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!

Congratulations, hupa! I bet they are gorgeous.
I know a woman with 5 DC and the youngest 2 are twins - I can't even begin to imagine how much work that must be!

Ploom I'm there from 10th-13th June so will miss you, unfortunately.

I've emailed the woman who runs the playgroup back and have said I'd be happy to do it. Let's see what she says.

Sorry, it's late here. Schools in this district close early on a Wednesday for school improvement so we can pay for the kids to do extra classes in various things so that they would finish at normal time. As A only does 9-11 on a Wednesday, I have to take her back at 2 so she can do this 'weird science' class. Will reply to people tomorrow, sorry.

admylin those chocolates look really professional . Bet they tasted good as well.

hupa congratulations to your db. I would be secretly pleased to get pg with twins now, but the first year must be mindblowing.

I had a mad day yesterday. FIL is in hospital (in a nearby town) after an operation, but MIL was planning to collect DD from kiga (on foot, she doesn't drive). However, FIL suddenly experienced some pain in the morning and MIL rang me to say she wanted to go to the hospital (understandably). I ended driving into town to get some change for the parking meter, then driving to the music school, did the jazz rehearsal and taught my first piano student. Then I drove to the kiga in my landlady's lesson, which I had cancelled I hadn't heard her practising much this week anyway, picked up DD who had discovered she could pedal a tricycle and didn't want to leave, drove back to the Musikschule, ended up parking on the other side of town, ran across town carrying DD, stuck her in the corner of my teaching room with a brezel and some pens and paper and spent the next two lessons explaining to my students why I was speaking English to DD.

No-one need read that, I just wanted to get it off my chest!

Morning

Silken that sounds a frantic hour or two there sorting out fetching your DD from KiGa! Well done to her on both learning to pedal (for some reason that's a milestone I remember very clearly from my older 2, even though I've forgotten when they did other things generally probably considered more significant) and on behaving well enough to stay in the room during your music teaching! BTW when I got preg with DC3 a little bit of me would have secretly liked twins because I knew DH would never let me have any more, but I was thinking twins like DS1 was as a baby - he slept well, ate well, took a bottle, played on his own well (he went wild when he started KiGa but he was easy for the first 2 years lol) twins like DC3 would probably have killed me, what with the not sleeping (he slept through the 3rd ever night of his life on Thursday night 8pm-5am, but last night he was back to his usual 3 wake ups and up for the day at 5am too) and the ridiculously dangerous and ambitious climbing he does constantly! I guess if I'd had twins DH would just have had to start to help in the night! Hope you get your BFP soon after you're safely moved into the new house though, however many babies are then in there (maybe not more than 3 ;) )

Hupa big congratulations to your DB and his wife! :) There is a lady in our village who has 5 children including ID twin boys, and is now pregnant with number 6, so I guess it didn't put her off!! Her twins are 13 now though lol.

Gator offering to run the playgroup sounds a good plan, would be great if you could get somebody else to join you in organising it too so you don't have to stress if you are running late or ill one week.

Admylin your DD sounds lovely :)

Oops better stop Henry trying to drink the dregs of my coffee, if there is one thing he doesn't need it's caffeine!

Am definitely losing my English teaching mojo (if I ever had it). Two of the three remaining girls have just been picked up (nearly half an hour late); now we're just waiting for the last one's mother who said she'd be here at 1.30 pm. The hourly rate isn't too bad, but you can probably divide it by three as I started tidying up and getting everything ready at 11 am, left for school at 11.30 and it's now 1.30 pm... and that doesn't even include the time I spent planning the lesson, making flash cards, etc. In fact, you could probably divide it by five or six! Am seriously considering giving it all up in September as I'm finding it ridiculously time consuming and feel like some of the parents are taking me for granted.

Thatis / silken I also liked the idea of twins before DD1 was born, but found it hard enough coping with just one of her so am very relieved she was an Einling (singleton?).

Gator Have you heard back from the woman about the playgroup? It sounds like it would be a nice thing to organise.
Yes, putting my prices up is one thing that I'd considered - but I don't feel like I can suddenly double them, and just putting them up by a euro or two doesn't feel like it would make much difference.

hupa Great news on the twins' safe arrival! Sounds like they're in for a bit of a stressful time with the house move as well.
That poor patient attacked by the buzzard - it must have been awful. Being attacked by a bird had never even crossed my mind, but I think I'd find that worse than a dog as I have a bit of a bird phobia (as opposited to being "just" scared of dogs).

