Home Safely

Happy New Year Everyone!

We made it home safely from our holiday. Emma was a total superstar in the car, only cried a few minutes, and otherwise enjoyed Biene Maya (Maya the Bee) on her ipod, read her books, and just slept! She is still a little sick, but behaved herself like a Champ! The snow let up and we enjoyed an ice free driving experience with little traffic. So it really was only 7 hours, instead of the 9 we thought it would be! Yippee!

She loved playing with her cousin, Carl Jacob. I thought for sure this 5 year old, single child would reject his 20 month old cousin totally...but alas, he played legos with her, he sang with her, and of course wanted to watch her Biene Maya episodes with her. He would get so upset when she would move the ipod out of his sightline...it was really funny! They even got to build a Gingerbread house together - minus the candies Emma ate along the way!

Christmas was nice, even if it was celebrated on Christmas Eve. I never understood that about Europe. They have what they call First Christmas, and Second Christmas (for Christmas Eve & Day), but you don't really do anything on the "Second Christmas" because all the presents were opened the night before. I mean, yes you hang out with family n' stuff.....but it shouldn't be called a "Second Christmas" unless something Christmasy is happening! Oh well. We had a nice time. Drank champagne (not me), ate Antelope Steaks (me!), and sang songs (yes, me!). We had a 10 foot Christmas tree which was probably 8 feet wide as well, it was gorgeous! Emma did great about not touching the presents; but those sparkling, little balls dangling precariously from the tree didn't stand a chance from my little devil!

Emma loved playing with the Lego Duplos, she was quite the architect! Here she is in her "tired" pose. She sucks her thumb and tugs on her ear whenever she gets tired. Pokerface!

Here she is back at home with her present from Mama and Papa, a Spielkueche! (Play kitchen)

She loves it, and offers us up "brot" (bread), and tells us "Sit down, Papa/Mama!". She is quite the bossy little girl, I must say!! She made us move her little eating table from the dining room into her room next to the kitchen so she can serve food directly onto it.

Anyways, we had a lovely Christmas and a VERY quiet New Years Eve. Christian was sick and in bed at 9:45. I stayed up and watched the fireworks show from my front window. Fireworks are totally legal here and people buy bucketloads and shoot them off from the streets, corners, and rooftops! The only place it's illegal to shoot them off from is in the Forest. The next morning you see the aftermath of the BILLION dollar firework industry that exists here within the European Union. Neither Christian nor Emma awoke from the noise - unbelievable!

Work starts back today, and I truly feel these days are getting more and more difficult. My belly is growing fast, and I am in a constant state of being boxed from the inside! Emma was very active in the womb, and her siblings are fighting hard for the top spot in that category. Although I have only gained 6.5 lbs, I am ALL BELLY! I'll post a photo soon so you can all have a nice, little chuckle!