Friends and House - 1st Month Back in Portland

I have had a lot more time with all 3 kids together all day alone than my routine in Munich.  Yeah, you guessed right, it's been really trying and annoying at times but I have caught some incredibly sweet and hilarious moments too.




I do miss getting more chances to have one-on-one time with my kids but those really good moments I get trump the "stop whining, stop screaming, stop crying, stop pulling hair, stop biting, no hitting, give that back to her, sharing is caring, can't understand you when you're whining, talk in a normal voice" moments.  Overall, it's good.  It's crazy and loud and getting an adult conversation in whether it's over Skype, phone, or before bedtime is about as possible as me ever going camping alone in the wilderness by choice, but I'm good.

The Beast (our new house) is progressing nicely.  It's not easy getting through appointments with blinds guys, painters, cabinetry installers, shades installers, contractor, and a carpenter while my kids annoy the heck out of me (stuffing an entire half sandwich in your mouth and then proceeding to cry/choke while mommy fishes the yucky guck out in soggy chunks with her fingers while trying to flip through sample books and talk through samples is a good example of that) but what really shines through is a combination of good old friendly US customer service and the promise of getting paid a lot of money by us equals some really nice patient people tolerating my children.

I am really excited about moving into our new house.  It reminds me of our move to Munich a little bit.  We don't want any what if's, only o wells, in our life.  It feels so crazy but also so right to stay in the city in this neighborhood we know and love in this quirky old house raising our kids.

Looking back at January, I have had such a blast reuniting with good friends and feeling so comfortable, welcome, and at home so quickly as well as becoming a Pinterest and Houzz junkie working on turning our beast into our beauty is what I'll remember.  It feels like the to do list has just kept on going since we started the process of buying the house back in November.  I hope I'll also remember that even though I strongly miss some of the day to day routine of Munich (like walking and biking as the norm,  feeling safe, and the friends I adore there) I'm proud of Lily for being such an easy going independent Lily recently going to her new preschool with no reservations, only excitement.  I'm thrilled to see Paul and Elise having more moments of playing, giggling, and really talking to each other.  Even though Paul is the talker, singer, and general noise maker of the two, Elise is starting to noise it up a bit more and it makes me want to hug her even more than I usually do.

Hopefully we get to move into our new house in another week.  We're definitely ready.

Friends crew out for dinner

 Monday Night Girls Night 10+ year strong.  Missed you there Katie.

 Lily with our oldest buddy Sammy.

 Fun visit with my sister's mother in law and her sister in law.  Love that they are only in Seattle.

 Lily with her preschool buddy Liana and German-speaking buddy Maja

 Eric and Christy regular get togethers picked up as easy as pie.

 Fun visit with our old Munich neighbors who now live in Seattle.

Park time in beautiful January weather.

 Heading to Family Friday get together with Paul's hopefully soon to be good buddy Milo.  In the background is Lily's Kindergarten as of this Fall.

 Paul is my very particular little boy demanding a specific color bowl, a fork and a spoon for his cereal, and only the best wine glass temporary housing has to offer for his OJ.

Hello Portland

We made it.  The story of our travel back is far from boring.  The story has both heroes and villains, moments of laughter,  struggle, and stress.  It has enough tears of sadness to make you almost want to stop listening (as well as everyone else on our 2nd flight) but then tears of joy to make it all ok again.  Most important are that our 3 kids and 2 cats are accounted for and our luggage made it as well.  We will miss all our friendly overseas flight neighbors that played with our kids and offered up their iPad but will not miss the dramatic self centered neighbor on our domestic flight that needed to change seats, wanted our cats checked, and stated loudly enough times to make me want to punch her in the face "WHO DOES THIS?  TRAVEL WITH THESE KIDS AND 2 CATS?  I CANNOT TAKE THIS." Paul's crying was one of his worst episodes ever, so bad that we had a flight attendant come up to us kneel down and so sweetly ask us if there was anyone waiting for us in Portland to help us and if she could somehow help.   My tears of joy came from such a wonderful surprise by some of our dearest friends welcoming us back at the airport.  One of life's moments I will vividly remember and helps me already dull the pain from the journey.  Thank you friends.

Jet lag was the final part of our journey that left us a week after arrival.  Our first week back was thankfully full of seeing friends and we loved every second of it. I love Portland but I LOVE my friends here so much.  Seeing them easily made up for the crap sleep schedule the first week….easily.

Saw the house we bought for the first time today.  It's such a beast of a house.  This beautiful old beast that's rough around the edges but with so much potential, it's overwhelming.  We close tomorrow and plan to celebrate by eating take out on the floor of our empty house.

Our temporary apartment is working well enough.  Twins are sharing a room and is working out fine so far.  We are living it up suburb style - lots of driving with the single perk of being able to walk to a strip mall. woo hoo.  I've driven more in the last week than I have in the last few months in Munich.

