leise rieselt der Schnee - for all those lovely people in Germany and Austria or whoever wants to join us!

[Canella]

a new wintery thread in honour of Hupa's first snow of the season!

LinzerTorte many thanks for the links, I'll take a look and start thinking what will work for us.
I'm used to the Dutch system now which means only 16 weeks maternity leave and you've got to take the first 4 weeks before the baby arrives; hence babies of 3 months are in kindergarden/ kingerkrippe.

Canella - I work in logistics doing network engineering and I'm so far finding it's a very portable job. My company are happy to rework my contract to local Austrian terms which means I don't have to start over looking for a job or take a career break.

For your DD; I have no experience myself but given that when they start school it's not optional to go, it's probably better they don't get in any habit to think there is a choice to make.

Hope all of you up in Carneval area have a good weekend/ not too bad hangovers!

C4ro, can't imagine putting a 3 month old in daycare. How does that work with breastfeeding and the sleep deprivation? I was barely able to get myself and dd to a coffee morning once a week at that age!

Canella, am also evil guilty mum today. Dd cried last night when we went into the living room and put the tv on. We assumed we'd disturbed her and waited a couple of min for her to settle herself. Didn't go in to check on her as the door is very noisy. I went in this morning to find her caked in vomit. She'd slept all night without a peep though.

Now don't know whether to take her to Kinderfasching when she wakes from her nap. I made her a hat last night, so that would be wasted if we didn't go, but she should enjoy it as well .

Hope tallpoppies is doing well.

Hi and welcome cr40. No help with Vienna as am in Germany. Good luck with finding something. My dd started at Krippe aged 16 months for what it's worth.

Hope all well with Tallpoppies.

I've finally booked to go to UK on Wednesday.

I'm having 2nd thoughts about the flat we're buying as it needs loads of work. Apart from the cost, it's the sheer logisitcs of getting it all doen and organised from another country. My mum recently had her kitchen redone and she said it was measured up 2 times and took 2 weeks to remove and refit. Stuff like that. How on earth would that work? So I am now wanting to get something that doesn't need any work and we can just use straight away. Dh is NOT amused. I understand, but I also think it's stupid to stick with the plan doggedly. We'd want a wall knochking out, carpets removing, all the floorboards need work, including a couple replacing, as well as new kitchen and bathroom! I'm just feeling it's too much to do from afar. Dh thinks I'm mental.

Ernest- does he think you are mental because of all the stuff you want to do to the flat or because you want to pull out of the whole deal? It sounds like you would need someone local to help out with things. Hope you enjoy your time in the Uk.

Canella - I agree with others - I don´t think you were evil at all. I had to drag dd to school after xmas and leg it while the teacher restrained her. The stress of doing that and talking to a couple of other parents who let their dc stay home quite happily made me wonder whether I had been evil too. But in retrospect I think I did the right thing. Hope dh has a great birthday...are you doing anything exciting for it?

hello c4ro and welcome! Good to have a future Vienna mum on here. I am no expert because I have only been here 18 months. But I have not seen many babies at kindergartens. The Vienna Baby Club page that Linzer linked to is quite good. The Kinderdrehschiebe page has a good search option for private kindergartens. We were looking for childcare from Finland and found that many kindergartens did not answer emails,it was better to phone. Also intake seems to be in September so unlikely to find a place now, and maybe not even for September depending on which option you go for. Many (most?) kindergartens (both privat and those run by the city of Vienna are free - you only pay for meals. The Vienna City kindergarten information can be found here www.wien.gv.at/bildung/kindergarten/. If you are interested you need to get an application in asap. There is information there regarding opening times...I think most open from 7 - 17.30 but will add an extra half an hour at the start and end of the day if needed. Check with them about opening over the holidays..I think the city ones have an arrangement where they pool the children, as it were. I´ll stop rambling but let me know if you want more information... As for the car, even in the city there are plenty of garage places you can rent. So,if you find your dream home and it has not got a garage there will most likely be one somewhere near where you are.

Linzer - hope you had a good time last night. What was the Indian like? Can you remind me what sort of poppadums you were looking for? I walked past www.prosi.at/ yesterday and they had some that you could microwave...is that what you were looking for?

hope you have a good weekend all. Did ds come home okay admylin?

Morning. Ad, how is ds, did he enjoy his few days away?

