Baden-Baden, Cont.

We woke up to a much dryer second day. Had a fabulous breakfast at the hotel, put the baby down in her stroller bassinet for her 9 A.M. nap, and went for a walk along the famed Lichtentaler Allee, which did not disappoint even though the vibrant colors of fall had already mostly faded to drab brown.

I wanted to nab this vintage German highchair.
I'm done with breakfast!
If all the pump rooms could be this fancy...
In front of the Kurhaus, a cultural/convention center that also houses the casino
Entrance to the casino
Thankfully, the weather cleared up as the day went on.

The Theater

I want those doors.
I picked out a mansion on the river Oos that Wil would give to me as our 30th anniversary gift.


Or I'd just settle for a stay at the posh Brenner's hotel.
A stroll along the Oos.
At the Rose Garden, minus a few thousand roses.
Look at that up-to-no-good face.
She tried hard to grab/eat this.
That hat is size 18-24 months...

The City's Church


I really miss the good mangoes (second from the left).
Friedrichsbad, Roman-Irish Bath, where Wil hung out with other naked patrons.
At our favorite Baden-Baden cafe, Nordsee.
I'm seeing a trend.
Nothing is hotter than a devoted father.
In a few years, Kid, in a few years...
The church next to our hotel.

We drove a short distance on a scenic route to another town in the Black Forest that afternoon. It was completely boring in comparison to Baden-Baden and I've got nothing to report except for that we actually got to have the Black Forest cake in the Black Forest (it wasn't even as good as the one from our bakery in town). Chase and I bunked in for the night after Wil headed off to his next birthday outing at the spa. He loved it and had all kinds of fun stories to tell. Maybe I could coax him into sharing them here later... I swear he was so clean, he practically glowed in the dark.

The next morning Chase had her first taste of bread. And some fish and potatoes (she grabbed it off of my plate).

She also had a REALLY big poop that took half an hour and 2 diapers to take care of. In our breakfast room.
Wil and I couldn't stop laughing at her pooping face. She rarely makes this face anymore since her newborn days. It used to be our daily entertainment. Sad, I know.
All cleaned up and ready to do some last minute shopping before heading home.
Of course, we had to have one of these.

We had an amazing time, but nothing could beat coming home to this.



Thank you, Mara, for taking such excellent care of our boys.

We have way too many more pictures to post here, Kun Yai, so just let me know if you haven't gotten enough for your wall. Now I'm exhausted and probably need to go to the spa myself... Who wants to babysit this mutt for me?

Baden Baden, Part I

Ahoy! We got home late afternoon yesterday and spent the evening loving on the boys and enjoying a movie on the couch. It was a terrific trip! Chase proved herself to be such a great traveling companion, and now I'm completely at ease taking longer trips with her. Planning a trip around her naps really paid off and we got to see/do everything I hoped for. The weather was at least 15 degrees warmer than Baumholder although it rained on and off the whole time we were there, which would explain why we didn't have many pictures of the kid out and about. This is going to be picture-heavy, so let's get started!

If you ever find yourself needing a Baden-Baden hotel recommendation and enjoy this view,

a small family-run hotel that is very affordable,

where the attendants know that a good warm basket of freshly baked bread and homemade preserves served with your choice of coffee/tea/cappuccino is the very best way to say "Guten Morgan,"

(of course, having it in this room does not hurt either),

then Hotel Am Markt is the one for you!

My only complaint is that the church bell can get a teeny bit excessive on Sunday, but more on that later...

We left Baumholder later than I had planned. Our Garmin decided to take us on a scenic route through the Black Forest, which amazingly didn't add any time to our drive. It was a gorgeous drive but we were pretty tired by the time we got in mid-afternoon. It was raining pretty good, so we decided to head out to an early dinner. Too bad it was too wet and dark to take a good picture of our restaurant, because it sat in the middle of a beautiful vineyard overlooking a valley. I've got one picture I played around with here.

Our dinner was fabulous and a very sweet German grandma even came over to our table and offered to hold a sleepy Chase for us so we could have dinner together in peace.

Have I mentioned that I could have dairy in small amount now? Bring on the stomachache.

