Bitburger and Brownie

I just finished enjoying a Bitburger and a Brownie, looking at packed bags by the door (I have way too many carry ons - o well), and one single post it note of things to do in the morning (must not forget to take car seat with me) before the adventure officially begins. It feels like my mind is fighting the urge to become too sentimental about tonight possibly being the last night I spend in our home of 6 years - our first official home together, the home I was proposed to in, and the home Lily took her first steps in. I'm so focused on preparing for Germany and staying positive about our house selling that actually moving seems way too far off.

I look forward to enjoying another Bitburger in Munich next week with Nate in our new apartment toasting to the friends we already miss back home and to the chance to immerse ourselves in a whole new city for a little while.

Here are a few videos from the last couple days. The first couple of videos were special because Mali and Lily took turns on the train sharing really well and I can't help but think "look ma, no hands" seeing Lily on the train. The last one was a sweet little goodbye between Sam and Lily this afternoon. Thanks for the Brownies Megan!

In Need of a Little Laugh

Nate left this morning for Munich. Lily and I will see him again in 10 days. I can be excited and sad at the same time, right? I get to see my family in Chicago for a few days and Nate gets to do his thing in Munich on his own a little bit. We'll be in Munich together before I know it and until then, thank God for Skype.

Anyway, I am in the need for some laughs, so here are a few recent videos of Lily that made me smile

The first video is of Lily and her buddy Sam at the AT&T store in Pioneer Square. Lily broke my phone (again) so I had to rush out and get a new one. I thought Lily and Sam would be bored and restless but we were very wrong. AT&T surprised us with a great little child friendly section.



This video is of Lily and her favorite dog friend Augie (lives next door to us). She loves all dogs but has a special spot for him. She will easily walk to their front door when only the screen door is open and knock on the glass looking for him.



This last video really displays Lily's babbling these days (16 months old now). Nate is having a conversation with Lily who is playing with mommy's credit cards by the shelf of books.

When It Rains, It Pours

This past week started off busy dealing with all the logistics of spending the rest of the year in Munich in less than 2 weeks time (Nate leaves in a week!)...securing Munich apartment, finding a house sitter, and all the odds and ends that go into leaving a home for so long and setting up shop somewhere else. No question it's incredibly exciting and I have had moments of absolute giddiness thinking about this awesome opportunity we're about to embark on. I have done google street view repeatedly of our Munich home and what's around us and how long it'll take to walk to not only the nearest park and indoor swimming pool but also which route to take when walking to the Viktualienmarkt (impressive food market).

I guess moving to Munich isn't enough excitement for us....a house we've been negotiating with for the last month decided to accept our "long shot" offer; it's contingent on us selling our current place. That means our home will be on the market starting Tuesday and we might be closing on both deals while we're in Germany. Our home has been reviewed by a really cool home stager that gives his first hour of service for free (you can guess how long he was here) and our place is now "mom would even be impressed" level of clean, bare, spacious looking and sadly depersonalized now.

One of the things I'll miss most about this place is being able to open the back door and watch Lily walk out of our patio and into the courtyard to play with her friend Mali who lives across the courtyard from us; I will miss that perk of communal living. Here's a picture of the two of them doing their thing and a funny little video of Lily and her neighbor friend Mali playing with a music table. I'd like to believe Lily was already showing signs of a jokester side but she was oblivious to Mali's needs.

A Few Months Abroad in a Few Weeks

Big news... we're heading to Munich for most of the rest of the year! It's been brewing for a few weeks, but now it's official, with flights booked and all. To make a long story short, I will be covering for a colleague in the Munich sales office for about two months, doing business development stuff with customers and distributors. Should be an interesting glimpse into a new part of the business for me. And of course it will be a great experience for the three of us, living in a great new city for a couple of months. We still need to get our housing squared away and there are lots of little details to work out, but it's pretty exciting to know that in a few weeks we'll be in a whole new place.

As some of you know, we already had a Christmas trip planned to Germany, and that actually complicated things a bit. You can't be in the country for over 90 days without a visa (a big hassle), and if you're working there are tax consequences if you're there over 90 days. Combine that with the fact that I'm needed there within two weeks and we want to minimize the trans-Atlantic flights with Lily, and we are ending up with complicated travel. I'm heading over two weeks from today, then Nicole and Lily are following about 10 days later. Then I'm coming back for about two weeks after Thanksgiving before turning around and going back for vacation in mid-December while Nicole and Lily are staying in Germany until the end of December, maxing out their non-visa stay at 90 days exactly. Whew. It was not an easy decision to do things this way, with over three weeks apart from each other, but hopefully it will be worth it versus the alternative of more long flights and more crazy jet lag adjustment for Lil'. Plus she'll get to spend even more time getting to know her Oma and Opa on their home turf.