Dh thinks i'm mad cos we were all up for getting a flat which needs stuff doing to it, but now i'm saying I don'tvsee how we could get it done while being in another country. Even the logistics f letting a workman in, we can't fly back every 2 minutes.... We don't know a bringing to leave keys with. He's pd of w me big time

Morning. Ds got back OK - very hungry and very tired! He got in, showered (oh yes, he was rather dirty too) ate a platefull of healthy stuff (grated carrot salad, spinach and potatoes) that he normally wouldn't like then fell asleep all afternoon on the sofa.

Ernest, does your dh have some sort of soloution to the letting in of workmen problem? It sounds as if you're the one who will have to do most of the organising unless there are agents who do that sort of thing for a fee - but can you trust them? And it's cost you so much that it might be worth getting a flat that doesn't need any work done but costs abit more. Was this flat in a great location? Did you get anywhere with your garden planning ideas? Anyway, great that you've booked for a holiday. Have fun shopping, relaxing, eating a round of fish and chips maybe!

Linzer, what did you have at the Indian restaurant? Where are you getting all this get up and go energy from? I'd like some of it, that's why I ask!

Enjoy the bday celebrations canella. Anything planned for half term?

Glad your DS got back OK, admylin. I'm not sure I'd say I'm feeling particularly energetic at the moment - just have a lot to fit in! I'm feeling quite tired after our night out and we were back home by 9.30 pm... We had a lovely meal though; I had malai kofta and DH something with chicken, can't remember what exactly (plus of course all the trimmings - naan, poppadoms, basmati rice, Indian tea, etc.) Also managed to go out for breakfast at the baker's before we picked up the DC, and then had a trip to ToysRUs (which I hate) for the DC to spend their Zeugnisgeld (another thing I hate) from my PIL.

Ernest A friend of mine here bought a flat in England a couple of year ago and hasn't found it too much hassle - although her parents are nearby if there are any problems and they're renting it out at the moment. I think they found buying the flat (dealing with the bank, vendor, solicitors in the UK, etc.) more hassle than renovating it/the maintenance. Her DH flew over for one weekend to paint it, but other than that they haven't been over specially.

bananas I was (still am!) looking for poppadums that you can heat up in the oven. I've tried the ones that you can microwave (or deep fry) and they would always end up burning on the outside before they were properly done in the middle. We still have a box left over from our last trip back to the UK, but I'm not sure it's going to keep us going until the summer! The restaurant was very good - we just found it by googling Indian restaurants in Vienna, and picked one with good reviews that was only a few minutes from where DH works. However, we found out this morning that friends are going to an Indian just off Mariahilfer Strasse today which is supposed to be very good. That's one to try if we ever manage to arrange for all the DC to stay overnight with friends the same night again!

Ernest I don't think you're mad. We've just started building a house and there are so many decisions to be made. Of course workmen can fit things without you there, but as you say, rooms need to be measured and someone has to decide what kind of floorboards and where they come from. We were at a kitchen shop for three hours today, it was our second appointment and certainly won't be our last. Unless you are happy to get everything from Ikea then you will want to shop around for a good deal and that takes time.

Hope you enjoy your trip to the UK .

Linzer I love mulai kofta. I can never choose between that and matter paneer.

Who was complaining recently about being "Mami"? I'd got used to MIL saying that and "Däddy", but now she's trying to teach DD to recognize "MAMI" written down.

silkenladder- I think it is easier for a 3 month old to go to daycare than the 6-9 months when they start to have the attachment issues. The worst of it is the sheer number of colds we get brought back already. We were still breastfeeding full time when she started so I had up to 2 hours a day at work for expressing with special room/ fridge. It is easier now as I only do one feed a day first thing and the rest FF. DD has only just started to sleep through in the past week (6.5 months) so I've got a hell of lot of sleep to catch up!

Ernest- is it your DH or you that will have to hop to and fro to supervise/ arrange all the making-good on the flat? If it is only a couple of disrupted months I would still do it, but lots of fiddly jobs that need decisions/ checks may be hard work (or just very slow) to be able to solve from abroad.

bananas- I got myself confused on naming of the different nursery levels. Due to her age its a kinderkrippe we will want to sort out. I don't think I want to go the route to sort out and manage 18 year old Croatian aupairs. Retired grannies or the BIL/SIL can hopefully cover the very odd overnights when we're both away.

