For Kun Yai

We were on the phone with my mom this morning, and she made a request for some new pictures of the Mutt. Since I'm far too lazy to attach another twenty pics, here's one video to tide you over till we Skype. I love you, too, Mom.

Stuck from UMA STEINHAUER on Vimeo.

Deflated

I dread weeks like this. It's the kind of time when everybody else around me is running around super busy and I'm on a holding pattern. Chase and I are getting over a stupid cold, so there hasn't been a lot of opportunities for us to get out much. Trying to contain our germs is my number one priority that I wish other sick people would practice as well. I get a little ticked off when I take Chase to a playgroup and watch her getting sneezed/coughed on by another snotty nose kid. I get it, kids get sick often. I'm just frustrated since this is the second time in less than a month that we're dealing with this. Living off post has its advantage, but right now I feel like a very very isolated island. Wil's been busy with a bad work week, and after the 5th "hey, you need to keep your eyes open when trying to feed our baby," I just don't feel like nagging him anymore. I call my mom, and she's busy. I call my sister, and she's busy. I call my friends, and I can never reach them and no one is calling me back. And I'm still here. Cleaning, wiping snotty noses (Chase's and mine), and trying to keep my chin up. The weather is crap. Rain for 2 days, an afternoon of sunshine, repeat. To add insult to the injury, literally, I fell off a window ledge trying to hang curtains in Chase's room. I was gimpy for a few days but surprisingly didn't break anything considering I hit the ledge, a step stool, and a crib on my way down. This is really turning into a pity party, isn't it? I guess I'll go back to cleaning and hope for a better weekend.

I'm Putting a Fire Extinguisher in My Car

I couldn't watch it without hyperventilating and screaming "GET HIM OUT, GET HIM OUT!!!" in my head. Those firefighters are my heroes.

She Sure is High Maintenance for a One-Year-Old

We're in the process of decorating Chase's room. Well, we're in the process of decorating the whole house (after living in a white box for 6 months, I guess it's time), but Miss Chase's room is our priority. Why is it that our bed room is always the last to get some TLC? Anyway, it's not a whole lot of fun right now trying to figure out the best placement for her furniture and finding room for the ever growing collection of everything. Amazing how much crap we have accumulated in such short amount of time because we think it'll somehow make our life with a baby easier/better. On top of that, both Chase and I are dealing with a cold that brings nasty hacking coughs especially when we try to sleep. Fun stuff. And I don't remember where I put my camera, so you are just going to have to wait a little, Parentals. Not much else is going on. We have had awfully rainy and chilly weather these past few weeks, and a break in a form of sunshine and clear blue sky today are most welcomed, although Wil and I have witnessed the most alarming and CRAZY weather-related incident yet. There are a whole lot of fallen leaves along our walk. I mean heaving piles. The first day we saw this, we just sort of shrugged and thought that the insane month-long rain and hurricane-forced wind were knocking down the leaves, but they are still coming down in mass this week. I think the crazy nip in the air and all the rain have finally confused the trees enough into thinking that they'd better start shedding and getting ready for the long hybernation again. We're only 2/3 of a way into July! The coldest winter in decades plus an early fall? The Germans must have collectively done something to piss off Mother Nature recently? Must be all that bad 80's music since it can't be their obsession with sorting their recyclables. Well, I'll fondly remember those two weeks of unbearably warm and muggy summer days, especially when I have to pile on 4 layers of fleece to keep warm inside. Definitely catching a hop to somewhere tropical this year...

A Cautious Personality

Chase is 14 and a half months old now. I often catch myself marveling at this little person and feeling a little sad that it's all happening so fast. We were finally blessed with a gorgeous weather yesterday after a few weeks of rain and chilly air, so Chase and I, along with the boys, had a fun afternoon laying on a blanket in our backyard studying the grass, the trees, the poofy clouds, and the blue sky. When she wanted to rest her eyes, Chase would plop her little chubby body in my arms, nuzzle in, stick her thumb in her mouth, close her eyes, and give a long heaving sigh. It took all that I had to not tear up when she buried her little face into my chest. I feel so very blessed everyday to be a part of her life. She seems to be growing up at a warp speed and is in the phase of repeating everything she hears. Some examples of yesterday word list: "teeeee" (tree),"shvoomm" (mushroom), "oderweh" (the other way), and amen (she repeated it after a prayer teddy bear at bed time). She can identify her nose and eyes when I ask where they are and has just added elephant to the list of sign language she knows. It's amazing what a sponge her little brain is at this age. I can pile books in front of her and run downstairs to put a load of laundry in the washer and come back to find her completely engross in the pages that she doesn't notice that I am back. She still loves to crawl and cruise and has shown little interest in walking on her own without holding our hands. I am really not worried about it since she just started crawling in earnest a few months ago although have made an appointment with a physical therapist, who specializes in early childhood development, to evaluate the way we play to make sure that I am on the right track in encouraging her motor skill development. As we have seen with Chase, she does everything at her own pace. She takes her time to intimately study everything and every movement around her for months before deciding that it is the right time for her to do a certain task. We have seen this with rolling and crawling. You should have seen her at the beach. She spent hours just sitting on the beach moving sand from one palm to another, feeling the grains between her tiny fingers, closely watching how it moved with the water and on her skin. Looks like our hope of her becoming a scientist is a bit closer to fruition :). When I was telling the therapist about Chase, she said to me "I read an article not too long ago describing the behavior and personality of many slow walkers as "cautious" and I think that sounds a lot like your little daughter." I don't think there have been truer words used to describe my baby. She is very cautious about everything and is slow to warm up to new people and environment. She needs time to familiarize herself with it before loosening up and just letting out her lively personality again. But once she does, you'd better be sure that you are on your A-game because she'll put your energy to the test!

