Today I stayed at home with the boys and it was a lot of fun. Boy, they sure do grow up fast. Both Michael and I think they hit a growth spurt because all of a sudden they look so much bigger. It’s almost like it happens overnight. They are walking a whole lot more too, I think now 75%! Still wobbly, but mostly walking. They are still smiling like crazy when they’re walking around. Poor Rowan always wails whenever something bad happens to him. He is kind of clumsy, always forgetting how big he is. He constantly bangs his head on the table from crawling under it and then trying to stand up. Or now when he tries to sit underneath a chair, his head gets caught. They are also getting strong enough to open the piano cover, so today he got his fingers pinched in it. It’s not dangerous or anything, just not expected. We spent the day playing around, playing the piano, reading, going out on the deck for a little while but it was too wet so I had to bring them back in, watching the reading video, getting tested on where our noses are (and failing), eating, drinking, all kinds of stuff. They are getting better at drinking from the sippy cups, I’ll have to try putting milk in it again. They are also learning how to blow the whistle thing that our friend Shari gave us in Hawaii. For a long time, they wondered why it didn’t make noises when they sucked on it, so now they know to blow. Elijah was really cute that when Rowan was playing with it, he was practicing blowing.

At 3pm, I went over to the school 2 blocks away because they had a flea market there. I wanted to pick up some clothes for the boys. But I only stayed for about 2 minutes because I couldn’t navigate the place with the stroller. It was jam packed with people and it didn’t seem all that great. I’m sure I could’ve found something, but I couldn’t move at times. Oh well, next time. That was the big adventure for the day.

Michael is really sick now, he got a little better yesterday but he sounds horrible. We were supposed to go to a friend’s birthday dinner, but we had to cancel. This happened the last time too, we went out with his work friends and had to leave early because he was feeling ill. Maybe he’s allergic to work parties. Who knows?

Today’s daily video is of the boys milling around the house.

As their steps get more confident, the boys often meander around in their jammies.

Today I didn’t have class so Michael closed the bedroom door whenever he left so that I can sleep in. I did wake up whenever Meir came, but fell right back asleep. Gosh, haven’t done this in awhile! Well, on a weekday I mean.

I organized my desk and got some financial stuff in order. I still need to send my tax guy the paperwork. I hope he doesn’t get mad at me for sending it so late. I’ll fedex it over tomorrow. I have a nice clean desk now! Yipee!

For lunch I went to the Japanese store to pick up more of the ramen noodles that I love. It is so good but super expensive. I think for a 5 pack, it costs 7 euros! Geez, I’m so used to buying the 10 cent kind. It’s totally worth it though, it has a really nice flavor and it is much better quality than Top Ramen. Call me crazy.

In the afternoon, I interviewed a couple of babysitters. One seemed like she would be overwhelmed with 3 kids, the other seemed like she could handle it. She was an au pair for a family with 9 kids! Anyways, I hope she agrees to our terms (it’s very complicated), so I can put the search to rest.

We went upstairs so that she could meet Riki and Frederik and we ended up staying for a cup of tea. The boys initially cried but after about 5 minutes, they were fast-crawling all over the place. They always have fun exploring a place once they get over the initial shock.

In the evening I made chili, and it was nice and spicy. The last time I made it, I forgot (!) to put in the onions and garlic so it was totally horrible. I totally redeemed myself!

The boys have fun playing the piano.

I didn’t know it but today was the last day of my German class! I was sad that I didn’t bring my camera, but I will see mostly everyone in the next class, which will start next week. I was also under the impression that I would have a week off in between, but noooooo. We played lots of games, which were fun! One was a taboo game - where the person has a word and you have to guess what it is. Our team won that one. Then we had a game where a “bomb” was passed around and there was a theme, and you had to say words for that theme until the bomb goes off. Whoever is stuck with it gets a minus point. I also won that game (there were 4 winners)! Then the last game, we had to create words by saying one letter at a time, it is very complicated to explain, but I came in second. I was so close to winning!

After class, I visited Michael for a little while, since he came into work late. He still is feeling under the weather, but not so bad today. After that, I came home and the boys were pretty grouchy since they didn’t nap hardly at all. They were so tired that they put themselves down for a nap. While I was making my lunch, they both climbed onto their futons and fell asleep. Poor things, they must’ve been so tired!

In the afternoon, I tried to get all my babysitting things under control. So, today was Melanie’s last day, she is going on a vacation, then working at a camp and won’t be available in April. Then, my other babysitter, Meir, won’t be available for 3 weeks in April. So, I have to hire 2 new ones, but one of them will only be for April. So, I put an ad into toytownmunich and got lots of replies. So now I have to interview. I have all next week, so I’m not too worried at this point.

Sorry I haven’t been too good about blogging this past few weeks, I’ll try and get caught up over the next couple of days.

Today’s is of the boys having fun playing the piano.

Today was an exhausting day. Didn’t help that I stayed up late. When the alarm went off in the morning, for some reason, I thought Michael was in the other room on the computer. But he wasn’t, he left early to go climbing. I fell back asleep and didn’t get up until Meir came at 8. I quickly got ready and headed off for class. The babies have also been sleeping a lot too. I think it’s a combination of the time change and they hit a growth spurt.

I could barely keep my eyes open in class, but somehow I made it through. We had a funny game where you had to write down a description of someone in the class, then the teacher collected them and then read them out loud and we had to guess who it was. I think 3 people wrote about me. One of them was the Japanese guy, Kazune, and he said “hobby ist cola trinken”. Everyone laughed because they immediately knew it was me and there was a coke bottle right in front of me. Pretty funny!

