tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32675423706163463102024-03-13T08:48:01.767+01:00German Daddy in the USAnonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06738741467249437548noreply@blogger.comBlogger23125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3267542370616346310.post-28006445568889837502010-11-07T23:52:00.007+01:002010-11-08T00:25:21.693+01:00The last days in a threesomeAs the title already says: The newest member of our family is not there yet. Due date is only 9 days from today and it's getting exhausting. Marlene nearly can't move any more, she's short of breath every time she takes the stairs and everything is hurting. It's almost time for the delivery!<br />Of yourse we know it won't get any less exhausting, once our boy will be there. But at least the waiting will be over then. Because that's basically what we are currently doing: Waiting for the delivery to start, waiting for my mother in law to arrive next Tuesday, waiting for each day to go by. <br />Of course Charlotte is not waiting! She knows there's a baby in mommy's belly, but I doubt she knows what that really means. We read a certain book a lot with a family getting their second child. And she also knows that all the new stuff in the house is "for the baby". But of course she has no idea about the change this will mean for her.<br />Anyway: We have a lot of fun with her, even though she can be stressful sometimes, too, of course.<br />Marlene started to write down all the words that she can say by now and we come up with about 50 or so. There are also quite a few English words she's talking. Being the whole day in pre-school let's you learn those words really fast: "Clean-up", "all done", "pumpkin" (because of halloween), "spider" (because of an English song) etc.<br />Sometimes Marlene has to tell me what Charlotte is saying when I hear those words for the first time out of her mouth.<br />Charlotte now likes pre-school so much that she told Marlene last Thursday that she wanted to go there, although she normally only is there on Mondays and Tuesdays.<br /><br />She's still watching people a lot, especially people she doesn't know, for example what other children are doing on a playground. But if Marlene and I are telling her about other people and why they are there and what we do with them, she understands immediately and she's getting used to them sometimes within minutes. Here are two examples:<br />First story is about a colleague of mine. I did a User Interface validation with her here in Palo Alto and she flew in from Germany for a few days. I invited her for dinner one evening and after an hour Charlotte already called her by her name wanting to show her something or to play with her. It was a lot of fun having 3 adults and Charlotte dancing around the sofa :-)<br />The second story is about last weekend: We did a photoshooting all together. When we met Annie - the photographer - we told Charlotte that Annie would take pictures of us and from then on, Charlotte called her by her name whenever she wanted her to follow us. Of course Annie didn't always want to be right next to us because she wanted to take pictures of us, but Charlotte wanted her close to us :-)<br />A few pictures of this shooting are published on <a href="http://goo.gl/kYEs">Annies blog already</a> and we are looking forward to seeing them all shortly.<br /><br />With that: Think of us in the next week! Next time I write there will be 4 Happels!Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07829776234767406792noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3267542370616346310.post-37328433886931277802010-09-12T05:52:00.005+02:002010-09-12T06:38:48.574+02:00September 2010There is so much to tell!<br />So much happened in the last months! As mentioned in the last post, we moved into our new house. All our furniture arrived unbroken. Except one piece of a puzzle of Charlotte that we are still missing. I don't think we'll ever find it again.<br />We bought a used car that has enough seats for 2 children and at least 4 adults.<br />And then we started our shopping tour: We bought a new 46'' LCD TV, a huge BBQ that can take more than 20 burgers (that's the unit they are counting the size of a BBQ here), a sandbox for Charlotte, a new stroller for 2 children, a sleeping sofa for our guests, a shade sale for our yard, a bike trailer (also for 2 children) etc. etc.<br />Lots of new stuff that you need if you have such a big house and you are about to get a second child.<br />In parallel I worked hard to earn the money we needed to buy all that ;-)<br /><br />In July Marlene and Charlotte flew back to Germany for 3 weeks to attend the wedding of a cousin of Marlene and to meet the whole family (great-grandparents, grandparents, uncles and aunts, cousins and friends,...).<br />That was the longest time Marlene and me have been departed since we met 6 years ago. So you can imagine how tough that was.<br /><br />In August my parents visited us! They spent 4 days with us until they started their trip to the best national parks in California. They went hiking a lot and were amazed by the friendliness of the Americans/Californians. At the end they stayed for another 4 days with us in Sunnyvale before they had to leave us again.<br /><br />For us there was no time to feel lonely because a few days later Jens - a friend of us from Karlsruhe - did his last stop of a 3 months lasting USA tour in our home. It was great having him with us for more or less 2 weeks because for the first time I really went out in the evenings spending some time playing pool or dart, drinking a few beers and talking to a good old friend.<br />The highlight was definitely the NFL football game we watched in Oakland: Pure American culture!