Germlisch

Life as I know it

noreply@blogger.com (Veronica @ Germlisch) — Sat, 02 Mar 2013 09:21:00 +0000

I've been asked a few times recently if I'm going to write a new blog post any time soon. I hadn't really planned on it. In fact, I kinda thought that I was done with blogging. I go through these blogging moods where I either love it or I hate it, kinda like cooking. Right now, I despise cooking. Three weeks ago I wanted to be the best damn cook my husband knew. True story.

Update!

My kid will be a year old tomorrow! What. The. Fuck. Time is flying. I'm currently watching him run around the living room with Husband. Oh yeah, he's a walker now! He started walking about 3 weeks ago. Crazy but I love watching him hobble around the house. Here's a playback of the few months that I missed on the blog.

Also? We moved! We finally decided that the old town we lived in was BORING and we needed more LIFE. We moved to Dresden, about 25 minutes away, and ironically Husband's commute to work is actually faster than before because now he can take the Autobahn not the small back roads. And I am SO much happier now! We are closer to our friends, shopping, entertainment, and I can take the tram, bus, or train with ease now. We moved into a 2 bedroom 1.5 bathroom apartment with an underground garage. Husband LOVES that part! No cleaning off snow and ice from the car every morning.

The sad part? Sami, our dog, doesn't live with us anymore. Nor does my older stepson. Kev moved out in November and into a place with a friend. They live in the country and the roommate also has two dogs, so it just made sense for Sami to go with him. At least she has more dog-friends there and when he leaves for work (yeah, he has a job!) he can leave her in the yard. And we have NO yard here at our new place. As much as I love and miss my dog, and Kev too of course (ha!), we know that she is better off where she currently is, as opposed to where we live.

What else? We're still active in the English speaking playgroups and I go to the gym 2-3 times per week, when child care is offered. William gets his German contact there, and I occasionally go to German playgroups as well. About two months ago we met a new acquaintance who, since then, has become pretty much our best friends! Our friend, we'll call her R*, is from Australia. She's also married to a German and her son, Mat, is almost 7 months old. Her and I meet up a couple times per week and the boys have become pretty good friends! It's really good that William has a friend he see's as often as he does, because for a while there I was afraid he was going to grow up without friends. R* and I have very, very similar parenting styles and I already feel like I can talk with her about almost anything.

Also? I'm still crocheting. Remember I learned to crochet from YouTube videos when I was pregnant?! ha! Who thought I'd actually get somewhat good?! Even I doubted myself. I still think of it as a silly, hippie hobby, but I do it! And now I've started selling what I make! Okay, well I've only SOLD one, but I've given others away as gifts, and the ONE I sold was yesterday.. haha. But I have 5 "orders" as of last night! How exciting! Let's just hope I can get them all done in a timely manner. Luckily all the people ordering know I am a SAHM and William comes first. They told me to take my time. Whew!

I'll try to see if I can keep this blog alive by posting at least once a week. Feel free to message me to pester me to post again if it's been too long between this one and the next.

Chirp

noreply@blogger.com (Veronica @ Germlisch) — Wed, 07 Nov 2012 12:22:00 +0000

*Chirp*Chirp*

Hear those crickets?

Well, I'm still alive and chirping. Just not blogging.

I'm not sure what made me fall out of my blogging mood, but whatever. I'm alive and kickin'. Well, I'm actually sick right now, and on Monday had no voice to chirp with, but I'm alive otherwise.

When I'm feeling more chatty I'll type up a real nice post for anyone who still reads this thing.

For now, have a photo.

Busy busy busy!

noreply@blogger.com (Veronica @ Germlisch) — Fri, 21 Sep 2012 10:54:00 +0000

So where the hell have I been all week?! Who would've known that I've actually been busy. And by busy, I mean doing more things than just taking care of William and cleaning my house.

Craziness.

So I'm just going to throw my whole week together in one post, because I'm cool like that. And because I can.

Let's start with InstaFriday, because from there I can go on to telling WTF I've been doing.

Top left: William on the way to Forchheim in Bayern, Germany. He was rockin' his new Rolling Stones tee that I bought from H&M last week. I thought it was a good steal at about 6 euros each. (He also has a KISS tee. haha. LOVE it!)

Top right: That would be what William eats now when he's not on the boob! Kid doesn't want to eat ANYTHING that is pureed anymore! He wants to feed himself. So that day I had cut up cucumbers and avocados into pieces that he could grab easily and "eat." I say "eat" because he only has his two bottom teeth, and none on top, so he can't really chew anything yet, but he loves to try!

Middle left: My lil' homey watching out the window this past Tuesday when we took the train into Dresden for the English speaking playgroup.

Middle right: The playgroup met at a playgroup this week because the weather was GREAT and it won't be for much longer. (boo.) And there was a baby swing! That's pretty awesome, because in the town where I live, I have yet to see one. Lil' homey LOVED it!

Bottom left: This was after the playgroup. Lil' homey was pretty pooped from playing with the other kiddo's, in the swings and in the sand, he just needed to eat and pass out! So I fed him in the middle of the park and enjoyed the sun on my face and grass in my toes. His hat kept his face out of the sun, and kept the creepers from staring at he tits!

Bottom right: TEEFERS! I finally got a photo of his lil' teeth. SO adorable!

So about my week: BUSY!

Last Saturday we drove to Berlin to pick up my brother-in-law from the airport. He lives in California but is here and staying with us for a couple months now (for reasons that I will not go into on my blog as it is his life, not mine). His plane was to land at 11:35 AM and we left the house with PLENTY of time to get there. What we didn't know, was that there would be a HUGE traffic jam on the freeway heading into Berlin due to a stupid construction and an accident. We were stuck in the traffic for 1.5 hours! O.M.G. We ended up getting there late but he was OK. Picked him up and headed home, which included another hour in the traffic on the way out. Oi!

Sunday we drove to Forchheim, Bayern (as mentioned above) to visit family. My BIL hasn't been back to Germany in 8 years, so it was time to see some family and friends. We threw him a little surprise BBQ with some friends at a park, and once again the weather was perfect.

Monday - I have NO idea what I did! But I obviously wasn't here! haha.

Tuesday was our English playgroup day in Dresden. It's about a 40 minute train ride from my town into Dresden, but it's really nice to talk with someone in English other than the husband and kids! And seeing William interact with other kids is priceless! I've made it a priority for me to go to the English playgroups at least once per week now.

