February - Getting a bit settled...I guess.

February 2nd - Ellen's favorite day in Germany thus far. Scott got off of the train with a bag of four Dr. Pepper bottles! Yippee!! So thanks for all of the offers, but none of you have to travel here with a six pack of DP!

Daniel has enjoyed playing in the snow. This was a week after heavy snow, in our backyard. Daniel is wearing my hat because ONE of his parents hit him in the face with a snowball and got his hat wet!

Below is the place that took us here. BASF headquarters in Ludwigshaven. The snow is "BASF" snow. It falls from the steam stacks all around BASF. I'm sure it's safe...



This was another visit to Heidelburg, in the main square. One of very few places with stores open on a Sunday.












Scott thinks this is such a silly picture of Daniel, but this is such a typical scene lately. He goes to very few places without his "big boy hat" and drags "Tiger" with him everywhere. We've already done 4am searches for Tiger when Daniel woke up without him. The ball is from the One Euro shop, just like the Dollar store!













This is our German playgroup here in Hassloch. They meet every Wednesday morning at a school in the town. This was taken during their Carnival Celebration. The kids all dressed up, had balloons to play with, and ate snacks. Daniel loved it. The woman next to me and Daniel is our neighbor, Ivonne and her youngest, Lilly. Anna, who is one month younger than Daniel, is turned with her back to the camera. They invited us to join the group and the others just put up with us! Singing is never something I enjoyed, but singing in German is quite amusing when you have no clue what you're singing! Oh well, Daniel seems to really enjoy the singing and even tries to sing some at home. He says a few random things, then waves and says, "Tschus" (pronounced like "juice"). This is our goodbye song, I'm guessing, since Tschus is the informal "goodbye".


After weeks of searching and going to look at a car which sold before we got there, we finally bought the car we wanted. It is an Opal, Zafira. Opal is the sister company to VW, so its a German car. The reason we liked this style is that the back has plenty of space for strollers, suitcases, etc... or you can have one or two extra seats. The seats are built into the floor, so they are always available. We're so used to our big SUVs, but this is actually close to the size of our Honda CRV. And yes, the seats are BRIGHT blue and black. Scott loves it, I'm glad we'll soon have two car seats covering the back seat!




Our Trip to Interlacken, Switzerland
Scott took me for my first trip to Switzerland for my birthday. We traveled by train, a first for Daniel and me. It was nice to not make Scott pull over and complain every time the baby bounced on my bladder!

This is my growth thus far, for all of you complaining that I wear my coat in every picture!


Like I said, Daniel LOVES the snow. We took a trip to Wengen for the day. It is mostly a ski resort area. Scott and Daniel were able to rent a sled and play on one of the hills. It snowed the whole day we were there and Daniel couldn't get enough of it! Oh, and Scott is making them tip over on purpose. Daniel had more fun being knocked into the snow then actually riding down the hill!

Our hotel, Hotel Spledid, was very cozy and had a suprizingly large room and bathroom. They even put a crib in the room for Daniel to sleep in. Unfortunately it was cloudy everyday, but we were surrounded by mountains and had a great view of the town from our window.

Baby update: I'm now 35 weeks along. I have an ultrasound every two weeks, so I've seen a lot of little Gustav. He now weighs just over 2800 grams - which means over 6 pounds. He is doing well and is in head-down position. And don't worry mom, we aren't naming him Gustav. To answer all your questions about a name, I like good Christian, traditional names and Scott likes to throw Scrabble tiles and see what "cool - new" name we can come up with. So, no, there is no name yet!

Another month down and 34 more to go! Hopefully next month's entry will include an addition to our family!