Lovin' life

A boy such as this is a sight to behold.

Yes it is still cold, and yes I still feel way too guilty whenever we go out and Vin's little cheeks get all icy cold. Then again, I also feel guilty when we stay in all day. Ahh, motherhood.

Two days ago, little Vin got his second round of vaccinations. He did well, but his sleep pattern has been affected. Instead of two 3-hour naps a day, he now has four 2-hour naps each day. And instead of going to bed at 7pm, he is in bed by 5 or 6pm.  The poor little guy has a couple of red bumps on his thighs from the injections and is a bit grumpy, but a little bit of paracetamol and some cuddles settles him down in no time.

On Saturday, we got out for some grocery shopping and then raced back home to the warmth of our cave to bake lasagna, play sporcle, clean house and play with the babykins.

On Sunday, it was still chilly cold so we got out for the warmest part of the day (-5C) and took a quick walk to the Hofburg and back. The sun was shining and it looks so lovely outside, but then that wind whips up and bites you in the face. We again raced back home to bake chicken pot pie, play sporcle, clean house and play with the babylicious.

Ahh. Our baby. With his sweet round face and giggles. His pouty lips and drool. His shy, flirtatious smiles. The way he plays with my fingers while waking up in the morning. His smile each time i look his way. His soft cheek resting on my shoulder that indicates it is time for a nap. His cooing as he tries to sing with me. Those lips. That nose. Those eyes. This is love.

Two Vinnys!?! What a delight!

Us.

The cheeks of squishy-soft-wonderfulness

The boys.

Lovin' life.

Rock Rock Rock Around the Clock

Whoah nelly.

Step by step rolling instructions

It seems as if the boy has perfected his back to tummy roll, and in just a fraction of the time has also gotten the tummy to back thing down.

He seems pleased to be able to move around fairly effortlessly. Here is a step by step of the process. I had just removed his diaper, so that is the reason for the red marks, he doesn't have diaper rash - although it kinda looks like it.

Step 1: Constrict tummy muscles

Step 2: Lean to the side

Step 3: Throw your leg over

Step 4: Shove your face into the floor

Step 5: Get your arm out from under you

Step 6: Lift your head

Step 7: Bring your arms up

Step 8: Revel in your accomplishment

Bread and naps

It was minus 5 all day today, with varying 'feels like' temperatures from -12 to -15. Needless to say, we did not venture out. In fact, I have not gone out for my morning walks at all this week. A little bit of it is due to weather and another little bit is due to the fact that the boy has not been waking up for his 5:30am feedings, but instead has stayed asleep until 6:30 or 7am. I know that this means that I can more freely leave in the mornings, but I worry about doing so because that would leave Andi in a bit of a pickle if V wakes up hungry and I am not there. So I have remained in the bed, waiting for the boy to wake and then all of a sudden it is time for Andi to leave for work and my walking window has lapsed.

I simply need to man-up and get out the door and leave the boys with either frozen or refrigerated milk.

Today was a day of bread and naps it seems. The boy was only awake from 8am-9am and then again from 4pm until his bedtime (6:30pm). I had only 3.5 hours with him. Can you believe that?

While he was sleeping I cleaned and baked bread. A flax seed loaf for Andi's sandwiches, and a banana bread loaf to use up the old bananas. Then I cleaned and did some home and insurance admin stuff. Pretty boring, but I needed it.

We made our next doctor's appointment and Friday will be the second set of injection vaccinations, so the weekend is sure to be interesting. Fingers crossed that it will be painless and forgotten as quickly as it happens. Here is a sweet little video to give you a giggle...

Preserving the eggplant

Little eggplant head

It is -1C, but it FEELS like -6C. I have learned to never go with the actual temperature, but to always dress and prepare for the feels like temperature.

You can go out in -6, but really - who would want to? So we have been in our pajamas all day, Andi ironing, me organizing and blogging. In just a few minutes I will start lunch. We enjoyed tacos yesterday and will have fajitas today.

Between the chores and organizing we are entertaining each other with dozens of sporcle quizzes and a couple of photo shoots thrown in here and there.

 

Andi and I are officially addicted to sporcle and we manage to waste about 2-3 hours a night with these. But through them I have finally learned the capital of Saudi Arabia and that there are 4 states of matter. So not entirely wasted evenings, right? I usually lie on the floor pretending to do my physiotherapy lessons while Andi schools me on all geography quizzes and I manage to hold my own in the language category.

