Sunbathing on the Limmat River sounds good to me!

Things are great!  Now that Paul's back things are back to 'normal' which I enjoy very much- although I do have to cook a lot more!  ;)  During his summer class he had to make a Matlab program and never got it to work like it should.  So since this is my present 'job' I decided to look at it Sunday night- bad idea.  I get too caught up in puzzles and feel like it has to be solved immediately.  I stayed up super late and then never gave my brain time to relax.  So all through the night I dreamt about Matlab frustrations and never got any sleep.  I even got Paul to send me the files at work and finished it up there so I wouldn't have any more thoughts about it!  Lesson learned and hopefully I wont do that to myself again...

But the week was uneventful and HOT until around Thurs/Fri when it started raining and the temps dropped from high 80's (some 90's- terrible with no a/c even at work) to 60's, even 50's.  It's crazy how wild the temperature has been but I will definitely take fall over summer at this point.  Saturday we went out in the rain and bought a map of Switzerland so Paul can mark what all we've seen so far and I got a cork board!  Now all our cards and some pictures can actual hang instead of fly around the apartment when the wind blows (since our windows are constantly open).

Today was actually sunny and somewhat warm.  We ventured down the river and found some awesome swimming spots and places to lay out.  We might take advantage of it sometime after work this week.  Today we didn't think it would be warm enough so we didn't take our bathing suits.  :(  But the current is so strong that you basically walk upstream, jump in, float down and maybe hold on to something for a little bit and then do it all over.  Some people even just swim with the current keeping them in place for a workout.  Naked babies run all over the place and there are nice bars with food and stuff.  Definitely a nice place for the summer!  Walking along the river there are also TONS of blackberries that you can just pick and eat.  We were surprised to see how many people don't stop to pick them since they are very expensive in the grocery stores.  Paul took advantage!  We even found places where people just freely spray paint the walls.

I'm almost ready to put in my order for cloth diapers and then I think we'll be set for the things I need to be shipped and ready when I go to the states in a month.  But Im still going to be doing LOTS of shopping when I get there!  Mainly just for Paul and a few maternity things though.  Tomorrow we have an appointment (our first 2nd trimester one) and I dont think theyre doing too much.  I just want them to tell me things are normal and good and I'll be happy!  Im so excited that vacation time is coming!  We only really have next Sun to laze around and then Paul's family gets here the next Sun and while I will have to work a few days here and there it's pretty much vacation until after Labor day.  Im SO ready to explore- Paris, Germany, Austria, Italy, with some camping and beach- heck yeah!

Hello husband!

What a great weekend!  I came home from work on Friday to my long lost husband!  Very nice to have him back home but we were exhausted and had to go to bed pretty early.  This was good because it allowed us to get up at a decent hour and head over to the market!  We bought yummy fruits and vegetables (well, I picked them out and Paul did the talking), went to the grocery for a couple more things and headed home to relax and get ready to go swimming.  Unfortunately, we never made it to the lake or river before it started raining.  So we had a very nice and relaxing afternoon in the coolness of the pre-storm breeze.  We also remembered we have no beach towels and Im pretty sure I meant to put them in our suitcases when we moved here and just never did.  A couple weeks ago we saw some in the store FOR 50 FRANCS EACH!  I said heck no and hopefully we'll get someone to bring us ours when they come visit.

I researched cloth diapers all afternoon and think I have almost come to a conclusion.  Having to share the one washing and drying machine makes cloth diapering a little more challenging especially when it takes over an hour per cycle but our neighbors do it and so can we!  I just can't bring myself to consistently use disposables for environmental and economical reasons.  It's been said that blowouts are a thing of the past when cloth diapering... hope it's true!

Later that night we headed over to one of the new PhD student's place for dinner- more like a FEAST.  She and her boyfriend cooked us and a few other girls from Paul's group an authentic Italian dinner with stuff from their home towns.  Supposedly when Italians have guests it's polite to cook tons of food and just STUFF them because then it's polite to eat what you're given.  Holy cow.  After cheese and bread for starters and the first (huge) course of yummy shrimp pasta I was full but that was the beginning.  Then there was salad (with more meat), baked cheese (with more meat), and then amazing chocolate cake and ice cream AND then biscotti.  For drinks, everyone (but me) went from wine and beer to dessert wine to dip the biscotti in and then a super strong (30%) lemon liquor that smelled so good.  Coffee could have been in there too but that one was able to be declined.  ;)  The food was so good and we were so stuffed and they gave Paul and I a lot of pointers on what we should see in Italy.  There's a lot to see so maybe next summer we can head that way.  We left there so late that the bus quit running and we had to walk about 20 min home.  Not exactly ideal but at least it wasn't raining, super cold, or snowing!

This morning we ordered our stroller!  A lady on a forum I use told me about this awesome website to order baby stuff from.  It is based in Germany but they ship to Switzerland and their prices are amazing.  We bought a Teutonia (German) stroller, with a soft bassinet, and fleece inlay for about 500 Euros.  We'll get charged a fee for the euros transaction from our credit card people, then charged at Swiss customs for taxes and a handling fee, and then a couple shipping fees from the website but it will all still come out to be at least 500 CHF cheaper than if we bought it from a store in Switzerland or bought it in Germany but had to travel to get to it.  Heck yes!  All for one amazing stroller in the colors and wheels of my choice.  If it is amazing as I believe and have seen it to be, it will be with me and all of my kids for the rest of my life.

Next order will be everything we need for cloth diapering.  I plan to have everything ordered by the time people start visiting us in 3 weeks!  yay!  :)  Hopefully, that will include new birth certificates for Paul and I, maybe another marriage certificate, and anything else needed to obtain a birth certificate and passport when baby time rolls around.  Time is already going by so fast and it's only going to get faster once people start visiting soon.  I am so freakin excited though!  Sorry no pictures but I'll definitely try for some next time!

HOT!

It's hot!!  It's been in the high 80's most days lately and with no air conditioning it is getting quite hot in buildings.  At work, by 3 it is almost impossible to work since it is so uncomfortable.  And not to mention sleeping is challenging.  If it's not the heat, it's people getting home after midnight and talking soooo loud on their balcony.  This wouldn't normally be a problem but there is no way we can close the windows without sweating out our insides.  I know.... gross.

Paul came home last night and went back to Lucerne this afternoon.  He's having a great time meeting and hanging out with new guy friends.  Im happy he's finally getting some good guy time while getting class credits.

This weekend wasn't full of much.  Sometimes I like it that way. Yesterday I decided the apartment needed a good clean and it took me all day but I love settling down into a clean place.  Today Paul booked the car for our road trip in August!  I am so ready for a vacation and that is definitely going to be an adventure.  Only 28 days til Paul's family gets here!  That starts all our adventures!

Well, here's to another week of warm weather and work!  Hope everything is going well in your lives!

Rollin Rollin Rollin

So last week Paul left me for the last half of the week and got back at midnight on Friday.  This morning he left for 2 more weeks.  Im not exactly thrilled but we'll see how it goes.  The few days he was gone last week he worked hard helping to gather glacier samples for research.  He took some great pictures with our super old camera.

Friday I also filled in my 'supervisor' on the big news.  He didn't seem to affected by it so I guess that's good.  I also told him about all the vacation days I plan on taking starting in a month.  I am so excited!  I think the last time we took a vacation together longer than a few days was... our honeymoon?!  That can't be right!  I sure hope Im wrong.  Anyway, we finally got credit cards!  Our debit card doesnt let us purchase online or reserve things and our US credit card charges international fees.  So this was our only possibility and we were actually approved!  So now Im going to order a stroller from Germany and save half of what I would pay if I bought it here (even with customs charges).  And then Paul's going to reserve a car for our road trip in August!  Yay!

This weekend was Zürifäscht (ZuriFest).  It happens once every 3 or 4 years (even the Swiss people aren't sure) and it's a HUGE festival Friday, Saturday, and Sunday with food, carnival rides, drinks, entertainment (Acrobats, planes, water sports, live music, dancing venues, etc.), and even projection screens for the World Cup games.  Friday and Saturday night they put on a huge fireworks show for 30 minutes at 11pm.   We slept in a little on Saturday, figured out our plan for the day and set off to do some baby window shopping and head over to Zurifest.  We are now realizing how expensive kids things are here compared to the states.  It is so ridiculous that we keep trying to cross things off our 'need' list.  We dont have a lot of space so that definitely helps keep our list short.  Anyway, we made it to Zurifest, ate a lot, watched the entertainment, sweated tons, and made our way over to Rachel's place for a little dinner gathering.  We did make our way back over though to the amazing fireworks!  Here are some pictures of the day:

And yesterday one of my amazing friends got engaged!!!!! Oh my gosh, I am so happy for you, Rachel!  She is going to be a gorgeous bride and make the best wife!  Congrats!!!!  :)  Here's us and our men (Paul looks a little silly but I still like it! lol)

End the first trimester with glacier hiking!

