germany day 4

location: berlin

ive had better mornings. after a long night out in the city 7a came too early. i vaguely recalled kebabs, a pub crawl slash miles and miles of walking, a taxi home, and then sitting at our apartment eating a midnight snack and forcing jason to stay on the couch to sleep since i knew he would snore that night. i woke up to him and sunny in my bed, unsure when thez got there.

i missed a run with my dad and went back to sleep until 10.

jasons family came for breakie.

then we went on a tour of a different part of the city. it was awesome, lots to see and do. heres where michael jackson dangled his baby off the balcony:

heres the government house where hitler was in charge. a swastika (sp) flag used to hang down one entire side.

sunny sat in her 1980s pram and screamed it out. she was being a real.... finally jason made her lay down and we had quiet for 2 hours.

we sat at a 'beach', with sunny snoozing away, had coctails.... it was amazing, felt like i was finally on vacay. a relaxing beach vacay

oh this is sunny sitting way away from us sleeping while we enjoyed ourselves!

lachy waits nicely for a train. he likes berlin.

after our big day as tourists we are finally home and relaxing. i refuse to take the kids out tonight (no one here understands my kids schedule, which is very loose by the way. they wanna be out at all hours, during naps, etc.) opting instead to sacrifice my night and stay home with them while everyone goes to dinner at 730p. i am tired anyways. im thinking of devouring this motz pizza we have in the oven with some coke, give the kids a warm bath, and snuggle in bed together for an early bedtime. lame for a holiday right? no, its not. its needed.

germany day 3

location: berlin

the germans do good italian.

we got home from dinner and instantly threw sunny into her crib.

she went to sleep instantly. we werent far behind; after nursing lachlan on the couch i fell asleep too, left him with my parents and followed jason to the bedroom we share with our kiddos. mom plopped lachy into his crib not long after, wrapped tight into his swaddle.

the only incident was a wide awake sunnylee around midnight. poor little thing tried and tried to fall asleep with us, back in her bed, and she was so quiet, she just couldnt fall asleep. she knew she should be sleepy but it wasnt happening. after watching weird german dancing on tv and eating a midnight snack with jase in the living room, they all came back to bed again.

no one woke up again until 6a. lachy started grunting for milk. i think he got the memo sometime between miami and berlin about the time change. he is on top of his shit!

We did a touristy bus tour. it took us by lots of historic places, restaurants, and shops. the tour guide wasnt very funny or witty or any of those things. in NYC they are all of those things. but anyways.

we walked around the city heaps. lachlan was always right there with me in the ergo carrier. it was cold, in the 60s and 50s, windy, so him and i were cozy this way. socks, knit hat... glad it wasnt hot.


we went shopping, walked around another borough of town for a few hours with the fam, always guided by Rico, and then... mom and dad and oma took the kids home! me and rico and jason stayed out until all hours of the night up to no good.

ps. you can drink in the streets!

germany day 2

location: berlin

fast forward one day from the plane ride... its sunday! happy fathers day!

we landed in berlin around 2a saturday night slash sunday morning FL time. the plane ride wasnt the logest we have done, but the longest we have done as a family of 4....! i had the pleasure of sitting next to a wunderbar german/american family who also had a one zear old girl. the father worked at a waldorf school in sarasota and the mom stayed home and made organic stuffed toys and cloths and silk play scarfs for her vegetarian baby. we all got along great! i wouldnt say the kids slept a lot but it couldve been worse. the waldorf dad commented on how much patience i have; i told him i was faking it.

we went straight to jasons familys home for breakie, it was 9a local time and surprisingly we made it through the meal without anz brekadowns from the kids or myself. we are exhausted. the grandparents, sunnys great grandparents, were supercute, wanted to hold Lachlan and wondered if they 'were doing it right'. oh and the convos were all in german.
there is a massive obvious age division here. the 'young people' talk in terms of themselves and the 'old people' and vise versa. the young people almost always also speak english, eat at different and cooler restaraunts, and shop at cooler stores, which is true of any place, but its just funny to watch the exchange between jasons mom and his younger cousin (rico) debate where to take us. for the record, he said to come to him for tips.

ps. if im typing weird, cuz i am, its this german keyboard! everythings different and i cant hardly capitolize anything... the y and z are switched as well...

after a full german breakie it was straight to the flat we rented for 5 nights. i am sitting in it right now having just arrived and it is SICK. open and breezy, white and clean and IKEAish. the owner is an architect so it has cool design. here are some views from the top: (the view is a cemetary! not at all creepy, very beautiful. inspiring, we all want to be buried in berlin now)

as soon as we walked up to the front door i almost got ran over by a turk on a bike. i was told he was both these things, him being on the bike being the obvious one i knew wihtout being told. my mom had literally just said she had already been warned about the bicyclists, then i blindly turned on the sidewalk into oncoming bike traffic; i hear a 5 second long brake screech... i am lucky to be in a whole piece. he almost took me completely out going at least 20mph. and the look of hatred on his face crossed cultures seamlessly... he silently loathed me. America:0 germany:1

bitching to jason and sunny about waking up for an hour just to walk a dodgy neighborhood in the rain for awhile wasnt worth it.

we did see a sweet playground that sunny wasnt brave enough to try anything and mz parents almost bought a beer at mcdonalds.

jason and sunny and lachlan had huge sleeps and thez arent doing so hot. well, lachy and i are functioning, jasona and sunny are slowly breaking down...

the fam is on their waz to our place to pick us up and take us to dunner. italiano. i hope thezre not expecting a warm reception. the gligs are not 100%

Germany Day 1

location: miami

we havent made it to berlin. we are not even at our gate. we are at a bar near the gate.
as dad went to buy the 1st round, mom fell. sunny was under her feet and in lew of squishing her, mom tucked and rolled into the breezeway of the airport. i asked if she exagerated the fall to protect her bum knee. she said no.

click here to watch sunny reenacting the fall for jason and mz dad who somehow missed the entire thing

See Ya Sebastian

We are leaving this town for the city; we will be Berliners for the next week and a half. Or Muenchen-ites... Germans. I would love to blog while overseas, which is always fun and new, but I wont be bringing a laptop. With the kids' endless things I've had to pack, my laptop just isnt worth it. New priorities. But someone will have a computer I can borrow to say "Whats up!" or "Was macht du?" which doesnt translate to whats up but thats all I got. It means What are you doing? hehe

But dont even think about robbing our home while we're gone cuz the Holts are in the Glig House! Maybe she can blog for me while I'm gone. The house is very inspirational.

Ciao.

La La La

Its not always about Sunnylee- Lachlan and I had a trip out alone to attend a baby shower. I know, not the kind of thing that makes boys happy, but sometimes we drag them to these things, like Lachy's little playmate Brodie. We forced them to lay next to each other just like we'll force them to be BFFs. I hope they have something in common later in life besides a love for beer. I see these 2 parting ways when Brodie goes off to the Citadel and Lachlan stays behind to attend CC...

In other Lachlan news, there was a poll. Certain events made me wonder if we were spelling his nickname correctly for this crowd (Americans). The Aussies chimed in and there was a great debate amongst the countries. Not really, it wasnt that dramatic. But the majority ruled for "Lachie" with emphasis on the "Lach" needing to be kept in the nickname. Since we were already basically doing just that, I kept "Lachy. For all of my 3 blog readers, its pronounced "Lockie", just not spelled that way. Too bad so sad.

Here is a snapshot in time of a low moment in Sunny's toddler-hood. She is sitting on a bar stool, stuffing herself with crackers, all the attention from the waitstaff is on her, and she's at a gorgeous seaside tiki bar in Florida, but is she happy? No. Far from it. Is she acting nicely? No. She's Sunny B for 3 weeks running. "B" standing in for a not-nice word...

  Jason and I  play tennis. But playing after Sunnylee goes to bed is coming to an end. Since our Oma is leaving next Monday, so are our blissful nights of tennis, alone... I will miss this.

Oh, Lachlan is owning this blog post! He got a new toy this week. These baby gyms are a hot commodity, sold out on BabiesrUs and everything. And they go for $70-90! Can you believe that? No, no one can. I certainly cant pay that price for a piece of fabric with dangley things, both of which I have at my house. I did end of finding the mat at a consignment shop which comes highly recommended by myself. Consignment shops are the BEST. Its where you find items that first time moms thought they needed, used once, then tried to sell because they realized one tiny fast growing baby can only use so many swing/bouncy chairs/musical crib soothers/play gyms... What I'm trying to say is that I got this play gym for $3. It didnt have toys but the Gligs are in no short supply of those. I hung some on and have been neglecting Lachlan ever since.

Neglecting Lachy to make this:

And lastly a pic of Sunny with her babies. Since we already have a live baby in the house, Oma wanted to name them. The American Girl doll was named Lisa. I've heard this is a popular doll name in our crew. But I didnt name it. So we wanted Lisa this morning, but she was in the car. Sunny and I go to fetch her, hand in hand. Oma said, "Go get Lisa" and now Sunny calls her that. Only is comes out as "Jesus". Here is Sunny playing with Jesus and some of his disciples:

Did I mention what she calls Lachy? She calls him Sockie (or Saki if you're a fan). I say "No, its lalala Lachy" and she says, "Lalala Sockie"....

Vent

No sleep for three days (kids, what else).
Long road trip with said-kids to Jupiter, stressful.
Wanted to run, too tired.
Wanted to sew, serger broke.
Wanted to fix a quilt project, I suck at it.

I could probably go on but its too depressing.
Cant wait for bed.

A Jog Thought

Finishing my 16th mile yesterday was easy, finally. After 3 weeks of logging miles, starting sloooow since cooking Lachlan for 9 months then nursing him for 6 weeks, I am back! Now on a scale of Kenyan to Sumo wrestler, I am no longer a lumbering Tricerotops as I pound the pavement. Nor am I that gazelle, but I am definietly lighter on my feet and the movements feel smooth again.
The last two runs I've managed to misplace my iPod or it was just not available at that moment, so I ran without music. In the past, not having my iPod would mean not running that day, an unbearable torture- running in silence. But my last two runs have actually been my best.
I can think without music; I make myself go through each moment of my day with Sunny and Lachlan and decide what I need to work on (patience! They're only little once!) I also spend lots of time thinking about my marriage and ways to... just be us again- like nights out ALONE together (something we did Friday night and it was similar to The Notebook- Jason remembered who I was and how much fun we can have together-- how we used to be in Noosa when we first met, and it was great).

After my runs I am recharged and I usually reward myself with a beer (icey can of Coors Light, yum!). I am ready to face the kids and husby again. I've decided since the in-laws have been here that mommy-time is important. Its something I am totally going to keep up, long after the original Gligorovs have flown home. Even though the Mommy Guilt is always there when I leave the house without the littles in tow, even if I'm going to Publix, for them, I ignore the guilt as much as I can. Screw it, mommy's need alone time too!

Upcycling

We've had more-than-usual events this year, plus a family that loves to send cards. After staring at them on my corkboard for 4 months, thankful someone cares about the Gligs, I wondered what I would do with them all (and the ever-present question in the back of my stay-at-home-mom brain, How will I save money today?)

Some of these will go into Lachy's baby book:

Someof these will go into me and Jason's... file in the filing cabinet

(hmm, note to self: make this memory file more romantic somehow):

And then my favorite idea, recycle them! Not in a throw-in-the-right-colored-recyling-bin way, but upcycle them, a new term that means taking the original product and turning it into a different functioning product (maybe I'll submit my definition to Webster, see if he likes it for his book). Its not a word I came up with, I see it on ETSY and so I just copy the concept. Also, I've got upcycled items here:

(made by Brooke for Lachlan from a mens tee)

And here:

(made by my mom for Sunny from a pillowcase)

This is what I did with the cards I wanted to keep to make

into new birthday cards for my family and friends.

Take the cards that you like the front of, without writing on the inside cover of the front:

Then cut off the fronts, leaving the inside with the messages to... be thrown away.

Aw... so sad. I used my scrapbooking cutter thing to make straight cuts:

& I didnt take a picture of my finished product, but I wrote a simple message on the

back of the new card/postcard and Sunny & I made a trip to the mailbox and sent it away
 in an envelope that I've had saved in this box, where the rest of my new upcycled cards now rest,
 waiting for birthdays:

I know, right? Check out the organizing! I'm not Jenalee/Katrina organized, but parts of my life are...

Just know that if you recieve one of these upcycled cards, that I do love ya, I just dont have much $$$

Not Quite a Gazelle

I finally got around to running Monday afternoon. Its been 10 months since my last run which was a July 4th 5k (I was pregnant then and didnt know it yet!)
I've put off running long enough, I think Lachy is at least 6 weeks old now!
I lumbered along my route feeling heavy; on a scale of Kenyan to Sumo wrestler, I ran somewhere in the middle, like a rhino maybe. Or a triceratops. It was as difficult as running ever is, I had to push myself.

But it felt nice. My muscles in my legs burned, my hair flew around free, my music was amp'd up. I cruised into the driveway havent not walked a bit, 2 miles and 24 minutes later, the Scissor Sisters cheering me on through my iPod.

The Real Story

Introducing Beau: here she is stalking me before we even met (like most of my relationships start).

We smiled at each other from a distance. I only meet my potential partners abroad anyways. 

Dont get me wrong, she likes to travel, Beau. Here we are over by the butterflies.

Eh, what the heck. I went for it. I'll admit it, Im easy. Clearly.

We were married 3mo later. Thats how Gligs roll.

& we also reproduce quickly. This practically happened before we even met.

But then Beau got Baker-acted and left me in the background pulling my hair out.

Achievements

I thought I did something today worth while....

Easter Weekend

After many many questions about what the Gligs will be doing for the weekend, and after many many answers of..... "uhhhhh"- I decided we WERE doing something. I am not sure yet, but I will document it with photos.

Friday I took the two littles to a book store in Vero that is super cool. We sat and listened to story time, they both ate during (one had cookies, one had milk- guess who), and I managed to leave without buying a thing! I was impressed.

I got my hair cut. And left the mini Gligs home with their daddy for the first time alone. Eh, I was gonna take Lachy, but then I decided to take a break instead. Well deserved.

Saturday Meme & Papa came! They cooked us an amazing steak dinner & we had happy hour on our deck after a hard day of painting the guest bathroom and the nursery.

I cut a pretty flower from my garden that bloomed just in time for the holiday

Then the Bunny came! & Sunny wore her Easter outfit from Meme as she hunted these eggs down. Lachlan wore his smartest suit/onesie. Hated it.

Sunny: "And then.... I left Sebastian! Went for a holiday in Okeechobee, I heard its nice this time of year. My cousins live there and I know the Bunny left a few baskets with Meme somehow and she needed to drop them off to them...Ciao mom and *dad!"

*dad was 'sad'. 5 minutes later he was happy as sam watching golf.

Our Social Future

During dinner, the Gligs ate pizza and we casually kept glancing out of our large bay window throughout conversation, commenting on everything going about in the neighborhood at that moment (we eat dinner so early the entire 'hood is usually still out doing fun stuff)- Jasons 18 year old neighborhood BFF who plays table tennis with him drove off from his home, we commentated a predictable [fake] death for a dog walker since the 100 year old guy across the street was careening down the road, back from his daily meal at the Moose Club, and I scouted the playground for possible young/cool looking families.

Jackpot! Cool/young looking family! Young mom, little blond toddler, 1 year old midget boy who look like Sunny. We scarfed the pizza as fast as we could, tied back Sunny's hair so she only looked like half a ragamuffin (her best time of day is before lunch, after that we usually dont take her into public), shoved a piece of chewed crust into her grubby little fist, then argued over who was going over. I won, to stay home. Jason's accent negated the blood on his shirt and his slight intoxication (all the better to get chatty, like he needs that......) I wasnt making any friends looking this hideous. After my hair appointment on Friday, sure, I'd meet people. But lifelong Sebastian friends are currently residing in Jasons hands as I type...

Garden Haul

What Sunnylee, Lachlan, & I (ok, Lachy was in the Moby, didnt really see much) picked out of the Glig Garden today. Been eating fresh cucumber salads for days. Yum!

Our First Month as a Family of Four

Where have the Gligs been?

Birthing this:

And fattening him up into this:

I've wanted to blog so bad but you can see where I'm having a hard time finding an hour to sit and think and type. It doesnt help that our laptop is incapacitated and its unable to leave its Big Brother, the Desktop. Its monitor is blank so sometimes I use it through Desktop's monitor.

BUT- we have a new laptop currently riding along the highway in a FedEx truck on its way to us, its new family, where it will probably battle juice spills and toddler toes stepping on it and buttons being pried off by little fingers. Wish it luck.

Lachlan has been wonderful. He is snuggly and loves his momma. We sleep together at night often, usually from his first feeding around 11p through his 2nd feeding at 3a. Its his own crib before and after that, where he sleeps curled up on his tummy, free from the swaddle that his sister slept in for the first 6mo of her life. It is so different with him. In the best way. I thought if he was any different from Sunnylee that it meant it would be difficult. But its not. In fact, its way easier.

Sunny LOVES him. In a very smothering, motherly way. He's the first thing she wants to see in the morning; she wants a peek into his crib. She points out his ears, eyes, nose, hair. Over & over again. She helps to change his diapers. A great big sister, no jealousy at all.

Jason gets lots of Sunnylee time and I am up to my neck with Lachlan. We agree its different this time around- mainly the amount of time he's spent with Lachy, which is not a lot. When I'm feeding him every 2 hours, it makes sense that Jason's occupying Sunny. Sometimes Lachy and I even sleep-in in the mornings while Jason and Sunny eat and watch cartoons when she wakes up. Anyways, its a nice give and take. Working well for us.