids scale, pretty far.  We tried to hang out, as well as you can in grade 6 while still a dependent.  It was mostly on my Dad's weekends that we were able to see each other.  Mostly we hung out at the cheezy local mall, took hilarious photo booth photos, shopped in clothing stores and Grand & Toy...  but then, there was the one memorable time at my Mom's where we tricked the storekeeper into giving us a cigarette (for our grandmother that is...).  I think there was a theme to that sleep-over.  Suffice to say my bedroom was clouded in talcum powder for a couple of days.  It smelled lovely!  We did other fun things like dance and sing (oh Flashdance!)  I still remember all the lyrics and the ones we made up to fake it - well, maybe not those...

Then I moved again.  Grade 7 and onward.  To a distant land I'd never heard of.  So of course, we fell out of touch for a long time.  I suppose this is a bit of an ode to FB too.  For all it's flaws, it can redeem itself in spades at times.

So hopefully we're able to keep in touch now.  I am really happy about it!

Dear Acquaintances,

I've been bumping into some acquaintances lately.  An old neighbor, a cashier at the local DM, a "father" from our pre-natal class, the local green grocer almost downtown (i.e. not in his shop) and so on.

I believe this is a sign of 4 things:

1. Frankfurt is small;
2. Everyone in Frankfurt looks like everyone else (my GF's theory);
3. People don't travel far from home / work;
4. I'm a local. (Almost).


Item 4. comes exactly when we are planning to move. Yes, you read right!  It figures!!  We don't know where we'll land, but Basel, Switzerland is the hub of our destination.  Maybe we'll end-up in France like we once daydreamed so badly!   Either way, we depart by Christmas and start 2012 in a not-so-far-away-land.  Frankfurt and many of it's peoples and customs will be missed.  Dearly in fact!

Just something fun!

Ateliê Paola

Check-out my Aunt's lesson: How to make a velvet purse in graduated colours!

Ateliê Paola - TV Demo

Mental preparation - work in progress...

With Halloween firmly behind us, Christmas is in the air!  Seriously!  I haven't even finished making Alex's Halloween costume!!  I never put the arm holes into it.  So it remained a very frustrating costume for him.  And now with Halloween behind us, I don't think I'll bother. Oh well!  I still got some cute pics. Mostly action - waving arms etc.  But whoooo ooo oooo can ever photograph a ghost anyway?

As with every year, the shops are already decorated with gold, fuchsia, red and so on.  I actually don't mind this year!  There is so much to do between now and then that I've actually started thinking about things well into next year.  That being up to mid-January and some things even as far as March.  Yep!  March.

Anyway, I was thinking of what to do for Alex's first birthday and have some ideas.  We might throw a party or keep it small.  Either way, we're thinking of putting an album together featuring his first year and it's accomplishments.  I've been working on it recently and am enjoying it quite a bit.  I've also taken the opportunity to clean-up some outstanding photography mess from when our computer died.  I've made considerable progress, but need to do more.  What a painstaking ordeal!

What else... well, lots of stuff that I'll have to reveal when the time is right.  Stay tuned!!

Brazil

Back: E, Du, Henrique, Gus, Fre
Middle: Cy, Tati, Vi
Front: Alex, Stella, Vale, Vivi

This trip came about suddenly as E had a project that needed him in Brazil.  Sao Paulo to be exact.  So when I heard, my cogs started churning.  E needed to be in Brazil for meetings which would book-end 3 weeks.  Meaning two Thursday to Sunday trips 3 weeks apart.  So I hopped aboard!  My visit bridged his 2 trips (came with him, stayed for 10 days without him and then left with him).  It was great to take advantage of this situation (3 seats for the price of 1)! And the opportunity to introduce Alexander to extended family. Fantastic!! Truly!

Arriving in Brazil this time was like taking a dunk into the everyday lives of my Family on any given hectic day.  This wasn't holiday time and everyone was busy beyond all recognition.   My family was as always, extremely accommodating and they were able to make lots of time for Alex, E and I.  We had a lot of fun!

My Aunt and Uncle were having an insane time preparing for my Uncles 2.5 month contract in Korea (with no more than a week to prepare), my cousins were busy with work, teaching, studies, significant others, babies, kids, health concerns, pets etc.  At least 3 items per cousin.  I just came in an stirred things up a bit more for them.

I was visited regularly by Gus during lunch times as he works near his parents' place.  It was a nice treat during the long days (alone with Alex).  The evenings were filled with visits from Fred & Vivi and Du and Sco.  There was also quite a bit of iPad training going on and my Aunt, Fre, Du and Gus each have one now.  It's great!

It was quite wonderful to see Alex interact with everyone so warmly and comfortably.  I am so happy for this!  Everyone had a lot of fun with him too and this warmed my heart.  Such a special time! (Love love love!!)  He was also a hit with the family dog Ragu.  I don't know who chased whom faster - Ragu behind Alex or vice-versa.  I have a suspicion that "Ragu" means "Dog" to Alex.  He calls out "GU" every time he sees a dog and almost cried in frustration in the park the other day when the dog didn't come running...  Either way, seeing Alex and Ragu was tons of slobbery fun!

There were quite a few events as well.  Pizza at Gus & Vi's after babies were bathed and asleep, play dates with Vale, Euro tour planning with Fre & Vivi, a baby shower, the second Singstar gala where Vivi & I kicked butt, some shopping at my Aunts' Atelie (I'll put a link here as soon as her site is up and running!!), visiting my Vovó, hanging out with my other Aunt & Uncle and of course, the reunion of cousins.

The reunion of cousins was quite a feat.  5/8 of us were there with significant others and kiddies.  What a blast!!  It was also a union of the 2011 harvest.  That being similar to the 1978 harvest.  In 1978 1 child was born to each of the 3 Anders siblings (my Mom, my Uncle Lindolfo and my Uncle Rodolfo).  Christina, Henrique and Gustavo respectively.  In 2011, Alexander, Valentina and Stella also (almost) respectively were born.  That's about as close a repeat as possible!  It was great.  We ate well, as is famed by the Anders clan, and we spoke tons.  It was a wonderful time!

On our last day we did all you can eat Brazilian BBQ.  MummMMMMmmmMMMmm!!! It was delicious!!!  We had a gigantic table, made a fantastic mess and were quite noisy.  What a wonderful time!

Again, I thank my gracious family for hosting us so warmly.

Back in Frankfurt

We're back home and it feels so nice!

Seeing family was great.  The 2011 cousins got to babble, stare and drool at each other.  And their parents did much of the same as well (hehe!)  I'll write more soon!

The first week back home was lonnnnng!  It seems that we're finally all over the jet lag and lack of sleep of the return flight.  So now we're trying to settle back in to our crowded home.  It's nice.

Autumn is in the air. Burrrrr!  The park is beautiful as ever and I missed it.

The fußsac (foot bag - like a sleeping bag) is on the stroller and the thicker hats are getting tried out in the cold.  They always end-up backwards on Alex's head somehow.

E's away for work again (Moscow), so hopefully it will go quickly and we can be cozy and together again very soon.

We went to see the All Black game on Sunday with some dear friends and had a blast as the game kept us all at maximum adrenalin the entire time.  What a great game!  Alex on the other hand, had enough after one half and slept through the cheers for the entire second half.

Next weekend we'll check out the Frankfurt zoo (Alex's first time) with some friends then get warm over sushi (perhaps the tea will warm us up...).

Alex is awake now, more blogging later.

Gehry!

Okay, so I probably should have posted this one first out of respect for my home town.  Another Gehry Partners creation!

Here's a concept sketch of the new AGO in Toronto!  Enjoy!

Gehry!

E has a project in Basel, Switzerland and they have a new Gehry Partners building on their campus!



Check it out, it's pretty cool!

Lost dog

I never thought about it before.  The angst that is, of loosing your dog.

Today I saw a girl bawling in the street and found it odd.  I was still compelled to offer her help in my useless German.  But before I could, her friend yelled her name from a distance then the girl turned quickly went running leash in hand calling pleadingly for her dog, who I didn't see.  

It was so sad to see such desperation. I don't want to imagine how terrible she must have been feeling.

I hope they are reunited quickly!

Brazil

We're going to Brazil!! Yay!

E has to go twice (in 3 weeks) for business and was going to be away the better part of that entire time (with other business trips in-between).  So here's me figuring.... alone in Frankfurt for 3 weeks or surrounded by loved ones in Brazil for 3 weeks... NO BRIANER!

I'm looking forward to it! A will be able to meet more extended family and I'll be spending precious time with my relatives.  Yippee!!

Photos of A

So it's been ages since I posted pics of A so I thought I'd make an effort and call up one of him in his bedroom (early August) and one from today... multi-tasking... Crazy little boy!

Me time!

I went to the hair dresser the other day.  Ahhh, how nice!! 3 hours of dedicated "ME" time!!  My hair is now to my shoulders and shorter than that in front.  I had some golden color put in and I LIKE IT!!  It's super curly too!!

So shorter hair hurts less when pulled... an added bonus for me!

I'd post photos, but yes, that's asking too much of me at this time.  Sorry!

Run for cover?!?

I was out for a stroll yesterday in Gruneburg Park (nearby) when I smelled that all-too-familiar comforting smell of rain.

The humid breeze passing by.

The summer rain began.

