Rues de Genève

IN THE LAND OF MILK AND HONEY

2012-01-22T12:27:00.000-08:00

Hello, friends, welcome to the end of the week here in the Alps. We've just returned from a day trip up the mountain for some boarding and are catching our collective breath before the next week starts in earnest.

Or, more appropriately, Mister M got up and on the board while the Little One and I hung out with our friends. Here he is enjoying the snowy conditions in Les Gets, Framce. We haven't quite mastered the baby hand-off on these quickie day trips, but on the upside my butt isn't as sore the next day. Always a good thing.

But, before the weekend came the week, and a short one at that. Since we didn't return from Barca until Monday, the rest of the week we all played catch up and prep up. The miniature washing machine in the kitchen has been rumbling constantly (the spin cycle sounds like a plane about to take off) and the suitcases have been unpacked but not put away (more on that later).

On Wednesday the Bug and I made a visit to Pediatric Urgent Care after she had a long night of coughing fits. She had battled with a croup/faux-croup since our State-side visit and while it has quieted from the tale-tell bark, her occasional episodes worried us just enough to do something about it. Three weeks later.

So, in we went, and cry she did, even though they were no harsher to her than a gently-placed stethoscope and a finger oxygen monitor.She checked out fine ("wait out the winter," says the doc on duty) and as a reward we spent some time at the clinic's three-story aquarium.

It's a cool enough aquarium that I always think, "Oh, we should hang out here more often." Then someone coughs and I just want to get the hell out of there. For now, it's all homeopathic remedies like humidifiers, honey and turning the baby monitor down so we can get some sleep.

Saturday we ran the requisite errands then Mister M and I handed off the baby to a Sophie-sitter for a date night with our friends Katherine and Josh. Does that make it sound like we are dating Katherine and Josh? We aren't. I mean, if we are then I should stop calling so much. Looks desperate.
The four of us had a semi-quick dinner at Globus then headed to the movies. Ah, what luxury! As the movie music cued up I even had the thought, "Eek, maybe we should turn that down so we don't wake the baby." Sigh, we need to get out more.

Saturday morning breakfast was a Shelley family tradition -- chocolate gravy. Despite its name, it is very yummy. As you can guess from its name, it is very, very caloric.

The other days passed with mild frivolity and a lot of prep work for the coming week. On Tuesday Mister M will cross the pond over to London for the rest of week, leaving me to mis-manage the household in my usual manner. But I'm heading off on a trip of my own. On Tuesday I'm crossing the little lake in the middle of Geneva to start in the communications department at International Bridges to Justice, a non-profit that works, essentially, to remove torture from prison systems around the world. I'm super excited to get back into an office, even if it's only two days a week, and more than a little trepidatious about the logistics. I have secret worries, such as will people play Tickle Fight with me like Sophia does? In 2012 is it inappropriate to play Kiss Monster with your co-workers? Do I need to stop eating with my fingers and grunting sentences like, "Milk? Sophia? Milk?" Do I have to start reading pages without big, bright pictures on them? The list goes on.

Another market pic.

It goes on, and I will, of course, report back on how it and the week goes, but I will, again, be delayed. Not to be outdone by Marc, the Bug and I are hopping that big bird in the sky to meet up with baby daddy on Friday to spend the weekend in London town. It is my birthday weekend trip (that's right, people, my birthday is just around corner. Get those stamps out. And yes, darling sister, I will open a present early if it arrives early. Thanks for the running shirt! I love it!)

So, to review the preview... I start back at work (sort of), Sophie gets a nanny, Marc leaves town, there's a going away party for our friends, a Valentine's Day photo shoot for the Little Miss, I've started eating peanut M&Ms by the bagful, we all leave town, and various other sundries this coming week that I'll be sure to report on.

Until then, dear Ruelets, I'll leave you with this link of the woman I'm going to work for, hooray!
Karen Tse on TED talks "How to Stop Torture"

THE ACCIDENTAL TOURISTS

2012-01-16T13:58:00.000-08:00

Hello, my patient Ruers, from this traveling Monday evening. We've just returned to Geneva-land after a long weekend in that sweet southern country of Spain. But before we get to the weekend, there were a few noteworthy week days that need to be, well, noted. As the post title suggests, the week was full of accidental tourism. Let's get to it, shall we?
The first came early in the week, when I attended a fundraiser for the distinguished junior Senator from New York, Kirsten Gillibrand. Now, she's not my Senator, so in that sense I was just a tourist in comparison to those ex-pats in the room who had voted for her. But she is a party rising star and she pronounces her name just like I do, so that's got to count for something. It was a good chance to be in the same room as someone who is doing good work not just for the team but for women in general. (See her here on The Daily Show or read about her drive to get women involved through "Off the Sidelines")Her little talk was, dare I say, inspiring. And do you know what it's like to be inspired on a Tuesday night? That's right. The rest of the week was shot.

The woman who ruined my week (not Elizabeth on the left, though we did eat dinner together twice this week. But in the middle is Senator Gillibrand. Afterward I went home and started researching ways to get involved.)

The rest of the weekdays were filled with planned frivolity, from heading over to Carouge with the Little One for a girlfriends'-get-together to Maya's birthday dinner on Friday night.

This spoiled girl gets two cakes!

Mamma and pappa enjoying birthday spritzes while baby is home with a sitter.

We had to leave the double-caked celebrations early, however, because Saturday morning we were up before the sun to catch that big bird in the sky. The whole family was boarding a plane to Barcelona to catch up with our American friends on their Spanish vacation. Only there was a little snag in the plans, as our friends had to cancel their trip earlier this week, which bummed them out, bummed us out and left us with plane and hotel reservations in Spain for no good reason. (Nammi & Kamran: We missed you guys!)
Not as though anyone would be bummed to go to Barcelona. And while we might not have chosen the middle of January to see the city if our friends weren't going through, we somehow found a way to struggle through the weekend (haha).

Day 1: We start off with a long walk into the city center for La Boqueria market to ogle the mountains of fresh fruit and vegetables. The first mention of this market is found as early as 1217.

When I went to the store in Geneva to get raspberries for HS last week they were about $10 for a little plastic container. At this market they were $2. Sigh. Here we're trying to make up for the fruit deficit with yummy little juice smoothies sold all over the market.

After the market it was our first taste of tapas in the Old Town.

Mister M tackles the tapas (and some rioja)

Day 2: Sunday was a day of can't-miss sights in the city. We started off by navigating the metro system to Gaudi's incredible cathedral, La Sagrada Familia.

Here's a pic of it from Wikipedia, to give you an overview:

And a few of our pics from the inside:

Pictures can not do the place justice (though there are more on the Facebook album). It was amazing, absolutely incredible. You could stare at it for a lifetime and never see all of it (which, I guess makes sense because it has taken a few lifetimes to get near-completion.)

After the cathedral it's off to lunch at Paco Mergalo for a pitcher of sangria and more tapas.

We tracked down this restaurant at friends' recommendation, as any time sangria is called "Amazeballs!" we are there. It was really good.

Pappa and baby enjoying sangria, milk and tomato bread.

After gathering our strength it was back on the Gaudi trail, this time to Parc Güell, an architecturally-elaborate garden above the city center.

The walk up is brutal (though Mister M did all the pushing of the baby and stroller, see him on the right) but worth it for the views. Can you imagine living in a city with an escalator up the middle of your (incredibly steep) street (way up the street on next hill)?

We finally get to the top and stroll along the acres of organized open spaces, viaducts and houses. The Bug's favorite part was walking along the mosaic benches and touching all the colored tiles.

Tired and dusty after the trip up and (halfway) down.

The day wrapped up with that must-see-of-all-Barca-sights, a football game at Camp Nou. Mister M and I were pretty excited about this, as in all our years over here it was the first men's pro game. (We caught a women's World Cup semi-final in Helsinki.)

Taking in the chants, cheers and jeers at Barcelona's other house of worship. Camp Nou was sold out and really started to rumble when the game was all tied up. Barca won though, whew.

(And for those wondering where Sophie is -- Mom -- she was back at the hotel with a sitter. The report when we got back was that they read a book then Sophie led the sitter by the hand to her crib and pointed at it, letting her know she was ready to go to bed. That's our girl.)

Monday it was time to start the slow check out process and head back to Swissy-land. Now we're back in the Alps, the little girl is in bed and dinner is in our bellies. It's time to head to bed here and get ready for another week. We don't have anything too wild on the schedule to tease you with now, but I'm positive we'll come up with some frivolity between now and your next regularly scheduled post. Until then, buenos noches!

RETROFLECTION

2012-01-05T15:55:00.000-08:00

Hello my friendly Ruers. Yes, it's a super-long post tonight! Is this yet another overly-ambitious project for the New Year? Not exactly. It's just that I didn't want to get too far into the New Year without the annual retrospect.

There are some people who don't love the multitude of New Year lists published at the end of December but me, I'mza list maker. And I love the end of the year. Clean sweep. New goals. Pledges to do better, to be better.

So let's get to it, shall we?

First off, this week was a bit of a hellion, what with the jet-lag recovery and non-stop rain here in Geneva-town. Most nights the Little Bug woke up from about midnight until 2am and ran around like a firecracker on the 4th of July (Also, maybe my favorite song of 2011. Let the lists begin!).

And the daytimes have been full of rainy wet days that have kept us indoors for the majority of the time. When we do venture out, there is cursing (on my part) and puddle splashing (on her part).

So, that was the week.

When Friday came around HS and I bummed a ride with our friends and headed up the road and into France for the first border crossing of the new year. We were all staying at another friends' fantastic chalet in Les Gets for the weekend (Mister M drove up after work).

Our view for the weekend. It was a snowy, snowboardy, white wine-y and wonderful weekend of relaxation.

The adults faced the big mountain, and the Little One took her first sled ride:

Looking quite cozy in her fur-lined sleigh

The kiddos and adults getting pulled up the sleigh-run before the big race off

(Hint to Mister M -- If you want your kid to win the race you have to let go of the sled:)

So that was the weekend.

But man, what about that year? How do you recap something you didn't even see? It flew in a flash, thanks in no small part to the schedule we kept. We did it with a baby this time, and while there were long days and some even longer nights, we all lived to tell the tale. In fact, it was a good year overall.
But you either read about it already or can click through old posts for the nitty gritty. Instead, I had an idea for the retrospect ... what if we did a review with pictures that you didn't see? We'd be here for all of 2012 if I posted everything from the cutting room floor, but here is one unpublished HSMS pic for each month. And yeah, there are some lists thrown in, too.

JANUARY

We started off the New Year already in the US, as part of our three states in three weeks tour. You saw some pics like this, but here's my Grandma Rose, my dad's mom, meeting HSMS for the first and only time the first week of January. She died at the end of that month, and that sucked. But I was so glad we had the chance to get out there.

FEBRUARY

We mainly stayed and played in Geneva this month, though Marc would head back to the US for a meeting at the end of Jan. Apparently Soph and I worked on neck control.

MARCH

So, March is a good time to talk about your first "By the Numbers" list because on the 1st of this month we loaded up the car and drove to Munich, Germany, where we would spend the next 7 weeks. Here the little Bug and I are in the city's main large and gorgeous park. It's a little insane to think we spent that long in another country in another random apartment, but it was actually great fun. Though that's not all the traveling we did this year:

5 total trips to the US (The Bug is a few flights away from all the peanuts she can eat in the lounge.)
7 weeks in Munich
2 cool work conferences we all got to tag along on: Stockholm, Dubai
2 less-cool ones because the Bug and I were not invited: Austria, China
1 week of pure, bonafide family vacation: Scotland
2 inter-Swissy trips: Interlaken, Leukerbad
1 first-birthday blowout: Paris, France
And a partridge in a pear tree...

I didn't count in the weekenders to our friendly neighbors of France and Italy, but that will suffice as a general picture of the packing and unpacking shenanigans that go on over here.

APRIL

Hmm, I guess these will all be of the Doodlebug.

MAY

Well, sort of. Here I am breastfeeding the Bug.
On a boat.
In Sweden.
See, Soph went with us everywhere, and we went lots of places, so in a move that tells a lot about our collective sense of humor, we snapped a pic whenever I breastfed in some really random place. Like a boat in Stockholm on our way through the fjords, a concentration camp, on a mountain, in a winery, whisky distillery, you name it. I mean, she ate like 8 times a day in the beginning. Not that funny? Yeah, I know.

JUNE

Here, to make up for May's shenanigans, a video of HSMS's humble beginnings as a rockstar. (It's a long and pretty slow video, FYI).

JULY

One of the unpublished pics from our Family Photo Shoot.

AUGUST

Ah, a mid-summer night's daydream. We finally make it to Scotland for vacation after having it "on the list" for a while. Here, HS unpacks us at our first-ever B&B.

A glimpse at the ever-changing travel dream list for calendar year 2012:
(K): South Africa, Seychelles, Egypt
(M): All the countries in the European Union (nerd alert.), Turkey
(HSMS): Back to the U.S. as many times as possible (the snack food is outstanding)

SEPTEMBER

At the time, we went on and on about the little girl's big birthday. She had a Parisian tea-room fete complete with a fancy macaroon cake. Proof that it's not like that most days ...

OCTOBER

Baby and pappa

NOVEMBER

Sitting in the reading chair in snuggly-bear pajamas.

DECEMBER

Ah, that was exhausting. Now let's do it all again!

**

So, if you're still reading through to here, know you'll get a break next week. We're on the road again -- to Barcelona, Spain from the weekend through Monday -- so the Sunday post will be delayed. In fact, we'll be on the blog-fodder hunt for every weekend in January... these tales don't tell themselves... but one of my NYE resolutions was to blog more "on the road" (roaming fees be damned!) so let's see if I can put that into use before the month is out.
However your year went out, dear Ruers, thanks for welcoming the new one in here on the Rue.

NEW YEAR: NO BAGGAGE

2012-01-01T14:29:00.000-08:00

Hello, my friendly Ruers, and welcome to the inaugural post of 2012! And not a moment too soon, as I believe I'm about 3 weeks behind in updating you on the fast times at the McShelley household. And it has been a whirlwind, as you can ascertain from the lack of posts.
I don't even know where to start. If we started in the present, I would tell you about our fairly horrid return trip yesterday that included a 4+-hour delay in Dulles, a missed connection in Frankfurt, one croup-y baby, a sick Mister M and an arrival in Geneva-town sans luggage. We were supposed to land home from our 2 weeks in the U.S. of A. and swing by the apartment, switch out clothes in the suitcase and keep on swinging in time for New Year's Eve shenanigans with our friends in their mountain chalet. Ambitious, yes. But we pride ourselves on our non-sensical schedules and trapeze-swinging traveling.
Instead, we rang out 2010 like this:

A sickly baby and pappa in an early bed...

and Dominos and Bollinger Champagne (thanks Erin & Blair for the bubbly!).

May be the lamest new year I've rung in in my adult life. It also included some irate phone calls to the airport as only one of our 5 bags arrived last night, the other 4 not coming until mid-day today.

But eek, that's a pretty sour way to start off the sweetness of a new year. Let's review instead, shall we?
A few weeks ago we boarded that big bird in the sky for Austin, Texas.

The beginning of our trip: It was an early morning out so we scooped up a sleeping HSMS in her pajamas and threw her on the train. She woke in another airport Starbucks but was a good sport.

It was a wonderful week in A-town, full of breakfast tacos, family and friends, yoga, more breakfast tacos and Christmas-y celebrations.

Ah, Austin. A beautiful day and a beautiful view from the Texas Monthly offices downtown. Here HSMS makes a robot offering to the state's capitol.

Suffering from what Marc calls "an overload of choice" ... Every trip home we worship at the mecca that is the Whole Foods world headquarters at 5th and Lamar. I was busy loading up on dehydrated beans while the Little Bug here was breaking down. She's used to Swiss supermarkets, after all.

When we weren't running around we were crashing and trashing my sister's place in South Austin. She, my brother-in-law and especially my little nephew Dennis were good sports and great hosts all week.

We also got no end of delight from dressing the two cuties in matching pajamas all week. Here are Thing 1 and Thing 2.

This is a good time for the picture pages, complete with more pics from ATX and our next leg of the trip, sorta-sunny Fla. The same album will be appearing on Facebook, so like it. Do it.:

After a week in The Lone Star State it was time to hit the road again. We headed down to the white sands of Destin, Florida for more Christmas and a wedding.

The middle of our trip. Pappa and baby on Christmas Day in another airport with another coffee. Do note the adorable Christmas tutu, though (Thanks Auntie E!). Yeah, she flew like that.

We landed in Pensacola and drove about an hour and a half to this house:

With this view:

Unlike the runaround in Austin, this week was devoted mainly to hanging out in the big white house with the Shelley side of the family and getting ready for Marc's mom's wedding. There were 17 folks running around the house -- 13 adults and 4 little girls -- which meant it was, to say the least, a little crazy. Especially at mealtimes.

The older cousins bunked up and the baby girls slept with their parents. Here Nana has 3 of her 4 girls.

I don't know how Octomom does it. But everyone dipped their toes in the water and the wedding was lovely.

Congrats Dave & Nancy!

As the week came to an end it was time to get back on that big bird and head back across the pond.

You already know how that story ends, but here's the end of our trip in pictures. You may wonder why this little girl is running around pantless in the D.C. airport. The one time -- one time, folks -- I don't pack a change of clothes for the Bug, her diaper leaks and soaks her clothes, the baby carrier, me and oh, yeah, did I mention we were delayed four hours?

And now, for the future: Despite the hiccup of the new year's eve, the post title says No Baggage, and we've got a lot in the works for the first few days of this shiny new year. Tomorrow our first visitors of the year (it is only the 3rd, after all) make their appearance, then it's to the mountains (for real this time) in time for the weekend. The following weekend we'll be in the air again, but I'll save the yummy morsels of that deliciousness for another day.

I hope you all had a wonderful last few weeks of the old year, but more than that, I hope you have many wonderful weeks ahead in the new year. Thanks for reading in 2011, and here's to more pittering posts in 2012.

T'WERE THE NIGHTS

2011-12-11T10:30:00.001-08:00

Howdy my friendly Ruers. My my, what a week. At last check in we welcomed December's first days and by this posting we were just hanging on for survival as its second helping came at us like a pile of potatoes. It was a partying-speeching-vomiting-and-more-partying-at-night type of week. Yeah, don't worry, I'm not going to leave anything out...

But in exchange I will pepper this post with only the most-mostest adorable Christmas photos of our little elf. A million thanks to our friend and fab photog, Tanya, for wrangling the little one for these great shots. (And the same album will be on Facebook so you can like it. Do it.)

The week started off with a sweet Kiddos-Christmas party at Katherine's. She was brave enough to bust out the paint for holiday arts-n-crafts time and there were cookies. Yum.

Tuesday night we grabbed a sitter and got in line at the United Nations. Hillary Clinton was in town and we were super psyched to hear her speak, but had no idea it would be a historic speech on gay rights. It was very cool to be there for it in person.

Then things sorta went off the rails. From Tuesday night to Wednesday morning the Bug was sleeping late so we finally went in to wake her up, only to find her covered in vomit. Yup, our little vomit-comet had -- sometime in the night -- thrown up all over herself and the bed then went back to sleep. Didn't bother to wake us or nothin'. Here's a tip Little One: You can fuss for us if you throw up. I am not so lazy that I won't come get you.

So Wednesday normalness was traded for morning bath time and sheet washing. Despite the extra laundry, HS seemed fine, so we went about our days...

...that is until Thursday evening when our sitter cancelled because she was sick and by Friday when I got on the vomit-comet express. Ugh, it was terrible. Since neither the Bug nor I had been truly sick since she was born, it was a knock upside my head to realize how tough it was to chase her around while feeling like, well, like throwing up. I would lie down on the floor to rest only to have her jump on me like it was time to play pony or throw books on my head. "Read to me, Monkey!"

Early on Friday afternoon I threw in the towel and begged Marc to come home. Then spent the rest of the day in bed sending him pathetic texts while he took care of Sophie: "I just threw up. Please bring me some Gator Add" (Yes, too sick to spell check).

But Saturday came and it was time to rally. See, I've only been planning our holiday party since, well, really since the last party. You know me, you know I love to throw parties. And this night was no exception as it was our first big Geneva-party and simultaneous celebration of Marc making partner.

We laid low Saturday until it was time to don the red dress and dancing shoes. Here's a great photo-link... thanks to Katherine for the camera and Tanya for taking most of the pics throughout the night!
PARTY ON here

It was a great throw-down and we're super appreciative to everyone who came out and threw it down. Ah, did I mention I love parties?

(It says private ... No scallywags!)

And the rally worked well enough ... today I'm pretty much on the upswing and will probably allow Mister M go back to work tomorrow. Not saying he won't still get pathetic misspelled texts, but eh, so it goes.

Now, as we head into our last week in Swissy-land for the year I'm hoping it will be calmer. There are suitcases to drag down and pack and U.S. shopping lists to make and check twice. I hope to post again before we land sunny side up, but if not, there will be pics-a-plenty from The Lone Star and Sunshine states. Until then, friendly Ruers, stay healthy and we'll see you soon.

THE 12TH MONTH

2011-12-03T12:51:00.001-08:00

Hello, my Ruelets, from a rainy weekend in Swissy-land. I hope all you Americans are recovered from overeating last week and have cleaned the fridge of leftovers. (That turkey's only good for so long, after all.) We here on the Rue had a busy week as the calendar flipped over to the final month of the year. Good thing, too, because I got a few notes after my last post. Seems my bummed-outness-for-being alone-on-Thanksgiving tone raised a few eyebrows on my overall mental state. And to be fair, I may have been a bit melancholy, as I was truly pissy about being alone last Thursday. But I figure you guys want to hear how it is -- good, bad, ugly -- and not just the fabulousness of my bon-bon eating self.

In fact, my sweet Auntie E wrote and asked if I had any friends at all here, so I tried to be extra good about taking pictures of my wide and wonderful gal-pal crew and all the silly things we do to keep ourselves and our wee ones entertained in this foreign country. I only half succeeded, but here's how the week went down anyway:

The first part of the week our elusive Mister M was on the road again, this time to Stuttgart, Germany.

I sent him these pics so he knew what a sweet little face he was missing.

On Tuesday, our friend Beth and her daughter Isabel bravely opened their doors to a gaggle of kiddos for some arts-n-crafts.

Here are the boys tearing it up. I like to pretend that Sophie is just too sweet to join in, but really she was just too small to climb up...

And here are my girlfriends (yay! I have friends!) with the kiddos. Katherine is also brave in trying to wrangle both Benjamin and The Sophster at once, Tonya has William and his blond curls and Beth and Is were the great hosts!

By Wednesday Mister M was back in the mix, so I exploited his here-ness by high-fiving him at the door in the evening so I could sneak out for a bit. Friend and fab-photog Tanya (of family portrait fame) was brave enough to agree to photograph little B and S for their Christmas portraits on Thursday. So the ladies and I spent Wednesday evening creating sets in Tanya's photo studio in preparation. I forgot to snap a pic, but we had some wine and fake snow so a good time was had by all...

...And then the wee ones had all the fun the next morning. Here's one of Benjamin's sweet shots from our soundstage (stolen from Katherine's blog. Soph's pics aren't ready yet, but I know you need your adorable-baby fix)

Thursday night was more fun as the Sophie-sitter came over for a few hours and I snuck away for some Xmas online shopping and then drinks with two more girlfriends, Maya and Erin, at Chez Lucien. (Also no pics, but they're great and beautiful and all that)

Friday was no rest for the wicked. The Sophster and I headed out to Little Gym in the morning...

...here she is crawling under a bridge...

Then we hosted our friend Katrin and her new sweetie Tristan for lunch and chat over at our place.

Hello, friends! Mister T is all of three months.

As evening descended upon the Rue, we bundled up and headed back out in the rain. Our baby daddy was on the hook to buy drinks for his whole office to celebrate new-partner-status, and I'm not one to miss drinks when Marc is buying. HS and I met up with the office mates (and Anj and the boys) for the dinner portion at Luigia.

Soph was supposed to be sleeping, but was instead giggling on Trevor's lap or making a run for it around the restaurant like a bandit.

When the weekend finally rolled in we all enjoyed a slow Saturday morning before heading out for some errands and race watching.

A bit of peek-a-boo, or coo-coo, as it's called here

It was the morning of Switzerland's largest race, L'Escalade, and we went out to cheer on our friends.

The starting block for one of the men's categories. See if you can find yourself, Waldo.

Sunday we were back at it, this time dusting off the old car to head up to Montreux, Switzerland to check out the Christmas market. Now, it's true, I'm not the hugest fan of Christmas or of its little markets, except maybe the hot cider sold in some of the stalls. But 'tis the season, so we went up.

Montreux, home of the famous jazz festival, has some of the most beautiful views in the country, thinks this little tourist.

We wandered the stalls, perusing the goods. And the Sophster got to ride the carousel.

After a few hours we headed back to our part of the lake and are now tucked in, ready for a shiny new week. And this one is going to be a doozy, with events galore. On the party front, we've got a Christmas party for the kiddos early in the week and our own McShelley holiday throwdown on the weekend. It should be a great time -- mamma's got a new dress! Also this week the US Secretary of State (Mrs. Clinton if you're nasty) will be coming to speak at the UN, and we're on the guest list to get in. Assuming we can clear security, I'll be back with all the news that fits next week.
Until then, have a doozy yourself.

Bonus pics from the week from the lunch table:

HSMS has been practicing with a fork this week...

and tries very hard to skewer her little meatball...

...only to then pick it off the fork and pop it in her mouth.

REDEEMING THURSDAY

2011-11-27T11:05:00.001-08:00

This sepia-toned pic captures a big day, my friends. Here is the first time that Holden Sophia was neither pushed nor carried out of the apartment -- she simply walked.

Hello, friendly Ruers, from the quiet end of the festive week. I hope those of you in the US of A enjoyed your big holiday of giving thanks. For us, it was just another Thursday in Swissy-land, albeit one filled with pumpkin-pie wishes and cranberry dreams. But before we get to the gravy, the week in recap has been a good example of the ups and downs of ex-pat life:

On Monday they shut off the electricity in our building to do some work on the street, so the Bug and I found ourselves homeless for a few hours. We ended up at the gym (or "mamma's gym," as distinguished from "baby's gym") and I left the Little One in the garderie while I went and ... hmm, this is embarrassing. See, sometimes I go to the gym and don't even work out. I just go to the women's locker room and make lists and get organized for the week. But Miss Sophia loves the kid's room and I love that she loves it. It's a French-only garderie, so it's really the best chance for her to start learning the language until we get her a spot in the coveted day-care system around here. I won't bore you with the ongoing saga (uhm, I'm going to bore you a little) but I have been on the list for a spot in day-care, or creche, since I was 4-months pregnant.
Seriously.

Who wouldn't want this little face? (Here she's caught double fisting bottles of milk, which makes me wonder if she can't get a spot in school because they are worried she'd clean them out of the full-fat white stuff. The answer is yes, she would.)

While most of her first year I was pretty patient, not getting in has been the bane of my existence for several months now. It's not just that she and I spend a lot of time together, it's that I really believe she should be learning the language and learning from other kids at least a few days a week. My personal frustration is heightened by the fact that I lost out on an opportunity to do some work because I didn't have anywhere for Soph to go, and by the belief/rumor mill that ex-pats are bumped to lowest priority in the system. Whether true or not, it's frustrating. Which brings us back to the gym -- the garderie will watch her up to three times a week (2 hours per go), so I've started maxing out my time on the elliptical to get her into the playroom.
(Yes, I'm so gallant. But I have this little scenario that plays out in my head where Sophie goes into the garderie and tells all of her play friends that she's pretending to like it there so mamma can get some gym time. So who knows which one of us is doing the other the favor, right?)

EX-PAT DOWNSIDE: Sometimes feeling like you're in a country that doesn't care about you, essentially.

After the gym we met some friends in coffee land then did some shopping until the power came back on.

EX-PAT UPSIDE: That whole last sentence.

Tuesday we hiked across the lake to do shopping over there, grocery and otherwise.

It's a long hike over, so we have some downtime with the aquariums of fish at Manor before getting back to the errands. She's still very much into "ish" and we've made our way through "Tiddler, The Storytelling Fish" and "One Fish Two Fish" many times this week.

In the afternoon were back at the gym, only this time I left the garderie with two babes.

I watched a friend's baby for a little bit and the girls had a good time playing together. At least I think they did. Neither cried, which I took to be a good sign.

Wednesday we were -- you guessed it -- back at the gym in the morning before a babysitter came and relieved me in the afternoon. We have a sweet Swissy girl who is starting to be a regular Sophie-sitter, and while she speaks to me in English, it's all-French for Le Bug. They went out to the park so I could get a few things done in the house, then I took off for a dinner out with the girls.

Now, I am embarrassed -- for the second time in this post -- that this is the second week in a row where I've had a girl's night out and have failed to snap even a pic. I mean yes, I know you mostly want to see The Sophster, but other things go on, too. Really!

Wednesday was also the Bug's 14th-month birthday, and here's a snapshot of what 3 minutes with her is like: (Two things to note: 1. Seconds before the video started she was laughing wildly at us drumming on the footstool, so that is what I was trying to get her to do again. 2. About halfway through the video she poops.)

On Thursday morning, while America was waking up and dreaming of dressing, we had to say "auf wiedersehen" to Pappa as he was going into the office then straight to Austria for a work trip.

EX-PAT DOWNSIDE: Non-respecting of American holidays. Okay, that sounds a little ego-centric, yes. But it was an especially tough day since Marc had to not only work, but travel, leaving me alone for probably the first time in my life on Thanksgiving. I was pretty bummed about it, but oscillated throughout the night between feeling sorry for myself and taking a good look around and being grateful for all the things I have. And feeling sorry for myself, etc.

The other thing I did on Thursday night was put together HSMS's Christmas present. A few days early, I realize, but I needed a lot of time in the kitchen on Friday and needed her to be occupied.

We gave her her own little IKEA-fab kitchen station, complete with garden veggies and burners that turn on.

I like to think that she's starting a sauce -- à la my grandma Rose -- for the holiday feast.

Here's the video I took for Marc of her discovering her present: (Uploaded Monday)

Mister M returned Friday evening so we laid low through the night in preparation for Saturday.
When the weekend rolled around we finally had our shot at holiday redemption ... The SHB T-day Throwdown. Every year all the families in Marc's office get together the weekend following Thanksgiving for our own ex-pat version of the holiday, complete with all the main food players and bunches and bunches of wine.

We're a big crowd all combined.... here's the lovely table set for the adults,

... and the cool kid's table, complete with a popcorn-filled paper turkey and gigantic chocolate bars as party favors.

It's the one get-together where we happily share our U.S.-smuggled food (my big share was a pumpkin cheesecake -- those pumpkin puree cans are not light!) and the dishes were delish. It wasn't Thanksgiving, but it's a really good substitute.
We'd have to file that under EX-PAT UPSIDE.

Now it's Sunday evening, and besides a few hours out at the market with our friends, we've laid pretty low today, digesting the week's last hours before the new one comes to fill our tummies. Mister M hits the road tomorrow for a quick overnighter to Germany, so we'll say "auf wiedersehen" to him again in the morning. The Bug and I should have a pretty normal week, and I'll be back to regale you with more tales when we wrap up another 7 days. Until then, stay on the upside...

THE GOOD, THE (THERMAL) BAD AND THE SNUGGLY

2011-11-20T11:03:00.001-08:00

No matter how busy or slow the week, we always make time for lunch.

Good evening, dear Ruers, from the dark side of a light weekend. We just rolled back into town from a Saturday-to-Sunday dip in the thermal baths of Leukerbad, Swissy-land with a few friends. It was a great weekend. But first, the week...

This week was wicked busy. I don't know why or where the days went, but it seemed like the Bug and I were all over the place every day. It may have had something to do with the two (2) trips to IKEA, a girlfriend's birthday dinner in Nyon, and various other sundries that took the days away like my breath.

The Little One kept crawling into this chair...

Which meant we had to go out and get her her own chair (from IKEA).

But we should just skip through the day-to-days and get to the good -- No, Great -- news of the week... We found out Thursday night that Marc made partner in his firm. Hooray! A mere seven years in the making, there was much rejoicing when the news came down. Well, actually, it was sort of anticlimactic for him... due to the time difference with the U.S. it was later in the evening here when he got the call and we were (ahem) already in our pajamas eating dinner. And watching Season 4 of Entourage. After he hung up we high-fived then turned back on Entourage.

The next day I brought cupcakes and the Bug up to the office and Marc opened a nice bottle of Scotch. We're so proud!

As the week wound to an end (as exciting as it was) we welcomed the weekend with a little trip. On Saturday morning we loaded up the 'Buru and wove our way up and away to Leukerbad, a little town about 2.5 hours from Geneva.

We met up with friends and wee ones who had gone up the day before and all spent the weekend frolicking about Switzerland's largest thermal spa. The babes were thrilled to play in the bad's submerged playground and the parents took rotating babysitting duties so the ladies could get a (hot chocolate) massage and the boys could steam in the saunas. On Saturday night we tore up a little corner of Hotel Astoria's restaurant for a fondue dinner and Sunday it was another dip in the pool for the gals and babes and a hike for the boys.

On the hiking trail...

Some tired babes after another round in the pool (No pics in the pool, so here we are already back at the hotel)...

Now that Sunday is winding to a close I'm going to hit the sack and drift off to dream of Pumpkin Spice Lattes in the U.S. With the holiday season about to officially kick off in America, it's a time of wistful wishes here on the Rue. Mister M is being sent out of the country this week for work and will miss Thanksgiving. I'm seriously bummed because it's a not-so-subtle reminder that we, like Dorothy, are not in Kansas anymore. I'll try to stay up on my own to watch the good football games, but most likely will be scanning Facebook for reports of feasts and fowls. Aww, that sounds sad, doesn't it? Well, no worries, we'll have our own T-Day-style throwdown to attend when the next weekend rolls in, and by then I'll have lots of news to report back to you friends. Until then, have a thankfully feastful week.

Bonus pics: HSMS spends her Friday mornings at Little Gym. Here she is bouncing off of (and blending into) the walls in the gym room...

GRUMPLESTILTSKIN AND HER LITTLE DWARF

2011-11-13T11:58:00.001-08:00

Good evening, friendly Ruers, from the tail end of a week and weekend in Geneva-land. We've got the space heater on to cut the chill in the air and are gearing up for another week of making the donuts.

But first, the big review. As the post title suggests, I may have been a bit grumpy this week. For one, the little Bug has been stuck on Dubai-time, meaning all week she's been out cold at about 6p and up and at 'em at the next 6 on the clock. For two, she's been on me like white on rice and I can't even believe that I daydream about getting to go to the bathroom by myself again. (Other post-babydom daydreams involve not smelling the bottom of another living creature to ascertain if she's gone poop, and never digging into another person's nose again.)

But she is my baby. I let her play with my phone and she snapped this pic...

... and shot her first self-portrait home video (though admittedly her cinematography needs some work -- it isn't the most flattering angle of her):

Her wake up calls have come too early for this Old Bug, and I've been intravenously infusing Starbucks double espressos all week. Here are the blondies together at the 'Buck:

It has been nice being back in G-town, though, after being in the desert .... I got to catch up with friends and their wee ones all week and they were the highlights (and ungrumpy times) of days gone by. Two sitters came and Sophie-sat (I know, so no complaints, right?) and Mister M and I made it out to dinner with a good-sized group of friends on Saturday night.

After that, I can only give Sophie-highlights:

Here she is showing off the barrette in her hair. Big girl!

Knowing her crawling days are numbered, I took this video to capture it for posterity. She does this move we call "El Toro," because she'll just put her head down and charge ahead. A little of it is captured here:

And sure enough, she's gone from taking her first consecutive steps last week to full-on baby-zombie-walking this week. Here's a very grumpy HS in too big too squeaky shoes (I let her wear whatever shoes she picks out, which I'm finding may be a mistake):

She was really into the whole crepes/quesadillas this week and tucked in (note the knife and fork usage):

Some time with pappa on the weekend:

Look who's matching (again).

And pappa and baby try to get some work done.

So, Ruelets, I feel certain I'm forgetting a few other highlights, but the clock has struck bed-time and obey it I must. This coming week has a few interesting bits and pieces already on the calendar, not the least of which is a small trip in the works. Here or away, I'll post up and keep you well stocked in baby pics. For all and to all, a good night.

Gratuitous extra video... Here's 3 minutes of HS trying to hula hoop. Well, it's like a minute of that then several minutes of random playing. A certain other cinematographer could work on her editing skills, too:

DABBLING IN DUBAI

2011-11-06T13:23:00.000-08:00

Hello my dear and patient Ruers. As you know, we hopped on that big bird in the sky last weekend so missed the posting window. Luckily for you (haha) we returned yesterday to the Alps after a week in Dubai.

It was a work week for Mister M, and conferences usually mean long days of panels and equally long nights of social engagements. While The Sophster and I didn't have a clock to punch we tagged along because hell, it's Dubai, and who wouldn't want a UAE stamp on her passport?

And for views like this!

While Marc had been a few times before (all work), I didn't know what to expect, but got some good tips from more worldly-travelers and an ex-pat friend in the area. My takeaways are these:
1) It was a good place for a weary traveler to relax, especially a full-time and fully-weary baby watcher. By that I mean this... if we're in Paris, or London or some fill-in-the-blank major city, there is a (self-imposed) pressure to be out seeing the sights and eating the eats. In other words, I wouldn't get a croissant from Starbucks while in France and hang out at the hotel instead of the Louvre, ya know? But in Dubai, it's more about being seen than seeing seens. Which frees those of us not in the being-seen mode to kick back guilt free at the pool and eat hummus.
2) And while not eating hummus we were eating at some American-chain because that's all there was.
3) Everyone was incredibly nice to us. Yes, I know the hotel staff is paid to be nice, but I'm talking about everyone else. Me thinks it helps to have a super-cute-super-friendly baby who blows kisses at the peeps of the world as we walk down the street.
4) Speaking of walking, guess who chose poolside Dubai to take her first consecutive steps?? Mmm hmm, that's right... apparently all she needed was Finding Nemo arm floaties and an infinity pool that looked over the Persian Gulf to become a full-fledged toddler. Big Girl!

Ah, the good life. Chillin' poolside with the floaties on loan from the hotel.

Here's how the week went:
Saturday/Sunday
It's a 6 hour flight and a 3 hour time difference from Geneva to Dubai (so 10 hours ahead of CST). The whole fam arrived pretty beat at nearly 1am on Sunday and by the time we got through customs and to the hotel it was nearly 3am. Needless to say, Sunday we laid pretty low and stuck around the boardwalk near out beach-side hotel during the day. After lunch at Chico's (tequila-free margaritas, sigh) we waved goodbye to baby-daddy as he went off to the Welcome Events.

HSMS is an old pro on planes now, and here she is checking out the in-flight entertainment. I've yet to fly an airline as awesome as Emirates was with bebe -- each way the cabin crew gave us a pack of essentials (food/spoon/bib/wipes,toys) and took family photos. It was lucky because someone (ahem, me) may have forgotten to pack wipes.

Monday
The conference started underway and we didn't even wake up to see Mister M off (the ladies of the household love their sleep). We hung out poolside and on the boardwalk, hoping to catch some glimpses of Halloween in the Emirate.

She was "Devil in a Blue Dress," in part because I couldn't bear to put her in a full polyester getup when it was so hot outdoors. During our Halloween Parade of One, we saw a handful of other costumes but no candy.

In the evening we tried to head into town on the metro to meet Marc for an early-evening reception, but after walking for about 30 minutes without finding the station we called it a fail and went and had dinner at a Chili's.

Tuesday

HS and I checked out the Mall of the Emirate (largest mall in the world) and saw some indoor skiing. In the desert. There was also every store you could possibly imagine, and I can imagine a lot of them. Then it was back to the hotel for some swimsuit time.

You're going to start to think that all I did was hang out by the pool, and your thoughts would be pretty right on. If we weren't hitting the Starbucks/Pauls on the boardwalk, we were doing this in the day:

Mister M was doing this in the evening:

Receptions at the Burj Khalifa, the world's tallest tower.

Views of the world's largest fountain from the top:

Wednesday
Mister M got a break in the afternoon and met us at Dubai Mall for its main attractions.... shopping for the adults and the Aquarium for the wee one.

We spent a whole lot more time doing one than the other. (Hint: Of the 5 words or so that HS can sign, "fish" is one of them. She was making the sign like crazy as we walked around the tanks. It was really, really cute.) Look at her face here when she spies the fish...

Then pappa was back out for a dinner and HS and I were back out poolside to watch the evening sun go down. I can't say enough just how lovely the weather was, especially if you could avoid the high peak hours by napping in your crib.

Thursday
The big event of the night was getting a babysitter for the Little One so Marc and I could hit an evening dinner at the uber-hip Sidhartha. We're not uber-hip, but the guy hosting the dinner put us on the list anyway. For me, it wasn't so much the fancy dinner as it was the 5 baby-free hours. Ahhhh....

Friday/Saturday
As the work week came to a close the conference wound down, which meant we got Mister M back for some fun in the sun! The whole fam headed out to the sandy dunes for a dip in the Persian Gulf. The water was perfect, though Soph was a little scared of the sand at first...

But once the waves crashed on her she was loving it...

This post-dip pic makes me laugh...

Saturday was an early-morning call back to the airport and back on that big bird. We laid low Saturday night (Sophie was asleep at 6p sharp)

Now it's getting late on a Sunday night and we're still slightly on Dubai time, so I'll be turning in soon. It looks to be a fairly quiet week on the Swiss-front but check back here next week for all the news that fits. Until then, goodnight!

Bonus video: Cooling off

ATE IN EIGHT

2011-10-23T12:30:00.000-07:00

Winter has arrived in our little hamlet. Okay, it's not snowsuit time just yet, but we were trying it on in anticipation of the white flakes now that it's sooooo cold outside!

Well, it's a Sunday evening here in Geneva-town, dear Ruers, and I'm tuckered out. It was a busy week, complete with several outings and a few innings. Would it be cool with you guys if I just showed a bunch of pictures?

Okay, I'm pretty used to strangers taking pictures of Sophie. But this gal was nice enough to get my email address and actually send them the next day. No idea who she was...

But she sent some cute pics...

...including Soph's new handkerchief do-rag that Katherine made for her. Too cute! And speaking of headwear, the next shot is of one of my favorite hats, The Bee Hat.
This photo was taken on Tuesday while we were sitting at an outdoor cafe with friend Maya. Then HSMS and I went to the grocery across the way and sometime between leaving Manor and walking across the Mont-Blanc bridge we lost The Bee Hat.
The second I noticed it was gone I retraced my steps but no luck... GONE. It burns me up... this must be the 5th hat that's been lost this year. And they are always gone within minutes of being jettisoned from the stroller. Which means no niceties of leaving it on the ground for a few minutes or putting on the nearest fence post. Nope, just taken. Oh, it burns me up.
(I know, I said that already. And I know -- don't get all crazy over a hat. But it's the principle here, my peeps, the principle.)

We then spent some time -- hatless-- in the jardin anglais, eating strawberries and discussing the weather.

Whose face is that?

But Tuesday was also the day of Eight, which means Marc and I hit our 8-year anniversary on the 18th and to celebrate got a sitter for the night and went out to dinner.

Here's hubby for all 8, Mister M, enjoying a glass of Champagne before dinner at Little Buddha. Ready for another eight?

But the week wasn't all Champagne sipping and hat tossing. There was work to be done...

Pappa and baby get down to business in pappa's office.

And more work to be done this week. We're getting ready for a big trip which means some packing and fussing about in preparation. I hope to check in from the next destination -- hint: It's gonna be warm -- at least with some pics and clever little taglines. Until then, friendly Ruers, I hope your weeks are as clever as they can be.

POINT/COUNTERPOINT: TWO TALES OF ONE WEEK

2011-10-16T13:39:00.000-07:00

Howdy, dear Ruers, from the tail end of seven busy days since last check in. This is a fun post tonight because in addition to my ramblings we're getting a check-in from that illusive and illustrious man of the house, Mister M.

But first, me: My week went something like this:
Monday
Marc leaves for Shanghai, China. The little one and I go to the gym and meet a friend out at Baby Plage. I send Mister M this video.

And he sent us this photo of his hotel view:

Tuesday
I realize one of this upsides of Marc being gone is that I don't have to take the spoon out of the peanut butter jar and pretend like I don't eat it straight like that all day.
(p.s. please send more peanut butter)

Speaking of eating, the Sophster has gone through a downturn in her formerly insatiable appetite, and I've been struggling with convincing her to eat. So I bought this super yummy-looking apple tart, or tarte aux pommes, and was certain she was going to love it. I mean, who doesn't love apple pie?

Sophie, apparently. Here she is giving me her "I'm not going to eat" look.

Then it's "the point," which is how she tells you she wants something.

Then "the double point," which means she really wants something.

She was going after my fork, and like anybody whose authority has been tested, retested and finally shattered, I relented and handed it over. Then immediately regretted it. Then filmed it:

(
Fair warning: It's 3 minutes of HS using a fork.)

Wednesday
The bug and I attended a Welcome Coffee at the American International Women's Club (not a member, just a fun-time freeloader) in the morning the headed out to Bois de la Batie, an outdoor animal refuge and wooded park, in the afternoon to meet up with this crew:

(From left, Beth with Isabel, HSMS, Mimi and Ava, Kate with Tristan, Jen O and Sebi)

Marc sent us this pic:

Thursday
Thursday was a big day for me, I have to admit. See, it was nearing the end of the week of being on full-time parenting duty and I was getting a little run down. But at 6p on this night, right about when we start the getting-cranky-nearly-end-of-day-routine, the doorbell rang and a sweet little Genevoise arrived with one goal: taking care of Sophie. That's right, it was a babysitter, a form so rare around these hallowed halls that we speak of it in only a whisper. As you well know, or gather from the strain in my voice some days, we've hired a babysitter on fewer nights than I have fingers... on one hand. But I've made a goal to remedy that deficit and the trial night this week included me leaving the house to have a quick happy hour with friends. I have tasted freedom, my friends, and it tasted so good that I turned the car around to go through the Drive-Thru for more. Hmm, that doesn't make a lot of sense, but let's just say I've asked this gal to clear some space on her calendar. (In fact, we'll see her again later in the week).

Friday
The morning was Sophie gym time, and we went to her "tumbling" class for some bouncing about time.

Here she is in a big padded circle...

...on the parallel bars...

...and crawling under the beam.

We got word from Marc that he was safely boarded and I settled in for a quiet night and my last to sleep diagonally across the bed.

Marc's week (to be read in a much deeper voice):

I agreed to go on a last minute trip to Shanghai to attend a biotech conference that our firm sponsored. I received my visa on Friday and left the following Monday. Knowing that I would be in a conference for two days, I had hoped to get some sightseeing in on Tuesday after I arrived, but due to a minor hiccup that caused me to be rerouted through Seoul, I arrived in Shanghai on Tuesday about four hours later than planned. I still had a few hours to explore the People's Square and shopping on Nanjing Road. I experienced the Shanghai metro system at rush hour, which was scarring but made my way back to the hotel. The conference went well and the first night there was a reception at the Shanghai Science and Technology Museum, which was a pretty impressive facility.
After everything wrapped up on the second day, I still had a few hours before dinner so I took a cab to the Yuyuan market to get some shopping done. At the market, I picked up a silly outfit for Sophie but only after arguing with the seller that the first outfit he was showing me was far too big for my daughter. His argument was that American babies are bigger than Chinese babies. My argument to him was that he has never seen my baby and this was a pointless conversation. I also picked up some paper cuttings that were made by Jerry. When I told Jerry that I was from the US, he said he spends his summers doing paper cuttings in Branson, Missouri. I was sold at that point.
Unfortunately, that was about the extent of my trip. I boarded a flight back on Friday morning after a harrowing taxi ride -- for 45 minutes the driver laid on his horn and wove in and out of traffic, sometimes on the shoulder of the road. There were no seatbelts in the backseats of any of the cabs I road in during my stay and this was no exception. But he got me to the airport in plenty of time. Twelve hours to Frankfurt and another hour to Geneva and I was home late Friday night.

Marc's Shanghai album links here.

Saturday
With the fam back together again, we spent the first weekend morning lounging about, opening presents from China-town and catching up.

Here's Sophie in the get-up -- complete with purse -- from pappa. Maybe American babies aren't so gigantic after all, mister!

Then it was out to a chocolate festival, Salon du Chocolat, with our friends Josh, Katherine and Baby B.

We may have tried a few samples.

That night the babysitter came back (yes, I'm addicted now) and relieved Marc and me for the evening so we could have dinner with friends. We stopped off first at one of our old stomping grounds and just to prove how long it has been, our old bar didn't even exist anymore. (In name and decor, anyway. They still served drinks and we still drank them).

Sunday
As the week drew to a close there was still some fun to be had. I had a triple -- yes, triple -- baby shower for three mammas-to-be to attend that included high tea at a fancy-shmancy hotel in town. I left the baby with the (jet-lagged) baby daddy and ate sandwiches like these...

and desserts like these...

The shower wrapped up in time to get home for the tail end of baby bath-and-bedtime, and now we're all wiped out as the week officially wraps up.

I should make record of it here, lest it be forgotten in the empty space between my ears, that this morning Holden Sophia took her first step. It was just one, and it was to her pappa's outstretched arms (oh, sure, walk to him!) but we're going to count it. Tomorrow, driving!

Looking ahead, everyone is in town this week and we hope to hit the town again. I'm hoping to find another sitter (seriously, can't break the habit now) so Mister M and I can get out next weekend to celebrate our wedding anniversary. At the very least, I'll be throwing bouquets of flowers over my head so don't stand too close. Until then, darling Ruers, may your week be fragrant and free of thorns.

TOYS IN BABE LAND

2011-10-09T13:03:00.000-07:00

At first I thought this pic was a cute representation of chilly weather, what with the man in the plaid shirt and the little one in the turtleneck and vest. But upon further looks, I feel as though they just came back from a hunt and that poor koala saw the business end of a tranquilizer gun. Just me?

Howdy dear Ruers,
We're getting the cold shoulder from this Sunday eve as I sit down to turn my back on the week that's passed. The long streak of warm weather we'd been oh-so-enjoying here in Swissy-land came to an end on Friday with cold wet rain and grey sad skies. Sure, it was long overdue, but the chill in the air and snow dustings on the mountaintops over the weekend let us know that it's time to bunker down for winter's begrudging welcome.

Despite the weather, we here on the Rue have been enjoying staying in town these last few weeks. It feels as though we're finally getting into a rhythm that both the Doodlebug and I can agree on. Part of that ladies agreement comes in the form of gym time -- she plays happily at my gym's garderie, or day care, for a few hours a few times a week, and I've agreed to take her to her own gym once a week where she can tumble and climb to her little gymnast's-heart delight.

A stamped arm marks the end of baby gym time. I'll get pics of her in class this week (didn't know you could bring a camera in until I saw other equally crazy moms filming their kids) but also wanted to show you this so when looking at the other pics in this post you don't think she has an untreated medical condition.

Wearing the Little Miss out during the day is a goal of mine, especially since she's transitioning -- much to my chagrin -- from two naps to one. We had some unfun nights this week (we hope related to last week's immunization bonanza), some rough dining times (one day she ate but a croissant and yogurt. while I applaud the very French-ness of her menu I must equally poo-poo its failure to climb the food pyramid), and a few crazy days (I took her to IKEA to pick out a few new toys. what follows is the result of that experiment)...

After some time perusing the aisles, we walked away with this tunnel. At first, HS didn't know what to do with it...

She peeked around it...

...laid outside of it

...and finally got brave enough to go inside of it.

Here's the 30 minutes that followed captured in a 3-minute video:
(yeah, she's only wearing a diaper and leggings. we're pretty cas around here)

As the week tunneled to a week's-end, we spent Saturday and Sunday enjoying brunch with friends, suffering through two brutal football losses and generally getting ready for the week ahead. Mister M takes off tomorrow for a week in Shanghai -- yup, China -- so it'll be just us girls hanging out at the Rue. You know what that means... lots of sexy parties. Did I say sexy parties? I meant Chinese take-out and solo drinking. He he. Let's all hope he takes lots of pictures and brings us all back a little something, preferably with long sleeves. For the rest of you weary travelers, enjoy the remainder of your weekend and we'll see you on the flip side.

(p.s. we're trying out new looks here at the Rue. curious to hear thoughts...)

OCTOBER'S OPENING LINES

2011-10-02T13:05:00.000-07:00

Hello friendly Ruers! Yes, the birthday blog blowup is still in full effect, in part because I spent all that time blowing it up and am not ready to put Humpty Dumpty together again.
(Old look to return next week. Probably.)

Easily the hippest kid on the playground today.

We did indeed have a birthday blowup last weekend, and Little Miss Holden Sophia rang in year No. 1 under the City of Love's lovely Eiffel Tower. Our friends Josh and Katherine and their little boy Benjamin were good sports and came with us over the weekend.

I posted pics on Facebook, but for the two of you not on FB (you know who you are) here's the signature shot from the big day:

My favorite birthday pic, taken by my friend and streets-of-Paris-orientator, Katherine

And a link to the rest of K's pics of the birthday girl. (Highlights: The babies tearing up the hotel room like rock stars, Champagne and sippy cups at Laduree, a fab shot of the Tour Eiffel...)

Amid hints that taking a baby to Paris for her 1st birthday may be, oh, over the top, it should be noted that she didn't really know where she was, but the adults certainly did. I figured she has many birthday parties and party requests coming in the years ahead and that this first year was really about something else all together. (Macarons) Paris is one of my favorite cities (macarons) and for whatever reason I hadn't been back since the trip there when we found out about HS's teeny-tiny existence in what was then my teeny-tiny tummy (ha!). It was truly full circle, then, for me to return to the magical city with my little daughter in tow. My daughter... still sounds strange.

Oh, right, and for the macarons.

The whole crew returned to Geneva Sunday evening, just in time for baby bedtime. While the macarons lasted a few more days (such restraint have we!) the rest of this week passed in no time at all. It was a flurry of unpacking (and finally putting the suitcases away for "good") playdates and donut making. Geneva is having unseasonably warm weather and no one here is complaining.

Even though the night darkness is starting to creep against our window shade earlier and earlier, the days have been gorgeous examples of an Indian summer at its finest. Here's HS enjoying some extended park time (and short sleeves!).

We did have to pop inside at least once this week, however, as HSMS had her 1-year checkup at the doc's office. She did not like her two (!) shots, did not like them one bit, but otherwise showed off her fine repertoire of learned skills for the Medicine Man. He is a smart enough to ask not if she did what we asked her to do but if we thought she understood what we were asking her to do. Very good distinction for a little one who is just learning and enjoying defying me at every turn. But on command she found a few noses for him (her own and pappa's) and especially impressed with her babble-abilities. No, I do not know how she got to be such a motor-mouth.
Hush it.

Here's an incredibly long video of HS feeding herself with a spoon, one of her newly acquired-yet-rarely-used skills. She prefers to be hand fed. You can also hear some fine "talking" from her and an obnoxious running commentary from the woman behind the camera:

(All cream cheese container references dedicated to loyal Ruer- and video-watcher Kate D.)

We stayed in town this weekend but partied harder here than we did in Paris. A poker night (brought to you by Chipotle, mmmm mmm) with friends had us crawling home (with empty pockets) in the wee hours of Sunday morning. Sophie, luckily, was a champion and had fallen asleep at our friends' place and went back to sleep upon returning home, but was still up near her usual time. Needless to say, those of us on the Rue are dragging a bit as the weekend comes to a close.

Tomorrow we'll turn over the calendar page on a new week of a new month and dig in. For one, we've got to send Mister M back to work to recover some of the blue chips we handed out at Poker Night.
For you blue chippers out there, have a great week and we'll see you back here soon.

365 DAYS LATER

2011-09-23T07:30:00.000-07:00

What is there to say when your firstborn, your little baby girl, turns 1? Luckily, I don’t have to recap the entire year all right here right now. Couldn’t remember it all if I tried.
Holden Sophia’s birth – and all her subsequent days – have been well recorded in posts and in pictures, in part to save me from trying to say too much today. And while there’s little chance that I’d ever feel like I could explain myself properly anyway, I will say this about that little blue-eyed doll who joined our family one year ago today: She is the sweetest breath I have ever exhaled.

Then:Holden Sophia McCudden Shelley was a Swiss baby from the start, showing up at 7:57am on her due date like she was showing up for work. I had a water labor (land birth) at a birthing center in Geneva, Dix Lunes, attended by two midwives and Marc. We went home 4 hours later.

She was born “over Texas soil,” so hopefully that will count enough to qualify her for in-state tuition to The University of Texas in about 17 years.

For the first several months she only pooped on Mondays.

She cried for the first three months. People forget that, because she was soooo good afterward. Model baby, really. But those first months I thought I was going to die.

Today:At one year, she is a full-on baby Neanderthal; a crawling machine who points and grunts her way though eatings and wants, dismisses with the flick of a wrist and is never denied when she holds out her arms for a carry. She can stand (when she's not being carried), read a book (or so she believes) and say Mamamama (or so I believe).
She’s cheeky and sneaky, sweet and sour, part of me yet completely separate. Ah, what a year.

When I go outside with her, I call it “The Sophie Show”: So many people stop and coo at her and she feeds it by responding with a smile, a wave or even her newest trick, blowing kisses.

She has such ridiculously cute clothes that I once actually covered her up on a bus so people would leave us alone.

AND TWO TO GROW ON

2011-09-18T13:38:00.000-07:00

Oops, almost forgot two videos of HS taken while on the road (your regularly scheduled post continues below):
HS learning to walk behind her cousin's dino-walker:

And hanging out in the Washington D.C. airport:

NO SLEEP TIL BREAKFAST

2011-09-18T13:24:00.000-07:00

Hello gentle Ruers,
Two posts in one week, how excited are we all? This is a quick post for the leftover week after landing Geneva side up.
After getting back on Thursday we slept like babies, or babies who are non-jet lagged (so more like regular adults). We were all so tired from traveling that an early evening crash session was in order and we started Friday bright eyed.

Here's Sophie in new pajamas from Nanna V. They are made out of bamboo and make a super soft and cuddly baby.

There's something about a baby drinking milk out of a bottle that knocks me out. I dunno, they remind me of little calves or something, all big-eyed and suckling. It's even cuter to me than when she was breastfeeding, I guess because it involves less of me taking off my shirt.

So, anyway, sleep... yes, it came sweetly the first night but we've been struggling with it ever since. The little bug (usually a good sleeper) has been waking up at odd hours of the night and trying to trick us into playing with her. By "trick" I mean screaming and crying.

Otherwise, it was a quiet week-into-weekend. Mister M had to make a lot of make-up doughnuts and spent most of the last hours back at work. He did watch Miss Sophia for me on Sunday so I could go see a new baby in town:

New parents Katrin and Andreas with their new little boy, Tristan. Welcome, baby boy!

Not too much else happened of note, as the weird nights made us all bleary eyed in the day. (Thankfully all of HSMS's fussiness stopped by 2am. I have a low threshold for baby insomnia these days.) But it should be noted that she discovered shoes this week. She has always owned (several) pairs but never cared for them until returning from the U.S. (grrr, consumerism is contagious!)...

Now she finds the closest available pair and insists we put them on her feet. All I ask is that she -- please, for the love of Blahniks -- find a less expensive habit before teenager-dom.

Exciting stuff, I know. We will head into this new week hoping for a good sleep start and hit the ground running tomorrow morning. After all, it's a big week; Marc and I have dinner plans (though separate), we head out of town (probably), and a certain little girl turns 1 year on Friday (and her parents couldn't be more shocked that everyone survived the first year relatively unscathed). No doubt there will be a big post to produce in honor of the big day, but until the happy birthday, friendly Ruers, happy week.

ROAD BLEARY: TO THE STATES AND BACK

2011-09-16T04:12:00.000-07:00

Ruers, friends! I know, I know, how much can one blogger slack? Well, cut me a little of it because I've been on the road for the past two weeks and just landed sunny-side up in Geneva-land. We're going to be fighting the goblins of jet lag and ghosts of suitcase scatterings for a few days, but let's ignore those demons and catch up, shall we?

If you just want the slideshow, here it is:

If you want the typed-out lowdown...
It was 7 days in KC and 7 days in Austin and still not enough time to see everyone and do everything. Visiting the US always makes me feel bi-polar. There are great things and people and equally bad annoyances and diversions. Examples:

Con: OMG, all the time in the car. I don't know how you do it; I certainly have gotten car-soft after a few years out from behind the wheel. Hate, hate, having to drive between every little thing.

Pro: Love flipping through radio stations (okay, that sounds lame when I type it but I really do enjoy it.)

Con: The heat. What was up with this summer, Mamma Nature?

Pro: The tan, the excuses to drink margaritas and eat ice cream

Con: Feeling guilty because we don't get to see everyone/really spend quality time

Pro: Feeling loved because people make time to play with us

Con: Over-consumption

Pro: Over-consumption

And the list goes on and on...

As it went down, two weeks ago I packed up the baby and headed to the middle of US of A to see Marc's family and catch up with a few buds. Now normally, no, I am not such a good wife that I would go see my in-laws without their favorite son, but Marc's travel got wonky and in the end it was just us girls (it's not personal -- love you guys!). I was dreading the long flight just me, the wee one and a million things to carry...

...but she did great on the flight(s) and lots of people actually helped out when this packmule got weighed down. Here she is reading up on the safety information.

Future Mathlete! A shiny new abacus kept HS busy on the long haul. A few more international flights and she'll be doing long division.

More pics are on the slideshow, but the lowdown is that we ran around like crazies and tried to get good playtime in with everyone.

But this pic just has to run big. Here's what happens when you lose a bet to me ... Auntie Meg had to get a shamrock painted on her face -- with HSMS's initials -- while out at the Kansas City Irish Fest. Yeah, baby.

After a week in KC the Bug and I headed down to the heatbowl of Austin to see my family. We stayed with my sister and her hubby and baby...

...my little nephew Dennis. He's 10 weeks older than Sophie and was a great sport all week long, letting Sophie play with all his toys.

The cousins swinging...

...playing with balloons

...and catching up with their Nanna V

It was tough being on my own with HS for so long -- the days were long (as was one bad night) when there was no one to pass off diaper/feeding/entertaining duty to for the most part. But there is always some relief in America (another Pro: Babysitters), and in both KC and Austin other brave souls volunteered to watch Sophie so I could either run errands or run my mouth with friends for a few hours.