Whew. A lot going on...

On the Lily front, the last couple of weeks have seen a couple of interesting developments. First, she's been babbling a lot more, and the complexity of her babble has increased. Where before she would repeat one or two syllables over and over, now there are a lot of syllables mixed together and it sounds like she's speaking her own little language. It's pretty cute to hear. Second, she's become very attached to her mama. A lot of the time she only wants mama to read to her or change her diaper (ok, that's actually a bonus for me) or comfort her. It becomes a real pain when Mama wants to cook something and Lily wants Mama's attention and gets mad when Mama asks her to go to Daddy or play with something else, then she gets upset and Daddy tries to comfort her but only Mama can comfort her, and Daddy's trying only makes her that much more upset. Sigh... it's a phase that will pass, right? While you contemplate that deep question, here's a nice pic from last weekend out at Kruger Farm on Sauvie Island just North of Portland.

Lilyisms

I've been working on Lily's baby book, a book covered in random scraps of paper and post it notes with quick scribbles marking a mini Lily first since she's turned 1....smiling on command, nodding yes, holding my hand to cross the street, blowing kisses, counting 1-2-3, shaking her booty to music, rubbing her hair with her hands when I'm about to get in the shower knowing I'll be putting shampoo in my hair and then getting the lotion off the counter (with a slight grunt and on her tippy toes to reach) once I turn the water off knowing I'm about to grab it are some that come to mind. I love knowing when she says "bop" it means help and when I come into her room to get her up after a nap, she likes to first lay on her stomach and tap her foot against the mattress because she knows I'll tap my palm on the mattress to imitate her....so grateful for all of this.

House shopping has slowed down but the two houses we put offers in for that came back too high for us are actually still interested (no other offers have come in) so the game continues....time actually might be on our side.

Nate did the Portland Triathlon today and looked strong and fast out there. I rave about Blue Lake but one thing Portland Triathlon easily trumps Blue Lake on is the give-aways...long sleeve dri-fit shirt (cool looking too), gloves, bike socks and a metal water bottle are the main items and then free gelato and free beer after the race are nice perks to compliment the free meal...well done.

Here are a couple pics from our weekend around town and one video of a Lilyism - imitating one of my facial expressions.

The Weekend in Pictures

It's been a good weekend. We're waiting to hear on another house offer on another house, but we're not letting it stop us from getting out and about. Here are some pics and movies from the weekend, starting Thursday. What, Thursday's not the weekend? Hey, we start early around here...

Lily getting ready for the weekend with a little harmonica playing. The harmonica was a gift from our new neighbors, what a great gift!



At a concert/show in the park on Friday night, Lily was in the mood to dance




She also stole the chair of the people sitting next to us

On Saturday she let her hair down after a swim at the club

Today we went to a street fest on the East side of town and saw this guy

Lily even gave us the treat of holding our hands as we walked back to the car

The House Game continues

While Nate was at band practice last night, I watched a visually beautiful movie "A Single Man." The beauty of the movie didn't cover up a lack of substance; it was actually a damn good movie. One of the last lines in the movie that resonated with me was

" ...in my life, I've had moments of absolute clarity, when for a few brief moments, the silence drowns out the noise, and I can feel rather than think, and things seems so sharp and the world seems so fresh. I can never make these moments last. I cling to them, but like everything, they fade. I have lived my life in these moments. They pull me back to the present, and I realize everything is exactly the way it's meant to be."

We have been very hopeful this past week that the offer we submitted on a house would lead to an agreed upon price after some friendly countering. Unfortunately, we didn't realize that the counter offer would come back a week late and higher than the list price....not even kidding. We're going to keep playing the game with this house but realize that if it does work out, it might be a while.

I lost a close match last week in my warm up tournament to USTA 5.0 Sectionals coming up this weekend that bummed me out a bit more than expected only because my serve failed me when I needed it most. I think the loss actually fueled me to go even harder at the Blue Lake Triathlon the next day. I shaved ten minutes off my time from last year, woohoo. I didn't feel the pain as much this year like last year and I hit that zone where the adrenaline rush gives me such a a high that the pain disappears for a moment and I can't help but smile.

Thankfully, Lily is busy nodding yes these days so the no phase hasn't started. We're still working on her biting out of frustration but besides that, she's being such a fun and adventurous little girl. She seems to climb even higher, move even faster, and stands on smaller and more wobbly objects every day.

Here is a pic from the tri and then a classic example of Lily dealing with a challenge


Hmmm, I'll just pick up the stroller...

This is kinda hard

This is getting frustrating

I'm going to bite the stroller because this sucks

So frustrated!

O wait, I got it, it's all good