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Monday 26 May 2014

fairy tales, magic and a chamber orchestra

i love fairy tales... and bed time stories of any kind.

so i was very excited when i saw that there was an exhibition in our national museum called "fairy tales, magic and trudi gerster". trudi gerster used to be switzerland's fairy tale teller nr 1 and i grew up with her telling stories.


little thought did i put into the fact that fairy tales usually are quite weird and often adult horror stories in disguise... 

luckily pea did not pay a lot of attention and the only thing he really liked was listening to his gotti telling stories and lying on the "flying" carpet having a drink! the exhibition was done very nicely with lots of audio stations, film protections and even a magic forest. still i think pea was just a bit too young for it and we might postpone further visits to the museum for a few years...






i got a flyer form the local chamber orchestra with dates for their so called "dummy-concerts". the idea is that the chamber orchestra will play and parents with their babies up to 1 year old can linger on yoga mats and pillows and listen to the symphonious compositions.




so we went there all excited and ready for a calming hour of classical music... well, pea looked at the 4 musicians and listened very concentrated for about a minute. then he was bored. and started to shout. and to climb up the stairs. and to throw his dummy...


it was ok, as he wasn't the only one in the audience acting like this. and somehow it was quite nice to just be with a bunch of same aged and their parents as it was a really relaxed atmosphere in that concert hall since no one really seemed to care!





bottom line: classical concerts will be postponed too.







Sunday 25 May 2014

9 months health check

after a few visits to the doctor due to ear infections and fever we finally had a planned appointment... everything was fine at the 9 months health check and pea didn't even cry when he got his shot. of course i was a very proud mami!

he weighed 9580 gr and was 75 cm


Saturday 17 May 2014

Lay thee down now and rest, may thy slumber be blessed ...

there was a phase when pea slept through the whole night when he was about 4 to 5 months old. we thought that this was it and it wont change again, but we thought wrong... suddenly he started to wake up at night again and after a few weeks we were used to getting up each and every night again. also he only fell asleep on either chris's or my arm. if we tried to put him in his bed too early he would open his eyes the second he touched his mattress. sleeping in his bed at day time wasn't even an option...




although this was a bit annoying we just put up with it. until i was talking to a friend of mine about it. she has a 15 months old boy and told me that he still wakes up at least once a night and never falls asleep on his own. and right then i knew: we have to change something!

i remembered someone telling me about a book that helped her little girl falling asleep by herself and also sleep through the night. the book is in german and called "jedes kind kann schlafen lernen" which translates to every child can learn to sleep and it is based on (but not only) the studies of prof richard ferber who is the director of the center for pediatric sleep disorders at children's hospital in boston.

as to everything, there are two sides to this subject. many people trust this method and it really helped them and as many people are completely against it and say it does more harm than help.

i can only speak for myself and i have to say that it really helped. it took pea two nights until he was able to fall asleep by himself with a little bit of crying to no crying at all when i put him in bed. except for the second night when he woke up at 4.20 in the morning he slept through every night (we're doing it since 9 nights now). also we try to stick to the same daily routine which works really well.


believe me, i'm the last person who just lets her baby cry. i even got smiled at from many people before cause they thought i never let him cry for a minute and always run when he is crying. i truly believe that babies up to 6 months do not cry just to get something or enforce something, but because they are in need of something or someone. i behaved accordingly with pea and it was always consonant with my inner voice.

i felt me and him were ready to try it and the fact that it worked within two days proves it was the right thing for us. also he sleeps up to two hours more a day now, which can only be good for him (and for me!). of course i don't know how i would have reacted if he was screaming every night for hours and i don't want to judge anyone who has another opinion.

Sunday 11 May 2014

happy mother's day!

i just want to wish a happy mother's day to all the mamis out there!

but especially to my own mother who has taught me and my sister everything. lots of the things i only understood when i was older and so many i only completely understand now, being a mami myself.



thank you for always being there for me, for never judging but always caring, for being my inner voice and the person to run to with every problem (big ones and tiny ones), for always being only one phone call away, for raising me to the person i am today, for loving me unconditionally and for supporting me in being a mami.

having a child myself makes me admire you even more, watching you be the most loving nani makes me love you even more. <3




Friday 9 May 2014

new nursery!

i have already posted some pictures of the nursery before. but after pea started to crawl around and wanted to play everywhere i've realized that he didn't really have an area just for himself. as we had a guest bed in the nursery there was no space for him to play at all.

so we had to change that!

we bought a sofa bed which is very comfortable so our guest will still have a pleasant stay. once the bed was gone the whole room seemed so much bigger and we created a nice space for pea to play.

oh, and i had to have a teepee... how cool is that?!
















i love that he has his own little realm now and i often just sit in there and watch him play with a smile on my face.

Tuesday 6 May 2014

mamimoon

the last girls-only trip pre-baby was two month before pea arrived. my friend and i enjoyed a few amazing days in ibiza. as this was only one in very many trips we did together, we decided then that we will continue with little breaks like this also when there are babies in our lifes...

so this was it. my first mamimoon. apart from pea for 3 nights...

i have to admit i was a bit nervous. but (and this might make me sound like a horrible mum...) i was also looking very forward to it. pea couldn't care less when i walked through passport control at the airport so i had to swallow twice, take a deep breath and off we went.

unfortunately pea still had a little fever and in the second night he got a horrible rash (we now know that it is perfectly normal for a rash to appear after fever...) which made us a bit nervous. after seeing the dr. and keeping me posted all the way through everything was fine and we all went back to sleep. i felt like a million miles away at that point and was glad he was in the best hands.

other than that i really enjoyed it and had a wonderful time on the white island. chris had some lovely papi-time with pea at home and i'm sure he will understand some things a bit better now... ;)