This is what made me happy today

I went to the PX to see if they still had the book Set that I wanted to get for myself and the one for Brian. I had a feeling, that I HAD TO GO TODAY and I was right. There was only one left of the Twilight BookSet

I got this one for Brian and it will be on its way as soon as I get the other christmas gift for him ;-)

Then I went to the Commissary and just had to buy these teas. They sounded yummie. I tried one so far and it's a little too cinnamony for me, but I'll get used to it. The other one with the Candy Cane smells pretty good like Peppermint.

Happy Baby

Big Kiss for Mama

Yummie Balloon

What's up with the tongue? He's got a long one like Mommy

Someone saw that Mama's teacup was standing there all by itself... haha

Swimming and other exercises for my Rugrat

My friend Beata and I are planning on weekly things for our rugrats like swimming and also a baby gym class. Well we went swimming once so far, this week we couldn't go because Sara is ill with a bad cough. Lucas didn't like last time's swimming too much. He didn't know what to think about it, but I hope that with time he will love it. He was barely moving his arms or legs and just looking out of the window for birds. (hahah). They have only one pool there and it's too deep for him to stand. So I am holding him the whole time. But yeah, at least for the winter time we plan on going there weekly now.

We are also looking for a baby gym class. We have that thing in Germany that is called Mutter-Kind Turnen (basically gymnastics for the mother and the kid). Most of them start for kids around one and a half years, but some also for kids that walk well. We went to one this week. It was alright, but not what we expected. It was overcrowded with mommies and their kids. They all seemed to be 2 years and up, so ours were the youngest. It began with everyone sitting in a big circle and we were singing a song and one of the kids had to run around the circle with the mommie when their name was mentioned. That was funny. But then after the song the 'teacher' said that everyone is just doing whatever they want. We were like !?!? She had some things build up for the kids to climb on and do exercises. But she never showed us anything or even asked us how we like it or whatsoever. It just wasn't what we expected. We would like to go somehwere, where the teacher shows us different things to do with the kids and things we all do together in a group... Lucas had a blast of course with all these kids running around. He was running around the whole time, jumping into the crowd. I always had to run after him, because kids were jumping off to a mattress and he would climb on the mattress and be in the way. He was chasing after balls and by bedtime he fell alseep immediately.
Sara even hurt herself when falling off the mattress and against a wooden wall with wood bricks. She scraped her forehead and screamed real loud. It was poorly secured I would say, but that's not the point. The teacher didn't even look for her or ask what was wrong.
It would cost 6 Euros a month, which isn't bad, but she said that we can only pay it for three months in advance. Well Beata and I agreed to look for another group and see what else is offered. We still have some time I guess, since our kids are still young.

Why should I use my hands, when I can use my big belly?

Look what I got!!

My good friend Carolin is making these cute looking purses. She sew some, so her mom can sell her on a christmas market. She sent them in a box over my APO mailbox and told me that I can take one of them as a thanks. They were all so pretty, that it took me a minute to choose one. In the end I decided to go with this one, because I just love it! Their just my favorite colors. Thanks again Carolin!!! I'll also take some pics next time, when I have it in use. So you can see what it's going through here. hahaha

So unfair

How come the kids are playing outside and I have to be inside ;-)

The best playground ever - The Crib

I opened up Lucas' crib two days ago so he can climb in and out. Of course that's his favorite thing to do now. In there he loves to watch his aquarium and jump up and down

Snow

Today is the total opposite from yesterday. We woke up fairly early and I felt in very good spirits. Even Lucas wasn't whiny and already joking around in the early morning. About an hour after we woke up, I decided to pull up the shades and we discovered that it snowed over night. I know it's not that much, but I just had to take a picture of our first snow this winter and also the first snow that Lucas saw (at least now that he's actually understanding). He was looking at me like "what's this white stuff out there". hahaha He stood at the window for about ten minutes

And around lunchtime my cousin's kids were playing outside. Of course Lucas stood at the window the whole time watching them and waving them.

Food

Inspired by my friend Carolin, I thought I could show you a picture of our yesterday's and today's meal. I cook almost everyday, but most of the time we have leftovers and we eat the rest the following day. I experiment a lot with the kind of food that Brian hates, now that he's gone. Like yesterday. I cooked a Chinese meal, with fried rice, red bell peppers, meatballs and napa cole. It turned out very yummie. The meatballs were a little plain, because I was only supposed to spice it with soy sauce. It's from a recipe book for toddlers and babies. It's my favorite cookbook.

Not a good day ...

I'm feeling very sore and worn out today and also kind of down. Lucas never took his nap during the day, which left him very crappy all afternoon. So you might think that he would go to bed easily at night, as he was overtired already... Wrong thought.... He was crying for about 15 minutes, until he finally gave in. It wouldn't be so bad if I didn't have a bad day either. Today is just a day that I'm feeling totaly wiped out. My body is killing me. I feel like I've had a hard day at work or something. My back hurts so much, that my head aches as well.
To be honest, I'm just not in a very good mood today and the thing that Lucas didn't sleep well just made it worse and maybe that was just the little trigger for me to feel so bad. I also got 2 not so good news and the weather is just crazy as well. I just wish it was today in a year already, so I have my husband back home, safe and sound and we're almost ready to move.
Oh well, I'm going to try to relax for the rest of the night and hoping for a better day tomorrow. Sorry for all the whining, but I had to let it out as I don't have somebody to talk about all this crap here.

