Die Kaffeestube - German and Austrian cyber Kaffee und Kuchen

[admylin]

Kaffeeklatsch for anyone in a German speaking country or interested in German, Kommt herein und setz euch!

Hm, maybe I'll stick with it as it is, and we can think Hun as in German, a triple pun. Or is it offensive/insensitive?

Sorry, have not been posting as have been feeling under the weather, though have been lurking.

Glad you have been getting more sleep thatis! It sounds like H might be turning a corner, fingers x'd.

Loving the alcohol answers. Kids are really funny and can be so strait-laced!

NoHun, well you know my actual name and I lived in Tadcaster when I registered here. I had no creative thoughts at all!

Hope you have a great start to the week!

Hope you feel better soon jenny.

Whoo hoo dd is home safe & sound.

But.......after being up at 6am then flying all day yesterday, we didnt get back to the house till midnight. She's supposed to be at school today but I dont have the heart to wake her up. Would I be a terrible mother to send her to school or worse for lying & saying she's poorly?

nohun - i'm from Scotland and you could never call someone hun. It would have bigoted associations so its a word I never use.

Hope you all had nice weekends - will be back later.

Hope you are feeling better soon Jenny - DC2 had the longest uninterupted stretch of sleep of his life (except a one off at 5 months old) last night - slept solidly from 8.15 pm til 3.45am BUT then he screamed the house down (in my arms), whilst headbutting, scratching and pinching me for a solid hour and a half from 3.45am-5.15am, when he finally went back to sleep, only to wake with DH's alarm at 5.45am, all happy and cheerful, standing in his cot shaking the bars and bouncing up and down, shouting "Mumma! Mumma!" and laughing... what is up with the boy!

Ploom woo hoo for having your dd back safe and sound! What did you decide to do about school?

I drove dd to school today (it's just opposite KiGa anyway so I just drive both at once, now DS1 has a KiGa place from 7.30am I can drop them both off at the same time if I need to drive dd) because it is absolutely tipping it down with rain, windy and cold - met her football coach in the tiny village shop opposite KiGa after dropping them off, and the coach confirmed girls football training is outside today - they've been in the warm and dry of the school hall til before Easter, but now even though presumably the hall is still free they are outdoors, because it is after Easter - flexibility based on weather clearly not an option!

Morning all. At last with the dc back at school I´ve got a bit more time to mumsnet.

Thatis great to hear that your ds2 is making progress - hopefully the screaming was just a blip!
It´s the same here with football training. If it´s after Easter it´s outside regardless of the weather. If the weather is really bad it gets cancelled rather than moving back into the sports hall.

jenny glad to hear you´re feeling better.

ploom you must be so relieved that dd is back safe and sound. I think I´d probably let her lie in or maybe send her in for the 2nd lesson if she wakes up early enough.

noHun We own our house because dh bought his dad´s practice which is on the ground floor and we live above. We´ve always fancied building our own house, but having experienced how much we´ve argued and disagreed about our new kitchen in the last couple of weeks, I think any plan to build a house would probably end in divorce.
My name comes from a noise dd used to make when she was a new born. I used to spell it with 2 "p"s but then I read a mumsnet thread where people were googlng their mumsnet name and realised a huppa is a wedding canopy in jewish weddings and felt a bit silly having it as my user name.

Hello to everyone else.

Morning all,

Feeling a little stressed this morning. DD1 was supposed to be having her cycling proficiency practical at 8 am, which involved a few very early morning phone calls and texts (I agreed to take a couple of extra children with us), but while I was picking up the second child, I had a phone call from the teacher to say that the test has been postponed to Friday. Cue panic as I realised I was supposed to be phoning another four parents and couldn't remember who (plus it was already 7.45 and they were most likely on their way, anyway). DD2 reminded me of two of them, neither of whom I managed to contact; I ended up texting one, but the other number doesn't seem to exist any more so I phoned another parent to ask if she could contact her. Finally managed - at about 8.30 am - to find the file on my computer with the details of who I was supposed to contact, so have just phoned the other two parents to apologise. Luckily, they were fine about it and had of course heard by then anyway, but I feel awful. Oh well, at least I'll know who to phone on Friday if it happens again.

hupa I'd wondered about your user name; it always makes me think of Hupe.

Thatis Good news on the long stretch of sleep; it definitely sounds like he's making progress.

Ploom Did you send your DD to school in the end? I sent the girls to school after a trip to England when we didn't get back home until 2 am, but that was a little different as it was the first day of the school year - I didn't want them to miss the first day, but also they were only at school for about an hour and didn't really need to concentrate.

Jenny Hope you're feeling better soon.

