A Birthday in Koblenz

What a busy weekend! Chase got over the side effect of her vaccination quickly and we made a trip to Mannheim to pick up a few things at Ikea. We have yet to make a "quick trip" to Ikea. I personally don't think it's possible. The place is like a maze designed to keep short-attention-spanned folks like us plenty occupied with little rooms filled with pretty little things and shiny objects. Ummm, shiny objects... Anyway, after 4 hours, 3 trips around the store, and one visit to its fabulous cafeteria, we finally left with the kitchen blinds we came for and a few other items for the nursery--with a plan to come back with a VAT form so we could get 19% off of everything else we plan to buy. Good thing we bought a bigger vehicle. We came home and took the boys out to the park to play with their friend Oliver for another hour. All five of us exhaustedly crawled home around 10, when Chase decided that she was going to punish her mother for keeping her up 2 hours pass her bedtime by staying up 2 more hours. So I kept smothering her with milk until the poor child begged for mercy and went to sleep. In our household, this technique is known as "outboobing," as in "I totally outboobed Chase and she decided that she would rather sleep in a loud and smelly truck stop than swallow another drop of milk." I am clever.

Sunday rolled around too quickly, but we were determined to stick with our plan of going up to Koblenz to see my brother Non. We peer-pressured our friend Carol and her puppy Tucker into coming with us :), and good thing, too, because I might have tried to hurt my husband if she weren't around when our GPS sent us driving through the lovely German countryside instead of getting us on the autobahn. Anyway, after 2 hours on the road, we arriving in Koblenz starving and Non didn't disappoint when he took us to a fantastic Italian restaurant with a view of the Rhein river. The view was breathtaking and it was the first time I had a medium-rare steak in 10 months! The entertainment was watching Non trying to hold Chase. Lunch and a show! I got it on video, too, and will try to get it on here ASAP, MOM. Chase was such a good sport considering she had been so out of her element for the whole weekend.

After lunch, we went out on a long walking tour of Koblenz. What an absolutely beautiful city! David, one of Non's roommates, came along on the walk and served as our unofficial tour guide. The weather was gorgeous and it seemed like everybody was either out riding their bikes or soaking up the sun along the river bank. It was a fabulous way to spend my 30th birthday. My girl slept most of the way but still got all kinds of coos and adoring smiles from everyone when her father decided to carry her around and show her off. I'm telling you, they REALLY love babies in Germany. Strangers will stop you on the street to look/play with your kid. This is not a place for germaphobs. Anyway, here are some pictures of our trip.
Non meeting his niece
Dani, Non's girlfriend, giving him tips on how to not drop my kid
Tucker pouting at the table
The view from the restaurant
A stroll along the river
The Rhein
Some of the riverfront properties Wil said he could PROBABLY live with
A dutiful uncle


David said this guy was trying to order a beer from the other side of the river
Beautiful Carol
Time to show off the baby!
"Momma, stop bothering me."
Has papa wrapped around her little paws
Ehrenbreitstein fortress
We have yet to take a family picture in which she doesn't cry

The three amigos




Come home safely, Bryan!

Germany was playing Spain for the title of European Cup later on that night. There were lots of hardcore fans walking around everywhere chanting and dancing. It was kind of like an Auburn tailgating on steroid.

It's 3 A.M...

Which means that the baby must be having a fever! I knew she would probably run some low grade temp because of the vaccines, but there was nothing to prepare me for when she started to wail out of a dead sleep and the thermometer actually read above 98.6. I must say that infant Tylenol is the stuff of miracle. I think her temp went down even before I could finish nursing her back to sleep. Chase seems to be more comfortable now, just in time for her momma to be sufficiently freaked out and stayed up to check her temperature every half an hour for the rest of the night.

We had given the baby infant Tylenol before she got her shots, and it completely knocked her out most of the day. Wil decided that we should take advantage of it and go to a movie. I would outright protest had our on-post movie theater not have the baby room inside. I had never been in it but seen this little glass-paneled room in the back of the theater. The idea is that if the baby starts to cry, I could take her in there to nurse/comfort and still be able to watch the movie. Well, it is a lovely thought, which might work out much better had my child a) not just had the most traumatic day of her life AND b) learned to sleep with a VERY loud speaker in her ears. You would think that there will be a volume control in the baby room, where it's actually louder than inside the theater. Guess it's the thought that counts in this case. Needless to say, I packed up and left with the baby leaving Wil to enjoy a few guilt free hours of Indiana Jones. He was supposed to call so we could pick him up after the movie but walked home instead--in the rain. We'll see if I'll have two sick babies on my hands to take care of tomorrow.

