Sunday, August 17, 2008

Catch Up

Well, it has been forever since I last posted pictures, sorry about that. We were in Austria all of July and since then we have been taking turns being sick with the stomach flu, common cold, sinus infection, and right now Lilly has croup! We haven't had time for a breather yet.
Lilly started daycare a couple of weeks ago - I guess that's why my kid, who usually is barely sick - is now non-stop sniffling, coughing, and worse. Shaun and I aren't so sure if its worth it yet. Otherwise she does fine at daycare. She isn't too thrilled about the change in routine and she misses her 3-hour naps as well as carrying her blankie around with her all the time, but I am sure she will adjust.
Today she is busy playing with her new foam blocks and emptying out my tupperware cabinet. It makes a huge mess, but she is having fun and it distracts her from being sick.
I lost my camera, so there won't be too many pictures in the near future, but I still have a bunch of pics from our Austria trip that I will post soon. Now I'll have to go and put my little critter to bed and feed the sick one.

Monday, August 4, 2008

Our Austria vacation

The first couple of weeks Lilly and I spent a lot of time visiting family. Lilly had a very nice time meeting her extended family and she also behaved fairly well. I was nice to see her interact with the people I grew up with.

Here we were visiting with my godmother and her family - the picture shows my cousin Hanni and our little critter playing with stuffed animals.

She loved playing peek-a-boo with my aunt Frieda, who also supplied Lilly with a stash of fresh peas and kohlrabi. She enjoyed eating them straight out of the garden.

Lil is hanging out with Opa, watching her Magiq DVD. She isn't a very cuddly person, so that was the closest my poor dad could get to her without her getting upset. She isn't one for the kissing and hugging...

We went swimming with my sister Dani and her kids. The little ones had a blast.




Going for one of many walks with Rene and Marko, looking at the horses. The kids enjoyed jumping in the puddles.

Saturday, June 7, 2008

Lilly loves the froggy!

WARNING - this posting might be considered offensive to some of you!
We went last night out for dinner with Grandma and Grandpa. We went to this really authentic Chinese Buffet. The food there is very tasty and everybody enjoys trying new foods.
Lilly loves her Grandpa and she blindly trusts him, so when he fed her frog legs, she ate a few bites, then she wanted more! I was utterly disgusted by that, but since I want her to try all kinds of foods to find her own preferences, not mine, I just let Grandpa do his thing. Yes, Lilly loves her froggy - she likes to play with her toy frogs in the bathtub, she likes watching them at the aquarium, AND she likes to chew on them as well! Yummy!

Wir waren gestern Abend beim einem sehr authentischen Chinesischen Buffet. Das Essen ist sehr gut und die Auswahl ist gross. Wir probieren jedes Mal neue Sachen aus. Dieses Mal hat Grandpa auch Lilly in seine Abenteuer mithineingezogen. Er hat ihr doch tatsaechlich Froschschenkel gegeben! Mir ist dabei ja fast schlecht geworden, aber Lilly hat es total geschmeckt! Sie liebt ihre Froesche, ob es die Plastikfroesche zum Spielen in der Badewanne sind, die Froesche die wir uns im Aquarium anschauen, ODER ob es die ach-so-guten-Froschschenkel vom Chinesen sind... Lecker!

Working with the Boys


We had this really tall tree with tons of thorns right next to our house. Over the years (even before we bought the house) the tree has damaged the roof and the foundation of the house. Shaun and Bob decided to get rid of it. This proofed to be a rather difficult job, because the neighbor's house as well as the power lines are extremely close. So the tree had to be cut down little by little. It took a couple of days, but the guys did an awesome job. Lilly had to join in the victory and sit with Papa and Grandpa on the cut down tree. She was determined to steal as many ice cubes as she could. Great job guys!
Wir hatten diesen grossen Baum neben dem Haus der um einiges hoeher als das Dach war. Ueber die Jahre (bevor wir das Haus gekauft haben) hat der Baum das Dach und die Grundierung des Hauses geschaedigt. Shaun und Bob haben beschlossen den Baum umzuschneiden. Das war nicht so einfach wie es sich anhoert, da der Baum in kleinen Stuecken runtergeholt werden musste weil wir ueberall Stromleitungen haben. Nach zwei Tagen Arbeit ist nur noch ein Baumstumpf uebrig. Lilly musste "mithelfen", vor ein paar Tagen ist sie auf die Leiter raufgeklettert und gestern hat sie sich dann mit den Maennern auf dem umgeschnittenen Baum ausrasten muessen. Dabei hat sie auch so viele Eiswuerfel wie moeglich gestohlen.