This was our last family pic in Munich before flying out.  I have a feeling our next family pic will be in front of our new house.

Going through customs in Las Vegas.  This is one of 3 luggage carts.

Kids passed out in Vegas while jazz flute and slot machines play non-stop on our 7 hour layover.

Auf Wiedersehen Munich

Dear Munich,

It was love at first sight when we first crossed paths years ago.  You are still so beautiful to me even after all we've been through these last 3+ years.  Your beauty still takes my breath away and I don't see that ever changing.  We had quite the romantic start to our relationship traveling from place to place and checking literally everything off your to do list.  You spoiled my then 1.5 year old daughter Lily royally with your kid friendly tourist attractions, playgrounds, and so much yummy food for my meat loving, bakery yearning little girl.   When you surprised me by asking me to officially move in with you with no end date, things got serious fast.  And that's when the romance started to fade and the reality of day to day life began…. full of surprises, changes, and work.  

We sure had a rough start.  Felt rougher than it was because my expectations were so high.  I had dreams of living with you since before you even knew I really existed.  I had grand plans and lofty goals like tagging along on most of Nate's business trips with Lily around Europe and speaking such good German that people wouldn't be even able to guess I was American.  Sure was fun to think about.  Instead, exactly 8 weeks after we moved in, I found out I was pregnant with twins.  My life as I saw it changed in an instant.  You were horrible at helping me through my mostly miserable pregnancy.  I had never been so lonely and nervous and afraid and sad and lethargic in my life.  You were not very helpful in getting us settled in Munich and making friends.  Sure, I wasn't really pulling my weight that first year;  It sure was a lot harder to adjust and make friends than I can remember.  

Despite the rough start, things really did get so much better and that's what makes this goodbye so bittersweet.  We did take some memorable family trips together from Slovenia to France to Austria to Italy. You gave me a Munich home I will miss - perfect layout and size for us right by the Angel of Peace statue in the English Garden found through a random post on Facebook.   We worked so hard to get where we are now.  I am so proud of the groove we found this past year, the friends we made, the amazing help we found to help with our kids, the relationships we built, all the time I got to spend with my parents, and living our day to day life raising 3 kids in the middle of the city just fine.  It feels like we're leaving right when things got really good between us again, like I'm not getting a chance to savor it.  I love raising my kids in Munich - this amazingly safe, kid friendly, and clean city.  Having so many playgrounds nearby and a great Kindergarten for Lily to thrive at is something that I have appreciated so much here.  We didn't get back to the romantic rendezvous from our first stint together but we did build something wonderfully rich and deep with love.  You gave me Paul and Elise and my bilingual 4 year old Lily, and a much more humbled and grateful me.

I am careful about saying too much in this blog because I am fragile and emotional. I jump from resentment to sadness to excitement back to anger quite quickly.  Time will help me sort through my emotions and how I'll pass my Munich learnings to my kids.   I do want them to know that dreams do come true, just not the way you always envision it.  It always works out for the best and it may take sometime before you really understand why (I'm not there yet).  Chin up, be positive, be grateful, and keep on moving.

It seems fitting that my last week in Germany is at my parents' house.  Being near them was a big force behind moving here. I ended up having to ask for a lot more help than I thought I would being here but through all the help and time we spent getting through so many hard times, it really feels like Oma and Opa are getting some amazing payback this Christmas visit - already lots of loving moments with their grandkids.

Ok you good lookin', beer loving, walkable, bike loving, safe city Munchenshire - I'm going to miss you.  Pfirrti

love Nicole

The Two are Two

Whether it's the terrible twos or the terrific twos, they are here.  Paul and Elise turned two on Sunday and we all celebrated with a little party.  They got to dance, play with new toys, have fun with a few friends, and eat their favorite dinner, all topped off with gobbling down some chocolate cake after getting an assist from their big sister in blowing out their birthday candles.

Looking back on their 2nd year, I really can't say whether it was easier or harder.  It definitely was not easy, and thankfully we had a lot of help, whether family or our worth-every-penny part time nanny.  One thing I definitely can say is that over the span of the year they went through a ton of changes.  From barely walking to running and jumping around and from relative silence (crying excepted) to babbling on in somewhat coherent sentences.  We definitely have our challenging parental moments with whining clingy impatient hair-pulling children, but we all pull through as best we can.  At least we are getting more moments with Paul and Elise playing nicely with each other or being excited about something and being able to really talk about it.  Today it was a "BIG MOOSE" singing "OBANABOM".  That would be a big animatronic moose head singing "O Tannenbaum" at a Christmas market here in Munich.  They both couldn't wait to tell me about it when I walked in the door from work.  

I would say that both are in the midst of transitions at the moment.  Paul is becoming a bit less whiny and clingy, he's talking a ton and has some really sweet moments being gentle with babies or giving his sisters something they want.  He's still not a great eater but at least he said the bacon he ate the other night was yummy.  One thing he is a champ at is cleaning.  He loves pushing the broom around and using the dustpan, and his big treat is using the big canister vacuum.  Elise continues to be a sweetheart most of the time but has been having a few more tantrums lately as she gets frustrated with one of her toys or with one of her siblings.  She's the bully of the three at the moment, scratching, pushing and pulling hair to get what she wants, at least until Lily stands up for herself.  But she is also spending more time playing in her own little make-believe world, making a picnic for her stuffed tiger or putting all the Playmobil people in a row.  And she is lively and laughing more often than not.  She had her last visit with her foot doctor here, and honestly the only time we think of her foot most days is when we put on and take off her compression sock.  Thank God for that.

In one week the movers will show up to pack everything, stuff it into a container, and send it off on a ship to arrive in Portland in six or so weeks.  We will head off to Oma and Opa's to celebrate Christmas and then get on a plane with three kids and two cats (just be thankful you're not on our flights) the day after my birthday.  Oh, and after arriving in Portland around midnight I need to show up at work the next morning to sign off on paperwork.  Hopefully I don't have to take a new badge picture, it would probably look something like Nick Nolte's mug shot.  We'll have another blog shortly to cover all the craziness as we prep for the move... not for your entertainment so much as for us to look back on and remember in years to come.

Hanging out in Lil's bed while she's at school

 Sweet moment of my kids holding hands instead of pulling hair after picking Lily up from school.

 Santa Elise likes her new Nemo stuffed animal.

 Add another "momo man" to the collection so he has a handy stash.  Paul likes to sleep with a motorcycle and preferably one with someone riding it.

Might be boring to some but complete bliss to us.  One obvious difference from the first birthday to this birthday is a moment like this.

November Fun

The other morning during breakfast, Lily coughed up some phlegm and Nate asked her if she was going to spit it out.  Lily responded with "no, I use it to clean my teeth."   Paul's talking seems to have rocketed overnight.  Now I hear him saying "Elise, where are you?" and responding to Lily or Elise when they call for him with "what is it?"  I had to catch myself the other day when I realized how silly I sound when I try to figure out a way to get Elise up on the changing table these days.  Saying "Elise, would you like to wear the potty on your head while I change your diaper" sounds so bizarre but it works from time to time.    Elise also requests to wear a backpack for naps now and Paul likes to hold a motorcyle when he sleeps.

It's been a productive November so far.  We're spending our time enjoying as much of Munich as we can as well as working on all the work that goes into moving.  Big highlight was our overnight getaway for my birthday near Garmisch. It was perfect, even better than I could dream it.

Took Lily to the Munich Opera House to check out Romeo and Juliet Ballet.  Didn't think she'd last 30 minutes with high up standing seats only with 1/4 view of stage. She lasted the whole 2.5 hours.  I have a serious ballet fan here.

 St. Martin Lantern Parade with Lily's Kindergarten.

Turnen (gymnastics) class with Paul and Elise.

 Ice skating rink across the street from us is open for the season.

 Lily had her friend Johanna over for a sleepover.  Of course had to build a fort for them to sleep in.

 Feet up at our getaway hotel

 Morning hike near Garmisch

Time, as usual, is moving too fast.  Glad we're livin' it up.  I'll end this post with the perfect picture to display the kinds of moments we have in our house.....silly, sweet, messy, loud, frustrating, and hilarious.

Some October moments

"It's just a picture in a book, please don't fight about who's horse that is"......"we don't take our clothes off while we are eating dinner"...."stop playing the recorder.  you just saw me put the twins down for a nap"...."there is no wolf under your bed Lily, promise".... - random things I say more than once on a typical day in our house.  

We have a lot on our minds which makes sense knowing we only have two months left in Munich before our next chapter begins in Portland.  We are struggling to find a home in Portland which sure is a lot more time consuming and draining than I expected it would be.  It's a bitter sweet exit from Munich  - feels like I'm leaving before my time here was supposed to be done but happy that if we need to leave, our friends in Portland await us.  

Here is the rest of our October in pictures.

Took Paul and Elise to Koenigsplatz at about the same age I took Lily there on an unusually warm Fall Munich day.  Deja-vu.

Love this series of shots being silly with Elise.  She really nailed copying my expressions.

 This is the closest we got to a pumpkin patch.  Nice old lady on a small farm with her front yard full of pumpkins and squash.

 Elise thinks the tractor is a race car. She's ready to pass.

 Halloween.  Elise is a bit overwhelmed but looking so cute in her flying unicorn costume.

 Roar.

 Threw a Halloween Eve party with Lily's friends.  Was fun introducing some of the traditions of the Holiday to them.

 Out for a family walk on our usual Englischer Garten route.

 Lily playing some tennis.  Looks like she has a killer backhand slice.  Let's just leave it at that. :)