Happy 1st birthday, Emma!

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!

Mis-adventures in feeding

The past few days have been a huge struggle. Emma didn’t gain any weight until five days after we saw the midwife for the first time. We were so happy!

We’ve been having such a tough time feeding Emma, it got to the point where I dreaded her meal time because I knew how challenging it would be. She just fought me, and would only actually eat for about 20 minutes in the hour (or more) that I sat with her each time. No wonder she wasn’t getting fat! Three days ago, she flat out refused to suck. We called the midwife, and she said she would come over again in the evening with formula, if it was alright with me. It was. I really wanted Emma to eat something. It was really stressful and hard for me that Emma wouldn’t eat. I ended up in tears four times in a row when trying to feed her. It’s so stressful and scary when you’re the food supply, and your child who can’t communicate with you except in very loud screams, isn’t interested in the food.

I was asleep when the midwife came, but she talked to Fabian and explained that it seemed like Emma isn’t strong enough to suck properly, and that the breastfeeding is especially exhausting for her. So, we got formula and a breast pump;  I was to pump what I could, and feed her that first, then supplement with the formula.

It worked relatively well, but Emma still wasn’t eating the full 90 ml like a newborn should. She only ate about 50-60 ml in each sitting. But, something must be working--the next time the midwife weighed her, she had gained 40 grams! We were very pleased. :)

Emma always looks super pissed that we’re feeding her. Look at that brow!

Until two days ago, Emma has been a little saint breastfeeding when the midwife was around. Finally, she fought and cried the same way she did with me! It sounds horrible, but I was really happy Emma pitched a fit because the midwife could see that she was not eating properly. The midwife fought with her, got her to eat a little, but Emma was definitely not happy about it. The midwife even said Emma was  a little bit bitchy about eating (her words). Our next set of instructions were to try to get her to breastfeed, and when she wouldn’t try anymore, then give her the bottle.

This was relatively successful, and yesterday Emma would eat a little bit on her own (without fighting!) before we gave her the bottle. She is also finally eating almost the amount she should! She was up to 80 ml yesterday. We were so proud!

Now, we are trying to wean her off the bottles. I  have this nifty contraption that is a “supplemental nursing system” that feeds her formula while she’s breastfeeding. It’s a pain in the ass, and Emma doesn’t like it at all. I can tell it’s going to be another rough couple of days until she gets used to it.

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The things I do for my daughter…! The midwife gave me instructions to drink a cup of “Bockshornkleesamen” (in English, it’s Fenugreek, but I don’t know what that is either…) everyday to help with milk production. The midwife apologized, because it is really disgusting. When Henriette learned I had to drink this, she had immediate sympathy, because she remembered how completely awful it was. Basically, this stuff smells like mild curry, and tastes completely bitter. It is so awful!

Doesn’t it look like boogers??! It was also a little bit clumpy. Blek.

The first glass I had resembled boiled snot. The tea recipe Fabian found ended up being too thick, so I couldn’t drink it. I was stuck spooning this horrible mix. Fabian had the idea to put honey into it, which made it very marginally better.

I think Fabian gets way too much joy out of making the “tea” for me every day, probably because he doesn’t have to drink it! I made him try one big spoonful, and it was obvious he regretted it as soon as it was in his mouth. Afterwards, we were able to laugh about it. :)

This is exactly what I think of Bockshornkleesamen.

The second glass I had was marginally better. He altered the recipe so it wouldn’t be as ungodly thick, and it was at least drinkable. Drinkable booger tea disappears faster than the spoon-able booger tea anyway…

I really liked the midwife’s suggestion of champagne and Malzbeer for milk production better than booger tea. I can’t complain too much though, because it is working. Hopefully Emma will get her shit together soon enough and figure out how to eat properly so I won’t have to drink it anymore!

Driving lessons

It’s happening, I must face my arch-nemesis head on. That’s right, Mr. Manual Transmission, you and I have a score to settle.

One of the downsides to living in Grenzhof, a historic farming community of 150-200 people that is now part of Heidelberg, is the absolute lack of transportation connecting the community to the rest of civilization in Heidelberg and Mannheim. Fabian’s parents have cars, and I am welcome to use them, but the trick is that they are both manual-transmission. I learned how to drive in America, the land of the lazy drivers who favor automatic-transmission, and need to get my butt in gear (ha!) to learn how to drive stick.

Saturday, my new friend from the baby class wanted to go to a bakery to hang out, but I had no way to get into Heidelberg because Schwiegermutter was busy entertaining a 9-year-old for the day. Instead, I invited Jackie over to go for a walk in the forest and have tea. She had a car, and was happy to come to visit me for the afternoon.

It was a nice visit, and we had chocolate fondue with my German family and the little girl at 4:00p (which was totally random), but it was quite fun. I felt a little bit funny because it was two of my different worlds colliding together (new English speaking friends that I don’t know very well and my German family), and I wasn’t sure how it would go over. But, everyone had a good time. Fabian's mom and Lilly said we looked cute sitting together with our big bellies.

So, getting back to driving. During dinner that evening, my mother-in-law announced that I must learn how to drive on a manual-transmission car so that I can drive to visit my friend in Heidelberg. Learning to drive stick has been on my radar since I moved to Germany, but I’ve just not been proactive about doing anything about it.

Sunday, after lunch, Fabian's mom announced that she wanted ice cream for dessert, and that I was going to drive to the ice cream shop in Eppelheim to get some. Um…. Eeek! I wasn’t excited about driving (or rather stalling a zillion times) in front of everyone. I can stall when I’m by myself or with Fabian and not get too flustered, but I didn’t want a huge audience. She earnestly assured me that it was much less stressful to learn from a woman than from a man.

It turned out that just Fabian, his mom, and me were going to get ice cream, and we took orders to bring ice back for everyone else. Much to my dismay, before I could sit in the passenger seat, I got re-directed to the drivers seat. I stalled the first time I tried to start, then did relatively okay until I got mixed directions about where to turn and stalled just behind the rail crossing gate as a tram was approaching. I was SO glad I could wait and collect my spaz while the tram passed before I had to try starting again! The rest of the drive was fine with a few stalls when I was leaving the ice cream shop, but overall, not too bad. Not too bad at all.

Later in the evening, Fabian and I went to the swimming pool (yes, I wore my bikini baring my big 8-month belly) and he made me drive home. After spending 10-minutes getting out of the parking lot, I had to face real traffic. The drive from Schwetzingen had a lot more traffic than the drive to and from Eppelheim, and I was terrified of having to stop at red lights and stalling and pissing off the drivers behind me. Fortunately, all the lights were green!! :D The only time I stalled after getting out of the parking lot was when I was parking and didn’t clutch hard enough.

It was an incredibly frustrating, yet rewarding day. Overall, a positive experience. I think my next opportunity to practice will be driving to the doctor on Thursday morning. I’m interested to see how badly parallel parking will be… 

But, you hear that Mr. Manual Transmission?! I will defeat you!!!! The prospect of having a real social life and not being stuck in Grenzhof all the time is just too tempting to let you beat me. Again.