Wednesday I had a German speaking playgroup at MY house! There were five other women from my town and their babies here and it was a blast! Again, watching William interact with the other babies is awesome. I really think that it's helping him develop more, especially verbally. When he's around other kids who babble ("talk"), he talks more, too. And for anyone who has a bilingual home, you would understand how important that is! It will most likely be longer for William to speak his first words because of the English/German mix at home, but I see progress already. And it's adorable.

Friday Fun

noreply@blogger.com (Veronica @ Germlisch) — Fri, 14 Sep 2012 15:28:00 +0000

I apologize for my absence this week! I've been kind of hit and miss on here. I mean, OF COURSE I've been on Facebook (who isn't?) but I've otherwise been keeping myself busy.

Who would've thunk it?!

I'm pretty sure Monday was a normal day at home, but Tuesday lil' man and I went to a English speaking playgroup. We took the train there and he generally seemed happy!

We ended up being the only ones that showed up to the playgroup because of the craptacular weather. But the host has two boys who are 3 and 4. They keep each other entertained, and William LOVED watching them bounce off the friggin' walls. In fact, he loved them so much, he pooped himself out. He was so tired that afterwards he fell asleep ON his face in his stroller. hahaha.

The day ended with daddy picking us up and we went to the mall. YAY for random mall trips! I got William some pretty cute clothes at H&M (that I totally failed to take a picture of) that day.

Wednesday I found (another) group on Facebook that I could try and sell William's old/too small clothes in. None of the groups that I had tried had any bites, so I figured I would try another.

Guess what? The clothes are selling like friggin' hot cakes there. WOO! So I've already made back that 30 bucks that I spent on his clothes, plus a little more. AND I have a ton more that's just waiting to be paid for before it'll be sent out. YAY ME! Err, I mean, YAY William! Because this of course means that I can buy more clothes for him in the correct, bigger sizes. Kid is growing like a friggin' weed!

So I've been spending a lot (read: too much) time in that group selling all of William's shit. For real. The amount of time invested in that shit already is ridiculous. I'll be happy when it's all GONE and I can go on with my life. (Until, of course, the next time I have a huge fucking pile of clothes to sell.)

Today a girl I met on Facebook (lol) and her son who is 9 months old came over to my place to let our kiddo's meet and hopefully make a good friendship. We've decided to make this a more regular meet-up and I have already invited another girl I know from our town. Next week on Wednesday will hopefully be our next meet up, and there will be 3 babies here. Fun!

So today is Friday and what do we do on Fridays? InstaFriday, of course!

Only I slacked and took like 3 photos this week. Those too above and these two: (I can totally count.)

This is the first time that I put William in my Ergo in the back carry position. It worked out well! ... For about 5 minutes. Then he decided he was hungry. Go figure.

This one is of William when he randomly decided to sleep on his stomach. He's typically a side sleeper, so this threw me off. I had to keep checking to make sure he could breathe.

Since my Instagram photo collection sucked this week, and because I'm feeling rather talkative (rather: in the mood to type), I'm linking up this week with Hilary @ Feeling Beachie for the Follow Friday Four Fill in Fun.

This week’s statements:
1. I like to __ when I am ___
2. ___ is my favorite vegetable
3. I get ________ when I ___________.
4. I’m surprised by _________ and ____________.

1. I like to pee with the door open when I am home alone. It's much easier when William is in his walker, on the floor playing, etc. I can hear him and nothing has ever happened. I'm sure this will change as soon as he is REALLY crawling, though.

2. Corn is my favorite vegetable. Though I've learned to love cucumbers and red/green peppers since moving to Germany. They have EVERYTHING flavored like red/green peppers. wtf right?

3. I get embarrassed when I fart in public. That is, when other people can hear me do it. If they don't hear me, who gives a fuck! Fart away!

4. I'm surprised by William and myself. Crazy, right? Of course I'd mention the two of us. haha. I'm surprised by how smart William is. But I shouldn't be. Kid takes after his mom, right? Also, I'm surprised but proud of myself for being the mother that I have, and am still, becoming. I never would of thought I would do the things I am doing now. (Cloth diapers for one..) but I'm happy that I do.

I like the person that I have become. :)

Wordless Wednesday Moo's

noreply@blogger.com (Veronica @ Germlisch) — Wed, 12 Sep 2012 14:28:00 +0000

Moo.

Thank you H&M

Wrappin' up the Weekend

noreply@blogger.com (Veronica @ Germlisch) — Mon, 10 Sep 2012 13:55:00 +0000

My weekend didn't really start until Saturday afternoon. Which is actually pretty normal around these parts, because my husband works so much, including Saturdays until about 1 or 2 pm.

So when the husband got home from work, we drove to the mall in Dresden to spend some time together and, get this, buy a plane ticket for his brother.

William got to try out his new car seat for the first time!

Yes, that's right. His brother. The one who's lived in California for about 8 years now is coming "home" on "vacation" for about 2.5 months. He basically just needed a break from a lot of stress in his life and is coming here to stay with us and is going to be working with my husband. (He's a German Citizen but has a "Green Card" for the USA.)

Anyhoo. We currently only have a (very) big couch and a another smaller couch that folds down into a bed. So we got him his ticket and then bought a bed and a dresser for him to use. (Side note: Sorry mom for not buying you one when you were here! But, in our defense, Sven will be here a lot longer than you were! haha.) We enjoyed our time shopping together, and then drove to eat dinner. We ate at the place that my husband actually built ("Gasthof Alma Kasper") because their food is VERY good and almost all of the food there is home made. Husband is there a lot for work (tying up loose ends and whatnot) but we still enjoy eating there every now and then.

Saturday morning I got my daily work out in (Day 9 of the 30 Day Shred) while husband took the dog on a walk and bought some fresh bread rolls for breakfast. He works so much so we try to really enjoy our Sunday morning breakfasts together.

After breakfast he got all of the furniture put together and got a text from our friends Falko & Marie asking if we wanted to go to the Dresden Zoo with them. Seeing as we had no other plans, the weather was great, and we hadn't been to the zoo in YEARS (about 16 years for me, and 10 for husband), we decided to join them.

