Gotta get an update in before we leave for China in 4 days!
Life is moving so quickly lately. Paul came back from the conference to a hail storm. The storm came right as his plane was about to land so they ended up circling around the airport for a long time. At 7 am I heard it coming down but instead of the sound dying away like it usually does, it sounded like it was going to rip apart the apartment. Luckily, Jakob slept through it but I watched it from the window (after closing them all!) it was intense- by far the most intense one I've ever seen. After it quit, trees were wrecked, leaves everywhere, cars dented, planters filled with hail, and on the ground it looked like leftover snow- piles of ice everywhere.
Now this was extremely scary to watch because just the night before Jakob and I had gone with my friend, her husband, and daughter to her daughter's kinderkrippe party. Our babies were strolling around, getting soaked in the little pool, playing in the dirt, listening to the kid concert, and having a good time with the other kids and we stayed until after dinner when it looked like rain was coming. Unfortunately we left too late and the rain turned into a HUGE thunderstorm with torrential downpour but only for the exact window of time we were trying to get to the tram stop (about 10 min away). Had we known, we would have waited it out but in the end we had no umbrellas and were all soaked to the bone except Jakob who luckily was in the stroller bubble. So I was just imaging, as the hail was trashing the city, 'what if this had happened last night?!' Surely, we would have broken bones- it was that intense.
Anyway, Paul finally made it back and a couple days later some friends from Minnesota came into town. They stayed with us just for the night before moving on to other sights but it is always very refreshing to have guests in town. Jakob then had his 18 month checkup, vaccines and all. He is 83cm (32.7in) and 12.85kg (28.3lbs). He's definitely a big, heavy child compared to a lot of the kids around here. And when the doctor gave him the shots, both times he just made a face and leaned away- not one peep. Talk about a big boy! At this appointment I also talked with the doctor more about the Hep A vaccine and while the disease is very treatable and worse in adults, I just didn't want to take the chance since his kidneys have already been maximally tested. So Paul got it too and now we are all set for China! Our visas were finished and in our hands within 6 days. Impressive but when we pay 450chf for them I am glad that they at least work efficiently.
Jakob's first poop in the tub. The next day he let an even worse one out in the filled tub... yuck!
We went to a goodbye party for our friends one afternoon/evening and as usual Jakob loved the crowd. He wasn't too interested in the food we put on a plate for him but everything on the twin 3 year old girls' plates was to die for. He would run over there and snatch something before anyone could get to him. Jakob also became their dog and would stand there with his mouth wide open as they filled it with cherrios. Such a ladies man. ;) He loves all the attention and will do anything to get it from any familiar face he sees.
Lately, I've been noticing a woman and son in the park close to our place and thought that it could be the same mom/baby we roomed with at the Universitätspital when we gave birth. Well, I checked it out, and it was! Our baby boys are 1 day apart and they were having so much fun together. Little Jaden is adorable (his mom is Swiss and his dad is from Ghana) and he has the sweetest curls. They were laughing with each other, following each other as they ran away, played in the water together, and even hugged and kissed each other multiple times- of course Jakob began this. He loves giving kisses and I have to admit I ask him for lots but the hugs are all his doing. He is so sweet. So we chatted for awhile and found out our babies are so similar: sleeping late, short naps, climbers, runners, the list goes on. It was so fun to finally chat with someone new in the park.
We've done a few new recipes and Paul's trying to develop his fresh salsa recipe. Fresh food is just so delicious. Raspberry white chocolate creme filled sugar cookies and summer quinoa salad are my contributions. :)
I'm not sure if I wrote about a job interview I had awhile back. It was the end of April and I met with Wärtsila for a position in the Application Software Team for 2-stroke diesel engines. I thought the interview went so great and I felt so comfortable. I met the same woman from HR about a year before for another interview that I thought did not go so well but she is really nice. Anyway, the start date was set for June 1 but I did not hear back until the end of June when they said they had a surprise reorganization of the company and had to wait indefinitely til the position was re-approved. Relief of not being rejected was nice but waiting indefinitely... :( So only a short while later did they say it had been re-approved, asked if I was still interested, and now I have a interview/meeting with the big big boss a few days after we return from China. They went as far as to make sure I could start asap and reading inbetween the lines made it seem like I needed to start searching for a kinderkrippe for Jakob. The HR woman was very excited and positive sounding which I hope is all true! The company is 45 min away by tram/train/walking and it's a great job with 5 weeks of vacation. We'll see but I really hope it all works out. Jakob would absolutely love kinderkrippe- except the waking up early part which funny enough is the same thing I'm not going to enjoy. He is definitely my son. :)
We had a taco night a few dinners ago and it was such a hit! Jakob loved it and hardly made a mess. Wrapping it like a burrito definitely worked!
