Wenn es im Winter stürmt und schneit, haben wir eine Flasche Glühwein allzeit bereit - life in Germany and Austria

[LinzerTorte]

As I couldn't find a suitable poem mentioning Glühwein, I composed my own. Please don't laugh.

All welcome - anyone living in Germany, Austria or anywhere else who would like to chat.

Morning all, hope the storms aren't too bad where you all are. There are weather warnings for parts of Germany. Wet and windy here but not too bad yet.

Linzer, yes a 3 in any subject is hard at first but English even more so. I have to keep reminding myself though - a 3 here would often have been a B in my school days. Even a 4 is infact 'ausreichend' so not the end of the world. Takes a while to get used to the marking system. Ds has just got a 4 in a physics test but the whole class got 3 or 4 and a few 5s.

C4ro, how was the party? Dh's was on Wednesday and they booked an event location but then took it in turn to be DJ starting with the big boss neurosurgeon! Dh didn't have a go but it went from classic, arabian, disco to Schlager!

5more, your dc are adorable, hope ds is feeling better and you all had enough sleep!

Gator, how is it going today? Is your ds OK with his bottle now that you're stopping feeding him? My ds loved his bottle when i stopped at 3 months and he suddenly put on lots of weight and went all chubby!

Dd went out to school in a strop again, scowling and marching down the street. She can be so sweet but if one thing sets her off in the early morning she's like the wicked witch of Hannover. Ds is always cool and just sits and laughs at her which makes her worse. Sigh, lets hope she comes home in a better mood. And I have no idea what set her off this morning.

Am I the first one here this morning?

DD's kiga is closed today for a "Konzeptionstag" and since the weather has been miserable all week I had planned to drive to the nearest softplay centre with a friend as long as it isn't snowing. So of course we've woken up to Christmassy scenes of large snowflakes zooming past the window .

I put DD back in a disposable last night and she stayed dry as far as I can tell. Mind you, she woke at 11pm, which is very unusual for her, so I took her to the toilet then and she fell asleep again very quickly. My plan now is to put her in disposables every night and leave them off completely if she goes three weeks without a noticeable wee.

Gator I bet you're looking into elimination communication now in order to avoid potty training stress later . Hope your milk production is finally getting under control today.

Is it still snowing ladder? No sign up north yet, just lots of rain. Have you got your winter reifen on the car yet? I must remember to buy some sort of Streu whatever it's called to spread on the drive down the the garage when the time comes.

Er, no. Morning admysteltoe .

Oops, x-posted again. Yes, it's still snowing.

The weather here is fine atm (well, cold and windy but no snow thank goodness) - I'm hoping it stays that way until next Friday at least, when we're due to fly back to the UK. I just remember getting very worried last year when I heard that Düsseldorf airport (where we changed) was closed, although fortunately it had reopened by the time we flew back after Christmas.

ad DD1 is fairly used to getting 3s, but they don't get grades in English and hardly do any writing so I don't have as much incentive to focus on her spelling etc. as I would do otherwise.
It just takes a small thing to set DD2 off as well. And DD1 really knows how to wind her up. I think they'd be lost without each other, though. DD1 keeps saying that she wants her own room when she moves up to secondary school, but atm she's sleeping in the same bed as DD2 (DD2 said it's because DD1 wants to) - they have bunk beds but are both sleeping on the bottom bunk, at opposite ends.

ladder That sounds like a good plan - your DD will probably be out of night-time nappies before DS is! He was doing really well but being ill has set him back, and he had yet another full nappy this morning so I don't want to risk leaving the nappies off yet.

It's the last English lesson before Christmas with my Friday group today, so we're going to have a mini-Christmas party with crackers, mince pies and mulled punch. I took a cracker into school yesterday to show the children and they were very disappointed that I didn't open it, but it would have felt like a waste!

Madness that you've got snow ladder when I'm only 40 mins away and have only got hortific torrential rain. Amazing how difference the weather can be. But dh tells me there's a horrific storm coming at lunchtime and there's snow forecast for every day after today.

admylin - hope your dd comes back in a better mood. Teenage hormones are like having a 2 year old again sometimes!

linzer - when do you fly? Will hope the snow stays away.

daisygator - hows the milk today?

Dh is off again today but the electrician is also here so no lying lazily in bed for us this morning (which is what we did yesterday once the dc were out!). We've got loads of little electrical problems so he might be here a while.

Oh no, snow every day doesn't sound good Canella. Not for us either - we're flying from Munich next Friday. At least we're travelling down the day before and staying overnight near the airport. DH's original idea was to stay overnight with his parents, but they're still a good few hours from Munich (and our flight is at 9 am). Luckily that idea was scotched when DS's allergies flared up really badly last time we were at my ILs'.

