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.

Am still reading when I get a chance, just busy packing and decluttering ready for the move, and wow, is there a lot to get through. But the amount of trips I've made to the charity shops, we must be making progress. Just hard to see under a pile of boxes!

Good luck with the interview, freedom.

Hope all the poorly little ones get well soon.

Hi!

I am feeling slightly guilty about the fact dd hasn't written back to Linzer 's dd so was in hiding! She is having a reading and writing slump ("too tiring") for some reason and I don't want to do it for her, nor force her - hopefully she will get her motivation back in the next day or two!

DS1 had his first swimming lesson today - the course DD did was horribly strict and in a freezing cold and rather smelly (of too much chlorine) secondary school pool - the one DS is doing was mentioned by another mum, it is a long way away (40 minute drive) but so much nicer, I wish we had known about it for poor old DD! Still she did her course with all her friends so in some ways that was good. DS1's course is in a lovely warm pool in a spa place, and is much more softly softly, gentle and child orientated - tbh DS1 is younger for his age than dd was at 4.5 so it is all to the good! Got some rare and lovely 1:1 time with him too as I left DS2 with DH and DD is at a friends' house, and took him to a cafe afterwards as a well done for being brave (he gets very worried about new situations but after an initial snivel he got really into it and enjoyed it). 1:1 time with either of the older 2 is rare but always refreshing :)

freedom hopefully the interview went better than you thought, it can be quite hard to know how the interviewer/s perceived it I think.

Canella I can't really help with BF advice except has she had the baby checked for a tongue tie? My older 2 had them and my DC3 didn't, and he was so ridiculously easy to feed in comparison! Mind you they were all pretty easy after the first couple of weeks tbh (it's just that even the first 2 weeks were easy with DC3), which in itself means I am not the one to offer advice - I found Lanolish (or whatever it's called) worked miracles for the early days when it is almost impossible not to get cracked nipples a bit, so can't suggest anything else. Now if somebody could tell me how to STOP BFing a 10 month old baby who will not drink milk from any other source I'd be grateful - not a boast, I am sure our ongoing rather extreme sleep issues and BFing are intrinsically linked, and would so love to stop (stopping at night is hard when the milk is there and is all he wants, he gets himself so worked up if I don't feed him and then we are awake hours instead of 15 mins for a feed) but am somewhat at a loss! The older 2 took bottles so it was easy enough to swap, but I've nothing reliable to swap to with DC3, and feel I'm going to have to keep going til he's too old to need the milk...

The UK trip sounds fun - I went over for 1 night once when the older 2 were 4 and 2 and dc3 not a factor yet! My friend lived half an hour from Heathrow and a group of us from all over the UK (plus me) met at hers - she's moved to York now though, very inconsiderate of her!

admylin hope your dd had fun, bet you'll be glad to have her back, washing and all!

Yay for moving baby Gator - more work in some ways but more fun too, when you get to see indications of their preferences and little personalities :)

Hi folks, I've been reading the thread, but we've been hit by a chest virus and an ear infection in our house so I've only had enough energy to do the bare minimum in housekeeping and childcare.

Anyhow, DH has now resigned from work, and has accepted the job in Frankfurt. We had a couple of days of feeling good about it all, and now the nerves are beginning to kick in (I reckon these things normally go in waves of being excited, and then wishing you hadn't been so stupid, and back to excitement again.) So does anyone know the Friedrichsdorf area near Frankfurt?

We have some time to plan as we won't be moving until July, but even so I know the time is going to fly by.

Exciting news, Lifebegins - when will your DH be starting the new job? I think the waves of excitement followed by nerves and wondering whether you're doing the right thing are quite normal, btw!

Thatis Please don't worry about your DD not having written; there's no point in forcing her and DD2 will be happy to hear from her whenever she feels like writing.

DD2 and DS had their first swimming lesson yesterday too - although DS refused to go in the water. They were actually in the advanced class, as the instructor had lost our details and there weren't any places left in the beginners' classes. Advanced is fine for DD1, but DS will be going into one of the beginners' classes next week; DH said he'd go into the water with him, so hopefully that will encourage him to take part.

NoHun Well done on the decluttering. I just can't imagine making an international move any more, as we've accumulated a ridiculous amount of stuff since we've been here. Might be just what I need to force me to declutter, though!

silken Hope your DD is better soon. I remember being very when I first came across the Rotlicht thing when I was an au pair.