NoHun I think it was only seeing your name on this thread first that made me think of hun = German rather than honey. It's not a word I'd use in either sense, but I've never found your user name offensive.

I woke her at 8 - was like waking the dead!! Opa had phoned the school and said she'd be in for the 2nd lesson. Think thats a fair compromise. She can just have a really early night tonight. My IL's have just gone & now i'm going back to bed for a nap. Waves to everyone

Love the alcohol answers! I love the way DC look at things from a competely different angle to us sometimes. Very refreshing! (Much like the wine that keeps popping up in the answers... :) )

Linzer Sounds like a stressful morning. Was it cancelled because of the weather? It's grey and miserable here but no torrential rain or gale force winds that others seem to be in the middle of, thankfully. Did you at least get your morning coffee?

Ploom Yay that your DD is back! I bet she had an amazing time & that you're over the moon to have her back. Sending her in for the 2nd lesson sounds like a good compromise.

Thatis Good news on DS2's sleeping. Hope the screaming was a one off and that you'll soon be enjoying whole nights of uninterrupted sleep.

hupa Are you any further with your kitchen-buying?

Nohun How are you finding Frankfurt? Are you settling in ok? We had a lovely trip to the zoo in Frankfurt yesterday! If I'd thought about it in time I would have emailed you but it was all a bit last minute.

Suffering from a very snotty cold here today. It's been coming on slowly over the past week or so and has finally erupted. DS is napping for now & am desperately trying not to wake him up with my constant nose-blowing and sneezing. He's coming on in leaps and bounds with the crawling (he can go sideways and round in circles, but hasn't quite figured out forwards yet) and has a tooth coming through slowly, which (touch wood) doesn't seem to be bothering him. We seem to be going backwards with the weaning though. He really seemed like he had got the hang of finger foods (spoon-refuser unless there is yoghurt on it) but now he's started ramming as much in as he possibly can, no chewing or swallowing, just stuffing his mouth full until he gags. It's a bit scary so I spent all yesterday evening watching youtube videos on how to deal with choking just in case it gets that far. He's only just 7 months so is still tiny, but he was doing so well until a few days ago.

Hope you feel better soon, jenny!

That's very true, Gator - you've just reminded me to look on the bright side. I can now go and make myself a cup of coffee thanks to the fact that I haven't been to the hygienist. Hope you're feeling better soon. I'm sure your DS will get the hang of feeding himself before long - can you just give him a small amount until he's eaten it or does he get impatient? - but it's always good to be prepared wrt choking.

Yes, the test was cancelled due to the weather - but rather annoyingly, it hasn't actually rained (it's just started drizzling, but it was due to finish at 10 am anyway). I could have understood them cancelling at 7.40 am if it had suddenly started pouring with rain, but if they had to cancel because it just looked like it might rain, why couldn't they have done so a bit earlier? I'm sure a lot of people were (like us) already on their way by the time they heard.

Ploom Sounds like a good compromise. Enjoy your nap.

Hi everyone.

I've received a FB friend request from someone I'm pretty sure I don't know - initials YB. I can't get our mutual friends' list, but I noticed she had commented on one of ploom's statuses. Is it one of you? It's the second friend request I've had recently where I haven't recognised the name .

I don't think there's a YB on this thread, silken. I've had the occasional friend request from someone I don't know (I often used to get them from MNers when I was still playing Facebook games and would accept them if we had friends in common), but now I just click on "Not now" if someone doesn't add a note explaining who they are (or hasn't told me beforehand that they'll send me a friend request) if I don't know them in RL.

Thanks, Linzer. I'm starting to suspect some sort of bug may be responsible, since I read a thread on here recently about people finding friends on their lists who they didn't remember adding. ploom, perhaps you could ask your friend (if you can work out who it is) if she knows that she has sent me a request? Of course there's always the chance I'm being utterly thick and do know her somehow!

Silken this happened to me a while ago, and somebody told me there are "collectors" on fb - not as sinister as it sounds, just people who send all and sundry who they have no connection at all with friend requests, some because they are saddos who just want to have thousands of "friends" or some because they run fb businesses and if you are their "friend" you will get status updates about their business on your newsfeed and it is basically free advertising for them.

Could be that, or could be a glitch...

Morning! Will keep it short since I have shocking PMT this morning. I blame the Agnus Cactus!

silken - I have a friend with those initials who lives here in the village. Very weird that she sent you a friend request if you've never met. She plays those Farmville/Cityville games so maybe its somthing to do with that? Will ask her later.

linzer - grr at the cycling proficiency being cancelled. When have they rebooked it for?

gator - hope you feel better today. And hope your gorgeous ds stops making himself gag!

hupa - how's the kitchen planning coming along?

thatis - whoo hoo to a big sleep! did he repeat it last night?

