Balancing Baby and Bonjour

It’s actually bittersweet, but yes we now officially have internet here in Switzerland.  It’s a whole process of getting registered within the Canton (kind of like a county), then waiting for the official paperwork and cards to come in the mail, then you are able to go and get a phone and Internet.  By saying this, we are officially legit here too!

Stay tuned for many posts to catch you all up on our past 3 weeks here.

Here are some photos of last weekend and this following week!  We celebrated Thomas’s 1st Birthday at the Chalet with the other family that’s here from Colorado.  On Sunday we did our first day of ski school – and we had so much fun!

On Wednesday we went to the park and when we got back I took Henry’s shoes and socks off and he was taking his coat off while I took Thomas out of the stroller, and while running and taking his coat off, he got caught up in his coat, tripped and split his chin open on our tile floor.  I took him to the Children’s Hospital here in Lausanne and 3 stitches later, you’d never know anything happened to him!

Okay, we’re off to the International Balloon Festival, more updates to come!!

Enjoy some photos 🙂

Happy 1 year Birthday to the sweetest boy!

Not quite sure of his new car

Birthday Cupcake – Swiss Style

Henry loving the snow – he looks so innocent

T and I with the Dents du Midi in the background

Flying with Daddy

Love my boys

Family Photo – of course with the sled too

Henry, Thomas and Wyatt playing at the chalet

Trucks

The trucks always make them happy

Henry post 3 stitches

The 14th Henry flew home from the UK and Europe after being gone for two weeks. I picked him up from the airport and we went straight to dinner with his brother and wife and then from there to see the Trans Siberian Orchestra.  A guy that Henry works with let us have his club box seats for the night, which was especially nice for Asia, my sister-in-law, since she is 25 weeks pregnant!

Day 14, 15 & 16 – Christmas Tree, Favorite Christmas Song and Outside Christmas Lights – it was a Christmas Concert so I’m making it count 🙂 Christmas Canon Rock by TSO is one of my faves, however there are too many to count and there were plenty of Christmas lights during the concert.  We haven’t driven around yet to see lights, however we’ve done many of walks around our neighborhood admiring them!

The hubby and I

Cupcake break with Asia

Day 17 – Presents

Well the 16th was my 30th birthday and Henry took me to concert for that.  We’ve decided during this holiday season not to do gifts for a couple of reasons (hard to take back to Europe, we don’t NEED anything…) and instead we’re going to support a family with hardship so they are able to continue to send their children to St. Agnes Catholic School, our local parish

Just for fun, my neighbor Alex decided to get 30th birthday candles and a beads for me to wear for Saturday nights dinner

A dirty for my 30th

The big 3-0

Alex and I, new to the 30’s club

Day 18 – Stockings

We don’t have our stockings up this year, and not many decorations to begin with.  The stockings were sent to Switzerland and I probably would not have put them up regardless, maybe placed them somewhere instead.  I was so worried that this year Henry would just give one of them a little tug and the reindeer holder would come crashing down on him.

Anyway I did order T’s matching stocking this year:

Photo compliments of Pottery Barn Kids – and of course ours says Thomas not Logan

Day 19 – Candy Cane

Santa came on Saturday morning, and he was riding on a fire truck.  We whisked the kids outside and the firemen brought both boys a candy cane.  Henry was in heaven with a real fire truck at his house!!  It all happened so quickly that we didn’t get a pic.

Here is our Santa photo from the weekend – their outfits kind of resemble candy canes!

Santa 2012

Day 20 – Tree Topper

Each morning when Henry’s home, he gets up quite early to do his Europe calls.  This is a perk because that means when I wake up there is always fresh coffee awaiting me in the kitchen.  With that fresh coffee comes a little love note from the hubby; and I kid you not, this was the note this morning 🙂

Maybe one day I will be all caught up with life, but at this moment I’m still behind 🙂  Daddy flies home tonight after being gone for 12 days, and being in a different country or city each night.  I’m picking him up from the airport and then we’re heading to the Trans Siberian Orchestra Concert.

