Frühlingserwachen - spring finally seems to have arrived in Germany and Austria...

[LinzerTorte]

... or at least I hope so.

For everyone in Germany and Austria, and anyone else who would like to chat!

Thanks for all the advice on balance bikes. I think I will wait for dd's birthday as I held a tape measure against her today and she's only just 80cm. The smallest bikes seem to be 10 inch, but will do as you all say and go to try them first.

Have to post and run, Thursday afternoons are very busy for me.

back again: being very bad today

dd is 'ahem' 17kg but she's really broad in the shoulders and has an athlete's build...her legs are a little short, but her torso is long (like I said she's 94cm).

weather turning around which helps; out with Moo about 2hours a day

fighting with myself...I have a dull/cool bit which I cannot shake, making me terribly pessimistic; can't help thinking everything is really still going to go wrong...hoping when I see the dr and things are sorted more with the new babes that I might shake it...

sewing a zipper in a dress for Moo for her b-day...first proper dress (not just a sheath dress) and first ever zipper...

oh yeah...I thought dh was being a bit silly abt the forks/bikes -but he's weird like that and once he gets an idea in his head...well, let's just say I'm more capable of stopping the next major, life ending, asteroid collision...

now I really won't be back

silken - bless your DD how sweet, 80cm really is petite and might be a bit little for even the small balance bike - I just had a look in DD's yellow book and she was 85cm at her 24 month check, so that is the height she was when she started using the smallest Puky balance bike (by contrast DS was 82cm at 11 months old and 91cm at 22 months according to his yellow book, so also must have been around 85cm in between those two dates, when he took over the teeny Puky)... so I wouldn't buy a balance bike for immediate use unless she has had a test sit at least, to make sure she can get her feet on the ground! It does depend a lot on the shape of the bike and whether their height is in the leg or torso too.

Canella have you taken the pics off your profile already? I followed your instructions and got the message that you had not made any pics public. Probably my incompetence. I did get my lesson prepared thanks :) My back and hips were complaining when I got up as I had been sitting on a dining chair far too long between surfing about and actually getting my work done, and now I am walking like a 90 year old - the joys of late pregnancy! I could barely walk down the stairs in the Realschule after teaching my class on Tue eve, between sitting on the hard classroom chair and getting up every 2 or 3 minutes to listen in to conversation practice and mark written work as we went along - "assessment by walking around" as it was called when I was a "real" teacher is a habit I cannot shift but is not very late pregnancy friendly!

Oh that reminds me bebe a tip on avoiding carrying your DD and the running bike if she has a strop - take the buggy (assuming you have a sturdy one) with you if you take her for longer walks with the running bike, and take 2 bike locks - you can then put DD in the buggy and lock the bike into position dangling from the handle bars of the buggy (in place of a changing bag) and push it home without carrying any of the weight - I learnt this from experience when I had 2 of them at the giving up on the return journey and demanding to be carried, with their bikes, stage! I also used the bike trailer when riding myself (not an option when preg though, well at least for me) and found I could lock one bike to the back of the trailer and transport it home with the child in the trailer if they gave up - but if they both gave up I would lock the kids bikes at the side of the road, take the kids home in the trailer and go back for the bikes later in the car - locking the bikes at the side of the road for later collection is probably not an option in Munich rather than out here in the sticks though!

have put the photos back on for the rest of the day - i'd taken them back off but dont want you to think you're incompetent 2and1!!!

Late pregnancy is such a hard time -especially with other dc and work to manage! how many weeks do you have left?

3 weeks and 5 days til c-section date

2 more teaching weeks after this one. It is normally only one eve a week, only this week I am doing 2 due to re-scheduling. I think it would be a lot easier if I worked in the morning, but the class is 7.30-9pm and my body is about done for the day before I even start atm! I am glad I stopped the day a week at a private Grundschule I did until a few weeks ago as that was harder both physically and mentally, and involved 7 hour days without any breaks from the school kids, then home to my own kids, who were usually over tired after a longer KiGa day, esp DS who is only 3!

I have the opportunity to run 2 evening classes a week from Sept, when baby will be 5 months old, but am debating whether this is a good idea - after all the money is hardly amazing (although it is tax free as long as you don't earn over a set amount, which I won't), but then the 2nd class would be a repeat of what I have done this year so no preparation needed - so money for old rope! Also VHS only has 2 semesters a year so the teaching is not year round - you end up with a very long break from late April to mid Sept! I wonder whether to do 2 or just stick to carrying on through with the one class I already have... What would others do?

