Jul 29, 2008

EuroLIfe: Day 296

Leipzig, Dresden, and Driving with Greta

Well, I started this post a few days ago and had to stop to feed the little guy. I thought I'd write two posts about the last week of my parents' visit, but I have finally realized that I'll be lucky to get even one out so here it is!

I have to start by telling you about Greta. Normally I would save the best for last, but--again--who knows how long I'll have to write so, henceforth, it will be best first. (Right now, David is happily snuggled up with his aunt Lauren.)

My parents rented a car for the last weekend here so that we could all drive to Leipzig and Dresden, and the car came with a GPS system. Naturally, this was in German. As the Car Talk men have noted, the GPS voice is nice, even-keeled and never ever EVER gives you tone--no matter how many times you ignore its directions. It is also a woman's voice, so we kept referring to it as "she". In the end, "she" became Greta. Greta would tell us where to go, and Michael or I would translate. It was all good fun.

The problem with Greta was simple: She wasn't very good with directions. We discovered this on our journey home from Leipzig. We arrived there on our own with no trouble, but decided to use Greta to get back to the Autobahn. She navigated us smoothly through places we never would have thought to turn--little neighborhoods and business parks which turned out to lead to bigger roads. All was going so well that my mother exclaimed "That's it, I'm sold! I'm getting GPS on my next car....Noooooo!!!!!!!!!" (the "Nooooo....." was uttered by my mom and dad in unison, actually.)

There we were, about to drive onto what was obviously a pedestrian walkway. Sure, we were at the Autobahn, Greta had managed that, but there was no way to actually get ONTO the Autobahn. I suppose we should have been more specific in our instructions.

This happened a few times. Here's the best part--in each and every case, my father defended Greta. "She has an old map", "It's her first assignment", "She didn't know about the construction!" Despite her many, ahem, mishaps, my dad actually had the audacity to ask at one point "Look, we have to make a decision: Are we going to listen to Greta and go home, or just keep wandering around?" (As if the two were not one and the same.) I believe my father had a bit of a crush on mild-mannered old Greta.

And now for some photos. No more time to write, so these will be a bit disorganized:

David's first time in his carseat, and looking very cool I might add:

David, when he heard that we were going to give Greta one more shot at getting us home:


David wondering why we would ever take him outside in heat like this...


David on his first ride in a stroller:


OK no more time I'm afraid. I'll come back and give captions, but for now you can guess which are Leipzig, which are Dresden, and which are Jena :) Sorry!














And finally, my parents...no caption really captures it :)

Jul 24, 2008

EuroLIfe: Day 289

Look Who's Growing!


We are pleased to report that David is finally gaining weight! He was skinny when he was born--at 19 inches and only 6lbs 4 oz--and then he lost 5 or 6 oz, and was just a very skinny (and hairy) little boy. For a while he wasn't gaining, and we've been working very hard on chunking him up a bit. Finally, this week especially, it is starting to show! He was about 7 1/2 lbs at his last weigh-in on Tuesday, and I'm sure he's even bigger now. It seems as if he grows overnight!

My parents have been here for about a week now, and will be here until Tuesday evening. (Assuming I let them leave--I'm considering my options.) We've had a great time so far which has mostly involved the following:

David being snuggled my my mom...

and sleeping soundly in her arms...


or David being snuggled and sleeping soundly in my dad's arms...


And all of us competing for David's attention.

We did manage to take one day trip to Weimar, and that was really very nice:



(I had planned to write a bit more, but the little guy has been eating pretty constantly tonight, so I only have one hand to work with :)

Jul 15, 2008

EuroLife: Day 280

Not JUST a baby blog...


but as I write this, David is sleeping on my lap. It's so cute I had to take a picture to share. He's just so tiny! He's growing, but he's got a ways to go!

Yesterday, we had to say goodbye to our friends Jeff and Deanna Davis (and their children). They have made several appearances on our blog...from delicious homemade American comfort food to late night Superbowl gatherings. They have been a huge support for us here in Jena, and I've been in a Bible study lead by Deanna for the last 2 or 3 months. We are really going to miss them. The good news is, they live in Duluth, GA which is one town over from Michael's family, so we should be able to see them from time to time. Still, it's sad to see them go. Anyway, some photos from their going away party...



