First snow

We woke up yesterday to our first snow on the ground.
Quite the surprise, despite being warned by multiple people that snow was in the forecast. For some reason when they told me 'snow', I logged 'flurries' in my mind.

Marion loved the surprise. She ran to the door and yelled "Look! Look outside! Snow white!!!!"

That excitement quickly turned into anger when Mommy and Daddy wouldn't let her outside to play in the snow in her pajammas.

Imagine our surprise! Just last winter she hated the white stuff so much she refused to walk in it. I had to carry her from the house to the car to take her to daycare.

Anyway, we quickly got her dressed so she could go outside and see it.


Then we headed to playgroup. In the car on the way there Marion exclaimed, "Look Mommy! Snow! It's so pretty!" Then, as we walked through the snowy slushy mess, Marion actually picked up some snow and ate it. Don't worry, I made sure it wasn't yellow.

Guess that snow hating phase is over! Good thing, since we live in Switzerland now.

The snow was gone near us by late afternoon. However, there is still some on the hills surrounding us. Next time, I'll pay more attention to those weather reports.

My little princess

Here is my little princess, complete with tiara and earrings. She has already informed Brian and I of her plans to go to a castle, marry a prince, and get true love's first kiss. I hope that works out for her. Brian is looking into purchasing a firearm.

Proof that no matter how hard you try, you can't plan everything

And you certainly can't control everything.

I think my kids are trying to teach me this lesson. Marion did a great job with her pregnancy. I hadn't even considered a c-section as an option for giving birth until I had a complete placenta previa with her. Then she had to up and enter the world five weeks early! She certainly put Mom and Dad on notice that things can only be planned and controled up to a point.

I got that message, loud and clear. I definitely mellowed a bit after giving birth to her and didn't stress out about things (as much as I did before I had kids).

But someone obviously thought I hadn't gotten the message.

Yesterday, at my 16th week pregnancy appointment, Brian and I learned that our second child's placenta had moved into another complete previa.

Talk about dumb luck.

Previas are supposed to be rare. This little one's placenta was clear and out of the way just four weeks ago. And yet, there it was yesterday. In the way.

My doctor was stunned. He asked me, in his accented English, "What are you doing? It was out of the way before. Are you pulling it down?"

Sir, if I knew, I wouldn't be doing it. Trust me.

So, as a result of this little surprise, several things happen. First, no more lifting for me. Good news, considering we move into our new apartment tomorrow. Not so good news for Brian though.

Second, we wait and see if it moves. Fortunately, 90% of all previas move when they are diagnosed this early in pregnancy. We are hopeful that we will be in the 90% and not the 10%. However, seeing as how it is a complete previa and hoping for it to move didn't work out too well for us last time, I would really classify it as tempered hopefulness.

Finally, we were forced into reality yesterday when the doctor informed us that if this thing doesn't move, I won't be able to fly. Which means no flight to Vienna in November and, sadly, no flight home for Christmas.

See? My second child is already a trouble maker. We are thinking of naming the baby "Hell Raiser". Think he or she would be tortured at school with a name like that?

So there you have it. Everything you never wanted to know about placentas. If you could spare some, I'd appreciate some happy moving placenta thoughts! I'd really like to go on our trips. I've been dreaming about a proper steak ever since we booked our flight back home. A nice, huge, slab of beef, cooked medium rare that won't cost an arm and a leg. Yummmmmmmmm.

Moving, the Swiss way

We are moving this week to the larger apartment next door. Funny, Brian and I swore off moving for awhile when we packed our bags and came here five months ago. Yet, here we are again.

But this time, we are subject to the Swiss rules of moving.

First of all, in most rental contracts, there are two times of the year when the renter can get out of contract with only a months notice. All other times of the year you are responsible for giving three months notice. Or, if you move out before those three months are up, you can find someone else to take the apartment. If you do not, you are responsible for those three months.

As luck should have it, we are not moving during one of those two acceptable times during the year. And, unfortunately, we have not found a tenant to take our current apartment. So, as of November 1, we are responsible for rent for both of the apartments. Great timing by us.

Additionally, renters are not allowed to leave an apartment at the end of the year due to the Christmas holidays. Double whammy.

We are still hopeful that we will find someone. Otherwise, Christmas is going to be small this year.

Another Swiss rule of renting is the state of cleanliness required for the apartment. Each renter is entitled to a clean apartment when they move in. And by clean, they mean spotless, eat off the floor kind of clean. I've been told the cleaners actually take off the handles to the stovetop and clean each individually.

This results in a multitude of businesses willing to clean your apartment for a hefty fee. Our apartment has been listed on a popular rental website for almost two weeks now. We have received two phone calls as a result of the ad from men who only spoke German. Once I found someone to translate I found out that both of them had cleaning companies and wanted to clean our place. Talk about frustrating! I was hoping for apartment leads and I get cold calls. Pfft.