We went back to the hotel, I put Chase to bed, and Wil left for his birthday excursion to the casino. My birthday present to him was a small amount of money he was free to lose, and off he went in his handsome suit. As it turned out, he could have walked to the casino from our hotel. We were literally a minute from the spas and maybe five from the casino and the cool shopping area. I forgot to give him the camera to take, so no pics from inside of the place. Wil didn't have a good night but did take away a very cool experience gambling in one of the swankiest casinos in Europe.

The kid is awake from her nap, so I'm going to have to finish the rest of this post later. Peace!

Let The First Mini Family Vacation Begin!

Thank you everyone for your kind words. We truly appreciate it, and here's someone showing off how terrific she feels today.


We'll be gone for a couple of days and I'm forcing myself to not bring my laptop. I'm hoping that Baden-Baden will be too spectacular for me to notice the internet withdraw. I bid you a happy, peaceful Sunday.

NEVER AGAIN

I fell on Chase and thought that I heard a pop. It was dark. No one was around. I didn't have a cell phone on me.

We were at the dog park with the boys. Normally Wil would be the one taking them out to play at the end of the day while Chase and I make dinner at home. We all had just hopped into the car and dropped Wil off at his dinning in before heading out to the park. It was the first time I ever saw my husband in his class A and thought he looked mighty spiffy. It was getting dark outside although the clock on the dashboard barely read 5 P.M. I wore Chase in an Ergo to keep her warm. The boys were chasing each other around at a full galloping speed like they have always done when cooler weather gave them a spring in their steps and they were happy. I almost saw it coming in slow motion. My eyes were trying to follow the two wrestling fur balls in the dark. Chase thought her brothers' antics were hilarious and was really giggling. Then somehow someone ran right into me and my left knee. I fell awkwardly on my right side. I knew she felt my weight even though I tried to put down my arm to catch the fall. Immediately she was wailing and I was hyperventilating. I unbuckled the Ergo and ran my hands over her tiny limps. Everything felt right where they should be. I couldn't really see anything else except for her grimace that was hard to miss only inches away from my face. For a few seconds I rocked her while kissing her face and praying out loud to every God I knew to let her be okay. I scooped her up and ran to the car. The light came on as I opened the door and I laid her down on the seat to inspect the rest of her. No blood. No obvious broken bones. All these thoughts were loudly screaming at me in my head. We needed to get help. I heard a pop. Her head could have hit the ground and she might have a concussion. I shoved my screaming baby in her car seat and yelled at the boys to get in the car. They thought we were still playing and started to chase each other around again. I called out to Brutus in my most desperate voice. His ears perked up and knew something was up. He ran right out of the park and jumped into the back of our Rav4. It took what seemed like an eternity to get Paddy, but we were flying out of there as soon as everyone was in. The dog park is in a small separated area that is a few minutes away from the main post. I thought about what we should do while going through the gate. Suddenly previously screaming Chase went very quiet and I couldn't get her to say anything back at all, which immediately caused me to freak out. It would have taken the same amount of time going back to the house as it did going to where Wil was. I'm sure me in my sweats and grass stain was a sight to see for those people in their class A's. I ran in with Chase in her car seat. The event hadn't really started, which made it easy to find Wil. One of the people Wil was talking to apparently was in charge of the post's emergency response and called "someone" to come check Chase out. My head was spinning and even though everyone said she seemed okay I still couldn't stop hyperventilating. The next thing I knew, a fire truck, an ambulance, and an MP pulled up. They took one look at her and said she was fine. Chase was exceptionally quiet and seemed very tired. All the new faces hovering over her and the firemen's bright suits kept her interest. She put her favorite thumb in her mouth and sighed. I was still crying.

Later after I put her down for the night and sat down on the couch with Wil, I realized that the pop that I heard probably originated from my body and not hers. My knee was throbbing and the arm I stretched out to catch the fall felt stiff. Guess I can feel like that when an almost-90-lb sinewy muscles and fur hit a joint at a wind tunnel speed. My heart was heavy thinking that it could have been much much much worse. I whimpered a bit more and fell asleep on the couch. Wil didn't wake me up until he heard the baby cried out for her feeding. She fell asleep nursing and I wanted to fall asleep with her in my arms. I gave her a big kiss on her head before laying her back down in her crib. She gave a grumble.

She's okay.

I'm not.

