The Mystery of Age

Emmi has been trying to understand time. Especially periods of time. She understands that she is a big girl, but that she is still going to get bigger. And she remembers Lily being a little baby but now "Lily can walk and say MaMaMaMaMa". We've been telling her stories about us being little and doing things just like her and she loves hearing those stories. But she can't really figure out where she was then. So when I tell her how I was also scared of Monsters when I was a little girl like her and how my Mom, her Oma, told me I didn't have to be scared she told me: "No, I was your Mama and I held you!" She thinks she was big when I was little. Cute! She generally understand that her grandparents are Mama and Papas parents but it's kind of hard for her to figure out the details.

All she wants to be when she grows up is to be a Mama. Everything is Mama's and Baby's to her. She'll see big bubbles and little bubbles for example and go: Oh look Mama, there are Mama Bubbles with their babies! She divides Boys and Girls into : "He is going to be a Papa, and she is going to be a Mama." She loves seeing Pregnant Women and loves to talk about the babies in their bellies and how she is going to have a baby in her belly when she is "really big" (with her hand up in the air big ;)) I explained to her recently what twins are since we know a couple and one of my friends from playgroup is pregnant with twins. So now Emmi wants two babies in her belly when she is big and a Mama. The more babies the better...

Aus Emmi's Mund

- Letzte Woche waren wir gerade auf dem Heimweg vom Spielplatz und Emmi wollte wissen ob Papa schon zu hause war. Ich hab ihr erklaert dass Papa noch in der Arbeit ist weil er Geld verdienen muss damit wir uns was zu essen kaufen koennen. Erstmal kam nichts mehr, dann zwei Minuten spaeter ihre Loesung: "Ich weiss, Ich hab Geld in meiner Spardose!" Ich: "Ja, aber Mama und Papa brauchen auch Geld." Emmi: "Ich teil mein Geld mit Papa."

Waere das nicht schoen wenn das Leben so einfach waere?

-Emmi braucht manchmal ewig auf der Toilette. Als sie letztens mal wieder eine lange Sitzung hatte und ich ihr zugerufen hab ob sie fertig ist bekamm ich zur Antwort: "Nein Mama, die Eier sind noch nicht fertig ausgebruetet." Tja, jetzt weiss ich endlich warum sie immer so lange braucht ;) .

-Oh, und wo wir schon bei Toilettengeschichten sind: Kuerzlich erzaehlt sie mir bei jedem Essen ob das Essen/Trinken Pipi oder Kaka wird. Sehr appetitlich. In Restaurants bin ich dann manchmal ganz froh dass sie meistens deutsch spricht, das waere glaub ich manchmal ein bisschen zuviel Information fuer die Nebentische :)

-Letztens im Einkaufszentrum haben wir eine kleinwuechsige Frau gesehen die nur ein bisschen groesser als Emmi war, was Emmi sehr irritiert hat. Sie hat sich erstmal bei mir erkundigt ob das eine Mama war. Ich hab ihr erklaert dass die Frau eine Erwachsene war und dass es Leute gibt die ganz klein sind und Leute die ganz gross sind und alles zwischendrin. Emmis Antwort: "Okay, dann darf sie auch Cola trinken!"

Hyatt Wild Oaks Ranch

Wir haben Lily's Geburtstagswochenende in einem Resort in San Antonio verbracht (ca. 1 1/2 Std. von unserem Haus). Wir waren letztes Jahr schon mal fuer ein paar Tage da und es hat uns so gut gefallen, dass wir diesmal mit Grosseltern und Tanten wieder gekommen sind. Emmi fand es toll Cocktails am Pool zu trinken und mit ihrem Schwimmreifen durch den kuenstlichen Fluss zu treiben. Lily fand den Strand am besten und hat viel im Sand gespielt. Emmi hat ihren ersten Sonnenbrand bekommen was nicht so toll war, aber irgendwie war es wert den ganze Spass den sie hatte. Sie hat Stunden im Pool verbracht! Sie war super stolz auf ihren Seepferdchen Schwimmreifen. Einmal hat sie mit einem 4 jaehrigen Jungen am Strand gespielt und kam dann angelaufen um ihr Seepferd zu holen um es dem Jungen zu zeigen wie sie uns erklaert hat. Ich glaub ihm war das ziemlich egal, aber sie hatte das Gefuehl sie hat ihn maechtig beeindruckt ;). Es war so ein schoenes Wochenende!

We spent Lily's Birthday Weekend at Hyatt Wild Oaks Ranch in San Antonio. It's a resort we went to last year for a couple of days and liked it so much we came back to with lots of family to celebrate Lily's Birthday. Emmi had a great time sipping (virgin) cocktails and floating the lazy river and Lily loved playing at the "Beach". Emmi also got her first sunburn ever, which was bad but also totally worth the fun she had. She spent hours in the pool! She was so proud of her little sea horse swim ring . At one time she was playing with an about 4 year old boy at the beach and then came running over grabbing her "seahorse" telling us she wanted to show it to the boy :) . I don't think he cared but she thought she really impressed him ;) . We had such a good time all weekend!

