Snow, snow, and Christmas is coming!

Working definitely makes time fly by so much faster.  I don't mind but it is just a crazy change and obviously I'm not used to it.  I need to update more!

After the last post I had a girls night with a few of my mom friends.  We went to a wine boat extravaganza.  Basically at least 10 big double decker boats docked in Zürich with wines from all around.  You pay 20chf and taste wine as long as you want until they close.  It was a lot of fun just hanging out.

That weekend we went on a smaller hike that had jokes every so often to read.  Of course they were written in Swiss German (which is not even a formal written language) so it was pretty impossible for us to understand any of them.  It would have been a beautiful hike too if the fog had lifted and hadn't made it SO much colder than we expected.  A bit disappointing but the fall colors were still really pretty and Jakob loves hiking days.

Next big gathering was Thanksgiving.  Although we did it on Saturday when everyone could come and we could have it at the normal time.  We helped host it at a friend's place and did the turkey, 2 sweet potato casseroles (so we could hope for leftovers), and pumpkin pie.  At some point there were over 20 people there and we had so much food and good company.  It was definitely a success.  Jakob was actually sick with a super high fever so he didn't eat and slept through a lot of it.  He never has been able to eat at Thanksgiving so far.  Last year was his terrible HUS scare (I really can't believe it's already been a whole year) and he was so sick he couldn't eat anything (before we knew it was serious) and this year a >104 fever which always takes away his appetite.  Poor guy.  Maybe next year!

So Paul has had to stay home with Jakob a lot because of ear infections and fevers.  He has been a great dad stepping up and being the house dad so I can get settled at work.  And now Jakob got sick again with a stomach bug.  He was throwing up everything including liquids and my poor dad had to help with it all.  We were holding bowls for him, wiping his mouth and cleaning it up all the apartment and bed when he'd miss the bowls.  So gross but I think my dad and I washed our hands enough and were strong enough that we missed the bug.  Hopefully.  Jakob went to daycare Friday but still hasn't gotten back 100%.  He's got a few more days.  :)

Oh, and a couple weekends ago we were walking through a store and found a reasonably price fake mini Christmas tree and snatched it up.  I love it!  We brought it home, set it up on our side/coffee table and immediately started decorating it with some cheap decorations I had from a couple years ago and a few new ones.  Jakob was so interested and loved putting on the ornaments but his favorite part is definitely turning on the lights.  Every time he comes home from 'school' he thinks it's his job to turn them on and half of the time he is in awe saying 'WOWWW'.  I love him.  :)  I found some stockings and hung those up too.  We also decided he was finally outgrowing his winter jacket since the sleeves were getting too short.  We found one at H&M and the next day tons of snow decided to pour.  We made Sunday a snow day and we all went out bundled up.  It took him a little bit to warm up to touching and walking in it but eventually he was having a blast.  Definitely feels a lot like Christmas!

And this is a stromboli that I made from a German friend's recipe.  It made sooooo much that we really couldn't eat it all but it was so delicious especially right out of the oven.  It takes some time to make it just because you have to let it rest and then come back and do stuff and then let it rest some more.  But it was so worth it and I think we'll try to make it for Christmas eve.  It was supposed to be for another party we were going to but it got canceled at the last minute and I still wanted to make it.  :)

Last weekend we headed to a HUGE Christmas market in Bremgarten on Saturday and it was SOOO cold.  It took awhile to get there and once we did we didn't stop long to shop since everything was outside.  Decisions were made quick and we put a dent in our Christmas shopping and headed back after 2 hours.  By then our fingers and toes were frozen (even with huge snow boots) and Jakob refused to wear his mittens.  I even bought some fun ones while we were there thinking maybe having his fingers exposed would warm him up to idea but nope.  Mittens are still evil to him.  Krippe says every kid is like that so hopefully he'll just grow out of this soon.  There's too much snow and ice to not be wearing mittens!  And a couple weeks ago we got Jakob a Like-a-bike for Christmas but unfortunately he still needs to grow about 1 more inch.  Then it'll be a perfect fit.  Of course I couldn't wait til Christmas to give it to him!  We got him some legos and a wooden work bench also but that will definitely wait til we get back from the states.  :)

Then Sunday me and Jakob dropped off Paul at the airport and picked up my dad 20 min later.  It worked out so perfectly.  He's been helping me with Jakob especially when he got sick and couldn't go to krippe.  I have so much work to do at work that I really needed to finish these last few days of the year.  So I really couldn't have done it without him.  I'm still so tired so I will definitely be catching up on my sleep over the holidays.  Jakob's been having terrible night terrors that make him scream and cry so hard multiple times in the night but if I go to him they get worse.  So luckily since I'm sleeping in his room I can just talk to him from my bed and usually it helps.  But between that and jumping up to catch vomit in a bowl, on my shirt, in my hands (wherever really!) many times in the night and then leaving for work in the dark and coming home in the dark... I'm just so tired.  Only 2 more days til our flight leaves!!

