meeting new people

Today we met with Silke and Alexander. Both German ;) and living in Ann Arbor (the University city). We had a great time, took a long walk and got some very delicious ice cream. It was so nice outside and warm... awesomeAlexander is already 8 month old... only half a year between them and they look so different! :(... kids grow way too fast!!!
Zoe was doing great and also Alexander was good with Zoe hanging out with him :)

Summer is knocking on the door

YEAH... it's getting there... today it's gonna be very warm already... 20 Degrees C (in the 60ies F)... well... Aunt Nita gave Zoe these cool Flip Flops for an outfit 6-9 month... I just couldn't help it and try on the flip flops :). I decided that Zoe will be bare foot today... get some air on these tiny feet :)
Well, as long as she's dependent on me dressing her, i'm gonna dress her up as I wish *lol*...

Our Road trip Girl

That was a nice weekend. We finally made it to Baltimore without letting a stomach flu hinder us ;)... Zoe was just GREAT. She's already a little road trip girl ;). Since we got stuck in traffic in Baltimore we needed to feed her in the car before we finally arrived at Grandma and PopPop (Opa). We found a great solution how to do a road trip with a baby. 15 Min before we arrived at our stop I started pumping milk and then she drank from the bottle (goes faster), changed her and grabbed some food for us and we were back on the road. It was just awesome. Bad though, on the way back home the pump broke :(... I had some problems. First order of business back home was buying a new pump because I was almost ready to explode :(... I wasn't aware that I am so dependent on the pump!!!

PopPop and Grandma were happy to see their grandchild:

Tina enjoyed feeding her little new cousin:The Szewczyk cousins:
Zoe was so comfortable with her Uncle Jay...
... and Uncle Ray:
... and Auntie Patty (Aunt Patty has Zoe withdraw now!!! And wanted to keep Zoe *g*... but we took her with us back home of course):
Zoe enjoyed all the hugs and coziness on family's shoulders:

Zoes' only male cousin Jake... and she loves him... she hasn't laughed that much all weekend (she slept more) but in Jakes arms she was just laughing and smiling, how adorable:

On the way back home something got stuck on our car... first time ever... some plastic... on the next toll we got rid of it:
back home just before going to bed, our little road trip girl... *dream* we have such a wonderful little girl... it's very amazing. She's sooo good.
Ms. Sleepy again:

Daddy and his Girl

It was so cute when they both were taking a nap. Unfortunately they were awake when I had the camera handy... Zoe is ready to play again ;)

Here I am

We're very tired

Yeah... I guess we all are very tired ;)... here a picture of our little one. Good thing that she can sleep whenever she wants to. We manage it pretty good with our work and Zoe...

Zoe's friend Nicolas

Franziska and Marilyn came over today and we all spent a great sunday together. Zoe and Nicolas don't play together yet, but maybe they'll someday when they don't sleep, eat and poop all day but crawling and walking around ;). Here the two buddies Zoe and Nicolas. Nicolas is about 3 weeks older than Zoe:

Zoe: 'Hey, do you see him? He's my first buddy!'
Zoe: 'Hhhmmm... what can I do with him? He's just sleeping... that's boring?'
Zoe: 'Man, this is really boring just laying around to you... when can we start moving around and drive our parents crazy?'
Nicolas: 'Yeah, I agree... hey... who are you by the way and why are you laying in my bed?'

Baby Boom

Ooohhh, I'm sooo excited. A friend of mine in Germany is also pregnant... woohoo :)... totally the baby boom. Another friend is expecting her second one :), another friend will try for the second time soon and now we have another first time expecting mom... can it get any better? Exciting news, exciting news :).

I have to get ready, we will have some friends over soon... here some pics for the Zoe Fan Club :)
my favorite :)

the weekend is here

Now I say that too: FINALLY FRIDAY :)... the last couple of weeks I lost overview about the day of the week... it was weekend every day for me. My two first day of work worked out pretty good besides that I'm missing out on a few hrs of sleep in the morning. But I'll get used to it and it'll all work out. Zoe is doing great while I'm working. She's sleeping and is very easy going while feeding and will go right back to sleep. What a great daughter we have *dream*.

