Precious Elise Mae!

Can't believe it has taken me this long to write but Elise Mae Erickson is now one month old (holy cow)! At her appointment she weighed over 10lbs already!

A few days before she was born Jakob got a räbeliechtli from our neighbor. It's basically a carved turnip that you put a candle in, almost like their Halloween. He loved it. He has also been using the wrap I carry Elise in as a hammock/swing in his room- entertainment for the whole evening. :)

Elise made her appearance at 3:28 a.m. on November 12 (11-12-13 for Americans) weighing 3700g (8lbs 2oz) and 53cm (21in) long. It's the same day her great-grandpa Pressley was born! I finished work and then had to wait 2.5 more weeks for her- definitely not what I had envisioned. She was 9 days late and that was stressing me out since we want to get to the states so soon and I really wanted to use the birth house. Up until her birth I was doing last minute things and trying everything to get her to come. The day before she was born the midwife gave me a tea concoction and we got all the ingredients and I drank a huge batch. So at 9 p.m. I started timing what I thought were fake contractions and they were pretty regular and not painful so we went to bed. At midnight I was startled awake by a little pop and painful contraction. My water had started leaking and the contractions picked up. We got ready, Paul called our friend to come spend the night for Jakob, and then we called the birth house (even though I always tell Paul I think we're calling too early). We got a taxi and were there by 12:45. One midwife was there and for awhile I felt like we were just sitting there staring at each other because my contractions were about 5 minutes apart but she saw I was 5cm already- a big change from 0 a few days before! Obviously things picked up fast and Elise arrived about 2.5 hours later- so fast a second midwife didn't arrive in time. It was very intense but so perfect. I even got acupuncture when the placenta was taking awhile to come.

It was such a great experience. No doctors and no hospital and I was even the only person there for most of my 4 day stay in a private room. The house is a 3 bedroom flat and someone comes to cook all the meals (including a 3 course meal at lunch) from scratch every day. The same midwife that delivered Elise came to our place a few times afterwards for Elise's checkups, to help us give her her first bath, give me belly massages, help with my wrap, and anything else we could think of. So perfect and we've been doing good! She definitely is a little fussier than Jakob but she still sleeps at night with the middle feed at 3. Can't ask for much more at this point.  :)

That day Jakob was surprised when he woke up to someone in the living room without mommy and daddy but he did fine. Paul picked him up from the krippe and brought him by that evening and he knew she was 'baby sister'. He was so sweet and still is. He asks to hold her, runs to her aid when she cries (sometimes trying to pick her up) and gives her kisses and hugs randomly. She has even trumped us when it comes to goodnight kisses!

We've already been by my work where she made her presence very well known and my mom came to visit for a week. It was so nice having someone else here to help. We've never really had that luxury and I can definitely see how much it helps! We shopped as much as Elise would let us and Jakob loved his grandma time and is still talking about it. We even cooked a huge Thanksgiving meal just for us and it was delicious. And then for my mom's birthday we took her to Sprüngli cafe and it was amazing. I will go back! Ever since my mom left, we have just been trying to keep up with life. I feel so busy but really it's only because cuddling this new precious girl takes so much time that I have little time left. And I'm truly enjoying it so much that Christmas will probably be very small this year. Oh, well. :) My little bro comes soon and he can help us decorate!

We'll go to Chamonix, France right before Christmas for skiing and sightseeing. We'll spend Christmas at home and have fun in Switzerland before we all leave for the states on Jan 1! We booked our tickets and things might be a little complicated since we're always stuck renewing our permits at this time but as long as Elise's passport comes (which it should) we will be fine. Unfortunately, we're not on my brother's flight and we fly into Jacksonville but that saved us about 1300 bucks. Ridiculous. Paul will come back mid-Jan to work hard finishing his PhD and the rest of us will come back beginning-Feb. It's looking like I'll fly alone with Jakob and Elise but I'll just try not to give that much thought right now. ;) We're just so excited to come visit and see everyone!

Post before our family grows :)

Time is flying and I can only imagine how much faster it will go with 2 little ones.

At the end of August we went on a hike with some friends from church. On the way we experienced the cows making their way down from the mountain. Families (including all the children no matter how small) dress up and walk or ride with the dressed up cows with huge bells and goats down the main roads to rest in the valleys for the winter. Some people were even playing instruments and yodeling! It was great to see and luckily the cows only nicked our friends' car one little time. They would get super close too! But I was about 31 weeks and the hike was mainly uphill the whole time. Definitely gave me a workout but it was still fun. At the top there was a little playground for the kids and we had a snack. I was barely sore the next day- a great feeling. :)

We've been helping lots with our church since it is still very small and are really enjoying it. Sometimes it can feel a little hectic to fit in to our weekend while still finding time to rest as a family but we love the people and atmosphere and feel lucky to be included and used in such a great community. The pastor's wife just had a baby girl so our girls will be really close in age which will be super fun since our boys are also similar in age!

I got all my iron infusions and that made me feel great. Apparently my numbers were a lot lower than I thought so my sluggish-ness made a lot of sense. Baby girl has grown a lot and I've stopped seeing my gyno and only go to the midwives at the birth house now. Labor can start anytime now! I saw them at 36 weeks and have an appt for 39 weeks. I'm excited and Paul is very nervous. :) We have our plan in place for Jakob and I'm sure he'll be fine. Some great friends have stepped in to help us out and we are very thankful.