Off to look for sad videos on youtube - think maybe a big sob might help my PMT!

Last night was terrible - hourly wake ups, and he is behaving very strangely today and won't nap - he did climb onto his ride on train (_Bobby car type thing) and actually ride on it, at great speed, through the living room to the kitchen (where he got stuck as he couldn't turn) - he has never pushed along with his legs before to get moving - they sleep badly before a new development like walking often but I hadly think Bobby Car Riding counts as a skill to justify waking hourly through the night. He is manic and screechy today and won't nap, although he is clearly tired and keeps falling over when he wouldn't normally and crying about things he wouldn't normally. Not going to get tonight's lesson prepared am I? ...

Hope the PMT passes swiftly Ploom

Sorry last night was so bad thatis. I hope this new development does mean he sleeps well tonight. Good luck with the lesson. Have you got any sheets you have used before that you could use tonight?

Ploom, hope the PMS passes.

V annoying about the cycling proficiency Linzer. Hope you are having a better day.

Hello to everyone else. Sammy is having a bad day so better go! Speak later.

thatis, hope you made it through the day. Wonder why he had such a bad night and where he gets all his energy from? Hope it improves soon.

ploom very good of your dd to go to school after such a long trip. Hope you're feeling better by now. How long does it last with you?

silken I think if in doubt, just ignore those kind of friend requests. Ther eis always an option to send a message when asking to be friends with someone, even if it's just hi remember me from brownies/girl guides/primary school in 1988!

Linzer hope the tests takes place as planned next time.

Gator another busy time for you making sure ther eis no choking - there's nothing you can do really is there except be nearby and make sure the food he does put in his mouth is small enough. I remember chopping grapes and such like for quite a long time!

Waves to Hupa, Jenny and NoHun (have you looked at any flats/houses?)

I'm exhausted today, I stupidly got up at 4am to see dh off to London and then couldn't get back to sleep so have been half zombie today (I don't know how you cope thatis!) and will be in bed nice and early tonight - and no snoring to wake me either!

Hope you are feeling better, tadj! Do you mind being shortened, would you prefer jenny?

Ploom, so glad your DD is back safe and sound, what a relief!

Linzer, Grrr re the test postponement.

Thatis, may tonight bring decent sleep all round.

admy, must be love with the DH! :)

Gator, thanks for thinking of me, would have to give the zoo a miss anyway (the vegan thing).

Silken, hope you get to the bottom of the Fb mystery!

We are settling in well, though we don't know if we will stay in this area, so hard to feel very settled, and definitely not staying in this apartment. I did find two great play parks today, DS had a brilliant time. We haven't looked at any flats or houses yet, have seen a few online that are ok, nothing outstanding, DH has hopefully asked the department at work who take care of this to start the ball rolling. I remain shocked at how expensive things are, for what you get, and still can't get to terms with renting for so much, and all that money down the drain! How do retired people cope? Or people on low incomes? I am also feeling a little frazzled with having to get it right first time, as I don't want to be forking out that exorbitant fee at the start if we find we need to move. Just want to get the area right - not too far a commute for DH, close to good play parks, ideally near a softplay, definitely a swimming pool - ideally one of those ones they seem keen on with slides and stuff! Walking distance to some decent shops for a mooch. A garden, and enough room inside for DS to play.

And I remain at the amount of dog shit everywhere. Makes me stressed having to be extra vigilant of toddler DS who runs everywhere, investigating everything. I see no signs saying 'please pick up after your dog', so they obviously don't legislate for this, and I am grossed out.

Evening all,

Another slightly stressful day here - none of the children at the two English lessons seemed to want to behave, or at least the boys didn't - so am having a large to calm myself down! One of the girls from DD2's class didn't come to English today - according to her mother, her grandmother was picking her up straight from school as her father was at a seminar, but according to the others in the group, she finds the lessons 'fad' (boring) so isn't coming any more. They were very sweet about it and said that the lessons aren't boring at all and that they won't get into Gymnasium if they can't speak English , but I still feel a bit annoyed considering the amount of work I put into the lessons.

The KiGa boys at the second lesson were a bit of a nightmare - and also managed to pull up a lot of flowers in the garden afterwards (it was too cold for me to go out to keep an eye on them, so I just looked out every now and again to make sure they weren't up to mischief and sent the DDs out to keep an eye on them, but it obviously wasn't enough) so DH wasn't best pleased when he got home.

NoHun Glad you're settling down, but grr at the dogs (or rather, at their owners). It's not too much of a problem here, although the owners who let their dogs off the lead in town (which they're not supposed to) do annoy me, particularly when I'm out running.

admylin DH often gets up at 4-5 am when he has an early flight; I never get up with him, but annoyingly can never get back to sleep after his alarm has gone off. Hope you can have an early night and catch up on some sleep tonight.

Hope you're feeling better today Jenny, that you have a better night tonight Thatis and that the PMT passes quickly Ploom. (DD1's cycling proficiency is now due to take place on Friday morning.)

silken I had a friend request recently from someone who had over 2000 friends (I think we had one mutual friend), so I quickly deleted it! I do know a couple of people in RL who have around 1000 FB friends; I think they must add absolutely everyone they meet.

I have 600 Fb friends, but they are all people I know, well, some only as well as I know you lot, e.g. from a vegan forum I used to go on, some from school, so I don't really know as adults, but no complete randoms!

600 friends, NoHun? I have over 200 and thought that was a lot, but I only class the people I know in RL as people I really "know". They're probably in the minority among my FB friends, while the majority are probably MNers.

Hope the helped Linzer - those lessons sound a bit of a nightmare, I don't think I'd ever want to teach in my own home (it's too messy anyway, shhh)

I have hardly any fb friends. I don't know how many - 40 maybe. almost never send out friend requests and ignore quite a few from friends of friends etc. - the only people I've never met who I have on fb are from this thread, and a similar number from a small parenting forum I used to use very regularly years ago - the forum went down the pan so those of us who chatted regularly on it switched to fb.

The chimney sweeps turned up at 7am this morning as I was bustling dd out the door to the bus, and had DS2 in the high chair feeding himself mushy shreddies with a spoon (so not messy obviously) - they wanted to get through the garage, which is small and jam packed with bikes and pram and firewood and tires and all sorts - was all a bit chaotic! They had left a note to say they were coming but I had half forgotten and not "prepared".

admylin that was nice of you seeing your DH off! I do always get back to sleep within minutes, which I guess is why I am still alive! I think when you have been up multiple times a night, every night, for months and months on end, your body adjusts and your ability to fall back to sleep improves - or it could just be the permanent tiredness that achieves the same result. I assumed it was the DF hormones when I still fed at night but I can still do it lol.

Ooops better get DS1 to KiGa - then Ds2 and I have toddlers

Have good days all!

Oh Nohun, I didn't think of the vegan thing at all, sorry! I think my brain is only running on half speed at the moment.
It turns out my cold is a really early (for me), really aggressive bout of hayfever, so am happily drugged up to the eyeballs at the moment. The pharmacist gave me a new spray & drops yesterday & the burning & itching stopped within minutes, after a week of 'orribleness.

I think I mentioned on here about my slightly batty friend who thought DS would end up brain damaged from sleeping through & that he should have tea instead of milk as he was too fat? She came round again the other day with a few more gems which I thought I'd share on a rainy Wednesday:
-As DS isn't really a screamer, he's not strong like a boy, but weak like a girl.
-Her husband has quite a violent temper & smashes glasses etc when in a rage, scaring her & the baby. This is only a problem because her DD might have the same temper & therefore never find a husband.
-Babies lying on their fronts is a bad thing. Even when they turn over themselves, you should turn them back straight away.
-Her 5 month old daughter lying on her back with her legs in the air, wriggling about quite happily is also a bad thing and extremely unladylike. Legs should be kept closed at all times.

The husband issue is quite a weird one, actually. He isn't violent towards her & the baby, but throws things on the floor like a toddler. He even bites the vacuum hose in a rage, but told her that this is completely normal behaviour in Europe (she is Japanese) Never really sure how to react when she tells me these things, except to say that if she is scared or uncomfortable to call me and I will go and pick her up.

Thatis Fingers crossed for sleep!

Linzer Hope the wine helped! It sounds like you needed it. I'm not sure I could teach small DCs, especially not in my own home. I don't have the patience.

NoHun I'm so used to the dog mess on the street, we tend to all walk with heads down watching when to swerve! I remember the dc having a great time just free running in the park in the UK because it was all clean. It should be made a law to pick up the mess. Hope the company manage to help with the house hunting. I think I read recently that Frankfurt is a very expensive city to live o unless you can go far out into the smaller towns you pay the extra price. We're right on the edge of Hannover and it'd still only be possible to get a house (for us) if we moved even further out.

Linzer you're very patient, I think I'd have stopped doing those lessons ages ago.

thatis hope the toddler group was good and tires your ds out so he has a nice long sleep tonight!

First feedback about London - dh says it's so congested and takes hours to go a few km (culture shock from sleepy quiet Hanover to London)! He could hear the planes from Heathrow constantly and he was freezing cold last night so was on his way to speak to the hotel staff. He met a professor distant relative who showed him where flats cost 2000GBP a week and now he's scared to get a job in London!