<br /><br />With all the guests and a few weekends on our own we already saw quite a few places in California such as Sonoma Valley, Monterey Aquarium, Children Museum in San Jose, Venice Beach, Muir Beach, Sausalito, Santa Cruz,... (but still have lots on our to-do lists).<br />If anybody is interested in what we are doing and where we are going, I highly recommend a few other websites:<br />My Twitter account:<br /><a href="http://www.twitter.com/happel">http://www.twitter.com/happel</a><br />My Foursquare account:<br /><a href="http://www.foursquare.com/user/happel">http://www.foursquare.com/user/happel</a><br />My Gowalla account:<br /><a href="http://www.gowalla.com/happel">http://www.gowalla.com/happel</a><br /><br /><br />And the next guests are coming: End of September a German colleague of me and hi girlfriend will sleep here for 2 nights.<br /><br />Short summary of this weekend:<br />After the weekly visit of the local farmers market we've been to the hospital today to take the delivery-room-tour. Now slowly we are getting nervous again, with less then 10 weeks to go. Especially because in the very same delivery room a friend of us got her baby just this morning!<br />Tomorrow we will visit the Oakland zoo and Charlotte will be able to test all the animal noises she already can do in real-life ;-)<br />By the way: She already talks quite a few "words". At least we know what she wants to tell us with those sounds. And last week Marlene managed to teach her the first sign in baby-sign-language. She can tell us exactly now if she wants to have "More!".<br />Apropos teaching (man, this post is becoming chaotic ;-) Charlotte is going to pre-school now twice a week. She still starts crying when mommy is leaving her but she really seems to like it after 3 minutes. I have the feeling that it's really good for her e.g. because she's not so shy anymore: Today in the hospital she just grabbed the hand of another older girl she had never seen before and walked around with her. Amazing!<br />Next time more about our little darling!!Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07829776234767406792noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3267542370616346310.post-14471896537407211662010-05-27T06:29:00.003+02:002010-05-27T07:47:52.734+02:00Google Wave Live Blogging<iframe src="http://everybodywave.appspot.com/e?googlewave.com!w+w1-eP90EA" frameborder="0" width="400" height="500"><br /></iframe>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07829776234767406792noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3267542370616346310.post-6779733859006384472010-05-23T06:09:00.010+02:002010-05-23T06:45:27.517+02:00First 2 weeks in the USWe are finally here. Since about 2 weeks we live in the United States, in the so called Bay-Area near San Francisco. We are of course still not really settled. But we managed already a few things during these first days here.<br />But let's begin earlier:<br />After all our stuff was packed and put into a container in Mannheim, we had nothing more than 4 bags, a stroller and a baby car seat but still a week to live in Germany. So we left our apartment and moved to relatives of Marlene in Darmstadt for that week. I worked for another 1 or 2 days, we had 2 "goodbye-parties" (one with our friends, one with around a hundred colleagues at SAP) and we managed everything else that needs to be managed if you are leaving the country for a while.<br />A day before our flight we got informed that we will have to move into another apartment here in the US as originally planned and when we left Darmstadt we still had not received any information on how to get into that apartment. In the end we just went to the leasing office of that apartment and asked for it. So, that was not a problem after all.<br />The flight was pretty good: Charlotte slept during take-off and landing and she didn't cry a lot in between. Nevertheless she was tired the most when we arrived here. For her it was obviously in the middle of the night, even if the sun was still shining brightly. Her feeling also didn't change for the next 3-5 days:<br />For us the jetlag was not too bad: We could have been in the new time zone already after 2 or 3 days. But because Charlotte wasn't we were also not allowed to. So we went to bed when Charlotte did and we got up when she did. Everyday we tried to push her for another 30 minutes and by this we managed her jetlag pretty good as well.<br />Just one more story about this: The first morning Charlotte was awake at 2AM and after a little bit of playing with her, having breakfast etc., it was still just 5AM. So we went to the supermarket at 5AM, something that we couldn't do in Germany as the supermarket is not open 24/7 there. We were the only people there and we had a close look at everything we didn't know yet or were missing from Germany. Some things we haven't found until now yet.<br /><br />Now, what else did we manage beside the jetlag? The most important thing: We found a house to lease in Sunnyvale! It's bigger than expected and - after the first 4 houses we saw - also cheaper than expected. Now we are only waiting for our furniture and then we can move in beginning of June. By the way: If you want to you can track our furniture online.<br />Just search for the name of the ship "London Express" on this website:<br /><a href="http://www.sailwx.info/shiptrack/search.phtml">http://www.sailwx.info/shiptrack/search.phtml</a><br />Currently it's in the middle of the carribean sea.<br /><br />Secondly we opened a bank account here in the US. This is normally not so easy as a non-US-resident because we don't have any credit history, nor do we have a social security number so far. But as an SAP employee, some things are easier.<br />Last but not least we had our appointment at the social security administration yesterday to apply for a social security number. There were no problems at all and next Tuesday I can go there and ask for it already.<br />For all those who don't know in detail yet: The social security number is so important because only with that we will be able to get a credit card and my monthly salary. Or to put it in other words: You won't get any money without this number.<br /><br />The next thing will therefore be to get our credit cards, then a car and afterwards the driver's license.<br />One funny thing about that: If you enter the US as non-tourist (as we did) you need to get your driver's license within 10 days after arrival. But you need a social security number for it. But because the transfer of the immigration data to the social security administration takes a few days, you are not allowed to ask for your number within the first 10 days. So, how to deal with that? Any ideas?<br /><br />As a highlight at the end of this post I publish 3 pictures:<br />The first one shows the container in Mannheim, fully packed:<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPyOxAxaCm-sgv1EoppMfCa1n_yGHvlPPoYAJujGBn0ERimZK-7LDCK4bCB7QFfBo71r_lRT748-TF8AfE455rUiUqydrBYUDwE1jFe2u4cFTrmgepQCWcQQufqKm9k_StII25aEkAJ68/s1600/100428_Umzug+018.JPG"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 214px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPyOxAxaCm-sgv1EoppMfCa1n_yGHvlPPoYAJujGBn0ERimZK-7LDCK4bCB7QFfBo71r_lRT748-TF8AfE455rUiUqydrBYUDwE1jFe2u4cFTrmgepQCWcQQufqKm9k_StII25aEkAJ68/s320/100428_Umzug+018.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5474320491490091250" /></a><br /><br /><br /><br /><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div>The second one of the car we leased on the first day to get all our luggage from the airport to the apartment:<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjIidqqAyvAVRkjKqeBnX7p4qdbofnxuYHzwdJ_BXihzEdFzCwHEgB0qM5WmjuXVCRIflItHV_uFKdVIQhTtS4dtqZJMwFSqf7OcyyW3wUluQZA-iq0HJsGN5tK8RhwDraHsSzyfdWepwM/s1600/100506_USA+033.JPG"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 214px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjIidqqAyvAVRkjKqeBnX7p4qdbofnxuYHzwdJ_BXihzEdFzCwHEgB0qM5WmjuXVCRIflItHV_uFKdVIQhTtS4dtqZJMwFSqf7OcyyW3wUluQZA-iq0HJsGN5tK8RhwDraHsSzyfdWepwM/s320/100506_USA+033.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5474321142779803618" /></a><br /><br /><br /><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div>And the last one shows our future home (but not our car):<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJ6WhXhiAInAyvJvxU2rN3vB4ONqJDB00lh6fjpTvzz33FG8No9V8Ij6ZS7xJKSEBmHwF-jbHEpCkiTNDiZIUHaqMOqUugwge_U_Kn-S_plSSfOmoi2bbQZqn_0dif1on4V15O-tvmwFI/s1600/100515_472+Bryan+Ave+042.JPG"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 214px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJ6WhXhiAInAyvJvxU2rN3vB4ONqJDB00lh6fjpTvzz33FG8No9V8Ij6ZS7xJKSEBmHwF-jbHEpCkiTNDiZIUHaqMOqUugwge_U_Kn-S_plSSfOmoi2bbQZqn_0dif1on4V15O-tvmwFI/s320/100515_472+Bryan+Ave+042.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5474320098422644114" /></a><br /></div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07829776234767406792noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3267542370616346310.post-55082645463721573212010-04-08T12:43:00.002+02:002010-04-08T12:47:17.900+02:00Preparing to move to San FranciscoThe biggest news about Charlotte really shortly because I have to write a lot more today as the title already says:<br />Charlotte just starts to walk on her own. She still can’t really drive her Bobbycar because her feet hardly reach the floor, but walking is a lot of fun to her.<br />It’s amazing to see how she begins to remember things like her nose, her ears and so forth. And we also think that we understand the first words she’s using.<br /><br /><br />Now there’s also a lot to write about our upcoming move to San Francisco.<br />Already shortly before Christmas we got the approval to move there. But the whole contract and package negotiation took nearly 3 months. Therefore we just started the whole organizational process about 3 weeks ago. But then – suddenly – everything went pretty fast.<br />First there was a phone call with an agent who coordinates our whole move. That means that she triggered all other external companies to contact us and she will also be responsible for other things like rental car booking, accommodation booking and the reimbursement of all the costs we will have.<br />After this first call I nearly had a phone call every evening with someone else:<br />There’s someone who will help us with starting our life in the US: They will show us the supermarket, the public swimming pool, the different neighborhoods, they help us getting our social security number, passing our US drivers’ license and so on and so forth.<br />Another company will help me with my tax declaration this year in Germany as well as in the US.<br />Last week someone from the freight forwarder visited our apartment to check all the goods that we will take with us. He’s currently calculated if that fits in the container we will have.<br />A last provider helped us preparing all application forms for the visa. And that’s so far the most complicated thing:<br /><br />You need a lot of things for getting your visa:<br />- All applicants (including my wife and my 1 year old child!) need to fill out a separate online-form DS-160. It took me 3 hours to do so just for me. And the link to take over data from the first form into the next one is only available on the last “Thank you” page. So, don’t close it before clicking the link. And save into a local file latest after each filled page! By the way: Hey mom, hey dad, I had to mention you in the questionnaire as well. So don’t be surprised if the US homeland security knocks at your door <br />- At least in Germany you need to pay a first fee via a special provider before even getting an appointment at the embassy or consulate.