Would you believe that we forgot our camera at home? All these photos I took with my crappy little phone, that's why the quality sucks. Yeah.

The lions were camera shy yesterday, and the pandas recently had a baby and, because of that, they had the areas fenced off to give them their privacy. Good, but boo. I wanted to see a panda baby.

Afterwards, we all went out to ice cream to chill and take a break from the sun. It was an unexpected but really nice way to spend our Sunday.

On the move

noreply@blogger.com (Veronica @ Germlisch) — Fri, 07 Sep 2012 13:46:00 +0000

He's not very fast yet, and he's not even army crawling, but he's on the move! He's just scootin' around every chance he gets!

Exciting stuff around this house! ha!

My Life Rocks with a Giant

noreply@blogger.com (Veronica @ Germlisch) — Fri, 07 Sep 2012 12:31:00 +0000

This week William turned 6 months old. Now, I know that's not really a big milestone for anyone who does NOT have a kid. But in our house it's a pretty big deal. Why? Because it's like he turned 6 months and decided "No more sittin' around! Let's do this shit!"

Okay, well maybe he didn't say exactly that. Well, he can't really say anything yet. But I'm sure he was thinking it. Anyhow, the kid is on the move. He will not sit still anymore. He is constantly rolling back and forth from back-to-tummy and vice versa. And he's learning how to crawl. He's just a-scootin' away, all day long.

Fun times.

Oh, looky looky! I numbered my photos this week! Snazzy!

I've also put my photos in a random ass order, and not Monday-Friday. Oh well.

1. William this morning playin' away while I got dressed and ready for the day. He had his 6-month check-up today. The kid weighed in at a whoppin' 25 lbs! (11,310 grams) And he is 28 inches long! (71 cm) Jeebus! He is most definitely the biggest kid I know. And I know people (quite a few, actually) with kids 1.5-2 years old, and William is bigger than them. Yeah. He's a friggin' giant.

2. My slightly off centered (not on purpose) photo of the both of us. I'm a proud mama.

3. On the way to the doctor this morning for his check-up.

4. I was having a boost of confidence earlier this week so I snapped a photo of myself.

5. Husband and I went to Ikea to buy some things for his workplace. We spent over 3k Euros! Holy damn!

6. Mr. Chunky Fingers in all his glory.

7. My (almost) daily breakfast. Cappuccino and oatmeal. Yummy.

8. William has figured out how to rub/play with his ears for comfort, and he will occasionally fall asleep that way.

Things I Love Thursdays

noreply@blogger.com (Veronica @ Germlisch) — Thu, 06 Sep 2012 15:44:00 +0000

What do I love today? Deliveries.

From the postman, DHL, and sometimes even the pizza place down the road.
Today let's talk about the former two.

I received two of the packages that I'm waiting on today. WOO! I love getting deliveries. Sometimes it's a cute DHL guy with a horrible (east) German accent that rings my doorbell, and sometimes it's the older, presumably lesbian post lady. Occasionally I won't make it to my door in time, and my old lady neighbor will sign for my packages. Not a big deal when I'm not home. In fact, we've been happy she signed for packages before, but I *dread* asking her for my packages. She's a very annoying older lady.

Anyways, on to my packages.

Today I got our new car seat for William. WOO!

I had to order it online from a shop out of Sweden because in Germany it's pretty normal to turn your child forward-facing before they even turn 1 year old. GAH! How scary is that? Luckily for me I had already done research on car seats while pregnant with William so I knew what I was getting in to. What I did NOT know was how friggin' fast William would grow. Most of the car seats we've been looking at say to use when he is "9 months old or 9 kg." (About 19 pounds.) But, errrmmmm, William has been 9 kg since he was about 4.5 months old. YEAH. He's a big boy.

Oh yes, if you didn't catch that there, I am doing "extended" rear facing. If you didn't already know, statistics show that rear facing is better for your child than forward facing. Not only can you see the statistics on this photo, but you can search YouTube for hundreds of "Rear facing vs Forward facing Crash Tests."

I know that not everybody will agree with me. Hell, even my own sister and mother think I'm a worry wart. But the way I see it is: Yes, I worry. And if it so happens that I get in a crash, you never know. This could save his life. And if I don't, I at least won't worry.

In any case, my car seat came today! Woo! This is what we got.

And this is William "modeling" it for us. :)

Today's second delivery was my diapers from Kawaii that I had briefly mentioned in a previous post. These diapers are with velcro and they will now be known as the "Daddy Diapers." ha!

Wordless Wednesday - The Clone

noreply@blogger.com (Veronica @ Germlisch) — Wed, 05 Sep 2012 02:00:00 +0000

Follow my blog with Bloglovin

I've made a clone.

William looks exactly like his father.

At least I think so.

Husband when he was 6 months old.

Comparison photo.

Another comparison.

Introducing William to his father, at 6 months old. ha!

Weekend Wrap-up and a halfer!

noreply@blogger.com (Veronica @ Germlisch) — Mon, 03 Sep 2012 16:17:00 +0000

So if you haven't noticed, my weekends around here are pretty bare. That's because *usually* I'm busy doing something. Ya know, something other than house cleaning or chillin' with William.

Friday night husband, William, and I went out to dinner with two of our good friends. We went to this place Kedo in Dresden. The only thing I knew about the place prior to going there was that they have "big hamburgers" which is top priority in Husband's brain, as well as his best friend Falko. Turns out the place is an American restaurant. They even had Budweiser! Of course I declared my beverage of choice for the night Budweiser, just so that I could have a taste of home. (Forgive me for the last of pictures, the lighting was rather dim, and my ~~awesome~~ phone doesn't have a flash.) In any case, the food was delicious. We were pleasantly surprised and declared it our new favorite hamburger place.

So like I said, the bigger the burgers the better, right? Right. Of course I love my big burgers, too. Well I stumbled across this photo on Facebook Saturday and it perfectly describes our friend Falko. He will continuously order the biggest, fattiest, and most expensive burger on the menu, and then declare "One diet cola please!" hahaha. Cracks me up every time.

Saturday husband worked until about 1 PM. And what I did before then? Well! Of course I slept until about 10 AM. ALTHOUGH, Saturday was September 1st, for anyone who didn't realize it. And I started a challenge!

