Christmas 2011

When I was 5, Christmas meant gifts!  When I was 15, Christmas meant giving, so long as I got gifts.  When I was 25, Christmas really was about giving.  Now that I'm 30 ( with 31 looming just 3 days away and an almost 2-year-old-son) it really, really, truly about giving.

It's so amazing how Christmas evolves each year that you celebrate it.  About 3 years ago (2008) Stephen and I were looking face-to-face with our very first Christmas alone.  Just the two of us.  We thought it would be special and romantic;  in a way it was, but in another very real way it was not.

We found that we were alone, separated and a bit left out of what our families were experiencing.  Anyone who's ever experienced a major holiday away from their extended family can relate...which, sadly, is quite a few families in wake of what we've experienced lately (military wise).

As a response, we resolved never to spend a Christmas "alone" again without making it adventure in some way.

The following Christmas (2009), we planned a trip to the German Alps and were expecting our child within a few months.  In 2010, we again took a trip to the German Alps during Thanksgiving (with son and my in-laws happily in tow) and then enjoyed our son's first Christmas at home.  This year, we are headed (no surprise) to the German Alps the day after Christmas and are quite looking forward to it.  It seems that we've started our own family tradition!

Today, we throughly enjoyed watching our son voraciously ripping into his Christmas gifts that came from grandparents, Aunt, Great Aunt/Uncle and mom & dad.  We were thrilled to see the joy he derived from discovering and triumphing over the new challenges laid before him.

The day was truly a balancing act.  With a nearly-2-year-old, one must decide when too much "new" has been enough.  In fact, we reached the "too much new" phase about 10 am this morning when he was ready for some alone time in his room and fell asleep for a 2 hour nap (he usually naps around 2pm).  We were then left with an over-stimulated, over-excited young'in in the afternoon.  Thankfully, video-calls to both sets of parents and the God-parents gave Zac the outlet he needed for the afternoon energy surge.

After dinner (Enchiladas: A Watson tradition I am LOVING!), we played a rousing game of "which parent is craziest, which eventually lead to exhaustion.  As it stands now, we just need Papa to pack his bag and get a cache of snacks and we'll be ready for our 2011 adventure in the Alps.

This year we've got a gorge hike planned.  Thanks to global warming, the Alps have seen record lows of snowfall, which means sledding is out;  but hiking is in!  Stay tuned for photos and stories of our latest adventures.

With our story told, we hope, from the bottom our our hearts, that you have throughly enjoyed the best Christmas of your life!

Look forward to 2012 because it's going to be an amazing year!!!

(Photos coming soon!!!)

A Hostage In My Own Home

We are now on Day 5 of "Big Boy Bed" Training.  It isn't going easily.  It's much like going trough teething again, only this time I'm the one causing the "pain".

I get some comfort in reading about other moms' battles with the transition but mostly I am tortured by this whole process.  The boy must take naps and he needs sleep - but he just won't go peacefully.  Nap times are usually preceded with 60-90 minutes of play-time & crying (play time - fine!  crying - torture!).  Bed time is all about going up to "rescue" him after 15-20 minutes of crying, spending 5 or so minutes with him and going through the process again and again until he passes out (usually 2-3 visits).

Stephen has been a great support in all this, but he's at work during the day - he only has to play the game once a day.  It's chipping away at me.  By the time he falls asleep for his afternoon nap, I feel like I should be calling CPS on myself!  In the process of waiting for him to fall asleep, I am a hostage in my own home.  I can't get my housework done because any noise I make he uses it as a kick start to a new crying jag.

Oh, did I mention, Zac has finally started verbalizing "mama" and "papa".  He's been using the sign language signs for mama and papa for quite some time, but it's an amazing feeling to finally hear him call out our names...unless, of course, it's under duress.

I've read all about transitioning a toddler and I know what I'm "supposed" to do.  I even know how to handle "out of the ordinary" situations - but none of the "magic" is working.  Zac is not happy to put himself to bed and I am not happy with how this is playing out for him.

As a parent, I know full well that I will ruin his life somehow.  I was just hoping it was going to be in a way that I wasn't aware of and much later in his life.

Is it too soon to find him a therapist?

Big Boy Bed

Yesterday afternoon (Nov. 4, 2011), I went upstairs to relieve Zac from his afternoon rest to be greeted AT HIS DOOR by the one and only Zac HIMSELF!  The escape artist had finally figured out how to get out of his crib.

