2 Kiddos and Summer Fun!

Well, I guess I'm not finding as much time as I would like to update this. Whatever relaxing time we find at home is obviously really savored.

Elise started her acclimation to the krippe at the beginning of May and did so good.  She had a lot of fun and didn't notice when I left (no surprise). Jakob watched over her a lot when other kids would get near her. It was a new experience for me because I've never left either of my babies at a daycare and this time I got to see how my other 'baby' is at school. Jakob jumps right in with his friends and barely paid me much attention. Elise has been on a 4-feeds/day schedule for awhile now (sometimes an extra one in the evening): 7/8am, 11/12, 4pm, and 8pm. Paul feeds her the first at home because I leave too early. On one of the first days we left Elise there without me, the leader asked if we could change to half day instead of a full day. Paul agreed but asked to check with me first since I'd be the one getting her. He decided to leave both of her bottles for the day there just in case I couldn't get her. Well, when I picked Elise up at 1 (after dropping her off around 8:30), they had fed her BOTH bottles- over 300 ml of breastmilk in 1 feed. I was looking around for all the puke and all they said was 'she was hungry!' and 'she's just so happy!' I was shocked. None of the baby group workers speak English so I didn't even try to explain not to do that and Paul explained the next morning. After that we had the problem of them giving the second bottle less than 3 hours after the first. So she would be hungry when I got home from work. They thought since she drank so much that one time that she was still hungry a couple hours later. I got Paul to suggest to them to put her down for a nap instead of feeding her when she seems a little fussy around that time and then wait at least 4 hours from the lunch feed to feed her. And after that things have been great! She sleeps more and is not clawing me for milk when she sees me. She loves the baby group leader and loves being around so much action. We are so happy for that. 

The weekend before starting work was our 6 year wedding anniversary! So we decided on the last acclimation day (my last maternity leave day) where Elise and Jakob were together at the krippe all day, that we would celebrate. We dropped them off and headed to the thermalbad spa. It was amazing. There are different pools with different temperatures and jets and soothing music. There is a sauna and a rooftop spa that was so awesome. We will definitely go back if we ever get the chance! We then went to lunch and I did some 'back to work' shopping before picking up the kids. Perfect way to have a day date without having to pay an arm and leg for a babysitter. My start back to work was very smooth. It took some time for us all not to feel so overwhelmed with the new routines but we're in a good groove now. After a couple weeks I had plenty of work. I have enjoyed being back but was also surprised to see how much hadn't got done! More reorganization took place while I was gone so some people had been laid off. At least one person from every group was supposed to go but somehow my manager was able to save us- probably because our group is only 4 people with a lot of work. I know, based on logistics, I would have been the one to go if he had been forced. I am able to pump twice at work (in a conference room with no locks) so breastfeeding is still working out which I am so pleased about. And Fridays off have worked out so well. I get laundry and usually at least one other chore done so that Saturday we can spend more time having fun as a family. Jakob even knows it's laundry day and asks in the morning if that's what I'm doing and then puts on his crocs to 'help'. He comes down to the drying room and hands me clothes pins for awhile until the bucket of water left by the dehumidifier is just too much of a temptation. ;)

Elise has only stayed home once so far with a fever- Paul's first whole day with just her. It was good for him to see what her routine is at home so he can communicate it better to the krippe. She got Roseola last weekend but luckily the fever started Thurs afternoon when I was on my way to pick everyone up for the weekend. :)

Here's what Elise is like at almost 8 month old:
- Army crawls everywhere since she was 5.5 months. She gets up on her knees and even feet like in downward dog but won't move that way. She pushes herself up into a sitting position with ease.

- Eats solids like it's her last meal. Right now her favorite vegetable is kohlrabi (a white sweeter radish, tastes like broccoli) and for fruit it is raspberries (Jakob too) and nectarines. But she eats lots of finger sized veggies and fruit and sometimes some bread or potatoes or pasta. She will practically crawl onto the table if she sees the food and I'm not giving it to her fast enough.

- Screams bloody murder if she is not getting something fast enough whether it is food or toys or a nap.

- Adores Jakob. Will let him do almost anything to her. Including picking her feet up from under her when she's pulled up onto something.

- Claps when she's happy and if you're holding her she squirms a lot and laughs into your neck with a squeal. One of my favorite things. :)

- Already enjoys skyping with the family. She recognizes her name too!

