Stadtwanderweg 8

We headed out to try another walk in the Vienna woods. Vinny now fits into his little backpack, and doesn't hate it quite as much as he did before.

Us on the trail. Vin's hat seems to be blocking his view.

Eat our dust.

He could stand to grow a bit more to be more comfortable.

Cute.

 In fact, he even fell asleep for some of the walk.

He finally sleeps!

His two little crooked bottom teeth are coming in nicely and he is sleeping a bit better these days. Not great, but better. He is still a very happy boy, still charming the smiles out of just about everyone he comes into contact with. He is sitting on his own now, and can even get himself into a sitting position from his hands and knees position. He has his own form of crawling...not the traditional method. And he can hold and drink from his sippy cup now. Water. He likes water. Oh, and topfen and jogurt. Loves it.

Not all days are easy days

Today was a difficult day for some reason. More difficult for me than for Vinny. We only got out for a short trip to a local park - to swing and to have other 5 year olds fawn over us.

But then we were home. Rolling around on the floor or eating or napping or crying or being comforted or whining or being entertained or bathing or reading books. And all this was before I started my actual job, which I am currently in the middle of and will continue to do well into the night.

Today felt very lonely. Even though I had a cute little boy to spend it with. I remember before I had a baby, I also felt very lonely at times. Everyone said to have a baby, and then I would have an instant circle of friends. That certainly wasn't the reason I had Vinny, but after I found out I was pregnant I did think that it might be a lovely by product. But we are 7 months into this and it appears that I still am at a loss for someone to call to go for a walk, or to meet for a quick coffee.

So it was a bit of a lonely day.

That's normal. To feel lonely sometimes. Right?

Another Thursday

Heading to the baby club meeting.

A flock of babies? A gaggle of babies? A flaggle of babies?

Vin and two ladies.

We are Slovs!

Coffee and cake for us, and an apple for Vin.

Yogi master

Hey!

Vin had a great night last night. Asleep by 8pm, and no waking until 4am...and even then it was just for a feed and then back to bed. It was heavenly.

So we were off this morning for a dentist appointment. Then to a coffee shop for some play and magazine reading (and a nap for Vin).

 

Then we walked through the park on our way home.

Roses are for boys.

And then we had mama-baby yoga class.

Cobra pose.

Yoga balls!

Zoo me baby one more time

Vin with some big cats in the background.

We made it to the zoo again this Monday. Vinny was interested at times, and not so into it at other times. He seemed to truly enjoy the penguins, but other animals such as the big cats and monkeys didn't catch his eye.

Vin with a big bird.

We had breakfast on a bench and headed home around noontime so that Vin could have his long nap in the comfort of his own bed and I could do some work. His bottom two teeth have broken the surface and don't seem to be giving him as much trouble lately. His 'crawl' or shall I say 'propulsion' has evolved and he can now move forward, backwards and sideways as he pleases. He can even sit up for over 30 seconds...but is still somewhat uncontrolled and floppy. 

I think he likes our daily outings, but I won't really know until he can talk and tell me that no, in fact he would rather go swimming than go to the zoo...or he would rather hike than have a picnic. Until then, he must bend to my every whim.
 

The playful penguins.

Ah, our old friend Mr. Donkey.

The 'tree of life' day

This weekend was Nayeli's big 'tree of life' day and we were invited to a wonderful little ceremony where a hole was dug, her placenta was painted, a print was made, a little bed of grass and flowers was built for it and then it was placed into the ground along with a brand new little tree, which will be forever known as Nayeli's tree. We all took a whiff of some good luck incense, we sang a little Indian ditty about Mother Earth carrying us back to the sea, then we all took a handful of dirt and placed it into the hole to help the tree grow. It was a super fun, hippy, nature girl event. A really lovely idea.

And here is the girl of the hour! Ms. Nayeli.

Vin had a new best buddy for the evening.

Lara held him, fed him, changed him...they were inseparable.

"I like happy tree days!...Oh, tree of life day? Either way, it is great!"