I promptly plopped him back in his crib and asked him to "show me your trick!".  At which time, he promptly showed me how he hefted his little leg onto the crib rail and began throwing his body weight around in order to get his core up and over.

When papa came home, I relayed the news (that we'd be installing the toddler rail before bed time) and so Papa had to ask him to "show me the trick" with the very same results.  So, we put our brains in gear and couldn't, for the life of us, remember where the movers had put the toddler rail conversion kit for Zac's crib.  After checking both the usual and unusual places, we decided that the toddler rail probably got tossed out with other boxes and won't me making an appearance any time soon.

Papa, in his infinite ingenuity,  devised a way to transition the current crib to it's 3rd position as a day bed...and big boy bed training begun.

Zac and I hung out in his new and improved bedroom while Papa ran to the store to pick up a safety rail.  Zac was having a grand time!  Hanging out in a bed that allowed him the freedom he deserved helped to give him confidence in himself and allowed him to have a whole new power over his personal space that he's never enjoyed before.

All was well and good until bed time.  How is it that  a bed that he's always slept in, with one "freedom inducing" change and that was just fine 30 minutes before hand is now a torture instrument?

SCREAMING, bloody murder screaming is what we endured for almost an hour (we went to him ever 10 or 15 minutes to calm him down and to reassure him that we were still here for him).  He finally tired himself out enough when I had gone up for the last "watch" of the night and "laid" with him in his bed.

The same happened during our afternoon nap today.

Bedtime this evening was worse than the night before.  However this time, Papa took a new approach.

Mama took the first shift and got Zac ready for bed, read some books, had a sip of milk, did the good night prayer...not 2 minutes after Mama left, the raging scream fest began.  Papa headed up 15 minutes after initial bedtime to calm the waters and really gave Zac power over his new arrangements.

A series of questions (all answered with a very enthusiastic "no" head shake) opened Zac's world to a new way of seeing his most familiar surroundings.  "Does this look like your old bed?", "Is your bed scary?", "This looks like your pack 'n' play and you can tickle the rough sides, right?", etc.  All trying to show Zac how familiar and comfortable his own bed was regardless that it was without one side.

Stephen was able to temporarily calm him, leave the room and Screamfest 2.2 began.  Thankfully, just 5 minutes into the fest Zac, found his own way to his not so scary bed, laid down and is now (as I type) almost all the way to slumberland.

Whoa, what an adventure.  I remember "Ferberizing" him for sleeping through the night, but I don't remember it being this heart wrenching!

Here's hoping that tomorrow's nap time and bed time are half the battle that it's been so far.

My first book club

I attended my first book club meeting this evening. The book in question was "The Help" and it was a fantastic book!  I highly recommend it. 

I was very eager to attend the meeting as I've never been to a book club before and I'm still in the "Let's make new friends" mode.  I figured I'd meet other American women who had a similar interest as myself. 

The book club was held after hours at the library on base and it was pretty well organized.  A couple ladies brought snacks and drinks, the leader had questions prepared and almost everyone (10 in total) had finished the book. 

The first half of the club went swimmingly with the exception of the inevitable unrelated tangents and that ONE person who is always talking but not really saying anything.  

Suddenly, the mood of the whole group shifted when one of the participants, lets call her Mary, didn't exactly agree with the majority on a discussion point and was getting flack for it.  Mary asked, "what is the purpose of a discussion group if we all think the same thing?"  Though I found myself in the majority on this particular discussion, I was now quite aware of this new dynamic that Mary had introduced. 

The remainder of the discussion continued mostly as it had started (with a short hiccough when I expressed an opinion outside the majority) and in general I enjoyed meeting these 9 women who also enjoyed the book.

It didn't really sink in till I had some quiet time on the car ride home; what the heck is a book club for?  You wouldn't continue reading a book you didn't like and so therefore you wouldn't go to that meeting.  So a book club is a gathering of some people who all read the same book and generally had a similar opinion about that book.  So whatis there to discuss?  

I'm not sure I'm the book club type. Not only am I a slow reader, I usually read the same kinds of books and I hate to stir the beehive. No lively debate for me! No thank you.  I'm a peace maker and I'm often intimidated to speak out in opposition to popular consensus.  But I suppose I could continue going, if not to try new book genres then certainly to try new cookies.

