Adieu 2008

As 2008 is losing both its present and future and becoming entirely the past, I have a few things left to say.
Last New Year's Eve I was just pregnant with Ellie (3 weeks or so), but already looking like I was in my 2nd trimester carrying triplets, so I am looking forward to tonight's celebrations, even with the 2 little, not-yet-tall-enough-to-ride-a-roller-coaster chatter heads. At least, without last year's Ellie bloated belly, I will be able to squeeze by and weave myself through the crowds in the festive city streets and have a little bubbly to bid adieu to 2008 and bonjour to 2009, which is admittedly more fun to do while tipsy on sparkling wine than nauseated and pregnant.

2008 brought:

1. a new bundle of sweetness - Ellie
2. the loss of my entire abdominal structure - pilates better bring some of it back, I can't handle any more jiggle
3. moodiness - holy sh$% what is up with 3 year olds? A wise tip to those not yet at this stage: adopt an 8 year-old, they are more than double past the 3s and might be less volatile! Seriously what is up with 3? It's appears to be the bipolar phase.
4. furniture. Finally somewhere to rest my ever expanding butt...although with 2 munchkins and a husband, I might get to use it for a whole 4 minutes a week...can't anyone else in this household find or do anything without mommy's help?!?! What the f$%k, Stefan your wallet is in yesterday's pants and Kaya your princess skirt is in the gar....(garbage I wish), is where you left it on the floor to put your pjays on last night, and Ellie, sweet Ellie it is somehow great to have a pre-talker and walker around, but can't you just fall asleep without the whole 15 minute rocking and shhhhhhhhhh session?
5. the expression of my repressed baking gene which hasn't been of great help to point 2 on this list, but nonetheless has helped me through the I-am-going-to-pull-all-my-hair-out-and-start-growling-if-someone-needs-one-more-thing-from-me-before-8am! My biggest accomplishment to date: Caramel Apple Cheesecake

Yadayadayada now that I'm done ranting I can say that 2008 brought lots of good things, ones that give you warm fuzzies and get you through the cold, parenting, taser moments (3 year wanting to live with another family kind of thing). Kaya treating Ellie like a rare and precious treasure. All the I love you mommies, even the ones that come after the tantrums and go-away moments. The mouth-open smiles Ellie gives every time she hears my voice or footsteps. Fitting back into my favorite jeans. Eating apple caramel cheesecake. Family visits (grandparents are babysitters in a cuddly, loving package always bearing some form of child-friendly entertainment. With a few exceptions, but lets not talk about the Floam MOM!). Stefan still telling me that I look beautiful despite the growth of a triple chin, jello butt and mount everest of a bunion - thanks to the fact that he refuses to wear glasses.

2008 was a fab. year, I finally feel like I am starting to understand and balance the mom/wife thing while just being me, although don't get me wrong, it would be great to have the whole live-in nanny, driver, cook and indoor swimming pool combo, then I might just be able to get 5 whole minutes of couch time!

Happy New Year to all of you and hey thanks for skimming my blog every so often, which I believe is the equivalent to seeing a therapist (which I so should have married) and please do feel free to comment on my 2008 wrap up with any bits of advice you can offer me for 2009 - help!

Cheers! K x

Holiday season must-dos

.Smack dab in the holiday season and I have really gotten into the spirit this year(aka. adhered to societal norms and rules in order to avoid being the neighbourhood Grinch). As required, I've done and actually enjoyed the following pre-xmas activities:

• baked cookies with Kaya which mysteriously transformed themselves, in the oven, into hardened, tasteless flour with powdered sugar - will just save them for guests.
• partaken in Kaya's pre-school, xmas art and crafts afternoon. We managed to cut out an xmas tree and drown it in glue and red lentils - I seriously kept thinking what a waste of food, people could feed off this amount of legumes for months. We will have to mail Kaya's badly decorated cardboard cut out to a third world country once the holidays are over.
• purchased an xmas tree, not made of recycled steel (for those of you that have previously celebrate with out Russian tank). Although in order to do our part to help the planet, Stefan insisted that it be plantable. So it'll most likely be proper-sized for xmas 2024!
• had punch at the local Christmas market while the kids rolled around in the hay. Nothing like getting a little tipsy while your children built hay-gloos. Our entrance way has looked like a stable for the past month, nothing like a little hay to give a city-flat a little farm-flair.
• fed many a hungry guests with turkey and all the fixings since the beginning of the month. I think I could season, stuff and carve the wattled bird in my sleep.
• located a Santa in Vienna (needle in a hay stack) and have two kids sit on his lap without wailing. I believe that Kaya almost, even smiled at the bearded, red-clad, large-bellied man.

and the biggest one of all...

• lied to my daughter and fed her a myth about a flying fat man, 12 reindeer and a gift-manufacturing elf-village.

Merry Christmas 2008!

December 24, 2008

Just as we were about to fly south in search of Santa, we heard a rumor that his sleigh was last spotted over Tokyo when it hit a rough cloud patch and the deer went down. Figuring that since his preferred mode of transport was out of commission, he would do the "green thing" and take the subway to get around and deliver his goodies, we embarked on an underground journey to fnd him, but to no avail - Stefan did however manage to snatch a glimpse of Rudolf and Kaya claims to have seen flying cows! Well maybe next year we'll have some fancy GPS equipment to pinpoint his exact coordinates...

Meri Kurisumasu from the land of the rising sun.
Love Kim and Stefan

Ellie - 4 months

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Ellie's possie

.Years ago, after fleeing Australia, 34 weeks pregnant with Kaya and settling in Vienna for her birth, both homeless and clueless, the Vienna Babies' Club saved me...us. I met a bunch of other crazy women that had also moved here pregnant and confused, so naturally, in our rashness we bonded quite quickly and went on to form quite valuable (necesary) friendships. 3.5 years later a core of us still attempt to meet on a weekly basis to (please read between the lines) praise our children and husbands and the wonderful country we now call home!

Wanting to be an equally oportunity parent, I joined a VBC group for Ellie and have met another group of great moms and bubs. Although my motivation for joining is different, the topics of conversation remain the same, spit up and poop are still on the top of the list. I won't bore you with the stinky details, just a few photos of little Ellie's playmat companions.

Sept. 2,2008

Nov.18, 2008

Dec.7, 2008

Dec.11, 2008

The HAY

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My name is KAYA

Kaya wrote her name for the first time, completely unassisted this afternoon - our little genius!