Finally, after 11 days in different places, Marc catches up with us in Austin.

Now that we are back I'm realizing what a poor job I did on loading up on American purchases. Completely forgot the Cheerios at the grocery store, no clothes for the big kids (though Sophie came back with 6 hats -- wtf??) and generally a poor haul altogether. But that's all immaterial, so to speak, right? It was really wonderful seeing family and friends and letting all the cousins hang out and get to know each other.

Most importantly, HSMS got to chow down on fresh tortillas.

It's always bittersweet to land back in Geneva; the U.S. fun is over but we're back with our peeps of this land and to the normalcy of life that doesn't exist while on the road. Case in point; nap time is over and we've got to keep on the schedule lest the jet lag zombies eat our brains. But for those of you still checking in (and demanding your updates while simultaneously visiting with me -- Emily J, I'm talking to you!) thanks for reading along. We're back, baby!
(For at least a week.)
(Seriously, that's it.)
(Okay, I've really got to go get the baby up now.)
(Goodbye.)

THE YOUNG AND THE RESTLESSLY AGING

2011-08-28T11:26:00.000-07:00

Sophie and Benjamin during a garden/pool party at our place early in the week. These two are so cute and really beginning to interact with each other more and more.

Hello, friends!

Since the clock struck go on this week we have been, well, going. If one thing wasn't happening, it was four, and the seven days passed in a flash of sushi, shin-digs, soirées and sprints.

The sushi was because most of the week we've felt the sun's wrath, and to turn on the oven is like turning on a fireplace in hell. Warm enough in here already, thanks. At least three nights and one lunch Mister M and I have had cooling sushi from our favorite sashimi-spot, Wasabi. (We even got it delivered one night, but that was a soirée, so we'll get to

that...).

For me and HS, the week was a flurry of playdates and pool times, one of which we combined and hosted here for an "Open-Garden Party".

Throughout the day we had no fewer than 7 kiddos (ranging in ages from 4.5 months-to-2 years) and 9 adults tearing through here, splashing about in the baby pool and generally having a good time (and the kids seemed to enjoy themselves, too...).

We also attended a couple of fun lunches and get-togethers and generally tried to stay cool.

This is a full three minutes of HS eating lunch. I'm not going to pretend it is anything other than that.

The nights this week were equally busy. I snuck off post-baby bedtime one night for the movies with friends, Mister M was out one night for a rager/work dinner and then as the week wrapped up we hosted some friends for a Sushi and Champagne dinner (hence the delivery).

Now the sprinting, that was done this weekend. We were fairly well behaved at our Friday-night dinner (maybe too much wasabi in the soy sauce, but that's just one girl's opinion. Not mine.) which turned out to be a good thing because Saturday was the birthday event of the year, our friend Chris' Amazing Race-styled 40th surprise bash. If you've never seen the show, I don't know what to tell you. Essentially, teams must figure out clues that move you from task to task and the first team across the finish line is -- obviously -- a Winner Winner, Chicken Dinner. Simple, right?

But do you see this crew? You may recognize most of them from the Pilgrim v. Indian-type Thanksgiving throwdowns we attend every year and the Perform-Feats-of-Athleticism-Until-Someone-Wins-and-Everyone-Else-Believes-He/She-is-the-Clear-Winner-and-the-Other-Person-Just-Cheated firm Christmas parties. Yeah, it's a competitive group, and we love it/them. Birthday boy is in the green "I'm 40" shirt.

You may also recognize the guy on the right performing one of the more cerebral tasks.

Marc and I took turns at playing with adults/playing with Sophie. When I got in the game a few hours into it I just about died on the first wind sprint from the office to a park. These people are players, I'm tellin' ya!

Here Sophie proctors a 50-states-in-alpha-order exam in Parc de la Grange. If it were up to me, I would have gone with the hula hoop option of this task, but these brainiacs went the other way.

The day was incredibly fun, and the credit goes to the birthday boy's wife, Angie, for organizing the entire thing (and most of the pics are hers, too). We then totally let the Old Man win and partied hardy until the wee hours of the morning.

When the sun did rise on us, we extracted ourselves from the party cave and returned to the apartment for a pit stop before the next shin-dig, a 2x2 birthday party. Two of our little friends turned two and the families got together for one big bash in the park. Now, don't ask me why I don't have many pics of the heaps of adorable sugar-laden children but we do have a pic of Marc taking a shot without using his hands. It just works that way some weeks.

Here's one from the iPhone, though -- Soph gets tubular in the park.

After all the activity this weekend Sophie could barely keep her eyes open by the time we returned from the two-fer party, and Mister M and I are running on fumes as the evening wraps up over here.

But for chez McShelley, this amazing race continues: The Sophster and I are buckling into that big bird in the sky for a trip State-side later this week. We'll hit KC then ATX before pappa catches up with us for a few days. It's the longest flight just me and the baby and the longest stretch without pappa around, but I'm guessing there are a few nannas/aunts/uncles/cousins who will help me out in the coming weeks. If you're l-i-v-i-n' in one of those fine cities, come see me (and bring me a drink!). I'll try for a guest blogger and a few updates while we're on the road, but be patient with me... No throwing Fanta bottles! Until then, friendly Ruers, have an amazing week!

MISSING EWE

2011-08-20T13:19:00.000-07:00

For those about to rock, we salute ewe!

(There's your glimpse at one of the running jokes we had in Scotland. The rain may have been getting to us. But I hope ewe stayed dry.)

Well, hello friendly readers, and thanks for sticking around through this last funky month on the Rue. First, I left you (and Sophie with her Mister Mom) for a long weekend in Vegas for friends' re-wedding. Marc effortlessly took over the reigns of feeding, sheltering and bathing our little one all the while continuing the rigorous multiplication-table drills, luge lessons, obstacle courses and fireman carries that are part of her normal week routine.

Sophie hits the mats at the Baby Gym area.

So, right, that was Vegas. And while I can't tell you everything that went on up there (Rule #1), I can tell you that the dress code clearly stated "No Church Clothes Allowed" (Rule #2). Now, while this sent me scrambling to shake the dust off some of my sparklier shirts (that was the thing when I was in college -- tiny sequined tops. What was yours?) I appreciated the concisely-worded yet informative sentiment.

I'm a rule follower: I have never worn this to church and I didn't post it on FB with tags. Though I did send it to Marc. You're welcome, dear!

(clearly no hair or makeup or fab heels on yet, but you get the idea.)

And I can tell you other things that I did (though please hide your disappointment behind your computer screen, this is a nerd alert):

-- Read nearly 4 books in 4 days. Yes!

-- Didn't get burned at the pool, though managed to drink 12 mojitos in an afternoon

(Dear hosts, thanks for picking up the tab. I'm sorry your friends are such ridiculous alcoholics.

Sincerely,

Me, who admits it may have been more like 16 mojitos)

-- Walked away from the floor $2.56 up, bleep yeah!!

Yeah, that's not missing a decimal or a zero, but once I came back around into the black after some time in the deep red, I shut it down.

Then it was a long plane ride back to the real world for me. But we didn't have that many days once I landed. It was unpack and re-pack for our next adventure, Scotland.

I've already posted the slideshow (and have to assume you read the commentary so will skip to the highlights for you:

HS rollin in Edinburgh

-- Arrived for 2 days in Edinburgh

-- Drove North/East for region of Speyside, town of Cardhu, for 2 days

-- Tastings at 5 distilleries: Cragganmore, Cardhu, Macallen, Glenfiddich, Strathisla

-- Drove along "coastal route" to Inverness, Loch Ness before winding down to Edinburgh for another 2 days.

Best exchange of the trip:

Me to Abelour distillery man: "Do you think the afternoon tour will sell out?"

Distillery man (to be read with Scottish accent. If you don't have one just do a real thick Irish one): "I wouldn't think so. Not on account of this nice weather."

Me: (Looks outside. The cold rain has slowed to a fine chilly misting)

Distillery man: "Everyone will want to be outside, I reckon."

Me: (Stares out window. Shivers.)

Ah, those Scots. Don't know how they do it. It made me want to stay inside and drink whisky.

But out in the countryside when the fog lifted and there was nothing but softly-rolling hills and farms as far as ewe and I could see, it was very beautiful and peaceful. We stayed at a sweet B&B, Cardhu Country House -- excellent food!

Now here we are, another hot hot week has rolled on by and we're gearing up for another busy and warm one. HS and I chilled out at the pool a few days this week and went to the children's festival Bimbadaboum.

Sophie's first wrist-ankle-band. For those about to rock, we salute you ewe!

Here's Sophia's life in pics (complete with captions):

It's gonna be another warm-and-busy one, but with lots of planned frivolity. Hope ewe all have a great week!

SO THIS IS SCOTLAND

2011-08-14T13:13:00.000-07:00

Well, hello, hello dear Ruers! It's been too long since I've had a chance to update, but we've been busy traveling bunnies. Marc gave you the last update while I was on the road then I came back only to unpack and pack again. We took off last weekend for some time in Scotland and just returned to Geneva. So, this is terrible, but I still don't have an update for you here tonight. I've gots to get to bed. But, lookie here, I made you a picture show. Complete with captions. Super-dooper update to come (we're in town for 2 weeks!) so until then, enjoy the pics!

The Mice Will Play (The Cat’s Remix)

2011-07-31T10:23:00.000-07:00

It was my turn to play single parent this week. K set off for Las Vegas last Thursday to see some good friends renew their vows. Due to scheduling snafus, we had to flip a coin to see who got to go. And in fairness, I just had my "fun" solo trip to the US, and, more importantly, this was the first chance in quite some time (I'm thinking around September 2010...) that Kirstin has had a few days to herself. It also gave me the chance to spend some quality time with HS.

Although Kirstin went easy on me and made sure all of Sophie’s meals were pre-made and frozen, with very clear instructions, it still took some time to get the hang of the routine. Sophie humored my meal concoctions well enough and ate like a champ as always. But the precious American Cheerios that her mother rations were used for little more than gravity confirmation.

The first few days -- Thursday and Friday -- were a little tricky. These are, of course, days of business. I tried my best to serve two masters, with mixed reviews (Sophie is quite advanced and has learned to stare with piercing judgment like that of a child twice her age). We had a sympathetic friend come by to relieve me for a few hours Thursday afternoon. And fortunately, by the weekend, things slowed down and it all went a little more smoothly. We even made it out of doors on Friday afternoon (but apparently only armed with a water bottle as a toy).

See the contempt in her eyes?

On Saturday, we had no time for such frivolity as we had errands to run. Groceries to be had. So, this called for some serious eye protection.

I demand my playroom be stocked with artisanal go-gurts, green M&Ms and bottled water from melting alpine glaciers.

On Sunday, however, we were a little lazier. We made it out to the park again. Sorry for all you in the US who are melting these days. Here in Geneva we’ve had clear skies, light breeze and highs in the 70s.

Now it’s Sunday night. She’s bathed and put to bed. I’ve had my victor’s feast (and I'm now eyeing the salted caramel gelato in the freezer...). And K is back tomorrow.

THE MICE WILL PLAY

2011-07-19T12:15:00.000-07:00

Well hello, darling Ruers, from the waning hours of a Sunday evening. We just wrapped up dinner with a friend and now are set to wrap up the week. But before the ever-lovin' weekend came the week days, and, as you well know, I was on my own this week while Mister M was away.

I took notes each day -- Captain's Log style, so let's see how I fared (with pics):

Sunday

Rain all day. Skype with M over his delay in Newark. He seems tired, clearly sad HS is napping during our chat. Short break in the skies about 5p so Bug and I hurry out for lake-walk. Rain starts up again about 15 min. in to walk but I can't bring myself to go back inside.

She's due for a bath anyway... rain water, bath water, eh, big dif. Eat soup (tomato) for dinner, watch the women's soccer finals. Can't really say "Boo, Japan," can you?

(That's going to come right off with a little scrubbing)

Monday

Unexpected rough night. HS wakes up crying at 5a, which is so rare I think I'm dreaming. Takes 45min to work her back down, all the while blaming/cursing M for this night change. Rains off and on all day. Skype with M -- better timed this time -- then head out to meet friend B and baby Is at Parc Bastion. On way out of apartment see smashed car window glass all over sidewalk in front of building ... methinks there was a 5am break in. Contemplate moving HS's room off street-side, but dismiss under 'Too Much Work" reasoning.

Dinner: Two guilty pleasures: Globus Chinese food and Gossip Girl.

Tuesday

Rain again. Head off to gym and leave poopy HS in garderie so I can work off some of this indoor-funk. Crack my skull while changing weight on machine, yell "Shit" at top of lungs. Otherwise good workout. Always want pizza when done, but satisfy craving by making last box of Kraft Mac & Cheese when we get to apartment.

(HS with her French-only caretaker Nathalie in the gym garderie. It's like a toy 'splosion!)

Skype with M then head across lake to "far grocery". Asked a woman there if they had any flash cards (ABCs/123s) for Sophie's age and she looked at me, shook her head and said, "Too soon." Egads, am I being a Tiger Mother or is this just why other countries are behind the US for productivity?

Dinner: Salmon, veggies and leftover mac & cheese. Should've ordered that pizza.

Wednesday

Hey, would you look at that: Rain. It clears up long enough to get out and meet E & E for coffee. Miss our Skype date with M and feel bad -- wanted to tell him HS has 2 new teeth coming through! Madam M (not to be confused with Monsieur M) comes over after baby bedtime for sushi and Champagne dinner. Mmmm, girls night!

Thursday

No rain whammies, No rain whammies, No rain whamm... oh my effing god, it's raining again. Finally clears up during the day and we get out to park for a minute. Happy hour with J-C and V at Soleil Rouge. Eat enough tapas that no dinner needed. Score on keeping those pots and pans clean.

Friday

No rain, can hardly believe my eyes. Off to the gym in morning, no cracks to the skull so better workout overall.

Day looking good! Skype with M twice; They won fake trial so he's happy (fake applause here).

Meet J and babies S & M for a coffee chez Starbucks. Night consists of baby bath and bedtime, waiting for grocery delivery and pizza delivery, rented movie on iTunes. Wow, sounds really lame when type it out like that (Just kidding... sounds really lame in head, too). Am off to bed to sleep diagonally across it for final time.

(This is how we caught up with pappa.)

And there you go. Yes, my life is pretty lame (hate the game not the playa). Marc rolled back in bleary-eyed on Saturday morning but was a real trooper all day long. We went out to celebrate/document Sophie's 10-month day then laid pretty low at night (More Globus Chinese for dinner). Today has been much of the same -- out to watch a friend run a race, mid-day nap, some time in the park and a casual dinner with a guest.

But don't let the quiet week/end fool you -- we've got a roller coaster of a week coming up. The biggest news is that it's my turn for that big bird in the sky. I'm off State-side for a friends' (re)wedding and will spend nearly 5 days on the road. Obviously -- obviously -- the longest I've ever been away from my little girl, which both thrills me and fills me with trepidation. Mister M will be doing the full-time Mister Mom-ing, and I have the utmost confidence... in Sophie's ability to rule the roost. I completely expect upon my return that the apartment will have been turned into a baby-fun-fort.

(They'll be doing lots of this, I imagine)

Since I'll be gone through next week I'm also turning the blogging reigns over, so hope you all have a good several weeks. Can't wait to read along on the Rue from the other side of the world!

(10 months! She spent 40 weeks growing in my belly and now 40 weeks growing in the big world.)

MINDING THE STORE

2011-07-17T11:41:00.001-07:00

Let me outside! She's now putting funny hats on me. It's July!

Howdy, Ruers, from a rain-all-day kind of Sunday. It couldn't be more dreary outside and, frankly, it's a little dreary inside. We're bummed because we're already missing Mister M, as his plane took off this morning for a full week in the U.S. of A.

This is his longest trip without us yet, but we've had several days here and there on our own. These kinds of trips (the ones where I'm left behind) are tough. Sure, I don't have to take Marc's schedule into account. One less egg to fry, so to speak. On the other, it's a long week knowing day in and day out that the calvary is never coming to relieve you. I found out today -- the hard way -- that I just don't have 12 solid hours of indoor baby entertainment at the ready; Just not that clever.

Sock box destruction. Are you sure you don't want to watch CNN with me??

But we girls will survive. I see a lot of hair braiding, toenail painting and gossiping about boys in our future.

A few weeks ago, however, it wasn't so rainy and we took advantage of the lovely weather and a lovely

photographer friend to snap some family pictures. Not that we don't have any pictures of Sophie -- cough cough -- she may have been snapped once or twice in her short life. But we've been meaning to do a pro all-family shoot since the early days, and at HS's 9-month mark we finally got to it.

She steals the show, though. I agree with our photog Tanya that this is the best shot from the roll.

I was thinking about not showing other people these and hiding some for our Christmas cards. But they were taken maybe two weeks ago and Sophie is already different. Her second tooth, for example, already popped through. I can't even imagine what she'll be like come December, when she'll be more than a year old.

The rest (though not all 75 -- I spared you from that) are on Facebook. Sorry, gotta be friends with me.

Speaking of sweet baby faces, this week brought lots of Ruelet news. On Friday, my sweet little nephew Dennis celebrated his first birthday. Sophie and I got to Skype and say howdy to him and my sis in Texas.

Happy birthday, little dude!

One day later and a little farther north, we welcomed another niece -- bringing the number of girls to 4! -- in Missouri. And, she couldn't have timed her entrance better (though her mamma and pappa were getting a little impatient as the due date came and went by a week) because I sent M with a suitcase full of too-small Sophie clothes for his trip to the homeland. We can't wait to meet her!

Those were clearly the highlights of the week, but the days passed with other frivolity.

The weather held up overall, giving us a few outings to a few parks, some coffees and, as the weekend neared, a happy hour and dinner with friends.

All the sailboats on Lac Leman on a recent beautiful day.

This week ahead should be full of mamma-and-baby time. I'm planning on getting a lot of takeout (Domino's, you're on notice!), talking some friends into some Champagne outings, and otherwise promise to bathe the baby at least once. Mister M will arrive (though jet-lagged and worn out, no doubt) next weekend, and we'll update you on how we all fared then. Until then, hope you all have Champagne-and-pizza filled weeks, and, of course...

GO USA WOMEN TONIGHT!

STRAIGHT TO THE TOP: ENTER INTERLAKEN

2011-07-11T08:03:00.000-07:00

Only one way to celebrate this 300th post (!) -- to the highest rail point in Europe.

It's true: After 4 years of blogging here on the Rue, we hit numero 300 with this publication. Thankfully, it's a doozie!

Hello, friendly Ruers, from the top of Europe. We whisked ourselves away on Friday for a long weekend in Interlaken, a little hot spot nestled between Lake Brienz and Lake Thun, hence the name.

But thanks to some intermittent rain and an early baby bedtime, I’ve had a moment to tap this out during our getaway weekend*.

But before escapism-Friday came the lundi, mardi, mercredi and jeudi days, all of which passed in a flurry from our view on the Rue. I also left out Sophie’s Corner last week because I was so busy giving my sister (Kimberly, who lives in Austin and is not an avid reader of this fine plot of prose) a hard time. Though, let’s be honest; isn’t it all Sophie’s Corner these days? So here’s a little rundown of the week, Sophie-style…

Monday was the 4^th, and while not exactly a Swiss holiday, we still did our home country proud with a little BBQ-and-beer action. Our friends Angie and Chris hosted and grilled up a great party, complete with American flag unfurled over the side of their house. Take that, neutrality-lovin’ Switzerland!

Myself, Chris and the Swiss Miss represented in red, white and blue.

Speaking of eating, I did have a Facebook post about how the Little One snubbed one of my creative culinary concoctions earlier this week. She won’t bat it away but instead turns her head to the side and her nose up while pursing together her lips at the offending offer. It did break my heart a little because she’s been such a good eater up until about a week ago, then the snubbing started.

I think there are a bunch of reasons for it. This second tooth has just popped through (you can just see it here), she’s at the age where she’s enjoying pushing her boundaries (me, not so much enjoying) and because, hell, sometimes she’s just not hungry.

But I don’t see how she could possibly not enjoy mealtime, as she recently got new digs at her corner booth in the McShelley home-style restaurant.

We’ve loved this DiA de los Muertos pattern ever since our friends Jen and Danny gave her the Sugar Booger sippy cups, and now she shares all of her meals with these colorful little skulls. It’s really jazzed up our antique-y table, too.

The rest of the week was full of lunches, coffees and a few laps in the pool to stay cool.

She also went on the swings for the first time, just like a big girl.

The busy week days finally made room for the weekend and here we are a few hours up the road in Swissy-land. It’s a little strange to be hiking through snow as this weekend was supposed to be our beach getaway weekend, a little time spent frolicking in the sand, surf and sun of some seaside town. But we were actually too lazy to plan a beach getaway, if that’s possible. Seems hard to be that lazy, right? But from our vantage point in Geneva, all the beach destinations required either a plane trip or looooong car trip, neither of which we consider “vacation”. So we chose Interlaken, just 2.5 hours away by car, and set out after M finished making the Friday doughnuts.

