Wednesday, November 12, 2008

Herr Doktor visits

Both Toby and Charlotte have recently had well baby visits- or Untersuchung as they are called here.

Toby's 1 month visit was a little late- it's not easy making an Untersuchung appointment over the phone in very broken German. At 6 weeks he was 5.85 kg (12 lbs. 14.5 oz., 90-95%) and 62 cm (24.5 in., 95%) long. He is very healthy... but has an umbilical hernia, which I've been told not to worry about. Hopefully it will resolve itself and won't get any worse.

Tall Toby and Daddy napping.

At birth (since I don't think I posted it before) he was 4.12 kg (9 lbs. 1 oz., 90%) and 53 cm (21 in., 75-90%) long. His head was 36 cm (14 in., 50%) around. If that was an "average" sized head, I'm going to have to think long and hard about doing a natural childbirth ever again!

Charlotte had her 2 year check-up today. Do they do this in the US?? They had her draw, do a shape sorter, throw and kick a ball, identify pictures, say her name, and asked me lots of questions about her development milestones. This was tricky, since the nurse's English was relatively limited and my German vocabulary is minimal... but we muddled through with a lot of pantomiming and me serving as translator to Charlotte. Oh, and she did great. And she is most definitely left handed.

Anyway... Charlotte is 14.8 kg (32.6 lbs., 95%) and 87 cm (34.25 in., 75%) tall. Trying a few different handy dandy internet calculators... her predicted adult height will be 5'9". Huh. That's exactly the height that I always wanted to be! ;)



Rob took this video of Charlotte the other day. She was entertaining herself in the infant carseat on top of the stroller. By the way, she isn't normally dressed in a yellow shirt, polka dot pants, and striped socks, but we've been experimenting with her picking out her own clothes.

Friday, November 07, 2008

Halloween and Toby's baby blessing

For Halloween this year, we went to our Church for a little party. We had a very nice time eating yummy soups and Charlotte enjoyed taking a swing at the pinata, "bobbing for apples" (she reached in with her hand and grabbed one,) and walking around for the trunk or treat. She was so tired by the end of the night that she was giving her candy away to other kids! :)


Here is Charlotte in her puppy costume (the same one she wore last year, but this year it fit her) waiting to swing a stick at the pumpkin pinata. She totally didn't understand this until after the candy came out. The next day she told me the "pumpkin candy" was her favorite thing about Halloween.

Okay. So Toby dressed up as Santa Claus for Halloween. We were given this Santa outfit and there is NO WAY it will fit him by Christmas, so I put it on him for Halloween. Clearly he isn't thrilled. He was too warm and I took it off of him shortly after this photo was taken. Toby was the same size at 6 weeks that Charlotte was at 4 months!!!


Charlotte coloring Halloween themed pictures with her buddies William (the Sheriff) and Benson (Peter Pan.)

Also, last Sunday Rob gave Toby a very special baby blessing. In our Church, infants are blessed by their father or another man who holds the Priesthood and has been chosen by the family in front of the congregation.

I picked out this little outfit for Toby to wear because it has a hedgehog on it and I think they are adorable and very German-- we've seen them out in the street in the evenings here. Oh, I posted this photo on my Facebook page and a friend commented that he looks "so serious." That made Rob and I smile, since that is what we were both told our entire childhoods as well. ;)

Schloss Auerbach

It's hard to blog with two kids!

These photos are from 2or 3 weeks ago I think. We drove to Schloss Auerbach and walked around one Saturday afternoon. Germany is gorgeous in the fall! The leaves had already peaked, but even now we still have beautiful Autumn scenery. This castle is from the 1200's, is not nearly as big as some in Germany, and is in ruins, but it is quite pretty there and we very much enjoyed the afternoon out. :)

From the top of the tower

And from down below

Beautiful rolling mountains and hills

Rob and Charlotte on the walk up to the Schloss.

First official family photo with all four of us.