Cycling Through

As we began our house search a few months back, we consistently noticed how very "active" St. Leon-ers were. Oftenwe would see more people on bikes than in cars and definitely a heard of walkers and even roller-bladers everywhere (I thought roller-blading went out in the 90's!). The best part was they all looked like they were enjoying it!

After we committed to the house that we have recently moved into, we decided it was time to dust off our bikes! We've always been good with hiking, but never did any biking as a family. So we sent our bikes off to the shop to get tuned up (after sitting in the garage for 3 years). Kaiserslautern just was NOT conducive to biking. Everything, everywhere was uphill.

This week, I scored us a baby bike-trailer. I put it together on Thursday, on Friday we took Zac for a walk in it (as it converts to a "stroller") and Saturday afternoon we took a very short tour around the neighborhood so that we could all g

et used to it. Zac took to it very well. So we figured it was time for a longer journey.

This morning (Sunday) we woke up, drank our coffee then committed to biking to the lake nearby (appx. 2.8 miles). I thought that 2.8 miles was PERFECT for our first sojourn. We haven't been on bikes in 3 years so a nice short trip would be a great way to break in our newest interest.

About 10 a.m. we were out the door and headed for fun! It didn't take long at all to get to the lake, we even had time to stop for fresh pretzles and we only had to spend about a 1/2 a mile on busier streets, otherwise it was all side streets and bike paths. We got to the lake, locked up the bikes and disengaged the trailer and transformed it into a stroller.

We wheeled our way over to one of the larger play areas on the lake, spread out the blanket and nibbled away on pretzels and apples

. Zac played on the playground, ran around in the green space and we generally had a good time.

Stephen was getting antsy to get back on the road, but I wanted to stay a while yet. However, he tempted me away by saying "let's find that Chinese restaurant my co-worker recommended". DANG, Chinese food, my weakness!

We whipped out the iPhone and started mapping our route...humm, just another 4.5 miles away and it's in the direction of home. So I was onboard. Zac was back in the trailer and off we went to find lunch.

Approximately 3 miles later, my legs had had just about enough! (Oh, I may have forgotten to mention that I was the one pulling Zac). The promise of Chinese food was not keeping my momentum up, but finally the trees began to thin out and red paper lanterns could be seen in the spaces between. WE MADE IT!!

By now, Zac was way past done. He had been sitting for far too long hypnotized by the back wheel of my bike. So Stephen and Zac played outside while I got us settled at a table and got drinks ordered.

We dined at Ho's Garten in Kronau and it was delicious! We opted for the buffet (13.50 euro per person) and it was piled with fresh entrees, fried bits of all kinds, fresh fruit, sushi and even a mongolian grill. DELICIOUS! It was a bit expensive as a lunch stop, but we're happy we got to try the recommendation. Now we'll have to go back some time and order off the menu.

Once we were back on the paths to home, Zac started grumping again. I knew he was getting tired, but we had to make it home before any of us could do anything about it. About 5 min. into the final leg, we passed a dad and daughter also riding bikes and the daughters shouts to dad (in german) "the baby's asleep!" I turn my head and poor Zac is crumpled in half totally zonked out. We made a quick stop to see if we could get him a little more comfortable and with the help of a stuffed animal and a towel, we like to think that we did him a little service.

On the way home, we passed by a Neuwein stand!! I didn't think it was time yet! For those who don't know, Neuwein ("New Wine") is the first pressing of the seasons grapes. It's still lightly bubbly and usually has a low alcohol content. It's only available for a few weeks each year and comes in red and white. I prefer the white as it reminds me of apple cider...but with the added bonus of being wine! So I am now, as I type, enjoying my first glass of Neuwein on our balcony, recovering from our bike ride! I can't think of a better way than this.

On being a responsible community member of the Parenthood

As we "move in" to the "Parenthood" you learn new things by the bucket loads. You especially learn that life just isn't the same as pre-baby, and for the most part, it's really ok - sometimes, it's pretty AWESOME!

There are those things that change in your life that are not so great. The loss of some basic rights and privileges like: staying up partying all night, sleeping in, pooping without an audience, spontaneity. But, like I said earlier, these things usually are balanced out by the awesomeness of having a little one in your life.

