Xmas in Ft Lauderdale (31st week - 12/23 - 12/29)

food: peas, carrots, zucchinis (3 meals a day + juice/water + bottle = big eater!)
milestones: from sitting she leans forward to fall on her arms (and then the belly). Plus she likes to clap hands and things together

12/29
Stuart went with dad and got his lasik today - he said he already can tell the difference, very cool!
Lily slept great, only woke up once at 4 AM. Just like the say, one day per time zone. We actually hired a babysitter to watch Lily and Anthony while we all went and had dinner at Gianni's (yummy!). Poor Lily was crying for a long time and when we got back, I actually found her passed out on her belly and I had to flip her around.

12/28
Lily discovered a new thing: things make noise when you clap them together, very cute!! And things that make sound when you shake them are especially fun. We went to cap's place, Lily almost behaved well, other than some crankiness due to late dinner (7:15 - 9 PM)

12/26
Wow, she slept all through the night until 6:30, very very nice!!!
We went to the beach with Mona and Anthony and dad and spend most of the day playing in the sand and went actually in the cold water - it did feel more like San Francisco than Florida, just without the fog :)

12/25 - Christmas day!!!
WE paid the price for the busy late night, and poor little one woke up every hour starting at 3:30 AM (oh well). Everyone came over to open some presents and eat huge amounts for the most delicious fish spread (lox, white fish, herring, bagels and cream cheese), and Lily got tons of gifts from everyone, she is indeed our little spoiled princess:)
We took a loooong nap in the afternoon, and ate rips for dinner (I might burst any day now)

12/24
another night of early morning wakening, but still manageable (nothing compared to the ordeal in Germany). We all went to spend the day at the beach and the pool at Yves and Janet's place. Still a little too cold to go in the water, it was very windy, yet nice to play in the sand and hang in the hammock underneath the palm trees. We all went to Joanne's place to have a big family dinner (which was super yummy). Poor little had to struggle a little with the late dinner, but she just slept in her car seat for most of it.

12/23
Lily slept until 4 Am, then we had to play with her until 6, and then we all slept until 10 Am - gotta love the jetlag :) It was a rather chilly day, at least for Florida (in the 60s) but we enjoyed the day and hung out with Jeff, Mona, Anthony and Dad. We all ate super yummy crab (king crab, dungenous crab and lobster), very sweet.

Germany to Ft Lauderdale (30th week - 12/16 - 12/22 )

12/22
We are leaving Germany :(
Lily was a super trooper traveler, and made lots of friends on the plane (including 2 girls from Amsterdam, Frederika and Olivia). It was a long travel day (20 hours) and we got into Ft Lauderdale around 10:20 pm (with a limo that picked us up at the Miami airport - thanks dad!)

12/21
Yeah, Lily finally almost slept through the night, perfect for our big shopping day. We left for a full day in Munich, and it was all rather mellow. And we went to 4 Xmas markets and ended up at the Tollwood again to meet my old best friend Katrin and her daughter Emma (who is super cute!)

Katrin und Emma - For more picture go here


12/20 - Lily is 7 months today!!
of course now Lily finally seems to get the hang of the German time zone, now that we are almost about to leave - oh well. They say it takes them one day/time zone traveled, which seems about right :)
Today we had an big family afternoon:
my brother Johannes, Aimee and Sofia (5) and Cesia (3) from Ithaca,
my dad Papa, Kerstin and Tom (4) and Robin (8 months) from Starnberg,
my brother Philip, Heidi, Patrick (3) and Nadine (1 1/2) from Starnberg
my brother Wolfi, Melli and Vincent and Levin (3 1/2) from Munich
It actually went rather smooth, and it was so much fun seeing all of them in one big pile.

