Further proof that Jameson is a born rock star.
A joke, but we really do wonder what he may be when he is an adult. Doesn't everyone wonder that about their own kids?
Sunday, November 30, 2008
Saturday, November 29, 2008
My son makes me laugh
This evening Jameson and I were lounging around. He was playing in his playpen and I was talking to my brother (Hi Tim!) on the phone. Jameson's newest trick is to make kissy lips and kissing noises. He goes around and does this a lot. That makes me chuckle, but isn't what was so funny tonight. I was hearing this kissy sound and I looked down and Jameson is lying on his tummy with his feet up under him so his tush is sticking up in the air. His head is turned to the side and he is sucking on his sippy cup (a new item that he is still learning how to use) while the sippy cup is on its side in the playpen. I laughed so hard, because I suppose to a little guy who has only been nursed since he was born, he doesn't understand that he needs to use his hands to lift it up and drink. I don't even know if I am explaining it well, but it made me giggle. Gotta give him props for his creativity! He caught me laughing at him and turned around and gave me the biggest grin and proceeded to come over to the side of the playpen and give me kissy faces.
Just thought I would share, because it was so funny.
Thursday, November 27, 2008
Thanksgiving...Vienna Style
The day is done, the food has been cooked and eaten, the dishes washed and I am EXHAUSTED! I love cooking, but wow, its so much work. I began cooking the food last night, mainly the pies and some of the appetizers, then kept right on cooking today. Kevin took care of the turkeys, and with the help of some of my awesome students I cooked the rest. Jameson was in the very capable hands of other students so that I was free to do whatever needed to be done. I will post more later, but here are some fun photos throughout the day. This is by far my favorite group dinner of the year, and its most definitely the most work, but the pay-off is great, and the students really appreciate it being so far from home. If we can't be home with our families (we miss you guys and are VERY thankful for you!) then here in Vienna with our students is the 2nd best place to be!
By chance we ended up "renting" out a restaurant. Our group took over the back three rooms and the oh-so-cool industrial kitchen to cook our 3 turkeys totaling almost 40 pounds, 11 pounds of potatoes, 9 pounds of green beans, 4 boxes (I know! I know!) of stuffing, 4 heads of red cabbage, 4 cans of cranberries, 3 pumpkin pies, 2 apple strudel, 1 apple pie and 6 pounds of sweet potatoes. We went through (3) 1000 gram bags of white sugar, (2) 500 grams of brown sugar, 6 cups of butter, way too much salt, (1.5) 1000 gram bags of flour, a half bag of marshmallows, 12 granny smith apples, 200 grams of pecans and a multitude of other items, that I am too exhausted to think about at the moment. The restaurant was a lifesaver, I think we are doing Thanksgiving there from here on out (if they will have us). We did all the cooking and they did the dishes, how much does that rock? Anyway, here are a few pics from tonight:
Cooking the red cabbage; notice the gi-AN-tic pots (that's an inside joke for any former Wiener studenten).
Carving one of the three turkeys.
Jameson loves the ladies!
Hanging out before dinner
Look at that serving line!
A beautiful plate of food!
Jameson likes pearls, apparently.
Dr. Pfabigan talking with two students
But this is really what our family picture should look like! We love our students and we are so thankful to have them!
By the end of the night this is how we all felt!
HAPPY THANKSGIVING!
By chance we ended up "renting" out a restaurant. Our group took over the back three rooms and the oh-so-cool industrial kitchen to cook our 3 turkeys totaling almost 40 pounds, 11 pounds of potatoes, 9 pounds of green beans, 4 boxes (I know! I know!) of stuffing, 4 heads of red cabbage, 4 cans of cranberries, 3 pumpkin pies, 2 apple strudel, 1 apple pie and 6 pounds of sweet potatoes. We went through (3) 1000 gram bags of white sugar, (2) 500 grams of brown sugar, 6 cups of butter, way too much salt, (1.5) 1000 gram bags of flour, a half bag of marshmallows, 12 granny smith apples, 200 grams of pecans and a multitude of other items, that I am too exhausted to think about at the moment. The restaurant was a lifesaver, I think we are doing Thanksgiving there from here on out (if they will have us). We did all the cooking and they did the dishes, how much does that rock? Anyway, here are a few pics from tonight:
Cooking the red cabbage; notice the gi-AN-tic pots (that's an inside joke for any former Wiener studenten). 
