On the Move, Not Quite In the Groove

The past couple of weeks have been full of ups and downs.  The weather has been hit or miss, with an annoying amount of rain and unseasonable cold, so we've been cooped up a bit more than normal.  And a nasty bug made its way through the house last week wiping out all of the non-babies for a couple of days and keeping Lily from her Kindergarten's trip to a "wildpark", basically like a zoo with some open areas where deer and a few other random wild animals wander around.  We'd been talking it up to her all week, so we were all pretty bummed when she didn't get to go.  At least we've all been enjoying the Olympics, even if Lily preferred to watch women's weight lifting instead of beach volleyball today.

Today was actually kind of comical, as Lily and I went to mass but about 30 seconds before we arrived we were hit by a downpour and by the time we got to the door I was completely soaked, with water dripping down my back.  Lily fared better with her ladybug umbrella, up just in time.  I guess God wasn't pleased that we were a couple of minutes late.

On the good side, Oma and Opa spent a few days with us this week, and everyone had a great time.  I was actually away on a business trip for most of the time, so I can only report secondhand that everyone had fun, but I can verify firsthand that we had some great BBQ ribs the last night they were in town.  

The one with the big accomplishment is Elise.  She's crawling!  She'd been on the edge for a few weeks, but Monday she finally put all the pieces together and started going.  She's still a bit tentative but she's been venturing a bit more each day.  The one thing that really gets her going?  Gigi.  For whatever reason, whenever Elise sees her she makes a beeline.  Gigi's not quite so excited and actually gave her a bit of a swat today.  I guess it's payback for all the times Elise has pulled Gigi's fur while "petting" over the past few months.  

Snapshot - Kid's Milestones - 7 months and 3 years

We were hanging out at home on the floor yesterday snapping some pics.  Looking at the first pic below made me realize that I should really jot down some notes on what the kids are up to these days because they've been busy and it's been cool, really cool.

Paul - Just last week you preferred to be hanging out on your back.  Now, you are sitting up alone and that's all you want to do.  Still no teeth, just enough daily drool to fill a kiddie pool.  Your first toy preference?  The  stuffed Tiger you're holding in this picture below.  You enjoy making dinosaur sounds and rocking a little when I sing.   You seem to like pulling your sister's hair now, not so cool.  You like to sleep on your stomach and suck your thumb for comfort as you doze off.  First thing that always takes my breath away looking at you are your eyes, your big blue eyes.  Something about them draws me in every time I look at them and my heart melts a little bit.

Elise - you are so wonderfully smiley.  I didn't know babies could smile so much until you arrived.  You don't want to sit up yet and prefer rather to scoot, roll, and rock.  You are impressively fast and can move far without being able to officially crawl yet but any moment you will be crawling. You have 2 teeth and cute curls by each of your ears.  Whether it's your eyes, head, or body, you are always on the move.  You love the door bouncer, spinning around giggling the whole time.  You don't like sitting but you like to do planks.  Go figure.

You two are on to a new eating routine, solids twice a day now to go with two long naps and four times on the boob, sleeping most of the way through the night with a bit of crying around 5 then drifting back off into la-la land for another couple of hours.  Dinner time is still a work in progress with the two of you being tired and not wanting to let the rest of us eat and chat as we want. 

Lily - It's been a big week for you.  You now sleep in a big girl bed and you're back to peeing and pooping in the potty.  It seems like this time might be it.  You wanting to carry the potty with you on the train to the park to show it off to strangers is my sign that the time has come.  You are hopping on one foot and trying out some new dance moves.  You are getting to know more letters and numbers by sight, more in English than German, but your German is growing really fast.  You are afraid of dogs these days and not so nice to our cats but you are overall very sweet to Paul and Elise and more and more helpful in between some oh so impressive voice-hoarsing meltdowns.

Munich Fun

Settling back into the Munich groove hasn't exactly been smooth but we're getting there.  Finally enjoying the  Swimming Pool across the street from us, can't say enough how well Germany does it with building swim complexes.  We also used our bike trailer for the first time now that the twins are old enough to sit in it to enjoy a picnic in the English Garden.

It's the season of street fests and beer gardens so it's easy to find some kind of fest happening every weekend nearby.  It's just not easy for us to get out of the house to get there but we sure try.

Nate and I made it out for a belated Father's Day celebration last night for some BBQ (Nate was craving spareribs) and then we ventured downtown to listen to some of the open air classical music being played at Odeonsplatz.  They block off the main square for ticket holders but can't block off the music.  We just found our own place to sit nearby.

Off to a good start enjoying the summer in Munich.

I'll leave you with a silly picture of Lily...our lil' Babushka.