A Few Trips in Pictures

Pooped

I'm still adjusting to caring for a busy toddler, who now only naps once a day. I know a lot of moms will roll their eyes at me when reading this, but Chase had the same routine of 2-3 naps a day since she was about 5 months old and we loved it! She's still speed teething and cutting her 5th tooth in 7 days as I type. It's so weird to think that last week she only had her 2 bottom ones and now there are nearly 5 more on the top row as well. There's the biggest and most adorable gap between her top two bucky beaver teeth. I love her new smile as much as I miss her gummy one.

Here's a video that was shot a few weeks ago. Our little baby is a bit obsessed with her hand sanitizer, and we have to hide the bottle from her or she would ask for it constantly. I think she already looks so different from when this video was taken. Sigh.

Nurturing Her Inner Germaphobe from UMA STEINHAUER on Vimeo.

The child is literally growing like a weed and learning new words and signs everyday. Her new responsibilities are opening and closing the door for the boys when they want to go outside or come in. All I have to do is ask her to get the door for the boys and she'll hop to it, which proves to be a welcoming distraction for that one minute that I need to warm up a sippy cup of soy milk for her in the morning now that we stopped breastfeeding. 16 months and 6 days of the most wonderful experience that I will always treasure.

I have lots of pictures to post but we have a bit of an issue with our hard drive at the moment. Hang tight, Grandparents. She's worth the wait :).

Be Maddie's Friends!

I landed on Heather's blog one late night after clicking on one link after another about a month ago. I've been a faithful follower since although it wasn't until today that I finally left her my comment. I struggled to come up with the right words to tell her how horribly sorry I was that her beautiful baby girl Madeline was no longer with us but realized that no such words existed. I wish that we lived close enough that I could bring her dinner and give her a hug. We donated a small amount of money in Maddie's memory to benefit the family of NICU babies (please read about Friends of Maddie here), but Maddie has inspired me to do more. I'm in the process of completing my first quilt for Chase (one of her Christmas presents) and will be joining Rheinland-Pfalz Quilt Guild in making baby quilts for their Baby Love outreach program. The end of the year is coming up quickly along with what sure to be a busy and happy family time for many of us. I just would like you to keep Friends of Maddie in mind when/if you feel the urge to contribute to a charitable organization. Thanks for being our friends and, hopefully, Maddie's!

I Pledge

*This post is brought to you by Wil.*

I do not consider myself political. I am probably one of the most laid back people you will ever meet, but there is a video going around really causing a stir of emotions to put it lightly among different people. I have watched the video a few times now to see whats the big deal. It actually reminds me of one of the most enduring speeches from one of our Presidents that our country seems to rally around. Anyone remember JFK "Ask not what your country can do for you but what you can do for you country". Well everybody seems to take the stand that the President works for you. Alright, so he being so far removed from your everyday life how do you fix whats around you? You take a pledge to fix what you can where you can and by doing so make your world a better place. This video is not satanic or any kind of throw back to Adolph Hitler, (which is just crazy, REALLY). Im tired of living in fear, get over it, move on, and do something good for the world. Your telling me that by pledging to recycle, I'm actually saying hail hitler. REALLY!?!



I pledge my service to My World, My Country, My President, and by doing so make this place better for my family and the generations to come.

No Time for Real Blogging

In the past week:
-Chase has given up her morning nap and is apparently cutting the top two teeth, rendering the remaining afternoon nap rather miserable and restless. Momma is exhausted.
-Wil has gone through yet another torturous test to reveal the first good news that the nerves in his leg are not permanently damaged! Hooray for good news!
-It's been very warm and we're spending a lot of time outside by the baby pool in the backyard.
-Chase had to stay at the CDC for a few hours while I had a follow up appointment with my dear optometrist, who re-examined my corneas and told me that they looked 80% better. Still have to wear glasses for a few more weeks though. Sigh. Also, my left eye is so bad (-11.75!!!), most companies don't even carry my prescription, so she's ordering me a freebie customized pair to try. Bless her.
-Now that we're free to leave the house in the morning since our kid doesn't want to nap anymore, we've been traveling! There's always a sliver lining!

To see the captions for each picture, just put your cursor on it. Gotta go now, Kid is crying. Hope you enjoy our summer pics!