I happened to be around a certain tree-shaded bend in the park when the corner of my eye caught some movement in the distance.

It was the nude sun-bathers.  Standing up (in all their glory) and rushing for cover.  Seriously.  Funny right?  I wondered why?  You're naked!! Haha!!

I couldn't help looking more than my usual quick glance (you know the type, look quick cuz you kinda wanna know how many people are out on any given day - and who are these folks anyway? - and are they really naked? (disbelief)).

Well, from afar, fortunately details are smudged.  But at last, I could tell who these folks are.  And I don't use "folks" lightly.  They are older gentlemen who cluster relatively closely together to catch the rays.  They are all over 50 and are often a bit rotund.  Basically like Toronto's nude island beach.

Some time ago, my Mother-in-law and I were passing around the same tree-shaded bend and she was quite certain that it was the site of small business ventures... Haha!!! Too funny!

Rain

As it rained, we watched.

We could smell the humid breeze as the rain fell harder.
People walked past with determination and umbrellas to the wind.
The roses fluttered brightly and the weeds grew before our very eyes.
How simple and beautiful it was.

We looked at each other and smiled knowingly.

OMGosh.

Last night was terrible. Alexander woke at midnight for 3 hours and didn't sleep more than 1.5 hours until 1:30 Sunday afternoon.

AAAARRRRRGGGGGG!!!

I just fed him some broccoli and see a second tooth almost out. Give me strength!!!

He's using me as a scratching post for his face and his uncontrollable, frantic mouth itch. Poor kid is driving me crazy. Oh, I just realized his dad's beard is good for soothing his frantic need to itch.

Going to go wash my broccoli-drool-face now.

Back in Frankfurt

We've just returned to Frankfurt.

It's been a month and I must admit, coming home feels good.  Although our home smells oddly earthy...  I suppose we were gone long enough for the earth to begin reclaiming our apartment as it's own?

We had a wonderful time visiting with friends and family.  Really wonderful!  My heart has been warmed and I have re-found receding parts of myself.

It's gut wrenching to leave Canada again (as usual) but nicer and nicer to come back to my nest.  It was surprisingly difficult to leave Frankfurt in the first place, but I think it had more to do with my "omg-feelings-of-protecting-offspring... and oh-what-am-I-subjecting-him-to-so-early in life?" concerns... But the plane took off none the less.  We arrived in my home "town" in great shape and with minimal scathing as far as traveling with a baby.

We stayed with my Mom aka Vovó "Goopy", aptly named by Alexander.  We had friends visit us (mostly) due to Alexander's bed-time schedule.  In the middle of our stay, we visited Kingston and Montreal.  We had a great time everywhere we went (and stayed)!

The weather was stinking hot (avg.33...) and we melted.  Not the pounds though!  Alexander took to the new time zone within 3 days while we lagged behind.  He learned to get on his knees and is now on the move (oh dear)!!!  He's become quite the chatter box with words like "Gaa, Geh, Goo..." He also spent many a restless night while cutting his first tooth.  We suspected given all the drool, violent chewing and irritability.  And thus, we just found the wee-cerrated-inscisor (bottom right) last night but are giving full credit to Canada for helping him out over this month.

As we get back into our routine, more stories will come!

Times have changed...

I burn things all the time now:

- rice

- olive oil or butter (while heating pans)

- burned burned burned the pan black for steamed carrots (to be A's first veggie). They became smoked carrots and a write off.  Believe it.

- killed sweet potatoes in the microwave (over heated) two times in a row, one immediately after the other... duh!

On the bright side:

- I am soooo much more efficient with small increments of time and am able to categorize chores by most intrusive to least.  By that I mean: I still multi-task quite well (ahem~toot toot), but now it's stepped it up a notch to start with the items I need 2 hands and full concentration for.  Then I move to those items which need one hand and "barely any concentration".  I've also learned to prioritize better.  Facebook is falling by the wayside. Perhaps happily??

People have always asked me for directions.  It used to happen to E more often but I think I might be beating him now.  We've concluded we:

a) look nice

b) look like we know where we are going because

c) we walk fast

Well, now I walk with a stroller often at strolling speed and there isn't a day that someone doesn't ask me for directions.  I guess I:

a) look safe

b) look like a local

c) look nice

Sadly, I often can't string proper sentences together to give proper directions (in German) until after the person is gone.  Like a smart comeback (too late) to a nasty comment.  So I end up saying some gibberish, apologizing for my crap German or saying "I don't know"...!!!

I do stupid things (I suppose I always did...):

- see "burning" above

- put baby detergent in the fabric softener compartment of the washing machine

- cry like a baby when I'm hungry and tired (much more than usual)

- spill things all...the...time

I hope:

- I look cool in my mad rush to collect things (especially for a diaper change or a bottle on the go) as routing through the masses of stuff I need to carry daily gets quite hairy after a few dips into the baby bag.