Anyway, we had the walk thru for our new apartment today. They've lived there for four years so it needs some sprucing up. The management company is going to paint the place and recaulk some things and then it will be ready for us.

We will start moving in tomorrow evening and finish up on Thursday. Next week, we get to do the whole thing over again for our old apartment. And then we will definitely be swearing off moving for awhile!

To tip or not to tip

It's been a question for me since I arrived here. Tipping etiquette is pretty well known in the US: 15-20% depending on service.

But here, things are not so clear. Which is odd, since the Swiss seem to have rules for everything. But I digress.

When we arrived we took a relocation course. The woman who came to meet with us told us that people tend to round up on bills as a tip, if they are waited on. So a $48 bill would become $50, and so on.

Other people have told us not to tip. And then others tip 10%, less than they would in the US but more than people seem to do here.

I've done all three and nothing seems right. I'm so used to the 15-20% rule and really don't have a clue as to what waiters and waitresses expect here.

So imagine my surprise when I read this blog post over at Waiter Rant.

I couldn't help but chuckle to myself and thank my lucky stars that I tend to be on the overgiving side of things over here just in case. No one likes to piss off the waiter.

Little Miss - An Update

Marion's been up to a lot recently so this post is going to be all about her.

First, she is on her way to being potty trained. A couple of weeks ago I bit the bullet and took the diaper off while we were at home. And wouldn't you know, not a single accident. She put everything in her potty and clung to the follow-up routine like toilet paper on your shoe. She pretty much trained herself. All we had to do has clean out her little potty!

We haven't ventured towards training outside of our house yet though. I'm a little nervous about accidents but some friends have advised me to just do it. I might do just that after we move (next Wednesday!!!).

Marion has also become a great two year old. She has a tendency to not listen and talk back. And I have a tendency to laugh at her because some of the things she does are hilarious from a two year old! One conversation we seem to have every day goes something like this:

Me: Marion, (insert me telling her to do something here).
Marion: Hmmmm (placing index finger on chin, mulling it over), no.
Me: Marion, listen to Mommy.

This conversation will go one of two ways. She'll quickly respond "Hmmmmm (with that finger on her chin again), okay!" and do whatever I asked her to do like it was her idea in the first place. Or, she'll say no and do whatever she wants. Usually I can get her to do what I ask by ignoring her for a bit and then bringing her back around to the request.

There are also those precious two year old moments where she goes hog wild in public and it is just a disaster. And I prefer to not relive those moments because I become super tense and very aware of looks from people around me. I hate that.

We continue to feed Marion's obsession with princesses. We purchased Sleeping Beauty the other day and the girl loves it. Somehow she has even learned to clasp her hands together under her chin, raise her shoulders, tilt her head to the side, and talk in a sing-song voice about the movie. I don't have a clue where she picked that up from.

Not to worry though, we aren't raising a little diva or anything. Marion also enjoys picking up a ball and throwing it at Mommy and Daddy without warning. That's fun.

Our little miss has also become aware of her new brother or sister. She knows that Mommy has a baby in her belly. So now, Marion likes to tell us that she also has a baby in her belly.

And finally, Marion is back to going to playgroup twice a week now that the fall break is over. And her teacher recently informed me that she is starting to speak German!!!! I was thrilled and surprised at the same time. I certainly wouldn't know if she is picking up anything more than greetings and basics because I still know very little of the language. I have to resort to asking "Sprechen Sie Englisch?" (Do you speak English?) whenever someone tries to talk to me. Which has resulted in Marion asking people she meets, "Speak any English?", after she says hello. Always a great way to meet new people. :-)

Jucker Farmart

Two weeks ago Marion and I went to a local farm, Jucker Farmart, with some friends of ours.

The weather that day started out kind of iffy but, as usual around here, the weather swiftly changed from cloudy to sunny and warm.

Marion was thrilled to see her friends. And then she saw the pumpkins when we walked into the place. It was like toddler heaven.

We started off at the trampolines.
After a few seconds on those, some of the girls decided it was a little too much for them so we headed over to the animals.
Then it was playground time.
And then, lunch. This place had some tasty pumpkin soup (I think baby 2.0 is obsessed with pumpkin soup) along with fresh dairy products, meats, and apple juice. I decided right then and there that I would be coming back with a stroller and Brian to haul some larger pumpkins back to the car.

After lunch we decided to pick out a pumpkin. Small pumpkins since I was going to have to carry them back to the car.
While we were exploring our choices, we found prize winning pumpkins. They were huge! I have no idea how these pumpkins get so big. I always thought huge pumpkins like this would rot as they grow but obviously not!

The farm also had a lot of pumpkin art which was fun to look at.


Of course, Marion found the princess in the pumpkin carriage. Good thing she's going to be a princess for Halloween next week!
We had a ton of fun with our friends and exploring the farm. But by 12:30 Mommy was pooped so we headed home but with plans to return soon with Daddy!