It's time to pack another box I suppose, not that I'm hugely organized- March isn't too busy but April my brother gets married and May my BIL gets married, with all that and the move, I can't see time later to do it.

C4ro There are no Kinderkrippen where we live, so it's really either a childminder or an au pair here (or grandparents). I started taking on work when the DC were a few months old but because I work from home and it wasn't a huge amount, I was generally able to fit it in during nap times and at weekends.

I wouldn't particularly want an au pair either - three or four of my friends have one, but I've seen how awkward it can be when things don't work out. The language would be an issue for me too, I must admit - they are virtually all Eastern European and generally speak English rather than German, but their English isn't always great (and as the DC only hear me speaking English, I wouldn't want them to be exposed to too much non-native-speaker English). Also, having been an 18 year old au pair myself has put me off having one for my own DC!

silken I didn't realise you were building a house - lots of decisions but very exciting! Ours was more or less finished when we bought it but we were still able to make a few changes (extra room in the cellar, etc.) and we were able to choose all the flooring, doors, tiles, bathroom, etc. We were limited to particular shops and had a limit on what we could spend (if we wanted anything more expensive, we had to pay the extra ourselves), but it was still very time-consuming.

I always have malai kofta at the Indian we go to in Linz so was thinking I ought to be a bit more adventurous and was also quite tempted by the navrattan korma - maybe next time, if there ever is a next time!

We're just going to have a quiet day at home today. Spent most of yesterday morning shopping; we had to brave the hell that is ToysRUs as the DC wanted to spend their Zeugnisgeld, although only DD1 found something she wanted to buy in the end. Do anyone else's DC get Zeugnisgeld? I'm really not keen on the idea (the DDs each got ?20 from my PIL), but it's a bit late to stop it now.

admylin - glad ds had a good time even tho he came back exhausted!!!!

Linzer - very jealous of the indian food!! i LOVE it! home made curry just doesnt compare!! dd didnt get any Zeugnisgeld this time since my IL's are in S. Africa but they normally give her a little something for doing well! we dont at the Zwischenzeugnis but we give her money at the end of year one and will definitely do this year after her tough 4th class and esp if she gets into the gymnasium! But think its a bit OTT for the zwischen one!

Ernest - understand the trouble of getting stuff done on a house in the UK! we needed building stuff done to our old house in the UK while we were already living here. It only worked as we had an estate agent holding on to the key and that the person doing the work was a friend. But even with that i spent way to long on the phone trying to organise it and still felt it was all out my control. Do you have anyone who lives near the new flat?

silken - may need to pick your brains about kitchens. We want ours done this year but havent managed to even get to a store to look at kitchens while my ILs are away - no way i'm taking 3 dc with us! We would need someone to rip the old kitchen out and pull off the tiles etc - wonder whether a company would do that too? When will your new house be ready!! too exciting!
oh but dont feel too evil about the sick in your dd's bed - think i've done that a few times too!!! weird how they dont seem to mind

C4ro - our dc were under a year when they went to nursery in the UK since i had to go back to work - dd was only 5 months! but i agree with you - the amount of illness they go thro is terrible but it didnt do them any harm in the long term!

well we had a lovely day for dh's birthday yesterday - his brother and parents are all in S Africa on holiday together so it was nice to do something that was just us 5! we went to Bamberg for the day - what a gorgeous city (or is it a town? no idea!!). the inner stadt is so beautiful and not so big so we managed to have a good walk around without the dc moaning! only downside was our lunch - we were starving when we got there and picked a random italian - i had the worst pizza i'd ever eaten! how can an italian not make pizza!! think they had put way too much salt in the tomato sauce but i couldnt taste anything apart from salt. only ate a quarter of it! but a good excuse to eat cake somewhere on the way later! Then we had a nice bottle of Sekt later with some of Linzer's very kindly posted DVDs!! thank u!

No plans for half term - boys can go to kiga but might take them out a couple of days and go to the zoo etc!

But aim for today is to book flights to the UK for June! Keep putting it off but going to do it today! was going to drive but its cheaper to fly! would just be excited to have it to look forward to!

oh and thanks for all not telling me i was evil the other day! she came home from school absolutely fine so i think it was def the right decision!