A Long Weekend

Wil's third decade on earth is quickly approaching (11/14), and we're taking a weekend trip to celebrate a little early. We'll be spending a couple of days in Baden-Baden and exploring a small section of the Black Forest. Time permitting, we might see a bit of France along the way. I'm keeping our itinerary pretty relaxed and flexible as one should when traveling with an infant, who can loudly curse at us from the back seat for HOURS. Luckily the drive will only be for a couple of hours and you bet I'm timing each leg of our travel around her naps. A happy baby makes for a much nicer travel companion. Unfortunately, the boys will have to sit this one out, but we know they are going to be spoiled rotten by our friend Mara and get to hang with their bud, Samson, all weekend. I'm more worried about Mara than the boys. There are going to be lots of pictures, so start making room on your "Wall of Chase," Kun Yai.

I honestly don't have much to share this week. Finally, the kid is adjusting well to the daylight saving time. And the neighbors are probably happy with their furniture arrangement/wall decoration because I haven't heard anyone hammering anything away at 3 A.M. lately. Now if they could stop River Dancing with their dog right above my kid's crib, I might start waving to them with my whole hand instead of just one finger again.

Chaster is finding out that her mother is not quite ready for her to be THIS mobile. This week I have failed numerous times to catch her while she's bouncing around/sitting/tipping forward and backward, which have resulted in a few episodes of giant noggin meeting floor/car door/computer and one very brief, however completely terrifying, event of her first involuntary dive into the half-filled tub--face-plant style. Oops. Guess it's time to dig out that bathtub ring from the basement. Also, my kid either has a pair of very long legs or our door frame is very low. We got Chase a doorway jumper instead of the one with a stand hoping to save some precious floor space. I adjusted the thing to the highest seat setting but her legs were still dragging. Any suggestions before she gets yet another play thing to take up our tiny living room?

Yes, We Can!

Dear Baby Chase:

This is the only time that I wish that I could fast forward the next couple of years, so that I could truly share with you and you could comprehend the significance of what has just happened. In Germany today, you woke up to a new President Elect of the United States. He, like you, is a child of mixed race with a name that most people often mispronounce. He has inspired millions of people and re-energized the country. Papa and I spent countless hours in the past year in front of our one AFN News channel and computer, watching, following, and reading all things politics we could get our hands on. We didn't always agree, and frequently Brutus and Paddy bared witness to our very own debates. My hope for our family is that one day this will become a very spirited three-way discussion. Only time will tell if President Obama will live up to our hopes and dreams, but for now I am very excited for our future. I can already see your rolling your eyes at me when I tell you for the tenth time "if Barack Obama could get himself to the White House, I know you can get an A in AP chemistry." All things are possible when you put your mind to it. I know you can, too!

With all of my heart,

Momma

A Romantic Dinner for Two...Post-Baby

The flavor of our delicious new bottle of Italian wine was greatly enhanced by Cheetos. Yes, it's been that kind of week.

I'm far too tired to blink, let alone type, so here are some pictures from this week.
Never mind the new toy, she spent 10 minutes just trying to get the tag. Definitely Brutus' sister.
Got a lick of approval.

We also started Chaster monkey back on solids again. We started and stopped the last time when she was about 5 months old because she started to develop rashes around her face and tummy. This week I realized that she was actually having a reaction to the formula I used to mix with her cereal because she was perfectly fine when I used breast milk. So now she gets a little of soy formula in her solid if I can't get around to pumping. Too much info? How about some pics instead?

The first day back on rice cereal. I made the cereal really runny because I was still anticipating the allergic reaction, so it was a touch messy...

All cleaned up and rash-free! Hooray for breast milk and soy formula!

This is how our morning usually starts after her breakfast.
Chase hangs with her papa while reading the morning news together.
Following what's going on on the campaign trails...
Where's the baby?
How cankles got their sass back.

After breakfast and morning news, it's play time with Papa before he has to get ready for work.

Her elephant slippers from Kun Yai were adorable though caused quite a massive case of frustration because she just wanted to take them off and gnaw on them. I had to pry her mouth open to free the elephant's trunk for these pictures.



I just want to show that she does have the Ditthaparn pinkies. And the fifth generation (as far as I know) carries on the gene...

Chase was going to be Crashing Stock Market or Recession Baby, but the hellacious week got the better of me and she just ended up wearing her bunting suit, which also doubled as her baby chick outfit. So for all intents and purposes, she was a chick for her first Halloween.