Friday, June 6, 2008

Willkommen zu Hause, Oma!


Hallo Oma! Ein bisschen verspaetet, aber wir freuen uns wahnsinnig dass Du wieder zu Hause bist. Mit viel Geduld und Uebung wird es schon wieder werden. Ich bin stolz auf Dich weil Du nicht aufgibst, auch wenn es schwer ist. Wir haben Dich lieb!
Meine Schwester Dani und ihre Maenner kuemmern sich um meine Mama und mein Bruder Martin kommt vorbei und geht mit Mama spazieren. Ich bin froh dass die beiden fuer Mama da sind wenn ich so weit weg bin. Danke. Ich freue mich auch schon in vier Wochen nach Hause zu fliegen und meine Familie wiederzusehen. Das wird auch das erste Mal sein dass Lilly ihre Familie kennenlernen wird!

Happy Birthday Grandpa!


We hope you had a nice birthday! You are a great Grandpa to our little Chipmunk. Thanks! Lilly is always looking forward to spend time with you, rolling watermelons, looking at trees, playing peek-a-boo, climbing ladders, aso. For all of you that I haven't told this yet: Lilly is very attached to Grandpa. She likes hanging with the guys in the family. Mama is only important when she tired, hurt, or whenever Mama actually is trying to get stuff done :) Enjoy your birthday-dinner and thanks for helping Shaun with all the stuff around the house.

Tuesday, June 3, 2008

Very Belated Easter Pics


We spent Easter Sunday at Grandma and Grandpa's house. Lilly wasn't feeling very well - she has a tendency to get sick around the holidays - but we still had a great time. The Easter bunny was very generous to her! Due to her short attention span we asked the Easter bunny to bring his presents from Mama and Papa and Grandma and Grandpa all at the same time. In addition to that she had already gotten presents from Oma, Opa, Godi, and Onkel Martin at home.
Wir haben den Ostersonntag bei Shaun's Eltern verbracht. Lilly hat sich noch immer noch nicht so gut gefuehlt - sie hat es sich zur Angewohnheit gemacht dass sie an Feiertagen krank wird - aber wir hatten einen schoenen Tag. Der Osterhase war sehr grosszuegig, wie man sehen kann. Da sich unsere Maus auf Nichts lange konzentrieren kann, ist der Osterhase von Mama, Papa, Grandma, und Grandpa alles auf einmal gebracht. Der arme Hase muss sich sowieso ueberhoben haben. :) Es hat ja auch schon vorher zu Hause Nestchen von Oma, Opa, Godi, und Onkel Martin gegeben.

Monday, June 2, 2008

Playing outside

Lilly liebt es draussen zu spielen. Sie hat neues Spielzeug bekommen - ihr Flugzeug mit Pooh Bear als Pilot. Sie laeuft draussen damit rum und sie will es gar nicht hergeben. Aber pass' auf wenn es Zeit zum reinkommen wird - sie weigert sich mit Haenden und Fuessen. Woher hat sie bloss diesen Dickkopf?

Swap Meet & Watermelons

May 23rd - we were planning a picnic at the park with B and C, but the rain changed our plans. So we decided to go to the mall instead. They have a nice toddler playground there and Lilly and B enjoyed the soft toys to play with. Afterwards we did some shopping and got lunch. We always enjoy spending time with friends and we are so proud of the girls because they are doing so great whenever we take them somewhere. I am actually surprised how good they are. They are great kids.
23. Mai - wir haben ein Piknik im Park mit B und C geplant, aber der Regen hat unsere Plaene geaendert. Wir haben beschlossen zum Einkaufszentrum zu gehen. Dort haben sie einen schoenen, weichen Spielplatz fuer Kleinkinder. Danach sind wir einkaufen gegangen und waren beim Mittagessen. Die Maedels sind immer so brav. Es ist nett dass wir mit ihnen ueberall hingehen koennen und sie gut sind. Sie sind tolle Kids.
We went with Papa to the Springfield Swap Meet and Car Show and had a great time. He got to look at and buy a bunch of car parts and Lilly and I got to walk around, watch dog, people, cars, eat good food and most importantly, spend time with Papa. It was a very nice day and Lilly found a little chair to rest on. She had her mind made up, cleared it off, and sat down for a bit. It was funny to watch her.
Wir waren mit Papa bei einem grossen Autoteileabverkauf und einer Autoshow und wir hatten viel Spass. Papa hat einige Autoteile gekauft und Lilly und ich sind lange spazieren gegangen, wir haben Hunde gesehen, alle moeglichen Leute, viele Autos, haben gutes Essen gehabt, und das Wichtigste: wir haben ganz viel Zeit mit Papa verbracht. Wir hatten einen schoenen Tag und Lilly hat sogar einen kleinen Stuhl gefunden. Sie hat abgeraeumt und sich draufgesetzt und eine kleine Pause gemacht. Es war witzig ihr dabei zuzuschauen.