Ok so back to the Photo-a-day catch up:

Day 11 – Green

Our Christmas Cookies

A green cookie

Day 12: A beautiful sight

A big yawn – but looking so much better

So peaceful

God never gives you anything you can’t handle right – well he must think I’m one strong woman.  Tuesday we were going about our typical day; breakfast, I dropped Henry off at school, Thomas went down for a nap, I did my run, took a shower, and Thomas woke up.  I had a babysitter coming over so that I could go and get my nails done for the weekend since I am turning 30 – YIKES.  Thomas woke up from his nap fussy, which was a little weird since he is usually happy.  We played and he seemed to be getting worse.  He got to the point where he wouldn’t even let me hold him, I would put him on the floor and he would be on all 4s and pushing his head on the floor – weird right??  He would scream as if he was in excruciating pain and then lay down and fall asleep – mind you he had just woke up from his nap and this was very unlike him.  I called his Ped, they advised me to take him to the ER.  I did just that.  We were there for no longer than 30 minutes when he decided to projectile vomit EVERYWHERE.  Lucky for him I could take his clothes off and put him in a baby gown, me on the other hand wore vomit for the rest of the day – not that I minded but felt badly for everyone that came in to see him 🙂  They then watched him for a few hours, rehydrated him with Pedialyte and sent us home.  I’m still waiting for some answers from my docs at the Children’s hospital – another perk for working in the ICU.  Anyway, Henry’s school was a Godsend that day, they let me keep him at school and even got him to nap there – I was impressed.  By the time I picked him up, it was 3:30pm.   He was eating snack with his friends and just kept telling me that he took a nap at Ms Katrina’s house, his teacher’s name!

Day 13 – Family

Well it is my daddy’s birthday (and my cousin’s hubby)!

Here’s a few photos of our family – 1 is from Henry’s 2nd birthday party and the other from this Thanksgiving

Henry’s 2nd Birthday – with his 10 cousins!

Thanksgiving 2012

Again, I’m playing catch up – I feel like it’s the story of my life 🙂  It was a busy weekend, my parents arrived Friday afternoon just when Henry woke from his nap.  We had a wonderful weekend just relaxing and baking cookies. Saturday morning I took Henry to the local fire station to have breakfast with Santa – I was amazed that he wasn’t the least bit scared, just a little shy.

Day 7 – Bright (A literal translation)

My binky bandits

Day 8 – Ornaments

My goal this week is to make felt ornaments with the boys

Day 9 – Something You’re reading

A must read if you have boys

Nice, quiet naptime

Day 10: Wrapping Paper

A friend of mine just got engaged, and although not Christmas-y, this is her gift wrapped in magazines!

All the ingredients

Just in time for my parents to come for the weekend!!

Yesterday I headed to the mall to get the little man (Henry) some new jeans at Gap.  Being the boy that he is, he has now worn through not 1 but 2 pairs of jeans – the knees are just ginormous holes!  Baby Gap has a great sale this weekend, 30% off everything in the store – I deal I couldn’t shy away from.  I was able to get him 2 new pairs for just $15 each!

After our mall trip, Thomas and I headed to the grocery store to get all of our ingredients for the weekend.  With Henry (daddy) being away, my parents took the afternoon off today and are heading up for the weekend.  We all know that when my mom’s in town – we bake!  We don’t plan to do our extravagant Christmas spread like we typically do, however the two main items on our list; cut out sugar cookies and chex mix.

I hope everyone has a great weekend

Xoxo

Tara

I’m going to switch days 4 and 5 up for a couple of reasons.

Today’s weather (Tuesday):

68 degree Tuesday in December

It was unseasonably warm on Tuesday – the high being 68.  What great weather for December

Joyous!

Progress

The movers came yesterday to gather our items for Switzerland.  I’m joyous that this day is over – I’ve been stressing about it for awhile for a couple of reasons.  First; I had to do this solo as Henry is traveling throughout the UK and Europe. Secondly; I had two little men following me around the entire time and my biggest job was to keep them out of the movers way. Lastly; I really hope I didn’t forget anything since everything else has to fit in our suitcases.