- I get even more effective with my time

- I'm not forgetting/neglecting something/someone

- My baby is happy even though I like things organized

- My husband is happy even though I like things organized

Sewing Update

Sewing update link

Sewing Machine en-Route!

I've chosen my sewing machine!!!

Indeed, the machines offered in Europe are different than those in N.America and come at a heftier price.  Bummer.


But... once I found my first and second choice here in Europe, I was able to continue my research.  It was tough to find the equivalent!  I did some corresponding with Brother and some smaller distributers who essentially deferred to Brother.


My choices in Europe are coded as follows: 
1st choice (equivalent to Innov-is PC420PRW) is: Innov-is 350SE/400
2nd choice (closest equivalent to Innov-is 80) is: Innov-is 50

I found it on a UK Brother dealer site that is working on their internaitonal website (so they're good to answer my questions in English and as confirmed by them, able to deliver to Germany!)  After extensive research, I found that their price is also the best.  The machine is going for 449 pounds (E515) plus delivery.  And being an official Brother dealer, they also provide Brother incentives like a free wide table before the end of the month (61pound value)!  Yay!  Locally (DE), the "cheapest" I saw it for was E629 (+E13 for delivery) on Amazon.de (no incentive available).  I also saw it for E799 on two German websites and E847 on the German Ebay.  Yikes!!  The customer service has been really great so far (answering my questions promptly etc.) The only down side is that any warranty concerns are to be dealt with in the UK.

Hahahahahahappy!!!

One downside to my #1 machine is that according to a "Notice" I found on the official Brother Europe website, there was a reduction of 6 of the originally included feet.  BIG SHAME!!! but since I get a wide table extension for free I'll order a couple of the feet that are missing for about the same value.  Again, if I had gotten it on Amazon.de, I would still be short 6 feet and have no incentive wide table...

.....update....

I've placed the order and it will arrive in 5 business days!!

I'll write more on the supplier and the machine soon! 

Freaking volcanos!

CRAP. 
Spring Fling #2 is threatened once again. 


I'm sad.


"Saturday's Grimsvotn eruption came about 13 months after Iceland's Eyjafjallajokull volcano belched smoke and ash into the skies over the continent, forcing the cancellation of thousands of flights per day at the peak of the problem." (CNN ~ click to link).


Refer to my previous entry:
Wait - What the????? Error! Error!!
Kay, I remember... I didn't post a message because I was too emotional at the time.  Truth be told, I'm still upset by the entire volcano crap that happened last year and this frustration has been a long time brewing ~ I'm about to explode!!


Here's what happened:


February 2010:
Soufrière Hills Montserrat volcano near Guadeloupe erupts:


E and I had our sailing course scheduled in Guadeloupe.  We flew with a stop-over in Paris.


As it turned out, we got stranded in Paris.  ...yes, stranded...  for 2 nights and 3 days of our week-long trip.  Fortunately, the boat in Guadeloupe could not leave without us as we were the only experienced sailors available for the overnight sail.  Sooo, at least there was that.  


The first night in Paris we stayed in an airport hotel eating airplane food (yes, the airline provided on terra firma). The next day (after being on-call for flights much of the day) it was finally announced that there were no flights booked for the remainder of the day.  So we made the best of it, rented a car and headed to Paris proper.  We didn't last long as Murphy's Law made sure we were stranded during a rare, icy-cold snap.  It was extremely cold.  No matter the combination of all our layered summer wear, we froze our butts off.  It was February and Paris being Paris (it is so fashion forward) that the city was out of winter stock and was already selling spring fashions. 


Funny thing though, as we were walking along the Paris streets looking for winter wear (any winter wear) we saw a dude wearing the weirdest hat on earth.  We laughed.  Murphy struck again.  We ended up buying the exact same hat as the dude because they were so ugly they were the only thing left in stock.  Murphy is laughing now.  At any rate, we were warm and stopped caring.  


There were two bright spots to our delay:  


We were in the Decathlon buying our aforementioned ugly hats, when we learned we'd be stuck for an unknown amount of time.  I finally broke down and cried. Suddenly E's Mom called.  She was around the corner and met us in the store not 5 minutes after calling.  She was so sweet! She took us shopping for sweaters and then for hot chocolate and treats.  It was such a wonderful thing!  The other blessing was that we got to see Marta and Maciek at their place outside Fonty.  We stayed with them the second night and truly made the best out of a rotten situation.


Other stranded soles were E's Dad whom for this entire time was stranded in the Dominican Republic waiting for the final leg of his trip to Guadeloupe and getting his shoes stolen.  And Clive, our instructor who was stranded in Guadeloupe without his crew, while constantly having to scrub our ash-covered boat.