There once was a little baby...

...who wasn't so little anymore...

...so she decided to have a party for her very first birthday.

So she put on her party dress...

...and invited lots of people who love her very much.

And then she had fun...

...hanging out...

...trying out her gifts...

...and eating cake of course...

...lots of it!

The End.

One year old!

Our Baby Girl is turning one year old today. It seems like yesterday that she was a tiny little baby and we brought her home from the hospital. But has she grown and changed since!

She is quite the personality!

Very determined and opinionated. And very cute and funny. It's like she tries to be especially cute if she knows she is doing something she isn't supposed to, like climbing up the stairs, or playing with the phones, or unloading cabinets, or picking Mamas flowers, or eating food off the ground, or climbing furniture, or playing with the phones... We can tell by the big smily grin on her face that she is about to do something she isn't supposed too. And a lot of times she'll shake her head like telling herself no while she is doing it.

I can't decide if that's fortunate or unfortunate but she is a very good climber with very good balance, so at least she seldom falls off any of the things she manages to climb on. The unfortunate part would be that she is already able to climb on all those things she really isn't supposed to.

Oh, and she is a great eater. The only thing she won't eat is Baby Food. She want's what everyone else is eating and lots of it. She thinks our plates are the menu and she just needs to order. She'll start pointing at someones plate and as we start pointing out different food on it to her she shakes her head until we get to the desired food and she starts nodding. She literally eats anything. She has favorites but only if there is a selection. She prefers strong flavors very unlike her sister. She loves to suck lemons. Weird! Lily is not only a good eater she is also good at eating. We've been giving her a real plate ever since she started tablefoods and she hasn't dropped one, she also drinks out of a real glass and is doing good eating "sticky" things like yogurt with a spoon by herself.

This nodding/shaking her head really works out well for our "conversations" with her. She can answer simple questions like "Do you want to nurse?", "Are you hungry/thirsty?", "Is it time for a nap?", "Do you need your pacifier?". She understands a lot, but her spoken vocabulary really only includes "Mama", "Papa", "Nein" (German for no) and some animal sounds.

And she loves books. She has two favorite books about farm animals and she stalks us with them in her hands until we sit down and read them to her.

She loves her big sister and wants to play with her ( and her stuff) all the time. Much to Emmi's dismay sometimes. There is already lots of fighting going between the two of them with Lily being very vocal about her opinion too. But there are also all those sisterly moments of laughing and playing together that we love watching. Emmi is about the only person that can make Lily laugh out loud without having to pin her down and tickle her.

Her sleeping habits aren't really great. She isn't anywhere close to sleeping through the night yet. I have started night weaning her, only nursing her once around midnight whenever she wakes up and we bring her into our bed with us. (Yes, we still co-sleep) She doesn't mind to much not getting to nurse several times at night anymore like she used to, but it also didn't make her sleep any better as I was hoping. She still wakes up several times. Sometimes she goes right back to sleep, sometimes she is awake for up to an hour. No pattern. She does take two consistent naps during the day though. Not very long naps but at least naps I can plan on. And I can't really expect her to sleep through the night since her sister just now started to sleep through the night most nights (in her own bed!). I do hope it doesn't take Lily quite as long to do so.

I could sit here all night thinking about all the little things Lily does. It's so much fun watching her explore, learn and grow. How much she likes animals and gets so excited when she sees one, how she plays with her baby dolls kissing and rocking them and putting them in the play stoller, how she imitates her sister cooking in the playkitchen, how she stares strangers down until they smile at her, how she gets excited about taking a bath, how much she loves the water, how she rolls around in the bed in the morning trying to get as many snuggles as she can, ... And everyday I think how I just want to stop time for a little bit so she wouldn't change so fast, grow up so fast, how I want her to stay just like she is just a little bit longer. But everyday she learns something new gets a little bit older and I get excited how she can do more things, tries new things. So I guess there would never be a good moment to stop time, so I'll just have to try to soak in as much of my baby as I can and try to remember. I feel so fortunate to be able to stay home with my babies and watch them grow. There is nothing I'd rather do in the world.

I love you Lily! Happy 1st Birthday Baby Girl!

No shirts required...

Waterfountain Season Opening

Back in Austin we were greeted with very warm temperatures, so we kicked off the water fountain season for the girls. Lily loves fountains, just like her big sister! Luckily there are fountains to play in all over the place and at 97 degrees in May I wouldn't mind getting in myself!

Zurueck in Austin wurden wir gleich wieder mit hochsommerlichen Temperaturen begruesst. Zur Abkuehlung bei 35 Grad im Schatten ging es dann gleich wieder zu unseren Liblingsspringbrunnen. Lily findet die genauso toll wie Ihre grosse Schwester! Bei 35 Grad im Schatten und das schon im Mai wuerde ich da gerne selber mitspielen.