For more pictures go here

12/19
After yet another somewhat sleepless night (Stuart opted for the office floor again), we actually did get up at 8 AM and made it to Munich by 10:30 AM :) We went to the big children store at the Stachus and bought some fun gifts for the kids and presents for Lily. Then we went to lunch at my Oma's (Lily's Great Grandmother!) and ate the biggest dumplings ever (about the size of a grapefruit), with some pork and gravy. Afterwards we met Nane with Tilman and Kati with baby-in-belly at the Tollwood Christmas market, which was amazing. we just walked around in the tents and looked at all the beautiful schnickschnack (and Stuart drank 2 Gluehweins), until I got to tired to walk and we went home to hang with the Lehmanns.
Milestone: Lily had her first real drink out of the sippy cup, big girl!
New Food: Carrots (yum)

12/18
oy-oy, another rather sleepless night, this time Philipp, Heidi and Patrick got sick and they looked all rather pale.

sickies

Stuart and I and about 15 Weisswurstl went to Wolfi and Melli for breakfast. The twins got their little flashlights from us and Lily got very cute puppets and a Christmas bear from them. In the afternoon we drove to Papi's and had a nice relaxing evening with them (Kerstin and Tom also just got over the vomiting), we were a very lively group :)

Germany (29th week - 12/09 - 12/15 )

12/14
we went to my dad's house to hang with him, Kerstin and their little kids: Tom (3) and newest addition Robin, who is 8 months old. He is enourmos!! It was great to spend some quality time with them alone, and get a chance to chat and play with their kids, and for them to play with Lily

12/13
ok, she almost slept fine, other than the crying from 1 - 3 AM, when she probably thought it was time for her to get up and eat dinner or lunch or play, poor little one. But then she slept until 10 AM. Went shopping with Heidi for a little bit (it is so cold outside, we are spoiled with the California weather, that's for sure!), and Wolfi, Melli and the twins stopped by in the afternoon. God, these 2 are such big boys, and so cute with their little "dreadlocks" (or just messy hair), lots of energy. Stuart tried to lay down and Wolfi send them to attack him, which they did by jumping from the coffee table right on his belly - it was very funny and the 2 boys had a blast.
Heidi made yummy Raclette for us, and I finally found my sense of smell and boy, that cheese was smelly, yum :)

12/12




ok, the flight was not as bad as I feared. Lily got her own little bassinet, where she slept for 7 hours, pretty nice (we on the other hand didn't really sleep at all)
We arrived in Munch at 5:30, and Heidi and Patrick picked us up at the airport (thanks, Heidi!). We were soooo tired and poor Lily was a little confused about the lack of day light for her (she pretty had to go back to sleep without seeing light, hehe). But she went down around 10 PM, in her own little crib next to our bed in the guest room downstairs. Sweet.


12/11
Wow, that was a busy day. It took us pretty much 9 hours to get ready, with packing for 3 people and 2 different climate zones, while entertaining the baby and getting the house in order. But we made it and Dave was kind enough to drive us to the airport. Our flight left on time at 9:20 PM

12/10
ahh, gettin gready for the big trip tomorrow - fun!!!!
And Mami has now Lily's cold, bummer :( But Lily was all day a super trooper, very nice and mellow, but we decided not to go to Nicci's Kris Kringle Christmas, because I wasn't feeling well, and didn't want to get everyone else sick. We are so excited to see our families.

12/09
Today was mommies last day at work for this year (I am sooo glad I can go on vacation and leave the craziness for a few weeks), and Lily's last day at day care. Thanks to Claudia and her mom, we will miss her and all the kids, it sure was a lot of fun and I think they will miss Lily, too.

Another Cold (28th week - 12/02 - 12/08)

12/08
Lily is finally over her cold - and discovered a new sound (it sounds more like a whale - Free Lily!), very cute. She is just so adorable when she cuddles up in our arms to take a nap (which she loves to do).
We had a fun dinner with Kristina and Andres, who sang the full "Der Mond ist aufgegangen" to Lily.
And we got them nice and drunk until they were up for a visit of the attic and Kristina banged her had on a beam - gotta love the Grappa :)

12/07
She had a good night, and slept through until 7 AM - amazing how fast the drugs work. She looks and sounds so much better. Still a little cranky and whiny but nothing compared to the day before. She got to spend a nice day with daddy (while mommy learned that she got no job after March '06)

12/06
We decided to take her to the doctor to see if there is anything we can give her for her cold. She had another sleepless night and looks all puffy and teary-eyed. The doctor diagnosed an early ear infection and subscribed antibiotics and some decongestant. She also had lost 7 ounces since the last dr appointment 3 weeks ago (she hasn't really eaten much due to her cold). She now weighs 15 pds and 4 ounces