It's now 1.45 pm. The poor girl is sitting on the sofa looking very bored and has said she doesn't want anything to eat or drink (although I did give her and three of the others a Milchbrötchen straight after the lesson - at their request). DD2 is at a friend's house, but I've just asked DD1 to play with her as I felt so sorry for her.

Aarrrgghh
my post vanished

Bloody hell, Linzer, they are taking advantage of you! That poor girl. on your behalf.

Great news on the twins, hupa. I too would have loved ds1 to have been twins as I didn't know whether we could have afforded to try for a third in England. That is one of the advantages of being here.

Sounds like a crazy morning, silken. Hope FIL is ok.

Lovely chocs admylin! Trying to avoid temptation so I can lose a bit of weight before we go to the UK. Want to stock up in Next etc.

The playgroup sounds lovely gator, good for you.

How do you all manage to get the housework done when dh is away? Ds2 is at the stage where he likes to pull everything out of the cupboards so I spend a lot of time picking that up. By the time I've put the kids to bed and tidied all the dinner pots away it's 9 o'clock and I don't feel like starting on the bathrooms then and can't hoover! What are your tips?

It's so difficult to get anything done with small DC around all day, isn't it Jenny? Even with the DC out all morning, I still struggle to keep the place tidy. Is there any way you can afford a cleaner? Otherwise, getting the DC involved in cleaning - giving them their own little duster, spray bottle, etc. - seems to help some people, although your DS2 might still be a bit young and I found DS a nightmare at that age. There was no way I could have cleaned the bathroom with him in tow as he was fascinated by the toilet brush and always wanting to play with it. Sorry, I know that's not much help...

I agree with Linzer but DH being here or away makes no odds here though - he doesn't do housework and if I leave DC3 with him I just hear him (DC3 not DH) howling and howling for me if I leave the room to get chores done, which would be the same if I tried to leave him with one of his older siblings... He is OK if I actually go out (to work) but if he senses/ hears me in the house or I am coming and going carrying baskets of laundry etc. he gets frenzied...

It is impossible either way, my house is a state... A lady from toddlers gave me her cleaner's number (having a cleaner for a normal house seems very unusual out our way though, but this lady does) but the couple of times I've got up the courage to ring there's been no answer and no answer machine.

It's very unusual not to have a cleaner here; I would say about 80% of my friends have one, as do my ILs (two actually: one for my PIL's bit of the house and one for my SIL). I held out for years (despite lots of comments along the lines of "What? You don't have a cleaner? How do you manage?") but DH insisted in the end, and I must admit it's a godsend. No matter how untidy the house is, at least I know it's basically clean (and the cleaner coming is also a good incentive to tidy up).

I always wonder who cleans the cleaners houses... My neighbor is a cleaner (for offices and public buildings though, she works for the Geminde) and I worried that if I put up an ad for a cleaner she would apply - a thousand times worse than a house in need of cleaning would be having your next door neighbor as your cleaner in a small gossipy Bavarian village full of houseproud of uber HausFrau!

Woo Hoo Henry's finally walking! He's been taking the odd step here and there for the last month or so but suddenly this afternoon he has decided to walk about all over the place, across rooms, bending down to pick up toys and keep walking, lots and lots of walking, so yay for that! Crawling is a bit of a pain when he hates to be held or kept in the buggy when we are out and about unless we are moving at a brisk pace, but in many circumstances letting him down to crawl is unsuitable where letting him walk would be fine, so I am most pleased :) He is the latest walker of my 3 by far, but at least he has decided to do it all at once and hopefully is off now!

Bizarrely and rather annoyingly he has also decided to start biting - luckily only me, but he keeps walking up to me and attempting to bite large chunks out of me, and then laughing hysterically... Not so cool

Go Henry! It's so great when they start walking, but soon all you are doing is trailing after them so they don't fall over.

Relieved that it is not just me that has a 'lived-in' house. I managed to clean one of the bathrooms inbetween the dcs going to bed and the new Sherlock coming on TV. I also fell asleep worrying about thatis having to do all the childcare and housework. Hope your dh cooks for you sometimes too.

How were your Mother's Days? Dh is now in Sweden and apparently disappointed that they are not all blonde. Only 5 days till he is back! Yay!