I am in a group on Facebook, which is dedicated towards the "February 2012 Mother's" (even though William was born in March. haha.) We all had due dates in February 2012 and we were each others support during our pregnancies and we still are today. A lot of us are not feeling too hot about our bodies so we decided to do something about it. We decided that on September 1st we would start Jillian Michael's "30 Day Shred." So Saturday was the first day! I ran through that shit with no problems, however Sunday my legs were KILLING me. I did, however, finish Day 3 today and my legs feel better and I feel better about myself already.

I also joined a group on MyFitnessPal (though I've been on the website for a while now) for more support. And I love seeing the "Before & After" photos on the Success Stories there. (I'm also trying to get back into the habit of logging my food intake.)

After my husband came home from work we decided to do some shopping. We both were in dire need of some new jeans and set out in Dresden looking for some. We are both pretty picky people so imagine my surprise when the husband finds two pairs of pants at the first store we stop at (TK Maxx). And my pants? It took a lot longer to find! I prefer bootcut jeans and a super-low cut waist. But did you know that those style of pants are not "in" right now? So I tried on some skinny jeans to see if I would like them. Ya'know, to be in the "cool kids" crowd, but they were definitely a no-go. My beloved H&M came through for me. The one and only pair of bootcut jeans that I found in the place also happened to be super-low cut and I actually liked them.

Long story short, after about 6 hours of shopping and just enjoying the day together, we came home. Husband had two pairs of jeans, two sweatshirts, about five shirts, and a pair of shoes. I ended up with a pair of jeans, two shirts, and a pair of shoes.

Sunday was another morning of my 30 Day Shred and husband went to the gym. (Note: I would go to the gym, but I have nobody to watch William! So home work outs it is.) Afterwards we had a big breakfast (which is sort of our Sunday ritual) and then chilled on the couch and enjoyed each others company. We cooked a big dinner last night (which I also failed to take a photo of), but it was delicious.

We watched a movie together on the couch that Husband's brother had recommended. A movie called "Machine Gun Preacher." It's a very good movie, too. When that was over a friend had asked us if we wanted to go to a Wine Festival a couple towns over. I had declared myself too lazy (from both working out and eating so much at dinner), and stayed home. I was talking to my mother on the phone at the time, anyhow. So Husband went to the festival and watched the fireworks with his friend, and went on a ride or two. He did bring me home a sweet present though. :)

It says "For my princess" in German, obviously.
For anyone who doesn't know, these are very popular and made from gingerbread.

MONDAY: Today! Today William is a big ol' 6 month's old! Half a year old! HOLY CRAP! Time seriously flies. He has grown so much both physically and developmentally. He now rolls over to his tummy almost immediately any time he's set down. And then he'll continuing rolling over to his back and back to his stomach to get what he wants. He's not crawling yet, but he's scooting around and it's pretty adorable. Luckily he has not fallen off the couch or bed (yet - *knock on wood*), but I'm pretty sure most babies do at some point. He's had some bumps and bruises from face planting into my laptop and/or the arm rest on the couch, but they cleared up pretty fast.

My theory: He's a boy! A kid! I'm sure MUCH worse will happen. Sure, I yell at myself and feel horrible because lil' man is hurt, but I know he is okay and this is only the beginning of these types of things.

Liebster Blog Award

noreply@blogger.com (Veronica @ Germlisch) — Mon, 03 Sep 2012 13:10:00 +0000

I got an award! I feel super duper special. Thank you to Kat @ Freak-a-Delle for giving it to me.

First of all, I do have to say that I find it rather funny that this award is a perfect example of what "Germlisch" is. (A mix of English and German.) "Liebster" is German for darling, beloved, or in the blogger world, more-so "favorite."

So the rules of the "Liebster Blog Award" are like this:

Each person must post 11 things about themselves.

Answer the 11 questions the person giving the award has set for you.

Create 11 questions for the people you will be giving the award to.

Choose 11 people to award and send them a link to your post. Go to their page and tell them.

No tag backs.

So now I have to post 11 things about myself. And they should probably not be things that I already have listed about myself under my "Yours Truly" tab. Let's see what I can think of...

I used to bite my nails, A LOT. Husband helped me break the habit and I'm pretty proud of my naturally "long" nails. (They are medium in length.)
As I mentioned to Kat in her comments, I am kind of obsessed with zombies. No really. I love zombie movies and zombies are my "go-to" outfit for Halloween. I love making everything bloody.
Speaking of Halloween, OMG, I LOVE HALLOWEEN. I used to have an abundance of decorations, and then I moved to Germany. I started collecting again, and then my husband disposed of the decorations upon moving last year when I was in California. (Asshole. I was not happy about that!) And dressing up, OMG! SO MUCH FUN!
More about Halloween: It's just over a month away and I have no idea what I'm dressing William up as! I thought about making him a mummy, though. That might be fun!
More on William (and kids in general): Prior to having William, I never had that "mother's instinct." I was kind of worried about how I would handle having a kid, but I've settled quite nicely. My own mother even told me she was slightly worried about me becoming a mom, but she's been rather surprised! ha.
Hmm, the last book I read was probably something required during high school. I'd rather read the internet.
I'm a movie junkie. Husband and I both love watching movies. (Currently excited for "Taken 2" which is coming out in November!)
I love my old(er) husband. ha! He is 40 now and I love it. He ages really well, and I love that about him. I have a weird thing for older men as it is, he just takes the cake!
I grew up in a cow town. Lots of cowboys, horses, cows, and whatnot. I grew up seeing a lot of older men in Wranglers at rodeos. Yes, I went to rodeos every year.
Sometimes I really want to scream "Just go to sleep!" when my kid is fighting it. But as soon as he smiles, it's like love at first sight again. And I have to hug him and squish his chubby little cheeks.
On September 1st, I started Jillian Michael's "30 Day Shred." Today I finished Day 3 and wooo! I feel great. Sure, my legs are sore, but I like the burn.