We were planning on going to pick up some roman shades at Ikea for our kitchen tomorrow, so the neighbors couldn't judge us anymore from the piles of dirty dishes we stack everywhere. That and I'm sure they are tired of seeing us eating cereal in our underwear. Things I do for you, Strangers. Since a trip to Ikea is a little over an hour away, we'll have to wait and see if the Boss feels better enough to be strapped down in her car seat for that long. There's no torture quite like being stuck in the same car with a screaming baby on a long trip. If our Ikea excursion should fall through, we still have Sunday in Koblenz with my smelly brother Non to look forward to. Not the smell part, but I'm excited to see Chase with her uncle. Now, Non, you have a couple of days to practice how to not drop my baby while holding her. This is not a thing where you give me $5 and we call it even.

2-Month Check Up

My little baby got her shots today. I know there are a bunch of other things I should mention about our visit to the hospital, but all I could think of are the looks she had and the scream she let out when three needles were stuck into her poor little thighs at once. Wil and I were tucking her in the other night and got to talking about our experience/misconception for the past two months. I mentioned that I didn't realize I would be so powerless against her cry. I just can't help myself. Her pitiful cry really physically changes me. My heartbeat would raise, my breasts would leak, my hands would start to get clammy. I had never been around a newborn before Chase, and I don't count hanging around my little cousins since I never really had to be responsible for their lives. But this baby is mine and she probably expects me to not let random strangers stick sharp objects into her. Wil, who has been around babies all his life, saw that I was getting really nervous and pacing the room when I spotted the needles, suggested that I waited outside the room. I couldn't, so we cried together. She's fine and sleeping peacefully right next to me as I type. I really wouldn't know what to do if Wil weren't there though. Doctors here don't seem to worry about growth percentile very much. She's not gaining weight as quickly as she had done the first few weeks of her life, but we were assured that all is well within the growth chart and she would probably do a little better once she gets over the congestion that's been bugging her for the past few weeks. She's weighing in at 10 lbs 2 oz and is 21 1/4" in length. Basically, almost 3 lbs. and 3/4" gain since she left the hospital. The one thing that is not little is her noggin. All other measurements are in between approximately 18th-50th percentile, but the body part that she clearly inherited from her father is in, ahem, 85th percentile. It's the size of the brain, baby. Or that's what I'm going to have to tell her when she comes home crying because some mean boy makes fun of her at school. Just thinking about that makes my blood boil. Lordy, I am such a hopeless mother.

Girl Gab

She's a talker AND a morning riser. Oh, dear. I'm still trying to figure out the best video format to use so it wouldn't look so bad. Baby steps, ok?

Chase loves her curtains. I don't know what it is about them, but they just fascinate her--none more so than our shower curtain. When all the rocking, cuddling, bouncing on the exercise ball fail to calm an upset baby, a visit with her friend "Curtain" can usually remedy the situation. And I was about to get rid of that thing. Oh, well, enjoy our little baby!


Shower Curtain from UMA STEINHAUER on Vimeo.

It's a Hot One

When we were living in North Carolina, 80-degree weather was considered pleasant, mainly because we had an option of kicking back in our air-conditioned house. Not so here. In about a week, the temperature climbed up 30 degrees and left us very miserable. Chase took it the hardest and was super fussy. It got so bad that when she nursed we both ended up dripping sweat afterward. Needless to say, we stuck around the house with the fans going full blast after a short walk in town nearly did Brutus in. By Sunday we caved and bought a used-11,000-BTU portable AC from a family that was PCSing. You should see the grin on Wil's face when he cranked that thing up. It's also very nice to be able to sleep without a sticky baby in my arms.

I've been trying to upload video clips of the kid but had to quit after over 20 minutes of waiting for the thing to finish. I'm not sure if this is the norm for Blogger, but I'll keep trying. In the meantime, enjoy the pics!


She's getting chunky!

You will melt if you go outside.

My new bestfriend, AC.

A much happier baby.

The Poor Boy

I pity the first boy who wants to take her out on a date. Nevermind the overprotective dad who would be greeting him on the front porch holding his shot gun, since her brothers' fangs should sufficiently scare him into complying with the curfew.

