There is so much to tell!
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.
We bought a used car that has enough seats for 2 children and at least 4 adults.
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.
Lots of new stuff that you need if you have such a big house and you are about to get a second child.
In parallel I worked hard to earn the money we needed to buy all that ;-)
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,...).
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.
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.
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.
The highlight was definitely the NFL football game we watched in Oakland: Pure American culture!
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).
If anybody is interested in what we are doing and where we are going, I highly recommend a few other websites:
My Twitter account:
http://www.twitter.com/happel
My Foursquare account:
http://www.foursquare.com/user/happel
My Gowalla account:
http://www.gowalla.com/happel
And the next guests are coming: End of September a German colleague of me and hi girlfriend will sleep here for 2 nights.
Short summary of this weekend:
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!
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 ;-)
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!".
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!
Next time more about our little darling!!
Showing posts with label Charlotte. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Charlotte. Show all posts
Sunday, September 12, 2010
Monday, June 29, 2009
Baptism, Berlin, swimming
I 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.
So, here's one more try on that.
What happened in the last weeks:
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!
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.
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
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.
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.
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 :-)
So, here's one more try on that.
What happened in the last weeks:
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!
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.
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
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.
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.
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 :-)
Monday, April 6, 2009
First Jump
I think every parents should read the book "Oje, ich wachse" from van de Rijt, Brams and Plooij (don't know the english title). Otherwise the last week would have been a disaster.
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.
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!
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.
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.
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:
- Charlotte now pedals a lot more than before, she's starting to use her arms and legs.
- She also can see farther, for example she starts to recognize the mobile hanging above the changing table.
- 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.
- In addition to the crying there are now also tears appearing sometimes.
- And last but not least Marlene and me, we both believe that Charlotte sometimes already smiles at us :-)
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...
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.
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!
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.
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.
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:
- Charlotte now pedals a lot more than before, she's starting to use her arms and legs.
- She also can see farther, for example she starts to recognize the mobile hanging above the changing table.
- 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.
- In addition to the crying there are now also tears appearing sometimes.
- And last but not least Marlene and me, we both believe that Charlotte sometimes already smiles at us :-)
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...
Friday, March 6, 2009
Charlotte's growing
As 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.
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.
From now on, you will be able to track her growing:
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.
From now on, you will be able to track her growing:
Wednesday, February 25, 2009
Charlotte Martha, * 02.17.2009
She's there! Our daughter Charlotte was born last Tuesday.
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.
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 :-)
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!
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!
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.
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 :-)
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!
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!
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