Have a great start to the week everyone.

groundhog day
will

bidet boy be allowed to lunch today

flipping puter is loopy again

sorry at my inabilty to do personal messages

Hello! Just a quick one as the ridiculously useless phone company that begins with a v (& probably provided yoda's phone :) ) have cut off our phone & internet for no apparent reason. Grr!
Yay for Henry! I bet he's having great fun toddling around. Will def be running the playgroup from the summer with another mum-am really looking forward to it as they are all lovely.
Sorry for the awful typing, i'm using my mobile, which is a bit of a pain!

morning!
grrr gator at the useless phone company! hope they sort it out soon - I always feel a bit lost without unlimited internet access. Thats great about the playgroup and glad you got someone else to do it with you. Thats a nice way to get to know other mums in your area.

tadjenny - had also presumed they'd all be blonde in Sweden. Hope you're doing ok without him - remember having 3 little dc and a dh who was often away at conferences. First couple of days were ok but then after that the lack of help used to get to me.

thatis - whoo hoo to Henry walking - hopefully that'll tire him out. Always find it strange that dc bite - ds1 did it when he was about your ds's age. I mean strange cause they never see anyone else doing it so where do they get the idea from?
We had a cleaner when we lived in the UK even when I was on mat leave. Think it saved my sanity because cleaning with little ones around is a nightmare. Quite a few people here have a cleaner too even the ones who are SAHM. But no chance I'm getting one here when i have 4 hours childfree time every day! Think you should definitely phone that number the lady gave you - you'll feel much better for it.

linzer - those other parents are taking the piss - sorry! Think gator's plan was a good idea - say your going to stop the lessons as they dont pick them up on time. Its so rude - I'm shocked that they think its an ok thing to do every week.

silken - good luck for tomorrow - hope it all goes to plan. WOw that was a busy day you had last week - hope your FIL is on the mend soon.

Good news about my contact lenses - I went on Friday to pick up a new pair to try and they're great. Have had them in all weekend and said to dh it was like I'd had my eyes lasered - cant feel them at all. Have an appt to go back on Weds so need to investigate on the internet how much they are online so that I'm ready for the price that Apollo will quote me.

Also got a new bike on Saturday - its a very early birthday present but my old bike (which was 2nd hand from my MIL and probably 20 years old!) was beyond broken so it seemed daft to wait till the end of July to buy one when we go out on our bikes most weekends. So we were having a lovely mothers day yesterday - had breakfast made for me and lots of nice handmade presents then in the afternoon thought we'd go out on our bikes. We were on a road with lots of traffic and I must have got too close to the kerb and started to fall off my bike. Was more worried about my bike breaking so caught it but the pedal scraped right up the back of my leg. I got off and was sat on a wall actually crying. I rarely cry if I hurt myself but it was so sore. Have put the pic on FB - it is a shocking bruise. Cant bear anything touching it so am sat perched on the computer chair at the mo. Thankfully I've had much sympathy from dh and the dc cause it looks so sore. And thankfully the new bike is ok! Just gutted I fell on Mothers Day. The first year I was here, I fell in a hedge on Mothers Day - think I should avoid it next year

Gator GGRRRR at the phone company! Yay for the playgroup though!

Ploom ouch at injuring your leg like that! Glad your bike's OK and the first part of your day was nice...

Jenny hope your DH is helpful when he gets back. Haha at the very notion of DH cooking - if I don't feel like cooking he sometimes suggests a take away (pizza is the only thing that delivers here) but he has only cooked for himself and the older kids when I was in hospital (they had a lot of fish fingers and pasta and pesto) and when I had my first c-section. I just got on with it after the second 2 sections though as I had them here, stayed in hospital 5 days, and they went more smoothly than my first one so I was in a better state (able to stand) and using slings, we just ate a lot of easy stuff.