Jakob's room is all for a big boy now. We got him a half height bunk bed and book case, rearranged his and our room, and moved the crib to our room. He loves his bed. He brings toys up there and loves playing underneath with Paul. Weekend nap times can be challenging to keep him in his bed but nighttime is no problem. He's always loved his night sleep, thankfully, but he definitely loves the freedom though and rarely sleeps past 8am now. Guess he's just preparing us for baby girl. :) Paul altered the crib and now it is the same height as our bed with one side off. He'll secure it to my side of the bed and it will be like a cosleeper! I'm excited about it! I'll only use it for the first month or so but it will be so nice in the beginning. Then we'll put it back as a regular crib but still keep her in our room until she's sleeping more consistently.

Jakob had his yearly kidney appt for HUS and he was perfect. He really doesn't care about getting his blood drawn probably because the nurses do a really good job and there's plenty of toys since it's a child's hospital. Next year he'll get an ultrasound and will hopefully be able to pee in a cup! Paul went to Jakob's krippe parents info meeting while I stayed with Jakob since it was in German. Paul ended up having to translate for an Asian mom but he did great! And he also got to know some of the moms of Jakob's buddies so we're going to try to meet up outside of the krippe so they can play. Last Tuesday I picked Jakob up and all his fav guy friends were there. They were so hyper jumping around and making each other laugh. It made me so happy to see. He knows everyone by name and will tell us about them at home. He even sings the krippe songs at the dinner table. For 2.5 he really amazes us. He understands and speaks English and German/Swiss German depending on the situation or words. Some things he says:

- Kann nicht This is when we tell him not to do something and he is repeating it in German. 

-Ich auch (said in swiss german: ee auck) meaning 'me too'
-Finken: Swiss German for house shoes/slippers
-Meine (said in swiss german: meeneh) meaning 'mine'
-Cars come out garage: probably his fav English phrase
-1-13 in English
-1-11 in German/Swiss German (although he likes to mix the languages for counting lately)
-and the usual things like Abc in English, nursery rhyme songs, any words that have to do with cars/Autos, balloons, Thomas, etc.

For my birthday I got a fantastic haircut and Paul got me a wallet and a new duvet for the bed! Now we just have to work on sharing a smaller amount of covers. ;) Luckily being preggo means I'm always warm enough and when all the pillows leave it will be easier. We went out to an awesome Greek restaurant that we will most definitely return to. Jakob was an angel to top off my great birthday! I baked way too many cookies for work so we had those to munch on later. But work enjoyed them and I'm glad I could give them a taste of 'real' cookies. Ha That weekend we also took a trip to Jucker Farm with some friends and it was a beautiful day! They were putting on a pumpkin regatta (literally carving pumpkins to boat across the lake) and even Sid from Ice Age was there. Jakob wasn't so sure about him at first but after none of the kids would go up to him he decided he'd give him a hug. It was so precious and I wasn't expecting it so I didn't get a good picture. :( Jakob played on the tractor and hay bails and ran around feeding goats for at least 30 min. Then we went to pick tons of blackberries, raspberries and blueberries. That was a lot of fun and Paul and Jakob had a belly full of berries by the end but they still had an appetite for bratwurst! Our friends have a 3yr old and Jakob would follow her around, try to hold a conversation in his own language and hold her hand. It was super cute.

The next weekend the same friends held a baby sprinkle for us and it was really nice. We had a brunch gathering and chatted while the kids played around. We opened a little bit of gifts and Jakob even got a couple things. He was pretty excited about a wooden truck. It seems that every few days he switches his favorite toy and usually has to sleep with it. One of baby sister's new toys is a little stuffed sheep that has a music box inside. Pull the cord and it plays a tune that we sing the phrase 'sleepy head' to. So now it is something Jakob has to sleep with and is named Sleepy Head. Yesterday we carved some pumpkins (just in case next weekend we are busy with 'other' things) and Jakob had a blast. He was helping Paul cut with his plastic knife and loved seeing them all lit up at night. He was wearing the biggest smile all afternoon while we worked on them. And I even put him in his favorite pj shirt 'dinosaur bones' according to him. They can't just be his bones. ;)

Now we've just been preparing little bits for baby girl. We almost have all the paperwork ready so that we can get to the states shortly after she's born and I'm almost finished with my, Jakob's and baby girl's away-from-home bags. I have been crocheting a blanket and some girly headbands since she doesn't have any and I'd like some for family pictures that we're going to do. Paul set his thesis defense date for mid-March. He is nervous but excited to be finishing! I am excited for him. I found out from work that for me to take unpaid leave I must use all my holidays first (5 weeks worth). So really I'll only be unpaid for 5 weeks of my 6 months off. Any holidays I want to take when I go back will be unpaid and I'll have to apply for but I've been told it should be no problem. I have one more week of work left and hopefully only a week or so until baby girl is here! My mom bought her ticket to come at the end of November and we are very excited! This will be the first time a family member has seen one of our children as a newborn (under 2 months) and we think that's special. My little brother also bought his ticket for a visit! So he'll be here for about 2.5 weeks over Christmas and we'll have to think of some fun things to do and see. So many great things to look forward to. We really are blessed. :)