Fall + Snow

We're overdue for an update but little time to do it!  Luckily, less time means less pictures! (maybe)

               Trying on the winter gear                                      Skippin rocks with daddy

So after the last post we celebrated my birthday with a mexican dinner out.  That morning though Jakob woke up with a stomach bug, threw up all over me, and slept for most of the day.  I cherished the cuddling but he was miserable.  Luckily by dinner time he was feeling better and we had a great time- definitely expensive but a yummy and interesting swiss verision of american-mexican food along with a margarita!  Paul gave me an iphone since I won't be spending near as much time at home and still want to keep in touch with my friends and family and it has been great since starting work!  Although it kept shutting down in the first week.  So I took it to Orange and they tried one thing that didn't work.  So I took it to Apple and the guy wanted me to reset, reload my stuff and see but since it was the Friday before I started work and the new iPhone was coming out the next day (busy busy time if I had to come back) and I figured it was the phone not my stuff, I asked so many questions that he finally just quickly switched out my phone and it's been good since!  It's unlocked so hopefully I can use it in the states too with a new sim card and our monthly bill is just 50chf.  So great.  :)

After all that, a little clothes shopping, lots of shoe shopping, and Jakob starting kinderkrippe, I had a busy last week of being a stay at home mom.  Jakob has had more colds, ear aches, and bugs that ever in his life before krippe but not bad enough for antibiotics yet.  Here doctors like to wait before treating ear infections with antibiotics so while nights aren't fun, Jakob's have all cleared up on their own.  Right now he's got a fever, cold, and no appetite (possibly another ear infection) but we're hoping it clears up this weekend.  I only get 3 days a year to care for a sick child so we are really lucky Paul's advisor is flexible and understanding.  He's been getting the hang of being a stay at home dad every now and then.  :)

But Jakob LOVES kinderkrippe.  He has good friends already, has learned to stand up for what he wants (good and bad), and is getting better at communicating despite all he hears there is German and Swiss German.  They go out everyday to parks, the grocery, or things going on around the city.  I would love to watch them from a distance... a parade of kids in neon vests, holding hands, and riding the trams together.  It's got to be to so cute.  The head daycare ladies say he's so sweet, loves babies, is a very picky eater, and is always running off getting into trouble.  Totally him.  ;)  It did take Jakob about a week before he started napping there.  That first week (with me working too) was miserable with him just crying and exhausted at the end of the day and falling asleep at the dinner table and then not sleeping well through the night since he was so exhausted.   But the next week things were A LOT better and now it's going so smooth minus the terrible 2 year old meltdowns we are now experiencing early.  As my best friend said: 'It's always something!'

Anyway, my first month of work at Wärtsilä was great!  It's started off slow and I still don't have that much going on but it gets better all the time.  Some days I have more to do than others but there's always something I can read/learn about.  I have an awesome window desk, the atmosphere is very open with no cubicles with such a diverse group of people.  The commute goes by fast but 45 min each way does take a big chunk out of my day.  I missed my normal train once and was literally running to pick Jakob up before they close.  Paul always drops him off so he can sleep in some and Paul doesn't have a train to catch but some evenings I pick Jakob up depending on what's going on.  I hope within a year or 2 we can move so it's not so bad.  The company doesn't have a place for lunch or a cafeteria though so I basically am forced to eat out everyday because you're not supposed to eat at your desk and it's way too cold out to eat a bagged lunch at the park.  I try to keep it around 10chf/day but sometimes that's hard or impossible but it is a good social time.  I just don't want to spend a chunk of my paycheck on lunch and eating out also means I usually eat more.  So my dinners have definitely been smaller lately which is probably good since normally lunch food here is more like our version of dinner food.

Halloween!  The weekend before halloween we took a hike around the Swiss Grand Canyon (where most of the pictures are from).  With the fall colors it was SO beautiful and the weather was gorgeous.  We met some Germans on the trail and had a fun conversation in english and Jakob had a grand time hiking alongside us with his big stick!  The next weekend was almost halloween and the snow poured.  We tried to enjoy ourselves at a halloween pumpkin farm family day but it was too cold for Jakob to show off his batman pjs and the snow made everything muddy, covered the pumpkins, and Jakob does not even have snow boots yet!  But we got our pumpkins and left.  Jakob really enjoyed sitting on the pumpkin and slapping it once it was carved.  I just made a beautiful pumpkin pie with the other pumpkin we got.  Really excited for that!  But now the snow is finally gone and hopefully it will be awhile before it comes back.

Oh and we bought plane tickets home for Christmas!  They were an awesome deal and since Paul is going early for a training in Tampa my dad is coming for the 10 days Paul will be gone and will fly with me and Jakob back to Tally.  I needed someone to help me out since I can't take Jakob to daycare and pick him up within their times and work 8 hours with my commute.  Not exactly a great situation to be in but hopefully if it ever comes up again I will have accumulated some extra time that I can use.  I actually was not even allowed to take any vacation until next year because of the 3 month probation but since most people will be gone they have allowed it which I am so thankful for.  I may have to go negative in my vacation balance but only by less than 2 days.  Not bad when I get 5 weeks!  So we leave Zürich December 18 and leave Tallahassee January 8.  Jakob will get to have a nice birthday party and we'll have lots of time to visit (although it's never enough).  Paul and my dad leave/get in within a couple hours of each other so I'll just drop one off and pick up the other!  Sounds perfect. :)