In the past several weeks, my husband and I have been preparing to move to a new city. This is, at times, a stressful ordeal. There's much to do and often too little time and too many puppets to master. So, in an effort to maintain our sanity, we planned a date night. That date night was canceled on three separate occasions due to our babysitter canceling and so this week when our 3rd attempt had been thwarted, Stephen said that I should still go to the movie by myself. I DID NOT HESITATE! I had dinner ready when Stephen was home from work, Zac was already fed his dinner and after I ate my own dinner, I grabbed my purse and ran.

I had the pleasure of watching Harry Potter 7 and the movie was great! Unfortunately, it was only playing in 3D (perhaps sometime I'll tell you about how annoying I find the damn 3D glasses and the movies - especially those not shot in 3D like HP7.) As I was waiting for the doors to open to the viewing room, I was sitting enjoying some "fresh" popcorn and a cool beer (yes! they even serve beer at the movies here), a young Airman showed up with a baby carrier. Inside the carrier was what looked to be a two month old. My ticket was for the 8:30 p.m. showing so my brow wrinkled at the thought of even bringing such a young infant out of the house at that hour - let alone do so for a 2 hour movie!

We all know babies cry. We all know that no one likes it when babies cry. So why the hell did this man (and his wife, who joined them later after scoring her own popcorn and beer) even think that this was a good idea? Here I am, having date night BY MYSELF and now I have to share it with a pair of irresponsible Parenthood community members. GAH!

Well, it turns out there were at least two small infants invited to this evenings showing. And about mid-movie, just when the explosions were getting more intense and the screaming was getting more piercing, the babies began to cry. It's late, they're overstimulated and now I was watching the movie with the ears and eyes of an overprotective parent. The explosions and magical creatures were WAY too scary, the sound was WAY too loud and were definitely going to result in measurable infant hearing loss.

Please, please, PLEEEEEASE - I beg of you parents and parents-to-be; treat the rest of the community with the level of respect that you wish to be treated. I lost my babysitter and so I lost my date night - but I did NOT inflict a crying, over-tired toddler to my fellow movie goers.

Sacrifice is a part of being in the "'Hood" but it is all worth it, eventually.

Free-Range Eggs

I have long been a proponent of "Free-Range" eggs. I have made extra effort and paid a higher price at the check out in order to support what I thought was a more humane way of raising chickens.

Unfortunately, my recent study of free-range eggs has led me to a very disappointing conclusion: "free-range" is the new "all natural".

In the U.S. there are no standards that eggs must meet to be considered "free-range". That means just about any 'ole egg can be labeled as such.

Many egg suppliers will often add "cage free" or "barn roaming" to further their "free-range" claim so when buying your eggs, look for these labels! Or simplify life by choosing "Organic".

Here's an excerpt from Wikipedia to outline Organic Eggs:

Organic egg production is the production of eggs through organic means. In this process, the poultry are fed organic feed. According to the United States Department of Agriculture, organic means that the laying hens must have access to the outdoors and cannot be raised in cages.^[1] Organic egg producers cannot use antibiotics except during an infectious outbreak. Only natural molting can occur within the flock; forced molting is not allowed. Organic certification also requires maintenance of basic animal welfare standards.

That seals it for me!! I'm switching to organic - even though the cost of the eggs are double. On the up side, I have found that organic eggs taste better and have better color.

Will you join me in the push for organic eggs? If not for me, do it for those hard working hens. They don't deserved to be penned, injected and forced to produce.

Now it's time to dye some eggs!

Project 52

So I've been seeing a couple people in my social network working on "365 Projects" (posting photos or blogs daily w/ specific themes in mind). I guarantee you that 365 postings in a year is WAY more than I can commit to. Just look at my most recent history...my last posting was in October!! So much has happened since then but I've not posted about it.

Please don't hold your breath - I just can't catch up! So I'm starting fresh for the new year...that started four months ago.

HEY! lay off, i'm a busy woman.

If you're interested, here is the site that I'm getting my inspiration from: http://www.project52.net/

Yes, the year is currently in the 13th week, but I'm going to start with week one - "EGG".

Egg is my theme this week and I will post a photo and a story about an egg, centering on an egg or having some sort of egg relation. I will have this posted no later than Wed. April 13.

Now I need you to hold me to it! In fact, join me.