Long overdue

I know that I haven’t written anything since March. This update is long overdue.  I haven’t been feeling like myself and I haven’t had the motivation to write anything to anybody.

April went fast, and I felt drained by the end of the month. I was swamped with work, and Fabian had a few projects for school. In the miniscule amount of free time we had, we did a little bit of traveling in the region; I finished the sewing project I’d been meaning to do; Emma started talking (her first word was “banana”); and I joined a choir.

May also went fast, and poorly. Emma had her first real accident (stood up and whacked her face on the corner of a bench), we’ve had four days with sunshine and I still need to wear a jacket—in MAY, and to top it all, I lost my job. Sweet. At least my Mother’s Day was nice.

That little bit of travel
We had a nice weekend daytrip to Bensheim and Heppenheim. It was a Saturday, shops closed early, it was rainy and sunny, and we didn’t do a lot except wander aimlessly. We agree that Bensheim is nicer than Heppenheim.

We had a weird experience at a café in Heppenheim: for the first time, we felt unwelcome in a restaurant because we had a baby with us. They had a highchair, so you would think they expect a child customer now and then, but they gave us a glare when we walked upstairs, and couldn’t believe that we needed a place to change Emma. We left, went back to the car and headed to Bensheim 3 km away, because we couldn’t deal with ending the day on such a sour note.

Fortunately, Bensheim was much more fun. After a torrential rainstorm, the sun came out and we had a lovely jaunt around the city, Emma practiced walking, and then we had a second cup of coffee and a slice of cake at a much happier café where the waitress doted on Emma.

Sewing project
After I made the sofa cover, I bought fabric online through Etsy to make pillow covers. The fabric sat in a cabinet for almost five months before I did anything with it. Ta da!

Emma
It feels like everyday Emma is doing something new. She’s mastered a stacking toy, she can walk with help, she climbs up and down stairs (which took her all of 3 minutes to figure out). After mama and papa, her first word was banana, and she has added Nase (nose) and Baum (tree) to her vocabulary. EVERYONE ASKED and now I can say, she speaks more German than English. 

Emma’s personality has continued to emerge—she is such a little ham! :D When she is tired, she will lay down on the carpet and look all cute and stuff. She gets enthusiastic about feeding you, and won’t stop shoving food at your face until you eat it. Handfuls of grass are the best toy when we can play outside. She likes to feed the bunnies.

Networking
At the end of April, I took over as organizer for a parents/playdates Meetup group I was part of. The original organizer’s children are in school now and she didn’t want to continue paying for it. Nobody wanted to pick-up the leadership role, and at 5 days until close, I decided to take it over for a few months to see what happens.

After I organized a meetup at my house, one woman wrote me and said she lived in the next neighborhood over, and we should meet. So we did, and now Emma and I both have new friends that live seven minutes away, and the new friendships have been excellent for both of us.

New project
I’d had this idea in the back of my mind for a while, and I finally implement it. I have changed Emma’s diaper on the bathroom floor of many restaurants and cafés because there weren’t kid-friendly facilities. I know, I know, Germany is old, and old buildings, etc. But, my idea was to create a list of the restaurants and cafés that DO have amenities for children.  So, www.kidfriendlyin.de was born.

I have had a few setbacks though—I’m in the middle of rebuilding the website AGAIN. Ugh!! The first time I was frustrated with the way things were linked and had to recreate pages using a different template.  The second time I had a lovely fatal error and lost the entire site, so I switched CMS and am working  of through it. So. Tedious.

Losing the job
I was working as an independent contractor for five months, then last Friday, out of the blue, I get an email that says I should hold off on everything for a few weeks until bossman can get his ducks in a row. I think it boils down to the fact that he doesn’t really do email, and since I’m not there to talk to, he couldn’t manage the project.

On one hand, I was relieved, because doing a job with zero feedback was stressful because I didn’t know if I was on the right track. On the other hand, I felt screwed over that I had no inkling that it was coming.

Farherschein
I’ve lived in Germany for almost two years. I was supposed to exchange my Illinois drivers license for a German license after the first six months, but that just didn’t happen. So, I finally did it! I have a mean looking picture, and I will pick it up next week.

Summer plans
Big news, we are coming to the US this summer, and we will be in Chicago for the month of July. Emma and I will be in Nashville in September. If you want to visit, please start making plans, I am already getting very busy. :(

 

Emma certainly knows how to get comfy and pass out. I feel like that too, practically every day! :D Here’s hoping June is better. Good night y’alls.