Now since I've been lazy at updating, you will get a mother load of pictures in one go. If you are quiet enough, you can hear my mother slowly scribbling my name back on to her will with a pencil.

I know you are green with envy of Wil's $800-hooptie. Our very own European Beauty.

We had big plans for the last weekend, but it was cold and we got lazy. So we hung around Kaiserslautern and enjoyed their beautiful parks. This set came from their Dinosaur Garden. My battery died and I forgot a spare set, so we only have pictures of the garden and not so much of the dinosaurs. You win some and you lose some.






Happiness is a baby in a swing.

Until she sees a bird (here's she's signing bird).

Hi five!



Baby PT.

Yay, I did it!
Can't wait to go on those insane looking slides, can you?
All 22 lbs of hers are getting heavy.

With a spoon and no pants, this is just how I roll.

And that is how it starts...

I LOVE this picture.

I don't know why Brutus loves eating this stuff so much. Grass is just gross.

My three kids.


I spy baby teeth...

Life is good.

Lazy drinking.

"Momma, these don't belong here."

"My Papa picked out the coolest onesie for me in San Antonio. And Momma let me watch Sesame Street! Double score!!!"

Habitual Patterns

I forgot to mention in the last post that I got the sundress pattern I used to make Chase's dress from Habitual. She also has an excellent tutorial for a baby kimono, which will be my next projects for all the babies I can't wait to get my hands on next year. While we're on that happy note, congrats Jess and Rhy!!! Two red-headed babies!!! Auntie Uma's sewing machine is going to stay busy!

Overdue

I know I've been insanely lazy at updating the blog. Let's see what has happened in the Steinhauer household lately.

Chase is working on her third tooth. She cut three teeth in a week and, thankfully, handled teething pain with sleep. You heard me. I mean two 4-hour naps and 13 hour-night kind of sleep per day. At first I was going a little crazy and didn't know what to do with myself, but then I started sewing.


As soon as Chase woke up from one of her uber long naps, I couldn't contain my excitement and had to plop this dress that I had been working on on the child even before I lifted her out of the crib. She saw how excited I was and started clapping for me. I have the cutest cheerleader ever. The weather has just turned cold again, so she won't be wearing it for a little while, which is perfect since it's still a little big.
I'm changing the huge bow tie thing to a snap. And you see why I haven't been updating the blog much?

Chase has become a bit obsessed with Brutus and his bed lately, much to his dismay. I guess it's because Paddy is always right by her side and Brutus just wants to be left alone after his morning cuddle time. Already a pesky little sister.




Enjoying her first bubble bath.


Chase still loves to read, only now she won't sit for long in my lap, but rather prefers to pick out a book she wants, sits down, and reads it to herself. My independent little reader.


We went out to dinner with friends on the weekend of the Forth (when it was still warm) and apparently she wasn't thrilled about the selection.


Thanks for the outfit, Nah Best!

And for a touch of randomness:

In Germany, it is perfectly legal to drive a tractor or a 4-wheeler on the streets, and we often get stuck behind one of these living in a farming community. Apparently, my neighbor was buying this one.

And, clearly, she was thirsty.


I've been terrible at taking pictures lately and promise to do better. Since Wil had another 3-day weekend, we had a big plan to bike along the Mosel and go sightseeing, but the weather hasn't been nice enough to hang the baby out all day. So yesterday, we opted for a shopping trip downtown and a stroll in one of Kaiserslautern's many parks instead. Today is looking to be beautiful, so we'll be out and about, and have another biking trip set for tomorrow. Lots of pictures coming your way!