Hi everyone.

My dh and 3 boys are away. Just me and dd. It's awful :(

House is so quiet, I miss my boys so much, cooking seems pointless. If it weren't for dd I def wouldn't bother. As it was, I did and she's not eaten hardly anything

It feels very weird, and not in a good way, to be without my boys :(

Re work on flat. We don't know anybody in Brighton. Obv don't know neighbours. Dh thinks to let people in or whatever ha can ask his dad or sister. His dad is 1 hr 20 minutes away in Kent, and his sister is in Wimbledon with 2 small kids, so I think he's being more than a little unrealistic. I honestly don't know how it's supposed to work. WHen I tried to talk to him about it he just got angry and said I was being negative.

We just had to plan the kitchen here and I was at the showroom many many times, not to mention 2 measurings at the flat plus several days work. How would that happen from afar? Still, being an experienced kitchen planner (that's the 3rd one I've had to do) I suppose it would be quicker.

Tried to visit friends in Switzerland yesterday, about 45 mins after finally setting off (much prior dithering) she called to say her dd poorly and puking so had to turn around and come home. Today drove to zoo. COuldn't get parked closer than 1.5 km from zoo, half way walking there dd was so cold I had to abandon and come back home. (IT was all sunny and blue skies when we left, grey skies and only 2 deg. when we got there!) so been a bit of a nearly but not quite, quiet weekend.

Will attempt zoo again tomorrow, hopefull it qill be quieter, be able to park and take a billion layers to keep dd warm enough.

sorry, should at least mention have had a nice time with dd, been to playground, played and talked. Just miss my boys.

Dh said they were bonkers all afternoon. I said he should've tired them out a bit. Luckily enough distance to not here his 'but I took them skiing for 6 hours' rant.

aw ernest you sound really down. Try to enjoy the peace of the house and time with dd and its only for a couple of days - you'll be in the UK on weds and be looking for some quiet!! If you gave me a choice between skiing with 3 "bonkers" ds's or quiet time with one dd i think i'd choose the latter!! but it takes a while to get used to the quiet!

Hope you enjoy your break ernest, I know the feeling when one (or more in your case) dc is not there! I really missed ds even though he's slowly getting back into the swing of things with teasing his sister and not listening!

Dd has another appointment today at the docs for her dyslexia test. She has a bright red rash again on her arms which she gets when she is nervous. This time it's from the last German test and it flare dup again last night. Wonder if I should tell them/show the doctor.

Westvan, can you remember your boys doing Die Welle in German? Dd's teacher said it will come in the next couple of years as it's a set book. We watched the film yesterday and are hoping it's not the sort of book to come before atleast year 9! Some really difficult subjects for discussion in there.

Your day out sounded lovely Canella (well, apart from the pizza!). Did you manage to book your flights? A friend of mine is driving back to the UK in the summer; they were going to take the Autoreisezug from Düsseldorf but it seems to have stopped running, so they'll be driving all the way. Three hours in the car from the airport back to my parents is enough for me, especially as DD1 sometimes gets travel sick on the way back through the winding mountain roads. We try to catch the train if we can, but it doesn't always fit in with the flight times.

Sorry to hear you're missing your DSs, Ernest. DH sometimes takes the DC to my ILs at the weekend if I have to work and I just can't get used to how quiet the house is.

admylin Hope your DD's appointment goes well; I would definitely mention the rash. We've just found out that one of the Gymnasien that we'd ruled out for DD1 (as she wouldn't get the grades needed) might be an option after all, as they might well accept a 2 in her Zeugnis if we have proof that she's dyslexic. I would be worried about how she'd cope once she was actually there, though, as apparently not all the teachers would take her dyslexia into account.

We (or rather the DC) have decided on Playmobil land in June so now just need to find somewhere to stay. The hotel on site seemed surprisingly reasonable but was already fully booked, unfortunately.

Hi everyone!

Ad - Yes, they did do it but I can't for the life of me remember which class it was. 8th perhaps? I'll ask when they get home.

What's Die Welle about - is it a translation of The Wave by Morton Rhue? DH has a copy - I'd never heard of it before - which I read years and years ago, but I can't remember much about it.

oh Ernest, hope you are feeling better today. Must be hard to get used to the quiet, and just as you get used to it, they will be back.

ad, hope the appointment goes well. I would mention the rash too because it seems relevant.

c4ro, sounds like a good decision to avoid au pairs! I could not imagine having one even if had space and money. My dd went to nursery at 5-6 months (ds was 9 months as they had changed maternity leave regulations and I had been in the job long enough to have 9 months on full pay) and not only did they get all the bugs but dh and I suffered them too. It was dreadful. Things I wrote about kindergarten will also apply to Krippe as well.ds went to childcare here at the age of 2 and it was free - it was called a kindergarten just to confuse us all! Good luck with the move!

Linzer- no Zeugnisgeld here. But remember we are quite new to the system and it won´t take the dd long to cotton on! On the last day of school, when they got their zeugnis I took dd for an ice-cream and then just the two of us got some lunch at a local Beisl. She was soooooo pleased that she could choose what she wanted and did not have to share it with dd2. (They usually take turns to choose something to share when we go out). On poppadums...now that I know what you are after, I shall have a look for you. I NEED to go back to the shop soon because they sell frozen churros (spanish pastry things...very greasy but remind me of being in Spain),

canella. your day out sounds fab. Hope you survive the break, I mean enjoy the break. How is your hand now? Is it fully normal again?

Time to go to the shops. Have not quite been feeling normal for over a week, I have had a cold and just exhausted. I think it is time for spring to come along...lots of cafes have their tables out in preparation!

admylin - i'd def mention the rash to someone but some people just do get rashes when they are stressed. I used to work with a woman who always got them when she had to do a presentation! wonder if there's a cream they can give your dd for it?

Linzer - whoo hoo for Playmobil land!! I've never looked but i'd imagine there would be loads of hotels in that area - i presume you're driving there? so you could easily stay in Nurnberg and drive the 20 mins out to playmobil land? how long will you go for?
Not booked the flights yet but will (!!) do it tonight! was already to book some flybe ones before but they charge you 33? to pay for your ticket!!!!!!!! . So once it all adds up i might as well fly lufthansa - just need dh to have a look at it later to double check it!

bananas - hope you feel better soon! thanks for asking about my hand - its nearly 100% now! but its been quite painful to put any weight thro it up till the last couple of days so i'm glad it seems to be on the mend! might even try my bike today - thats been to sore until now!

well i've stupidly very nealy run out of petrol and i think i dont have enough to get to the petrol station!!! . so now need to wait till dh brings me some later! first time ever that i've let it run so empty but was running late to pick up ds's and didnt have time to stop for fuel! so going to spend the day in our village - the weather is so lush that we need to make the most of it!

ps - are we needing a new thread soon or should we wait till it feels really springlike?

bananas Sorry to hear you're not feeling great. I've had a cold threatening for the last few days and have been managing to ward it off so far with echinacea and Vicks first defence, but I'm still not feeling full of energy. Not the best time for work to arrive either (some came earlier) as I'm not feeling very inspired or creative today.

Canella The so-called cheap flights never really work out that cheap once you've added on taxes, luggage, priority boarding, etc etc - it was just as cheap for us to fly with Lufthansa at Christmas. I don't really fancy changing planes when I fly on my own with the DC in the summer though, so have booked with Ryanair again (they had an offer on where you didn't have to pay taxes, so the price wasn't too bad in the end).

I don't mind starting a new spring thread if everyone thinks it's spring-like enough. It's certainly nice and sunny (if not particularly warm) here today, but I don't want to get my hopes up too soon!

Yes, very spring like here too, lovely sunshine, just wish it would warm up abit!

Dd got the Fragebogen back from her teacher today (that the doc gave us about her test) and we had a peep at his comments - he wrote that she's very shy and verslossen but is kunstlerisch begabt and that she can write good poetry. She was pleased and is now hoping that means the klassenarbeit will come back with a good grade! He's handing them out on Thursday. I didn't get the chance to see the doctor today, it was very busy so she just grabbed dd and took her away upstairs to do the test then the waiting room was really full when they came back down so will have to write it down on the next form that she gave me - how do I put that in good German? Sie bekommt Ausschläge bei ...I'm stuck already!

Linzer, yes it's that book -in German of course. I read abit about it and it's meant to be Pflicht in german schools.

Anyway, off to do French practise and then take ds to table tennis.