We all eventually arrived and rushed through our now truncated course. 


Not an ideal trip to say the least.


April 2010:
Volcano Eyjafjallajokull in Iceland erupts:


Leah got stranded.
Leah came to visit E and I with Patrik (9 months at the time).  The visit was great!!  But sadly, she didn't get to really enjoy to the fullest as she got stuck" in Frankfurt with only enough for her and her son for 3 days.  She was supposed to fly back to Prague then depart to Canada for a month.  She was quite stressed to say the least while trying to sort out her flights.  She ended-up flying from Frankfurt directly (and alone with Patrik)  to Canada for a month with yes, the same 3 day bag.  Poor girl!


Spring Fling #2 got cancelled.  
The plan was a good one: reunite for Spring Fling #2 in Frankfurt and also for Leah to have help traveling trans-Atlantic (to Canada) for the first time with a 9 month old.  We (Leah and I) were supposed to be joined by Dora and Sandra in Frankfurt for our attempted second annual spring gathering. Because of volcano Eyjafjallajokull, they were sadly forced to cancel their trip.  Good thing they did because flights were only resumed the day they were meant to return to Canada from Frankfurt!  


May 2011 ~ this is a developing story...:
Volcano Grimsvotn in Iceland erupts:


Dora has a Euro trip planned with a stop in Prague to see Leah and meet her (new) second child.  Soooo.... I decided to join in the fun for a partial Spring Fling #2, second attempt and for a practice flight with Alex similar to Leah's practice flight to Frankfurt in 2010.  


Things are once again, sadly, up in the air (namely, ash).

Self Soothing

I've heard of it, I saw glimpses of it and the past couple of days, have witnessed it first hand!

Alex has happily re-discovered his thumb!  It's official.  The right thumb is the chosen one.  Although my Mom humms when I tell her this, she doesn't complain as she let each of us suck our thumbs.

I think her Marge Simpson humming is due to the fact that we were impossible to convince to quit the thumb sucking. M was conned by having one nail painted each non-thumb-sucking night.  Me, well... being a tom-boy and loving my thumb too much meant nail polish didn't work.  My Mom was vigilant. She applied nasty-tasting-anti-thumb-sucking-poison on my thumb.  I tried the other thumb.  Nope.  I was stubborn.  I sucked the nastiness away and by the morning had a wonderfully delicious, soggy thumb.  For C, I don't remember!  I think she sorted it out on her own.  What worked for me you ask?  Time.  Lots of time.

At any rate, A is very young and so far, the thumb-sucking is an adorably good thing.  He doesn't take the soother so the thumb will have to do. Either that, or we'll be held hostage by our pinkies until the end of time!

Tea Bag Lame-O

Okay, so for the most part, I've been drinking cold tea since A was born.  It happens, tea gets left behind... it's the way it goes...

So I've also gotten used to cold, strong and or gritty tea since I also rarely take the tea bag out in time.

Well, today I reached a new low.  I'm drinking the little paper label and the teeny staple holding the label to the string.

Oh the joys of having no time.  I figure it's fibre.

Sewing Machine Research!

So for the past while, much of my free time has been dedicated to sewing machine research.  It's a Christmas gift from my folks.  I've been researching since about November.  Yes, it's true.

I've made a ton of progress ~ at last!!  At times I've gotten quite frustrated because I discovered different geographic regions have different machines and or codes. Like in Europe, I might find something between 2 North American models.  Blah!!!

I've finalized my decision to a Brother machine.  And hence, I'll destroy the hereditary Singer line through both my Mom's side and Malcolm's!  

With my research, I've gotten really tempted to get a serger too!!  But I'll wait and see if I really need it. :)

So the reviews for the Singers were too inconsistent.  It seems like a crap shoot: love it or get a lemon.  And according to the reviews, customer service is less than ideal.  I also read that the manuals are crap, however, I looked at one and it seemed okay.  However, not nearly as comprehensive as Brothers' guide.  You could learn to sew from their guide!!  Brother reviews are consistently good.  And customer support seems so as well.

Anyway, my top two choices (check it out!) for the Brother machine are:

Second choice: Innov-is 80:http://www.brother-usa.com/HomeSewing/modeldetail.aspx?PRODUCTID=NS80&tab=spec

First choice: PC420PRW:http://www.brother-usa.com/HomeSewing/modeldetail.aspx?PRODUCTID=PC420PRW&tab=spec

My preferred is PC420PRW.  Unfortunately, the next hurdle.... the code and or the design may be different in Europe!  I found what I think is the equivalent to my second choice, but darn... I want my first choice and I can't seem to find it!!  