That night we went to Grandma and Grandpa's house for Memorial Day dinner. We had great food and a lot of fun playing with Lilly. She loved the watermelon! Playing with it and eating it. It was the first time that she ate a slice of watermelon and not cut up. It was a mess, but she really enjoyed it.
An dem Abend sind wir dann noch zu Shaun's Eltern zum Abendessen gegangen. Wir hatten gutes Essen und Spass mit Lilly. Sie wird dort ja so verwoehnt. Sie liebt Wassermelone - sie hat sie rumgerollt und dann hat Grandpa sie aufgeschnitten zum Verschmausen. Lilly hat einen furchtbaren Saustall gemacht, aber sie hat es genossen.

Wednesday, May 28, 2008

Hanging with friends

These pictures are from May 13th through 16th. We had a few nice days and Lilly and I were playing outside with the neighbor's girl. Tyler was riding her bike and Lilly was walking around, holding on to Mama and the orange construction cone that was put up the last time we had a flood and the asphalt around the manhole broke. By now they have removed the cones, but nothing has been fixed. Go figure - that's Harrison Township for you! Lilly had a blast balancing between the cones.
Diese Fotos sind vom 13. bis 16. Mai. Wir hatten ein paar schoene Tage und Lilly und ich haben draussen mit dem Nachbarmaedchen gespielt. Tyler ist mit ihrem Fahrrad gefahren und Lilly ist rumgegangen - mit Haende halten. Sie hat diese orangen Dinger gefunden und wollte gar nicht mehr davon weg. Wird sie eine Strassenarbeiterin werden? Wohl eher nicht, da sie es ueberhaupt nicht mag wenn ihre Haende schmutzig werden.
On Friday we went with B and C to the Boonshoft Museum. The girl like watching the animals - it seemed like the ducks were by far the most interesting ones. Probably because they were the only ones that at least moved a little bit. So far we haven't managed to see the otters in action, but I am sure the girls will love seeing them when we do get a chance. They played for a couple of hours and it took only a couple of minutes in the car before Lilly was asleep.
Am Freitag waren wir mit B und C beim Museum. Die Maedchen haben sich gerne die Tiere angeschaut - die Enten waren die ausgesuchten Lieblinge, wahrscheinlich weil es die einzigen Tiere waren die sich grossartig bewegt haben. Es war um die Mittagszeit und fast alle haben geschlafen. In dem Alter ist halt nichts interessant das sich nicht bewegt. Bis jetzt haben wir es noch nie geschafft die Ottern zu sehen. Entweder schlafen sie oder ihr Gehege wird gereinigt. Irgendwann werden wir sie aber beim Spielen erwischen und dann werden die Maedels sich freuen.
She loves her blankie and carseat - sie liebt ihre Decke und den Autositz!

Sunday, May 25, 2008

14 months

Okay, for the past couple of weeks I only uploaded pictures to the blog, but didn't publish them yet, with the good intentions of writing the text and posting later. I just figured out that everything gets published in the order I uploaded it to start out with, so we are a bit out of sequence here. Sorry. Just enjoy the little things that go on in our lives. Such as right now Lilly is rather upset with me because I won't let her play with my laptop and a few minutes ago she got her foot stuck underneath the glass door of the stereo system...
Okay, die letzten paar Wochen habe ich nur Fotos auf mein Blog geladen, sie aber nicht gepostet (ist das ein Wort?) Jetzt probiere ich mit dem Schreiben aufzuholen und bin draufgekommen dass alles in der falschen Reihenfolge aufscheinen wird. Da ich mich nicht gut genug mit dem Blog auskenne um das zu aendern, geniesst einfach die Fotos und die kleinen Sachen die in unserem Leben passieren. So wie Lilly gerade mit mir boese ist weil ich sie nicht mit dem Computer spielen lasse. Und vor ein paar Minuten hat sie sich den Fuss unter der Glasstuere der Stereoanlage eingeklemmt...

