New shoes

Baby recently started wearing a new pair of shoes. They're white with watermelons on them which make them perfect for spring. She was fascinated by them the first time she wore them (her other shoes are pink with mermaids, so I suppose these look very different to her).



They also taste good.



I love my new camera phone. But I promise not to take anymore pictures of Baby while driving. It's not safe.

Baby has also discovered that watermelon is her new favorite food. She shovels it into her mouth as if it's Veggie Booty!

A very exciting development

For 10 months now, I have gotten up several times a night with Baby. She has never been a good sleeper. Looking back on it, I suppose she learned bad sleeping habits when her eczema was the worst. Itchy skin makes for a baby that can't sleep. Or it may have been that all the cheese I was eating was making her tummy hurt. Now we know that she can't tolerate cow's milk, even in my diet. Regardless, she never took a pacifier or a bottle, and nothing could ever soothe her back to sleep other than the Boob. At times she would wake 5 or 6 times a night. She often woke more frequently when we were traveling (which was a lot). Even in recent months, when other babies her age were sleeping through the night, she would nurse 2 or 3 times a night.

I've always been terrified of the "cry-it-out" method. I know it works for some families, but that doesn't mean it's easy. It's so horrible and painful to listen to your baby cry hysterically in the night. The few times we tried it I undoubtedly ended up in tears as well.

But now we've done it. One thing we've learned about Baby's personality is that she does things on her own time. Supposedly I was the same way as a child. "I'll learn to do something when I'm ready", that's her motto. We decided to follow the ever-popular "Ferber" plan. Those of you with babies probably know what I'm talking about. This guy, Ferber, sort of invented the method for teaching your baby to sleep (AKA: the cry-it-out method).

I'm not going to get into all the details, but I'll just say this. It worked. And it wasn't horrible at all. I have no doubt it would have been horrible had I tried it on Baby earlier, but she was ready, and I was ready, and together we figured it out.

For 10 months, she cried in the night and got the Boob. It only took 2 nights with some (very little) crying to stop giving her the Boob. And now... (drumroll please)for 2 nights in a row, she has slept, silently, the entire night!

You have NO idea how happy this makes me.

Even more stuff

Maybe once our desk is set up (arrival in two days!) we'll start posting individual thoughts rather than ramblings, but this will have to do for now...

Today couldn't be much more beautiful--sunny, warm, light breeze...and I'm stuck inside with a cold. Ugh.

Dictator Princess asked in a comment if people stop and comment on Baby's hair. Constantly! We were shopping last weekend and had a balloon tied to her stroller when some people asked us if we used the balloon to make her hair stand straight up (ummm...nope). Gravity is actually starting to catch up with her so her faux-hawk days may unfortunately be numbered.

David Bowie's "Space Oddity" sounds fantastic on the iPod.

An article in today's Post talks about gun ownership in Switzerland (basically, they're armed to the teeth). Of course to gun control opponents this is testament to the benefits of gun ownership, but I'm not entirely convinced.

I'm not sure this picture entirely captures it, but we still can't get over the size of portions in restaurants (the Coke alone was probably 2-3 times bigger than what you'd typically get in Europe). This salad fed us for two days:



Baby and Grady are becoming better friends with each passing day:

More stuff

Some more disjointed thoughts...

Forget what I said about turning on the air conditioning--not only did we have to turn the A/C off today, we actually had to turn the heat back on.

Evidently children's books are getting very progressive these days, because I was reading a book to Baby tonight and one of the questions it posed was "Is Maisy in the closet?"

I work in a part of town that is rich with sights (right near the Mall) but with minimal dining options. So I've been pleasantly surprised in the past week or to discover not only a Starbucks a few blocks away, but also a Dunkin Donuts. It had really been years since I had eaten doughnuts, but after finding Dunkin Donuts (or "the Double D" as we started to call it) in Berlin, I remembered how much I used to like them. It's probably good that this particular "Double D" is far enough away that I won't go regularly, because doughnuts may be the least healthy food on the planet.

