Winter's fun and bugs

I had some time a week and a half ago to get ahead with a few things while cuddling with my sick-y Jakob.  He got a second round of the stomach bug I guess- super short this time around thankfully.  So I wrote a blog but didn't get to the pics until now.

Leaving for the states, my dad and I didn't get off easy.  Our flight left Tuesday morning and Monday morning started off normal, even with Jakob going to daycare.  He was finally well enough to go (and loves going), my dad took him, and I went to work- planning to pack that evening.  The weekend before we all weren't feeling amazing but we still managed to do some Christmas shopping and made it up Pilatus despite the snowy/rainy weather.  There wasn't much to do or see up there and it seemed like everything had just shut down which was pretty disappointing but we got in a couple good views and a super nerve-wracking group cable car ride up.  They kept having to stop it because of high winds which is a little scary when you're on a cable standing in a large, heavy car with 20 other people.  But we made it!

So Monday... By lunch I had no appetite and my stomach felt yucky.  I grabbed a huge croissant and after eating 1 cm of it I got sick in the bathroom and felt a little better for 15 min.  I really thought I could just make it 3 more hours since I was planning to leave early anyway.  But the terrible feeling came back and I couldn't work, concentrate, or hold a conversation anymore.  I made some arrangements, hurried and finished my timesheets and closing out stuff for the year, sent an email saying where I went and ran for the train.  Unfortunately, I didn't make it home before I got sick again but just for the record Camelbaks make great reservoirs. ;) I'm sure I got plenty of stares but luckily it was not rush hour.  I came home and slept and by 5 I had to get my dad to get Jakob even though his stomach wasn't feeling great either but I could not move.  By 10 I finally had some stuff packed in suitcases and a list made for the morning and my dad was vomiting as well.  Perfect timing.  :/

Tuesday morning quick version: Up at 6 to finish packing and get Jakob ready.  Jakob throws huge tantrum about getting in the stroller, screaming at 7am.  Stomachs feel terrible but run to the tram with stroller, 3 big bags and 3 carry ons.  In the rain.  Miss tram by 20 seconds.  Wait for next one.  Get to train station.  Miss train by 2 min because of stupid stairs instead of ramp.  Still raining.  Wait for next one.  Train is late by 5 min.  Get to airport 30 min behind schedule with a little over 1.5 hours to get to plane.  Take escalator with all of our crap (because we're in a hurry).  Dad and stuff lose balance and fall on top of me and Jakob.  Kick stuff off escalator at top.  Finally make it in line.  Sweating from running and stomachs and on the verge of crying.  But we made it to Tallahassee without vomiting anymore and everything was smooth from Zürich (besides our stomachs).

Other than the beginning, our vacation was wonderful.  My dad and I finally recovered, Jakob had a blast running around everywhere, playing in the yard on his swing set, wagon, and trikes, we shopped too much, and saw lots of family and friends.  There are always so many things we want to do, buy, and people to see that it's never perfect.  It can make stuff stressful sometimes too so as a new year resolution I will start buying more of my and Jakob's clothes in Zürich (even though they are significantly more expensive) which will make our list/stress/suitcases smaller when in the states.  It also gets a little stressful trying to see as much of people as we want but I'm so thankful to have so many people to see!  I made it down to Ocala to meet up with my friends and babies for a night, we all went to Albany to see family, and had lots of gatherings to see more people.  Plus, Jakob's birthday party!

A few of my friends came to celebrate along with a couple babies and some family and Jakob had a big, fun birthday party!  I made some Mickey Mouse cakes (red velvet) and needed lots of help from a few other people to ice them.  It was a project and I think they turned out great!  I accidentally made Mickey's color a bit tan but Jakob knew who he was!  It was so great to see all of our babies playing together and my little 2 year old is growing up.

We've now been back for almost 3 weeks.  We (luckily) stayed up most of the day when we got in which is a first for us.  It helped that Jakob had so many new toys to occupy him, we had to grocery shop, Jakob had his 2 yr appointment (89cm and 14.1kg, perfect and big), and we had to get ready for work and daycare in the morning.  The weekend after we slept a lot.  My eyes had been hurting so much but after over 20 hours of sleep that weekend, we felt great!  But then Jakob gave us a terrible cold.  Kids' viruses are so much stronger than when adults just pass around a cold.  I know I have a sinus infection and Paul's not far behind.  But soon spring will be here and things will be so much better.  :)  Oh and these pictures are from Jakob sledding last weekend.  He could not get enough of his new sled!  And the slideshow is of our time in the states.

Here's to a great New Year!

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!!