Outta here

We board a plane tomorrow and say 'goodbye' to Munich. But not forever. Tim will be coming back for work 6-10 times/year, and Van and I hope to come back with him 2-3 times/year to visit. But, we will no longer call Munich home, and there is a sadness in that.


Things we will miss... public transportation (the trains are awesome! we barely drove our car), kasespatzle (although the trade-off for mexican food is worth it), beer (augustiner vom fass, how we'll miss you!), while out for dinner having the table for the entire evening, earning euros, the holiday and leisure mindset, medical insurance paying for almost everything - including 3D ultrasounds at every baby appointment (sigh), small access roads for biking (without a car in sight), the skiing, and the opportunity for Van to learn German (from 'the natives'). There's more, but those are some of the big ones.

On the trains.

Munich has been an awesome place to live. It's bitter-sweet, as we ARE happy to be coming home.

Tschüss, München. Bis später.

Flyin'

It's a bird. It's a plane. It's van-man. ...Van loves to play 'airplane'.

Happy 4 month birthday, little flyer.

We love, love, love you!

Milestones

Month 4 has been full of milestones (and a whole lotta cuteness).

First, at our last check-up, the doctor did some 'tests' to see how he was developing. She laid him on his stomach to see if he'd pick his head up. Nothing. He just laid there, happy. Next day, after he woke up from his nap (he naps on his tummy), up popped his head. I laughed - guess he operates on his own schedule.

The doctor also laid him on his back to see if he'd start rolling over. Again, nothing. He just stared up at her. While he isn't rolling, he loves to lift his legs way up in the air now and is starting to get them close to his mouth (wow - do I dread the day he actually gets there). I think he likes laying on his back too much to roll to his tummy. We'll see.

And here we are grasping!

He's finally interested in toys and coincidentally has improved his hand-eye coordination enough to grab them. His method... he slowly moves his hand across his field of vision, and when he makes contact with the toy of interest, opens his fingers slowly, then closes them and brings the object to his mouth to chew on. If he misses or doesn't find anything to grab, his fist continues on it's trajectory, directly into the mouth. It's a win-win.

Lastly, he's learned to gurgle. You can only imagine our 'conversations'!

Keep growing and learning, little dude. You're so fun to watch and play with!
xoxo,
mama

Wishing you...

...a very happy birthday, butter. From your two biggest fans.
xoxo

A home for Van

We did it. We bought a house on the EAST SIDE. And guess what? We are loving it. Granted, we haven't moved in yet, we're still not even in the same country as our beautiful new house, but we will be. Soon.

Why the move? We needed a house for our growing family. One we could be in for at least 10 years. And one with a good school system.

We can't wait to make this house our home. And I can't wait to introduce Van to his childhood home. We want to make you soooo happy, little man. I think this is a step in the right direction.

xoxo,
mama