After learning to clap earlier this week, today Baby also learned how to wave. At this pace we figure she should be ready for introductory calculus by the end of the year.

I certainly don't endorse vandalism in any way, but I thought this was a clever piece of work on a local road sign I passed this afternoon:



Since the last couple of pictures I've posted of Baby have perhaps not shown her best side, I figure I owe it to her to post something cuter:

When you gotta go, you gotta go

Sometimes Baby will be in a good mood, laughing and playing, when all of a sudden she'll stop everything and get very quiet, with a look of extreme concentration and/or consternation on her beet-red face (sometimes even tears, poor thing). That's right...it's the POOP FACE!



(I wonder if this is the kind of thing that's going to give her a complex when she's a teenager...)

Stuff

Today's disjointed thoughts...

Last week at this time we were wearing sweatshirts and long pants and had the heat on in the house. By Monday we were wearing shorts and t-shirts and had to turn the air conditioning on. Hopefully this doesn't mean we've skipped spring and jumped straight to early summer, but since I've been bitching about the cold I'm not entitled to gripe about heat. Yet.

We just found out our stuff (including our car) has made it safely across the Atlantic will finally arrive on Tuesday, so we won't be living out of suitcases and using the computer on the floor for much longer!

Although Virginia Tech is several hours away and we don't know anyone affiliated with the school, it's quite popular with students from this area so it's been quite sad to see the Washington Post these past few days filled with obituaries of so many local kids who were killed in last week's shooting. Really sad.

Baby just learned to clap the other day. This is now what passes for HUGE excitement in our lives.

What did we do for news before The Daily Show?

Although my hair is slowly starting to look a little less freakish, I still wonder who has the better faux-hawk, me or Baby?

Bad move

We both knew that one of the difficult things about moving back would be finding someone new to cut our hair. I never really liked where I got my hair cut before, so I faced the challenge of finding someplace new here. I tried to ask around a little bit but didn't hear any hearty recommendations, so I instead chose a place using the worst possible method--looking in the Yellow Pages. I ended up at a place called "ProEuro" (bad sign #1) that seemed to cater to students (bad sign #2) and could fit me in within an hour of calling (bad sign #3). So I got my hair cut by a very friendly Turkish guy...who was quite pleasant to talk with about Istanbul, but who butchered my hair (and almost took off as much skin as hair when trimming my goatee). If my hair were spiky instead of curly, it would look like a Basel teenage faux-hawk (I felt an odd compulsion afterward to go buy some tight white pants and high-top sneakers). It's never a good sign when your wife sees you and laughs so hard that she starts to cry...

Flashback, part 2 (hello US of A)

(The month in pictures, continued...)

We were thrilled to arrive to warm and sunny weather...



...and Grady was happy to see his old friend, Porter (our second favoritest dog on the planet), and wait at the door to greet everyone...



...Baby got to try a swing for the first time (she wasn't sure what to think, but ultimately seemed to enjoy it)...



...we enjoyed one of the great American traditions, a greasy breakfast at our local diner...



...and in keeping with the healthy eating trend, our first night in the house we got the best local burgers and fries...



...some of our boxes from storage eventually arrived and we slowly unpacked...



...we were surprised to wake one morning to a dusting of snow, which thankfully melted by noon...



...I started work and tried to make it feel a little bit like home...



...Easter came and went, and Baby was absolutely thrilled to wear a present from her Grandma...



...we went out for excellent Vietnamese food at a local strip mall that has been turned into a little slice of Vietnam...



...where Gretchen popped into a little sweets shop and walked out with a crate of mangoes...



...and through it all, Grady and Baby continued to bond...

Flashback, part 1 (auf wiedersehen, Basel)

Now that we have our computer set up, here's the past month or so in pictures (starting with our departure).

The movers in Basel very quickly turned chaos to order (or vice-versa?) as they neatly packed all of our belongings...



...we awoke the next morning to a final dusting of snow...



...and said goodbye to our boxes before they were taken away...



...after somehow getting everything finished with HUGE help from friends (and an early morning ride to the airport from The Big Finn), we were able to relax for the first time in weeks when we got to the Lufthansa lounge...



...and Baby even fell asleep on the long plane ride...

Welcome home

We knew having tenants in our house for three years might take a toll, and things actually could have been much worse, but it was still a bit of a surprise to move in and find one of our shutters missing (we found it on the side of the house)...



...a planter full of cigarette butts in the back yard...



...dried leaves calf-deep (with a random piece of newspaper to heighten the effect) at the entry to the basement, blocking the sump pump...



...and our storage shed (which, in all fairness, wasn't in the best of shape when we left) slowly being returned to nature...

Veggie booty and soy milk

Here it is, my first post from the US of A. I'm now officially an ex-Expatter. How can I summarize the last 3+ weeks in one single post?

Most of the time, I'm really happy to be back. Except that I miss my friends in Basel a lot. Especially during the day, because I had lots of non-working friends in Basel, and here, most people work during the day. I'm still searching for some stay-at-home Moms in our neighborhood. I know they're out there. While Kirk has returned to his old job, my life is now totally different than it was 3 years ago. I'm still trying to figure out what that means.

Everything here is BIG and LOUD. The grocery store is big. The selection of different cereals and frozen pizza and soda is big. Don't even get me started on the snack food aisle. I've been eating way too many unhealthy snacks and I'm hoping that the novelty of things like Doritos and Rice Krispie Treats will soon wear off. Cars are big. Rolls of paper towels are big. The Diet Coke I ordered at Silver Diner was big. I had forgotten about how often we hear loud sirens when living in a big, American city. They are loud. Car alarms are always going off everywhere I go. People like to honk their horns. Helicopters are often flying over and they are also very loud. Loud music and TV screens are everywhere in the mall. Total overstimulation all the time!

More about the food... I wonder if the novelty of being able to get good, cheap, carryout ethnic food will ever wear off? We've been eating so well. I have a good excuse not to be cooking, which is that we have a very poorly stocked kitchen at this point (until our shipment arrives). I kind of like it, actually. Why do we need anything more than a couple glasses, a couple plates, and a few pieces of silverware? Indian food, Thai food, Vietnamese food, Chinese food, kabobs, cheeseburgers (are those considered ethnic?)... you name it, we've been eating it.

I've been going to Target every few days. I'm sorry if you don't know what Target is, but it is only the greatest store every created! I always loved Target, but only now, after shopping in Basel for 3 years, can I now truly appreciate Target shopping. Thankfully Baby seems to love going shopping. She likes Harris Teeter (our grocery store) even better than Target. She loves sitting in the shopping cart with the little seat belt around her chubby tummy, smiling at all the people who walk by and comment on how cute she is and what a great hairdo she has. People are SO friendly!

Of course I've also done a little shopping for myself, specifically at my favorite stores: DSW Shoe Warehouse and Ann Taylor Loft. Actually, I think J.Jill has perhaps now surpassed Ann Taylor Loft as my new favorite store. When I came home from DSW on Saturday, I tried to hide how many pairs of shoes I bought from Kirk, but he met me at the door and just shook his head. I also tried to remind him that I hadn't done any shopping for myself in 3 years (which is almost true).

Our sad little house needs lots of TLC. We had renters in it for 3 years, and of course it feels much more worn than when we left it back in March 2004. It also feels really small, and we haven't even gotten our big shipment yet! Where will we fit it all? Nonetheless, I'm very happy to be back in our neighborhood. We have great neighbors, and I've been really enjoying doing some yard work in an attempt to make our house no longer look like the junkiest house on the block.

We just got TV last night. That means I didn't watch TV for 3 weeks! I'm a bit overwhelmed by our new cable system. Last night I scrolled through the channels, and it looked like we have a couple hundred channels to choose from. What do I do with that? Back in Basel, I would sometimes flip through all the channels with the remote, hoping that somehow, one day, perhaps some in English would magically appear. It never did. All I had has CNN International and MTV. Now I have more selection that I know what to do with! I watched an episode of the new season of American Idol last night, and was reminded that I need to check online today to see how the candidates are doing on the German version. I used to love Deutschland Sucht Den Superstar, although I'm not especially sad about never watching it again.

So what about Veggie Booty and soy milk? That's what Baby had for her afternoon snack yesterday. Veggie Booty is a really great snack that you can find at some of the stores around here (closely related to the more popular Pirate's Booty). It's a perfect example of something I had forgotten about during our 3 years overseas. It's like a corn puff (kind of like a cheeto, minus the cheese) that's coated with a combination of veggies (including spinach, kale, broccoli) which makes it green. Baby tried some yesterday and couldn't get enough of it. She was literally shoveling it in her mouth.

She also tried soy milk for the first time. We finally saw an allergist on Monday, and learned that, much to our surprise, she doesn't not have any food allergies. She does, however, have an intolerance to cow's milk, as we suspected, so I will continue to eat no dairy so long as I'm nursing. In an attempt to begin the process of weaning her off breastmilk (which will likely take a while, considering her stubborn attitude) we are starting to introduce soy milk. I just had to laugh yesterday at the snack my daughter was eating... Veggie Booty and soy milk. This is my life now as an American Mom!

Expatters in da house

We thought it might never happen, but thanks to Verizon we're finally online (fiber-optic style) again! We don't actually have a desk for our computer so being online is ergonomically painful, but every little bit helps. And we have TV too. I have to say, it was really strange (although perhaps healthy) that we weren't able to see any of the footage of the horrible events at Virginia Tech (which is about 4 hours from here) until 36 hours later.

Of course, as soon as our TV and internet got hooked up, our heater stopped working...

Good exercise

I've seen reference to this several places, but I couldn't resist linking to it myself. If you go to Google Maps, click on "Get Directions", enter Washington, DC and Basel, Switzerland...and check out step #21 (this presumably works with any pair of cities in the US and Europe). I'm a little curious as to why they have you go from Boston to Le Havre, but hey, whatever works...

Spring has not sprung

To quote one of my favorite old Crowded House songs, "everywhere you go, you always take the weather with you." Sadly, we seem to have brought Basel weather back with us to Washington. After an initial week of beautiful spring weather, we've had several weeks of gray, chilly (even a little snowy) weather, capped off by several inches of rain yesterday and 40mph winds overnight and today. To add insult to injury, I just checked the respective weather here and in Basel--which is usually reliably chilly and damp--and doesn't it figure that at 7:30pm in Basel it was clear and 75 degrees, while at mid-day here it was 45 degrees (with a windchill of 38) and overcast. If you had offered me a bet that Basel would be 30 degrees warmer than Washington (even at noon there/6:00am here) upon our return I would have willingly taken it...

Like a hyena duct-taped to a kangaroo

One of the big pleasures I missed while away was spending a rainy Sunday inside reading the newspaper (the Sunday paper in most American cities, including here, typically weighs about 8 pounds and can easily take the better part of a day to get through if you take it leisurely enough). One of the related, smaller, pleasures I missed was the weekly contest in the Sunday Washington Post, which was almost always good for some laughs. This week's entrants were no exception: intentionally amusing analogies.

Switzerland too long?

Most expats have probably seen this, or variations on it, at one time or another, but in any event here is a list of signs that you've been in Switzerland too long (some of which are quite true, others of which I didn't even understand--which probably means I wasn't there too long)...