Gator It sounds like your DS will be mobile before you know it! Everyone used to tell me to enjoy the lack of mobility while it lasted, but I actually found it easier once they could crawl and then walk as they would get less frustrated.

admylin Hope your DD got back OK and that she had a good time.

Canella Glad you enjoyed your night out and hope you were able to make the most of the peace and quiet - I thoroughly enjoyed my quiet evenings while DH was away last week!

Well, I'm still recovering from last night - I've come to the conclusion that I'm too old to stay out until 2 am particularly if I overdo the alcohol. We went out to a friend's 40th birthday, which was held at a local Heuriger so there was a plentiful supply of wine as well as lots of good food. Unfortunately, you had to get up and fetch the food, whereas the wine was brought to the table; my laziness was my downfall. My other downfall was sitting next to my two Irish friends rather than my Austrian friends who were there, none of whom ever seems to drink more than about half a glass. It was great fun though, and definitely worth it.

My nails are no longer looking quite as good as in the photo on Facebook, but the manicure was lovely and very relaxing. I'm now wondering what other treatments I should have.

Great news, 40. See you there!

Linzer, thanks, feels really cathartic actually, we feel lighter already. Sooo busy still, but think things will feel good after next weekend when we are moving some things to DH's parents to store, then we can see better what we have left here to sort.

Listing things on eBay, or more trips to the charity shops, really exhausting, but I do feel it has taught us that we won't buy stuff from now on unless we really want it. We want to be more free, less tied down, able to move quickly without going through this palaver ever again.
I have this idea we will have a forever house in the UK as a base, keep a few things there, but for most of our lives, will live with few possessions in other countries, coming back here for short stints, but it should still feel like we have a base, and a mothercountry.

Glad you had a good night out.

Is there a Facebook group?

Morning all,

Just enjoying the peace and quiet becore everyone gets up. I'm not sure if DD1 will be going to school today as she had a bit of a stomach bug yesterday (she was sick in church - thankfully only a bit and no one seemed to notice! - and then spent the rest of the morning and early afternoon in bed), so unless she's completely back to normal and says she wants to go to school this morning, I'll keep her at home.

NoHun No Facebook group, but most of us on the thread are on FB. PM me and you too can admire my nails I'll send you a friend request.

Morning. Hope dd feels OK today Linzer, how did her maths test go that she was so busy revising for? It's not today is it? My dd went to school this morning but was quite nervous as they may get the dictation results back.
Your nails looked great by the way, loved the colour!

Lifebegins great news, hope the organising goes well and you've all recovered from the virus. Sorry, no idea about Frankfurt. Will you get a trip over soon to check out the area?

NoHun well done with the decluttering. It is never ending though isn't it? I've moved so many times in the past 13 years and tried to declutter every time so we're not bad now but still have to keep on top of it as we're still not sure if this is the last stop.

Silken hope dd feels better soon. What did the doctor say? Dd has had her eye on a rotlicht in Rossmann 'for when the gerbils are ill'! The vet told her it'd be good last time we had to take one to her.

Gator looks like you'd better get everything up on a higher level than baby as soon as possible! Although back in the day of videos our video cupboard was one of the things that occupied dd for ages, he'd open all the boxes, take out all the videos and try to put them all back in again!

Dd had a great time on her trip, came back tired and hungry although she said she ate all the food there and the breakfasts were great. Anyway, thank goodness that's it for another year atleast. Next trip is ds, outward bound next summer.

Morning all!

Hope all the poorly DCs feel better soon & that everyone is enjoying a little spring weather.

Oops - will post properly later - DS is demanding my attention. I've just been sitting wtching him practise his caterpillar shuffle, which is quite sweet, but he's getting a bit frustrated with his lack of mobility so I'd best help him :)

It must be spring here Gator, as the baker has got two tables outside (on the road, cordoned off between the car parking spaces - very gemütlich!). It was 0° here when I did the school run, however, so I think they're being a little optimistic.

admylin Glad your DD enjoyed the trip. We'll have all that to look forward to when DD1 starts secondary school; some of the classes at her primary school have been away on Projektwoche, but not hers.

Her maths test is tomorrow, so I'm not sure what will happen if she's still not well enough to go to school then; I assume she'll just have to sit it once she's back at school. She's still not well today, anyway, as she said her tummy still hurts and she's stayed in bed. Neither she nor DD2 are malingerers, so she's definitely still ill (unlike DS, who's always happy to have an excuse to stay at home!).