Vin is usually sleeping by the time we get really into the quizzing. Here is an example of how much sleep he is getting lately. On Friday night he was in bed at 7:30pm and slept until 8am with only one feed at about 6am. He then played for one hour, and went down for his morning 3 hour nap. He woke at noon for a 2 hour play session and then went down for his 2 hour afternoon nap. At 5pm he woke to play and eat and then was in bed by 7pm for another whopping 12 hour night's sleep. He didn't wake until the sun came up this morning. And even then, he just played for about an hour and then went down again for a 3 hour nap. And as I type this, he has fallen asleep for his afternoon nap.

We only get to see the boy for brief moments between him sleeping. I kinda miss him :)

This parenting thing got really easy all of a sudden :)

Andi is convinced that he is teething and he just wants to sleep through the pain instead of be awake for it all.

Well, maybe it DOES hurt to be awake

 I think he is still a baby. A perfect little baby.

Time to eat?

Vin is in the 75th percentile for height and the 90th percentile for weight at his age. He has been gaining weight quite well, but just this week he broke even. I am not certain if this is a huge deal, but maybe it is a step in the direction pointing us toward starting some solid foods.

I have been wondering about when to start him on some solids. He still sleeps through the night uninterrupted, so I think he is full when he goes to bed. He is eating every 2 hours, so that is pretty regular, and he looks healthy and chubby. He isn't grabbing at our food or putting everything into his mouth - even though we are trying to have him watch us eat. We are trying to show him that there are other kinds of food in the world, to gauge if he might be interested in trying them out.

It seems like he can see that there is something interesting there. Something that dad likes to put into HIS mouth...so maybe it is something to pay closer attention to.

He is still flipping from back to front (without diaper) but no other movement advances (such as crawling). So I am still happy. I mean, I will be happy when he crawls too, but not at 4 months old. Come on!

Today we plan on visiting a kitchen store to see how much it might cost to have a custom designed kitchen put into the house. I am a little worried about what an IKEA kitchen might turn out to be, but it may be what we have to go with if it is thousands cheaper to do it that way. Sometimes they have display kitchens that will go on sale, and might cost about what an IKEA kitchen would cost - so we shall see.

Vin woke up giggling and playing with his hands, then with my face and then with Andi's face. Those chubby little hands are just the greatest. V and I play with each other's hands for long periods of time every day. We can't get enough of each other.

Oh, and the laughing is just getting better. He will randomly start laughing at odd and unpredictable moments during the day. Usually when getting dressed or undressed. But the predictable way to get him to laugh, is to swing him up in the air. He looooves those G forces!

Friday Alriday

Today we took the morning off. I went out for an early morning walk while the boy slept and Andi cleaned up. It was a balmy 2 degrees today, so the walk was great and fast and very nice. As soon as I got back, the boy was awake and wanted to play. So it was off to the bunny and the bear (Vinny's favorite play mat) for about an hour - until he was ready again for bed.



He usually sleeps for about another hour or two before he REALLY gets up for the day. So, at around 11am, he finished his nap and we packed up to go to the UN to meet Andi and Yolanda for lunch.

After lunch yesterday we visited Hazel again for some more laughs. We captured them below. She is the best!



Here is giggly Vin as Andi and I enjoyed coffee and cake after lunch yesterday. He is a big hit with all the people at the UN.



It was another good one, African Bulgur with vegetables, and after lunch we took the Ubahn home and went down for another 2 hour nap. As soon as he was up, Andi was home - so it was a very light day for me today. And yet, I am still very tired. Hmmmm :)

Enough already with the thinking

It is 9:30 and V is down for his morning nap. You never know if these will be 40 minutes long, or 3 hours long. This kind of puts you in a weird 'no man's land' of not knowing what to do. Do you start a project just to have to abandon it and potentially leave a big mess that can't be cleaned up until the next nap time? Do you do some chores? Dishes are fine, but can you run the vacuum? Should you do what all the baby books say to do and take a nap at the same time as the boy? But you just downed 20 ounces of coffee in order to be able to entertain the boy from 7-8:30am. It won't be a very relaxing nap with that much caffeine running through your veins.

So I just finished the morning dishes and started baking a new loaf of bread and then made the mistake of looking through my February American Women's Association newsletter. It is really a good source of information on what is going on in Vienna - what classes are being held at the AWA HQ - what art exhibits are happening, etc. But for someone like me, it is also a great source of intimidation and self doubt.

The association is filled with either wealthy wives of diplomats and high powered businessmen, or highly educated, successful, relaxed and confident women. The former are easy to ignore, but it is the latter who unintentionally fill me with anxiety.

