Wow Snowy, you've scared me now! haha. We were married in Melbourne almost 4 years ago - have joint bank accounts in both Oz and Germany, living together for 6 years now... I will really need to get a move on and organize things like translations. I will definately contact you if i need any more help/info/advice! thank you!! I'm pretty sure Dh knows a few profs from Uni that can do certified translations. Good thing we're starting now.
On the subject... Dh went to a friend's birthday party on Friday night, being under the influence he told basically everyone about our plans to move back. I was so angry because our town is quite small, and word gets around faster than anything! He told them not to say anything as we hadnt told his family yet (OMG as if they wouldnt!). Sure enough the very next morning we got a call from BIL saying that they knew. I cannot believe Dh did that. We went to visit them the afternoon and i could tell MIL was upset. She went on and on about how much they understand "my" decision to move back. They said they will support us in everything we decide to do... I didnt say one word because i was fighting back the tears. It all came too fast i suppose - and Ben was playing in front of me. I was so upset because i know how much Ben loves them, and they love Ben, it breaks my heart knowing that I'm breaking them up (so to say). In the end i locked myself in the bathroom.
oh katie, so sad about u locking yrself in the bathroom. poor you! we cant live for our parents or inlaws- cant be responsible for other's happiness; they'll adapt. just glad you'll be happy once you move home. body parts hahaha olly too! i love it. we're into the wiggles - all day and night, wiggles songs in my head. i ebayed some different dvds to get a break (thomas etc) so i'll be hating the sound of the fat controller in weeks time. oh well, i'm sure the Indonesian kids shows are way worse, with way more annoying music. wiggles are pretty rockin' really. Hows the german kids shows?
typing one handed: i need more arms: 2 more wld b good. bad design this body of mine.
mylo is 3 months still keeping me up all nite. very cute and sociable now.
cant retain info about who's who doing what ( brain turned to jelly with pregnancy, never recovered) sorry everyone. hello tho.
lara
German kid's programs arent too bad... but honestly, we (haha, Ben) watch Uk tv. We have a dish set up to get it. We have sooo many channels (disney etc (from pay-tv), german kids channels, Uk kids channels) so much to choose from. My dad sent over nearly all the wiggles Dvds for us. It's soooooooo funny you brought that up because we just got home from Playgroup and i was in the bathroom, and when i came out i found Ben had turned on the tv and put a wiggles Dvd in the dvd player (upside-down of course). He's never done that before. So as i type he is watching yummy yummy. Lara, if Olly loves the wiggles, why not try to encourage Hi5? Their songs are quite catchy. Actually get him hooked on Lazytown! You might enjoy that too.
Ben loves Charlie and Lola, dora the explorer, blues clues, in the night garden, wiggles, hi5, Brum. So many. His very favourite is Lazytown (as i mentioned before). Not that he watches Tv THAT often
i know we cant live for our parents/grandparents... I just know now is the right time to go back. I know the longer we stay, the harder it will be for everyone. also, my grandparents back home arent getting any younger, and im so scared something will happen to them before they were able to spend some time with Ben and Ben with them.
Katie - oh poor you. I can imagine it must be heart breaking. my mom always says, she hopes she is dead when we move back to Oz (great emotional blackmail, huh?). But I know what she means... Wolf and Zara really love her and she has seen them both from birth. At the same time I know it's hard for MIL that we are in Europe and they only get to see the kids 2-3 times a year (well, still that's pretty good for such a long distance). I actually think if you add it up, MIL sees the kids more than my own parents, because my parents only come for a few days, or we drive up for a long weekend or so, whereas we are here now for 7 weeks and they came for like 5 weeks at xmas (FIL even for 7 weeks)
But it is hard.
It's funny, when I was younger, I never thought twice about having an international relationship.. didn't see any problems with me living overseas etc. But when you have kids, things change. And grandparents love their grandkids so much (well, in most cases at least) and it all gets so complicated.
Lara - I hope Mylo will sleep better soon. It's so tyring with a newborn who wakes so often at night. (oh kinda dreading that phase... though I love the newborn phase in general... just not the broken nights)
Me - all good. Zara is a stubborn little monkey as usual. You should have seen the tantrums she has thrown her. Bashed me up with a thong in Warringah Mall the other day. People were staring at this little monster, who was SCREAMING and rolling on the floor. I was just laughing (what else can you do.. cry maybe...)
She is definitely speaking more and more. When I ask her where Papa is she says "Papa go away in a car" (cause that's the last she saw of him - he of course took a plane to London but we didn't all go to the airport)
Snowy, that's really cute. Ben isnt really putting sentences together yet.
I know what you mean about laughing at the tantrums. I feel like a terrible mother. when Ben throws one, i have to cover up my face or turn away so he can't see. At home we have time out when he is naughty, thank goodness it's not very often. It's so hard when you are out, or at someone's house. Ben usually gets the message that he did something wrong - even if "punishment" is just a frown and a "no".
Re: international relationship. I would have NEVER in my wildest dreams thought i would be living in europe, married to a German - I was the WORST in my German class for 6 years. I remember when i was 12 i said to my best friend that i would "never ever" go to Europe because it is "old and smelly". Still when i look back at how Dh and I started, i still can't believe it all worked out somehow. Life is crazy. Even when i applied to go on exchange, i only did it because it was a chance to travel overseas for free (and my best friend was doing it). I did it in secret because my parents couldnt afford to send me at the time and i think they didnt believe i would get a scholarship.
Lara - i think the worst thing is lack of sleep. I really hope Mylo starts sleeping through soon. Ben started at 7 or 8 weeks i think. I remember because i was so exhausted I caved in to the bottle and asked Dh to get up that night and give Ben his night feed. We both woke up the next morning at 6am, Ben still asleep. I freaked out because Ben hadn't woken through the night. He slept from 8pm - 7am from then on.
i now have a cold, but i wont sook because it's not too bad at the moment. I just hope i dont pass it onto Ben.
Katie - lol, that's so funny re. your intl. relationship... life has some weird twists, hey?
Just wanted to let everyone know that we had the scan and found out that we are having a GIRL!!!
Very excited - I mean, I would have been either way - it's just so nice to know this time and it kinda makes it more real.
Received my university stuff last week and OMG - it's so much work.. not sure how I will get it all done... well and if I don't I don't... but I will give it a good go! Just not sure how I am going to sit exams in September with a newborn that will need to be breastfed every 2 hours.. hmmmmmmmmmmmm
Congratulations Snowy!! That's very exciting news. I'm sure the uni work will get done, you just need to make sure that you set some time aside each day to do something. I know it's not really the same but I finished my Masters whilst pregnant and working full time - I did 3 subjects int he last semester to get everything finished before Miss Genevieve's arrival. I had to sit exams while being heavily pregnant and having to rush off to the loo every half hour (I'm sure they thought I was cheating
Kaydee, I got your email and I will reply soon but I want to do it from work where I can access all of the information and I am off sick today (I was up all night with a sick tummy) so I will get on to all of that info this week for you.
Bookmarks