We arrived at half past baby bedtime, but HS persevered so we could hit the Mexican joint in town, El Azteca for dinner. Mmmm, margaritas. Then we all got into pajamas and tucked ourselves in to get a fresh start on the weekend.

Marc and Holden Sophia roll around after arriving at our hotel, the art-deco-rated Royal St. Georges.

On Saturday we took it easy in the morning so I could spend some time in the Wellness area (whirlpool and sauna) before setting out to board the funicular up to Harder Kulm.

Putting the fun back in funicular. Up the mountain we go to Harder Kulm, or Heidi Klum, as we affectionately called it, for fabulous views and a little hiking.

Once up the mountain the first thing we did was sit down for a hiker’s lunch …

… which included beers while the baby slept.

Then it was off on one of the (easier) trails. Here Marc carries the baby backpack while I've got the provisions backpack. We use the ERGObaby sport carrier, for those of you interested in such details. (She grew out of the Bjorn at about 7 months.)

It felt really great to be hiking about on the side of the mountain, as though these are the types of weekend excursions we need to shake off the routines of the week. We did, however, get caught in the rain while halfway through our hike-about. Then it was the funicular back down for the muddy crew and back into the room. This time Mister M went to the Wellness area before we all relaxed in the room.

Is it super classy to travel with your own 2-liter of wine?

For dinner, we braved one of Interlaken’s other famous restaurants, a Hooters ! It was seriously the first time for either of us in such a fine establishment, and I endlessly teased Marc after he got tongue-tied around our short-shorts-wearing serverette.

To be fair, it was a mix-up in German, but we all know how a pretty lady makes him get all flustered (and apparently very red in the face, ha!).

Sunday we set out bright and early for another day trip, a series of trains up to the Jungfrauhoch, or “the top of Europe.” At 3454 meters high (that's 11,332 feet), the Jungfrauhoch stop is the highest altitude train station in Europe. To get there, we had to spend about 2.5 hours each way on a series of trains…

Sophie was a champion all day long. Here she is in her pappa’s arms – a little sleepy and fussy – as we head up the mountain on train No. 1 over her morning nap time.

Here’s a great slideshow from the weekend excursions:

Snow! In July! Actually, year round up here. We brought a backpack full of clothes to layer up on the way to the top and strip off on the way back down. The vistas were breathtaking all the way up and down. We definitely recommend this outing for anyone in the region.

A family pic and view (or non-view, as it were) from the top. Swiss flag and all. On a clear day you can see France, Italy and Germany.

The whole trip took about 7+ hours, and we were all pretty wiped out by the time we made it back down into Interlaken. It was a trip back to the Wellness Center for one of us (me) and into the bath for the other two dirty birdies. Then, back to El Azteca for dinner.

But if you can take your baby to the top of Europe, you can pretty much take her anywhere. Soph was a real trooper the whole day. Here's Mamma and baby in the snowy white winterland.

Now we’re wrapping up our beach/mountain trip and will head back to it tomorrow morning. It’s another trip next weekend for one of us (not me) which means more to report on soon enough. Until then, from the top of the (Europe) world, have a top week.

*Written over the weekend, published Monday. Sorry for the delay!

I AM NUMBER 4

2011-07-03T14:28:00.000-07:00

Geneva: Where the water is blue, the mountains are capped white, the lovin' is hard and the livin' is easy.

Greetings, friendly Ruers, from this Sunday night on a holiday weekend. Not for us, of course, as the 4th isn't so much recognized on this side of the pond. Not that we haven't been doing our damnedest to ring in Independence Day over here. Plus, we had our own number 4 to celebrate on Friday. But before the end of the week came the weekdays and we knocked them down 1 by 1.

This past Monday was my dad's birthday, and he would have been 68. This year was especially striking because in less than 365 days we have added 2 babies to our little Mcfamily of 4. My sister Kimberly* and her husband JT had a baby boy -- named after my father -- who will soon be 1...

...and here is the handsome man getting his 1st haircut...

and we, of course, have added little Holden Sophia -- whose name, in part, is an homage to my dad's love of reading and his Master's thesis subject...

... and little HS loved being out at the water this warm week. Here she is at Geneve Plage in between dips in the pool.

On Tuesday it was a coffee meet up with some girlfriends and fish shopping across town. Complicated, I know, but I have my favorite fish shop and Tuesdays are the best day because that's when the new fishipment comes in. Go on Monday and they are all cleaned out from the weekend. Go on Friday and, well, it would just be wasted fish because we tend to eat out on the weekends. But you get my drift.

Wednesday and Thursday passed with mild frivolity, as it was French classes for me and the Bug, a picnic in the park with friends and a happy hour. (I took French in high school mainly because my sister Kimberly did. That was pretty much the reasoning behind most things I did from birth onward.)

And eating, lots of eating.

While the Little One and I were hunting (fish) and gathering (in the park) through the week, Mister M was but a name we whispered in these hallowed halls. Which is to say he was a ghost-like figure, putting in long hours every day this week and one day trip up the road that got him back in sometime after 2am the following day (or that was the time given by the shadowy figure that had crept into my bedroom when I groggily demanded, "What time is it??")

It was a long week but eventually Friday arrived and the real frivolity started. Mister M and I had been invited (or fanagled an invite, more appropriately) to the U.S. Mission's 4th of July party. It was a frontier theme, so we cowboy'ed up and went out for a mid-day party. (My sister Kimberly and I both were awarded rodeo scholarships as seniors in high school for winning essay contests. She got to ride in a parade. I did not.)

A real buffalo!

Rawhide!

Friday was another big number, as we rang in 4 years of living in Geneva. Pretty surreal, given in was a 3-year contract we originally signed all those years ago. Ha!

We celebrated this milestone all weekend. In addition to the mid-day Mission party (which involved my friend Gina watching the Bug for a few hours, so many thanks to her!) we ate out at our favorite pizza place, Luigia, on Saturday night, and opened a yummy bottle of La Roquette from Vieux Telegraphe on Sunday.

At Luigia on Saturday. I don't know why Sophie gets to be in this picture because she hasn't been here 1 year yet, much less 4, but I know pictures are better with her in them, so there you go.

In addition to the 4-year-festivities, we also ran some errands, including refilling the propane tank for our grill (much heavier on the way home), meeting up with a visiting girlfriend, going to the grocery, moving some furniture, grooming for a family photo shoot (previews coming soon!), baking a carrot cake and...

...spending some sunny time at the pool with pappa.

It was a busy week/end, and now the day is done. I must head to bed before the clock strikes midnight because this coming week looks just as busy. I've got an early morning rendez_vous with my trainer at the gym, M goes in to make the doughnuts then we'll try to ring in the 4th properly at an American-style BBQ. That's just tomorrow. (But it's still today in Austin, where my sister Kimberly lives.)

The week is full of heres and theres, including a little trip out to the mountains (note that it's been 3 weeks in town now, and clearly we must do something about that). So, to my American Ruers, please keep all 10 fingers and 10 toes while celebrating. To my British Ruers, well, you have to understand...

No taxation without representation!

*This week my sister informed me she does not regularly read my blog. Aghast, I decided to shame her into it by running pictures of her little one and mentioning her name in random places.

BUSY BUNNIES

2011-06-26T13:48:00.000-07:00

Good evening, friendly Ruers, from the waning hours of a party-rific weekend. We've been busy little bunnies, and are dragging a bit as we eye bedtime. So, let me catch you up on the week and then you can send me off to get the pyjamas on.

Before the week's end came the week days and we had plenty to keep us busy. Mister M made lots of doughnuts this week and put in lots of long hours. So the Sophsters and I sometimes sent him pictures to let him know we were thinking of him...

Look pappa, I'm in the pool for the first time!

But the end of the working week did come and we had a bunch of frivolity lined up. On Friday our sweet friend Tanya and another friend agreed to watch Sophie and her buddy Benjamin so the parents could go out. Friends had organized a night on a beautiful boat, La Neptune, to sail out on Lac Leman. We had a quick apero at our place for a little pre-boat Champagne-ing then boarded the wooden floater for 4 hours on the lake.

Look Sophie, we're on a boat while you're asleep in your crib, hooray!

It was a great fun night on the water because the weather was outstanding and a lot of our friends had managed to make it out, too. We wanted to keep the fun going so much that we even convinced a few peeps to return to our place for post-boat digestifs as well.

The next morning I was hurting (it's been a while, okay?) but we had to get up-and-at-'em for Saturday's festivities.

After a few errands it was off to Chris and Angie's to bottle all the rosé we had picked up a few weekends ago in Italy.

Marc and Chris get the juice flowing.

I'm still hurting, but Sophie doesn't seem to care.

After corking 54 liters of the "No-Sophie-That's-Mamma's" yummy stuff, we all headed over to another backyard for an evening BBQ.

Sam and Lisa were hosting some American friends/co-workers (shown here playing with Sophie) and brought the office together for and evening of grilling and games.

Marc and Chris are proud of their days' work and the fact we're drinking rosé out of a sunflower tea pitcher.

For more boat and BBQ picks, click here, or here's the slideshow:

Weekend festivities

Sophie's corner:

Well, you already know she got to go to the pool this week for the first time. It hasn't been super warm around here but this week finally warmed up long enough for us to get on the ole swimsuits and meet our friend Jen and kiddos Sebi and Miren at Geneve Plage. Sophie loved it paddled about in Miren's floater until we had to leave.

She also had a date with the doctor this week, and a big shot which she didn't love (but she didn't cry, brave girl!). We got another great report card from the check up ("She's beautiful!") and she tipped the scales at about 17lbs and almost 28inches (conversions done for you, you're welcome :).

You can't confine me! I'm in the 75th percentile for height!!

On Thursday she had her 9 month birthday and we headed out on a sunny day to Parc de la Grange for some birthday shots.

We laid out the beautiful hand-made quilt from my friend Katherine. I love the monogram letter blocks.

... And set out to get the crawler to sit still (yet not eat the paper sign) long enough to get a few shots... (There are more pics on Facebook.)

... and of course a birthday smooch from mamma.

Like sand through the hourglass, that was the week in passing in our little lives. This week should bring more unplanned frivolity, a major milestone and some shindigging as we find ways to pass the time until we're back on the Rue. Until then, good night!

JUNE BUGS

2011-06-19T14:32:00.000-07:00

Howdy, dear Ruers, from a Father's-Day-Evening in Geneva Town. We've just returned from a BBQ out at a friend's place in St-Prex, about 45 minutes up the road, and are feeling quite stuffed after the grill out. A few of us are also quite stuffed up, as the little one and I are fighting coughy-throats and stuffly-noses. Boo. But let me explain more under this heading...

BED BUGS
... So, Sophie is fighting her first runny nose and cough. I know I've got no room to complain, since it's the first of any type of sickness in her (one week shy of) 9 months. That's a good record, but I've always been one of those people who looks at babies, with all that goop dripping from their nose, and their coughs that spray across the room with little flecks of germs and think, ugh, grody. Of course, when it's your own child, you think, oh poor sweet precious baby.
Then ugh, grody!

But she keeps rallying when we need her to, like for today's BBQ, so she'll be fine. I, on the other hand, have to wipe my own nose. Boo.

DOODLE BUGS (aka Sophie's Corner):

Since I shortchanged Sophie's Corner last week, (must.sleep.) I'm here to make it up to you with all sorts of pics and videos and tall tales.

As previously mentioned, Sophie started crawling last week. Neither Marc nor I saw her first forward movement -- she instead did it for a few of my girlfriends during a playdate while I was chatting away. Then I saw her go forward, and taped it (or go to the YouTube video here):

But Marc still didn't see it until we were in Italy. Sophie started inching along for me and about 8 other people, and we finally remembered to call Marc in from the balcony. So now it is official. She's not very fast yet, thankfully, but it's there.

Chow time:
Runny nose or not, the little girl is still quite the eater. And I've been a baby-food-making machine lately. She's tried everything from hummus to pesto, salmon to shrimp, and hasn't yet pushed anything away. The one thing she is crazy for right now is bananas. I mean, this girl is ape-sh*t for those things. We're going through pounds of them (bushels?) because she will eat several whole ones a day. She'll even try to eat it through the peel if you don't unwrap it fast enough. I'm not complaining (except when there are none left for us) but it is pretty funny.
Here's a video of our delicate princess going after a bowl of vegetables at lunch time. Click here for the YouTube video or play below:

Next week I'll return with more technical specs, as we'll get her numbers and kick the old baby tires at a trip to the doc's office for her 9-mo check-up.

BUGGIN' BUGGIES
We tend to use the weekends we're in town to buy the big/bulky purchases or anything we've been stewing over. This weekend was no exception, as we braved the Saturday downpour to get the little Miss an umbrella, or lighter/foldable, stroller.

We came away with this:

A Beatles'"Yellow Submarine" stroller (complete with side portals, yellow subs and The Beatles stitched on the foot muff).

Ha! But really, between her Paul Frank Bugaboo and this Beatles tribute, I fear we are making a joke out of her childhood. But I spend hours everyday with these things, so I might as well have something nice to look at.

Speaking of something nice to look at, as I sign off I want to wish my handsome hubby a happy first Father's Day. As a girl who had an amazing father, I know just how lucky Sophie is to have him.

For the rest of you padres, madres and amigos, have a good new week and we'll be back with all the frivolity that's fit to print soon.

WHIT ALL THIS WINE

2011-06-14T14:09:00.000-07:00

Greetings, Ruers, from a Tuesday-night post. Man, we have been on the go lately! As I forewarned last week, this post is coming a little late because we just got back in town last night from a long Whit-Sunday weekend in the wine hills of Italy.
And you know how it is when you get back from a trip -- rounding the corner back home, unloading the car, returning the car to the garage, unpacking and settling down a tired, road-weary baby are all part of that final push that takes your last shred of energy. We had all of that upon returning Monday evening plus a pile of food rotting at our doorstep. Yes, that's right, a pile of rotting food. See, I use this grocery delivery service fairly often to stock up on groceries. The heavy stuff I don't want to/can't carry back, the huge paper products and sometimes the week's food to arrive just as we return from a trip. But something went very, very wrong, and the food sat outside of our door for the entire weekend, rotting all the meat and bringing back all the ants we were trying to chase off.

Ugh, that was grody.

But before we wrapped up the week on such an 'ew' note, their were lots of "oh!" notes. Let's review...

I didn't get a chance to post some baby shower pics from last weekend. Here's the tablescape-in-progress of our "Un petit reve/A Little Dream" theme for Katrin and Andreas -- It's supposed to look like a bed. The moon cake is out and that's a stars and moon garland.

The mamma-to-be playing pin-the-baby-on-the-bump. (We all wore sleep masks throughout the party as part of the theme).

The rest of the week passed with some increased frivolity... I joined a gym (with a garderie, or child-care room), hooray, and had some playdates, both baby and adult oriented.

The upside of living in the Alps -- our playdates take place in picturesque towns like Hermance. Just don't call it a city.

Finally, the end of the working week came and we headed out for a wine weekend in the Piedmont region. Our friends Larry and Clara and their wonderful Italian house have made appearances on the Rue before (like here), so we'll just get to the good stuff...

Ah, the Piemonte, or Piedmont, region is just beautiful.

The crew (8 adults, 3.5 kiddos) heads into the tasting room at winery stop No.1, Poderi Colla.

Copious notes are taken during the tasting...

...Sophie and Gina discuss while Angie tastes again

The ladies bask in the sunshine of being ladies-who-wine.

Then it's back into Alba for a looooong lunch outside. It really was a beautiful day and the food never fails to inspire in Italy.

After lunch it's off to winery No. 2, Crissante Alessandria. Here Larry, aka Grandpa Grappa) hangs out with Soph on the back deck of the tasting room.

After sipping a few varietals it's into the barn to load up. Marc and Chris are carrying out the 54-liters of rose we'll bottle together in a few weeks.

After the second round we were all spent. All told, we spent 11 hours on the trail and returned back to our hosts' home as weary little wine warriors.
Sunday was hiking day (to work off all the pasta courses, perhaps?) and we loaded up to head into the mountains.

Pappa learns a new carry -- piggy back -- in our new Ergo baby carrier. They stayed on ground level, however, and waited patiently for us hikers to return.

And we're off. We took a chair lift into the clouds...

...and land in some very different weather -- snow! Here the kiddos jump around in the white stuff.

Most of us took the shorter route and were only up for about an hour. Then we returned to spend some time in the sauna and get ready for dinner. We settled in for another 3+hour meal in an excellent restaurant.

Here's the chef with the cheese cart. Those are all goat cheeses, respect.

I had the cheese course and about died. In the good way.

Chris, Sophie and Alex show the "Champion!" cheer at the end of the night. Yeah, she's in her pajamas (thanks, Maya and Otello!) because she should have been in bed oh, about 5 hours earlier. That little girl won't miss a party. And no, I don't know who she gets that from.

Sophie's Corner
Ugh, you're going to kill me. See, it is late-o'clock and I am about this tired:

So Sophie's corner will have to wait. I know, I know, that's what we in the business call burying the lead. But it was such a big week (CRAWLING! A TOOTH!) that I won't be able to do it justice so I won't do it at all. But when I do it will have video. And pictures, lots of pictures, like this one that Angie took of our little reader (SHE CAN TURN PAGES!):

In the meantime, below is the full wine-y weekend photo album (which does have Sophie pics, so there you go).

We are down and in town for the foreseeable future (read: about 2 weeks), which is a good thing because someone has got to drink all this wine. Until next check in, dear Ruers, thanks for reading along and have a great week.

The album:

FROM STOCK TO STATES (Rewind Part 2)

2011-06-05T15:38:00.000-07:00

Hey friendly Ruers! Look, it's Sunday and my post is on time, hooray*! And that is quite a feat given the 16 people that we shuttled in and out of the Rue earlier today. It was baby shower day, and we feted our friends with the fete-ing and frivolity necessary when one of our crew adds a new bouncing baby bundle to the population. But, before we get too far into this week, I still owe the blogosphere a quick recap from our time flying the friendly skies.

NOTE: I have tried several times to make this into a coherent narrative. Failing several times, I'm just going to tell you the story in pictures, which means it's mainly from Sophie's point of view because, hey, what else do we take pictures of these days? (Look for my representation from this entire roll to be in one partial arm shot.)

So, as of last check in we were just leaving swingin' Stockholm from whence Mister M, our bouncy baby, and yours truly hopped on a plane for the U.S. of A. It was a crazy trip from the get-up-and-go. First off, after our port of entry (Newark) we broke up the band as Mister M headed off in one direction and the Bug and I took a longer (and oversold so very crowded) plane in another direction.

Marc spent the weekend in our nation's capital for the wedding of his buddy Andrew and now-wifey Melissa.

Back at the heartland ranch, it was a whirlwind tour of wee babes, wailing tornado sirens and wily relatives (they weren't really wily, I'm just out of "W" words). A while back I posted here two early stork deliveries in KC-land. We finally got to catch up with all of the itty-bitty ones in person and introduce Sophie to her future playmates.

My first stop was to meet these sweet girls (and catch up with their mamma). Sophie is excited the girl crew grew by two in Ava and Esther.

But you know who's got two arms and really loves babies? This guy!

Then Sophie played with her cousins, Emma and Violet.

She may have turned 8 months in another hotel room but we celebrated the day away...

...by first eating Chipotle lunch with my friend Kendra...

...then it was to the NICU to meet this handsome man. Mighty Mack, born at 28 weeks, has been a champion grower and I was excited to kiss the little fighter's head.

Then we had a burger & fries dinner with his parents Annie and Antwaun and our friend Tim.

As she turned 8 months and 1 day, Mister M headed back to the office and the Bug and I went to the old 'hood for more playdates.

Here, cutie Miss Kate and Sophia wonder why we keep making them sit so close to each other. Because your mamma and I are besties and you will be, too! Get used to the idea, girls!

Midweek my mom, Nanna V, flew in from Texas (during the middle of the tornado touchdowns) to catch up with us and see the Sophsters.

Marc and I also had standard housekeeping errands to run, including nearly three hours with a financial planner (dude, put it all in plastic and let's be done, okay?) and check-up appointments with the dentist.

Arriving 15 minutes early for one of those appointments (I'll let you guess which one) we chugged the first margaritas of the trip. Ah, tequila, just what you want to breathe all over the dental assistant (oops, gave it away).

Her Auntie Meg drove in from St. Louis to give a cuddle.

Marc's mom, Nana, enjoyed some snuggle time with the Bug.

Our last night in town we let the cousins roll around together. Sophie was in toy heaven.

All too fast it was time to get back on that big bird in the sky. But not before a 3 hour delay in Newark.

Oh, New Jersey, you just embarrass yourself.

Sophie's corner
Hmm, I'm not sure we need a separate corner this week, but since there are some random pictures I'll keep going ...
To be honest, I'm probably not the best one to regale you with tales of my precious little one at this moment, as we are on night 7 of jet lag recovery. If you need further proof, other than our exhausted adult bodies, that a one week-hop Stateside is not long enough, look no further than our once-fantastic-now-fit-tastic-sleeper.

