Changes

Lots of changes over the past week. Tied for #1 we have our big move across town and Oma heading back home to Leimen after almost five(!) months. The move happened Monday, and at this point we have some boxes still around but pretty much everything is in place and feeling like home except for pictures on the wall and decent lights in the ceiling. Nicole's post from a month or so ago covered the location, about two miles North of our old place and on the other side of the Isar, the city's main river. I've already enjoyed the fact that it cuts about 10 minutes off of my drive to work, though taking the train is a bit more difficult from here. No garage parking, but that hasn't been a major pain yet. Reminiscent of our place on Irving really... if you're there around rush hour there's enough turnover to find a space, otherwise you look for 5 minutes or so.

The apartment itself is pretty good so far. It's old construction - altbau - but nicely refurbished as of a couple of years ago. But they kept some old touches like cool crown molding, different in each room, and etched glass panes in the bedroom doors. 

It definitely has some downsides - radiator heat, a drafty front door. A big downside for the moment is the fact that there's no dishwasher. But we'll be getting one installed as soon as our favorite installer guy has an opening in his schedule. One interesting point is that we now officially own a kitchen. You might remember from a post about moving here that pre-built/installed kitchens are not common in German apartments, so we bought the kitchen - cabinets, counters, tiling, fridge - from the previous tenant. Lily has a huge bedroom, and our bedroom is much bigger too, or at least more useful space after our previous strangely shaped room. And I no longer have to take phone meetings from the bathroom, I have a proper office. One last thing for PDX'ers, our storage space really looks like something you'd see on the Shanghai Tunnel tour...

The second big change is Oma heading home after helping us in every way possible for the past five months. She really did everything, from taking Lily to school (even doing parent duty at school when Lily was out sick), tons of shopping, cooking great meals, and taking Lily to mass. But the biggest thing she did was to help with Elise and Paul, doing the dirty work like changing diapers and mopping up spit up but also the seemingly never-ending baby holding. Most of the pictures of Oma from the past months are holding a baby, and it's not because she just happened to pick one up and pose. She's definitely going home with some strong arms as well as our eternal gratitude for truly taking one for the team. Can you imagine leaving your home, all of your friends, your routine, your normal life for five months? What a sacrifice.

Beyond the big changes, a few smaller ones that are keeping things interesting. Paul and Elise are no longer swaddled at night, and we're doing a better job of putting them down drowsy, not asleep for night time, and doing cry it out for night time as well. Nap time is next. Hopefully this leads to less baby holding, which is critical as we wean ourselves from Oma and transition to outside help (more on that in another post).

Lily's hearing issue, which I mentioned in the last post, has been diagnosed as mucus in the middle ear after a visit to a very nice ear doctor. This is related to the sickness all the kids had, and should resolve itself in the course of the next month or two. If it's not better in a couple of months the doctor recommended a minor operation to drain it so that she doesn't end up with pronunciation issues. Hard to tell if it's getting better or not, but it's definitely not back to normal yet.


Ok, that's enough change for now.  Here are a few pictures from the past week or so.  

Lily at the Easter egg hunt at one of her playgroups and earlier today across the street from our place, you can see the Friedensengel (Angel of Peace) in the background.

Paul and Elise in cute outfits from Aunt Sonya.  And they've discovered their hands.