Coffee from a Reusable Ceramic Mug

I sent a few recent family photos out to some friends on email today, and one wrote back the best response I have ever read regarding Clair:

“I have no superlatives or adjectives to describe how utterly gorgeous is your baby. You should have many babies !!”

That last part is the one that made me laugh. Thanks Snehy

I was lying bed with my sweet little baby this morning. She had just finished nursing as I was starting to drift back to sleep. I felt her hand gently exploring my face. It kind of made me smile as I was lying there half asleep. I felt her touch my cheek and the tip of my nose. She touched the edge of my nostril and then took her hand away. Suddenly, I feel a little index finger being jabbed into my nostril as far as it would go (which is surprisingly far!)!!

Needless to say, I was awake after that, if not from the discomfort, from having to stop the nose bleed that ensued. I went down stairs and handed her to Oma (since we are in North Germany visiting at the moment). Later in the day, I trimmed her nails - just in case she sneaks up on my like that again.

PS - for anyone who noticed in the news that the three cases of swine flu are in Regensburg, we are fine and so is everyone else we know. Considering a few friends got back from the US and Mexico just as things were getting bad, I think we have been lucky so far.

We have been lucky since we got back. The weather has been beautiful here, for the most part. We even took Clair to see her first beer garden last weekend. We have also been having breakfasts and/or dinner on the balcony, which is very nice. All of the trees are green, and it is so quiet.

I have been quite domesticated lately (which is truly a rarity). Somehow, unpacking from the trip got combined with spring cleaning. I have been pulling everything out and then putting it back in the proper place. There were a bunch of things that we never properly organized since we moved. Only about half of the apartment is really done, but that half is in good shape.

Matthias and I had to tackle Clair’s room together because I just couldn’t face it alone. Man, she has a lot of stuff for 6-9 months. Between the new stuff people gave us at the baby showers and things passed on my Andrea, we had a lot to organize. Plus, she has outgrown quite a lot since we packed for the trip so we had to sort that out too. We just need to put everything away now. Unfortunately, I am slow today because a cold hit me (and Clair, I think last night). I feel like crap, and I took our last ibuprofen around 4:00 AM!!

Matthias was on an energetic kick today, so, in addition to doing laundry and cleaning up, he prepared steamed lobster, white asparagus and potatoes for lunch!! Am I a lucky woman or what. I ‘helped’ by lying half-unconscious in bed with a headache.

That, in a nut shell has been most of our week. There was some drama surrounding Clair’s impending daycare. She was set to start May 1, but we have withdrawn (it’s a long story that I may not post). We are now in search of another place. I am disappointed not to have the extra free time it would have given me, but it was better than putting Clair in that place. It felt like our first grown-up decision we made for her (aside from actually having a baby in the first place).

…you are cleaning out your scarves to pack away for the summer and you separate you ‘winter scarves’ from your ’summer scarves’. I mean, really, ’summer scarves’?? What has happened to me?

We all shared the same trip home, but each of us is responding to the time change differently.

I pass out around 7:30 each night (if I make it that far) while lying down with Clair to get her ready for bed. Then, I am up by 5:00 or so and enjoy some quiet time in the house and have been really productive on some chores I have been neglecting during the gloomy winter.

Matthias doesn’t get to bed until after midnight, and yesterday, he slept until 11 in the morning, which is really more my thing on a given weekend.

Clair seems to be off on both ends. She goes to bed with me, and then she wakes up for a couple of hours around 11, so she ends up going to bed with Matthias. Then, she wakes up around 3 to eat, and then sleeps in in the morning. That last part has been working well for me as I usually don’t have a baby-free morning.

It’s interesting how all of our bodies are responding slightly differently. Matthias will get straightened out this week by work, but I suspect Clair and I will require a few more days than him since we have a more flexible schedule. I am actually enjoying my early to bed - early to rise life at the moment because the mornings are so awesome at our apartment. The place seems to have exploded in green since we left. We are surrounded by trees and birds singing. The sun beams into our rooms in the morning with a golden light. That definitely helps ease the post-vacation blues.

For anyone curious about what I study in my yoga practice, here is the first from a set of 85 UTube videos of Swami Rama teaching on the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali. This is a source text for the Yoga tradition. Swami Rama is a teacher I am just starting to learn from because he has wrote a nice introduction to meditation called ‘Meditation and It’s Practice,’ which is grounded in the Sutras. He has a sanctuary in the Poconos if anyone is ever interested in learning more from him - I would LOVE to go there some day.

On the flight back home, our last leg was out of San Francisco. We flew on a 340-600 flown by Lufthansa. It was awesome! Not only were the flight attendance really friendly, the food was good (at least my vegan meal was) and they actually use real utensils (as opposed to plastic).

Clair had her own little bed that fastened onto the bulk head. There was a little strap across it too so if there were some unexpected bad turbulence, she wouldn’t fly up to the ceiling. They also provided a seat belt that fastened through mine for take offs and landings. I don’t know if these belts actually increase her security much, but it can’t be less safe than holding her in my arms or in her carrier. Her bed was awesome. About an hour into the flight, she was ready for bed. the flight attendant put blankets for padding, and they also gave us an extra one that we could put over her like a tent to block out light and sound. She slept for about 8 hours! I loved that part the best!

Matthias also liked that the bathrooms were downstairs! I’ve never been on a plane with a ‘down-stairs’ before. They were also really big bathrooms (for a plane). We have to try to book that flight the next time we go back.

Here’s a few more photos of Clair’s First class flight

We made it back to Regensburg. It was a long trip, but thanks to Lufthansa, it was also as comfortable as possible (more on that later).

The suitcases are empty. Not to say that we are ‘unpacked’, but the piles of stuff have been scattered about the apartment rather than sitting in the suitcases. Laundry is running. Matthias is on his way back from returning the rental car we used to get home last night. We have some groceries, and I am sitting with a big Cafe Latte by the window.

It was strange to come home to Regensburg this time - Matthias felt the same. However, the apartment is nice and quiet, and I am enjoying the solitude. Clair has been louder than usual, but I think she is just enjoying being back in her usual places. ‘ba ba ba…’ seems to be her favorite vocalization at the moment.

We had a bit of a technical difficulty this morning when I went down to get the car before running some errands; the battery had died while we were gone. We’re not sure why, but we have a warranty, so someone is on their way out to jump it. We needed to drop it off to get our summer tires and have a few lights fixed anyway, so we will also have ask them why the battery was sucked dry while we were gone.

Back to our lives now, I guess. It was a much needed break. It also has me thinking about some important stuff at the moment. I know it was a good vacation because it raised some important thoughts about life, death, friendship, and family. I already did a great visualization exercise using some of these thoughts for focus.