A Post from Noah...
I am 8 months old today!!! I have two big teeth and I am eating Veggie Puffs that Grandma Hochstadter sent. I am doing pretty good!
I enjoy rolling away from my mom when she has my diaper off. I like to stand in the window that is right next to my changing table and show the world my stuff. My mom lays me back down and that makes me really mad. She has gotten pretty good at her pinning move.
I got a new stroller this weekend. It is okay. Not as cool as my US one, but it'll do. My mom and I went to the mall and used it yesterday.
There is a big parade today for Fasching (German Mardi Gras). Our town apparently has the biggest of all of Frankfurt. It sounds like the DJ is right outside my window. Maybe after my nap my mom and I will go out there. It is snowing today, so who knows.
I am not much for sitting around anymore. I really like to stand by the couch or climb up my highchair (but that thing moves on me sometimes and it really isn't that much fun.) I also LOVE to crawl really fast to the outlet and play with the cords before my mom grabs me. It is a fun game I like to play a few times a day.
My mom bought me a walker last week. I like it for a little while. My mom and I play this game where she pushes me back and I run to her and then she pushes me back and I run to her again...get it. It is pretty fun. It makes me laugh a lot.
Yesterday my mom and I were playing with my water bottle. She was spraying me in the face and in the mouth. It was soooo much fun. I think I peed my diaper I was laughing so hard!
My daddy is doing good, too. He usually carries me when we go out, so we hang out a lot. You know guy suff.
I guess my mom joined a play group. We are going to go next month. I can't wait to meet some new friends.
Well, it is nap time, so I better go. Talk to you later!
Love, Noah
Look at my BIG teeth!
Noah eating Veggie Puffs!
Noah standing in his crib for the first time...
Noah rollin' around
Ted and Noah and our new car!
The Winter Olympics were cancelled due to snow....
Okay, so really they were, but we had fun anyway! We started out on Friday, February 17. We traveled south through Germany and then into Switzerland. This was our first time in Switerzland and it was so beautiful, yet small. We covered the entire north/south in maybe 3 hours. We passed the eastern part of Lake Geneva. The mountains around the lake are amazing and the turquoise water was something I have never experienced. At the southern part of Switerzland we crossed the St. Bernard Pass/tunnel. This is the region where the dogs come from. It was an amazing entrance to the Alps, but also a bit scary. The little two laned road up to the pass leaves no room for error. Luckily the roads were dry. In the tunnel we crossed into the Italian Alps. The snow covered mountains with the frost covered trees is a view we will never forget.
We traveled with our friends Eric, Shelly and Brennen. They are also from Denver and Shelly is also working for KPMG. They have helped us so much in learning how to travel and get around. They booked us some rooms at a the Maison Cerise bed and breakfast in Allein, Italy. It is about 6km northwest of Aosta, Italy on a long curvey mountain road. It is right across the road from Eric and Shelly's landlord, Luca and Cecilie.
Luca and Cecilie were wonderful Italian hosts. They had us over for dinner Friday and Saturday night. We ate amazing Italian dishes and had some wonderful Italian wine (not just pizza).
On Saturday we made our way through the Alps snow that had fallen the night before down to Aosta, Italy.
On Sunday we headed down to Turino for the Olympics. It was about a three hour drive (stopping with kids). It was extremely cold in Turino. We had to park in the town and then take a bus up into the mountains to the hill where the event was. Once we got the the tiny village, we had about three hours to kill. We found this little bar tucked away through these little cobblestone streets. We ate some pizza and had some beer. We then headed out to the hill. It was about a ten minute walk.
It was so cool being there! We ran into a lot of Americans also. We had time to buy some mechandice and walk around and also watch some practice jumps. We headed to the general admission area. The snow was very heavy and wet by this time. Once we found a good place to stand the event was postpone by thirty minutes. We decided that with the weather and the drive that maybe we should leave before it started (we all thought that it was probably going to get moved to another night). We finally got on a bus (after 45 minutes in the snow) and then it was like the slowest movin traffic ever and then we stopped. And sat... and then a flood of people started walking down this tiny mountain pass in the dark, thick wet snow. After about an hour or so of waiting we found out that two buses hit head on about 1 km up the road. It was about a 4km walk to the car and I did not want to put Noah through that, so we stayed on the bus. Three hours after we got on the bus we were at the car. Not so bad, huh?