This morning I read up on another new member who is a lawyer, specializing in legal aid and who is very sweet and confident (I have met her) and of course adorable.

It is very hard for me to befriend these woman who would probably turn out to be great friends. It is my own insecurity that prevents a connection. They bip and bop through their days and I obsess about what I haven't done, or the stupid things I have done and said.

If they talk about having to wait for the repairman to fix a leaky sink in their home, I keep thinking about how I am a 33 year old living in an rented apartment. They talk about dealing with some Austrian bureaucrat and I stress about how bad my German is, even after having lived here for 5 years. They talk about activities with their friends and I feel my guts wretch over how few friendships I have developed here and how rarely I make contact even with these friends.

You can see how this kind of thinking can prevent the very thing you want - which is to simply relax and connect and feel some level of self worth.

I feel that what is in order here is a modern day full frontal lobotomy. Not with the hanger up the nose - or is that how the Egyptians mummified people? - but just a nice little outpatient procedure to remove the anxiety junk and leave the mind all calm and jellylike. Of course there is always the good with the bad, but i will gladly take forgetting my car keys and a little extra drool in order to be able to just shrug my shoulders, think that I am good enough and get on with a life.

The day after the first roll

The last couple of mornings I have been able to escape out our door at around 5:45am to go for my morning walk.

Previously, I thought that i would be able to regularly throw V into the stroller and go for long walks during the day. But the days are soooo cold and there is this whole level of guilt associated with taking him out of his cozy, warm, fuzzy home - throwing him into a snow suit (which he hates) and stuffing him into the stroller, and then heading out into the freezing, windy city. Then, after and hour or more, he will inevitably be hungry and I will need to feed him, which means trying to find a place out of the wind to feed him. So i have been putting off my daily walks for far too long, and these extra 30 lbs are just staying on me, so Andi and i have a deal. After V wakes up for his 5am change and feed, I stay in bed and feed him and then as soon as he falls back asleep, I suit up and head out for my one hour walk. I am not walking as fast as I used to, but at least I am getting out there. It feels pretty good to get out in the mornings again.

We headed out to our second day of 'fit after birth' gym class. This one was much more difficult, a lot of ab work! And V was the perfect gentleman for the babysitters.

We are now at home. V is practicing his rolling and I am waiting until he gets tired so we can both take a nice long nap before our afternoon physiotherapy class.

And here is Andi, after learning a valuable lesson: Don't lift and shake a full baby. He not only got puked on...but puked in as well. Yup. A direct baby mouth to daddy mouth transaction.

New 'rolling' nap schedule

Here i sit. Waiting for the Vin to wake up. He has been asleep for over three hours now. Just last week, he was awake after a 40 min nap, but yesterday and today he crashed for naps of 3 hours.


One reason for his sleepiness today might be the fact that our three month and 25 day old boy turned over for the first time today. He had been trying for weeks to turn over, but just in the last couple of weeks he had given up. Andi thought that maybe his diaper was impeding him. As it turns out, he might have been right.


Poor little Vin woke up to a harsh diaper rash so I decided to strip him down and let his skin air out a bit. While he was on his back, he kept sticking his fist in his mouth, scrunched up his knees to his belly, and then lurched over to one side or the other. Without the diaper there, he was able to actually flop over to one side and then gently stretch out his legs and ease onto his belly. And there you have it, a full on turn.

After feeling like an amazing champion of life, he then thought he could stretch out long enough to reach a pile of poopy diaper wipes I had set aside. Not so fast little dude...not so fast.


I, of course, captured the beginning of the roll and then the after of the roll but I had no idea it was going to happen, therefore I failed to actually capture the real roll.

We spent the rest of the day either trying to recuperate from further attempts or trying to capture it on film.

Valentine's Day or One Year of Knowing

Today is the one year anniversary of my telling Andi that a little one was on the way. I, of course, knew on the 11th, but waited until the 14th to tell Andi. Just thought it would be a little more fun that way.

Vin and I spent the morning at the gym. He had his first day care experience (just one hour at the gym) and I was in a 'fit after birth' class. He did really well and even napped while 6 other babies cried and fussed around him. My class was a bit basic, and I hope things will pick up in the coming weeks.

After the gym, we came home and played a little.



Andi spent the morning home from work, waiting for the meter reader. What fun. But Vin and I presented him with a little love note upon his return.

Good night! :)

Just last week

On Feb 7th, Vin and I made it for our physiotherapy appointment, where he giggled and cooed and flirted with the therapist while she was trying to massage the kinks out of my back. But as soon as I would lay him down, he was all whines and tears. So I had to lie on my side, hold Vin up next to me on the table and try to relax. This was difficult.

