Mommy's little angels

I truly believe that motherhood is a blessing. My children have brought great joy to my life and I love watching them learn. I especially love watching them interact with each other. They make me laugh and smile daily. I think before most people have kids they have this lovely image of what being a parent is. They see visions of their children playing nicely with one another at their feet by the fireplace or big sit down family dinners with everyone smiling and talking...oh yeah, and actually eating their food. It's true, there are those memorable "Kodak" moments that makes all the other stuff you have to put up with very worth while. Those happy moments are the ones that are usually blogged, but today, I'm going to focus on that other "stuff." Those moments that push me closer every second to going into, what I like to call, MMM or Mommy Meltdown Mode. The stories are funny now, but let me tell you, at the time I wanted to rip all my hair out and run screaming from the house! :)

About a month ago when Matt was away in Austria on business, I had put the kids to bed after a fairly uneventful evening. The hardest adjustment of parenthood for me has been getting up in the middle of the night. I don't do well being woken from deep sleep at all hours of the night having to leave the wonderful warmth of my soft bed and fluffy down comforter. At around 3 am I awoke to Danny yelling for me from his room. We recently moved Rach into the same room with Danny, so I ran as fast as I could to get in there and quiet him before Rach woke up. I open the door and the rest goes as follows:

Me: What do you need bud?
Danny: Uhh, I need nothing.
Me: You mean you need something?
Danny: No mom, I need nothing!
Me: Ok... good night.
Danny: MOM! I NEED NOTHING!!! (crying) GET ME NOTHING!
Me: Danny I have no idea what that means!!
Danny: Mom, just get me nothing...please!
This goes on for probably another 7 minutes or so.
Me: Just go to sleep and we'll look for nothing in the morning.
Danny: Ok

The dilemma is temporarily resolved, then, as if on cue, Rach wakes up.


My sweet little innocent looking Rach also has her moments. The other day, I put a movie on the for the kids so I could take a quick shower. My shower is my little break during the day. It's pretty much the only few minutes of the day when I can relax and think.
I'm washing my hair when I hear the curtain slide open. I look down to see Rach, fully clothed sitting on the shower floor. I get her out and sit her on the rug so I can finish rinsing my hair. Of course she quickly climbs right back in. I give in, turn off the water and slide the curtain aside only to see an unraveled role of toilet paper along with little piles of laundry detergent all over the bathroom floor. How a kid can be so destructive in such a short period of time is beyond me.

Despite these moments and the many MANY others like them (i.e. Danny asking me repeatedly throughout the day to fix toys that aren't broken and Rach pooping in the bathtub) I can't imagine life without my little trouble makers. Life is good...really really good!



Danny is in a phase where he hates wearing clothes.
Both kids love wearing their backpacks and Rach always has to have something on her head, whether it be her brother's beanie (above), tights or a dish towel.

It's official!

Last week, Matt signed a new contract with Hilti, and in January, will leave behind financial controlling and begin his new position as product manager for cordless power tools. For a while we thought we would be heading back to the states, however, this turned out to be too good an opportunity to pass up. We're so happy to be able to stay in Europe for another 2-3 years and are excited to see what new adventures await us!

Here are a few pictures taken in the village, or "williage" as the Swiss say, where we live.

Happy Birthday Danny Part II

On the morning of Danny's birthday, Matt and I filled his room with over 100 balloons. He was pretty excited when he woke up! We opened presents and had a big pancake breakfast. Later that evening, we had a few friends over. Matt made some great homemade minestrone alla Genovese and of course there were chocolate cupcakes with chocolate frosting and sprinkles at the birthday boy's request. Our main goal was to make sure that Danny had a fantastic day. I guess we succeeded because the next morning Danny woke up and with a very sad face said, "I want my birthday back." I had to sing happy birthday several times throughout the day to try and temper the post birthday blues. Now, however, he has moved on to counting down the days until Christmas. Not because he wants more presents, but because he is SO excited to fly to the U.S. and see all of our family that he misses so much! Only 24 days to go! Whoo Hoo!!!

The shirt is of course a present from me:)
Pipa and Kasper gave Danny a new sled!



Siena and Danny's super cheesy smile
Danny flashing his cheesy grin for his little friend Ellie. I'll have to post the pictures she took that night. I think she's a two year old photography prodigy:) The girl seriously has skills!

Happy Birthday Danny!

Today we celebrated Danny's 3rd birthday! All day I've been reflecting back on the day Danny was born. I can remember all the details so clearly, it's hard to believe 3 years have already passed. It's even more amazing to look at these pictures from Danny's first few days and see how much he's changed and grown.
Matt and I woke early on Tuesday Nov. 2, 2004. I was so excited that this was my last morning waking up pregnant. I was huge and really uncomfortable those last few weeks. At this point we still hadn't agreed on a name for our little boy. The previous day I challenged Matt to a game of fussball. Winner got to name the baby. Matt won and promised to have a decision made by early the next morning. I was a little nervous seeing as one of the names on his list was Indiana. Normally I think Matt has excellent taste, but...Indiana?
The morning of the scheduled c-section we took a walk and Matt told me he decided on Daniel. Relief, though not my first choice. I wanted Wesley.
Matt's dad and my mom had flown in for the big day. At around 10am we headed for Arrowhead Hospital in Glendale, AZ. The nurses prepped me, I walked into the delivery room, and about 15 minutes later Danny was out. (For those of you who are thinking to yourself right now, "Ha, no labor? She had it easy." Let me just tell you Rachel more than made up for that:)
They held him up and I saw my Danny for the first time. I remember how smashed his poor little face was. I don't think he was able to open his right eye for at least 2 hours, but he was PERFECT! Even though he was born at 39 weeks, he was only 5lbs. 14oz. I was expecting a larger baby seeing how I gained 40 pounds!!!. All the nurses called him "little peanut." Matt and I were so excited! I still remember the look on Matt's face when he held Danny for the first time.
We had several visitors in the first few hours after he was born, including my dad who had flown in that evening.
Contrary to what you normally hear about forgetting about all the pain, I still remember it quite well. I also remember the spinal headaches and the crazy emotions I felt in those first couple of weeks. Luckily the good more than out weighed the bad and I would relive every difficult moment again if it would give me the same result. A healthy, happy, sweet and kind little boy who has brought such immense joy to my life.
Happy birthday my Danny J! I love you and feel so blessed to be your mommy.