Hanging out together. Just Vin and Lara.

The placenta, getting a nice coating of red paint.

The print of the placenta. See, it really does look like a tree!

Vin is adding his contribution of grass for the bed.

The completed bed.

And in it goes, along with the flowers.

Settling the tree into its new home.

Little Vin rolling around in the grass after the ceremony.

It was a fun day, wasn't it Vin?

A very full day

About to head out...Vin in his Luau outfit

We did our best to take advantage of the sun today. Vin and I woke up and saw how warm and lovely it was and we had a little chat about what we wanted to do. Vinny wanted to go back to Baden to go swimming, but it is over an hour drive away so instead we tried out a new pool here in Vienna. So we packed up, and headed on out to catch the street car to the 2nd district. All the way there, Vin flirted with the people on the trams.

Then we jumped into the pool for a quick little swim to cool off. But it was very near naptime, so we hopped on out to take a snooze.

About to jump into the pool.

Just after the first swim. Vin got sleepy.

Then after a second swim, we headed out to a nearby picnic spot to have lunch. Then we slid onto the big hammock swing in the playground and swung and swung and swung, watching the clouds pass by and giving Vin giggles once the swing really got going - he loves the G forces.

Then we took that tram back home again, and again flirted...

...and popped into a kids store and fell in love with some baby sunglasses. We HAD to buy them. He is just too cool.

Glasses and tongues.

He just needs a Harley.

Once Andi came home, we headed out again for a little walk and a snack. Good times!

My Italian Mafioso.

Playing by the fountain at the Parliament.

Picnicking

This week's baby club meeting took place in a big park in the 18th district. A TON of moms and babies came and rolled around on the blankets, slobbering and snacking.

The babies did more slobbering and the moms did more snacking.

Just some of the crew.

One cute picnicker.

Vinny and his girlfriend, Robin.

Vin and his buddy Elias.

Elias and Vin are total pals.

Vin and Haze enjoying a coffee date.

By Kaiserwasser - a little more time in the sun before we called it a day.

Bouncy Bear

Vin is now old enough to enjoy some little bounces in his little bouncy/swing/thingy.

Moving along

Lil' Vin is working his way toward a crawl, but where has his beautiful voice gone? Plus, his first two front, bottom baby teeth have finally poked through this week! Phew, we have been waiting for this for quite some time.

Baby Club + Hiking = Baby Hiking Club

Vin and I out on the trail.

Our baby club has exceeded 25 members, making it very difficult to invite all to your home for the weekly coffee meetings, or to organize a weekly meeting at a venue that can handle such a large group of women, babies and strollers - so we have decided to start to organize little side events on other days of the week. I thought I would take after my husband and try my hand at being the Reiseleiter (tour guide) for a little hike up to Hermannskogel for our baby club.

There were not a huge number of takers for this trip, but we ended up being a nice little group of four moms and four babies.

It was a nice sunny day, but cool. There were threats of clouds and rains later in the afternoon, but we stayed dry the entire time but not too hot. It really was an ideal day for hiking.

We were all at relatively the same skill level - we did have to do some waiting here and there and the babies needed little breaks from time to time as well. Vin and I, on our own, did this hike in 2.5 hours, including 2 feeding stops. It took our group over 4 hours, and we even cut the trail short for fear of an impending storm. So I suppose we sacrificed some time for the sake of socialization.

I had a good time and I certainly hope the others did too. Maybe we will try this again sometime soon!

Arianna and mom, Viktor and mom and Vinny and mom.

From left - Spanish, British and Irish

All of us at the highest peak in Vienna :)

 

On the trail back home.

Heading down toward civilization.

After the hike, Vin and I came home for a little nap and to wait for Andi to come home and take over Momming duties. As soon as he came back, I headed to the office and Andi and Vin proceed with their evening together.

Mr. Mom, preparing dinner for Vin as Mama is at 'the office'.

 

My new office.

The office of a hard working woman.