Basel in the news (sort of)

So I'm browsing yesterday's Washington Post and stumble across this article about the mathematician Leonhard Euler. Of course, I don't know the first thing about math, but the name sounded familiar because there's a well-known hotel in Basel called the Euler (which, incidentally, I've heard is old and shabby and no one recommends staying there despite being 5-star...but I digress). Anyway, sure enough it turns out Euler was originally from Basel.

But what really caught my eye was this statement in the article: "He never returned to Switzerland, possibly because he was offended that his Dutch-born wife would not qualify for citizenship."

One of the perpetual hot-button issues in Switzerland seems to be immigration and citizenship (during our time there, it seemed like every election featured something aimed at controlling immigration...which is not to say it's not topical here as well). And of course Baby was not eligible for Swiss citizenship despite being born there (although personally, I think citizenship in an EU member country would be far more valuable than Swiss citizenship because of the wider employment opportunities). Anyway, it sort of made us laugh that even 300 years ago citizenship restrictions seem to have chased away one of Switzerland's favorite sons...

Disconnected

After lots of dithering, I finally got around to signing up for cable and internet service. In the end, after hearing lots of complaints about poor customer service by the local cable company, we decided to roll the dice and try fiber optic for both...which means the phone company will be our cable TV provider. It's a strange new world we live in. The only problem is that they can't do the installation (which is evidently an all-day affair) until next week, which means Gretchen in particular remains disconnected from the world at large until then. You don't really realize how much you depend on having internet access until you don't actually have it.

Oh, and we survived our weekend of tummy distress (thankfully, with no puking). Thursday night Gretchen didn't feel well, then Friday morning neither of us felt well, then I felt better Friday afternoon and came home early to help with Baby, then we both felt OK Saturday morning, then I felt lousy Saturday afternoon while Gretchen felt better, then Saturday night I felt better while Gretchen felt horrible, then I felt better on Sunday while she continued to feel rotten (she really bore the brunt of it). We're still not sure if it was something we ate, or maybe a bug, or possibly just the stress of the past month finally catching up with us...

A not-so-good Friday

Never mind that back in Basel both Friday AND Monday are holidays whereas here they're both regular work days...the real reason today wasn't so good is that neither of us is feeling so hot (we think as a result of takeout Mexican food last night). I didn't have such a good morning but have otherwise been OK, but Gretchen is really under the weather--which is not easy with Baby to care for. Luckily I was able to leave early and help out around the house, but in any event we're really hoping tomorrow is a better day...

A sort of homecoming

When we left Switzerland, there was snow on the ground (despite an amazingly mild winter), so we were thrilled to arrive in 75 degree sunny weather. For the next week or so the highs ranged from 65-80 degrees...brilliant. But since then we've had reminders of how much more volatile the weather is here. After a night of intense thunderstorms earlier this week (not so common in Basel but par for the course here), the temperatures have plummeted to the point that they're actually forecasting light snow tonight. Ah, spring...

Making progress

I still can't believe I was able to make a post via my BlackBerry...technology is a wondrous thing that leaves me increasingly bewildered, but I'm not complaining.

Things are slowly taking shape. We got in our house this weekend, and while we'll be living out of suitcases for another few weeks, at least we have some furniture that had either been in storage here or was donated by friends. Plus we got our small air shipment yesterday, so we have more clothes as well as our computer. Still no online access, though, in part because the choices are somewhat bewildering. Do we get our internet access through the phone company or through the cable company? If the former, do we get DSL or fiber optic? If the latter, do we get the special deal where they provide not only cable and internet but also phone service as well? Life was so much less confusing when things like this were run by monopolies...

But I digress. The bottom line is that things are going pretty well, and while being back sometimes feels like an out-of-body experience, overall we're settling in about as well as can be expected. Hopefully we'll have much more to say once we're back online in the next week or so...

The wonders of technology

We've officially moved into our house but don't have computer access yet (either at home or at work). But I do have a BlackBerry on which I'm composing this, and if it works I will be quite impressed with the state of modern technology...