Rendevouz in Scotland

As always, it was great to meet up with Karla in an 'exotic' (read blustery & cold) locale. We drenched up the sun on our first day in Edinburgh, huffed it up King Arthur's Seat, were nearly knocked off the side of the cliff at Tantallon Castle, ate some GBK (a UK chain that we're making a bit of thing of with Karla, how could we not, they have Oreo milkshakes after all), had a few drinks, some long chats and survived Joe driving on the wrong side of the road, on the wrong side of the car, in the rain with Karla navigating. No dramas. I really expected some drama.

On the other hand, Liam is all drama. He's working on some new tricks, taking a few steps, blowing kisses, saddling up to anyone, anywhere. In the past day (from what I've understood), he's been called 'very friendly', 'charming', had a minimum of 10 people point (responding to Liam's new favorite thing of pointing at everyone), wave & smile at him on public transport, played with a young student for 20+ minutes at Starbucks (resulting in highlighter on his face & hands), and scored us an offer of chicken fingers at the bar from a few guys who liked his Blackhawks jersey & the way his mom let him wander all over said bar with minimal supervision. So yeah, Liam is really showing me a new side of the Swiss, some happy little hidden corner in their beings that they keep tucked away. Maybe he's showing them a new side, too. Either way, I like seeing it in these people who I'd almost categorically written off as stodgy and unfriendly. And, of course, I love that it's Liam bringing that out of them. I really cannot imagine where he got this unbridled friendliness, but I hope to God that we & the world don't let him lose a bit of it.

Munich: Beer(!) & Babies(?)

  Lip-smacking...

We planned a short weekend trip to Munich with friends who also have a baby and were pleasantly surprised to find out that Munich’s Fruehlingsfest would be going on while we were there. The Fruehlingsfest is a mini version of Oktoberfest, although certainly not nearly as rocking as the real thing. After the Fruehlingsfest, and some city touring which happened to include a few more beergardens, we realized that our nostalgia for Munich was built around, well, beer. However, liters of beer all day plus an active, I like to eat rocks, crawl away from you & wake up at 5am one-year old in tow certainly changes the perspective. And, when both Joe & I stayed in on Saturday night to watch the kids (ie. fall asleep at 8.30) so our friends could go out & neither of us were up for joining them as planned, well, you could see how far we'd fallen...

We still love you Munich, but I guess it's time to let our relationship cool off after 5 visits by Joe & 6 visits by Liz in the past 10 years. Honestly, it's not you, it's us...

Appenzell

 We had a great time at our lovely little hotel just outside of Appenzell. This is a little pasture we walked in just outside the hotel...so yeah, it was rural.

 Liam doing one of his favorite things and attempting to rip all the hair out of my head.

One of the last two places in Switzerland to exercise their right to vote by gathering & raising their hand in the town square, yearly, on the last Sunday of April. Appenzell is truly holding on to their traditions (including only allowing women to vote in 1990 & accepting family 'scabbards/swords' instead of voting cards to get onto the voting square). As I couldn't see what was happening, Joe filled me in on the details. They do not count hands. Just seemingly survey the scene & then move along to the next motion. As this photo shows though, seems things were fairly unanimous. Really fascinating that something which dates back to the 1300s is still in practice today.

Five hundred twenty-five thousand six hundred minutes (plus all the minutes it took me to get around to this post).

In so many ways, this is just one of many small milestones that make up a life. One of many ways we grow together as a family, as individuals, in love. It's one of those moments that come & go (and, lots of going was happening as Liam had a delightful bout of diarrhea on his birthday), but every so often the reality of it catches me off guard. We're parents to a one-year old. A whole year of gorgeous memories, sleepless nights and constant change have already passed us by.

At 24 weeks pregnant I wrote:
We're pretty convinced our lives were damn near perfect before you & are sometimes a bit skeptical that you are going to make them even better. This will most certainly be the reality of it though.

The many, many ways you have enriched, invigorated & in-frustrated our lives. Liam, you bring us unspeakable joy. The way you love to make your Dad laugh during your night-time books, when you wrap your arms around our necks (the only sign of affection you show), the way you must be directly between us & the counter when we are standing in the kitchen, the way you wave bye-bye to Daddy every morning, multiple times, even on Saturdays. How freaking jowly your face looks when you are really really enjoying yourself, most often when you are attempting to rip all the hair out of my head.

You are a total bruiser. No matter the size of the child in the sandbox, you are convinced you will be able to get their toy away from them. Seventeen other toys may be strewn all about, but you must have the one spade that is in the hand of another child. You are also so freaking friendly. It constantly surprises me the business men you can get to wave back to you. Most days though, you are flat out ignored, but still your waving frenzy continues. You often rock the double wave, both arms held above your head, hands waving furiously. You have taken to crawling over to other moms at the park and just planting yourself in their laps, or next to their strollers, then turning back to me, smiling & waving.

You love to jam to any music. The way you bop up and down is hysterical. Seemed you really enjoyed the beat of JT 'What Goes Around...Comes Around' so we imitated his moves from the video Now, you hold one finger up when it, or another random song comes on. It's one of my favorite things.

Of course, you do lots of other crap that drives us crazy. But, we prefer to measure the love, and lucky for us there's plenty of that going around. Finger up.