The sewing packages are soooo complete!  Especially when comparing to the Singer, Brother comes with a lot of stuff!  When comparing prices, they were similar, but again, Singer didn't have all the accessories and I'd end up having to buy quite a lot more things (i.e. a cover for the machine!!!??? DUH!)...  Does anyone have any personal experiences with newer Singer or Brother machines???

The next annoyance is that the prices in the US and Canada seem really good compared with the EU.  I'm not sure why!  Is there less demand in North America?  I suspect so.  Something must affect the prices because it's significant!  My second choice machine is less than $400USD and is over 500euros.  Hummm... Anyway, I'll see what the results are (I've sent more queries to Brother Germany). Hopefully I'll find my first choice (equivalent) here.  We'll see.  The other difference between N.America and Europe is the length of the warranty (25 years in N.A. and 3 in EU).  I've inquired about this as well.  Seems strange.  But I did find out from Brother Canada that the warranty is only valid in the country of purchase... Mental note!

Anyway, I'm so eager!! I can't wait!! If I end up with my second choice machine, that's just fine, it's a great machine. I'll just order a couple of extra feet that have me interested.... :D 

Very very excited!!  

Oh and an aside: I've been researching fabrics and compared with the website I found for kids bed linens, I can actually make a set for the same price as buying it (plus labour of course...) which is a bit discouraging.  So I've been on the hunt for some specials on fabric prices and have found some good ones.  I haven't ordered yet as I'm waiting for the machine to be finalized - I don't want the cart before the horse!!  Boy oh boy!  What am I getting my self into!?! ;)

Just Chillin'

I'm hoping that soon I'll have some more time.  I suppose I'm still in denial as to it's disappearance.  My days are full of baby milestones like laughter, rolling on his side, mega boogers, lifting his body to help me pick him up etc. Fun times! But I must admit, I'm tired!  By the time 15:00 or 16:00 rolls around each day, I start the count down.  This is his most cantankerous time.  I keep hoping for a bit more "me" time soon, but I think that won't happen for a while.  In the mean time, I'll try to keep up with the wee-one and his needs.

I had my first Mother's day. It was nice. Simple. I got a lovely assortment of Gerberas.  I didn't really feel like a mother though...  I guess it will kick in later?

The days are just whizzing by... Alex is already 5.5 kilos and a super long 62cm.  He's growing out of clothes constantly and I check his up and coming clothes once a week to make sure I don't miss anything.  It's a secret passion I have.  Dressing him up.

He's ready for a play pen now, as I found his self-guided little body under the radiator this morning (wiggled off the play gym mat and rug...)  Don't worry, the radiator was off!

Bath times are fun and I'm happy to say I'm not the only one enjoying them!  Alex is starting to really relax in the tub and I think play time is only a matter of splashes away.  So long dry Mom!

And... that's all the time I've got.

Holy Crap!

Today Alexander had an exceptional crap. Yes, my excitement is reduced to this.

It was a funny moment while being fed. He started with his usual old man grunts (oummff, hummfff...) and then pushed so hard his little face went red.

Then came the gurgles and the unmistakable squishy gush.

Then the happy baby.

Then the warm feeling on my leg.

Then the smell.

Then my somewhat disgusted and delayed reaction to the event.

I started to change his diaper when I realized the poop went outside the top, back edge of his entire diaper. What the hell!?! I was so careful not to squish it!! Then I noticed the warm spot on my leg became cold. Yuck. It was wet.

I lined the change table with a disposable plastic sheet as I knew this would be messy. How messy: Very. Fortunately, E was nearby and took the first casualty for washing: My pants. Next A's shorts. Next, his the onesie ~ which didn't come off easily... a residue ensued. I used a pile of wipes for excess stuff... then I took the final casualty, Alexander, straight into the freshly poured bath.

Poor boy. I think he was relieved we just went all out with a bath. Really, wiping was futile.

I hope you all enjoyed that description. I'll spare you the consistency and colour details as I'm sure you can conjure the best of images. Suffice to day, we did some more laundry yesterday...

Ta ta!

Easter

We had a great Easter weekend!

Our plans were to go to Prague to visit L, her newborn and the rest of the family ~ then we remembered... Alexander doesn't have his passport yet! Bummer! We're so used to getting up and going!

So then we thought, why don't we go to Switzerland? And maybe make plans for Russia?!! Well, as you can see we have short term memory. So we "decided" to stay local.

This turned out to be great! Frankfurt has had a bout of fantastic summer weather and the weekend was perfect. On Friday we had Y&S over for dinner, on Saturday we spent the day with J&S and had delicious BBQ at theirs. MMmmmmmm! On Sunday we vegetated at home and on Monday we had brunch with friends to celebrate Y's birthday. We were busy to say the least.

We are still learning how to be social and how to manage our expectations of outings with baby in tow. For instance: My brain is split about 70/30. I am constantly trying to keep one step ahead of what Alex might need (food, diaper change, general comforting and all the accessories that come each). It's certainly a good thing when he sleeps through a social event and if he wakes, when he's in a good mood. The other options are certainly less desirable until I learn to deal with them confidently. So, I look for that perfect shady and cool place where the noise level is constant. I wiggle the carriage when sudden noise stirs him, I'm making sure he's not too hot or cold.... I am that mother!! Yikes! Well, we don't always get the ideal scenario and are learning to manage with loud and sudden laughter, bar tenders whacking coffee out of the machine, a dog barking and the summer heat... This is the 70% of my consumed energy. The remaining 30% is used-up trying to keep in time with the conversation ~ not get too far behind. I'm not sure how I'm doing as I am rather divided and lean towards the needs of my son first (as I should). I guess it's a matter of time.

So in this sense, Saturday was perfect. We went to J&S's place and they too have a young baby. We took the babies out for a stroll, came back, ate yummy homemade ice cream, lounged around all afternoon playing with the babies and talking then had BBQ yumminess. I must say, I stressed in the evening as we'd never done the bed time routine away from home. Under these circumstances, everything worked out quite well as our gracious hosts were perfectly equipped for all things baby.

Over the weekend we also managed to get some mundane stuff done (chores etc.) but even more excellently mundane, watch some movies! What bliss!! 2/3 movies were completely uninterrupted and we enjoyed our great luck.

Lastly, it must be told... we ate a lot of chocolate. MMMmmmmm!

Overall, a very, very nice Easter!

Lullaby Mama!

Oh how awesome! This evening, Alexander fell asleep to my singing him lullaby's for the first time!

Things started out grim. The batteries in our mobile thingy died slowly over the past couple of days ~ with the last horrah last night being a German lady's voice repeating "have you heard the sweet songs" or something like that in German. She always says that when you start the mobile but this time, over the baby-monitor we heard her stuttering and rapping the same sentence over and over again. Then it came. Baby laughter! He was supposed to be falling asleep!! Then the babbling began. It was very funny to hear him start chatting-up the German mobile lady. But eventually, she bored him and crying ensued.

So tonight I decided to sing to him while he was in his crib. (Usually I sing while he's still in my lap in the living room after his last feeding).

He started smiling and laughing and talking to me. That was not what I expected. I persisted. Then after only a mere 5 minutes of singing his little lids started getting heavy. I thought, "no way!!". With 2 extra minutes of humming to a faded nothing and 3 minutes of insurance, he was asleep!!!

AWESOME! I really feel great about it! It seems to have stuck as it's been 20 minutes of sleep so far!

I'm feeling proud and happy. I wonder if it will ever happen again!?

Alexander's 100 Day Birthday!

Well, it's official!

Alexander is 100 (+1) days old now!

Celebrating this milestone is a tradition in some households. I've heard of it and think it's nice. I don't really know much about it, but it's still a milestone and it was a nice day.

Celebrations were small, mostly spent enjoying the day with Alexander's cooing and babbling. And also by walking about the Frankfurt downtown. The other notable milestone for the day was changing from size 1 diapers to size 2. The smaller ones still seem to fit, but they're not so trustworthy in the "capacity" department anymore.

Next birthday: 1 year.

Patinhas (little paws)

When I was a little girl I used to love riding my bike. As soon as the snow was off the ground in the spring time, you would find me in my spring jacket riding my little 3-wheeler back and forth along the sidewalk in front of our house. I did this every day and then my mom started calling my little hands "patinhas" because they were so tanned!

I was in the Galleria Shopping Centre when a friend recently pointed out my dark hands. I didn't think so at the time, but when I got home I looked more closely and saw that my hands ARE darker! It's from all the stroller pushing! I guess I have "patonas" (big paws) now!

A Crow Crow

Here's my crow about crows:

Crows. I respect them. I believe they are intelligent. I don't know much about them but I know they're smart and can learn. I'm a bit superstitious perhaps even leery about their possible connection with higher powers based on rumors I've heard... that kind of thing.

But none the less, crows can be such... nasty, crotchety creatures.

I've been walking in the park daily with Alexander and always watch these birds respectfully and with the benefit of the doubt. Well, just 2 days ago as I left the park, I guess I pissed one of these birds off by walking too close to him??? He dropped a rock about a foot away from my head. About the size of a circle you make with your thumb and index finger. Seriously. It landed with a startling "clack" on the hood of the car next to me. What a cranky bastard!

This then reminded me of a rather remarkable crow fight I witnessed on the way to preggo-yoga a few months back.

I was waddling along when I noticed a woman pushing a carriage on the other side of the street pretty much in stride with me when I heard a crazy-nasty angry racket coming from a driveway near the lady. We both followed the sound into the driveway where we saw 2 crows tumbling about the ground screaming crow-profanities at each other whilst stabbing each other with their beaks!

The lady and I stood and watched in shock while they battled it out. We did make a point of keeping a safe distance, then exchanged similarly shocked expressions and murmurs of disbelief!

Crows can be such nasty, crotchety creatures!

Introducing Alexander!

Our Alexander was born on January 6 after a relatively fast, "au naturel" labour. He weighed 2.65kgs and was 47cm long. He is just over 3 months old now and weighs approximately 4.8kgs and is 59cm long.

If "Au Naturel" makes me sound like a heroine... I accept! And YES, I AM! Although I was ready and willing to take pain killers, it was all too fast for the hospital staff (i.e. not for me)! I was too busy to be upset for very long.

The three of us have been enjoying the time getting to know each other over the past 3 months.

There are so many wonderful experiences we've already had! First smile, hiccups on the outside, cooing, babbling, wicked poops, surprise puke, pee target practice... over stimulated and wide-eyed deer in headlight stare, what else... bath time, tummy time, singing time, can't-figure-you-out-crying-screaming-going-purple-desperate-mamma-and-papa-time... oh and another funny one: the first, and to date only time he joy-screamed so loud he startled himself!

It's been very busy and very meaningful on so many levels. I do believe the 3 of us are smitten with each other!

Sabbatical

You've probably noticed that there has been no commotion on my blog for a while. Since wee-one was born, I've been a bit... busy! :) I'm starting to manage my time better each day and will resume postings as soon as possible!

I can't wait! :)

Cya!

Blasted at New Years

Okay, okay, so I wasn't blasted. But I thought I might get blown-up!

Considering the quiet theme of this holiday season, by Christmas, we hadn't quite come up with a plan for New Years Eve.

We were warned, however, from several people, that Germany is not exactly the ideal place to be unless you're young and really into fireworks. Apparently, people go nuts with the fireworks. They even fire them horizontally (accidentally??) or put them in car exhaust pipes.

We were told that last year, a car in Frankfurt was blown up and that although our neighbourhood was decent, we should probably keep our car off the road. We were also warned to keep out of the down-town area.

E came up with a great plan for a quiet New Year. He's truly my sweet romantic!! We ended up going to a nice hotel to spend a relaxing time away from those nagging things at home and to enjoy some luxury high atop Frankfurt. It was a wonderful time!

In the early evening, before leaving for the hotel I saw a bunch of early-20ies guys dressed in black throwing some little explosive firecrackers against an apartment building across the street from us. This was the "stereo-typical hooligan" I presumed to be behind all the stories.

When we got to the hotel, there was a minor setback to the plan, which was really not a problem at all. We discovered that not all the regular hotel services were available (restaurant and some other things). So on New Years Eve (around 7pm) we ended up going to Frankfurt's down town for dinner. Hummm... truth be told, the shops were well buttoned-up (including covering of the windows of jewellery shops and closing of streets and piazzas) and people were already out testing out their fireworks. Random and loud explosions were heard nearby and I was relieved that none were aimed at us.

Honestly though, the worst part was the flinching/clenching that happened in my belly responding to the loud bangs ~ but only because I've got no idea where my abdominal muscles have gone and it's rather uncomfortable to flex like that while pregnant. At any rate, we were able to find a restaurant that we like, eat for a reasonable price and wander back to the hotel in a matter of mere hours. It was quite convenient. We also took the opportunity to tuck the car into a safe, indoor and underground parking lot ~ free of firework bombs for the night.

Back in the hotel just before midnight, I discovered E had snuck into his suitcase (without my noticing) some of his delicious apple crumble (see previous blog entry) and a bottle of sparkling grape juice (MmmmmmmmmM!MMmmmm!MM).

Before midnight we made some quick celebratory phone calls then celebrated ourselves from the 38th floor of our hotel by watching the Frankfurt city-scape light up in colourful fireworks as far as the eye could see. It was quite a site! I've never seen anything like it in my life! Fireworks popped everywhere in all sorts of colour and explosion combinations across the city ~ for a solid hour! Some fireworks were close by (right under our hotel window) and some I could see were even shot (accidentally) into the buildings nearby. Also, some fireworks were shot from atop buildings into the night sky. After over an hour of celebrations the sky was completely fuzzy from all the smoke. We could not even see Frankfurt beneath the smokey cover! I'm certainly glad to have seen this, and ahem, especially from above!

What a wonderful New Year's Eve that I won't soon forget!