- Gets upset if she crawls to/toward you and you don't pick her up or get down on her level.

About a month ago we went on a hike from Stanserhorn (where the hiking pictures were taken). We rode in the cable car with an open top deck! It says it's the first in the world but who knows. Jakob loved it though and had a special place inbetween a couple old ladies who we made friends with on the ride up. We took the hike down from the top that was supposed to only take 2.5 hours but it turned in to a really long day. After stopping many times for Jakob and having a picnic lunch Jakob was getting tired. So Paul had to put him on his shoulders. Jakob did really good walking though and took the really steep beginning part like a pro, hanging on Paul's hand and doing a trust exercise everytime he wanted to jump down a step. It was very warm and Elise just slept on me most of the time. I still love baby snuggles. At a farm we even saw a truck being hooked up to a pulley to be pulled up and over the raked up grass on a very very steep incline. So crazy!

The weekend after we decide to head across the border to Germany to check out Konstanz- where everyone goes for cheaper stuff. We didn't get any groceries and that is probably where you save the most. We bought some stuff but we definitely won't be going back. We didn't do the tax forms correctly so we really didn't save anything but it was a fun day and Jakob loves riding the trains. I was breastfeeding Elise while we waited for the train to leave Konstanz and some old lady was telling me I didn't need to cover up and was just staring away at Elise. She was a character and had fun talking to us. A couple weeks ago we also decided to pick some cherries at the farm! This time we got kilos of cherries and a little bit of raspberries and had fun in the sun. Jakob's mouth was dripping cherry juice and the fresh air put Elise asleep for a long while. We went with some friends and Jakob loves holding hands with Ellen. Afterwards, he kept telling us how his hand got all sweaty and he had to switch hands. So cute.

Here are some things about Jakob at 3.5 years old:
- Loves having us read him stories.
- Insists on using a fork and knife to scoop up his food and even cut things. The krippe has taught him this. Most Swiss people do it to clean their plate completely.
- Plays with planes, trains and trucks all the time.
- Loves his sister and will do anything for her even if we don't ask him to.
- Wants to help with everything we do. We are learning patience here.
- Rides his balance bike with his feet up like a pro. He is probably ready for pedals but we are afraid he won't listen to us and will ride too far away.
- Is potty trained- even at night. He hardly ever has an accident in the day but at night some weeks are better than others. Right now we're in a pretty good streak of 5 days and no accidents! (knock on wood)
- Can take off and put on all his clothes, including socks and his easy shoes. Sometimes though he just doesn't have the patience or focus.
- Sometimes speaks more German to us than English. A friend at school showed him all about Spiderman (before that he had no idea what super heroes were). So now he does the hand motion and says 'Spiderman mach so!!' (Spiderman does this!!) Today at dinner Paul and I were talking and out of nowhere Jakob says 'Die Hund mach wow-wow!' and we always respond by repeating the English version. Right now I can do this but when he gets older I'm sure there will be way too much I don't understand.
- Is a super loving and sensitive boy that has so much going on in his mind he has a hard time listening. It's probably due to a good mix of his age and the languages mixing in his brain.

And last big news, we're moving!! It's not far from where we are now but it is an under-construction community. I happened to check a website for rental properties that I frequented every now and then just in case and they had the information listed. We only had a couple days til the application was due so after Paul's defense in March we came home and spent the next few hours til late in the night completing it. Since everything is under construction, they had you pick 3 apartment choices from the building plans. And a month later we were offered our 3rd choice! A brand new 108 sq m open floor plan apartment with 3 bedrooms and 2 baths and a 9 sq m balcony. The rent is only a few hundred more than what we are paying now which is impossible to find in the city for something brand new. The catch is that we have to pay a large sum (basically a downpayment on a house) which helps pay for the mortgage on the land/building and our rent pays the interest on that. We get all the money + interest back when we leave so it's really just like a savings account. There will be about 8 buildings in the area, a school next door, a kinderkrippe underneath us in our building (which would be awesome if we got a space in) and lots of shops in the surrounding area. My commute will be the same and Paul's will be about 5 min longer. We have to wait til April to move in though so it's gonna be so hard to wait but so worth it. I am so excited for 50 more sq m of living space with 2 crazy kids and hopefully more guests! And Jakob's best friend in the krippe (who also has a sister a couple months older than Elise) will be living in the same community! It's going to be so fun and we hope to make lots of friends.