Yes, she's sleeping here, but if you recognize that arm (my cameo!!) you'll see that while on the road -- and the first few nights back here -- she ends up snoozing next to me. While every night has been better than the previous one, HSMS is recovering slowly (and tearfully) from the CST time switch. Add this week to the previous two weeks of being on the road and you have a worn-down mamma and pappa.

But look at that face...

...I mean, just look at it!

(Now tell it to go to sleep).

__

So, that's the weeks-in-review. Believe it or not (I can't tell you how to live your life, man) we're on the road again at the end of this week. It's a short long weekender where we'll be gone from Friday until Monday on the wine hunting trail in Italy. Ugh, you were probably sympathetic toward me at the beginning of that sentence but I lost you there at the end, didn't I?
All to say, expect a postponed posting but once returned I will get to it post-haste.
Until then, darling Ruers, I hope your week leads you on your own happy trail.

*Well, it was Sunday when I started this post, but we have now flipped the calendar page over by one. I'm telling you, this baby jet lag-thing is killing me.

STALKING STOCKHOLM (Rewind Part 1)

2011-06-01T13:54:00.000-07:00

Well Howdy, my dear patient Ruers. It has indeed been too long, but for that we’ll have to blame travel schedules and not because I haven't been thinking about you. I have. But three weeks ago, when the last post was due, we were in the air to Sweden, one week later we were again in the air to the US and here again we have traversed the Atlantic as the clock struck Post-day. Believe me when I say sitting down to type is as much of a pipe dream as catching our breath on the whirlwind tours.

Now that we’ve arrived in Geneva it has taken days to get this post up due to the hell of baby (and adult) jet lag, fighting (and losing) an ant war in the kitchen, and the party prepping necessary for a baby shower I’m co-hosting at our place this weekend. Add that to the general fatigue of traveling for two weeks and the fact we popped back into Geneva just in time for a storm to blow through, bringing a week's worth of cold, rainy days and you can about understand the fog we're all operating in over here.

But all this you know. What you don’t know is how we’ve been passing the time. So let’s recap, shall we?

I’ll start with Trip One: Stockholm, Sweden.

Me and the Doodlebug in Gamla Stan, Stockholm's old town.

Marc was speaking at a conference in Stockholm, Sweden so the Little Miss and I tagged along, the ever-tagger-alongers that we are. In fact, one year ago he was speaking for the same group in Parma, Italy and we went with him, though Sophie was a bit more portable in those days (being still in my belly and all).

After a hop through Copenhagen we arrived late-ish Sunday night and settled in, ready to take on the city the next day. For us, any first day in a city is all about orientation – we hit a few pre-determined points but also crisscrossed the cobbly cobblestone to get a sense for the layout of Stockholm.

Hooray friends!

Tuesday got ever more exciting as the temporary population of Stockholm grew by three more when our friends Josh, Katherine and Benjamin met up with us for some exploring.

The first thing we did was set off for Skansen, the "world's oldest outdoor museum".

Reindeer! (pic by Katherine)

After some time in Old Town dodging rain storms and visiting the Nobel museum, we made our way back to the mainland for one of our favorite tourist finds…

Mexican food! Research turned up this gem of a place, La Neta, and the food was great. We all chowed down on tacos, mmmm! (pic by Katherine)

If it was Wednesday, it was by sea.

Ahoy, matey.

The crew headed down to the port to hit the water and view some of the archipelagos and the Royal Residence. Even though my great orienteering skills led us astray and we missed the boat – literally – we caught the next ship that sailed for Drottningholm and arrived in time for...

... some Royal wandering… changing of the Royal Guard…

… and an afternoon picnic on the grounds.

We boated it back and spent the rest of the afternoon exploring Södermalm, the hip neighborhood where Benjamin and his parents were staying.

As dusk started to settle (I would say evening, but it was light until about 10p!) we had to let one member of our party go. Marc parted ways because it was time for him to earn his keep and do his lawerly thing. He was off to a welcome reception for his conference so the rest of us found a vegetarian restaurant, Herman's, and again chowed down.

Sophie and Benjamin let us in on their dinner date.

Thursday was all work for Marc, though I did see him briefly when our hotel – and conference site -- evacuated completely for a fire alarm. We crossed paths outside with the rest of the people milling about until the all-clear was given.

Miss HS and I then hung out a bit more with our friends until evening. Josh and Katherine (possibly unbeknownst to Benjamin) had graciously agreed to Sophie-sit for a few hours on Thursday night so I could attend one of the conference’s events with Marc.

Just like in Parma last year, one of the very fun nights of the conference is a “home hospitality” evening, where local lawyers and their families invite conference attendees and some spouses into their homes so we can get a glimpse of real life in the host city. This was one of the highlights in the previous year’s trip and was again this year. Our “host family” lives about 20 minutes outside of the city and treated us to some very wonderful Swedish fare and adult conversation.

We started the night with Champagne and appetizers then wound our way through plates of salmon, meat, soup and veggies until it was time for the 3-course dessert plate.

Back at the hotel… Benjamin reads Sophie a goodnight story.

We wanted to stay and play (and enjoy the temporary baby-freedom) all night, but alas, our Stockholm dream was winding up. Friday we packed up and headed out bright and early to the airport for that long haul over State-side.

In the next post I’ll regale you with tales of weddings, Westins and weary travelers. Until then, Ruers, thanks again for your patience and more coming soon!

MARC-O IN THE PARC-O

2011-05-08T14:00:00.000-07:00

Howdy, friendly Ruers, from a Mamma's-Day night in Geneva town. We're wrapping up dinner and dessert with a check in from the week.

At the beginning of this week I thought, self, instead of starting these posts late on Sunday when you're tired and the old memory is shot, why don't you jot a little something down every day?
Self, never a good listener, didn't do that. But the best I can remember from these days past were the highlights:
Monday: We started the week behind the 8-ball (as in pool, not cocaine) as we didn't get done all the weekender things that needed to be done. Come Monday, we were sans groceries, tired and the house was a wreck. I don't know what happened, but in times like these I like to blame the baby.

It's also not a good way to start the week by looking out your front window and seeing the street like this. The city is replacing all the water pipes in our 'hood, shutting down half a dozen streets, ours included. Awesome.

Tuesday: Tuesday was a shitty day. In that I said the word, "shit" at least two dozen times. One of those dozens was a profanity-laced diatribe while the others were doled out one-by-one. My big errand for the day was to head to the airport to straighten out some ticketing issues for Sophie before our upcoming voyages (more on those later). It ended up being a miss-every-bus, spend-two-hours-arguing-with-United, get-caught-in-the-rain-with-a-baby-Bjorned-to-your-chest-and-no-umbrella and, the kicker, leave-all-three-of-our-passports-at-the-airport-counter type of day. Awesome.
Wednesday: The day was better from the get-go as the Little Miss and I had a playdate at our friend Tonya's place.

It's hard to read, but her onsie (from her Nanna V) says "I have a playdate." And yes, I am still squeezing her into that adorable purple tutu. Sorry, Soph, fashion hurts.

Playing in the wood chips outside

Thursday: Our big outing for the day was across town to Carouge for my new French language classes, Francais en Famille. I like these classes because I sit in one room talking in French, and Sophie is in another room getting spoken to and playing in French. It's cool that she's getting exposure the the language and is playing with other kiddos and someone besides me.

It was also Cinco de Mayo, and while not a big holiday over here (the whole defeat of the French thing?), we celebrated with Patrone on the rocks and migas.

Friday: As the week day came to an end I had to get my ass in gear to prep for Marc's birthday party, Cinco de Marc-O. My sweet friend Angie came into town to watch Sophie long enough that I could knock out these bad boys:

Marc requested cake pops as his birthday treat, so I had my mom ship 2 boxes worth of cake-pop supplies over. Yes, our carbon footprint got that much larger so we could spread cake pop love across the sea. Sorry, Earth.

Saturday: The big party day came and we rocked out. Here's a slideshow with commentary of all the fun festivities. Thanks to everyone for coming out, and a special thanks to our friends Josh and Katherine who baked cookies, helped haul goodies to the park and shot all these photos. (eek! that makes it sound hard to be our friends!)

Sunday: I was feted this morning with flowers (from Marc) and a bottle of Champagne (from Sophie) and we had a nice day. I guess I should be candid that I didn't request anything because it's not a super big holiday to me. My mom always felt it was a Hallmark holiday (no offense to our dear Hallmark friends. You, you're great) so I guess I inherited that (but not her height, what's up with that?). Plus, while there were calls for women to "quit" today I have a hard time empathizing with over-burdened mums whose husbands don't pitch in. Marc did about a thousand household things today and none of them because it was Mother's Day, but because it was Sunday. (However, when we went for a family run he pushed the jogging stroller because it was Mother's Day. Ah, sweet repose). Marry up, people! That's what I always say.

Sophie's Corner
I got a kick out of the series of pictures last week of Sophie eating, so I decided to continue on the series idea, with this week's theme being "Sophie sleeping". Taking pictures of your kid while she sleeps...

...That's a terrible idea!

Geez, it really was a terrible idea. The flash would go off accidentally or I would creak a floorboard going in to her room or something else. But I did get these:

This is how she sleeps these days ... on her side, a foot or two sticking out of the rails.

Our French class cuts into her nap time, and she sacked out on the tram on the way home. She's in the Bjorn, and yes, that's drool sliding down her cheek.

And my favorite pic that Katherine took (for obvious reasons) during Cinco de Marc-o. Here's the Little Miss asleep in her pappa's arms during his party.

But we're still all about the solids:

This is a morning breakfast shot. I like the Tripp Trapp highchair because Sophie sits at the table with us and in the mornings we all have breakfast together and Marc and I take turns feeding her. It's my favorite meal of the day (and the most important)

We purchased a BabyCook machine this week (Not for cooking babies. That's a mistake I'll only make once) and I tried my hand at homemade baby food. Here's HSMS's first taste of zucchini...

Eh, she ate it, though seriously, that girl eats everything.

And so the week went, day by day. We're still eating the last of the cake pops over here (don't know why I thought 60 pops, 2 dozen cupcakes and a bunch of Katherine cookies wouldn't be enough) so that should be enough of a sugar high to make it through the first part of the week. And we're going to need the rush; Next Sunday we're taking off for two consecutive hops of travel. Stop one is a week in Stockholm, Sweden, where Marc has a conference. We're not at all ready to go, but the plane will take off regardless (and now that I have our passports back we may make it through security). So, until then, good night (and a Happy Mother's Day to all you mummy types out there, and especially to our Rue-moms).

ALL OUT OF APRIL

2011-05-01T13:58:00.000-07:00

Connect the Doodlebug dots

Well hello, Ruers, from the end of a short but busy week. All sorts of happenings happened, so let's hurry up and rewind, shall we?

Somehow, when you add up the little bits and pieces of the week the sum adds up to more than the time allotted for those 7 days. Which is all to say that it was a busy week. Every day brought new errands to errand, friends to be friended, parties to be partied, and of course donuts to be donuted.

A mid-week doc appointment for HSMS brought our favorite exclamation from our doc of "She's perfect!" and a thumbs-up for her development to date. She's now tipping the scales at 7.45 kilos and 67 cm (that's 16.4 lbs and 26.4 inches for you metric system haters out there).

However, she also got a vaccine and we've been dealing with the slightly fussy repercussions of that for the last few nights. I won't bore you with all the Sophie-sleeping, car-garaging, royal wedding-watching details of the past few days. Not in words, anyway. Here's a bit of review in pictures:

The Bug and I met our friends out for a walk in the green and flowery parks in the 'hood. You've got to love the big mop of blond curls on little William.

Later that week his mom Tonya threw a Royal Wedding Watch party at their flat (which you can say because she's British). Here's little Deniz with a smattering of Brit-themed napkins.

It seemed the wedding got a lot of hate from my US-based Facebooker friends but the atmosphere was different here, I think. It's sorta hard to explain, but people were excited; Love was in the air and it mattered to some. So, all to say, Miss Sophie and I had a grand time drinking tea and Champagne and eating biscuits while the pageantry went on.

Sophie certainly couldn't take her eyes off the TV. But that probably has less to do with the details of the wedding and mor ebecause the big black box had colorful moving pictures on it. Also, I should mention here that we both wore dresses and hats. Here she's decked out in a ridiculously cute outfit from my Aunt Eileen who has exquisite taste in children's clothes.

The week wrapped up with a frivolity-filled weekend. We had a birthday boy in the house and started celebrating early, after the usual Saturday errand running. For his May Day birthday, Marc only requested a steak dinner with mashed potato sides. Of course, this was after I informed him that I could think of nothing -- nothing -- for his birthday, had purchased nothing and therefore he was getting nothing when the day came around. Yeah, wifey of the year award nominee, I get it. But after his request I did go talk to the butcher en francais and come away with what he promised was a birthday boy-worthy piece o' meat. And the steak looked good, too.

So Saturday night our friends Josh and Katherine and little Benjamin popped over for a grilled dinner.

On Sunday we did more celebratin' but this time out in Hermance as our friends Jen and Victor threw a party for their May Day birthday boy, Sebastian. It was a really sweet kite-flying party and the kiddos young and old had a good time.

Marc may have seniority but little Sebas earned birthday priority because well, he's three. But he did share his cupcakes. Mmmm, cupcakes.

On our way to the second round of birthday fun we popped out our front door to see the major road in front of the lake, Quai Gustav Ador, had been transformed overnight to the finishing line for Switzerland's major bike race, the Tour de Romandie.

At the left of the pic you can see our street sign, Vollandes, and on the right is the sign marking 200m from the finish line.

We wandered down the few hundred meters to the end and caught the cyclists as they raced to the finish.

Whenever we see Garmin vans at an event we have to take a pic. Not only is Garmin a hometown company (for the KCers in the house) but our good friend Jake is PR-guy extraordinaire for them.

Sophie's Corner
Well, I've already posted her good report from the doc's office and told you her usually magnifique night sleeping has been off. That makes for a few grumpy parents, as we're waaaay out of practice for those rude night awakenings.

But her appetite never waivers ... She eats like a champ and this week I snapped a few of her in the highchair, or "Sophie's Seat" as it's called:

Mmmm, that's good eatin'

Well, friends, that's all I've got for you this week. Now I'm going to get ready for bed and hope not to be awoken until the new week -- and all of its future frivolity-- is here. Night!

HARES, HAIRS AND HEIRS

2011-04-25T13:08:00.000-07:00

Argh, a day late!

Howdy, dear Ruers, from the end of this long holiday weekend. As you can see, I took the day off along with the rest of the world and am just now finishing this week-in-review post.
Which brings us to the first H in the title, the hare part of this post -- Easter! It was a long weekend here in Swissy-land and it seems as though half the country has skee-daddled out of town. Everything shuts down on Friday, Sunday and Monday, so if you don't have enough groceries to make it to Tuesday leaving the country sort of becomes necessary. We didn't want to pack up again after just getting re-settled in, so we stayed here and ate other peoples' groceries ...

...our friends Dave and Leah and little Samuel had us over for an Easter brunch and countryside walk.

Sophie and Sam catch up after some time apart.

But before the weekend came the week and our days hopped by like little bunny Foo Foo. It seemed like everyday brought a new little adventure back in Geneva-town, if it was just catching up with much-missed girlfriends, grilling with a dinner guest, checking back in at the Laduree macaroon shop or celebrating birthdays...

A good representation of the SHB crew out at Luigia for Mister T's birthday.

There are upsides to pimping out your pram with Paul Frank gear -- the kiddos dig it and want to push. All the way to the restaurant. Which I'm totally okay with.

In addition to birthdays and dinner dates I had a date with the scissors this weekend, bringing us to the second H in our title, hair. Dino, the love of my hair life, came by to chop off my beyond-long locks for a new 'do.

Ch-ch-ch-changes...

Sophie's corner

Speaking of changes, Miss Sophie hit her 7 month milestone. We'll take her to the doc this week for another shot (boo) and get her weighed and measured (yay).

I meant to mention last week, in the Deutsch-land wrap-up, that in addition to the cool things she did while there (roll over, sit up, etc.) there were some tough days, too. She had her first diaper rash, her first allergic reaction and some sleepless nights when we first moved in. There's no real reason to bring this up other than the fact I forgot it last week. I wouldn't want you thinking it's all roses all the time over here, haha!

In fact, each time we move her there are some rough sleepy times. She'll wake up in her carseat, landscape flying by the window, and give me a look like, Now where are you taking me?

Poor thing. We even rearranged her room this weekend after she got all (re)settled to make room for a new guest bed that's arriving tomorrow.

The first day back in GVA meant some attachment issues. Here's the only way the doodlebug would take her nap. Luckily it doesn't last long, and as long as you don't have to go to the bathroom it's rather cute and cuddly.

We're looking at a short week but equally busy. That is until Friday when I'm going to stop along with the rest of the world and watch the third H of this week's title, the heir to the British throne, get married. I imagine it's gotten as much press in the US of A (and other former and present colonies) as it does over here, but woo hoo, a weddin'!

So, whatever aisle you're walking down this week, hope the days pass with rose-scented frivolity. I do!

Achoo-hi-larity
Here's a little video of the little miss. Turns out, this is funny for all babies...

MUNICH WEEK 7: SEVEN AND KOMPLETT

2011-04-17T12:19:00.000-07:00

Well hello, friendly Ruers, or better yet, salut mes amies, now that we're officially back on French-speaking soil.

It's hard to believe the seven weeks and secondment is komplett, so to speak, and now we're back on the Rue surrounded once again by open suitcases.

THE FINAL WEEK
The last week passed incredibly fast, as we were busy checking items off the big 'to do' list, re-packing the suitcases and in general looking to get back to our Swissy-land life. I had to start speaking French again, calling across the border to make appointments for everyone/thing from HS's month-overdue check up, getting the snow tires off our car (eek, they could fit us in in May, embarrassing) and the all-important hair rendez-vous. It's been more than 8 weeks and I look like hell. And my hair does, too.
Marc was especially busy at work, saying auf wiedersehen and wrapping up loose ends. His temp firm threw a little goodbye outing for him at Lowenbrau.

Some of the German crew who came out to say bye to Marc.

Friday was a sprint to the finish as we wanted to head out early Saturday. After closing the door to our Munchen apartment we made one more stop off in Stuttgart to take a tour of the Mercedes museum and see our friend Reiner.

(Top) Reiner knows what a girl wants and hands over his wallet.

(Bottom) Marc and HS through the winged doors.

After the three-hour detour we rolled in late Saturday night, unloaded the car and one very confused little girl, and crashed.

THE BIG PICTURE
The week-to-week updates have given some sense of our life over here. Here's another look at the nitty-gritty...

Days spent in Munich
49

Beers consumed
Uhm, see above. At least.

Favorite part of Munich apartment
The location was cool and convenient and it was nice to be in a modern building ... quiet, non-creaky floors (so we could, ahem, peek in on a sleeping baby), windows that don't have to be hand-cranked open, etc. It was also a bit bigger than this apartment, but Marc says if I start complaining about things like "My Munich apartment was bigger than my Geneva apartment" I won't get a lot of sympathy. But it was bigger, I'm telling you.

Least favorite part of apartment
The kitchen. It and everything in it blew. This guy clearly does not cook ... there were only two woks (random ... who needs two?) and no oven pans! No microwave! And no coffee machine! Which brings us to ...

Most missed home appliance
Easily our Nespresso machine. I even remember distinctly having this conversation with my friend Maya a few days before leaving (in a Starbucks, no less), about how Marc and I were debating bringing our own machine, fearing the 'Espresso Machine' promised in the apartment advert wouldn't be good enough. Turns out it didn't exist!

We were forced to use this moka stove-top gadget for all 7 weeks, and spent countless euros on outside coffee. Probably enough to have bought a new Nespresso machine.

Least-used item hauled from GVA
My nice boots. And a few nice skirts/dresses I brought in case we were invited to work dinners. We weren't.

Most-used item hauled from GVA
Hmm, other than the above-mentioned boots, we used and abused every inch of everything we crammed into the Subaru. Especially considering we packed for six weeks, not seven! It wasn't a lot of stuff to begin with... M brought 5 suits and rotated them out every week. (Oh, the grey suit on Wednesday this week, very clever!) So if we have a bonfire for the five Sophia toys and single pair of jeans and one good bra I've been sporting for two months I won't shed no tears.

Favorite take-away
The traditional wear, hands down. We unfortunately didn't get very good pictures of it, but I sported my new dirndl for Marc's going-away outing at Lowenbrau. Marc got lederhosen, too, so guess what we're going as for the next ten years' worth of costume parties?

It's blurry, but I'm decked out from bust to tow. I came to appreciate how beautiful these could be and, to my own surprise, went for a more traditional look in my own.

Couldn't resist this modern twist, my brez'n bling (photo left).

That's right, it's a blinged-out pretzel necklace. Sort of an homage to that salt-speckled baked good I had a 7-week love affair with. Which brings us to...

Food:
Our last week here we decided to stop going to the grocery store (except one emergency run for diapers) and to eat out every night. In part to have one last chance to enjoy cheap, easy and plentiful take-out and in part to give us a break from washing that wok out every night.

Favorite Munchen eateries
I would say it was this place, Prinz Myshkin, but during 'restaurant week' we finally checked out this very cool -- and yummy -- Chipotle-like burrito haven near the train station, Taco Libre. Checked it out twice, in fact.

Favorite find in the grocery
While traveling I like to check out a city's public transportation system; I think it says a lot about the place. For Marc, it's the grocery store. While truly living here we both got our fill of both. In the grocery I dug the dessert aisle -- Jell-O, hell-o! Obviously there were tons of Wurst, sausages of all types and sizes, in the meat department. What we found to be good was this muesli:

This, with some variation in the type of fruit chopped into the bowls, has been our granola breakfast every day.

Kirstin's take away
You've heard from me every week and know the ups and downs that passed through. But honestly, I was proud of myself for still having a sense of adventure, for picking up our world, moving it to a new country and embracing this parallel German-speaking life without missing a beat (sort of. I'm sure a few beats were missed). All with a five-to-seven month in tow. Overall, I loved the city. Munich is great... alive, vibrant, interesting. Food is good, people are nice. Not the cheapest city in Europe but not Geneva. Would do it again -- or longer if I could bring my friends -- in a heartbeat.

Marc's take away
Like Kirstin, the short answer is that I would do it again. Munich is one of my favorite cities and this was a great chance to really spend time in it. But obviously trying to live and work some place else is a mixed bag. It was nice to be able to walk into stores and speak the language, as opposed to struggling with French, as I do in Geneva. And the fantastic spring weather and giant beers didn't hurt either. On the other hand, with work, trying to keep a foot in both worlds -- one, in German in Munich, the other in English in Geneva -- was a little exhausting. Plus, there were some expected, and unexpected cultural differences in a law firm setting that was new and challenging, but part of the experience. In the end, I feel like I accomplished what I set out to do, both in the office and at home (since Kirstin seems to have picked up a little love for Germania and that's a win, too).

Sophie's corner (who put baby in the corner?)
I was just thinking how one day -- decades from now -- we'll look at some of these pictures of Holden Sophia and struggle to remember where we were. She won't remember at all, but she hit some big developmental milestones while in Munich. In my mind I imagine her looking at a photo and asking me where it was taken. I imagine me struggling to remember, staring at that white comforter or certain outfit. "That's not ours," I'll tell her indignantly about the faux-fur couch covering. Will it come to me right away, or will I struggle to remember these weeks that were just a drop in the bucket o' life weeks we're all given? Babies are funny that way; they make you measure time differently.

She passed the half-year mark, rolled over and sat up on her own all in the last few weeks.

We especially felt the difference in her when we returned to the Geneva apartment. The baby we left the country 7 weeks ago is not the same one we brought back. In an odd way the apartment doesn't feel ready, as though we've missed the slow adaption of the space and are now trying to retrofit it for a solids-eating roly-poly.

Excited to be back on Lac Leman with her duck friends.

We're trying to adapt ourselves, too. It was a crash course this morning, as we threw down nearly 60chf for brunch this morning (ouch) and then I said 'Danke' to the barista at Starbucks. We're back, Geneva!

Well, you know how we measure time here on the Rue ... we'll see you next week with an update on all the frivolity involved in unpacking suitcases, restocking fridges and rekindling friendships (I'm mainly talking about with my Nespresso machine). Thanks for going on this journey with us. And for one last time... auf wiedersehen, uh, I mean au revoir!

MUNICH WEEK 6: TAKING IT TO GO

2011-04-10T11:57:00.000-07:00

This is our last week? Shut your mouth!

Howdy, dear Ruers, from an almost-there type of week/end. As our time in Munchen-land grows closer to the end, we feel pressure to start checking off a few things on the to-do-before-we-go list. But before we get to this week's frivolity, there are a few things I forgot to mention last week. See, I have the unfortunate habit of sitting down to type out these posts late on Sunday evenings, when my mind and body are spent from the previous week. But all the other days I'm writing to you in my head, making little mental notes of funny occurrences, embarrassing errors and noteworthy happenings. Real quick from last week before I forget again:
(Also, I've punctuated this part with a few random photos of HS so it breaks up the text a bit. Man, I can drone on!)

1) I learned a new word! Zum mitnehmen means "to go," as in, I would like this coffee zum mitnehmen. Bolstered with this newfound vocabulary, I may have pushed my 'to go' luck a little far while at the neighborhood pizza joint. The Doodlebug was down for the night and Marc was back at the apartment with her, sending me down to the restaurant to wait for our two pizzas zum mitnehmen. So I decided to order a glass of wine but, not the drinker I once was, I was only halfway through my glass of Montepulciano when our order was ready. I was starved and it was late, so I mustered up my courage and asked if I could take my wine 'to go' (there are no open container laws here, so it's not a foreign concept). The nice guy behind the bar made a face and said something about 'no plastic.' After spending nearly 4 years in a country abutted to France, my first thought was, Oh, he doesn't want me drinking wine out of a plastic cup.

(Holden still loves clementines)

Not knowing any more German, I tried to make several bizarre hand motions to let him know, No worries, I'm going to transfer it back to a proper wine glass when I get home. He walked around his bar a few more times shaking his head and I was getting very embarrassed and feeling judged for my pedestrian wine-drinking ways. Finally, he found a glass tumbler and poured my wine into it, motioning for me to keep the glass. Turns out he just didn't have any plastic cups, but was willing to give up a glass to get the crazy wine-desperate foreigner off of his bar stool. I retreated home quickly, balancing two pizzas and a full tumbler of wine, promising to bring back the glass the next day. Clearly, it's almost time for us to get ourselves zum mitnehmen out of this country!

2) There were tons more photos from last week's adventures that I didn't get uploaded, so Marc posted some on Facebook. Yes, this means you have to be friends with him. No, he most likely would not remember your birthday any other way.

(This little girl is too sleepy to remember anything)

3) While at Schloss Hellbrunn last weekend -- the Austrian archbishops' summer playground -- we took a tour of the grounds and trick fountains. There were three trick fountains that went off for us during the tour, soaking nearly every member in the group. Marc, staying back with Holden Sophia, managed to keep them both dry until, that is, he took her to the car to change her diaper. He came back and proudly announced that he had found the fourth trick fountain!

Yes, these are the meaningless but-funny-to-me things I mean to tell you every week.

Now, on to the most recent week of shenanigans, week 6 in this little adventure. Time is really starting to wear on us now, as we start the countdown to break down. There are lots of last-minute things to do and see, one of which was the main week-day task for me and Miss HSMS. The Little Miss has grown up enough that she needs a high chair, and it dawned on me (with some help from my friend Leah... hi Leah!) to buy the high chair here because it is cheaper than in Switzerland. It took us a few days but we tracked down the one I wanted, the Stokke Tripp Trapp.

Big girl ready to spread pureed fruits and veggies on her new chair and tray. (And from here on out don't be surprised if she is half naked in half her pictures ... it's hot and air conditioning still seems to be a foreign concept.)

With that task down we could focus on other eating outings, such as the sushi we managed to eat twice, the second time at Akakiko in Schwabing, the hip university 'hood.

It was a 30-minute all-you-can-eat "running" sushi restaurant. Small plates of different sushi types glide by and you pick up whatever you want and eat as much as you want for 30 minutes. Marc and I both tapped out after 15 min or so. On one hand, I'm pretty sure that goes against the light, self-restraining concept behind sushi. On the other, it made me try new things, like a strawberry sushi (pretty good) and something yellow (eh).

Holden Sophia was well entertained while we grabbed at the sushi conveyer belt. When we left the ladies gave her a lollipop. Which I promptly ate. So yes, I took candy from a baby.

To all you nice ladies (and men) out there who love you some baby: I love that you love my baby. But seriously, no candy until she has teeth and is wearing a costume and knocking on your door on the 31st of October. Gracias!

The other big outing-eating was to Pardi, a yummy-but-so-packed-on-a-Thursday-the-service-kinda-sucked Turkish restaurant with a friendly face, a German who spent some time at UT Law with Marc. The company was great and the food was very good, and if you don't have a baby whom you are keeping up way past her bedtime then the slow service might not bother so much.

Saturday came and we all got our game face on. It was football day here in Munich, as both of their teams -- Munchen 1860 and Bayern Munchen -- were playing. So we hurried out the door to do a little shopping, a little sushi-ing and then some root, root, rooting for the home team(s) at the biergarten Ysenegger.

Sophie decked out from head to onesie in FC Bayern Munchen gear. We knew she was a football fan when she squealed all through our tour of Allianz arena, but I think she's also just mesmerized by the big box with the moving pictures on it.

Sunday we rounded ourselves up and headed ourselves out for another 'to-see,' Schloss Nymphenburg, a former summer playground of the Bavarian ruling class. Commissioned in 1664, the palace and adjoining gorgeous grounds (about 500 acres) are a sprawling love note to Baroque architecture.

It really was a beautiful site, and we strolled the grounds (with half of the city) for a few hours before heading to a(nother) biergarten to quench our thirst.

Sophie was a good sport, and kicked back in her pram for the afternoon.

Since I got chided last week for not posting our plethora of pics, here's a small Schloss-y slideshow:

This coming week looks to be busy, with us wrapping up on all fronts and hoping we didn't buy so much more stuff that it won't fit in the 'Buru. We'll hit the road early next weekend to start our return trip home, but will make one more stop before pulling into Swissy-land. You would think that after seven weeks away we'd want to go straight home, but the siren song of the road beckons. There's always more to do, more to see, and any time we're all already buckled into the car seems like a good time to check one more thing off the big list.

But our next check in will truly be from the rues de Geneve and we'll have our German wrap up just in time for summer frivolity. Until then, have a good week whether you're staying in or taking it zum mitnehmen.

Sophie's corner (short updates on the short stuff):

She's quite the roly-poly now, rolling all over the place from front to back and back to front.
She has also been talking up a storm lately, which while not completely out of the blue -- it's been coming and going -- she's been on an incessant "DaDa" streak for a week now. While not as hi-larious as the viral video twin boys (love!) it's pretty funny. We call Marc 'pappa,' so I have to assume she's referring to Dadaism, being a Swiss baby and all.
And Swiss baby she is ... she's back to her clockwork sleeping schedule, giving us ~11-hours of uninterrupted sleep nights for the past few weeks. We don't even set an alarm clock, knowing at ~6:56a she'll start to murmur to herself and will ramp up the volume when the clock flips over to 7a.
That's all the random HSMS news I can think of for now.

I'm rarely in photos, but here's a snapshot of me and my little girl earlier in the week. We have a 'Mamma Needs Quiet Time' time-out session in the master bedroom on afternoons when I'm feeling worn out (uhm, everyday??). HS usually complies as long as we follow one rule; she gets to touch me. Usually she just puts her feet on me and plays quietly with a toy but on this day she wanted to rest her head on my lap. It's okay, we still counted it.

MUNICH WEEK 5: IN PERFECT PITCH

2011-04-03T14:21:00.000-07:00

We don't know where she learned to pose like that, though we suspect she's been flipping through some yearbook senior portraits from the seventies.

Howdy, friendly Ruers, from a curl-up-on-the-couch-and-rest-our-achey-feet end of a busy weekend.
First off, can I just say how awesome the end of Daylight Savings has been? We don't "spring ahead" until 2 weeks after the US, so this has been our first full week. Not only has the extra evening sunshine (and warm temps) been wonderful, but the Doodlebug, who had been going down as early as -yawn- 6p30, is now awake until 7p30 or 8p. It may not seem like much, but it makes all the difference in getting to enjoy that one last beer out in the biergarten.

You can see I was also inspired enough to change up the look of the blog, so enjoy a rest from the dreary brown.

While it was indeed a busy weekend, full of all types of pitches -- which we'll get to soon -- the week itself passed with mild frivolity.

We spent some downtime, playing with ducks...

...the Bug and I stumbled upon this serious shrine to MJ...

...I had some Thai food at an outdoor cafe...

...and Pappa met us for a coffee while Holden got some tie-food of her own.

But it was over the weekend that things got really busy...

SALTY SATURDAY
We loaded up the car Saturday morning and headed toward Austria for its city on the water, Salzburg. Salzburg is a solid hour and a half from Munich but we figured it was our best shot to see the city much revered for two things: the birthplace of Mozart and the setting to 'The Sound of Music'.
Yes, we had to sing "What do you do with a problem like Maria" the entire way there.
We looped to the outskirts of the city first to stop off at a castle that was the summer residence of the archbishops of Austria.

Schloss Hellbrunn boasts a palace on a beautiful sprawling lawn but the main draw is its water features.

One of the princes had a "sense of humor" (in the way you have to laugh at a royal's joke) when it came to his guests and water...

The guests would be sitting like so around the feast table...

...then water would suddenly shoot up from the chairs and table, soaking everyone but the prince. The prince lined the grounds with trick fountains like this and if you take the tour almost everyone is guaranteed to get wet.

Almost everyone... Holden Sophia stays dry and shaded under her pappa's hat.

After the tour we had our picnic lunch on the sunny grounds then continued on into the heart of Salzburg. I will say that one day (and not a full one at that) wasn't really enough time to explore the city. But we saw its façade, so to speak, and found it incredibly beautiful.

Two of the squares in the city.

We didn't do 'The Sound of Music' tour, but for lovers of a different genre of music, here's the house -- now a museum -- where Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was born.

SOCCER SUNDAY
Even though we walked our tootsies off in Salzburg we were signed up for more exploring come Sunday. This time it was a (much) shorter drive out to Munich's soccer (football for you Euro-fans) stadium, Allianz Arena. The new (2005) stadium is a beaut and we got the inside view during a tour.

I'm always a sucker for the Press Room, and here Sophie and I are giving our post-game press conference in the media room.

The tour took us through each level and here's Marc at the top of the first tier. Eventually we were close enough to touch the pitch and stood in the area where the players run out onto the field. ooooh!

IN THE NICU OF TIME
Well, I feel like I gave our hoppy happenings short shrift, but it's late and I wanted to get to this part of the post before I completely pass out.

In the past month or so we've had a few new Ruers, or Ruelets if you will, join our ranks. They may be too tiny to scroll along but we hope as they grow bigger their mammas and pappas will read aloud from these pages and regale them with nighttime stories of their Auntie KK and Uncle Marc.
Way back when our Doodlebug was still a'cooking we were lucky enough to have a baby shower thrown for us in Kansas City by two great friends, Nicolle and Annie.

Back when I was the only one with a baby belly!

Flash forward to early this year and both my sweet friends and their hubbies have welcomed itty bitty things into our little worlds. All three wee babes -- Nicolle and Harley welcomed twin girls -- have had to spend time in their respective NICUs and we continue to send happy hurry-up-and-get-strong-so-we-can-play-with-you thoughts to all of them.

Nicolle with Esther and Ava a few weeks ago. The girls were born Feb. 28 at 33 weeks. After a month in the NICU little Esther is home with mom and dad while Ava continues to get strong in the hospital.

Annie and Antwaun with Baby Mack. Mack popped out after just 28 weeks of cooking on March 23rd and will be in the NICU for a while. (Look near Annie's neck to see his tiny hand)

We're sending all the Ruelets lots of love from over here and Holden Sophia can't wait to play with all of her new mates.

For the rest of you, who have been cooking in this big world a bit longer, have a good week and we'll check in again soon.

MUNICH WEEKS 3 & 4: SPRINGING VORWART!

2011-03-27T13:02:00.000-07:00

Someone had a 'month birthday' since the last post!

Howdy, my dear patient Ruers, from an inside-all-day type of rainy Sunday. It's been raining buckets of chilly wet water here since last night so we are snuggled up and bunkered down.

Tonight we're streaming The Big Dance on Marc's computer so I can type this post (KU down at the half). I got some flack for missing last week's post, mainly by my mother and mainly because she missed seeing pics of Sophie. And while it's true I post what seems to be an endless amount of pics of her on Facebook and here on the blog, there are always more taken than posted. So, for the HSMS lovers out there here's a slideshow of Sophie's first four weeks in Munich. Hope this satisfies! (Watch it here or click on it to go to the Picasa album)

Now, let's get to the catch up...

Two weeks ago my Austin friend Stacy arrived bright and early on our side of the continent for a 10-day stay. Now Marc and I haven't lived in Austin for going on 7 years, but Stace has always been up for visiting where ever we have ended up. Last time she crossed the pond we took her around to a few cities in Switzerland, a few in Germany and then she and I island hopped over to London to catch Wimbledon. This visit was a little less ambitious, but we still set out to see all of Munich, most of its beer gardens and even took a day trip.

Thankfully, jet-lagged visitors and babies are on much the same sleep and eat schedule, so Stacy was cool with our pace of life over here.

Stacy and I did a few walking tours of the city (Religious sites, Third Reich, Marienplatz and Museums) and did a lot of the less formal walk-and-stop-and-drink-beer tours of the city. At the end of her first week our number of visitors doubled as our friend Reiner also came to stay with us. While Oktoberfest is the better-known and larger beer festival in this city, from mid-March to mid-April(ish) is a celebration of the local breweries' dark beer. As a little history lesson (thanks, Internet!) the monks originally brewed these dark beers as liquid food during Lent. Lowenbrau brews the Triumphator, which is a dopplebock and has roughly the same amount of solids as a loaf of bread.

Reiner joined our ranks on Friday to give us foreigners the insight to these strange German customs. Here's the crew (and the festival's first baby, according to the woman who sold me the ticket) at the gates to the Starkbeirfest of the Lowenbrau brewery.

Sorry, Sophie, while this sounds like the fastest way to get all your daily solids in, we'll have to stick to the pureed carrots for now.

Inside the beer hall during the festival. There were about 1,000 people -- half dressed in traditional Bavarian garb -- a strong man contest, pretty lady pageant and wood chopping. We almost entered Sophie but Marc has firmly put his foot down: "No pageants!"

That weekend we also made a trip out of town to visit the Dachau concentration camp memorial. The first of the camps built, it was fascinating to learn its place in history as well as see firsthand how close it was to Munich.

The gate to the concentration camp with its original sign: ~"Work Will Set You Free".

But the weekend wasn't all downer history lessons. We said goodbye (auf wiedersehen) to Reiner, hit the Englischer Garten again for more beer and caught the 'Move' exhibit at the Haus der Kunst.

Out to get beers and pretzels at the Chinese Tower.

I call this the "pretzel cam".

There's surfing at the Isar River!

And rope swinging in the Haus der Kunst exhinit 'Move'.

On Stacy's last night in town we checked off the original Munchen beer hall -- Hofbrau Haus. Hooray for having a girlfriend around to keep me company and to have giggle fits with!

Boo for going back to work!

When Stacy returned to the U.S. of A on Wednesday I was again left to my own devices and spent the days wandering aimlessly. To be fair, I had a heavy German-speaking end of week and managed to buy fish at the local fish market (stammering through "I. Would. Like. Three. Hundred. Grams. Tuna!) and then got Sophie some teething gel with a pharmacist who didn't speak English (point to baby, point to teeth, make sad face.)

Not all of our wandering was aimless. On Thursday Mister M met me and Sophie for lunch at Nam Nam.

Once the weekend rolled around we ran a couple of errands and relaxed a bit, now that we've figured out we have an extra week here. As posted on FB earlier this week, it took until the end of this week for us (okay, Marc) to do the math and realize we're here for seven weeks, not the six we've been saying. There are lots of funny things about this realization ... the fact neither of us counted the 5 weeks in the month of March, that I have no real track of days and will agree to anything, etc. ... but in reality our leave date has remain unchanged.

In other time news, we've finally sprung ahead here in Euro-land this weekend to spend that daylight we'd been saving. So now we're back to 7 hours ahead of CST, for those of you who want to Skype us or just send mean notes when we're sure to be sleeping. We've got 3 more weeks here (for real this time) in Munchen-land and more frivolity to report back on as the time goes by. Until next week...

AUF LINE

2011-03-20T11:43:00.000-07:00

There will be no post this Sunday due to the NCAA men's basketball tournament.
What's the connection? This computer. We're streaming the games through the good laptop (mine!).
When the Madness ends, your regularly scheduled post will return.
XOXO
Team McShelley

MUNICH WEEK 2: WERKING FOR THE WEEKEND

2011-03-13T14:41:00.000-07:00

Gorgeous weather brought out the crowds to the Englischer Garden on Saturday.

Howdy, friendly Ruers, from sundown on this Sunday in Munich town. The doodlebug is down and Mister M and I are tapping away at our respective stations on the table. He's trying to get a bit of werk done and I'm here to catch you up on the frothy frivolity that passed this week.

Monday
We kicked off the week with a big milestone in baby-dom... HSMS rolled over for the first time and I caught in on the camera. Or, more appropriately, she rolled over because I had the camera out. Two days later she did the deed for her pappa this time, and now does it even when no one is watching.

Clearly, the days of me leaving her in precariously high places have come to an end. Sigh.

We also hung out near Odeonsplatz, an area I tend to hover around because it has good window shopping and coffee shops. Something that never occurred to me before moving with a baby was the difficulty of breastfeeding in a new foreign city. In Geneva, just as I know all the free wi-fi spots (and as during pregnancy one learns all the good public toilets), I could name the handful of best places for throwing the baby on the boob in public. One also gets used to the culture of one's city -- will you get strange looks? sweet smiles? -- in regards to kicking back in a booth for upwards of 30 minutes while little legs stick out from under your shirt. All to say, moving to Munich meant I had to feel out those vibes all anew. (Maybe you e-entrepreneurial geniuses could make an app for that?) Luckily, it seems that coffee shops are mamma meccas everywhere, which must be directly related to said focus group's need for caffeine.

Tuesday
Mardi Gras came to the city with a bang, and the city center hosted quite an impressive festival. It was no Bourbon Street, NOLA, but stages were thumping out tunes and the revelers came dressed to party. There's a strange focus on eating krapfen, or decorated doughnuts, during the week, and many offices close all day or, like Marc's, take a half day.

But we all know Marc's not a fifty-percenter, so he met us out in the melee for a nutritious lunch of beer, sausages and pretzels with a side of people watching for a few hours before heading back to the office.

But the Bug and I came to party and in Mardi Gras tradition I lifted up my shirt and ... oh, wait, that's just a breastfeeding joke...

Wednesday

Mid week came and we got cultural... Miss HSMS and I loaded up and headed to the Pinokotech museums for some serious art gazing. The massive collection is divided among three buildings and technically separate museums ...
the Alte (old, at top left), Neue (uhm, new, at bottom left) and der Moderne (you got it). We headed into the Neue to make the rounds, as it's more my taste.
We got through a part of it before Sophie's 'talking' to the statues and paintings ramped up a bit -- she was getting hungry and getting through an entire squeaky silent museum with a 5-month-old is a bit of a pipe dream anyway.

She could totally relate to this lady of leisure and started chatting her up a bit...

...before chatting up these nice folks in the museum's outdoor cafe. Even though I give my standard "Ich spreche kein Deutsch" ('I don't speak German') people love a baby, and we managed through a conversation with their English. After I fed her (again with the breastfeeding!) they sweetly held her while I ate my lunch.

Thursday-Friday
The last two days of the werking week passed mostly sans Marc, as he was busy in a conference and left me to my own devices, always a dangerous idea. As I noted on Facebook, I let my foreigner flag fly on Thursday when I tried out a new sentence in an attempt to buy tickets for an upcoming beer festival. To begin with, I had to leave the baby with the bartender because the beer hall's office was up a flight of stairs insurmountable with baby buggy (Parent of Year Award, exhibit A). I could have taken her out, but this errand was just supposed to take a minute and he said he would watch her and of course you can trust a guy in lederhosen. Plus before I even turned the corner server ladies in traditional dirndls had descended upon Sophie to coo over her. When I finally got a chance to spit out my new sentence to the office lady (I. would. like. to. buy. tickets. 3! to festival. *point at poster of festival, hold up 3 fingers and credit card. wham, that's how it's done!*) I stuttered out the day I wanted tickets for and she shook her head no and got on the walkie-talkie. A minute later a man arrived to translate for her that I didn't want to go on that day. Bad day. Too 'Bayerisch,' or truly local dialect. Fine, I told them, the next day then, and the translator left. It was as she took my credit card that I explained we had a precious little bundle of joy that would be accompanying us on that particular night to enjoy the custom and festivities (*Say the one word, 'Baaaaaaay-beeee' and enunciate it. Hold arms like cradling newborn and sway back and forth. Let her put together that yes, we will be bringing our baby* PoYA, exhibit B) She immediately gets back on the walkie-talkie and calls the translator back. We explain the situation to him (kein Babysitter!) and they spend some time telling me how this is a bad idea. It's very loud. Lots of music. More than 1000 people in the beer hall, drinking heavily. I continue to be unswayed, and about this point a new woman in full beer-wench regalia arrives to tell me my baby -- still down in the beer hall 15 minutes later -- is crying. (PoYA, exhibit 3) I run down, grab Sophie out of her pram (she was fine, just probably overstimulated by all the beautiful breasts on display in those outfits) and haul her back to the office with me. With baby bouncing on hip I finally got through to them that yes, I wanted 3 tickets, and yes, we are aware that it is a lot of money to spend on what could be 30 minutes of festival enjoyment.
After they finally sold me the tickets Sophie and I waved auf wedershen to the bartender and beer wenches and headed across the street to speak more Deutsch. Since it was just going to be us gals that night we got a pizza 'to go' and a beer to stay (in my belly) and then, exhausted, went promptly home to the safety of our English-only apartment.

Friday was just as adventurous as HSMS and I checked out two new areas of town. One was just a long street with lots of cute shopping boutiques (and, uhm, a coffee shop) that we strolled down before heading across town (on new tram, yay us) to meet some gals for lunch. My girlfriend Katherine in Geneva was sweet enough to get me in touch with one of her friends who had moved to Munich, and this gal was in turn kind enough to meet me for lunch with some of her friends. We ate the afternoon away at a fantastic restaurant, Prinz Myshkin. That evening Marc's conference wrapped up and he joined us for take-out Thai and stay-in beer.

Miss Sophie lunches with the gals. The restaurant in vegetarian but 'foodie' oriented, so highly recommended for carnivores and omnivores alike!

Saturday and Sunday
Well, I feel like I've rambled on too long as it is (damn festival story!), which is unfortunate because, as the post title suggests, we really tend to do more Munchen-stuff on the weekends. A beautiful Saturday rolled around and we decided to go to Haus der Kunst museum via a few detours. On the way we were lured by the siren song of outdoor tables on a sunny day and stopped off for lunch in the beer garden of Der Wintergarden at Elisabethplatz.

It takes two hands to eat the sausages but only one for a beer.

Get in my belly!

We walked off the calories and worked up a sweat by doing some window shopping on Hohenzollenstrasse up to the Englischer Garten, a massive city park. Larger than Central Park in NY, this public green space is a beautiful collection of trails, water and grassy fields (and holds other important things like one of the world's largest beer gardens).

We hiked our way across most of it...

...stopping in a few picturesque spots. This waterfall was created in 1815; the baby in 2010.

We finally arrived at Haus der Kunst only to have run out of time ... the baby needing feeding (see the theme, here?) and we were spent.

So off to another beer garden we all went to rest our weary feet and quench our parched lips.

Sunday was a parallel day, though having learned our lesson this time we hit the museum first. But before we could U-bahn it to the BMW museum to ooh and awe over engines, concept cars and coups, we all had to get dressed...

...and we know what happens when Marc gets to dress the baby then himself. The twins check each other out.

In the museum there was even a 'live presentation' as a speed racer showed off the fancy stylings of a Bayerisch Motoren Werke motorcycle...

... but could not impress a sleepy Miss Sophie.

Now (whew, you made it!) week No. 2 is down and we start No. 3 with some excitement. A girlfriend from Austin is arriving bright and early Tuesday morning to come and play with me (us) for the next week and a half. I'm super excited to have a playmate and someone to roam the streets with. We'll take lots of pictures and report back with all the news that fits. Until then, happy springing forward to those of you in the U.S. (we go in 2 weeks) and to all, a guten abend.

MUNICH WEEK 1: IT'S ALL "GUT"

2011-03-06T13:55:00.000-08:00

The sights and sounds of Munich -- great architecture and cyclists everywhere. Ding ding!

Good evening, dear Ruers, from a Thai-takeout sort of Sunday evening. It's not as though we don't have food in the fridge, but Sunday take-out is a rarity in our normal world because most of Geneva shuts down for this second weekend day. So we just did it because we could. Mmmm, personal choice tastes good (and a lot like pad thai).

It's fitting that we should talk about food. Our first week in this foreign-foreign post (meta-foreign?) has come and gone without much fanfare but lots of food fare. Mister M still heads out early and comes back late from a day of making the doughnuts, and the little Sophsters and I do the normal day-to-day stuff, like getting groceries, making meals and spreading pureed vegetables across our faces.
(Oh, how I loathe thee, liquid food baby stage.)

It took me until Thursday to hunt down my first cafe latte. Turns out there are only three (3!) Starbucks in all of Munich and someone in Marc's office explained that the locals all go to San Francisco Coffee Company because it's is actually owned by a Munchener. Being a good locavore -- and having a killer caffeine headache by that point -- I went there instead. Guess what? Exactly the same! (Minus my girlfriends. Boo!)

I should reiterate here that the day-to-day goings on are much the same as in Geneva. Yes, I'm walking about town and taking in some of the sights, but I'm on full-time baby duty and finding those perfect windows of she's-fed-clean-clothed-awake-no-asleep-damn-awake-again are few and far between. It strikes me how very different this type of trip would have been without Sophie here (mid-day drunks look sloppy when you're breastfeeding) or if she were a bit older and could take in the surroundings ("Mama, why is that strange man wearing leather shorts and suspenders in the middle of winter?" "I don't know, honey, but it's not polite to call your father strange.")
Between that and Marc staying busy juggling work, we have to toe the line between taking advantage of being here and realizing it's not a vacation, so no getting frustrated when the days tick by and we haven't hit every museum and Munich nook and cranny.

But then the weekends come and, just like in Geneva, we try to make up for the week: Pappa gets lots of snuggle time with his cuddle bug and his daughter (he he) and I get my hands free to drink one of these...

...Mmm, margaritas! Friday night we checked out a nearby Mexican restaurant to bring our Mexican-food-in-foreign-country tally to... Oh, I think every country we've visited.

The best part about the dinner (because it wasn't the vegetarian enchiladas ...eh) was that our server informed Marc that he could not eat with a baby in his hands and sweetly took Sophie around the restaurant and kept her entertained so we could eat. (Yeah, we dressed HS in her pajamas before going out just in case she wanted to fall asleep while out. No, she did not want to.)
I clearly will be hanging around there all the time, looking for more free babysitting.

Saturday morning was more kitschy food fun, as we navigated the U-bahn, Munich's underground rail system, to eat breakfast at McDonald's.

Lame? Maybe. But the McDonald's in Switzerland don't serve breakfast. Don't knock the Egg McMuffin until you can't have it for four years. Personal choice tastes best when sandwiched between McGriddles.

After that gut-bomb settled we headed back out in the frigid air (the temp has been hovering around freezing all week... brrr!) to walk along Viktualienmarkt, the city's popular open air market.

(Mister M is all bundled up to stroll the streets.)

Of course, we had to have lunch, so we ducked inside Hacker-Pschorr beer hall for a hearty lunch. Beers may have also been consumed.

I dig into my favorite German fare, käsespätzle, or their version of mac and cheese.

So, that was the week in review (Get in my belly!). Overall we're finally feeling more settled in the city and unpacked in the apartment. Yes, I took photos of old buildings and we stopped and stared at statues of gods and men who thought they were gods. But I figure you'd rather look at this photo instead:

(Thanks to Angie for the sweet onsie)

ANIMAL HAUS

2011-03-01T12:48:00.000-08:00

Wait! Why are you strapping me into this car seat? Whaaaat?

Guten tag, friendly Ruers, from our new digs in Germany. As you know, I missed my normal Sunday-eve posting because we were heading out of Geneva to arrive a mere 7 hours later in the pulsing heart of Bavaria, Munich. So let's catch up, shall we? ...

The trip itself went well. Marc drove through rain and a little bit of the country Austria...

...and the Doodlebug was a champ, sleeping most of the time.

We opted to rent an apartment rather than stay in a hotel for the six weeks, and have no doubts that our temporary home is somebody's party palace. What gave it away?

It could have been all the (faux) fur, the melted candles EVERYWHERE, the 3 different kinds of rum in the kitchen, the large beverage tub next to the couch or the young girls scurrying away in a cab as we were pulling in... etc. But after living for nearly 4 years in a ground-floor-old-school-European-stylings-by-the-lake apartment, it's fun to be on the top floor of a modern condo in a big city.

Mmm, more faux fur, but I dig the wine rack.

View from the living room balcony. The pointed roof at the end of the block is the Lowenbrau keller, or beer hall.

Balcony in the master as well, but it's a little too chilly to think of sunbathing.

We spent our first full day, Monday, getting organized. A big trip to the grocery for supplies and a nice long walk to the train station to get our tram passes filled most of the day, and we rounded out the night with our first stop into the beer hall for beer and pretzels.

Since Holden Sophia joined our little party crew of two, we've been learning to toe the line between living like we did and giving completely over to baby-dom. Yesterday we really, really wanted to stop off for beers but almost didn't because it was getting "late" and we didn't want to push our luck with her.

We stopped off anyway and managed to down a beer and some salty pretzels before she started to fuss up too much. It was, like, 6pm. Sigh.

Speaking of the little Miss, since arriving she's been having a rough time. Maybe she simply hates Germany, or she's of the age where she knows we've changed her surroundings. The last few days and nights have been rough, and she won't let us out of her sight. Last night hit rock bottom: Our sweet little girl who was capable of sleeping 12 hours solid a mere two weeks ago was up five (5!) times last night, averaging a scream fit about once every two hours. The poor thing. (And a little love for this poor momma mia, too.)

But today seemed to go better. Here she is all smiles in a cutie outfit from Nana Shelley.

She napped without one of us having to physically keep a hand on her (I'm grabbing coffee at an outdoor cafe on Theaterstrasse while the bubble baby snoozes)...

...and is even down right now (so I'm trying to finish this before the jig is up. Must. Sleep. Tonight.) Hopefully our little outing today -- including first Munich tram rides -- wore her out.

So, let's see... the baby bug has been out of sorts but may be on the upswing. I'm happily dawdling along as clueless as ever (but tired). Is there anything else?
Oh, right, Marc! Mister M started at his new temporary office today and checked in mid-day with a note that his head hurt from speaking so much German after such a long break (12 years, anyone?). Other than that and having to wear a suit and tie everyday (bummer, dude), he has hit the ground running, or lawyer-ing, as the case may be.

I'll keep checking in (here and on FB) and will keep adventuring in tram zones 1 and 2. Until then, friends, guten nacht.

Your gratuitous pic of HSMS (Thanks, Tanya!)

BAVARIA: MORE THAN JUST A DOUGHNUT FILLING

2011-02-20T12:24:00.000-08:00

This week strangers and friends called her everything from "wise" and "ideal" to a "cartoon" baby. I called her "Holden Sophia!" when she took the spoon from me and would not give it back. Cheeky monkey!

Well hello, friendly Ruers, from noontime on this Sunday. I'm starting this post a little early today because the house is eerily quiet and I don't know what else to do with myself. Mister M went up to his office, the Doodlebug has been down for a wicked long nap and here I am, eating clementines and tapping away.

Not that there's not anything else to do. There is, I assure you, but I have a special knack for ignoring the things that should be getting done in favor of things I'd rather be doing. On the list this weekend is the too-tall task of beginning to pack for our next little adventure. As the post title suggests, we are heading up the highway to Germany, next weekend, where we'll be for the next SIX weeks!
I know, crazy, right?

Mister M is getting seconded to a law firm in Munich for a sort of professional exchange program, and since we'd miss him too much (and I really dig Munich), the Sophsters and I are tagging along. We're both really excited about it (Marc and I. Sophie is pretty nonchalant about the whole thing: "Another EU country? When are we going to do some real travel? Geesh.") but have our reservations as well. Marc is a little nervous about speaking lawyerly-level German and has been busy dusting off his tongue in preparation. I, too, am a little nervous about the language thing, but figure I can get by with a lot of pointing and giving the smile-while-shrugging-shoulders-to-say-sorry-i'm-american-and-only-really-speak-american move that has come in handy since moving to a foreign country. Though not going to an office every day, I will be doing the grocery shopping, and predict a lot of strange meals and pizza buying.

The other downside is that I fear I will be a little bit lonely. Mister M will be busy, like always, but at least here I have -- after working hard at it for more than 3.5 years -- a good friend foundation, and never want for things to do or people to hang out with. But my fears will most likely be unfounded; the six weeks will fly by, we already have a few visitors lined up, and in the end, I do love a good adventure. Plus, there's a strong beer festival (Starkbierzeit) that will go on while we're there, and while it's no ex-pat Oktoberfest, you can always find a friend in a pint.

Ah, if only she were old enough (or strong enough) to lift a liter mass with me. Here we are getting stronger with requisite tummy time.

Well, I guess I got ahead of myself in talking about next week before giving you the run down on this past week. It was a good week, with lots of coffee catch-ups and the bonus of seeing sweet friends who had moved back to their native Hungary come back into town for a few days. I even hosted an inaugural book club meeting chez moi, something that's been in the works, more or less, for the past three years. The highlight of the week, however, was the arrival of our friends Luc and Claire's little girl on Tuesday.

Margot (Margeaux to her French pappa) made her appearance one day before her due date and I got to hold the snuggle bug for a minute or two. Mmm, Miss Teeny Tiny makes Sophie seem like a grown up!

Our Holden Sophia is, thankfully, not all grown up yet, but is doing great and still sleeping like a champ. (Though the baby monitor tells me the extended nap may have come to an end. Ah, it was good while it lasted.)

...several hours later...

Now that Sunday is coming to a close -- for Miss HS, at least, as her bath-to-bed time starts about now -- we can look back and see she, too had a big week. Almost every day I get out the video camera, certain that this will be the time she rolls over. Instead, I have hours of footage of her just rocking side to side, tormenting me, ha! Also this week we had to stop putting off getting the bug her own Swiss permit after receiving notice in the mail to get on it. We trucked her down to the local government office and handed over the forms and the money then laid her on a baby table to get her picture taken.

The Swiss authorities said she was an "ideal baby," and we said, "We know!"

Now the week is done and the countdown to take-off is on. We're taking just what we can pack in the Subaru, so this week we'll be giving everything the final stink-eye when measuring it up for the hatchback. Since we'll be traveling next Sunday I'll be a few days late with the weekly check-in, but no doubt will be back with the view from farther north. Until then, enjoy your week and guten nacht.

On Sunday we took a trip up to Pappa's office to pick him up and get some Starbucks.

ALL ABOUT EVE

2011-02-13T14:04:00.000-08:00

The fam enjoying a sunny day in the park last weekend. Babies in overalls crack me up. I expect them to get on their tiny John Deere tractors and ride away. Thanks to Katherine for the pic!

Howdy, sweet Ruers, from the tail end of a love-filled week and weekend.
The week passed with normal amounts of frivolity ... Mister M went in to the doughnut shop early in the mornings and left it late at night. There were even a few days in row where he didn't get to see Miss Holden Sophia because she was asleep when he left and asleep when he came home. She's still on her rock-star sleep schedule which makes for a happy maman but a wistful pappa, and he was having no love for this schedule.
Finally one day mid-week he broke the cycle and came home over lunch to an awake little girl. Afterward we walked together back to his office and the little pumpkin was all bundled up, which he did love:

Tee hee, our little cheeky babuska.

As the week came to a close, more love was in the air. For starters, when Friday night rolled around we stayed in and ordered Domino's, the only pizza delivery in town. This proves: 1) Marc loves me because it's my favorite dinner option and/or 2) He was wiped out and too tired to protest.
Either way, I ordered mushrooms.

Saturday was a milestone day as our friends and frequent blog fodder Josh and Katherine celebrated the 1-year birthday of their little love, Benjamin.
Ah, how fast a year has flown with this little one! It seems like just yesterday that I was driving him home from the hospital (yeah, I know, he's not mine to keep, but I did do that fateful 1st drive with the new fam from the hospital, which was more scary than the day we came home with Sophie, in part because that time I made Marc drive).

We were part of the crowd that toasted his big day in Parc Bertrand with goodies. Here's the fam with Benjamin's birthday cake.

Then on Sunday it was time for more goodies as Mister M and I hosted a Valentine's Eve brunch at our place. We gathered a lovely crowd of friends (and 7 little ones) for quiche-based coziness and ate and chatted the afternoon away.

Mmm, red velvet cupcakes with heart-shaped granola bites on top. I've been on a granola bar-making frenzy this week, as this was already my 3rd batch. (But the first to be forced into such adorable-ness shape wise.)

Now that we're all loved out I think we'll play it low key this week. Our plan of very romantic gifts to each other has been thrown for a loop as instead of a vacuum cleaner and umbrellas we're considering a vacuum cleaner and pillows. Oh, the decisions. The steamy, lustful decisions we'll have to make before the clock strikes V-Day tomorrow.

Well, it's time to wrap up this love fest and hit the hay as we have been a busy bees this weekend and I am beat. The doodlebug is down, Mister M is working on taxes (so never a good idea to be around him when he's doing that anyway) and there's a party-sized mess in the kitchen that will be calling my name in the morning.

Until then, here's your gratuitous pic of our pint-sized lovebug, Miss HSMS, and one Miss Clara.
XOXO (what else, my loves?)