2and1 I'd probably be tempted if the classes are back-to-back, but wouldn't do it if it was two evenings. I find getting myself out in the evenings really difficult, you may of course be different.

I never see DD next to children of the same age, so I hadn't thought of it being "sweet". She's started looking quite big at the toddler group we go to, but she's the second oldest there and most of the children are under 18m. Also her head circumference is 50th percentile (she's off the bottom of the chart for height ) so she doesn't really look petite or anything!

Very impressed by your sewing, bebe. i made dd a sundress last year (rectangle of fabric with several rows of shearing, then sewn up the back), but I'm always horrified by how much time it seems to take. I don't think I'll ever dare try a zip.

Have finally got the DC off to bed - we went to visit an English friend this afternoon and I thought I was being organised by taking sandwiches for the way back, but the DDs decided they still needed a Jause when we got home. And then DH decided that DD2 needed to do some more practice for her dictation test tomorrow (despite the fact that I'd already practised the words twice with her and she hadn't made a single mistake either time). And then he found some mistakes in DD1's homework, so she needed to correct that. And suddenly it was 8 pm and they still weren't in bed.

Canella I'll have you know that we spent the entire time discussing different varieties of Lateinschrift. It was so fascinating that - as you already know - I completely forgot that I needed to have lunch at some point. No, actually it was really nice - and there was no gossiping; we'll save that for next time.

bananas Hope you got back OK - I thought afterwards that I should have given you directions back to the motorway. Lovely to meet you anyway; we must do it again sometime!

2and1 I'm very impressed by how you manage to find the energy to teach one evening class, let alone contemplate a second - I have absolutely no energy in the evenings (even without being in the third trimester). Maybe Jenny would be the best person to advise, as I think she has experience of teaching evening classes with a small baby.

bebe I'm also very impressed by your sewing. I used to do quite a lot of sewing and knitting when I was at school (in my spare time; yes, I was such a rebellious teenager ) but that was a long time ago now.

Yes, S is 8 weeks on Saturday and my German course starts again on Thursday! Not sure I'm entirely looking forward to it, but it's great while I'm there. As long as dh makes it home on time...... S was having EBM from a cup but he's old enough to have it in a bottle now. Good to keep the work relationship going I think.

Linzer, our evenings sound like that and the dc always get to bed atleast half an hour later than I would like! By any chance, did you find any other good websites on the Romans while dd was doing the subject? I know that test site is good but dd needs some other bits and bobs to put in her file as 'extras' as they get more points if they find other sources of information.

Help! Has anyone been to Hamburg? Dh asked me to book him a hotel in May for a 4 day conference but I'm worried that I'll book him into the wrong part of town and isn't there a big red light area in Hamburg? Any way he's probably left it late again and anything under 150? a night is fully booked. If he knew he would get it back it wouldn't matter but they don't pay him back and it all adds up. Otherwise he could travel every day but it'd be over 2 hours from house to conference centre.

No, that was the only website I used - otherwise I just typed out questions for her based on what they'd done in class. She still hasn't had the results back; apparently her teacher said that it's too noisy for her to mark them at home as it's a building site. Obviously staying on at school to mark them is out of the question.

I've been to Hamburg, but it was years and years ago; we stayed in the youth hostel the first time and I can't remember where we stayed the second time, probably a cheap hotel somewhere. Yes, the red light district is mainly on and around the Reeperbahn IIRC - I've seen it in daylight and it seemed fairly safe but obviously quite seedy; it would probably be quite different at night, of course. I have the feeling that DH went to Hamburg not long ago (I lose track of his travels!) so can ask him where he stayed.

I'm still trying to work out whether there's an affordable way of getting to the christening in September, but the only option I can find so far is with KLM, changing in Amsterdam, which would cost ?2000 for the five of us! You'd think we'd be able to fly to Liverpool or Manchester a bit more easily (it's not as if we're restricted to airports this end, either - Vienna, Graz, Linz, Salzburg and Bratislava are all fairly close) but no; obviously there's not much demand for flights from the NW of England to Austria (other than at weekends in Dec and Jan). Now if we were closer to Munich, it would be a different story... I was wondering whether to start a thread about it but I don't think there's much point as I've checked the timetables for both LPL and MAN airports. My friend said she'd asked about the previous two Sundays, but 2nd Sept was the only option.

4th September, I mean

admylin - about 10 yrs ago we stayed in a hotel near the train station in Hamburg. I can´t remember exactly where but the area around there was fine. Not exactly posh, but fine. Sorry not to be of much help. Isn´t the red light district in the St Pauli area of Hamburg? Just looked it up, it´s the Reeperbahn you need to avoid!

Linzer - It was lovely to meet you and discuss Lateinschrift with you - if I get the job in B we could meet every week! I also realised on the way home that I had not had any lunch, most bizarre for me as my body demands food on a regular basis. Also forgot I had wanted to pop into Vögele (sp?) to get some clothes for ds. I took a right at the exit of the car park and took the scenic route back to Vienna. Ooops. But we managed to make it to the library and park so all was well.

2and1 - how far would you have to travel? would it be easy for dh to get back? how easy would you find it to leave milk behind? (Just asking cos I was rubbish at expressing milk).

bebe - amazing skills - could we see a picture? In my next life I will learn to sew!

canella- hope you get reunited with GPs this weekend.

I am glad this week is over. The interviews were okay, it is hard to judge because people are good at disguising what they really think. I am waiting to hear from the job I really want. I should hear today - feels a bit funny to be waiting for such a call on April Fools´ day. The exam was dreadful, one bit was a logic test on the computer where there were 8 boxes and I had to work out the pattern and what went in the 9th square. I have tried those before and I am really bad at them, so not holding my breath. I find it a very dodgy test, and way of trying to work out who will be a good social worker. But I would say that, wouldn´t I?!

Have a wonderful weekend all!

bananas that logic patterns thing does sound a funny way of deciding who would make a good social worker! hope you get good news about the job you want.

It is a 20 minute drive each way to where the courses run, so not that inconvenient I guess, and although my husband has a very long commute which means his days are very long, his hours are very regular and he is only away very occasionally - he is almost always home on the dot of 6pm just as I serve dinner! As silken says though, getting motivated to get out in the evening, just as the kids are ready for bed, is an effort! The plus is my husband does bedtime when I work in the eve - it is the only way he does, usually I do bedtimes by myself while he stays glued to the sofa after we've eaten dinner together (some will say I should make him do his bit but tbho I don't see any point in making him grudgingly participate when he's only been home from work an hour, people who do bedtime as a couple don't seem to get it done any quicker or more easily!). I think it is nice for the kids and "good" for him to do bedtime once a week, maybe twice would be better, but I wonder how that would go with a 5 month old thrown into the equation! . I can express fine though - my BF problem is too much milk/ very fast let down not the opposite, so expressing is manageable (though always a pain no matter what). Mind you DD would never take a bottle of EBM (I went back to work in a secondary school for a short time when she was 6 months old) but when we tried formula in desperation she accepted that from a bottle easily and the huge freezer stock of EBM I had dutifully built up before returning to work all had to be binned!

Jenny good luck with returning to teaching your German course on Thursday! How are things going with DS and the baby now? Are you getting much sleep at night?

admylin sorry never been to Hamburg!

Bebe well done on the dress sewing - you'd fit in better here in Germany than you think, I always get the impression most German mums are very good at crafts and sewing etc. - I am rubbish myself, don't have the patience! I am happy to let my kids loose with paints and craft materials but can't make anything that looks half decent myself, and can't maintain the interest, I'm afraid I buy everything!

bananas and Linzer - glad you enjoyed your coffee. Bananas, that logic test sounds really bizarre. I´m sure it would be appropriate for some jobs, but surely other qualities are more important in social work. I hope you get good news today.

2and1 - I think 2 courses might be a bit much with a new baby, but I suppose to an extent it depends on the baby. I´m sure you´re going to have the perfect baby, so won´t be feeling sleep deprived, but it´s impossible to say before they´re here.

admylin - dh stayed in Hamburg last year with friends, but I´m not sure where. I´ll ask him later. He did say he was standing outside Burger King waiting for his friends, when he was approached by a woman asking if he´d like a feel of her "buns." Obviously he declined, but he said he wasn´t even close to the Reeperbahn at the time.

It looks like it´s going to be a sunny weekend here, so no doubt dh will insist on grilling at some point. Not that I mind, at least it´s one less meal I have to worry about.

Oh no bananas, I feel even more guilty now! I have an absolutely atrocious sense of direction (our sat nav is a godsend!) but tend to assume that everyone else's is much better. Hope you get some good news today (although a weekly coffee in BN would be nice too - must just remember to eat next time!).

2and1 I think bedtimes actually take longer when DH is there to help than if I put the DC to bed on my own. He doesn't usually get back until around 6.45 pm, when I already have the DC ready for bed (in theory, at least...) - and then he arrives, they liven up again, he discovers that some more homework needs to be done/extra work needs to be practised, etc etc.

hupa DH doesn't need much of an excuse to get the barbecue out. And is it just Austrian men who like to fan the flames with a hairdryer or do Germans do it too? Must admit my heart sinks when my ILs have a barbecue (which, in the summer, is every time we go and visit) - I hate eating outside there as you're constantly plagued by flies landing on your food, and there's hardly anything for me to eat other than greasy courgettes and potatoes. I suppose I should really cook something for myself rather than complain, but I can't be bothered - plus they like to have lunch at about 11.30 am when I'm not very hungry anyway.

My sat nav tells me that we're only 4 hours 10 min from Munich airport, so maybe flying from Munich is feasible after all - even if we did get back late on Sun evening. The time of the flight over is possibly more of a problem though, as it doesn't land in Manchester until 11 pm.

I got the job I wanted -. Thanks for all your kind comments. I now have to go and buy some suitable clothes and let´s just say it is not my favourite activity.

linzer- don´t feel bad. It´s my fault - I take a cowboy attitude to getting places, don´t look at a map until I have been lost for a while. I set off thinking "vienna is in this direction surely" and it was, but it was the slow road. However I joined the motorway at SCS so not that bad. Any luck with the flights? If you are considering Munich, how about Prague or Budapest? At least the latter is closer than Munich. We´ll have to sort out a way to have our coffees!

canella - never ever see your students results as a reflection of what you teach them! I taught a seminar on ethnicity at university and one student wrote that an example of ethnicity was "that all Jews were money-grabbing and mean". I was mortified and asked the head of the course for a meeting to clarify that I had NOT said that.

Off to get my haircut - suddenly realised what a mess it is!

congrats bananas

dr appointment apparently NEXT friday ;) DOH

Aw well done bananas!! You must be over the moon!! You should celebrate that tonight!!! When does it start?

Sorry no MN time today

Hope you all have a good weekend - hope its as warm as promised!

Hola! I'm afraid this is a quick post-and-run as we're off to the in-laws for the weekend.

Bananas Congratulations!! Make sure you pour yourself a large glass of something bubbly to celebrate tonight - it is Friday after all :)

Bebe Doh! Although the amount of times I have done the same thing...

A big wave to everyone else and hope you all have a lovely weekend.

P.S. I have the beginnings of a bump! And I'm fairly sure it can't be blamed on excessive amounts of cheese on toast...

That's fantastic news bananas; well done! How many hours a week will you be working? I'm sure we'll manage to fit in a coffee somehow even if you're not working here! Thanks for the tip re Budapest and Prague; that definitely gives us a few more options.

Oh dear bebe - still, better than being a week too late for your appointment. You've reminded me that I need to make an appointment at the gynaecologist's - just for a check-up I hasten to add.

Great news on the bump Banana.

Thanks all!

Better news still - friend pregnant after IVF. Fingers crossed all works out for her.

Congratulations on the job Bananas , and to your friend too!

It is really hot here today - we are all in the garden and I have finally said yes to the kids' request to play with water (just to play cafes not paddling pool quite yet) - they have een asking every day since the snow melted if is warm enough to play with water outside!

Oops on the apt mix up bebe - I just realised today that I have double booked myself for my next antenatal apt this Thursday as I had had a letter through a few days ago with an apt slot to DD to the school to officially sign her up to start in Sept, about 20 mins after my antenatal apt time - totally impossible as not only do the antenatal apts take 1.5 to 2 hours (a lot of which is waiting about but also half an hour on the CTG foetal heart monitor now) but it is also a half hour drive between the 2 places!

Happy UK Mother's Day everyone! xx

Lovely day with Moo for her birthday :) We went to the zoo. It was 25' today!!!