Four months old

Hard to believe that William is four months old. He has a beautiful smile that just melts my heart. I love to watch him watch the world with his wide eyes and curious stare. He picks up everything within reach (and some things that I think are out of reach) and puts them in his mouth. He rolls to his tummy from his back and he's trying hard to figure out how to reverse the process. It's rare that he gets my full attention - this is the fate of the second child - so I cherish our quiet moments together, gazing into his deep blue eyes.

Day at the zoo

I took the boys to the Munich Zoo yesterday. We had a great time. James calls it the big zoo because it was, indeed, a big zoo (the Denver Zoo is now called the "small zoo" even though it's not really small). Toward the end of our visit, we came to the kids area. We'll go there a little earlier next time. There was a really nice beer garden and a huge play area (we rushed by because it was nap time). There was a petting zoo and pony rides. There were bumper cars and then there were cars and a train that drove by themselves on a track. James absolutely loved driving the car (he's a little too young for bumper cars) and had a blast on the train. He also had fun playing in the smaller play area. And, of course, he loved seeing all of the animals. His current favorite animals are elephants, giraffes, penguins, zebras, and lions.

What a great weekend!

Last weekend was fantastic. On Saturday evening, we went to a beer garden with one of Frank's colleagues. Let me just say this, beer gardens are really cool. James ran off and played in this fantastic play area while we had a nice adult conversation with our friends. Frank and I each had a half liter of beer (this was the small size, I think). Dinner was not as good. We'll probably bring a picnic dinner the next time we go. As one woman said to me while I was struggling to find vegetarian options, "Good luck. You really have to eat meat when you are in Bavaria."

On Sunday, I took the boys into the Deutches Museum while Frank gave a talk at a conference. I discovered why they have a dryer in the baby changing room. There is this section of the museum called the Kinderreich (Kids Kingdom). There are all sorts of hands on activities but the one that James was most interested in was the one with the water and the boats. The first time he fell in, it was truly and accident. After that, well, not as much.

These are the loaner clothes that James wore while his were drying.

Frank met up with us after his talk and the four of us walked to Marienplatz for lunch (and so Frank could see more of Munich).

William had a weekend of milestones. He giggled for the first time on Sunday. He had been doing this strange inhale kind of laugh that almost sounded like he was gasping but now he has a definite giggle. It's so sweet! He is also now able to consistently roll over from his back to his tummy. He no longer stays where we leave him. The rolling over is a bit surprising because he spends so much time in his car seat (and the rest of the time he's sleeping).

One other thing from last weekend - I braved eBay.de and bought a new stroller. The sit and stand does not work well for sightseeing, especially if you want to go anywhere during nap time.

Boo boo head

Okay, I have a lot of catching up to do but I'm tired so I'm going to bed after this one photo - I'll have to write about our awesome weekend tomorrow.

Generally speaking, the parks in Germany aren't as "safe" as the parks in the US. Last weekend, James was playing at a park in Munich and he face planted between two boards. When I realized what happened, I couldn't believe this piece of equipment existed. He was crossing a bridge where the boards ran the length of the bridge and were spaced at least far enough apart for hisfoot to go through. How far apart were the boards? You can measure the distance between the two bruises on his forehead. Ouch!

The title of this post is what James used to call his forehead (boo boo head) because he almost always has a bruise on his forehead. Frank calls James' forehead the hard surface locator.

Oh, and here's William (no boo boos, thank goodness):

One more... James kissing William. I'm pretty sure James isn't putting his weight on William's chest. And, no, James never wears pants. I'm just glad he's wearing underwear.

Starting Over...

On May 11th, around the same time that I started the blog, blogger.com had some technical difficulties and our travel blog was deleted. If you are interested in the details, you can read more about it on Blogger Buzz. I had been waiting to see if our blog would be restored but it's been over a week so that seems unlikely. Luckily, I had only written one post. Here's my best recreation of that first post:

We're Here!

We arrived in Garching, Germany on Thursday, May 5th. We flew from Denver to London then London to Munich. The boys slept through most of both flights. On the Denver to London flight, William slept in a little bassinet provided by the airline.

Garching is a small town just north of Munich. Frank is working at the Max Planck Institute for Quantum Optics. His commute is a 15 minute walk (at a very brisk pace, he says). Downtown Garching is very cute and just a short walk from our flat.

We spent our first week settling into life in Germany and taking care of some of the necessities for an extended stay. James had a tough time adjusting to the new time zone. The days are longer here than in Colorado so it doesn't get dark until after 9:00. It's hard to get him to go to sleep before then and he still gets up around 6am. As you can imagine, our toddler is a little sleep deprived (and cranky). Before we arrived in Germany, William had been sleeping through the night from 11:00p to 7:00a but has started waking between 2am and 4am for an additional feeding. (Note: both boys sleep issues are mostly resolved as of this updated writing, much to the relief of their parents)

We are renting a three room flat - two bedrooms and a living room. The windows are huge, which is good because there's no air conditioning. We have balconies off of both bedrooms. James' room looks out to the back area where there is a nice yard and picnic tables. I haven't been able to figure out exactly how this works but there seem to be a lot of special events that take place in the area under and behind our building (recently there was an orchestra rehearsal, for example). Our room looks out to the street. It can be pretty loud sometimes but the view is nice.

Here are some photos of our flat:

This is our dining area - conveniently located in James' room. We also have a table in the living room.

Here's our tiny kitchen. Frank and I thought the hallway that we called a kitchen in Orlando was small but this is smaller. Due to space limitations, we go to the grocery store almost every day.

This is James' room. The second twin bed is set up as a changing station for William.

Our room. It's a loft above the living room. Gotta love the twin beds :)

Spiral staircase from our room to the living room. This might be a good time to mention that the floors are really hard. We're hoping William doesn't start crawling while we're here. We'll really have to watch him on those stairs.

Aerial view of the living room.