Monday Outing

For two nights we had a friend come stay with us, a lady that worked with me at the law firm in DC. She was passing through Germany. On Monday we went to Frankenstein's Castle, and the weather was beautiful!
Here is Jack at the tower lookout.



The forests on the hill leading up to the castle were so pretty, I had to take pictures. It really reminded me of Maryland. I miss the eastern U.S. so much.



Then we went to the playground.


And unrelated to the outing above, Jack likes to cross his feet while he is sitting in his high chair. I think it's cute.

Zoo

We went to the zoo with our playgroup friends this week. I could not survive here without good friends.


(L) I think this goat may have gotten poked in the eye. (R) This is the strangest looking animal I have ever seen. It hardly looks real.

Jack's Business

Bus went down the stairs today, another door broken off. How much more impact can it take? The matchbox cars seem to hold up on that trip pretty well, aside from chipped paint. But I don't think Bus is quite as strong. It may soon R.I.P.

Jack is in the business of toy vehicle crash testing. Our stairs are the perfect place to do it -- 2 stories to drop with tile at the bottom.

Mothers

Mothers Day has become one of my favorite holidays. How wonderful to have a day to honor motherhood and womanhood. Where would we be without the amazing women in our lives? Thank heavens for good mothers! We love you!

To read a little more about our mothers, see my post from last year, "In Honor of Our Mothers."

Motherhood is the most wonderful and precious experience I have ever had.

We want to wish a special Happy Mothers Day and congratulations to Aaron's sister, Elise, who had her first baby yesterday, a girl named Oakley. (And congrats to her husband, Dave, too.)

Like Father, Like Son

Aaron's parents have told us that Aaron always had a car in hand as a child too. Now we know where Jack gets it from.Aaron, summer 1980; Lakewood, Colorado

(the same age Jack is now)

Holland Trip

We took a nice little weekend trip to the Netherlands with some friends. It was great because we were able to drive there in 4 hours, no airports involved!

Our first stop was a shop that makes cheese and wooden shoes.
(For those of you who like the Shirley Temple movie "Heidi," I couldn't stop thinking of that song, "We'll dance and skip in our little wooden shoes." I see now that it makes sense to have that Dutch sequence in the movie, since the story takes place in Frankfurt.)


Keukenhof
We spent a whole day here and I loved it! I wanted to go back the next day. The hyacinths were my favorite. They smelled SO good!

Soon to be family of 4 with tulip fields in the background.


We took a boat tour of Amsterdam. It's a beautiful city! Also in Amsterdam we saw Anne Frank's house and the Van Gogh museum.


Windmills
(R) The top of the measuring stick is sea level. They use the windmills to pump out water when it floods. The country is very flat, so it's quite windy.


I love this picture of my boys.

I think I'd like to go back next spring.

Grandparent Time

We talk to my parents quite often on the webcam. They just love to see Jack on it. Here they are singing "Popcorn Popping on the Apricot Tree" to him. I'm really glad to have a way for Jack to know them, even across an ocean.

Recent Pictures of Jack

At the Playground

Snack Time

Happy Easter!

(R) I came out to find him sitting like this at the kitchen table. He got up there by himself.

Can't Take Any More

We had a rough morning at the Commissary (Jack screamed for 20 minutes through the store), and when we came home he wouldn't take a nap. At 5:00 pm he would only eat a few bites of dinner. I left him in his high chair for a few minutes and came back to this.
Let me say, Jack NEVER does this. He never falls asleep anywhere other than his bed or car seat. So I went ahead and transferred him to bed, after a long debate about whether or not to wake him. Now I'm really nervous about what time he's going to wake up in the morning.
UPDATE: He woke up at 6 am, his usual time. Wow!

Pregnancy in Germany

At my doctor visit the other day, my doctor was telling me that I looked small. Then she said something to the effect of, "You're not what we typically think as an American. Most Americans are...large." I agreed and told her it was because they eat bad things. Nice to know that Germans think we're all overweight...

The prenatal visits here are different than they are in the US, and I thought some of you might be interested to know the differences. I realize that experiences will differ between doctors and locations in the US, so I'll be comparing this to my experience in Maryland.

In the US you have an exam, blood draw and ultrasound at your very first visit (8 weeks or whenever). At 20 weeks you have the full ultrasound. At about 28 weeks you have a glucose test (which involves drinking a liquid they give you and then having your blood drawn once one hour after drinking it). At 37+ weeks they may start checking you for dilation. Once you've gone over 40 weeks they'll hook you up to the fetal monitor for a non-stress test. At all the visits aside from the ones mentioned, you simply have your belly measured, listen to the baby's heart beat, and have questions answered. They are quick and painless.

I do feel that Germany has a good medical system, but boy are they thorough when it comes to pregnancy! At every single visit you have an exam (including cervix check), blood draw (I HATE this, I hate needles), and ultrasound (the only good part). At every visit in the 3rd trimester you have to be hooked up to the fetal monitor for 20 minutes to record the baby's heart beat. The glucose test I had last week was awful! First I had to have my blood drawn and then drink the liquid, an hour later have my blood drawn again, an hour later have my blood drawn again....and had to stay in their office all this time. Three blood draws in one morning -- I got sick! Soon my appointments will start being 3 weeks and then 2 weeks apart. I might have to tell them they can't take any more blood...
As you can imagine, these prenatal visits take much longer than American visits with all these extra things. Meanwhile, I have to have someone watching Jack.

As I said, the only good thing are the ultrasounds. I had my first 3D ultrasound last time and was pretty excited about it. I see my brother, Jaxon, in this face.

At the Playground

If you are not Jack's grandparent you will not see anything exciting about this video. It is just him walking. I think his favorite thing to do at the park was just walk around.

This kid LOVES anything with wheels.