And my 11 (what's with this random "11" number?) questions from Kat:

What do you prefer? A comfy couch and a nice film or a wild party? I used to answer questions like these with "a wild party" but because I'm married and have a 6 month old son, I'd much rather cuddle with my husband and son on the couch and watch a movie.
A tattoo artist offers you a tattoo for free. Would you like to have one and if yes, would it be of any meaning to you or do you just wanna have something decorative? I have A LOT of ideas for new tattoos, but nothing really has any meaning behind it, other than "That's fucking rad!" Of course, all my ideas are rad in my mind.
If you could choose every gift you would like to have, what would it be right now? Right now, I'd choose about $50k, so that my family could pick up and move to California without any financial troubles for the first year or so.
If our world was fictional and you could be every creature you can imagine, what would you look like or what species would you like to be (a mermaid maybe...?). Because I've always had dreams about flying, and of course I'd like to remain a sexy bitch, I'd choose to be a Succubus.
Would you like the experience to be the opposite gender just for one day? I supposed it'd be fun to know how to pee standing up.
If you think of a future where machines do all tasks for us so we don't have to make an effort out of everything anymore, do you think it is cool or scary? I think it would be cool at first, but I'm thinking it'd turn into something nutty like that movie "iRobot." No thanks.
Do you have a big goal you want to accomplish? At the moment, I'm working on getting us moved back to California. After that, my goal is to go back to school and get a degree in Criminal Justice.
Complete the sentence: For me, the greatest thing about being alive is... my son. He makes everything worth while.
Do you believe in paranormal things or did something like that every happen to you? I believe in ghosts, for sure! (Heaven and Hell? Not so much..)
The craziest thing you did until today? Hmm, let's see. When I was 10 I jumped off a waterfall into the water below. And then when I was 19 I jumped off of some cliffs, also into the water below. Only that was pretty dangerous, because people have died doing what I did in that exact spot.
Any last words now that the torture of the Liebster award is over? ;-) Eleven is a random ass number for something like this. And I hope I didn't bore my readers.

And here are 11 random questions for my Liebster picks.

If you could dye your hair one color right now that would never fade and you were never able to dye it ever again, what color would you choose?
Let's talk tattoos. What's your dream tattoo and where on your body would it be located?
If money weren't a problem, what would your dream car be?
Speaking of dreams, what's your dream job?
Favorite sport?
If you had the option of buying a small house, or renting a mansion, which would you choose?
You're stranded on an island: Who do you make friends with: A beach ball? Or a coconut? (Choose wisely..)
Would you rather live somewhere that has snow year round, or somewhere where the temperature is over 100°F year round?
What's your "go to" outfit when you're having a bad day?
Do you pick up hitchhikers? Or have you ever wanted to?
Tell me something about yourself that I don't already know.

Whew! That took a lot longer than expected and the questions weren't as easy to pop out as I thought. BUT here are my Liebster picks:

Kat @ Mama Kat's Losin' it
Jill @ Scary Mommy
Jes @ The Militant Baker
Kaelah Bee @ Little Chief Honeybee
Erica @ The Painted Trailer
Heather AKA PrincessMama @ Banana Clips, Music and Me!
Brittany @ Crazy. Mama. Love.
Susan @ Boca Frau
Hilary @ Feeling Beachie
Jo @ Will the kids turn out ok?
Lydia @ No Day Without Yarn

Now let's be brutally honest here. Some of these awesome ladies on my list are very popular in the blog world. While I picked them for this, I highly doubt they will even notice my "lousy" effort to be in direct contact with them. (I don't always get responses to my comments on their blogs. Oh well, such is life.)But they are there for shits and giggles.

My Life Rocks via Instagram

noreply@blogger.com (Veronica @ Germlisch) — Fri, 31 Aug 2012 10:30:00 +0000

It's Friday, yo!

Well, that doesn't typically mean anything too exciting for me, seeing as I am a SAHM and my days pretty much run together. Normally I would say something like "YAY my husband will be home the next couple days" but the fucker works a lot, tomorrow included. And I have no idea if he's working Sunday or not at the moment.

He *did* say, though, that he's planning on working a half-day tomorrow so that we can go shopping. WOO! I love me some shopping.

If you already follow me on Instagram (doubtful) then you may have seen these photos. But oh well. Let's do a recap. So, top- bottom, left-right (maybe next time I'll number these.. ha.):

1. Big boy William riding in the grocery cart for the first time! Look at those thighs! He *did* have pants on but they got wet and, well, it was warm enough for my chunky monkey to chill with his socks on. Even if his legs were eating them. ha!

2. Mr. Macho Man (aka husband) lugging William around in his car seat because we made a spontaneous trip to the mall last night and didn't have our stroller with us. Oops! (Which explains photo number 1.) We found a shopping cart and Mr. Macho Man declared it the "Cheapest Stroller Ever."

3. William and his first sippy cup! He figured that shit out pretty quickly, but still would rather chew on the handles. Teethers coming in and all, ya know?

4. William learning how to read! Okay, not really. I was reading and he wanted to turn the pages himself. But he wasn't turning them, he was trying to eat them.

5. Changing table organization! A friend here in Germany was asking how I organize my cloth diapers and whatnot, and what I use to organize them. Changing table (as well as the rest of the furniture) is from Höffner, and the squishy boxes holding everything inside are from Ikea.

6. William (see a pattern here?) entertaining the idea of a pacifier. He hasn't used once since about his 3rd week of life. But because he has teeth coming in, he enjoys chewing on them for a minute or two now.

7. Husband and William at McDonalds last Sunday. We had made a pit stop for breakfast when driving home Chris and his girlfriend. William is much stronger than you'd think!

8. I declared Sunday comfy-day. Tights and knock-off Converse it was.

9. Mr. Cow Butt was pissed off on his belly. He repeatedly rolls to his belly, but then gets pissed of because.. Well, I don't know. But he gets pissed off. Kid is learning how to scoot around on his belly. Fun shit.

So did you notice the pattern? Yeah, William is 90% of my photos. (Okay, I did the math. He's in 77% of them.) But that's pretty much what happens being a SAHM. He *is* the boss in our house, and we knew that before he was born.

Maybe I'll try to take some photos of myself more often.. ha.

Does your life rock? Link up!

What I've learned from Pinterest

noreply@blogger.com (Veronica @ Germlisch) — Thu, 30 Aug 2012 13:18:00 +0000

First of all, if you're not on Pinterest, you're missing out. There a million and one things on there that catch my eyes every day. Follow me if you're there, so I can ~~stalk~~ love all the things you love, too.

