Papa John

Today my family celebrates an amazing man. I hope someday, when I look back on my life, I can claim I lived it even half as well as he did. We all miss and love you so much Papa.

Slovenia!

We decided totally last minute to take a roadtrip to Slovenia. It's roughly the same distance as our roadtrip to Italy that is coming up with Oma & Sh (Mary & Ron) so we thought we'd test out Liam's tolerance. Let's hope the next one goes as well - he only woke up / fussed when he was hungry, which turned out to be about 3 times over what ended up to be a 9 hour (600+km drive). We left about 5ish as Liam wakes up most mornings to eat at 4.30 so we just got on the road directly afterwards. Gorgeous scenery through Switzerland & Austria, the sun rising (aka blinding us), riding in a car on an empty highway lined with mountains...it was a great start to the trip.

About 2pm we arrived to Slovenia to a warm, sunshiney day. Liam housed big time, which resulted in a huge spit up all over his outfit, as well as one of the two blankets we'd brought. Then, he managed to rock through another 2 outfits in short order; bombing out one and somehow peeing out the other. We'd hardly arrived and already I was worried we didn't have enough clothes with us! Luckily, things settled down quickly. We enjoyed a lakeside stroll and sunny views from the balcony that evening. Friday we headed to the capital Ljubljana for a private guided city tour, strolled around with a fussy lil dude, ate our tasty lunch in shifts to accomodate Liam's needs and fed in public, A LOT. The second batch of Asian tour groups did their fair share of gawking at Liam. We ate some super tasty gelato and then we headed back to the hotel for another evening spent watching the sun go down.

Saturday was our 'relaxed' day of the trip which included driving to see another lake, Lake Bohinj, Liam's first gondola trip up to about 1500m (5000ft) for views over the lake & the Julian Alps, a swanky lunch at Tito's former villa, another afternoon on the balcony and dinner at the restaurant next door to the hotel. Slovenia reminded us a lot of Switzerland, stunning mountains and lakes, small and manageable. Where it differed was in the people. They were friendly! It was refreshing. The food was good and the prices were clearly much, much more reasonable than in Zurich. We wished we'd had another day there to relax and enjoy the weather, but instead we woke at 4.30 and were on the road by 5.15. Joe rocked driving the entire trip (thanks babe!)...one perk to forgetting my license;)

We passed through Liechtenstein, Austria, & Germany to get to Slovenia, so, including his birthplace, Liam's already been to 5 countries. As Megan said today, Liam's already been to more countries than her. Although he probably won't count it and I expect might be a bit annoyed with us for doing all this when he's too young to remember. We're looking even more forward to our Italian adventure now that we have a bit more understanding of how he does in the car, what helps him fall asleep in an unfamiliar place,and that coffee still tastes delicious while breastfeeding (priority for Italy:)!

fancypants

I'm so freaking stylish...courtesy of my cousins Kristin & Amy.

Nana & Papa Visit

 We had a great time with Mags & Nick in town. For the most part the weather cooperated and I was finally feeling up for getting out and about more. We tried to go out somewhere each day for a coffee, drink, or meal and we walked all over the shop. Mags made me feel ridiculous (I'm still not allowed to carry anything much, but I felt like a real ass just walking next to her while she lugged the groceries multiple times while pushing the pram, uphill). Seriously, the walk home from the grocery store is straight up. We hit up a lot of our fav spots in town; our friend Mike's restaurant with Erin, Lach & Will (he enjoyed some dirt while we ate delicious spinach dip and sandwiches; Mags & Erin even shared a brownie sundae...and trust me, with those two, no one else was offered a bite). Le Pain Quotidien & Baschanzli were frequented multiple times, we met Bonnie at Bohemia (I always meet her there; so much so that it feels unnatural to go there without her). We had borrowed Erin & Lach's car while they were away, so we took our first car ride, checked out a cute town in eastern Switzerland, Stein am Rhein, went to the Rheinfalls, and generally tested out William's tolerance for car rides (doesn't like getting strapped into the car seat, but after he's all locked and loaded, he passes out for inordinately long stretches). Liam also had his one month doctor's appointment while Mags & Nick were in town, so all four of us rocked up to the doctor's office. Our doctor's great, and he wasn't phazed in the least (even if Joe & I were). As with most doctor's appointments in Switzerland, he spent lots of time with us, and kind of made us feel awkward when we didn't have more questions for him. Liam was sans diap for too long during the doctor's exam and Joe & I knew it was going to be trouble. Finally, he peed all over, just narrowly missing Dr. Baeckert;). Joe & I also went out for a great dinner while Mags & Nick babysat one night. Liam slept the entire time we were out, which was a lot longer than we'd expected, and after going to town eating when we got home, I passed out while Joe tried to get Liam to fall asleep. At least the lil nugget cooperated for Nana & Papa, but we paid for it (well, mostly Joe paid for it...apparently I can sleep like a rock through our baby crying in the same room as me;)... It was clearly fabulous to have my parents here, to have Mags help out with middle of the night changes in her nightshirt, to eat delicious dinners courtesy of Nick, to enjoy every meal while it was still hot because Mags would always be the first to hold Liam while he fussed (his favorite time to make us aware of his presence is during mealtime...the kid can be completely passed out, but once he smells food or senses we are about to eat, he's all, 'hey, look at me, i insist you hold me. and, i mean NOW'). Thanks for everything Mom & Dad!