<br />- In parallel I filled out another huge online questionnaire from the service provider who used all the information to print out a letter and a lot of documents for the consulate to prove that I need to be in the US to be able to do the job my company wants me to do. The documents just arrived yesterday and there’s a lot of information about my company, their IFRS statements etc.<br />- Then we also need of course some special pictures. Charlotte made the perfect face for this picture: No smiling, just staring into the camera ;-)<br />- I have to take all certificate with me proving my educational background, especially for the area of expertise I am working in at the moment.<br />- If you have all of that together you can make an appointment at the consulate. Of course this has to be done online as well. And it takes again about 30 to 60 minutes to do so.<br /><br />Now, next week there’s our appointment at the consulate in Frankfurt. So, cross the fingers!Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07829776234767406792noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3267542370616346310.post-36690771733225186122009-10-18T20:35:00.002+02:002009-10-18T20:42:08.649+02:008 monthsYesterday Charlotte got 8 months old. Therefore we recapped what happened within the last 4 weeks. And it's not a lot. But:<br />Within the last week she really makes huge progress. On friday I saw her the first time only standing on her hands and feet. It was just for a second but it indicates where this will lead within the next 2 weeks. Today she even put her legs under her belly for the first her.<br />Next time I will write again it will be because she will be crawling :-)Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07829776234767406792noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3267542370616346310.post-38717868279375479942009-09-12T21:35:00.003+02:002009-09-12T22:01:54.159+02:00Summer and vacationOh, my god! Where did the time go? It's already september!<br /><br />Charlotte is already nearly 7 months old! We hardly can remember how she was when she was 4 weeks old. We just remember that she didn't move. And now? Since 5 weeks or so she manages to turn around and lie on her belly. In the beginning it was more or less luck if she managed to. Then, two weeks ago she was able to turn back on her own. This is something she doesn't do any more at the moment. Instead she makes funny noises to tell us that she's unhappy. In addition she spreads her arms really often like flying over the floor which is - at least to us - more exhausting than holding up with her own hands - obviously she doesn't think so or can't understand yet.<br /><br />As well: After a few weeks of extensively trying new sounds with her mouth (such as "PF") she reduced her efforts around that ability (maybe she got to know they she won't need that when talking deciding to talk english only ;-))<br /><br />So, it really seems that she takes a breath of a week or two to come back afterwards stronger than before and with more capabilities than we've seen so far.<br />But there might be two more reasons:<br />She's now 29 weeks old - exactly the time when most of the babies start learning about distance (mummy can leave the room and is away when doing so). She therefore carefully watches Marlene and myself and she's really upset if we don't play with her.<br />The second reason for her being a little bit stressful this week might be that we were on vacation twice. So there's a lot of people and things she's seen and that she has to process with her little young brain.<br /><br />First we've been to Spain for a week. More precisely we've been to a wedding near Marbella. It was unbelievably hot - for me in the same way than for Charlotte. Nevertheless we had a really great time, went to the pool, watched the sea and met a lot of nice people.<br />Secondly last week we travelled through Germany. It nearly felt like our yearly christmas odyssey: We went to my parents, had a family reunion there and also met my Kindergarden friend, his wife and son. Next we spent a few days in the Lüneburger heath and met with a friend of Marlene and her two small daughthers. Already after this meeting we realized that Charlotte was not so relaxed any more. She slept very bad every night and needed a lot of closeness. So we cancelled a meeting with friends in Hamburg and only spent a night at a friend's house in Bremen. The next day we continued our journey to Oldenburg (the original destination of our travel) where we celebrated the 60th birthday of Marlenes dad. Although there was really loud music playing on that party Charlotte slept really well in the restaurant and we went to the hotel at around 11PM.<br />The next day we started our way back home and just spent another night in Düsseldorf at Marlenes sister. Otherwise the drive would have been too long for Charlotte.<br />In total we spent around 1600km on the road with Charlotte sleeping most of the time.<br />But I can imagine that it has been really stressful for her seeing new people everytime she woke up and got pulled out of the car.<br /><br />So, although we already arrived back home last monday it's totally ok if Charlotte needs another 2 or 3 days to calm down again. But not more, please ;-)<br /><br />Tomorrow morning we will try the swimming pool here in Mannheim for the second time. Cross the fingers!!<br /><br />Good night!Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07829776234767406792noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3267542370616346310.post-63123877748718212812009-06-29T14:09:00.004+02:002009-06-29T14:33:24.948+02:00Baptism, Berlin, swimmingI really don't find enough time to write here! I already started this new entry as a draft 4 weeks ago but I still haven't found the time to finish it.<br />So, here's one more try on that.<br /><br />What happened in the last weeks:<br />3 weeks ago Charlotte and her cousin Fabian got baptized in Düsseldorf. There were quite a few people who came to Düsseldorf for this event. Unforunately it were too much for Charlotte! She wasn't quite happy with all the people around her - probably seeing them very clear for the first time in her life because when meeting the last times she was almost sleeping the whole time. To make it short: Marlene or me spent a lot of time alone with Charlotte in another room without all the guests. Nevertheless it was nice to have the people together at one event!<br /><br />The next weekend there was a public holiday here in Baden Württemberg on Thursday and therefore a bridge day on Friday. As it wasn't a public holiday in Berlin, we decided to take the train and visit Berlin and Marlenes former colleagues and her manager. We hardly had any program but just walked a lot through Berlin, enjoying the sund and shopping. Charlotte spent most of the day in her pram and she dictated the schedule for the day. In this way it was much easier for her - and us - than the weekend before.<br />By the way: It's unbelievable how many parents/children and nice, tiny children stores there are in Berlin Prenzlauer Berg!! So, if you need any recommendation, just ask or have a look at Marlenes bookmarks at http://www.Delicious.com/mhappel<br /><br />The last thing I want to mention today, is our first visit of the swimming pool yesterday. Every Sunday morning there's baby-swimming in one of the pools in Mannheim. So we went there yesterday for the first time.<br />Of course we already knew that Charlotte never is really excited when it's time for a bath. That's why we also changed from a normal baby-bathtub to a bath bin (http://www.tummy-tub.com/). So we were not surprised that she was not laughing all the time but more in a mode of being cautious/nearly crying: The huge room, the echos from 20 parents with 20 small children laughing and crying - all this needs a lot of observation before feeling comfortable with it.<br />At the end she was at least enjoying us to bounce up and down in the water with her on our breast/shoulder. So, I'm confident that this will be a lot more fun for her next time! I'll keep you informed :-)Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07829776234767406792noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3267542370616346310.post-13970374251649249562009-04-28T21:21:00.002+02:002009-04-28T21:44:04.840+02:00German Bureaucracy / Deutsche BürokratieI wanted to write this already weeks ago but finally I find the time to do it.<br />As there will be lots of German words in it and the target group are young German parents I will write this in German.<br /><br />Für alle werdenden und frisch gebackenen Eltern will ich im Folgenden versuchen ein bisschen Licht ins Dunkel zu bringen und zu erklären, wie man das neue Elterngeld beantragt:<br />Das Elterngeld beantragt man bei der Landeskasse seines Bundeslands. Bei der Suche nach den Websites der Bundesländer bin ich drauf gestossen, dass man in NRW das Elterngeld sogar schon online beantragen kann. Da wir in Baden-Württemberg wohnen will ich mich darauf konzentrieren, was wir machen mußten. Auf der <a href="http://www.l-bank.de/lbank/inhalt/nav/privatpersonen/elterngeldunderziehungsgeld/elterngeld.xml?ceid=100383">Seite der L-Bank</a> gibt es also den Antrag zum Download.<br />Beim Ausfüllen wird man schon merken, was man sonst noch alles benötigt. Hier nochmal aufgelistet und beschrieben, wo es die Dokumente gibt:<br />- Geburtsbescheinigung des Kindes (gibt es vom Standesamt normalerweise zusammen mit der Geburtsurkunde und weiteren Bescheinigungen z.B. einer für die Taufe)<br />- Bescheinigung über das gezahlte Geld während des Mutterschutzes (muss man von der Krankenkasse anfordern)<br />- Arbeitgeberbescheinigung über das Einkommen des Beantragenden <span style="font-weight: bold;">VOR </span>der Geburt (einen Vordruck gibt es ebenfalls auf der <a href="http://www.l-bank.de/lbank/inhalt/nav/privatpersonen/elterngeldunderziehungsgeld/elterngeld.xml?ceid=100383">Seite der L-Bank</a>; die meisten Arbeitgeber schicken aber ihren eigenen Ausdruck zurück)<br />- Arbeitgeberbescheinigung über das Einkommen des Beantragenden <span style="font-weight: bold;">NACH </span>der Geburt während des Elterngeld-Zeitraums (hier ist zu beachten, dass als Einkommen z.B. die vermögenswirksamen Leistungen (VL) oder auch geldwerte Vorteile gelten; einen Vordruck gibt es ebenfalls auf der <a href="http://www.l-bank.de/lbank/inhalt/nav/privatpersonen/elterngeldunderziehungsgeld/elterngeld.xml?ceid=100383">Seite der L-Bank</a>; die meisten Arbeitgeber schicken aber ihren eigenen Ausdruck zurück)<br />- Arbeitgeberbescheinigung über den Zuschuss zum Mutterschutzgelds (auch hier wieder gibt es ein Formular auf der <a href="http://www.l-bank.de/lbank/inhalt/nav/privatpersonen/elterngeldunderziehungsgeld/elterngeld.xml?ceid=100383">Seite der L-Bank</a>)<br /><br />Noch ein paar Tips:<br />Im Antrag für das Elterngeld sind teilweise die Formulare für die Arbeitgeberbescheinigungen schon mit dabei. Manche fehlen dort aber. Also genau überprüfen, bevor man das dem Arbeitgeber schickt. Sonst schreibt man da am Ende mehrere Briefe.<br />Bei irgendwelchen Fragen einfach die Hotline der Landesbank anrufen. Die helfen gerne, gut und schnell und das erspart eine Menge Zeit bei der Bearbeitung des Antrags. Immerhin will man ja so schnell wie möglich das Geld auch auf seinem Konto haben.