1. If you aren't the world's best cook, you can be! Well, maybe YOU can be, but I cannot because I despise spending more than about 10 minutes making food. But apparently if you're super handy in the kitchen, you can make things like this:

Source

2. If your hair sucks, you can make it amazing! I can assure you my hair sucks. It's super thin, very fine, straight, doesn't hold a curl without a bottle of hairspray, and even then it only lasts for about an hour. But don't worry! You're not me, so these MUST work:

The Infamous Sock Bun

Source

3. If your style sucks, you're in luck! That old ratty t-shirt of yours is now popular and if you just make these small little tweaks, you'll love it again! Let's just ignore that fact that we aren't all a size 0 with no boobs, and we can act like our big ol' titties won't fall out of these.

Source

Let it be known that I have tried this style many times, and it never turns out as pretty.

Source

4. If your house lacks decorations, you can just make them! I know everyone must have all of these simple things laying around their house. Amiright? Or if you don't, just go to that garage sale down the road and you'll be sure to find something amazing that you can fix up all on your own.

Note: This is awesome and I want one.

Source

5. And last but not least, you most definitely can have a perfectly toned body with these simple exercises!

Source

Now if you're still alive after trying those last ones, congratulations! You're better than I am. As I have been "planning" on doing those exercises for weeks now.

Instead I am here. Go figure.

Things I Love, Thursdays: 1

noreply@blogger.com (Veronica @ Germlisch) — Thu, 30 Aug 2012 11:43:00 +0000

So I came here with an awesome idea. Things I Love, Thursdays.
And then I Google'd it.

It appears as though there is already a link up party here, but it is slowly dieing down.
I may just have to start my own link up if I continue doing this.

I love CHEESE. And you know what cheese? String Cheese.
It seems so simple. In California, I used to buy string cheese ALL the time. I'd spend, what? Like $2 on a bag with 20 pieces and chow the eff down.

So I moved to Germany back in July 2008, and you know what I found out? There are a TON of different types of cheeses here, but no string cheese. Of course I've found some other types of cheese that I do like, but they're just not the same.

On my recent vacation back to California, my mom made sure she stocked the fridge full of string cheese upon my arrival. She knows me too well.

Imagine my surprise when about two weeks ago there was a commercial on tv for string cheese! Err, wait: They call it "Cheesestrings" here. Of course, Germans do everything ass-backwards, why not string cheese, too? And of course I hopped my happy ass down to the store and bought some.

These babies were 1.79€ each. For a bag of four. FOUR. What the bloody fuck?! I had originally planned on buying just a bag or two, but my husband declared four bags better. Whatever dude! Glad you're paying!

Let's try these babies to see if they're nearly as good as the American counterpart.
Errmm, they are half the size of the American ones! Again, wtf?

In any case, I have my little piece of "cheese heaven" and only my husband's wallet is suffering.
Okay, possibly my waist line, too, but I'm not eating the whole bag.
Yet.

And here are my horrible attempts at trying to be funny and/or sexy while eating string cheese.
Not very easy to do while taking your own photos.
I should've just used the damn timer.

Note my bra hanging out of my tank, and breast milk on my shirt.

Yeah, totally NOT flattering.

Whatt'ya wanna know?!

noreply@blogger.com (Veronica @ Germlisch) — Wed, 29 Aug 2012 12:27:00 +0000

I didn't take any amazing photos yet this week, and today's plans are: clean the mo'fo'n house. So I'm skipping out on Wordless Wednesday and linking up with:

The rules are super duper easy. There are five questions of "Would you rather XX or YY?" It's so easy a monkey could do it. I'm game.

1. Would You Rather...Never be able to look in the mirror again or always get dressed in total darkness?

I must be a pretty full of myself when I say that I'd rather get dressed in total darkness. hahaha. I regularly check myself in the mirrors at home, in the car, at the store. Being confident is good, right?

2. Would You Rather...Receive $50 a day for the rest of your life or $50,000 right here and now?

Normally I'd say the former: $50 every day. But because we currently live in Germany and DON'T WANT TO ANYMORE, I'll go for the latter. You see, we *REALLY* want to move to back to California and that $50k would take care of the legal paperwork, plane tickets, and it would provide enough money for our family to live off of until we were able to get jobs.

3. Would You Rather...Have extreme narcolepsy or have a bad case of tourette's?

Tourette's. It just sounds more fun. Who wouldn't want to be able to scream random obscenities and have a medial reason to blame it on? ha!

4. Would You Rather...Be able to rewind 24 hrs 3 times a year or consciously control your dreams?

I kind of enjoy my random ass dreams from time to time.. And while I don't really regret anything from my past, I would enjoy being able to rewind time every now and then. Things like missing the delivery man would never happen, and I might be able to time a nap or two from William pretty well for some sexy time. ha!

5. Would You Rather...Be fluent in every language around the world or be the best in the world in a category of your choosing?

Languages for sure. I love traveling and exploring. Hell, I learned Spanish in high school, but how much do you think I remember? Pretty much enough to ask where the bathroom is and be able to order a drink. Ya know, the important things. I can speak German but it's no where near perfect. I'd definitely like to perfect the languages that I *DO* speak before I take on another, though.

So that's that. Fun stuff.
Now I suppose I'm off to do some laundry, clean the bathrooms, and mop the floor up from dog hair. It's a never ending story, I swear.

If anyone (besides my sister) actually reads this thing, leave some love! I'd love to have a conversation with people who's name doesn't start with W.

Toodles.

The Wall

noreply@blogger.com (Veronica @ Germlisch) — Tue, 28 Aug 2012 10:52:00 +0000

I'm finally doing it. I'm doing a "Writer's Workshop" from Kat @ Mama's Losin' it. I am a regular reader of her blog, and have her Writer's Workshop link on the side of my profile, but that's because she doesn't have a button that's just for her blog. Anyway, the plunge..

Kat asked: What do you remember most about your childhood bedroom?

I distinctly remember growing up in a bedroom with my sisters. For a while I was sharing a room with my older sister, but once she hit, what, 10 years old? She was moved into her own room and I was stuck sharing a room with my younger sister.

We always had a bunk-bed. I was on the top, and my sister was underneath. I loved that bed. But do you know what I didn't love? Boogers.

For real. Boogers. I used to pick my nose as a kid. A lot. In fact, I still do. But the difference now is that I wash my hands A LOT. Not just after picking my nose, but after playing with the dog, touching anything public (doors, public restrooms are the worst!), and pretty much after touching anything outside. (Sidenote: I've always said that having a kid will either make or break my "OCD" habit. I think it's the former..)