Linzer hope she feels better soon, it's usually no problem to sit the tests another day. After all the practise she should be feeling confident. I have got to the stage where I can't help ds in maths anymore so I just keep asking him if he understands it all and if not that I'll get him a teacher. Up to now he seems to get it though. I can just follow what dd is doing so won't be long before i'm lost there too.

Gator going to be a busy time for you until ds gets going!

Right, he is snoozing, so time for a quick post while I grab some breakfast!

Lifebegins How exciting! I don't know Friedrichsdorf at all, but we lived in Idstein for a few months (a few miles west of Friedrichsdorf). It's a beautiful area but quite rural. Idstein was far too small town for me, but I like living in the city. Friedrichsdorf might be completely different though. Will you get chance to get over for a visit before the move etc? We sometimes end up out on random drives on a Sunday if we are feeling a bit bored and restless - if we end up in that direction I'll have a look and report back.

Linzer drinking with British & Irish friends really is dangerous, isn't it! I find Germans (more German women, but possibly just the ones I know) tend to drink less, if at all, so I either drink less and feel very virtuous, or drink more and feel like a binge-drinker in comparison. Saying that, we met some friends for a drink yesterday - I had 2 small beers, which I didn't finish, and was quite merry on the way home

Nohun Decluttering really is tiring, isn't it. It sounds like you're making progress though. When are you moving? (Sorry, baby brain has wiped all non-essential information.)
PM me if you like, I'm on Facebook too.

Thatis Did you get your DCs' tongue tie snipped? Have they had speech problems at all? DS is quite tongue-tied but it was never treated as he never had a problem feeding (although I wonder to what extent that contributed to the bf problems). He is starting to stick his tongue out a little further now but it has the huge dent in the middle when he sticks it out. I thought I'd see what the Dr says at his U5. I can definitely see an improvement but we will see.

admylin Glad your DD enjoyed her trip. I bet it was really nice to have her back :)
I spent yesterday afternoon on my hands and knees trying to work out what needs babyproofing. I think he will be a lot happier when he is mobile as he gets really, really frustrated at the moment. He wants to be moving around and exploring but can't get more than a few centimetres and really starts to complain. I'm never sure whether to let him get on with it or jump in and help him as he gets quite worked up. I end up carrying him around the flat a lot so he can look at things to try and conquer the boredom, but he's about 8kg now, so my back is starting to complain.

We met our friends yesterday whose baby had the heart operation at 3 months old. The operation went really well and she made an amazing recovery and is all pink and chubby now. She has put on 2.5kg in 2 weeks, is feeding properly and you can really see the relief in her parents. Apparently it was hardcore, she was on a respirator for a few hours after the op as she couldn't breathe alone and had tubes draining excess blood out of her chest for a few days. I'm amazed at their strength - I would be an absolute wreck. She is looking really healthy & happy now though, yay!

Gator DD's tongue tie wasn't spotted til she was 3 weeks old, and had already regained her 9lb birth weight and gone past it, so I didn't have it snipped - DS1's was spotted when he was a few days old, but because I had fed dd fine with one I didn't have it snipped either. I didn't think they were that hard to feed but they were both very, very sicky babies, who brought milk back constantly, and I think my latch was never great and that they were swallowing air with the milk. They were quite happy and gained very well, and it wasn't painful after the first couple of weeks, so I thought it was all normal. It was only when I fed DC3 who didn't have a tongue tie it struck me that he is never sick/ never brings milk back and has never been windy, also I never had pain feeding him even in the first week, so I assume the tongue ties were a factor, though not major. But tongue ties vary in severity, I assume my kids are not especially tight. They have never had any speech problems - every other child here is sent for speech therapy it seems, but it has never once been suggested for either of them for German, and certainly both of their English speech is very clear. So if your DS has got a tie that nevertheless allowed him to BF for several months it may well not affect speech.

Argh DS2 has just pushed the toybox to the book case and turned it over, think he's going to try another climbing expedition...

Thatis Speech therapy is quite common here too - neither DD2 nor DS could pronounce "sh" properly so DD2 had to go to Sprachheilunterricht at school during her first semester and DS went to a speech therapist last year. He has a few problems with "s" as well according to the speech therapist (not that I'd noticed) but apparently that's not a problem wrt school, whereas not being able to pronounce "sh" would be.

Gator Great news on your friends' baby; it must be a huge relief to your parents.

I always feel like a binge drinker at my ILs as neither MIL nor SIL drink any alcohol at all; in fact, I feel like a binge drinker among Austrians full stop. (Esp. the women - I've never seen an Austrian woman drink more than one glass of wine, although maybe I'm mixing with the wrong people!)

I was so glad that I felt well enough to go to the first communion service yesterday morning in the end (although it was touch and go about half an hour beforehand) as two of my Austrian friends are Tischmütter, both were at the party the night before and neither were drinking. DH said you could just imagine what they'd be thinking if he turned up on his own with the three children, saying that I felt ill!

admylin I can still just about manage to help DD1 with her maths, but only just - and I get very confused by the way in which they calculate things differently. I suspect it will all be beyond me next year.

Well, DD2 is now at home too - I got a phone call from the school about half an hour ago to say she'd been sick, so have just been to pick her up. DS had it (very mildly) last week, so now it's just DH and me to go. Although I did feel a bit nauseous late yesterday afternoon/early evening; I'd assumed it was the hangover coming back, but it would be good if I'd managed to get the bug out of the way.

Thatis and LInzer I had to google the tongue tie as I'd never heard of it. Good that your dc didn't have it too severely. My dd had trigger thumb when she was small and had an OP at 3 years old. The German doctor wanted to just leave it, ignore it as she could do everything (feed herself, play etc) but thank goodness we got better advoice from a foreign doctor friend.

Gute Besserung to the girls, hope they girls pick up soon.

Have PMed Linzer and Gator re Facebook, if I missed anyone, please PM me!
Linzer, hope your little one is ok, and that you and your DH don't get it.

Have skimmed the thread as I am still snowed under with all the packing and preparations, AND the busy toddler!

Sounds like there were lots of good weekends, parties, school trips and pretty nails on this thread. And congratulations on the job offers and decluttering too.

Speaking of mobile and climbing babies, mine keeps climbing on to his toy box then trying to get on to the TV stand! Can't leave him for a second. Dh was very impressed with him in the playground yesterday climbing all the way up to the top slide.

Hope all illness goes away soon. I have a bit of a tummy bug too which seems to have come out of nowhere.

We have booked flights to the UK for the summer! Dh and I have donated an arm and a leg each as they are twice what I last paid 2 years ago. Been looking at hire cars which fit 3 car seats in and that roomfor5 website that Linzer kindly recommended. Might start getting excited soon (and will ignore the fact that ds2 will be on my lap for 14 hours!)

I've become friends with several Mormon girls who obviously don't drink at all. We went out for an English friend's birthday on Saturday and she and I ordered a beer before anyone else arrived!

Erm, on FB I am the one of Linzer's friends whose name is quite easy to decipher from my user name and I live in Oregon, if anyone wants to friend me. Not sure you have any other Oregonians on your list, do you?

Hope you all have lovely evenings!

Morning. Have woken up with a really sore neck. Must have slept wrong on it so am sitting with my hot Kirschkernkissen on it and have taken asprin.

Hope the girls are better Linzer. Great last night, my first ever chance at live group chat and I had to go and get ds from tennis just as it got going, then had to test French vocab! Ds does it with his school mates but I've never had a go.

Jenny great that you have booked your holiday. It's a shame there aren't any really cheap flights to and from the US. In school holiday times it's all more expensive isn't it.

Dd brought her dictation home yesterday. A 5. She was abit fed up to say the least. It was a 108 word dictation and she had 17 mistakes. Last year she had a slightly shorter dictation and 24 mistakes so she has improved but the grade has stayed the same. Teacher said the Durchschnitt was 4.1 (no one got a 1) so she wasn't the only one to get low grades.

admylin I hope your neck is feeling better soon.
It must be so frustrating for your dd. Mind you if the average was 4,1 she was obviously not the only one who got a 5.

jenny Well done for sorting out the holiday. I love having something to look forward to, although I don´t envy you the flight. I´m sure you´ll have a great time once you get there.

There seem to be loads of illness around at the moment. Dd was off school yesterday, but has gone back today. I hope all the other ill dc are feeling better today.

I´m off to breakfast now with friends which will hopefully be good fun.

Morning all,

Hope your neck is better soon, admylin; you're a true German with your Kirschkernkissen. I wondered where you'd suddenly disappeared to last night, although it wasn't really a group chat - just me and Jenny most of the time, getting by the fact that we were chatting in two different windows. Maybe we need a FB group, as I don't think I spend enough time chatting to you all on here.