Lilly is now 14 months old. It's hard to believe how fast time has gone by. Isn't she getting big? She is now 25.5 lbs! She wears a 24 months in tops and 18 months in pants. Her bathing suit is even a 3T. She has a long upper body and pretty short legs, I guess she is coming after her Papa.
Lilly ist jetzt 14 Monate alt. Ich kann kaum glauben wie schnell die Zeit vergeht. Sie wird schon so gross. Sie wiegt jetzt 11.5 Kilo! Dani, haben wir Marko schon eingeholt? Sie traegt Kleidung fuer 2-jaehrige und ihr Badeanzug ist sogar fuer 3 Jahre. Sie hat einen langen Oberkoerper, aber ziemlich kurze Beine, genauso wie ihr Papa.

Swinging! Lilly loves the swings. She can spend quiet a while in them and she cracks up every time she goes up high. We go about every day to a park so she can enjoy her new hobby.
Lilly liebt es zu schaukeln. Sie lacht jedes Mal wenn sie hoch raufgeht. Wir gehen fast jeden Tag zum Park damit sie schaukeln kann.

Tuesday, May 6, 2008

Weekend with Mama

Its been three weeks since I posted last and I have to apologize for that. It's been quiet busy. The first week there was work and spending a bunch of time with Lilly since I was going to be gone for a while. We had fun going to different parks, swinging, playing on playsets, crawling in the grass, playing with Brooklyn, hiking, watching ducks and geese, a.s.o. It was nice to have this concentrated "special time" with my little angel.
Thank you Sonja for this awesome birthday present - Lilly loves it and by now she has discovered how to get on and off without help and how to make the noises come on. She is a little bouncer.

We went to baby yoga with Brooklyn and Casey and afterwards we went in the kids garden at Wegerzyn Gardens. The girls had fun playing with the bells. We realized they might be a bit too old for baby yoga - they are too mobile.

Going for a long walk by the river. Lilly and Wally both enjoyed that one.

Lilly, Wally, and I went hiking around the lake and stopped for a little picnic afterwards. Our little critter is getting pretty heavy! But its good exercise.

Wednesday, April 30, 2008

Wegerzyn Gardens

L and I went for a long walk on Sunday. We stopped at the Botanical Garden. She loves looking and touching flowers. Although, she had a complete meltdown when I made her get back in the stroller. That was her first real big show-off in public. What a joy! I will have a tooth-implant surgery on Thursday morning - wish me luck, I can use it. We also changed the layout of our first floor around. We switched the dining room and the family room. Now its much cozier and L has more space to walk. We are just trying to get used to not eat while watching TV. That's a hard habit to break. Maybe one of these days we will amount to a good example for our baby girl. :)




Next week I will go to IPI with T. I am really looking forward to that and it'll be nice to do it with a friend. I am determined to come back a better person, or something like that. I think when my husband went, it really helped him change some stuff. I am looking for similar results. I am just going to miss L - its five days without her. But maybe I can get some sleep. (As long as T doesn't snore, lol)

First Haircut!

On Tuesday L had her very first haircut. Her hair was already really long - some of it went down to the middle of her back! Now she has bangs and shoulder length hair. She was so good. She only complained once for a couple of seconds, but see yourself, she was otherwise great! She got her first lock to take home, Papa blew bubbles for her, she got to play with toys, watch Nemo, and had her picture taken. She also got a certificate for her first haircut. She was so proud of herself.




Walking, walking, walking...



We are celebrating! L had a very busy and eventful week! She said farewell to the paci, started to walk on Saturday, changed to taking only one nap, and had her first haircut yesterday. We went on Saturday to lunch with Papa and then to the library book sale and she was very patient with us. We got tons of books and tapes very inexpensive. When we came home we played with L and to our big surprise she started walking all by herself, right after she concentrated pooping her pants. It was so funny!
Wir feiern! L hatte eine sehr wichtige Woche! Sie hat den Schnuller aufgegeben, hat am Samstag gehen gelernt, nimmt nur noch ein Schlaefchen (das koennte von mir aus zwei sein), und sie hatte gestern ihren ersten Haarschnitt. Wir sind am Samstag mit Papa zum Mittagessen gegangen und danach zum Buecherabverkauf der Bibliothek. Wir haben einen Haufen Buecher und Videos sehr billig bekommen. Nachdem wir nach Hause gekommen sind haben wir mit L gespielt und zur grossen Ueberraschung ist sie zum ersten Mal ganz alleine durchs Wohnzimmer gegangen! Wir sind so stolz!


We had a playdate with B on Friday. The girls had a fun time! They both like playing at the playground. L always has a big smile on her face when she sees B.
Am Freitag sind wir mit B zum Spielplatz gegangen. Die Maedchen hatten Spass! Die beiden lieben den Spielplatz. L hat immer ein grosses Laecheln am Gesicht wenn sie B sieht!