Back to the boogers. I was a kid, maybe 8 or 9 years old and picked my nose a lot. Gross enough as it is, right? Right. Well I didn't eat those boogers. Gross! But I never had a napkin, tissue, or towel nearby so I needed to find something, or someWHERE to put them. You know what I chose? The wall.

Yep, the wall. I had a booger wall. It was conveniently located right behind the panel of the top bunk bed so nobody saw it, but I knew it was there. And it always seemed like when I laid in bed at night I had a nose full of boogers. I wasn't smart enough to clean the ol' nose out before laying down in bed. So the wall it was.

But do you know what happened? We rearranged the bedroom furniture. Yep, the bed moved. And my mom saw it. She freaked out. And do you know what I did?

Blame it on my best friend, of course! I mean, she ALWAYS spent the night and we shared a bed. And I couldn't blame it on my younger sister because she never slept up there. So it made sense, right? Totally.

Well that plan backfired when my mom decided to march right on down to a function going on in town to find my friend and confront her. (Unfortunately, I was a kid and didn't think my mom knew I was lying. She's smarter than I thought!) So when we confronted my friend, her mother was also present. She denied it and then the blame was back on me. I think I was in tears at the point. And that's because I was grounded.

Grounded for covering the wall with boogers. Oh yes. Great memory, right?

Oh yeah. Charlene, if you read my blog: I'm sorry for blaming that shit on you. I don't think I ever apologized when I was a kid. hahaha.

Weekend wrap-up

noreply@blogger.com (Veronica @ Germlisch) — Mon, 27 Aug 2012 12:21:00 +0000

Well, today's plan was to link up with Destiny @ Rockin' Mama, but she had a family emergency over the weekend and, because of it, there is no "I love me, Monday." My thoughts are with your family, Destiny!

Instead, I can just update about my weekend.

My days all pretty much run together seeing as I am a SAHM. But when the husband is home, it's typically the weekend. He usually works 6 days a week, and has been working 7 days a week for a while now. Of course, I complain, but he provides for our family and for that I am truly blessed.

Friday, though, he had taken a day off of work. Amazing! He had gotten a gift certificate for a massage from Kev & Chris for his birthday, which was August 12. The old man is 40 now! ha! In any case, his massage was at a Thai place in Dresden. I declared that I was going to get out of the house that day and made plans to go to an English Playgroup in Dresden. The playgroup is typically aimed at kids that can already walk, but seeing as I've only made it ONCE to the English BABY Playgroup, I just said fuck it. And they were perfectly fine with me coming.

About the playgroup: IT WAS CHAOS! And I loved it. hahah. I don't get a chance to speak English outside of my house very often, seeing as we live in Germany and in an area where there aren't many immigrants. But in Dresden they have the International Women's Group and they have playgroups for all the SAHM's and their children. So, first of all, I was happy to speak English with other grownups. And second, I really love watching William interact with other kids. Clearly he isn't around other kids enough, and it makes me really, really sad. So after an eventful two hours of that, I declared I really need to make more of an effort to go to the baby playgroups. (I don't normally go because it's a 30 minute train ride and there are no elevators at the train stations for my stroller. So I must rely on help from strangers, when I'd prefer to do things on my own. Ugh.)

That was Friday. Saturday husband worked. Big surprise. That evening he finished the job that he was working on and there was a little "party" afterwards with the owners of the place. They had champagne and some food there. Husband did the traditional toast that Germans typically do when they finish building something. Unfortunately, my camera was not fast enough and I didn't get a picture of it! Boo.

Sunday we drove Chris and his girlfriend home, which is a two hour drive and a state away. They were visiting while on their vacation from school. Chris starts his "ausbildung" (which is basically like a specialized training for a particular job) in a week or two, and his girlfriend starts school next week. After that we drove to a friends house from my husband. He is building a deck in his backyard and asked my husband to help him out. So we hung out with him, his wife, and their daughter (who is about 20 months old) for the afternoon. Again, more time for William to hang out with children. It was fun! They have a little blowup pool full of balls (which you can buy together in a set, but they bought separate and saved a buttload of money), and William LOVED it. So that's definitely on the list of things to buy for William.

If you're clueless as to what I'm talking about, here's a random Google image that I just found that is similar:

I also think that William has been "talking" more this weekend. And I'm sure being around other children has something to do with it. He has some new sounds he's working on, and it's pretty adorable. ha.

What did you do this weekend?

So fresh and so clean

noreply@blogger.com (Veronica @ Germlisch) — Sat, 25 Aug 2012 15:18:00 +0000

Freshened up the place today. I feels a bit more "me" now. I'm diggin' it.

I'm going to make a button soon. (When the kid allows. Also, housework is yelling at me. Boo.)

I'm jumping on some blog ~~bandwagons~~ link ups tomorrow or Monday. I can't guarantee if I'll start tomorrow or not because we are driving Chris & his girlfriend home. (Which is a 2 hour drive and a state away.) We shall see..

Stay tuned.

A breath of life

noreply@blogger.com (Veronica @ Germlisch) — Thu, 23 Aug 2012 17:30:00 +0000

Time to breathe some life into my blog. I want to start back up blogging. I read my sister's blog and she has been making me jealous. She has recently become a SAHM and is blogging her journey about "domestication." So far, I think she's doing a better than I have in the past 4 years of being in Germany. Damn you!

Oh yeah, so I've been in Germany for 4 years now. I totally forgot the "anniversary" of my arrival date and didn't "celebrate" it in any way or form. I didn't even announce it on my Facebook page. And THAT my friends, is surprising.

Let's see... William is almost 6 months old! And he's HUUUUUUUUUUGE! Seriously. A week before he was 5 months, he weighed in at 22 lbs! What. The. Fuck. We're hoping he takes after his daddy and plays football when he's older. Offensive Line would be a good spot for him. ;)

INCOMING: Photo dump.

And since my last blog post was when William turned 3 months old, I'm including some old photos.

Updates with William: He has his first tooth! It's not all the way through yet, but I'd say it's about half-way. It's the bottom front-right tooth. And the bottom front-left side seems to be cutting now, too. I think it's pretty exciting. And he's handling them pretty well. I honestly don't think he cries any more than he used to. I have no idea if the Amber Teething Necklace that I have helps or not, but I'd like to think so. ;)

I've also become a cloth diapering mama since my last post. I had wrote about going on a vacation to California previously. (Which was awesome in itself. I'll blog more about that later.) I got a gift from a good friend of mine which was William's first cloth diaper!

Shortly thereafter I ordered 22 cloth diapers (which came with 1 microfiber insert each) + 2 wet bags directly from AlvaBaby. I got them 4 days later! Super duper fast shipping was FREE because I ordered over 20 items. I was a happy mama. I also ended up ordering 20 Bamboo inserts because William is a heavy wetter.

I have since ordered 4 "Cartoon Diapers" from JCTrade through a Co-Op, but have not yet received them. Grrr. I love co-op prices, but hate the wait time. I also have 2 pail liners from Bububibi coming in the mail in a week or so. And I ordered 6 "One Size Heavy Duty" diapers from Kawaii, which should be the diapers that my husband will use because they are VELCRO. Ahh, yes, that's right. He doesn't put the diapers on him right now because he can hardly figure out the snaps! ha! I have given him a nice "high five" for trying the few times that he has, though.

Also, it's a good thing my husband doesn't read my blog! He has no idea that I have cartoon diapers & the pail liners on the way. hahaha.

Let's not forget that I bought some new but gently used cloth wipes from another lady in a co-op group at a great price. I don't have any pictures of them, but they aren't too special. And I even bought a spray bottle and made my own cloth wipe solution. :)

William also started eating solids. Now, I really wanted to wait until he was 6 months old to start solids, but he might as well have fed himself. We gave it a try one night just before he turned 5 months old, and as soon as we started feeding him, he LOVED it. Any time he sees a spoon now, he practically jumps out of his diaper trying to get it. (Keep in mind, though, that I am still breastfeeding, and will be until him and I both decide he is done. Breast milk is his main food source.)

He is a very good eater. He's had pureed carrots, carrots & potatoes, peas, avocados, apples & pears, applesauce, broccoli & potatoes, bananas, and a "Mediterranean mix" which included a mix of veggies. A few of those were bought from the store, but I actually make a lot myself as well! It turned out to be SUPER easy making baby food, not to mention cheaper. And when I make it, I know exactly what is going into his body, which makes me super happy because I want to make sure he is a healthy boy.

(These ones I labeled in German. They say "Apple-Pear.")

Husband has been calling me a hippie for a while now. I don't want to label myself, but either way, I don't really care. I'm doing what I think is best for me and for William. :)

Three months

noreply@blogger.com (Veronica @ Germlisch) — Sun, 03 Jun 2012 17:59:00 +0000

I have a three month old baby today. Holy crap!
You mothers out there seriously aren't kidding when you say that time goes by fast.

His favorite thing to do (other than eating, of course) is suck on his hands, as seen in photo #1.
He's seriously my pride and joy already. I love him to pieces.

12.5 weeks - Post Partum!

noreply@blogger.com (Veronica @ Germlisch) — Thu, 31 May 2012 11:45:00 +0000

So I figured today was as good a day as any to get a real good update on the "preggo" business and physical development of William.

I used to link my pregnancy posts up here, and obviously no longer do so. But if you're pregnant and a blogger, head on over and check them out! I stopped by today to check up on the preggo' ladies and make sure their pregnancies were going good.

So, the "normal" preggo questions:

Symptoms: I've got none! I feel great. I think I've recovered from the birth pretty well. Sure, I am sore after sex (which doesn't happen very often anyways. lol), but that's no surprise. My midwife says it'll be about 2 years before everything is really back to "normal." Oh boy!

William's symptoms: Nothin'! Kid is healthy as a nut!

Weight Gain: None! I officially lost all of the baby weight 3 weeks ago, too. Now I just have to work on TONING my stomach, because I definitely still have a belly. Wah!

William's weight gain: Kid is a monster! Today's weight & measurements were:
Weight: 7690 grams - 16 lbs 15 oz -Holy moly!
Length: 64 cm - 25.2 in
Head circumference: 34 cm - 13.4 in

Cravings: I have been on an oatmeal kick lately. It really seems to give me energy and I just plain love it.

William's cravings: breast milk. That's the only thing he eats and he's a happy lil' monster.

Food Aversions: Ever since I ate broccoli at about 4 weeks post partum, I have decided NO MORE. I get WAY too gassy and pass it on to William with breast milk.

William's food aversions: I'm sure he'll agree with the broccoli statement. haha

What made me cry this week: Oh, something sappy on tv. My hormones are still a wee bit fucked up, I'd say.

What made William cry this week: Poor lil' man cried like hell today at his check-up (U4 - 3 months)! The doctor did an ultrasound on him to make sure all his organs are good. (Which they are.) And he received his first shots today (one in each thigh). He did NOT like those! I hate seeing him scream and cry like that. :(

Medical Stuff: Nothin'!

William's medical stuff: Just the aforementioned shots. But he seems to be doing fine now. Though I am supposed to watch to make sure he doesn't get a high temperature (which is apparently rare). If he does, I have to give him a suppository! booo.

Something I am excited about: CALIFORNIA VACATION! We leave next week on Friday. Husband and I are both BEYOND excited.

William's excitement: I'm sure I can speak for him when I say he is excited every time he see's my boobs. hahaha.

And here's my lil' monster passed out after his doctor. He was very happy that I was there, and here, to comfort him. <3

PB&J

noreply@blogger.com (Veronica @ Germlisch) — Tue, 29 May 2012 13:22:00 +0000

Peanut Butter and Jelly sandwiches are by far the fastest and easiest sandwich to make when having a baby attached to your hip.

Totally healthy too.

Today I had strawberry jam.
Tomorrow I will eat blackberry jam.
The next day I might even eat apricot jam.

That's healthy, right?

mmmmmmm!

A bra for my toilet

noreply@blogger.com (Veronica @ Germlisch) — Mon, 28 May 2012 13:53:00 +0000

Being a stay-at-home-mom who breastfeeds, I rarely wear a bra at home.
But when I clean, I have to put one on.

Something about cleaning the toilet with my boobs just hangin' there all free-like, just doesn't feel right.

Random thought #3

noreply@blogger.com (Veronica @ Germlisch) — Sun, 27 May 2012 14:02:00 +0000

Baby hugs are the best.