Big News!

I have been a very bad blogger lately. November was a crazy month. September and October were too, for that matter. The Boy's been traveling and hard at work wrapping up things before the end of the year. The Babe's been sick. I've been sick. We've all been stressed. The nights are getting longer and colder and the days are short and grey. And as we enter The Holiday Season, I am reminded that the last time we spent Christmas with our families in The States was 2007.  So, yeah, I've been a little down lately. Sometimes it's so easy to focus on the stuff going wrong that I take for granted all the stuff going right.

And there are a lot of things going right right now. The Boy is happy doing work he loves. The Babe is happy. He loves his new school. And me, well, I have something I've been dying to share with you for a long time.

That's right! Baby #2 is on board! We're 13 weeks and oh so very excited!! The last few months have been exhausting, which is why I haven't been around so much lately. There's been the exhaustion of pregnancy, the exhaustion of running around after a toddler, the exhaustion that comes with a never ending cycle of the flu, plus the mental exhaustion that comes with trying to figure out just how the Danish medical system works. Now that I've been blissfully flu free for the last week and my first trimester is coming to an end, and we kinda sorta have a grasp how things work here, I'm hoping my energy will return and I'll be getting back to posting more regularly. 

the return of æbleskivers

One of our favorite Danish holiday treats has finally made its appearance! The æbleskiver is part pancake, part popover, and all yummy. You can make them in a special æbleskiver pan, but we buy ours frozen and just pop them in the oven. Serve with powdered sugar and the jam of your choice. Absolutely delicious!

Italy: Day One, Part Two

 A Long Walk to the Pantheon

After we left The Vatican and headed down the Via della Conciliazione in search of either pizza or gelato. We found plenty of both, but settled on pizza. While we waited for our pizzas, The Boy and I talked about our Vatican experience. For me it was, I don't want to say disappointing, but it wasn't spiritual and I thought it would be. After all, I was, for a few moments, a few feet about of the remains of St Peter - a man who KNEW Christ, the rock upon which His Church is built. I thought I would feel the weight of history, the impact The Church has had on the world and I did. I know a little of the history of this world, so it was hard not to. And, I mean, just look at the place. It's just so... grand. I think, though, that being a tourist at St. Peter's took away from the experience of being at St Peter's. It didn't feel like I was in a place of prayer or worship. There was no place to sit and reflect or pray. I was just one among many hundreds of people snapping pictures. 

And then our pizzas came. Let me tell you, real Italian food is incredibly simple but the simplicity does not take away from its yumminess. Case in point: the humble pizza. It really only has a couple of basic components: a delicious, chewy, not too thick, not too thin crust, a smattering of amazing tomato sauce, the freshest buffalo mozzarella cheese, and usually some fresh basil. After that they add other ingredients. It could be prosciutto or marinated grilled veggies or olives, etc., but they don't go overboard with the toppings. And it's not all greasy like the pizza from Domino's or Papa John's. Even The Babe was excited about our lunch choice and we breathed a sigh of relief that our child might not starve after all as he gobbled a few bites before getting distracted by nearby stairs. 

After lunch we headed out in search of The Pantheon.

 Castel Sant'Angelo

Italians are crazy, fast drivers. Fender benders are not uncommon. (Just look at that bumper!). They apparently park crazy, too. Hey, a space is a space. 

 San Giovanni dei Fiorentini

 Sant' Andrea della Valle

I was fascinated by this statue on the facade of the church. 

I wondered about the story behind this poor, unfortunate soul. 

It turns out it is a statue of Saint Sebastian .

Just down the street we decided to follow a (clearly not government issue) sign pointing to the Pantheon. It was a rookie mistake. We were off the beaten path, but we didn't mind. The Babe was napping and so we took the opportunity to explore just a little. 

 I barely had time to pull out my camera as this priest zoomed past us on his bike. 

 I like to think that this Roman statue has been 

watching over this little part of Rome for millennia. 

 And then there is was: The Pantheon. 

It's still standing after 1,885 years.

"Marcus Agrippa, son of Lucius, having been consul three years, built it."

After our spin around the Roman temple turned Christian church, we headed out to enjoy some gelato on the Piazza della Rotonda before heading back to the hotel to rest up and chill out before the brief evening adventure I had planned.

Had I known what the next 24 hours had in store, I would have taken a nap.

Happy Monday!

OK, OK, it's almost Tuesday. My apologies. We've had quiet the explosive couple of days around here - and if you have a small child in your life you know what that means. I'll get back to our Italian adventure momentarily, but before we do I like to say that I've been doing some thinking. One of my biggest regrets since leaving London is that I didn't really blog about our time there. And I wish I had. There were/ are so many things I want to remember. So I thought I might share with you a few of those things starting with this: some pictures of us and The Babe on his very first boat trip. 

