How to buy a watermelon with a 7 month old in tow!

In short...you don't, or well I don't :(. I love watermelon! And now that it's season I have really been craving one. While I was pregnant I ate 15 whole seedless watermelons by myself! I can't wait to see if Amelie likes watermelon too. Yesterday we went to H-E-B because it rained all morning and Amelie was going crazy inside the apt all day (so was I). We didn't have much to buy but I figured I would try to get a watermelon. Well it didn't go so well. We have only tried to put Amelie in the H-E-B cart once and it was ok, but she would tip over when we turned the cart so we decided to wait a little longer with that. Currently I take her to the stores still in her carseat and I attach that to the stroller. I like it because it is easy and I like that she is facing in my direction. So we get to the huge watermelon carton and I pick one I like, then I think logistics...hmmm? I had a basket attached to hooks on the stroller, but it didn't fit in there and plus I think it would have broke off the hooks. So I tried carrying it with one arm like a football while steering the stroller with the other hand. Usually this wouldn't be a problem, but when the carseat is attached the stroller gets much heavier and it feels like it will tip over. So I advance like 5 feet by steering the stroller with one hand and pushing with my foot. I almost dropped the watermelon...that would have been fun. So I figured I'd try to put it in the basket under the stroller and that was quite funny. It didn't fit all the way and it was so heavy that the bottom of the basket was dragging on the floor. I didn't want to mess up the basket so I took it out. I wonder how hilarious this sight must have been for the people around me. Amelie was completely unaware that her mother was trying to transport 15 lbs of fruit on her stroller. Instead she had her eye on the peaches.

I was about to give up and live with my craving until the weekend when I spotted the personal sized watermelons!! I am not really a fan of these. They are usually not sweet or juicy enough and sometimes a bit rubbery plus they seem a little too engineered. But it was worth a try. I picked one out and showed Amelie, she looked like the wanted to eat it haha. I put it in my basket and it didn't tip over yay!

We got home and I washed it and presented it to Amelie. I think she will like watermelon as much as I do :).

 Well hello there...

 Can I eat you?

Nom nom nom

MZL

7 months!

Amelie,

Today you are 7 months! I can hardly believe it. I intended to write updates about you each month, but time has just flown by. I cannot believe you are already more than half a year old! The past 7 months have been the best 7 months of our lives and you have made us so very happy.

Currently you have started "crawling" all over the apartment and you are a very determined little girl. We are really struggling to get you to stay still and not crawl away while we change your diaper and clothes! You don't like sitting, but you never have. You always want to be standing up (with our help of course) and jumping. This makes me very exhausted by the end of the day. Thank goodness you have a jumper! You started solids about a month ago and you LOVE food!! As of now you have tried the following: banana, avocado, sweet potato, carrots, peas, peaches, pears, apples, and today you tried mangos for the first time. You have loved everything except peas. You still ate them but you were not as eager about it. Yesterday morning you cried when the food in your plate was gone. I mashed up a banana and gave you a second helping :). We recently built you a play pen and you really like playing in there. I guess you have not realized it's a mini baby-jail. I love it as well because it lets me do stuff around the house and I know you are safe. When you are sleepy you start to "talk" a lot and sound like a drunk baby. It is really cute. Falling asleep is always quite the struggle with you. I think you are like mama and think you will miss out on something while you sleep. If we put you in a swaddle to nap you will sometimes sleep up to 2-2.5 hours! But I have to keep a close eye on you on the camera because you flip over even while swaddled! You love your little lamb blankie, you chew it's ears and stuff it in your face when you are tired. You have not gone from laying position to sitting position on your own, but looks like you soon will! You still have a very gummy adorable smile, waiting on those pearly whites to come in so that you can eat even more! Currently Mama speaks to you in Spanish and Papa speaks to you only in German. On the weekends I speak to you in English. We hope you will pick up all three languages without a problem. You had your first cold at 6 months old! It was the saddest thing to see you struggle!

As of now, you have already gone on 3 trips! One big one, two small. Your first big trip was to Cancun! You went on an airplane! Just mama and you. Mama was VERY nervous about this. Abue was supposed to come with us, but her flight was delayed. We made it safely to Cancun and Abue later arrived. The two short trips have been to Austin to visit Tia Ale and Tio Neil. We went to see their new house on your first trip. Their house is the same age as you! And the second trip Tia Ale picked us up from Houston and we stayed with her for a week. Later Papa went to pick us up. You also got to meet Bella, Amanda's baby and Leah, Vivi's baby in San Antonio that week.

You looove being out of the house. You are a very curious baby and we love that about you. Papa adores you, you are his world! He proudly displays pictures of you on his desk at work, which he changes out as you grow up. He loves coming home to his girls :).

Upcoming:
Next month you will get to meet your Oma! She is very excited to come see you. Also, tante Petra and onkel Frank will be coming to meet you as well. We will go on another trip to Austin with them and we will go see the alleged bats under the bridge. We will also start sign language classes next month. I am excited about this. We will also try to go meet everyone else in Germany sometime this year before you turn 1. Lots of fun and exciting things to look forward to!

Weight: 15 lbs
Height: 26.25 in
Head Circumference: 16.5 in

I hope to keep writing updates like these for you each month. One day it will be fun to look back and read about your all developments.

Te quiere,
Mama

Life Updates!

Wow. So it's literally been years since I last wrote. So much has happened. We moved twice, but still in Houston. Dirk is now working and I quit my job to be a stay at home mom! Yep, we had a baby in December 2012 and we are so in LOVE with our little Amelie. It has been a really fun experience. At times difficult, but for the most part we are loving everything about our new life with a baby!!

Oh Technology... we've become so dependant on it!

I LOVE my parents!! They are HILARIOUS! Yesterday was just epic... haha. Here it goes:

There was a huge thunderstorm in McAllen yesterday, so according to my dad "pego un relampago y frego la computadora!" He said there was a black screen that said stuff on it. He wanted Dirk to fix it, over the phone by having my dad read out what it said.

Obviously THAT did not work.

Dirk said "Why don't you take a picture of the screen and send me the picture?" 

... silence on the other side of the phone...

Papa: "I don't know how to do that." 

So Dirk gives me the phone and it starts! I tell him to use the laptop to upload the picture. It took ONE hour to tell him how to upload the pic from the camera to the computer. ONE HOUR! Him and my mom were on speaker phone it was just TOO funny. I could hear them bickering in the background:

"No Guillermooo, ya se apago la camara!"


"Noo mira el foquito verde!"

So after an hour, literally, they got the "right" picture saved onto their desktop! All of this happening while Dirk is on the floor CRACKING up...little fool! haha. So now... explain how to actually E-MAIL the photo. I asked to speak to my mom because if i tell my dad to do something he doesn't listen and he does what he wishes haha. So i take her take her step by step and she says "Ya!!! La mande!"

So there I go check my e-mail... and I wish I could post the picture I got here... lol. I dont have the picture with me but it was a picture of my dad! He was playing with his camera taking pictures of himself with different hairstyles LOL!! I was like WTF?! You send me a picture of my DAD!

Then my dad gets on the line and tells me:

Papa: "Mari, it is URGENT to get the computer fixed! I need to send a letter to a client like now!"

Mama: "Guillermo...why don't you write the letter on the laptop?"

...silence...

Papa: "A pues si verdad... JAJAJAJA"

We were ALL cracking up!! But finally... Dirk was able to remotely fix their computer! Oh... did I also mention that I ordered them a NEW computer about a month ago that they have had there, while using the old one because Memo didn't "personalize" it for them yet? Yes, they have a brand new, working computer and they are still using the flinstone one!

It was a bit frustrating but HILARIOUS and so fun, made me love them even more! haha.

Tschüss!

Life in a Nutshell

I have been the busiest and happiest I have EVER been in my life. (although it comes close to when I lived in Spain!) I finally got hired permanently at Rice University! I am soo excited about this. It is a great job and I really enjoy the people i work with. I am also taking photography classes on Saturdays and belly dance classes on Monday!! I have been wanting to take belly dance classes for a really long time now, but I never got the "courage" to I guess. When it comes to exercise I'm not a fan haha. But this is FUN exercise and plus I love the little bells on the shall =). When I am not at work or in class I spend as much time I can with the wonderfuL Mr. <3. Short but complete post!

Here are a couple of my pictures for my class so far:


This is my self-portrait: "Into the Soul"




Our little Räuchermännchen :) "Christmas in March"




The beautiful spring blossoms!!

Tschüss!

Celebrity Collage by MyHeritage

Apparently Dirk looks Hispanic and Tom Cruise really does have a baby face! haha

It wouldn't recognize my adult face so i put my baby face haha! I seriously should be putting my time off to better use lol =)

Tschüss!

Christmas and Gifts Oh Nine...

This Christmas was kinda wierd because it was so different. I wouldn't reallly say it sucked, but it was kind of close to it haha. We had no tree, no gifts, no Christmas Eve dinner, no parties and I have been sick for a week... gosh that really does sound like a crappy Christmas, but it was actually not bad. I was happy because my whole (immediate) family was together. We are all healthy and with no major issues going on in our lives. For that, I am grateful. I was a little sad about having no tree because i LOVE Christmas trees! I did not care about gifts, because we have never really been big "gift people" I'm OK with that.

Gifts:

I like gifts BUT, I don't care much for gifts that are given because you HAVE to give a gift. I think that's kind of dumb. What I like about giving and receiving gifts is the fact that you really thought of a certain person and got something that you think/know will make them happy. I don't like gifts that are given after going to a store and just looking for something, anything under 20 bucks to just hurry up and get it over with. In that point, don't give a gift you know? That's just my point of view though, I know people that get offended if they don't get a gift even though they don't want anything or even care what the gift is. And yes, it is the THOUGHT that counts, but when you are not putting much thought into it... it really does nOt count. IMO.

OK so on with my x-mas story. I really shouldn't complain about any of the "negative" things that happened because there is always something positive to replace each one.

* I was sick... but it wasn't swine flu and I was at home!

* No gifts... but less junk for me to find a place for. (I actually did get one gift and it's great!)

* No Christmas Eve dinner because brother had to work... but brother has a job and we had dinn er the next day all together.

* No real tree... but a fake crappy one that made us all laugh.

Funniest thing ever!

I think the thing that makes me most sad is the lack of photos for this holiday. I don't know why, I just did not take photos this time.

Things could always be better but I am trying to live a happier life by being optimistic. Overall, I could not have asked for a better holiday with my family this year!

Tschüss!