Afternoon Naps

I'm sitting here just a little annoyed. Lucas decided for the second time this week, that he doens't want to take his afternoon nap. That is his only naptime during the day and I think that he's still too young to skip it. Especially since I saw two days ago, that he was overtired and walking around dreaming and just not seeming himself anymore. He fell alseep in the car two days ago and it took me a while to get him up again, since it was only one hour from his actual sleep time and he still had to eat dinner. I've been trying to put him to sleep for one hour now and I decided to just leave him in his crib. I can hear him playing in bed though and he switched on his aquarium thingy. What shall I do with him? Now I have to keep him awake till normal bedtime again. I really wonder why he won't take his nap now, even though I know he's REALLY tired.

Not only that, but I would love to have a little break for half an hour to an hour as well. My back has been killing me lately and I know it's from carrying around and stuff. He's very attached lately and wants to be held a lot.

A boring week and some pics

We haven't really accomplished much this week. Okay, we drove to Bavaria for two days, which was a bit stressful for Lucas and also for us. But that was it. This week has been the slowest since Brian's been gone... I really need to plan some more things for the coming weeks, so they go by faster again. But I have a lot on my mind anyhow, that needs to be accomplished... for example baking christmas cookies, writing christmas cards, bying christmas gifts, send out some more boxes for brian, getting my tax done, doing some more scrapbooking, joining a weekly baby gym class with my friend, getting my hair cut and colored, and so on....

Alrighty, here are some pictures of Lucas at my aunt's house. He was being shy around the kitty, even though he was always looking for it and trying to chase it. My cousin Franziska is holing Lilo for Lucas

Yesterday I packed Brian's box. At first I just threw all the things in a big box that I found. Of course my little one just HAD to climb in it, to test it. He just loves climbing into things. HE sat it in for about ten minutes and threw everything out again. In the end I decided to go for a smaller box, because we didnt' have THAT much to send and also because I had to think of a way to carry that heavy thing in, with Lucas on my arm as well. I know he can walk, but he never walks where I want him to go and it's a little hard to chase him with a big box in my arms... lol

And last but not least some pictures of tonight's bathtime

Clean baby playing before bedtime

Happy Birthday Mom (Sandy)!!!

Today is my mom in law's birthday. I just wanted to wish her a very happy birthday this way.

Dear Mom,

Happy Birthday!

Hopefully you'll get to spend a very nice day with your loved ones and just know that we are thinking about you here!!

Say Daddy and Mama

Lucas sign for pacifier

This week Lucas started to find a new sign for pacifier. Whenever I ask him for it, that's what he does and then he goes around and looks for it ;-p

That's what happens when you want to climb into the clothebasket...

When I tried to take the dry cloths off the rack and put them into a basket, Lucas got annoyed, because another favorite thing of him right now is climbing into the basket. Whenever he sees that the basket is empty and standing on the floor, that's what he wants to do. So he climbed into it and I continued putting the clothes in it. When I was finished I put it on the bed and pretended that he wasn't there. Of course he got really angry and tried to get out ;-)

Little Picasso in the Bathtub

Last night was bathnight and I thought it would be nice to try out the colored soap that Lucas got from my friend Jutta for his birthday. Of course he loved the idea. The only thing that I totally forgot, was that of course he also tried to eat it, as it smell like cherries... So when I went to get the camera he put his finger in his mouth ;-)

And yes, the red spot you see down there is another bruise... I swear, not a day goes by without him falling on something or bumping into something.

Heidelberg Zoo

Last Sunday I went to the Zoo at Heidelberg with my friend Beata, her hubby and their daughter Sara. I didn't take as many pictures as I planned.

Lucas and Sara had a blast of course and now Lucas calls every animal a 'huuu...' He once just used it for dogs as the word in German is Hund and those would be the first two letters. But all of a sudden everything is a Hu

My little helper

Lucas is trying to help me more and more with the housework, which is really cute. He always smiles real proud when I tell him, that he's doing a great job.

So here are some pics of him trying to clean the mirror

Let me get that spot up there, too

Talking with the baby in the mirror

He also loves to help me hang up the wet clothes on the rack. Well, not really... he actually loves to take it all off when it's dry. But unfortunately he hasn't really understood the little difference yet and usually takes the thing off as soon as I hung it up.

But look what I found ond the rack the other day when I took a blanket off, as it was dry.

Hahah, mommy I knew that I put it there, but you didn't ;-)

Don't touch my drink... (coming after daddy)

Some new pics for daddy

Sorry, Brian!!! I was really trying hard to take a nice picture of the two of us for you... but either one of us is always making a weird face. Hahah, and don't mind the messed up bed in the background. It was early in the morning ;-)

While I made the bed, Lucas was doing his favorite thing to do. He does it every single morning!! Cuddling with the bedcover on the floor

Haha, very dangerous... he tried to look at himself in the mirror

Giving himself kisses