The day went pretty well, no complaints on my end.

I’m stealing this idea from my cousin, 3 days late.

I feel like this will encourage me to do more posts 🙂  Life here is crazy busy with the movers coming tomorrow to get everything that will be shipped via sea to Switzerland.  Henry left Sunday night for another 12 days, so I’ll be doing this solo…with two crazy boys in the mixture.  Anyway, let’s play catch up!

Day 1 – My view

We did a couple last minute photos for the Christmas card on Saturday morning – Henry was teaching Thomas about Jesus

Day 2 – Favorite Holiday Movie

I love Miracle on 34th Street – I highly doubt Henry or Thomas would sit still to watch it.  On Sunday we did watch a little bit of the Caillou Holiday Movie – Henry loves all things Caillou 🙂  Sunday Morning we decorated our artificial tree – we opted out of getting the typical huge real tree (which my dear hubby usually picks out) and just decorated the tree that’s usually in our foyer.  The boys just love having a tree – no matter how big or small!

Decorating the tree with my boys

Day 3 – Red

The rug and curtains have a shade of red in them – does that count?  Anyway, this is what our formal living room looked like around 9 am yesterday, and now it’s packed to the brim full of furniture.  None of our furniture will fit in our apartment in Switzerland, so we had to buy new, and buy it here since everything is ridiculously expensive there.

After the first of 3 deliveries yesterday

Ok – I’m caught up for now. I’ll be back later to do todays topic – joyous!

Cut holes in throw away tin, fill cones 2/3 full with batter and bake for 10-12 minutes

Cutting the rounded cupcake off so that it would stand up

Cut the tip off while still hot and insert pretzels

Finished product

New love: Cutting playdoh

Doesn’t he look so sweet and innocent in the first picture? Well last Thursday when I picked him up from school, one of the teachers was standing in the hallway waiting for me – never a good sign!  She started by saying that Henry didn’t have the best day.  During snack time, Henry decided that he didn’t want to drink his water and then proceeded to dump the cup of water over Daphne’s head!  The craziest part was that she didn’t say who’s head, however when Henry woke up from his nap that afternoon, clear as day he stated “Mommy, I pour water on Daphne’s head, Henry cried!”  I guess once the teacher said his name, he started crying because he knew it wasn’t a good thing – little stinker!  I think the root of his behavior stemmed from daddy being gone, because Thursday was day 11 of daddy being away.

Yesterday when I picked him up from school, I was talking to the teacher about his day, which was great.  I peaked over and he and Daphne are talking, I couldn’t understand what he was saying because of the distance between us.  After he was done talking, Daphne threw her head back in laughter while covering her mouth – like a little school girl.  I almost died…with laughter.

I now believe Daphne is Henry’s first crush…and I have a feeling that Daphne feels the same way….and they are 2!

Crazy hat hair

Look at that hair 🙂

Today marks day 5 out of 12 that Henry is away in London, Dublin and then Munich.  With this whole Visa issue (the reason we are back in the States) he has to cluster his meetings abroad to get the work done to the fullest.  So he was home for 2 weeks and now he is away for 2 weeks and it will continue through December.  

It’s so hard with him being away.  He’s a 5-6 hour time difference, he’s super busy and Henry just keeps saying “Mommy, I want my daddy to come back!”  It breaks my heart, and to think we still have another week until we see him…ugh. 

To break up the weeks, Henry’s mom came on Wednesday with his Aunt and niece and nephew to have lunch.  That really helped out!  On top of that, my parents are coming for the weekend with Magnie…as Henry calls her.  After the weekend I just have to muscle through the following week and then daddy will be home until December!

Solo parenting isn’t one bit easy and I don’t know how people do it all the time.  I probably shouldn’t complain because I have Henry in school Monday – Friday from 8:30-12:30 and some days have a mother’s helper come to help out with the boys so I can do baths, dinner and bedtime…and to save my sanity!

7 more days and you better believe it…I’m counting down!

Xoxo Tara