(The above photo is of my Bible study group, with Deanna--our fearless leader--in the middle.)

And now, some facts about David:

Michael is determined to play with him, and David does his best to oblige...but it's hard to play when you're only 3 weeks old. Still, he tries.


And he no longer hates his bath! He actually seemed to like the last one.


And he almost always sleeps with at least one hand on his face. As soon as I swaddle him he wriggles it out and gets it up against his cheek or the side of his head...sometimes both hands. It's very cute.
And, finally, when he's been riding in the old Ergo Carrier, it takes a few minutes for him to "unmold", so to speak. He stays in the same flattened-frog position for a little while before he starts to realize he's free.

Jul 8, 2008

EuroLIfe: Day 273

A Week of Firsts

David is now 15 days old, though still 1 day early, and has had a rather eventful week. First, he had to say goodbye to his grandma Terry. They had a nice routine of snuggling every night from about 11pm to between 1 and 2 am so that Michael and I could get some guaranteed sleep...after that he slept in the crib (apart from nighttime feedings, of course.) Now that Terry is gone, David misses his cuddle time, and will not sleep in his crib until around 1 or 2 am. He is just convinced that these late hours are cuddling hours!
David also had his first outdoor Scrabble game a few days ago. We thought we should expose him to Scrabble as soon as possible, given the number of hours of his life that he will likely lose to this game. Between his parents and his aunts and uncles, it seems he is in for a quite a lot of Scrabble playing...and it's best to be prepared.

Frankly, we're not sure he was paying all that much attention.

I have no idea what I'm doing in this picture--Michael did not warn me--but here you can see our fabulous Ergo carrier. It is all that I can do not to become a walking infomercial for this marvelous invention...David loves it, I can wear it even though I had the C-section so recently, and we're all happy, comfortable and portable :)

This is not so much a first, but it's a really cute picture. I guess it's kind of a first if you count the introduction of "tummy time" as a first! With all the SIDS worries, babies can of course no longer sleep on their bellies. Given the chance, though, he just loves to lie on his stomach.

He also had his first bath! This was not his favorite "first" experience. He didn't shriek, exactly, but he sure cried for awhile. He needs another one tonight--he's getting kind of stinky with all the milk he spills all over himself--so please pray for us :)



And, finally, he had his first play-date! He slept through it--we're working on his social skills--but it's nice that he has a friend. Immanuel is about 3 months old, and has already made a few appearances on this blog. Anja was kind enough to come over this afternoon and we had a very nice time together. (She also brought cake, which of course made me very happy :)

Immanuel is far more advanced than David and can do many tricks, such as: pulling up into a sitting position while being held, babbling, and staying awake for more than 30 or 40 minutes at a time. He was very polite about their difference, though, and I'm confident that David will catch up in no time :)

Jul 3, 2008

EuroLife: Day 268

More Pictures :)



We've been promising to post more photos for days now, so here they are! Little David is still quite little, but really gets cuter by the day! Early (very early) this morning, he finally found his fingers and was sucking quite happily for a few minutes before he lost them again. (He seems to like his middle and ring finger together, just like his cousin Eamon, but maybe this was a one time thing.) He spends a lot of the day trying to suck on his fingers, and gets so frustrated when he (almost always) can't get his hands under control. He used to at least take a pacifier when he was frustrated, but he's less and less interested in it each day, so we're hoping he gets this finger-sucking thing down sooner rather than later!

He is sleeping in his crib at night now, which is wonderful. He wakes up every 2-3 hours to eat, but other than that he'll stay in that crib until 9am!

Now for the photos: First, in his H&M baby helmet. They are really big here, they even had them in the hospital with the onesies. I wasn't sure about them when I saw them in the store, but they are just so cute on his little head! (He's also wearing his night-time baby straightjacket, or "swaddle me sleepsack", which keeps him from startling himself awake every 10 minutes.)



Snuggled in the Boppy pillow:


Snuggled up on the bed...

A friend here (Kirsten) gave us this sweater for David. Her mom made it, and it's really very sweet. It's huge on him, but very cute.


These shorts are hilarious. They actually have a fly, which is of course very useful for a 1 week old boy in diapers.


With his very happy and proud dad :)