Cyber Glühwein und Lebkuchen - the German and Austrian advent thread

[admylin]

A thread for anyone living in Germany or Austria, or anyone else who fancies a chat.

Happy first Advent to everyone!

Previous thread: here

Happy Christmas everyone from wet and windy Wales! We seem to have spent the whole day opening presents and eating, and I don't feel like I'll be able to eat a thing for another month... it was all delicious, though. We'll be celebrating DD1's birthday tomorrow and are then off to London the day after. We're keeping our fingers crossed that there are no bus replacement services after all the flooding - we only narrowly avoided a bus replacement service on the journey here, as the line reopened just in time for our train, but the conductor wasn't sure whether they'd make it back through again. The joys of British train travel!

Grinch You certainly deserve more than your fair share of lie-ins. I was fully expecting the DC to be up with the lark this morning as they were so excited about hanging their stockings up and Father Christmas coming in the night, but I don't think they've caught up on their sleep properly since we landed at 11pm on Saturday and they slept till nearly 8 am.

Happy Christmas everyone!

advent I thought the same as grinch I simply cannot imagine ours sleeping that late, but everyone tells me that that's the bonus you get with having teenagers. I still dont think ds2&3 will ever sleep that late...would like to get pleasantly surprised though . Yesterday, when dh had to get up, the first one was up at 7am. today, my turn to get up, it was 6.15. that's the way it usually is - when it's my turn to get up, all three are up early. when it's dh' turn they give him a 'lie in'

We had the main presents last night and everyone was very pleased with them. ds1' favourite present was his Star Wars Lego starship, ds2' was his carrera bahn. ds3 does like his new balance bike (he has had one on loan from a friend until now) but his favourite present was not delivered until this morning: a little torch. he is absolutely obsessed with torches, throws the most spectacular tantrums if he cannot have one. so hopefully, by having his own torch and being able to constantly 'examine' things with it, he'll lose interest a little.

the positive side of his torch obsession is that he was possibly the best behaved child at the nativity play at the local church yesterday afternoon. he had a screwdriver in one hand, and a torch in the other (turned off obviously) and sat quietly for the whole 45 minutes of it! ds1 was hilrarious as usual - taking everything the that is said literally and answering - VERY loudly - all rhethorical questions!! ds2 usually goes into meltdown at church. he did so again yesterday, but I managed to calm him enough to have him on my lap, facing me, where he then kept himself calm digging wholes into my nice woolen jumper and trying to stick his hands down my cleavage [bush].

today was spent putting presents together, and ds2 is very happy with his carrera bahn. it was so cute listening to ds1 and ds2' squeals when they were having a go on it with dh this lunchtime. I'm surprised ds3 slept through it!

cheas I'm glad the marble run was a success. I must make a mental note of that one for when we buy one.

linzer I hope you all get to London ok, I'll keep my fingers crossed. will you go to see any musicals while you are there? I love musicals! in fact, I am watching Grease on Film4 as I am typing...

jenny lucky you having a white Christmas!!! our boys were very disappointed that we didnt get any snow. yesterday it was so warm we didnt even need scarves and hats on the way to the nativity play!
Did you find those missing parcels?

ploom I hope your head cold gets better very quickly! I usually get sinusits as part of my hayfever in summer, and it knocks me out for a bout a week each time. I hope yours isnt as bad! can you get Sudafed here??

nutella I hope that Nutellachen lets you celebrate the festivities pain free but I also cant wait to hear about its arrival when all festivities are over.

santa Christmas Tree pizza sounds and vanilla and chocolate cakes sounds great. I too dont like Christmas cake, as I just cannot eat raisins

oh, some positive news here too. dh got an email an hour ago. the company he had an interview for a few days ago (who said that didnt see him in that particular job but maybe elsewhere), want to see him again early january about that other position. It's nothing we can see dh happy in long or even medium term, but it would be a job, and he could always look for something better.

it looks like we will be heading up to the NOrth Sea at the end of the week to see the PIL. MIL has been in and out of hospital since August and got home last week. the boys really miss her so we will make the dreaded drive up there over NEw Years. we usually drive through the night, as it's just too stressful with the little ones during the day for that long, and it tends to take twice as long what with toilet and nappy changing stops, lunch stops etc.

ok, I will concentrate on grease again now, while dh is watching lord of the rings.

I blame the typos on John Travolta!

Cheas glad the marble run was a sucess - sorry DD is sick :(

DS2 vomited in the car home from PIL late this afternoon - very messy but he seemed OK once cleaned up and I thought it was just too much cake and Pletzchen, but just after I pressed send on my last message and noticed I had cross posted with you, he vomited up all the water he had drunk since getting home, so now I'm not so sure. Am staying up with him for a bit just to see - he doesn't have a temperature and was on good form all day, I really hope it isn't yet another bug, he has been doing one week ill, one week well, alternately for the last month and I hoped he was over it now :( I think he may well have lost weight and yet another bug is not what he needs!

Linzer happy birthday to DD1, and I hope your travel goes smoothly tomorrow.

outnumbered glad the presents were a sucess. Fingers crossed for the job, even if its just a stop gap. Hope the travel goes well.

ds2 wants cuddles, hope he's going to doze off without any more sick...

Happy boxing day everyone!

Nice to read about your celebrations. Though sorry to hear about sick children - how are they today grinch and cheas ? Hope they are better. Like ploom I woke up yesterday with a stinking cold, but it is only a cold so far...ds2 has got hacking cough and cold again - poor pet.

hope all goes well on the job frontoutnumbered and of course it is easier and less stressful to look for and get a job when one has one already. hope the trip goes well - how long is it? and that MIL is okay too.

linzer greetings from a wet and windy vienna - you are not missing much weather-wise. jealous of snow! hope your trip to london goes smoothly. and happy birthday to dd1 from us all.

Yeah to children sleeping longer as they get older ....but does it really compensate for all the hormones? will have to wait and see...

nutella hope you are feeling rested and that all goes well for you.

we had a quiet christmas, opened the presents on the 24th, then had a rather strange meal (we all suggested our favourite dish and it was a selection of them), and a christmas concert. today we are off to our favourite vegan restaurant - in a tiny village in the middle of nowhere. Last time we went it was packed, nice to see all generations in there.

platanos DD seems to have her appetite back today. At least the bug didn't ruin Xmas for her - she was perfectly cheerful and not clingy, just wasn't able to eat anything much, but she's not a waif, so nothing to worry about. It must be worse when they have one illness after another, grinch. How is your ds2 today?

outnumbered yes, we're very pleased with the Cugolino Kugelbahn. DD's face lit up when we first tipped it out and she thought it was building blocks, then I set up a very simple run for her and showed her the marbles and she was delighted. It's going to take her a while to work it out conceptually, so I guess she'll need help with it for a while, but I'm happy to play with it anyway .

nutella hope nutellachen's still hanging on in there and that you weren't too uncomfortable over Christmas.

linzer happy birthday to your dd1!

Big hug to everyone else!

Glad your DD hasn't been too poorly cheas and is getting her appetite back - DS2 is seeming pretty OK atm - not been sick since 9pm last night and temp hasn't gone back up since early afternoon, would be nice if he was over it. He isn't a waif either, but with the 2 fairly bad bugs he's had before this one both knocking him for almost a week each, I had started being rather lax in letting him eat whatever he fancied, (a few people were commenting that he looks very grown up having lost the baby fat, but he is only just 20 months today so that feels wrong). Having been rather spoilt food wise he has become quite fussy over the past week or so - also coincides with his language getting good, so its probably exacerbated by that and related boundary testing, now that he can say, no, I don't want that yucky food (which he previously would have eaten happily), I want pizza/ cereal/ a nuttella sandwich (currently foods of choice)! Need him well so I can re-establish the rule that we all either eat the family meal, or leave it if we chose but are not offered an alternative (which is of course a concept he has still to gasp, but until a few weeks ago I don't think the concept you could ask for an alternative had itself occurred to him, if that makes sense!)

Outnumbered I like the fb pic of the cararra bahn - ds1 and dd have been playing with ds1's this afternoon. Ploom we have also played Junior monopoly it is just right for ds1 and dd was happy with it too (though ds1 lost) - even though dd might manage the adult monopoly I'd definitely prefer to play the junior version with the kids - much better playing time and level of complexity!

Ds1's most played with present has been Melissa and Doug wooden 'Hide and seek farm' - its just doors that open and shut with farm animals you can take out and move (but a bit like a puzzle as they don't all fit everywhere). He goes back to it regularly and spends 10 mins or more at a time with it on his own, talking away to the animals and telling them to go to bed :) Unfortunately he also keeps hiding (and sometimes throwing) the animals around the room and then complaining they are gone, so we have to spend just as long re-locating them! Still, he has a lot of much more "exciting" toys so its interesting that this is the clear favourite, especially given it was only ?10.

ds2's favourite is the wooden farm puzzle obviously, not the 5 year old's :)

I cant believe Christmas really is over!!!

grinch and cheas I'm glad your ds2 (grinch) and dd (platanos) are I feeling better, and I hope that they are over their bug now! I have heard from lots of friends that their children were ill over Christmas. the son of a friend of mine came down with chicken pox on Christmas EVe. Amazingly all of ours are healthy!

grinch yes, they really are enjoying the carrera bahn. even ds2, although he finds it hard to adjust the speed of the cars. well, to be fair, even I find it hard. I didnt realise just HOW big it is though. I had to completely rearrange ds2' bedroom for it to fit - and he has a BIG room. I'm glad your ds1 and dd are having fun with theirs too!

platanos I think it's a lovely idea to have a selection of everyone's favourite dishes! I might steal that idea for next year!

linzer I hope your dd had a great birthday.

so, we really are off to beautiful (ahem) Bremerhaven on Friday night. It's a 600km journey, and i really am not looking forward to it. well, it will be nice to see MIL in particular. I think we will stay for 5 days (any less is not worth the long journey, any more and I may have a breakdown . I will tell the boys tomorrow - they will be so excited to be seeing Oma and Opa.

we had my brother and his family over this afternoon which was lovely. they brought their elder son's balance bike along too and all went for a little 'bike ride'. we were amazed at how good ds2 has got. he has had a wooden one on loan for a couple of months, but used it more like a 'Gehrad' rather than a 'Laufrad'. the distance from saddle to handle bar seemed a bit long as well, maybe that was the problem. But now he has a Puky Laufrad like ds1 and ds2, and he is quite fast on it, really getting the hang of the balancing. not long and he'll be speeding ahead with the other too! It is fascinating to see how ds3 simply copies what his big brothers do, actually.

I hope everyone else has had a lovely Christmas too and is ready for the New Year!!!

Hello, just a quick post - still no sign o Nutellachen (unsurprisingly). We have had a nice chilled and quiet Christmas time.

Hope the poorly DCs continue to get better and nobody else gets poorly. I will try and pop back later for more of an update but just enjoying some quiet time with DP and feeling all domestic goddessy because I made leftover turkey pie (which was awesome!) grinch I'm an avid meat eater (although rather middling by German standards ). Today lunch is a burger because DP has been thinking about them since yesterday afternoon

The presents sound like fantastic successes! I wish I had bought us a marble or Carrera Bahn!

I am also thinking I should have gotten a marble run! Have I missed my chance (ie are my dc too old)? I must investigate, as they sound like fun.

good to hear all is peaceful nutella - enjoy the domestic goddess moment! Hope you got your burgers.

I do love balance bikes. DS does too - he refuses to learn how to ride a bike with pedals, sticking to his far-too-small balance bike. hope you have a restful day outnumbered before your long drive north. And that the drive goes as well as it can. Great that you have worked out the right number of days before breakdown occurs .

hope sick ones are better, and that little grinch eats what mummy puts on the table .

Can I ask a silly question -do girls breasts grow at different rates? dd1 (age 10) has one sore breast, it seems a bit swollen and she says it hurts when pressed. The other is flat and not sore. Is it because one is growing, or should I go to the dr? I thought I would ask before I go to the dr, and get told it is normal development, that would be !!!!

off to the shower and then out to the park I think - rather mild and no rain today so off to make the most of it.

Plantanos I am pretty sure girls breasts do grow at different rates, as I remember my younger sister thinking it was hilarious to taunt me about having one big breast and one mini one when I was about 11 but I don't know about the soreness, I think I would still be dithering over whether or not to go to a doctor - I suspect our generation's mothers had that easy, as I would have been mortified at the idea of mentioning something like that to my own mother!

You can get more complex, big marble runs which would appeal to older children I think - they had one in a waiting room somewhere not that long ago which my older ones happily played with... I expect they come in forms that work for all ages, probably including "executive toys" :o

Enjoy your quiet time Nutella - when are you hoping Nutellachen will arrive? I can't remember your exact due date and whether you have already reached it?

Bit fed up atm, got a sore throat and ear ache, stupid illnesses never end and DS2 is sleeping worse than ever, for the last 2 nights he literally will only sleep on my head, and woke uncountable times shouting "My cuddle! Mine!" and also "Top!" for some reason, and insisting on clinging onto my head, it really wasn't the lovely snugly dream of co-sleeping and my whole body aches this morning. Yesterday I gave him to DH at 7.30am and went back to bed til 12, which seems very self indulgent but it was more instead of a night's sleep than as well, and of course DH is ill yet again too - once I got up he went back to bed for the rest of the day, got up for an hour late afternoon then went back to bed again before I'd got the kids to bed. He actually is ill - feverish and not eating, but its hard not to resent it :( Also the holidays seem wasted and grim, what with the illness and the very uninviting weather. Have still been taking the boys out every day (so I can have a constant cycle of coat washing in progress, DS2 loves huge muddy puddles) and DD has been going to friends or having them here in her room, but it's not much of a Christmas holiday :(

oh grinch that sounds rotten, poor you. I don't think having a few hours lie-in is very self indulgent at all. It sounds like the most sensible thing to do. In fact, if I may say so, you would be daft not to . It sounds like you are all worn down. We have had those cycles when we have all been ill, one thing after another and it is not fun. Sympathies on dh being ill - it has happened here in the past. I had been looking forward to having a bit of a break, as dh would also be around, and then he got ill and was another one to look after.

You are right about not telling our mothers about sore breasts . can you imagine? dd1 tells everyone everything - and not just about herself - makes me cringe sometimes and laugh at others.

the weather report lied - it IS raining . That is why I am still here... we will still go to the park but perhaps not for the whole morning. Mine too love jumping in puddles, getting muddy. But I also struggle to keep up with the washing - ds wets the bed nearly every night, so by the time I have done his duvet and sheets there is little time to get through the mountain.

Right, off to the shop and then to the park. But before I can face the shop with 3dc, I must empty the bottle of rescue remedy as it is too early for anything stronger

Morning!!
to all the poorlyness grinch on top of the constant lack of sleep. I think you were definitely right to go back to bed for the whole morning. Dont feel guilty. Hope everyone gets well soon.

platanos - dd (who is 11) has permanently sore boobs. She's not really got enough for a proper bra yet but wears little bra top things but really moans if she knocks her boobs when she's play fighting with the boys. I'm not sure about them growing at different rates but if you were at all concerned then you could take her to the doctor. But would she show them to a doctor? My dd would be mortified! Hope the rain stops & you can get out to play.

linzer - hope your dd1 had a great birthday. How is your trip going? Are you in London yet?

outnumbered - have a fab time with your IL's .

We had a fab time with my IL's - everyone was in great form until Boxing Day night when Opa started to feel unwell & in the night developed diarrheoa & vomiting . The plan was that they were supposed to take the boys back with them for 2 nights when they left but I obviously cancelled that. He didnt need my boys in the flat when he's poorly & I didnt want them to get it. Thankfully he hasnt infected anyone else so far (fingers crossed!). Dd was trying not to show how disappointed she was that the boys werent going - we were supposed to be having a girly shopping day today - but she knew it was for a good reason. Maybe we'll do it tomo instead when dh is here.
Was going to take the boys to a soft play place today but dd has now made plans to go to a friend & its too far to go between dropping her off & picking her up. I'm another one who's not sure what to do today.

ploom hope your FIL is better soon and sorry your dd missed out on her shopping day although I braved it yesterday with dd and it was packed in the city. Dd managed to get some bargains with her money so she was happy and I was just glad to get home after it all!

grinch I hope you all feel better soon, I think for 2013 we all wish you more sleep and better health all round. It can only get better, yours will turn into teenagers and eventually spend more time in their beds than out of them like mine I'm sure!

platanos dd had sore boobs when they started sprouting too. If I remember rightly one started before the other too. Hope it's not too uncomfortable for your dd. Hope the shops aren't too busy, I still have to go and get some basics that we've run out of like toast bread and loo roll! Don't need much in the way of food yet thank goodness. Dd wants to put on a spread for new year's eve so she'll probably come with a shopping list when she emerges from her bed!

outnumbered have a good trip! Lovely blue sky and sunshine up our way so hope it stays for you.

cheas glad dd liked the marble run! For those with older dc, ds was given one a few years back to build and it had a motor and was very complicated to put together, like a roller coaster style that kept him busy for days so there is still a chance!

Hope London is good Linzer and the rain holds off, according to the news it has been bad in the UK.

Glad you had a relaxing and quiet time nutella, keep resting as much as you can!

Just got a new router for the internet after having loads of problems and having to phone telekom hundreds of times they have at last agreed to try us with a new router. Hope it helps. Now, it's almost midday and still no sign of my teens so I think I'll go to the shops and post office and hope they're up when I get back. They only have 2 meals at the moment, breakfast when they get up and an early evening meal. Maybe they snack when I've long gone to bed, no idea.

Hello! Just a brief one as I'm outside with three very hyper boys. Just got a call from dh who has just got out of that second interview. He's been offered that job!! What a relief, even if we see it more like an interim job. Hooray!

Aw thats great news outnumbered!!!! Congratulations!!

Great news to start the new year outnumbered!

Wonderful news, out! Woo hoo!

Congratulations outnumbered!
That must be such a relief :-)

outnumbered That is fantastic! congratulations and enjoy the celebrtions!

Hello and thank you yes, it's a massive relieve! Dh won't start until February ( and we are still covered by his redundancy package until then), so he still has all of January to find something better. He does still have two open applications where he's already had a phone interview, so you never know. But it is great to know that there is def a job come February!

I'm in bed now after a very hectic day. We are leaving at 1.30am so we must try and get a few hours sleep.

Sorry for not name checking a single person. Hopefully I'll get some MN time at the IL's.

That's great news about the job outnumbered hope the trip goes well.

Fantastic news, outnumbered!

Thanks for all the birthday wishes for DD1; she really enjoyed her birthday at my parents', and we're now having a fab time in London. The London Eye was good and the queue surprisingly short, but I wasn't quite as impressed with the aquarium (far too busy and difficult to see anything much). We're off to see Peppa Pig the theatre tomorrow and then meeting a couple of friends for lunch, which I'm really looking forward to.

Waves to everyone else - I've read all your posts, but catching up properly is a bit difficult on my phone.