On Monday we headed home. On the way through Switzerland we stopped in Bern. This is where Einstein once lived. The entire city is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. It was an amazing city and we hope to go back and spend a little more time there.
We finally arrived home Monday night and crawled right into bed. It was so weird to think that we had just been in three countries in one weekend. Can't wait to see more!
Rock out!
We took this before we left the states, but I wanted to post it because it is so cute. He is actually looking at himself in the mirror. So funny!
We are mobile...all of us...
This is gonna be a little out of order, but we finally got our car!! Ahhh... we are becoming more complete everyday. Germans usually custom order their cars. They do not have car lots like we do for new cars and the used car lots are very small. Usually it takes 3 months to get your custom order car, but you can also order an already made car that is at the factory. Well, we knew we wanted a Passat, so KPMG had the VW dealer call us. We told him that we wanted a silver one, so he faxed some information on cars that had different options. We chose one because it had park pilot and DVD navigation of all of Europe. Well, four weeks later it is here! They called Ted yesterday and told him that a driver would come and pick me and Noah up to take us to the dealership. So, I got everyone ready and they arrived on time. However, they brought the car to me! Fabulous!! We sat in the drive and he showed me all the bells and whistles. One of the men spoke English and the other German. Some of the things are not what we thought and you cannot change the car to English (as far as the displays and stuff), but it is a sporty cute car. Noah and I had big plans to go shopping as soon as we got the car, but it is pouring rain this morning. We drove the only roads that I know. It took all of 10 minutes. I then successfully parallel parked the car right by our apartment. So, lucky! Hopefully this afternoon it will be better and we can get out and about more.Noah has passed developmental mile markers so fast lately. Since we have been here he has gone from laying on his stomach trying to swim to crawling n(it is not perfected, but he gets where he wants to go and shouldn't in no time flat). He also can now go from the crawling position to a sitting position. Crazy! I am constantly chasing him around.A few weeks ago I bought Noah a toy that he can lay under and then sit at. Against my better judgment I purchased this over the sit and then stand toy. I guess I thought he was so far from standing. I was wrong. Right after I purchased the toy I had him in his crib while I was putting away some clothes, I took my eye off him for a second, turned back around and he was standing in his crib with the biggest smile on his face. He knew he has accomplished something great. So, you are probably wondering what this has to do with the toy, well... He now uses the toy that is designed to not bear baby weight as a climbing toy. I have to watch him like a hawk or else it will topple over with him. Moral of the story...Should have just bought the standing toy.I will post some pictures once I get a card reader for my camera. I have some good ones.
Back from Limbo
Wow! I bet many of you think that we were abducted by aliens never to be seen or heard from again! We have discovered that some things move a bit slower here. For starters, getting the internet installed took forever and then it was not hooked up correctly. So, finally after a month of being here we have our life line to the world back. I really didn't think I needed the internet so bad! Getting a phone also took a little while to establish, but we have that now also. Our apartment turned out to be a really nice place to live. Ted's commute is only about 5 minutes and that includes walking to and from the train station. We live near a train station that has three lines that run to the downtown area. So, we never have to wait too long for a train. One of the major malls is only a 10 minute walk or a 3 minute train ride for me and Noah. And the grocery store and Schelker (it is like a Walgreens without the pharmacy) is only about a minute walk. Everything here seems to be measured in time.I had a very hard first couple of weeks. It was very cold here and hard to go outside. Noah didn't have too many toys and the only stations on the TV that spoke english were CNN and MTV (part english). I was beginning to think that the world was going to end either by the Iran nuclear power struggle, the deleting oil supply or the bird flu. This was all they were talking about! About a week ago I got expanded cable and my sanity was saved. I now have the E Channel, but limited shows and some of the narration is in german. I also have the AXN channel. It plays reruns of reality adventure shows.