<br /><br />Am bestenAnonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07829776234767406792noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3267542370616346310.post-69970869881982056282009-04-06T10:19:00.003+02:002009-04-06T10:41:41.984+02:00First JumpI think every parents should read the book <a href="http://www.amazon.de/Oje-ich-wachse-Spr%C3%BCngen-Entwicklung/dp/3442161444/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1239006042&sr=8-2">"Oje, ich wachse"</a> from van de Rijt, Brams and Plooij (don't know the english title). Otherwise the last week would have been a disaster.<br />It was a really tough week! Charlotte cried a lot and always wanted to eat. Normally she has a frequency of 2 to 4 hours but this week it was different (and maybe still is): She falls asleep after eating but 10 minutes later she cries again and nothing can stop her than nursing her again.<br />This can drive you crazy because you don't know what's wrong with your child, with yourself, with the mother's milk,... Besides you read the mentioned book!<br />According to the book there are 8 "jumps" in the mental development of your child up to the age of 14 months. And the first one appears around the 6th week. So, all I described is totally normal and if you know that, then you feel a lot better. You still can't change anything but you can let your baby crying better at least for a few minutes and you don't fear to nurse it very, very often.<br /><br />The reason why the babies cry so much is that something changes for them. They see, feel and experience the world in another way than before and that's of course confusing for them in the beginning.<br />On the other hand it's also the good thing about these "jumps" at the same time. Because your baby begins to do other things than before:<br />- Charlotte now pedals a lot more than before, she's starting to use her arms and legs.<br />- She also can see farther, for example she starts to recognize the mobile hanging above the changing table.<br />- She starts to make sounds in different pitches. It's not just crying but also gurgling when she's happy or just without any reason.<br />- In addition to the crying there are now also tears appearing sometimes.<br />- And last but not least Marlene and me, we both believe that Charlotte sometimes already smiles at us :-)<br /><br />You see, the result of the last week is pretty good but I'm happy if the first jump is over. Nevertheless I am not yet sure. And the next one is already coming in 2 weeks...Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07829776234767406792noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3267542370616346310.post-80993495217833639242009-03-15T20:41:00.006+01:002009-03-24T11:38:58.350+01:00Day Nurseries in Mannheim / Krippen in MannheimBecause Marlene wants to start working again in September (at least one or two days a week), we started looking for day nurseries (in german: Krippen) in Mannheim. After compiling a first list, I put all the addresses in a map to see where the nurseries are. Now we will have to visit all of them, submit applications and wait where we will be chosen.<br /><br />I also want to write a few things in German, because maybe other young parents might find this helpful as well:<br /><br />Hier finden Sie eine Karte mit Krippen in Mannheim. Die Liste dieser Krippen erhebt keinen Anspruch auf Vollständigkeit:<br /><br /><iframe marginwidth="0" marginheight="0" src="http://maps.google.de/maps/ms?ie=UTF8&hl=de&msa=0&msid=105365094486904854042.0004652764ec24877932f&ll=49.484443,8.484464&spn=0.035158,0.046913&output=embed&s=AARTsJp8N9LPlTOjdBy-IC_pI-SdA6LzEg" scrolling="no" width="425" frameborder="0" height="350"></iframe><br /><small><a style="color: rgb(0, 0, 255); text-align: left;" href="http://maps.google.de/maps/ms?ie=UTF8&hl=de&msa=0&msid=105365094486904854042.0004652764ec24877932f&ll=49.484443,8.484464&spn=0.035158,0.046913&source=embed">Größere Kartenansicht</a></small><br /><br />Vergleichbare Karten finden Sie auch hier im <a href="http://is.gd/oGsQ">Familiennavigator</a>.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07829776234767406792noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3267542370616346310.post-21504952591550621412009-03-06T12:49:00.009+01:002009-06-29T14:35:35.401+02:00Charlotte's growingAs Charlotte was so lightweight, we decided to track her weight a little bit. As we always have been fans of lists and charts we created a spreadsheet and a graph to visualize it.<br />This morning our midwife visited us again and weighted Charlotte again and as she made a big jump up to 2800g within the last days, we decided to share this great news with you.<br />From now on, you will be able to track her growing:<br /><br /><img src="http://spreadsheets.google.com/pub?key=pevaDwAqptpIEaqfWIqjFOA&oid=1&output=image" />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07829776234767406792noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3267542370616346310.post-22419784745436634492009-02-25T11:32:00.003+01:002009-02-26T17:10:34.910+01:00Charlotte Martha, * 02.17.2009She's there! Our daughter Charlotte was born last Tuesday.<br />After the amnion sac broke on Monday evening, we went to the hospital. The next night nothing happened. Therefore they induced labor on Tuesday morning and at 3.57PM our small star looked at me for the first time.<br />We all together spent the whole last week in hospital. It was nearly like in a hotel as you get food the whole day, your bed is made by someone else, and you can just concentrate on holding your child and looking at it :-)<br />Everybody tells you before but you can't really believe it: It's such a great feeling to see this little human being and to know that it's your daughter and that she will count on you for the rest of her life! And suddenly you can feel something like butterflies in your stomach again!<br /><br />On Sunday we went home and now everything is different! You need have the day to feed Charlotte. You wake up at 8 AM but finish breakfast not before 11. You only can leave the house together with her and before that you first need to feed her, to swaddle her and to dress her accordingly. Etc. etc. To make it short: Everything is different. But it's wonderful! And I am really happy that I took the next 2 months off to be at home and to see her growing everyday!Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07829776234767406792noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3267542370616346310.post-23020231243699751482009-01-19T16:35:00.003+01:002009-01-19T16:43:44.999+01:006 weeks to goThe last 8 days I spend in bed only because I was really sick with more than 3 days with high fever. Of course that wasn't nice. Nevertheless it's good that this happened now and not six weeks later.<br />In six weeks we will have a small baby! The children's room is nearly finished. Everything has been bought. We just need to install a few things: A new lamp on the ceiling, the electric heater etc.<br />Sometimes it seems our girl doesn't even want to stay in Marlenes stomach for another 6 weeks: She's punching and kicking like hell. I think it will be a strange feeling for Marlene if this will stop from one day to the other. But until then, we can now enjoy the last weeks without any crying baby. After that everthing will be different!<br />The first 2 months we will both stay at home. Last week I requested parental time and it will start immediately after birth. I can't say I am already prepared for this. But at least I read another book about it last week when staying in bed ;-)<br /><br />The suitcase for the hospital is pack already as well. So, we are prepared and can't wait to see our small girl in real!Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07829776234767406792noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3267542370616346310.post-51048183604028445992008-11-24T20:27:00.003+01:002009-01-19T16:35:24.529+01:00It's a girlSince two weeks we now know that it will be a little girl. So, now we can start buying things because we know the color we have to buy ;-)<br />Also since 3 or 4 weeks I can also feel her moving in Marlenes stomach. It's really amazing!<br />Marlene still doesn't have any real "problems" being pregnant. Except that she's getting out of breath more easily. But that's ok. She's just doing things a little bit more slowly and I have to wait for her getting the stairs up and down in the house. Ah, there's one other thing - which is totally normal for pregnant women - but outsiders really have to get used to it (including me): She's forgetting things so quickly. Sometimes she doesn't even remember what she wanted to do 10 seconds ago. So, if you know other pregnant women: Be a little bit considerately and don't let them do important tasks as they might forget about them if they are not as organized as Marlene is (at least in business).<br />Last weekend we decided to already set up the commode that will become the baby dressing table and it was a good idea not to wait until after christmas. The few things I couldn't lift by myself where already pretty heavy for Marlene as well. So, just in time I'd like to say.<br />Next weekend we will spend in Amsterdam. I'm already excited!Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07829776234767406792noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3267542370616346310.post-80841735172162517182008-10-20T21:24:00.004+02:002008-11-24T20:27:01.820+01:00Bought a stroller on saturdayEverone knows that children are expensive. We had our kick-off for the spend marathon already last saturday: We bought a stroller! Actually we just wanted to look for a new bed for us and a baby changing table. But then we saw the furniture store also had strollers and especially the one stroller we hadn't seen in reality so far: The <a href="http://my-joolz.com/">Joolz</a>. As they also had the Bugaboo, we could test them both just next to each other. And we decided us. Normally we wouldn't have bought one on Saturday just right away but they had this campaign that only lasted until Saturday and we were already sure about the stroller, we bought it: The <a href="http://www.bugaboo.com/">Bugaboo Cameleon</a> - in dark brown!<br />Baby, you can come :-)Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07829776234767406792noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3267542370616346310.post-61927696654631409712008-09-14T21:45:00.003+02:002008-10-14T19:44:41.540+02:00Change of Title<div>As we started communicating it officially on our wedding I decided to change the title of this blog for the next months. To explicitely say it again:<br /><span style="font-size:180%;">We will get a baby in March next year!!!! </span>:-)</div><br /><div>We are sooooo happy! After a wonderfull wedding we now have the next event we are looking forward to. Marlene already got a small belly and it grows every day. We have been to the doctor three times already and everything is fine so far (cross the fingers).</div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07829776234767406792noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3267542370616346310.post-52542033752301116542008-08-13T14:33:00.002+02:002008-08-13T14:38:26.227+02:0024 hoursTomorrow at this time it will be done: I will be called Christian Happel :-)<br />I have to say that I'm getting a little bit nervous but on the other hand excited as well.