Jenny Think most people have found you now but no, I don't have anyone else from Oregon on my list. Exciting news about the flights - you just have to remember that it's been ages since you were last back in the UK and that the $$$ will be worth it. (Why don't I have a pound sign on my keyboard? Even if I switch over to a UK keyboard, I still don't have one. I copy and paste from Word if I can be bothered, but it's a bit of a pain.)

NoHun Good to see you on FB too.

DD1 is back at school, so gets to do her maths test today, but I've kept DD2 at home for another day and have cancelled both this afternoon's English lessons. Your DD's dictation must have been very difficult if the average grade was a 4.1 admylin - and it sounds like she did well if she only got a grade less than the average despite her dyslexia. The marking sounds a little harsh too, although I find the whole marking system here very unübersichtlich. Or should that be unüberschaubar? Or maybe even undurchschaubar. Maybe I should stick to English.

Well, the asprin didn't help so I am trying ibuprofen now. Haven't had a bad neck like this for ages, years even. Dc will not be amused but they are going to have to empty and load the dish washer as no way can I unload it or do much else today.

Lol at being German! I do love my kirschkernkissen though! Hope your dd's maths test goes well. I also find the grades unübersichtlich (or any of those other words) and think a prcentage would be much better with a set range for all subjects. Dd had one teacher who said if you have more than 1 mistake you can't get a 1.

Very excited by all the Facebook action this week! Actually, saying that, DS and I are off to an English-speaking playgroup (run by & for native speakers) this Friday, which I'm really looking forward to.
The area I live in is a bit snobby & unfriendly so am looking forward to some normal, friendly chat with people who can actually talk and don't need their nappies changing :)

Hope your neck is better soon, admylin - I love my Kirschkernkissen for things like that.

Jenny Congrats on booking the holiday! It's always nice to have something to look forward to. A friend of mine just sent me a save the date email for her wedding in December, but I have a feeling we might be in Canada on that date. Will have to see what I can do as I really want to go to the wedding. (Am still bitter about the weddings I had to miss last year in my massively pregnant, hospitalised state. Grump.)

Linzer Hope DD2 is feeling better soon.

hupa Mahlzeit!

Just back from yet another dentist appointment and still have to go back for another appointment on Saturday morning. Apparently I have weird-shaped teeth & should have had some work done on them as a child, but it was never picked up on or seen as a priority in the UK, so has started to cause problems (which I was blissfully unaware of) and am having to have all the work done now. Thank God for anaesthetic! Unfortunately the problems are genetic so poor DS will probably have them too, but this dentist seems really good & specialises in children's dental care, so at least we can prevent the future problems with DS. My teeth are lovely and shiny now (she says, drinking black tea and munching on chocolate at 10.30am).

Gator very brave of you to get all the dentistry sorted. I'm so scared of going as I know they want my remaining 2 wisdom teeth! It takes enough courage to go to all these orthodontist appointments with the dc, trying to remain calm and not let them feel my inner fear.

He's after my remaining two wisdom teeth too, admylin! As long as he pumps me full of anaesthetic & gives me enough painkillers to last until the apocalypse then he is welcome to them :)

I've had three appointments now, and each time a different dental nurse has looked in my mouth and said 'oh wow, are they.... no... do you really still have wisdom teeth?!' then calls another dental nurse to come and have a look.
(I'm not 100 years old, I'm 28 fgs - surely it's not that unusual!)

I also have to try very hard not to pass my fear on to the DC at the dentist's. I couldn't watch when DD2 had her tooth out last week (I couldn't even watch her having the injection), but she was absolutely fine about it. When DD1 had her tooth out, I had to send DH with her - but it all happened on the spur of the moment last week and I just wasn't expecting it!

I know we've had this discussion before, but do German dentists also ask you if you'd like an anaesthetic as if you might actually prefer the pain. I still can't understand how DH managed to have his filling replaced without an anaesthetic last year, with all three children peering over him. I'm amazed he doesn't fear the dentist more as he had lots of work done as a child and didn't realise that it was possible to have an anaesthetic until we met - he did say that he always used to dread going when he was little, though.

At my last appointment mine said he would try without the anaesthetic & see how much pain I could take, but I think he must have seen the look of fear in my eyes as he then just gave me the injection anyway. DH said he had never had an anaesthetic for his fillings, so maybe it is a German thing.

I was really scared and nervous too, to the extent that I was sick before my appointment last week, but he really put me at ease. Once I realised that it wasn't going to hurt and that he was quite nice then I was fine. I think it helps that he is also a children's dentist, and also that when I arrived he was out the front planting some flowers, which for some reason cheered me up!