Someone Should Take Phone Privilage from My Mother

Do you know how many phone calls and emails I got in a week about my lack of blog update from my mother? In seven days, she was averaging about 1.5 phone calls a day to pester me about my not putting up new pictures of her grandbaby. Mom, you are a total blog bully! I was busy! And for that I should hold this video hostage for a long time, but I'm a kind and sweet daughter--remember that!

Bubbles from UMA STEINHAUER on Vimeo.

I have loads of pictures to post but I'm just sitting on them for fun because I love harassing phone calls. Not really, MOM, don't call me about that. I gotta go. My kid has taken up a new wake up time of 7:15 a.m. Oh, how I will mourn thee, 8 o'clock.

Weekend Fun

We took full advantage of a warm and gorgeous weekend and spent most of our waking moments outside. Saturday started with our usual weekend stroll through the fields in our village. We stopped and picked a whole lot more wild blackberries than we did last weekend. I don't think any of us had eaten this much blackberries in our lives, and Chase is about to max out on her quota. She will take a long blink before deciding whether or not to open her mouth for one if it's offered. The novelty hasn't quite worn off for me just yet. I grew up a city girl and being able to pick fruits along the walking path was just something I read about. I always romanticized a quiet life in the country and have to say that actually living in our little farming village is even more amazing that I could possibly imagine. I love that the first animals Chase gets to visit on an almost daily basis don't live in the zoo and our truly "organic" produces don't come from the store. Anyhow, we had planned to take the boys to the lake for a swim that afternoon but postponed it until Sunday after an eventful morning pretty much did we all in. This was our first visit to Ohmbachsee (Ohmbach Lake), although I've been wanting to take the boys there for a year now. It was a lot smaller than I had anticipated, perhaps because I was used to the size of Mott Lake on Ft. Bragg. Nonetheless, the boys had fun swimming and making new friends, and we all enjoyed our first picnic as a family. And, of course, more wild blackberries on the trail around the lake were a big plus :). We wrapped up Sunday with a Thai dinner at home and a quick visit to our favorite gelato shop in town. Wil told one of his coworkers about our weekend activities, and his reply was "what kind of fantasies are you guys living in?!?" Ha! I don't know about fantasies, but life certainly has been very good to us this year in our beloved village of Langmeil.

As for the update on Wil's back, there's not much to share at the moment. He had the first steroid injection on Tuesday, which caused him quite a bit of pain for the following few days and, as we expected, doesn't seem to do him much good so far. He's doing well and continues to stay active, but I definitely get a bit more paranoid when he makes funny faces when moving around. He's been getting calls from my darling parents, who are worried sick about him, just about every other day, even though I keep telling them that not much changes from day to day right now. And I find it most adorable that my sweet father, who never uttered a word in English when I was living at home, is now calling to talk to Wil himself. I knew my family loved him, but our trip home in June really solidified their relationship. I mean, my dad learned and practiced another language just so he could chat with his son-in-law! That is pretty awesome in my book.

Now, onto some pictures and videos--the reasons why you are really here anyway, right?
:)

Brutus and his charge.

Chase has recently rediscovered her bouncy seat and loves to climb in with a book to read.

See you at the pool!
Her first time in the baby pool that I got on ramsteinyardsales for $5.
And let's not forget this adorable swimsuit that cost me 50 cents at Vogelweh's baby flea market.
Showing Papa bubble blowing technique.

Loves to read AND make a mess.

Ohmbachsee!


In case anyone ever wonders what's beneath all of Brutus' poof. The answer: not much.
Someone's getting tired...
Seriously, Parents, let's talk about getting me to bed.

Sometimes in the the middle of winter, you'll be thanking me for making you skip that morning nap and spend this glorious day outside.

And, of course, a blackberry video:

Blackberries from UMA STEINHAUER on Vimeo.

This one was shot after we came home from Wil's tuesday appointment at the hospital. Perhaps you can tell that the anaesthesia was beginning to wear off? Chase is far too big for her bumbo chair now, but she's obsessed with climbing in and out of anything within her reach.

Bathroom Fun from UMA STEINHAUER on Vimeo.

Asking her to identify different body parts has become one of our favorite games to distract her from a long car ride, and she's really good at it. I'll see if I can get it on video tomorrow.