The therapy exercises and massages are amazing and feel great. A lot of the work concentrates on getting the pelvis and back into alignment after having a 9 lb baby throw you out of whack for 9 months. Ok, he wasn't 9 lbs the entire 9 months, but he did make a good amount of room for himself while he was cooking.

After therapy, we made it back home for me to make some phone calls and continue in the fight with our health insurance and the hospital. Next time: home birth for sure! At least there will be no hospital bills associated with a home birth.

On Feb 8, Vin and I made it again to the American Women's Association, but this time for the advanced beginners German class. We didn't learn much there either, as these women were also very interested in the Vinster and wanted to smoosh him more than they wanted to learn German. There are many good things about the AWA, and the best for me is that babies are welcome to any and all of their events and classes. That is great!


On Feb 9, Vin and I packed up and headed out into the sunshine and found ourselves at the Zoo. I had never been to the Viennese zoo, located on the grounds of Schonbrunn palace, but with a baby, I thought I had better get acquainted with the place. We even bought a year pass so that he can visit the animals as he grows into a curious one year old. He fell asleep as soon as we entered the zoo, and woke up hungry about 40 minutes later. I ducked into a little room by the miniature kangaroos and fed him twice, but as it was quite chilly albeit sunny, and he was getting pretty grumpy pants, we headed out.

On Feb 10, we made it again to yoga at the UN and had a great lunch of barley risotto with vegetables, my favorite. Then Vinny and I went to get my blood taken to see if my rubella booster shot had taken. Apparently, I had enough antibodies to cover me for this pregnancy, but not enough for the next, so I had to get a booster shot just 3 days after Vinny was born. This blood test was to ensure that I did indeed get the antibodies from the booster shot. The results are in, and all is good.

Then after the blood test we quickly ran to another Vienna Babies Club member's moving sale and picked up a brand new baby day pack for just 12 euros. A pretty good price for a handy item. We have a sling, a sleepy wrap, a baby bjorn and a hard core kid backpack. All are good for different uses and times of the year. This backpack is lightweight and can mount on the back, for an older child. The woman had gotten it as a gift and had never used it.

On Feb 11 (the one year anniversary of me finding out about Vinny) we again met up at the needlepoint class at the AWA and then headed to the UN for lunch with Andi and Yolanda. With a little after lunch time with Hazel.

Over the weekend, we hid inside most of the day. I cooked 2 lasagnas. One for Saturday and one to take to Yolanda and Edgar's place on Sunday.

Andi cleaned and did laundry like a fiend. I played with Vinny and cooked like a fiend. Vinny spit up and giggled like a fiend.

We enjoyed a short 3 hour lunch with Yo, Ed and Nay and were back home in time for me to make a huge batch of oatmeal raisin cookies and to get into bed by 7pm...my new bedtime!

More about February

On Groundhog's Day, we must have seen our shadows and then retreated back into the cave. I have no recollection of the day, just that it was cold out there. And oh so warm in our bed with the duvet up to our chins.

On Feb 3, Vin and I made it to Yoga at the UN but instead of heading straight home afterwards, we decided to walk the 30 minutes to go visit our land. Not much has been done to the land since we last checked, but it was nice to see it and to envision what it will one day become.

Here it is. All lonely and covered with snow. Bear in mind, this lot will have 5 houses on it. All this goodness isn't all just for us :)


During this whole week we were planning the new house, moving walls around and trying to see how our furniture will fit into the new place.




We think we finally got a good plan and will initiate building as soon as possible.



On Friday, Feb 4th Vin and I visited the American Women's Association's needlepoint class. I had a hankering to make a crochet egg cozy that I saw in an Oprah magazine, but I need some help here and there. I have forgotten everything I have learned about how to crochet. The women there were very nice, but we didn't get around to too much crochet, everyone is quite taken with the Vinster and no one wants to look away to do needlework :)

After the crochet class, Vin and I made it to the UN again for lunch with Andi and with Yolanda (plus Nayeli) and Ying.

Yummmm...
Vinny is ready to eat his own meal.


It was great to see everyone again. Nayeli is still a tiny little girl, but is growing and putting on weight nicely. She and Vin had some rather graphic (not really) photos taken. Andi and Yolanda encouraged a nice makeout session and ooh doggie did they cooperate!



After yoga, I sometimes get to meet up with the lovely Hazel and she gets Vin to smiling and laughing like no one else!