<br />I hope we prepared everything. The last things will be done this evening: Picking up the flowers for tomorrow, the printouts for the church on saturday and washing the car.<br />That's it.<br />When updating this blog next time I will have to rename it.<br />So, just for the minutes: This has been "Becoming a Happel". CU and bye!Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3267542370616346310.post-63960367316724586502008-08-07T20:04:00.006+02:002008-08-07T20:21:34.079+02:00DirectionsFor all of you wanting to view the directions online instead of using the drawing on our invitation, here we go:<br /><br /><iframe width="425" height="350" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" src="http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?ie=UTF8&hl=de&msa=0&msid=109943318334622873311.00045019fbd6c92bdcb6e&ll=49.451892,8.537278&spn=0.0681,0.15441&output=embed&s=AARTsJo5jj_VDFkgP4tSQmhKfB7O5jXSXA"></iframe><br /><small><a href="http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?ie=UTF8&hl=de&msa=0&msid=109943318334622873311.00045019fbd6c92bdcb6e&ll=49.451892,8.537278&spn=0.0681,0.15441&source=embed" style="color:#0000FF;text-align:left">Größere Kartenansicht</a></small><br /><br /><br />And as I currently like playing around with google maps, here you also find again our hotel on the west coast on Mauritius where we will spend our honeymoon:<br /><br /><iframe width="425" height="350" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" src="http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=de&geocode=&q=La+Pirogue+Wolmar+Flic+en+Flac+Mauritius&sll=-20.316297,57.520294&sspn=0.620745,0.884399&ie=UTF8&ll=-20.072701,57.425537&spn=0.621332,0.884399&z=10&iwloc=A&cid=-20298326,57363739,13181812599060635434&output=embed&s=AARTsJr5hldvaHCSgacpW1K_SznKqW3RKg"></iframe><br /><small><a href="http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=de&geocode=&q=La+Pirogue+Wolmar+Flic+en+Flac+Mauritius&sll=-20.316297,57.520294&sspn=0.620745,0.884399&ie=UTF8&ll=-20.072701,57.425537&spn=0.621332,0.884399&z=10&iwloc=A&cid=-20298326,57363739,13181812599060635434&source=embed" style="color:#0000FF;text-align:left">Größere Kartenansicht</a></small>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3267542370616346310.post-3555087896077105372008-07-20T20:59:00.003+02:002008-07-20T21:11:16.574+02:00Stag NightAfter Marlene having her stag night last week, yesterday there was my one.<br />Thomas picked me up from Mannheim at about noon and we headed towards Karlsruhe.<br />In Karlsruhe there was "<a href="http://www.dasfest-karlsruhe.de/">Das Fest</a>" this weekend. So, there were lots of people to make a fool of myself in front of. I hope you understand that I won't publish any pictures here ;-)<br />Actually it wasn't too bad but only because I paid a lot of money the others could spend in beer.Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3267542370616346310.post-66048533985674577802008-07-07T08:50:00.002+02:002008-07-07T08:59:53.800+02:00Relaxing sundayThis weekend was again a very stressful one and therefore we has a really relaxed sunday yesterday.<br />Friday evening Marlene tried her wedding dress again - of course without me. After 3 to 4 months of waiting it finally arrived and Marlene still seems to like it ;-)<br />Afterwards we went again to dancing school. This time we took the technique class which was even more exhausting than the normal classes.<br />On saturday we went to a really good party. Marlenes company <a href="http://www.campana-schott.com/de/">Campana & Schott</a> had their summer party. In the <a href="http://www.roofclub.net/">Roof club</a> in Darmstadt we danced until 4 o'clock.<br />So, we were home in Mannheim at about half past 4 and very tired the whole day yesterday. Luckily there was Formula 1 yesterday and I could sleep 2 hours on the couch ;-)Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3267542370616346310.post-83496812850880348162008-06-24T19:46:00.004+02:002008-06-24T19:56:18.216+02:00Dancing FlowersIf you got an invitation to our wedding you might have realized already the color concept for our wedding. This is of course also visible on this blog ;-)<br />So, the flowers will have to fit into that concept as well. A few weeks ago we met the first woman and talked about our flowers. We were not really satisfied with how she was reacting on us and with which ideas she came up (basically none). Therefore we are really happy now that on friday we visited the greenhouse of <a href="http://www.beichel.com/">Beichel </a>in Malsch. The women there really brainstormed with us about how we could arrange the flowers.<br />In about 4 weeks we will have the next meeting with them. Let's see what we they will present us then.<br /><br />In addition we of course went dancing on friday and sunday. So, here's the link to our dancing school <a href="http://www.creadom.de/">Creadom in Mannheim</a>. We learned a lot again, had a lot of fun and were really sweating a lot as well as it was so hot on sunday. So, be prepared: You will definitely have to dance Samba and Slow Waltz on our wedding!Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3267542370616346310.post-16594486810182474302008-06-15T21:15:00.004+02:002008-06-15T21:30:29.621+02:002 months to goIn 2 months I will already be called Christian Happel - wow!<br /><br />The preparations for our wedding are frequently ongoing.<br /><br />Last week for example we signed up for dancing classes and we are really enjoying it.<br /><br />And yesterday we already got our rings. I won't publish a picture here. Everybody can have a look at it when we got married ;-)<br /><br />About all other topics we are working on, I will update you in this blog continuously from now on.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com