Mothers Day is nothing to do with me, as it's actually grandmothers day... Ploom did you stand up and insist on being spoilt on Mothers Day at some point early on, or did your DH and kids just do it? I was up multiple times in the night with DC3 then up at 5am on Sunday, DH wandered down at 8am and asked me what time we were going to his mums and whether I was going to bath the kids first - I don't really care about mothers day but I was tired and so grumpy, in the end he took over bath time (for about the 3rd time in 6.5 years) and took all the 3 kids to his mums and left me home on my own, assuming I'd go back to bed, but instead I put away the mountain of laundry (we'd been living out of the clean baskets), and did 5 more loads (oh yes, 5), paired odd socks, cleaned, sewed on DS1's swimming badge, cleared out and sorted DD's wardrobe, changed all the beds... I felt better for it actually, and had a much better day than if I'd gone to MIL's :)

Hope b idet boy behaves Cinders

Am sitting outside in the sunshine (cold but sunny) with DS2 asleep in the buggy - he's slept long enough for me to do a few chores and drink my tea but will almost certainly wake in a moment, he's twitching lol!

Oh on the Mothers Day front forgot to give DD the credit she's due - she had made me some lovely presents at school and at her art class, and she had been planning to bring me breakfast in bed - not her fault I wasn't in the bed having been up with her baby brother since 5am! I might have made DH get up, as I do usualyl try to make him give me one lie in a weekend, but I had been so frustrated by his snoring combined with Henry's multiple wake ups in the night that he went to the attic to sleep, so wasn't there to be kicked! DD did make me 2 cups of coffee (she is allowed to using the pad machine and can carry them now if she uses a big mug so it's only actually half full :o )

Yay for walking babies, Thatis. DS also took his time walking and I found it much easier once he finally did so. Sorry you missed out on being treated for Mother's Day, though. DH has occasionally taken the DC to his parents' for the weekend if I've had lots of work on, but I don't think they'd want to go if it was Mother's Day (and I wouldn't want them to either); DD2 started making presents weeks ago (mainly Peppa Pig-related!) and none of them could wait to give them to me.

Ploom Good news on the contact lenses but ouch at your bruise - it looks really nasty. I would probably have cried too! At least it wasn't in vain if your bike is OK.

Gator Hope you get the phone and Internet sorted out soon. I'd be lost without the Internet too, even though I can access it from my phone. When exactly do you take over the playgroup?

Cinders Hope there are no more bidet incidents.

Jenny Ah, but I bet they're all tall and easy on the eye. DH is in Turkey for the next four days, but I don't think there'll be too many blondes to distract him there.

We had a lovely, if rather cold, Mother's Day; DH and I had talked about going out for breakfast, only to discover that the DC had already laid the table so they all went to the baker's to buy a few bits and pieces for breakfast instead. As well as their homemade presents, I also got a sun lounger! Sadly it wasn't warm enough for me to try it out, although we did manage to sit outside for a barbecue with the neighbours later on. It got very cold towards the evening, however; I was freezing, despite having two cardigans on, and one of the neighbours told me I would get ill if I didn't put any more clothes on. I'm proving her wrong so far.

Thatis You mentioning coffee pads reminded me of one of my Mother's Day presents - a necklace made of crushed Nespresso capsules (it looks nicer than it sounds, although sadly doesn't smell of coffee!). My neighbour asked me whether I'd made it myself.

I do not believe it

bidet boy was not allowed again

Madness

Cinders I'm sorry but i've no idea what you're talking about!

thatis - i've never insisted on mothers day fuss but the dc say every day is Father's day (he never cooks a meal!) so think its only fair that he makes a fuss one day in the year. I dont want flowers - just a bit of a rest from the usual jobs. Altho he did cut me the last tulip from our garden & bring it to me - awwww! Think you need to insist on a bit of fuss - esp since you are so exhausted.

linzer - will wait patiently to see if you get poorly - hope you can prove the German theory wrong. The weather is so weird at the moment - it was 32 degrees on Fri but this morning my car was frosted over. V difficult to work out which clothes the dc should wear.

A friend of ds
seems to be misbehaving and his mum keeps grounding him.
Ds has said she has even told the teacher to be stricter.
And so hence i have alot of pizza again and a very grumpy ds

Cinders That´s really annoying. It´s a shame I don´t live closer because I can devour vast quantities of Pizza.

Ploom I hope your leg is feeling better today.

Thatis I bet your ds looks really cute toddling around.

I had a lovely mother´s day. Dd had made lots of Gutscheine for things like emptying the dishwasher or being allowed to steal her chocolate for a week which was really sweet.

Hi all, just caught up with the thread. A massive thunder and lightening storm passed over us on Thursday night and since then we've had no internet or phone! Just back on today. Had to go and buy a new phone too.

Hope you all survived mothers day! My dd made a lovely Sahne Torte for me and ds made me cups of tea!