Carving one of the three turkeys.
Jameson loves the ladies!
Hanging out before dinner
Look at that serving line!
A beautiful plate of food!
Jameson likes pearls, apparently. 
Dr. Pfabigan talking with two students
This may be the family picture that you see (ignore the exhausted sweaty looks of the cooks!)
But this is really what our family picture should look like! We love our students and we are so thankful to have them!
By the end of the night this is how we all felt!HAPPY THANKSGIVING!
Monday, November 24, 2008
Pic Updates
On our way to the airport. Jameson was very giddy!
This has to be one of my all-time favorite pictures of Jameo. Hanging out in the baby bassinet.
Kevin holding Jameson in the bassinet because he was trying to climb out.
About 8 hours into the flight, looking a little ragged, but slept quite well.
This is where Jameson hangs out all around Vienna. LOVE the ergo carrier!
Exhausted after a long flight, but excited to be back.
This is what packing to live overseas for 6 months looks like.
OK, now that I have a new photo uploader I will begin taking some more pics.
Tuesday, November 18, 2008
Flight of Fancy
Sorry for the lag in posting a new blog. We have arrived in Vienna as of Saturday afternoon. I was waiting to post until I uploaded the pics, but of course I cannot manage to find my uploader thing (what is that called?) I recall very distinctly picking it up from Kevin's desk fearing that he would forget it. Hmmmm. I thought I put it directly into a suitcase. Ummm, haven't found it yet, and three of the four bags are unpacked. It still may be in my bag which is sitting in our bedroom packed, but exploding at the seams. I need to clean out our armoire, it has a bunch of stored stuff in it, before I put my stuff away. If I don't find it soon I will go buy a new one.
It was a really good flight over. REALLY good. I put in a request for upgrades with our bazillion miles, but the star "alliance" isn't really much of an alliance at all, perhaps a tentative agreement at best and both Lufthansa and United like to make things incredibly difficult for their clients. I purchased our tickets from Lufthansa like United told me to do, then called United with our itinerary was put on hold for hours as usual. I got the necessary certificates and the upgrade request was put into action. A few days later Kevin got a call: DENIED. What? Why? United didn't know. They would put in a new request in a week. Another call: DENIED. OK. We weren't getting an upgrade, that was fine, did we still want to receive the certificates United wanted to know, as it would take the miles out of our account. Yes, we have learned these certificates are gold, and without them there is no hope of getting an upgrade. We arrive at the airport and the Lufthansa agent says we will most likely get an upgrade. Really? That would be nice, but we have learned not to get our hopes up. Success. We did get an upgrade and even had a baby bassinet. I wish Jameson used it more than the 40 minutes he did. All that to say, we sat in Business Class, and managed to sleep quite decently! The seats lay nearly flat. Jameson slept in my chair with me and we were very comfortable. It spoiled us! I wish it was worth the $7000 price tag, but its not, so we will continue to use our miles. :)
Jameson has had a difficult time with jet lag this time, more so then ever before. Although I think we are making a breakthrough. He woke up at his proper time (7:00am) this morning. Sunday he slept until 11:45 (after being awake two different time during the night 11-1 and 3-4:30). What has made me laugh is that if I subtract the 8-hour time difference he is following his schedule back home. Troublesome. Monday he woke up at 10:45 (after being awake for a couple hours between1-3, & 5 and yesterday he woke up about 9:30 after being awake from 11-1, and maybe one more time around 4. Today he woke up at 7, after being awake between 11-1. He woke up about 2:30 to nurse, but stayed relatively sleepy. I actually had our alarm set this morning to 7:15 to attempt to get us back on our schedule. Jet leg is difficult, because its more than just a time difference, the body has to adjust to a new circadian rhythm as well (where daylight and nighttime help us sleep). It's not the easiest thing to do, even as an adult I find myself starving at 3am (approximately dinner time) and getting up to go to the bathroom all night long. With a baby its the same, so he has been really hungry middle of the night (like tummy growling hungry) and dirty diapers galore, and REALLY sleepy during the day and around what would be his morning nap (about 5:30pm in Vienna). I am hoping that his wake up time of 7 will help us get back on track. I wish it was sunnier here, because daylight definitely helps but the weather has been rainy and grey, not helpful! To substitute I have all the lights on in the family room. I am about to turn on some fun music and do some dancing (since he was dancing to his own song last night in bed, which was making me laugh considering it was 11:30pm).