No sign of snow here - I can't decide whether I'm happy or sad about that...
It's just wet & stormy at the momemt. I checked the forecast for the week and it doesn't look like it will even drop below zero so a very mild Christmas here I guess. Hopefully it will mean no issues with my brother's flights.

I'm still quite full & lumpy this morning but there was much less leakage in the night so I'm taking that as a positive. With my long, tangled hair, huge, lumpy boobs & uniform of black t-shirt & black cardi I look like Nigella's ugly sister! I'm back on the caffeine (woohoo!) and think I might even hit the wine AND the hairdresser's at the weekend - although not at the same time, that would only end in tears :)

I thought I'd hit the shops tomorrow too - I need a new coat with a hood & really want a new Parka. I haven't had one since I was a student but it was always the comfiest, most practical coat. I keep kidding myself that I'm going to become all elegant & stylish in a nice, smart coat but that's never going to happen!

C4ro How was the party?

Linzer Did you enjoy your night in? Are you looking forward to your trip back to the UK?

admysteltoe I hope the strop is over by the time DD arrives home!

ladder Sending dry vibes your way - it sounds like your plan with the disposables is the way to go.

Canella Enjoy your day off with DH. I hope the electrician sorts all your problems (well, the electrical ones anyway - if he manages to sort out the weather then I want his phone number!)

Morning all!
I´ve finished my self imposed mumsnet ban today. I decided that until I´d written all my cards, bought the last presents and wrapped them, I´d give mumsnet a miss. It´s too easy to sit down for 10 minutes and then suddenly it´s 2 hours later and the dc are coming home from school.

Well it´s been snowing here since we woke up , but it´s fairly wet snow, so i don´t think it will stay around for long once it stops snowing.

linzer I wonder what your group will make of the mince pies. Do you think anyone will be brave enough to try them?

gator I´m glad you´re finally seeing the light at the end of the tunnel. Enjoy your tea.

ladder I did try lifting dd, but only because she was over 5 and her younger brother had already been out of nappies for over 2 years and she was so annoyed at the injustice of it all. It did work, but only if we took her after 11pm, so it was normally dh´s job as I´m usually tucked up in bed by then. Your plan sounds good to me.

admylin I hope your dd comes home in a better mood. My dd has only just turned 9, but I´m already getting glimpses of the teenager she´ll become. I have to admit it´s me that tends to laugh at her which is like a red rag to a bull, so I really must try to stop.

We has dd´s Christmas party yesterday which was really much better than I expected. I think the trick is to go with really low expectations and then it usually seems not so bad.

Oh I invested in a snot sucker for DS' cold - I have never felt so sick in my life! It works a treat and helps him breathe more easily once his nose is clear but eurgh! I'm not sure what I was expecting...

X-post - morning Hupa

Oh I remember reading about those snot suckers, but have never used one myself.
I did once read a thread on here where people were saying they sucked the snot out of their babies noses with their own mouths which I think is truly disgusting and I don´t think i could ever have tried without being sick.

here is a link to the thread if you want to try it yourself.

No, no, no and no. There will be no snot-mouth contact here. I'm almost wretching at the thought!

Oh hupa thats foul!! I've seen those snot suckers in the shops but I've never used them. But good if it works gator. i also used to put a tissue with Vics balsam on it next to them in their cot. Thats also helped.
Have fun at the hairdresser gator - I am irrationally frightened of the hairdresser! I cut my own hair yesterday - its not great but with curly hair I cam get away with it.

The electrician just informed us that the electrics in the downstairs bathroom ceiling were so dangerous that it might have gone on fire at any moment. Feels like we're living in the house that jack built sometimes.

Oh yuk hupa, I feel quite ill now! We had one of those suction things and it seemed to work, but the thought of actually doing it yourself... just no.
You have far more willpower than me btw. Which is probably why I still only have half my Christmas cards written and still haven't ordered DH's Christmas present, despite him giving me full details of exactly what he wants several days ago.

I'm going to cut the mince pies up into small pieces so that only one or two will be wasted - otherwise I'll have six with a bite taken out of them (if the children are even brave enough to get that far). I shall report back later, at any rate!

Canella I need to go to the hairdresser's before Christmas, but keep putting it off. One of the disadvantages of having shorter and straighter hair now is that I need to go more often.

Gator Elegant and stylish is not compatible with a baby. Or toddler. (I don't think I'm elegant and stylish even now, but can't blame it on the DC any more!) I didn't bother wearing nice clothes for years as it just wasn't worth it - younger babies would spit up all over them, older babies and toddlers would manage to smear food on them...
I did enjoy my quiet evening in thank you, although didn't quite manage the early night with a good book that I'd been planning - somehow I found myself still up at 11 pm when DH got home. He was surprisingly sober considering that he'd had "four or five" glasses of wine, a glass of Sekt and a beer, but said that the bike ride home from the station had sobered him up.
I am looking forward to my trip back to the UK but am feeling a little stressed about all there is to do first... talking of which, must go and do some last-minute preparations for today's lesson.

Did I just misspell yuk? I think yuck would be better. yuk looks too much like yak.

Snot sucking sounds disgusting but the things you end up doing after you've had a dc eh! Who'd have thought they'd be puked upon, probably pooed and weed upon and still be in love them them!

Canella, hope it's not going to be a big job with the electrician. Hope it isn't going to be expensive.

Hupa, yes I also used to laugh at dd when she first started being moody but I daren't do that now or it just makes her worse. Well done for getting everything done too - have you finished all your Christmas shoping? I suppose I have mor eor less finished when the postman has delivered the amazon order. Still have to get one or two things in town next week (like crackers from Tkmax) but if I can't get everything when Igo into town I've decided it's not the end ofthe world. Dc have enough parcels to open and I've explained to them that it won't be a mega Christmas due to dh's work messing about with his pay. They did pay properly this month but it of course got swallowed up by the bank.

Oh no, just let ds in home early from school soaked to the skin and it's just started snowing.

Sorry to have lowered the tone with my snot sucker

How did the mince pies go down, Linzer?

Canella I always mean to trim my own hair as it's naturally curly & I just leave it as it is at the moment, but I always chicken out in the end & go to a hairdresser as I like to dry it straight if I'm off out somewhere. Strangely it's much easier to deal with when it's straight - unless of course there is the tiniest hint of moisture in the air then I'm doomed whatever I do.

admysteltoe Hope your DS has recovered from his soaking!

Yeah I wont be drying my hair straight at the moment - its definitely not evenly cut!

The electrician job wasnt a big one but a bit fiddly. The house just needs a bit of modernisation - it was pensioners who lived here before us. In a time warp I think.

Linzer Definitely not the same party then, we were a logistics company with our tyre customer. We went to a heuriger and had pretty nice food and drink. I didn't realise how many of my colleagues smoked though. Nearly the whole table going out to the little tent place between courses! Got back home by about 10.30- there were no entertainments thankfully. I'm not one for the kareokes! I find it hard to get good flight links back to the UK. I don't like changes though so we normally fly Munich-Birmingham now or Vienna-Gatwick. Not great though, parents are in the Midlands so ite means a drive one way or the other.

Admystletoe Are you near Hannover? DH grew up mostly around there- Wunstorf and then Braunschweig for Uni. He hasn't taken me for a lookround yet though its on the list of places to go.

Canella Hope your electrics are sorted now. The ones here in the rented flat are awful too. The bathroom light was nearly hanging off and sometimes didn't turn on from the switch. Elec and plumbing are the two bits of home fiddling that I do not do myself but DH wouldn't get an electrician and just got his screwdrivers out. It seems to be sorted but I hope it isn't on "deathtrap" setting.

Gator Back in the cold week of -1/-2 degrees C I got a parka! Comfort over style for me every time and it has to be easycare washing. I've even started giving away my really unwearable high heels now. SIL got two pairs of nearly unworn boots and I think is really pleased with them. Did you get a pipe sucker or one of the bulb ones? They are excellent, DD didn't much like the process but certainly liked being able to breathe/ eat after cleared.

hupa Since you've finished your Christmas preparations, help me with mine Congratulations though, it must feel great to have it out of the way.

Last night DH managed to put DD to bed without her sleepsack on. He knows her night routine really well and I was quite surprised he missed that. Looking forward to the weekend although it is now two sides of A4 to-do list of Christmas planning and shopping to get through. Ouch!

No, I didn't think it would the same one C4ro - I also realised afterwards that DH's had started at 5. He came home stinking of smoke, so I don't know whether smoking was allowed in the building, but I put all his clothes straight into the washing machine!

The flights from Austria aren't great, are they (unless you live near London)? It's a real pain that you can no longer fly directly from Vienna to Birmingham, so we normally fly from Bratislava. However, the Lufthansa flights from Munich were actually cheaper this time and it will make a nice change not to fly with Ryanair and have to worry about every kilo. We still have a 3.5 hour train journey from the airport to my parents', so Birmingham is about the only option for us.