I went to lunch with Michael and we had Japanese. I’m getting him hooked on the torikaraage. Oh, it is so good. I am feeling more comfortable speaking German and I actually ordered with no pauses or stutters. It’s probably because we know what we want and there were no questions. I realized today that I actually sometimes have trouble coming up with ENGLISH words! But it’s not like I’m thinking in German. It’s pretty weird. I hope it’s a good sign though.

Michael wasn’t feeling so good today. He came home and almost immediately went to bed. I was already exhausted from cleaning the kitchen that I didn’t want to cook dinner. But I ended up doing it anyway since I was getting hungry. Michael bought pizzas but I think I’m officially sick of them. I made Japanese ramen noodles and they were damn good. They are not the “Top Ramen” type, they were the kind imported from Japan that had this cool oil flavor packet in addition to the other powder packet. I’m hooked! After a 3 or 4 hour nap, Michael felt a lot better. I made a pizza for him but he didn’t eat it either. We’ll have to find something new to get hooked on.

I didn’t stay up too late today, fell asleep watching “Hardball”.

Elijah signs that he is hungry. He makes this sign very frequently.

We got the boys new shoes and Rowan was walking around really funny.

Elijah having fun with paint!

Today it was a perfect weather day. Not too hot, not too cold. I think the temps were in the 60’s. It was so nice and sunny! It seems like Spring is finally here. The last time we said that though a big snowstorm came through (the biggest for the year). But I really think Winter’s over.

My basil has been growing very nicely, they are about 8 inches high! I am so excited! I can’t wait to use it soon!

I got great mail today (how boring is this blog?) - one letter from my friend, Helen, who is an amazing person. She used to work at Microsoft, but now takes beautiful photos and sells them full time. Her and her husband are like us in that when they want to do something, they do it. Her husband still works at MS, but makes 20 custom snowboards a year and they pretty much have a factory in their garage. Ahhh, if only I snowboarded… She even spent over a year restoring a Karmann Ghia, but ultimately ended up selling it before she finished. She also paints too! People like them are so inspiring, we have such great friends!

The other mail was from my friend, Katherine, who I knew since my days at Berkeley. Geez, how long ago was that? From 1991!!!! Wow. I’m old. Anyways, she hasn’t written a newsletter since something like 1998, so it was nice and long. I love those things! I felt like her boys grew up in front of me (she has 2 amazing sons that are 1 year apart and now in their 20s). I only remember them from 15 years ago, and even though I have seen them since then, that’s the mental picture I have of them.

I also got a big box of macadamia candy from my Aunty Elaine! Mmmm… Sadly, that box will be devoured in no time at all.

I decided to take the next German class next month. I feel like I’m doing really well in class and I have so much momentum to learn. I really like the Goethe Institut and their teaching methods that I want to continue before I start forgetting. I don’t feel like I know enough to talk to people, so I won’t if I stop now. I want to get to the point where I can make casual conversation, then I can continue it by just talking to people. I am also taking a class in June, when my parents are here, to take advantage of the free babysitting!

I went to lunch with Michael today at Peter and Paul. It’s a place right next to his work place. I am always disappointed there. First of all, their service sucks, second of all, the food isn’t all that great. True to form, I was done with my meal before Michael even got his. I had to leave since I had to be home by 2, and he told me later that he had to wait an additional 30 minutes to get his food and eat it. That is just too much. Never going there again!

Melanie (the babysitter) and I went shopping after I got home. The boys need real shoes now, and they have none. We took them out in the stroller - with no plastic cover and no warm layer and bare feet. They were in short sleeves too! That’s how nice it was. I felt like people were kind of staring at us because they had no shoes. German peoople are so weird about that. We went to C&A and they had some pretty cheap stuff. Not shoes though. I think I paid almost 20 euros a pair. I also bought them more sleep clothes since they don’t have much. I don’t like the 1 piece outfits anymore. I do still like the onesies for day time, but not for night.

Since it was so nice out, I decided to have the boys do some finger painting out on the deck. They love the paint and getting messy, but actually painting was a problem. They didn’t want to put their fingers on the paper. They put it everywhere else though. We had a lot of fun though. Rowan loved splashing the cleanup water everywhere. They went straight into the tub after! They were my little green men.

I stayed up waaaaay too late doing homework (hausaufgabe) and surfing the web. Terrible! I should be sleeping!

I have two daily videos. The first one is of Rowan walking funny with his new shoes. The second one is of Elijah signing to me saying he is hungry.

Having fun with Uncle Daniel

After such a big day yesterday, we didn’t do much today. Just hung around the house. Michael introduced Daniel to peanut butter, which he never had before. I don’t know if he liked it all that much. After that, we watched “The 40 year old Virgin”. That movie is too funny, but kind of embarrassing if you don’t know if the jokes translates very well into German. Michael and I were laughing but Daniel was always saying “mamma mia!” I don’t remember the movie being that vulgar. My cousin Lynn told us that she watched that movie with her PARENTS! OMG! Definitely NOT the movie to watch with parents.

In the afternoon we had brotzeit for lunch (bread with cheese/salami/whatever) and had a nice chat with Daniel. He is an amazing guy! I hope we get to see him play his concerts. One is in June in Bolzano, the other is somewhere in Germany with the famous Milva. People in the states don’t know who she is but here she is HUGE!

In the evening we talked for 2 hours to my cousin Lynn who is at the City of Hope in LA, about to undergo brain surgery to remove the tumors on her brain. Even though she has this huge looming event, she is still polite as always, asking us questions about life here and letting Michael go on and on and on and on and on. I hope she wasn’t too bored with us. Her surgery is tomorrow, so please say a prayer for her!

I stayed up super super late mainly because of the time change last night. It always throws me off. And of course I always wait until the last minute to do my homework… Just like the old days!