He's a little over two months old in these pictures. We're on a Thames Clipper headed to Bodean's at Tower Hill for some good old fashion Kansas City BBQ. It's dark and cold. The boat is rocking and these pictures are way out of focus, but I love them anyway - especially the way The Babe purses his lips. He did that for months and months. We called it The Turtle. 

He doesn't do it anymore. We kinda miss it. 

Italy: Day One, Part One

The Vatican

 Opulence, I has it.

We only had two days in Rome and since there was so much to see we had to be pretty selective in choosing the places we wanted to visit. So we made a list:

Day 1

The Vatican ( for me since I am a Roman Catholic)

The Pantheon ( for The Boy)

Spanish Steps (for The Babe, who loves steps)

Trevi Fountain (also for The Babe, who loves running water)

Day 2:

The Coliseum and Roman Forum

We'd been told that The Vatican was a beast to tackle. It's huge. The lines are long. So we decided that we would make it our first stop and we would limit our visit to St Peter's Basilica. Since The Babe refused breakfast, we smuggled out a pastry just in case he was hungry later, bundled him up in The Smart Buggy, and set out on our first Roman adventure. 

our first view of The Basilica

from around The Square

inside the complex

 The Babe and I walk toward the baldacchino surrounded by swarms of people.

looking back over The Tiber

Italy: The Journey Begins

You might recall that three days before we left for Italy The Babe came down with The Preschool Funk. Again. We spent the entire weekend laying low trying to recuperate and by Sunday night he seemed to be perking up. He wasn't eating much (that's nothing new) but his energy did seem to be up. He even spent some time running around and showing off while video Skyping with the grandparents. We felt pretty confident the next morning that all was mostly well when we headed to the train station to begin the first leg of our journey - a train ride to Hamburg, Germany. I made some applesauce and cranberry muffins the night before to snack on because The Babe LOVES muffins and I just KNEW he'd gobble them up. Nope. He wasn't the least bit interested. "Oh, well," I thought. "He's probably just excited about being on the train.  He'll eat when he gets hungry."  

After checking in at the airport in Hamburg, we grabbed some lunch. The Babe had nothing. He shunned all veggies, which was not shocking, turned his nose up at chicken nuggets and even waved off french fries. He just sipped juice cut with water. We bought a chocolate croissant hoping to just get some calories into him. He simply was not interested in food. 

I don't know if we just lucked out or if the white noise we played for him religiously for the first  six months of his life at bed time has something to do with it, but our kid just likes to sleep on planes. He's awake until the wheels leave the runway and then he's out like a light. He really is a dream to fly with (knock wood) and this trip was no exception. He spent almost all of our flights to and from Italy completely sacked out .

We had a layover in Brussels. The Boy and The Babe spent some quality time watching airplanes (or "zips" as The Babe likes to call them) take off and land. We offered him food again, but he still turned us down. We were at a complete loss. He didn't have a fever, just a runny nose and a nasty cough. 

We made it to Rome around 11 and checked into our hotel about midnight. I fished out the medicine bag I always packed. This time it included baby paracetamol, saline spray and an aspirator, aka snot sucker. We gave him a dose of paracetamol and did what we could for his congestion. He hated it, but breathed much easier. We went to bed slept soundly through the night. 

The next morning we all got up in fairly good spirits, got ready, and headed down to breakfast. Once seated at our table, though, those good spirits faded fast. Not only did The Babe refuse everything we offered him, he'd developed a new method of telling us no - putting his hands to his ears and screaming. We ate fast and left. We had a big day planned, but we were also really starting to worry about The Babe. We'd see how the next few hours played out, but The Boy and I both knew that if things didn't improve something would have to be done. 

change

the 24 hour clock Greenwich Observatory

I don't know about you guys, but this time change is kicking our backsides. We switched back to standard time over a week ago here in Europe, but since we were in Italy where the days and nights are much more equitable and on vacay it went mostly unnoticed.  Now that we're back in Denmark, with its ever shortening days (we get an awesome 8 hours and 47 minutes of grey sky today) it's hitting us HARD. The Babe is mightily confused. He wakes up at least twice a night - once at midnight and again at 4ish, sometimes at 2 ish. He plods into our room each time and each time  I get up and lead him back to his bed, curling up next to him until he falls asleep. Sometimes it only takes a few minutes. Sometimes he tosses and turns forever. I am exhausted, you guys. EXHAUSTED. I'm so tired that by the end of the day I feel like I lack the energy to breathe. 

 Le sigh.

How's the time change treating you? And for all you moms out there, do you have any tips or tricks to help me get my little guy past the hump and back to sleeping through the night?

I'm working through the 1000+ pictures of our trip. I know. I went a little crazy, especially since I got to test drive a model of my Christmas present for 5 whole days! Please just bare with me. I'm working on it. I promise. 

We're back from Italy...

...and with lots to share. 

Let's meet here next week and I'll tell you all about it.

a good luck in love padlock overlooking Mount Vesuvius

Until then, have a fantastic weekend!