St. Wendel

The long weekend went by without us taking a long trip anywhere. It was cold and wet most of the time, and we decided to hang around Baumholder, clean the house, and enjoy each other's company on the one day that was warm. My darling baby and I are still duking it out over naps during the day, which explains why updates are so sporadic. I have also put a pause on our sleep training, as it became clear that neither one of us were quite ready for the hard work. Right now sleep is more important than the actual location of it, so Chase and I have called a truce and agreed to share a bed for 8 hours of peaceful sleep with one quick nursing session in between. She's been really good at showing me when she's ready for certain things, like her swing. We really thought she would take to it immediately, as most of our friends' babies did right after birth, but she didn't. It scared the crap out of her, I think, mostly because she was such a lightweight. We brought it out again this weekend and to our surprise she loved it so much she actually fell asleep in it. Same goes for her bouncy chair, which I almost put away. She's also been putting herself back to sleep during nap time, so I am hopeful that with our encouragement she will also want to sleep, instead of play, in her crib as well. Sometimes I forget that she's not quite 8 weeks old yet and expect too much out of her. She's growing up so quickly, and having her warm tiny body nuzzling with me at night would become a thing of the past before I know it. So I'm taking a full advantage of having her all to myself to offset the time when I can't get her to come home for a visit from college.

Since we didn't take a long trip over the weekend, we drove half an hour to a town called St. Wendel for a quick stroll after work. St. Wendel has fabulous fruit and seasonal markets, and the next one in July will be all about cherry. Yum. We are going to be there bright and early on the first Saturday of the month, which means that we are going to miss the Homburg flea market :(. I adore summer in Germany. Winter was so utterly dreary, so everyone and every town are celebrating and taking full advantage of every last ray of sunshine with all kinds of markets and festivals.

Ok, time for some pictures. I forgot to change the batteries in the camera so we don't have many to show. I'll make it up when we go to the fruit market.

The boys in front of St. Wendel Basillica


Where's everybody?
A stroll in the city park.
Cool sculpture.

She likes it!
I love her sleepy face.

Naps Are For Sissies

We are starting to sleep train Chase. Or should I say Wil is starting to sleep train Chase? I'm such a push over. One crocodile tear and a sad face get her out of her crib faster than I can finish saying, "momma is soooo sorry." We're using the "No Tear" method, and I firmly believe that this is far harder on me than it is on her. I'm just having a hard time letting go of my little baby. Chase knows this and is playing momma like a card. Yesterday, the girl, who was just a second ago too sleepy to protest, immediately woke up cooing and smiling as soon as her little butt touched the crib and went with zero nap all day. Man, this parenting thing is hard.

We're hoping to take a day trip somewhere this weekend, but the weather is cold and rather wet. I'm not sure if it's the best idea to dangle a newborn out in it all day. We shall see. Anyhow, my mom asked for some smiley pictures while we were on the phone together today, and my little ham was only too happy to comply.







Also, our 2-year anniversary was on the 10th, and Wil got me these gorgeous flowers. Hard to believe that we've only been married for 2 years (together for almost 4) considering we've gone through 4 cars, 3 houses, a loss of Conner, two adoptions of unruly monkeys named Brutus and Paddy, a really big move across the ocean, and a birth of our child. Never can say our lives are uneventful. Here's to the Steinhauer Adventure for years to come!

Our Week So Far

It's been a hectic couple of days. Chase and I shared some kind of stomach bug on Monday. That was not fun, but thankfully it passed quickly. Yesterday, I had an appointment for my 6-week check up. My midwife assured me that my still having pain and slow healing were not uncommon however frustrating. I also found out that my stomach muscle had separated, and it probably happened during the labor process since I didn't have it during the pregnancy. Joy. I still have 10 lbs to lose and am rather hopeful since the first 25 just sort of knew that they were no longer welcome to hang around and left promptly and quietly. Chase has been more cranky than normal during the day this week, which keeps me really busy, but is beginning to sleep "through the night" (5 hours at a stretch). When she's her happy self, Chase is one adorable baby. She's laughing, cooing, and generally the most precious soul.

We went to Homburg flea market, which was considered one of the largest in Germany, over the weekend. It was our first time there and we had no idea what to expect. It was huge! Parking was non-existent and we ended up parking under a bridge. It became very interesting when we had to come back to the car to feed the baby. I can't imagine what people who were driving by think when they saw us in our car under the bridge: a white dude with an Asian woman, who had one boob exposed. Anyway, I don't have much time to be witty, as the child is about to wake up and scream. So here are some pics:
Things one would do for cheap junk.
See, I'm not kidding about the bridge. And did I mention that we got a new ride? Room for all five of us!
A flat area for diaper changing is a plus.


I LOVE this picture of her. The hair. The face. The complaining cry. L-O-V-E-I-T!
Ok, to prove that she really is just precious, one from our tummy time fun with brother Paddy cheering her on: