I suck at keeping up with this blog. I hope that I can be better now that I am only working one job!
The months of February and March have been intense. On top of working two jobs, and being a full-time Mama, I took an intensive Deutsch B1.1 course, which was five days a week for a month! Then, the course ended, Fabian got sick, Emma had a birthday, and now I’m sort of recovered?
I was sick the last three days of my German course—I wrote the reading comprehension test (badly), then my teacher sent me home. I guess I looked really bad. I know I felt awful! When I got home, I discovered I had a small fever, then the next two days I had intense head aches. Two days later, Fabian notices some sort of rash on his chest, and when it started hurting him, he went to the doctor and found out he has shingles (herpes zoster), caused by the same virus that gives children the chicken pox.
So yea, shingles are fun. Fabian has been in a lot of pain for most of the last week and a half. The doctor said they were probably brought on by stress, which makes sense. It is a little bit funny, because we had just decided not to get Emma vaccinated against the chicken pox, and we still didn't vaccinate her against it even though Fabian has shingles… fortunately Emma isn't showing any signs of the chicken pox, and Fabian is past the contagious part. So, we are probably in the clear.
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In other news, Emma started walking (sort of)! She has a small push wagon that she got after Christmas, and the day before her birthday, she started walking with it back and forth across the room for 30 minutes! Since then, she's gotten steadier with it, and now practices balancing herself when she stands. It is so cool! We bought her a pair of leather-soled shoes as a sort of congratulations. :)
She hasn’t figured out how to change directions, so she just keeps going until she runs into a piece of furniture. Then, she looks confused why she can’t go and lifts her feet like she’s walking in place. It’s cute and funny!
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Emma’s first birthday was a lot of fun, but holy cow, children’s birthday parties are STRESSFUL!!
We originally thought we would have a nice birthday brunch at 11, but two weeks before her birthday, Fabian’s dad asked if he could grill. Who are we to turn down a barbecue?! The weather didn’t quite cooperate (so cold!), but we still grilled, and it was delicious. Fabian made tasty cucumber and chickpea salads, and we made rhubarb chutney and apple barbecue sauce to go with the meat. Mmmmm! (For the record, Emma was not a fan of the chickpea salad.)
The most stressful part of the party was opening presents. Emma was already tired because she didn’t nap well in the morning, and by the time 2:00p rolled around, she was pretty done. We also had a 3.5-year-old at the party, who was intent on “helping” Emma open presents. Cute, but overwhelming.
Emma had her own smash cake. At first, she didn’t know what to do with it, but Oma helped her out by scooping a big fingerful of frosting and sticking it in Emma’s mouth. About 20 seconds later, Emma was all over the cake!
I really wonder what she thought about the day. Randomly given a cake, tons of presents and attention? If I didn’t know what was going on, I know I would be confused.
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One of the coolest presents Emma received was a hand-made riding toy.
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A few random bits to tie up this post:
- Emma got her 7th tooth, and the 8th is almost here! Right now it’s a nice whitish lump sitting just under her gums.
- Emma makes funny noises by flipping her lip with her finger (bl-ub, bl-ub, bl-ub). Cuter is when she smiles because the noise is so silly!
- Transitioning to solid foods is a real commitment. I didn’t realize how challenging it could be to create a diet for someone else!
- I am slowly adding recipes to this blog. We have a lot of good ones, and it’s a shame to keep them to myself. :)
That’s all I’ve got for tonight. I hope to write again soon!