Gator I find my hair easier to deal with when it's straighter too, although it does turn to frizz at the hint of drizzle. Or even after I've been running - one of the advantages to the fact that I haven't been running for weeks is that I don't have to wash my hair half as often.

admylin I don't think any of the DC have actually been sick, pooed or weed on me (apart from spitting up when they were babies, but I don't really count that as being sick), but you don't really have a choice about that anyway! Whereas... no, I'm trying really hard not to think about it. I never realised that that kind of thing even went on until I read that thread!

Well, the Christmas party went well and a whole mince pie actually got eaten. Two of the girls tried one and said they didn't like it, and two more (including DD2, who doesn't like them) didn't even want a bite. The M&S mulled punch was very nice too; I would have bought more bottles if I'd known, as it was only just over ?1 IIRC so quite a bargain.

I was trying very hard to be careful about the Christkind when I was talking about Father Christmas, and then one of the girls said, "Your parents are the Christkind, and they're Nikolaus, and they're the Easter bunny" so I needn't have bothered! (I think only the girl in the 1. Klasse might possibly still have believed in the Christkind/Santa - she said that both come to her house - so I'll have to check with her mum when I see her tomorrow night.)

Must start tidying up now - we had to rush out to DD1's dyslexia lesson after lunch and have only just got back.

Ha ha C4ro - I've just given DH's teenage cousin a bag of clothes and shoes - anything skintight or too high. She was over the moon, I can stop kidding myself & my wardrobe is now no longer bursting at the seams.
I got one of the bulb ones - DS doesn't like it at all but it really clears things and he likes being able to breathe properly again afterwards.

Linzer I use my hair as an excuse not to jog. It's only typing it that I realise how pathetic it sounds
We needed to get from Manchester to Steiermark a few years ago and it was a nightmare! I think in the end we flew from Manchester to Cologne, slept in a bar in Cologne airport then took the first flight from Cologne to Vienna in the morning (before the baker's had even opened, I was devastated), then got the train from Vienna to Graz and were picked up by the PILs and drove from Graz to Steiermark. That was an adventure. We couldn't even sleep when we got there as DH's DN was only 3 at the time and was desperate to play with us and tantruming loudly the rest of the time. Never again!

I'm cream-crackered but finally got DS down to sleep and am enjoying a glass of wine from the vineyard at the top of the hill where we live & looking forward to my parka hunt tomorrow :)

Still very full and leaking but I live in hope...!

Morning! (well DS2 thinks it is...)

We had snow yesterday - the older 2 kids had a great time playing in it in the morning, sledging and rolling huge snow balls - but it was all gone by mid afternoon. The storm in the night blew our heavy, solid play house over but didn't do much else!

I find the flying back to the UK a pain too, even though we only live 45 mins from Munich airport! It's not this end, but my parents who live in North Yorkshire; their nearest airport is Manchester, but even that is minimum 2 hours drive, and flights to Manchester are few and 3 times the price of the London airports and for some inexplicable reason take 2 hours instead of 1 (think it must be due to smaller planes?). The annoying thing is I lived in London then Surrey for the 7 years before I moved here, so most of my friends are within an hour of Heathrow, it is only my parents and 2 of my sisters awkwardly located in rural Yorkshire - I flew to Heathrow and stayed with friends then drove up in a hire car the first 2 years we lived here, but it works out so expensive, time consuming and stressful (esp for the kids) that way. We haven't been over in 2 years (and DH hasn't been back since we moved here, but then he is German) but we are all driving over, doing the crossing to Hull, in May.

Gator did you find a parka? Hope you enjoyed your wine and the milk situation isn't giving you any more discomfort. Does that snot sucker only work if they have a running nose? I am trying to work out how to phrase a question without making people feel ill but failing to think of a way... DS2's nose is congested but now generally erm, dry/ hard... don't suppose it would help?... sorry for the re-lowering of tone!

Linzer glad your Christmas party went well.

Brought DS2 downstairs at 5 after sitting with him for half an hour in the dark upstairs and he's been playing happily on the floor for half an hour, but is starting to want attention now, I deliberately don't do too much with him at this time as I don't want 5am to be play time, but sitting in the dark with a very wide awake very wriggly 7 month old babbling loudly enough to wake his siblings is also a little silly...

BTW I think my 6 year old is one of the few 6 year olds who uses the word "siblings" in English - typing it just reminded me that she used it yesterday and it sounded funny somehow - obviously I must have said it and most of their English comes from me, plus I guess German speakers are used to "Geschwister" ... rambling now aren't I!!