Hopefully, I will find the photo uploader and I can upload some of the pics we took.
It was a really good flight over. REALLY good. I put in a request for upgrades with our bazillion miles, but the star "alliance" isn't really much of an alliance at all, perhaps a tentative agreement at best and both Lufthansa and United like to make things incredibly difficult for their clients. I purchased our tickets from Lufthansa like United told me to do, then called United with our itinerary was put on hold for hours as usual. I got the necessary certificates and the upgrade request was put into action. A few days later Kevin got a call: DENIED. What? Why? United didn't know. They would put in a new request in a week. Another call: DENIED. OK. We weren't getting an upgrade, that was fine, did we still want to receive the certificates United wanted to know, as it would take the miles out of our account. Yes, we have learned these certificates are gold, and without them there is no hope of getting an upgrade. We arrive at the airport and the Lufthansa agent says we will most likely get an upgrade. Really? That would be nice, but we have learned not to get our hopes up. Success. We did get an upgrade and even had a baby bassinet. I wish Jameson used it more than the 40 minutes he did. All that to say, we sat in Business Class, and managed to sleep quite decently! The seats lay nearly flat. Jameson slept in my chair with me and we were very comfortable. It spoiled us! I wish it was worth the $7000 price tag, but its not, so we will continue to use our miles. :)
Jameson has had a difficult time with jet lag this time, more so then ever before. Although I think we are making a breakthrough. He woke up at his proper time (7:00am) this morning. Sunday he slept until 11:45 (after being awake two different time during the night 11-1 and 3-4:30). What has made me laugh is that if I subtract the 8-hour time difference he is following his schedule back home. Troublesome. Monday he woke up at 10:45 (after being awake for a couple hours between1-3, & 5 and yesterday he woke up about 9:30 after being awake from 11-1, and maybe one more time around 4. Today he woke up at 7, after being awake between 11-1. He woke up about 2:30 to nurse, but stayed relatively sleepy. I actually had our alarm set this morning to 7:15 to attempt to get us back on our schedule. Jet leg is difficult, because its more than just a time difference, the body has to adjust to a new circadian rhythm as well (where daylight and nighttime help us sleep). It's not the easiest thing to do, even as an adult I find myself starving at 3am (approximately dinner time) and getting up to go to the bathroom all night long. With a baby its the same, so he has been really hungry middle of the night (like tummy growling hungry) and dirty diapers galore, and REALLY sleepy during the day and around what would be his morning nap (about 5:30pm in Vienna). I am hoping that his wake up time of 7 will help us get back on track. I wish it was sunnier here, because daylight definitely helps but the weather has been rainy and grey, not helpful! To substitute I have all the lights on in the family room. I am about to turn on some fun music and do some dancing (since he was dancing to his own song last night in bed, which was making me laugh considering it was 11:30pm).
Hopefully, I will find the photo uploader and I can upload some of the pics we took.
Thursday, November 6, 2008
Dog exchange
Kev and I are driving to Boise with Jameson and the three dogs to meet my parents so we can exchange the dogs with them. They have so kindly offered (ha ha) to be the foster parents to our puppies. We REALLY appreciate all that our parents do to help us, because there is no way we could do it without them! Its going to be a LONG weekend in the car, but then the dogs will be cared for and I can start thinking about packing for our long haul in Vienna. I am really excited to see my parents and I know they are excited to see Jameson! I am sure I will have some fun stories to share from our drive and the visit sometime next week! Until then...keep us in your thoughts while we are driving!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)