What have I been up to? Breastfeeding, basically! (It’s going better, just so you know, but I’ve got a hungry little barracuda on my hands).
In a little over a month, Oliver has already cried his first tears, learned to hold his head up pretty steadily (for at least a little while), raised his head and shoulders up when on his tummy, and this morning he gave me his first on-purpose smile, which I have not yet been able to capture on camera (something they don’t tell you, is that babies often smile when they sleep, pass gas and poop, and oh yeah, babies pass gas A LOT).
Life has been easier with my aunt here, not to mention I have someone around to socialize with all day (Charlie and Oliver are lovely company, but are not very good at providing stimulating conversation). I’ll be sad to see her go on Saturday, and I’m very nervous that next week Rainer is taking his first business trip post-baby. He’ll be gone from Wednesday through Saturday (Sept 5-8) and I’m stressing about being on my own for the first time. I’m considering sending Charlie to the Tierpension (kennel) during this period to make things easier, but he’s really not that much trouble. I do have a stockpile of frozen veggie lasagna and lentil soup to keep me nourished and maybe I’ll invite some friends over to keep me company.
Oh, and we’re getting a housekeeper starting next week. Yay!
Call for submissions
But since I’ve found that I have pretty much no time for blogging, I came up with an idea. Guest blogging! If you’re interested, submit a post to me by email: christina_geyer[at]yahoo[dot]com, and I will consider posting it here on my blog. The post should have something to do with Germany. Want to write something up about your German pregnancy/birth/motherhood experience, but don’t have a blog (or it just wouldn’t fit with the theme of your blog)? Great! Submit it here!
Or you can write about anything Germany-related. You can use this opportunity to advertise your blog here – submit a favorite blog entry of yours and get a link from me (and possibly a reprint of the article). I have acquired quite a large readership, so use it to your advantage!
I can’t promise you I’ll use your stuff – so don’t hate me if I don’t think it really fits with the feel of my blog. I think my readers have come to expect a certain style from me and I don’t want to stray too far from that. I generally try to keep things positive, so non-stop complaint posts probably won’t make it on here. Please give me a few lines about you to use as an introduction as well.
I hear a fussy baby in the next room, so I’ll end things here. I look forward to getting submissions (hopefully I’ll get at least one!). Cheers!
{ 10 comments… read them below or add one }
Hi Christina ,
I’am sure that you are learning tons everyday.
How are you ?
Nice to read your progresss report
Did your aunt have a great time ? I’am sure that it was nice to be together once more.
Great idea for having a guest blogger ! I’am out of the running; wrong country !
I’ll stick around and see what happens.
You take care.
@barbara: I think my aunt has had a good time. We managed to do a little sightseeing of the nearby cities and she says she’s going to miss Oliver (us too I’m sure).
Guest Blogger-wise, you’re not necessarily out of the running, you don’t have to live in Germany to submit, but it should somehow relate to Germany. Perhaps an article about French stereotypes of Germans, or something like that, would be interesting.
I’ll still be blogging, hope I didn’t give the impression that I won’t be. I just thought I’d get some guest writers in to fill in some of the gaps when I don’t have time to make a post.
How about a little ditty about being a first generation American with German parents? Examples: all my friends’ parents wanted their daughters to be cheerleaders… and mine had no clue what that even was! I never had a taco until I was in college.
I can go on and on! Sometimes it was great and sometimes it was really, really tough…
Send me e-mail if you want me to move with this… but since I’m heading to Germany next week (!) it might be a while…
Carol
Christina: I didn’t think it was possible for Oliver to get any cuter, but you’ve proven me wrong! And you look very happy in that top picture with the great skyline.
@Carol: I’d certainly be interested in that topic; I didn’t have macaroni-and-cheese until I was 15 or 16 and at a friend’s house and she made some. Mind you, my dad was (is) American, but we had my German Oma living with us who was in charge of mealtimes, so mac-n-cheese just wasn’t an option.
it’s so good to hear from you again. i am sure you and your aunt had some lovely time together. but don’t worry to much about rainer’s business trip. you’ll see that things will come together quite on their own. even for the new mommy.
give your little one a peck on the head from me and tell rainer i said hello. i hope to see you three before oliver’s first day in school.
hugs!!!
Oh! He’s more beautiful every day.
No non-stop complaint posts, huh? Well that knocks me out of the running.
Other than that, your readership wouldn’t mind more pics of that handsome little fella when you can provide them, I’m sure.
@carol: That sounds like a great idea. The email has already been sent!
@martina: I am very happy (and the skyline is Nürnberg)!
@rita: We hope to see you sometime soon too!
@lisa: Some complaining is okay, but there should be some comedy or lightheartedness in it
I hadn’t wanted to overwhelm people with baby photos, but I can certainly provide plenty if it’s wanted (I still haven’t managed to get a pic of him smiling yet though!)
I’ll be back in Regensburg staring on Friday. I would be glad to give you a hand when Rainer is away. I can pick up groceries, provide adult conversation, etc.. Sine you have already met Matthias, I told feel odd making the offer to a person I never met!
Couldn’t you ask those teenagers across the street if they could walk Charlie once a day while Rainer’s gone?
Has your car arrived yet?
@tammy: I messed up the days he’s gone, it’s actually the following week (12-15), but I’d love to do something Friday anyways!
@anon: The car has arrived and I love it. The neighbors are on vacation now, and I think they won’t be back next week either, which is why I was worried, but since he’s actually gone the week after I originally though, it should be no problem. They should be back and able to help out with Charlie.