Perfect weather for baking! (or toilet paper munchies)

I love fall.  The trees are beautiful, everything has gorgeous color, the weather is fantastic for curling up in your sweats at night, and the snow hasn't made things slushy yet.  My favorite.  Plus, I can wear everything I didn't get to wear last year!  It's like I have a brand new wardrobe! :)

Last weekend I did a ton of baking (the weather called for it!) and everything turned out great.  You can't really find canned pumpkin here.  IF you can, it is the American kind and it is at least 3 times as expensive.  So for less than 5chf I got a pumpkin that yielded 2-3 cans worth of pumpkin and in my opinion a much more delicious flavor and texture.  So easy to bake and scoop out too!  Since it should be used within a few days I cooked some yummy pumpkin muffins- 12 huge ones and 48 minis (these were for Paul to take to work), and a pumpkin pie!  All of which were delicious.  Next time I want to make a pumpkin bread.

Jakob has mastered walking while holding on to things.  He will walk along the back of the couch, around the corner, transfer to the coffee table, and then transfer to the heater.  That's about as far as he can go in our small living room but he loves doing it.  He can also climb onto our stool and chair to have some book reading time by himself.  So cute.  Toilet paper and cardboard has also become his obsession.  He will eat it as long as you let him- and we don't really 'let' him.  But his personality is shining through more everyday and he is still such a happy baby.  He even eats whatever we eat for lunch and dinner now!  No special meals for him.  Meat is his favorite.

We haven't been going many places because we have a few things coming up.  I was able to find a carseat for Jakob though!  I got it through the forums that I've joined so I didnt have to pay an arm and a leg for something we'll use a few times a year.  This weekend we'll head to Sion for a hike and some wine tasting at a friend's vineyard.  And Im sure Paul will try to fit in a ski weekend as soon as it's possible since a friend gave him his old skis and boots and just happens to be about Paul's same size with everything.  He's got some great connections!

States, New Friends, and Lasagna

Well, I bet you thought we were never coming back!  I've almost been overwhelmed with everything going on but I think we have slowed down for the most part.  Our trip to the states was amazing.  On the flight there I was put in economy comfort with a bassinet and with empty seats next to me.  But then a 9 year old girl sat at the opposite end and was basically my babysitter.  Jakob climbed all over her and she watched him when I went to the bathroom.  He even took an hour and a half nap in the bassinet.  Things could not have gone smoother!  We made it to Tally easily and it took Jakob a couple nights to get over jet lag.  But he had so much attention and love and enjoyed every bit of the trip.  We visited lots of family and lots of friends and we even made it down to Orlando for my very much needed girls weekend!  Thankfully, we met up with Paul in Atlanta to fly back to Zurich.  He sneaked up on Jakob while he was playing at a table with some ladies (he's definitely a social butterfly) and Jakob was allllll smiles and smacking him on the face (We call it whack-a-daddy. ha).  He was very excited to see daddy after 3 weeks.  We took so many pictures that I just made a slideshow.  Enjoy!

When we got back, as soon as we were getting over jet lag Jakob scared us with too many symptoms to ignore.  So a late night in the hospital for nothing made jet lag start over.  But after finally getting on schedule and getting over our colds, we were able to visit some friends who had a baby girl a few weeks ago and hang out with our neighbors.  Jakob and Benno were crawling all over each other.  Jakob loves babies but maybe a little too much.  He gets very excited and very rough!

This past weekend we took a day long trip to go hiking in the Alps.  We have been having absolutely beautiful weather (sunny and low 70's).  So we really needed to get out and take Jakob on a hike.  It was gorgeous and he loved it.  I think he mainly enjoyed the attention from our friends though.  :)  And then Monday we met a new friend!  She's around my age and America/Italian with a 14 month old boy and a little girl on the way.  The boys played very well together and we had great conversation for almost 2 hours.  We're going to make it a regular thing and tomorrow we're going to a park!  So excited to actually have finally met someone on my own that I can actually see a friendship with!

Some updates about Jakob a few days shy of 9 months:
- Weighs just over 20 pounds
- Has 6 teeth (4 top and 2 bottom)
- Can say 'mama'
- Eat a big lunch and dinner with 4 or 5 milk feeds
- Takes a morning and afternoon nap
- Loves climbing on kids and other moms (Some kids are not ok with this. ha)
- Does high fives and kisses
- Crawls, pulls up on everything, and walks with anything that starts sliding when he leans on it
- Loves trying to 'drink' from anything shaped like a cup and must have a few sips from my camelback whenever I take one
- Cheeses for the camera everytime
- Is a social butterfly

Oh, and the last picture is from lasagna night.  He loved it and shoveled it in like a pro!  And despite being a recipe from his baby cookbook, we really enjoyed it too.  :)

Fun in Italy and off to the states!

It's time for an update!  Little dude is now 7 months old and he is a crawler.  He likes to get up on all fours even on his tippy toes but still does it army style right now and that gets him anywhere quickly.  He is so proud of himself when he finds me.  I even put my keyboard on the floor and he loves banging out notes in crazy sounds.  When Paul comes home, he finds all his magazines torn up on the floor like a dog got to them but really it was just Jakob.  :)  He is definitely eating more.  His favorite fruit is apricots and I made spinach and sweet potato fritters that he loves to eat for dinner.  We still haven't started breakfast but I think we'll wait until he eats faster.  He's almost got the hang of maneuvering everything in his hands.

Our Italy trip was a lot of fun!  We saw a lot of great things and at the very beginning Jakob's first tooth debuted.  So we had a few rough nights but things got better.  We know stores in Europe close early and by the time we realized Jakob needed some saline for his stuffy nose the apothekes were already closed.  So at 8pm we were looking pitiful hanging outside of one with him and they let us in- thank the lord!  Jakob hated it but it helped.  The next day we went for tylenol since he had a little fever.  But anyway we stopped at Cinque Terre (again), Pisa (for the leaning tower), Florence (cathedral and lots of good shops), and Rome (Vatican, Colosseum, Roman Forum, Pantheon, Trevi Fountain, and spanish steps) all in a week!  I got a leather purse and some great sandals too!

We then split up from Paul's parents and the Spears while they went off by car to Paris and we headed back home the next day on the train.  We had an awesome time.  The colosseum was amazing and after reading Francine Rivers' Mark of the Lion Trilogy... 'WOW' is all I could say.  When everyone came back to Zurich we had a few days to hang out and then they tried to catch their flight back but apparently delta likes to overbook.  So Paul ended up driving them to Prague a few days later and they left from there.  Craziness.  Hopefully they'll still be overbooked when I try to fly out and I can hand over my seat for a free plane ticket and just leave the next day.

Jakob is just now starting to get back to a schedule but he is a stubborn napper.  I had to let him cry it out a few days but now we are a lot better.  And this is how he was falling asleep after the fight: (Plus here's a pic of the flowers Paul brought home to me!)

Last night we went to a friend's place for breakfast for dinner.  Jakob loved the pancakes.  But only after he had stranger-shock.  As soon as I set him down he got scared and it was the first time he reached out to me with force.  Most of the time he crawls over to me and slobbers all over me but this time was urgent.  :)

Only 15 more days til we're off to the states!  I am so pumped and so ready to see family and friends!  Jakob has changed so much since my parents saw him last.  Im looking forward to watching him with them.  :)  Oh, and Im looking forward to some much needed shopping too!