Ok, so I'm probably going to keep this short.  Running out of time on my Sunday!
Monday was our doctors appointment and they did a bunch of tests and measured the baby and it was so big that they decided I was a week ahead.  So I'm 13 weeks now and the new due date is Jan 3.  As far as we know the tests went well.  Now we are working on getting our name on as many kinderkrippes (day cares) as possible.  Who knows if we'll need it but it takes a long time to get a place and there is no penalty for not needing it.  So here we go!

Thursday Paul decided that we needed to go hike the biggest glacier in Europe called Aletsch.  The trip was not cheap but it was definitely an experience.  Saturday we woke up at 5am and made our way to the train station.  Unfortunately our train had some problems.  So our 2.5 hour trip took almost 4.  Not cool but we made it with plenty of time!  A section of the trail we wanted to do had been closed off because not all the snow had melted but Paul wanted to try it out anyway and the ticket lady still sold us tickets to do it.  Rachel and I were a little weary but we braved it and made it out alive!  You just had to place your feet in the snow very carefully and take your time.  An old guy helped us try it out in the beginning and then we left him in our dust!  He made it clear that he didn't know if we should really try to go all the way around but we proved him wrong.  We hiked all along the glacier, scrambled through rocks, and took a tunnel (a shortcut) to the other side of the mountain since it had taken so long to get through the snowy part.  The glacier is huge and I dont think I ever got a really good feel for how big it really is- about half a mile wide.  The whole hike took about 6 hours and we were home by 8:30.  It was one long day but very worth it.  I'll put pictures up at the end of this.

Next week will start the not so fun next 3 weeks.  Paul is leaving me for glacier sampling Wed-Fri and then he's gone for 2 weeks in Lucerne.  I'll probably get A LOT of sleep which I will love. :)

You can go here to see an album devoted to this hike!

Day trips and packages- love them :)

Alright, so I've had a tough time motivating myself to blog but here it goes!

So, the week before last was crazy.  One day I went to a seminar for most of the day for work by myself and I actually enjoyed it- this made me realize I am still somewhat of a nerd.  Then something happened with our alarm and I kept forcing myself to sleep thinking it wasnt time to get up (our room is very dark) and realized what was going on by almost 9am.  Not exactly the best way to start the day but I made it to work by 9:40.  Not too bad.  And then that Friday I had an interview with a English-speaking company who builds engines for ships.  Pretty cool but I found out yesterday they hired someone with more experience.  :(  But that Friday we hung out with Paul's people and Saturday cleaned the entire apartment (thanks mostly to Paul because I was feeling SO gross) and invited our neighbors over for coffee/tea/cake (I still think it's bread).  We got some great advice on day cares and strollers and life and watch Lizzie find everything she could get her hands on in every nook and cranny!  It was cute.  Sunday we took a trip to Bern (the capital) with a couple people and climbed TONS of stairs to see some amazing views.  The pain I was feeling Monday was definitely worth it.  Here are the pictures:

Bern is named after bears.  So they have a few bears by the river for tourists.  They were adorable!

Oh, there's just water flowing down the middle of the road.  Definitely attracted little kids!

Einstein's house!  He lived a few places in Switzerland including Zurich.

We climbed tons of stairs to the top of this church to get these awesome pictures of the city.

We've been getting some packages lately and I love it.  My friend, Jayce, sent us an amazing package with tons of fun stuff AND homemade jam!  Heck yeah :)  Then my mom sent us (well mostly for me) one with clothes!!  She got me some cuuute Target maternity shirts and a dress and pants.  And they dont even look maternity so I can wear them now.  Yay!  Now if the 50's and rainy-ness will just go away and give us some summer!  But she put some Luna bars in there too.... I'm sad I never ate them before because they are delicious and now they're super hard to get.  A few people from Paul's group are in the states now and we are hoping a couple of them can bring me back some.  They are perfect for when Im hungry and dont want to eat anything AND they are super filling.  :)  But look at how my mom's box came.   Keep in mind that Jayce's package was in perfect condition...

The clothes were soaked and even the white shirts were semi-stained.  Paul bleached them and everything was clean in the end.  So no worries but it was crazy!  You never expect to pick up your package soaked and in a plastic bag.

Today we went over to the Bebecenter and IKEA and priced tons of stuff.  I thought I'd figure out what stroller I liked best until I saw them alllllll.  Who knows now.  I have some research to do.  It wouldnt be that big of a deal if we didnt live in a tiny place with lots of stairs and walked/used public transportation for everything.  So winter as new parents with a newborn will definitely be fun.  :)  But we did buy a picture for our place so now we have one picture hanging on the wall!  Go us!  Eventually we'll get more but we didnt want to carry it all in the rain.  Since tomorrow is Father's day Paul is wanting to celebrate...  I dont know what we'll end up doing but he wants to go to Bern again.  We will see!  Monday I have a checkup (11 weeks) and it's the one where they do tons of tests.  They scheduled me for a 2 hour checkup- holy cow.  So hopefully everything is great!

Sunday lazy day- YES PLEASE

I guess Sundays are turning into blog posting time.  :)

This week was a usual week except that I realized I must be eating more than I think because we had to go to the grocery an extra 2 times this week!  Friday we started our weekend by putting together a basil-mozarella-tomato appetizer and headed to an American friend's place for baked spagetti with Paul's group.  It was a nice relaxing night just chilling with friends and by 10pm I was exhausted.  I have officially become an old lady!

Saturday morning we got some picnic stuff together and met our neighbors for a bike ride around the Greifensee (a huge lake not far from our apartment).  The day was so perfect and clear for it- 80 deg!- that you could see the snow capped Alps in the distance!  I knew it usually takes us 2-3 hours because I like to slow down Paul (he can do it in 1) but I had forgotten how little kids definitely make things take longer.  Little Lizzie did not like riding along in the beginning and just wanted to walk around.  So almost immediately after arriving at the Greifensee we stopped at a really nice swimming spot for our picnic.  We were amazed at the amount of food Robert and Kerstin brought.  We brought a light lunch- sandwiches with fruit and lemon poppy seed bread- and they brought 2 huge loafs of yummy bread, TONS of vegetables with a homemade dip that I have GOT to get the recipe for, hot dogs, orange juice, German coke, and more for Lizzie.  They were so awesome and shared it all with us.  Lizzie got to run around and chase a duck and then we were off for more bike riding.  We stopped later for ice cream and a handful of other times and had one last stop in the shade for Lizzie to run some more and have some snacks.  7 hours later we were back home.  It was a super nice ride and I talked to Kerstin A LOT about having a baby here and got a lot of great information.  She was just so open and it was great to chat with someone who could help me.  I'll even go over to their place sometime to learn the way they do their diapers (reusable) but Im not sure I'll do the same because some of the stuff they use they have to get specifically from Germany.

Anyways, we got home around 5 and relaxed for about 30 min before getting ready for the next outing- dinner with our new friends, Elena and Christian.  We cat sitted for them while they were in the states (Elena is from Atlanta).  We threw together some salsa and guacamole and showered and were off again!  *Side note: The shower hates me again and has been cutting off very randomly.  I got 2 min before it shut off for 10 and then I got 2 more min before it shut off again.  I was sooo pissed.  It is not fun freezing in the shower that is making you late just because the hot water wont stay on!  We're going to check the batteries (yes- batteries for our water heater in the shower right in with the water) and if that doesnt work someone is going to get an earfull.*  So we went over to give back the keys and have Mexican lasagna with them and talked for a few hours.  I was so shocked I stayed up so late but I no doubt slept hard as a rock last night- except for when I slept walked to the bathroom.  :)  But we had a lot of fun.  Elena is part Mexican and Christian is German so they are a fun couple.  They are our age and have been married 4 years and previously lived in Ireland.  So Christian has an Irish accent when he speaks English.  So crazy.  But they are our first friends that have no connection to ETH which I think is really cool!

Today has become our lazy day and I love it. I just wish it would last longer! Here's to another week of work! Wooohooo ;)