I played around with Frank's fancy camera, here some excellent pics of our Cutie, she's growing up!!!
Hihi... she's not happy as you can tell:Oh, I have a new thing going... when I go shopping I pick up some flowers and bring some color into our house... aren't they awesome?
I love flowers:
Some more pics:
Zoe is smiling a lot. It's really the best in the world when she's getting changed she's stretching and smiling and making fun, looking at her wall decoration in her room... she's so adorable:
Her look!!! Too funny:

1st day back at work

Well... today it was already time to get back to work... somehow I wanted to get up at 5AM but I don't know what happened. I woke up at 615AM with my cell in my hand and no alarm!!! I must've turned off the alarm while I was sleeping *lol*. Zoe woke me up at 330AM so I probably was very tired...

But it all worked out very well. By the time Frank left the house I've worked already 1.5 hrs and the rest of the hours I easily summed up and now I'm done. I only had to do 2 feeding breaks and right after the feeding Zoe went back to sleep. VERY good girl. Now it's time for a treat :)... we'll get out of here and take a nice walk in the sunny weather *YEAH*... here some pics of our good baby girl, hanging out with me while I'm working:
My new workplace:
And she's out again :)
Cool timing, she just woke up again... then we should go now :)

last day off

Tomorrow it's time to go back to work. I have already and idea how I'll manage it, let's see if Zoe plays with it or not. But so far it looks that it might work, just less sleep for me and less time for me as well = less postings, I still try to post regularly but it will be less than now :(. The last couple of days off I used to the extend. Got my car checked on Monday and fixed on Tuesday, shopping trips needed to be done. Zoe needed to get the newborn screening test taken again. This time without daddy because it's too hard on his heart when she's screaming her head off. She did sooo good and the nurse who did it did it quick and we were out of there and Zoe were smiling again at night.

It's so much fun getting out with her and do stuff. I will still stl do that of course, I can't stay in the house all day... and the weather outside is sooo awesome right now, very springy... so the daily walks will be extended and will continue of course. Fresh air for us both and we meet our neighbors more because everybody gets out more now.

Here some pics from our yesterday shopping at Costco :).

And it all fit somehow ;)...
Our little one totally crashed after the shopping tour.
I have a fuzzy baby... she wants MILK... I have to go... cu guys

Shopping Mall

Frank is still sick and is very slowly getting better. He's resting in bed most of the day to try to get his energy back. This virus totally hit him :(... Today is the 3rd day he's out but this morning he felt that he finally gets a little better which is a very good sign.

It's very rainy here in Detroit and so I took the baby, the stroller and went to the mall yesterday to get a few things and walk around a little. I have to say, once you find out the way to handle things it's not difficult at all to go everywhere with a baby. I got used to having a little bundle of joy with me everywhere I go now ;). So in the mall first I had an american breakfast while Zoe was still sleeping and then I was looking for a restroom where I can change her and feed her as well. I'm totally not into this curtain thing so I need a place where I can lock myself away so I can breast feed in peace and quiet. The first bathroom was totally out of question and the second one was at least better... very tiny with only a changing table thing, a sink and a toilet. Anyways... it was pretty nasty too so first thing was getting my disinfection towels out and wiped everything off ;)... once everything was clean we got things done. I was sitting on the sink counter top to breast feed!!! Very baby friendly place!!! Well now here comes the funny part... when I was cleaning everything up I thought: 'Well... the next person at least has a very clean place'. So when I was ready to go, I took the changing bag off the counter top and while I did that I ripped off the soap dispenser... SOAP all over the countertop!!! Oh my goodness... what a mess!!! Now I had a crying baby, soap all over the place and I was in that room already for a while and just wanted to get out of there. Well... I cleaned it up a little bit but not all of it and just left.

Can you imagine... I left a kind of dirty place behind!!! Not me at all... I still can't imagine I did that... it was just so funny thinking I leave it very clean for the next person and in the last moment I mess it all up. Next time I check out another mall... hopefully they have a better baby friendly restroom area!

no Baltimore trip this WE

Unfortunately we have our next chapter of sickness in our family :(... Frank got sick this morning just before we were ready to hit the road. First we wanted to wait a little and see if Frank will get better within the next few hours but it got worse. I'm so glad I'm back up and can take care of him now. Oh man... if I think about what he has to go through now... *very sad looking*...

We're sad we can't see our family and that they won't see Zoe this WE... it would've been great to be with them. We're going to check for another long WE and we try to hit the road again in a couple of weeks ;)... it will be a challenge to get all the stuff we need (now with a baby on board) into the car! Frank asked me where we're going when he saw the line of bags and stuff that I lined up to be loaded up into the car ;). Well... with a baby it's just a lot more ;).

Zoe helps us now holding the bottle ;). Since breast feeding hurts me a lot (I know, we're doing something wrong... it's not supposed to hurt after 2 weeks anymore)... I started pumping and feed her bottles (with breast milk). That way we can also 'see' how much she drinks and she's right on schedule and it gives me some time to recover and try to work out with her to do it right. I still breast feed her during the night shifts and in between but during the day I pump mostly. It works pretty good and is quicker than breast feeding her!

Puh, finally a moment to myself (she's sleeping *g*) to check my emails, blog, chat and enjoy a wonderful latte (made by myself, Dana taught me how to do it right).

Alright, I'm gonna take care of my family now...

5 weeks young

Oh wow... already 5 weeks young our little one!!! I have only one week left without work at home and starting next Thursday I have to add 6 hrs of work into my day. That'll be interesting but I bet I'll find a way to manage it all.

Well... you know these kind of pics ;)... but with a growing belly and today was the big day... I'm back to my 'pre pregnancy' weight *very big smile*. And I gave myself to the end of the year to loose it all *lol*... well... goal reached! Now I can go on with the next goal ;). Hhhmmm, I had a treat for myself I wanted to get once I lost it all... I just can't remember what that was! Oh man! Well... it'll come back if it was a good one ;). Ok, the no. on the scale is the same, but I bet I had more muscles and less fat *lol*... that transfer will come next. I'm glad I got rid of it all so quick and I was soooo worried that it would stick with me for a while.

Also I had my midwife appt. today and got the 'release back to work'. My body has recovered perfectly and I'm allowed to go on with all the stuff that I wasn't allowed to do for a while *YEAH*. Jenny (the midwife) was very happy about my visit and how I did.
And of course we took a walk (that's a daily must)... I just love it. And today it was sooo warm outside (almost 20 degrees C)... I felt so bad for Zoe that she was dressed so warm...

back to normal

Alright... man... that was something!!! It was a mess... but luckily I'm back to normal and Frank didn't get that stupid stomach flu. Puh... what a relief. I can eat normal again and we're ready to go to visit our family in Baltimore on the weekend. We're going to pack everything tomorrow and on Friday we're going to hit the road after we all woke up.

You have to hear the two in the morning... Zoe makes all these noises when she wakes up... like her daddy! Is it really sooo hard to wake up??? It's sooo amazing how much they are alike.

Zoe slept through the night again (second time in a row)... I don't wake her up anymore because I think she knows when she's hungry.

And today she just didn't want to wake up at all... crazy girl!

Here some pics I found on my IPhone that I still wanted to post:
Today we went shopping to buy some stuff for our trip and afterwards we drove through the park but I didn't wanna take a walk in the park because there were just a few people and I didn't feel comfortable. Isn't that sad?

But I feel safe in our neighborhood and once we got home I took the stroller out of my trunk and took a nice walk in our neighborhood.

Here a picture of our little bear... sooo cute :)
Can you imagine, I was looking for the pacifier chain with wooden pieces on it and I couldn't find it anywhere here. Well... Dana gave them to us as a gift, she bought it in Germany ;). I was soooo happy about it.

Dana and Sophia gone and a stomach flu :(

Yes, our two loved ones are back home safely and Doug is very happy to have them back ;). It was so much fun having the two here. We enjoyed every minute of their visit and I hope that we'll see each other soon again.

On Sunday just before they were about to leave for the airport a stomach flu hit me :(... I had a terrible night and Frank stayed home to help me with Zoe today. Frank doesn't feel very good either but hopefully he won't get the stupid stomach flu... it was a nightmare!!! I have no energy left at all... I have to start eating very slowly again and hopefully we all will be back to normal soon...

Family Photo Shoot

Here are some of the many shots from our photo shoot on Saturday... the result is awesome: