Sarah Avery is 2 Months Old!

The biggest event of our week was definitely the two month milestone of our sweet baby girl Sarah Avery.   So on Wednesday morning she and I had a little photo shoot in the living room to commemorate the day.  (Be warned that this posts will contain many shots of our little screamer in her pink velour jogging suit.  I just can't seem to narrow them down.)  But I'm also including a random array of other photos I snagged this week.    Here goes.....

Look at this big girl......she asked for braids out of the blue on Friday morning and actually kept them in all day.   

I thought she looked so grown up in this pics.   

Our little 2 month old.    

She is an absolute joy (except in the car, and then "a joy" would not be the first words that would come to mind) and I love being at home with her during the mornings.   

She really never cries (except in the car, where all she does is scream) and has gotten much better about staying occupied in her bouncer while I get a few things accomplished.  

She is starting to laugh and "talk" so much and is more responsive everyday.   

She has the best smile and will always smile if you make the motorboat sound for her.

She wakes up in such a happy mood.   Usually she sleeps while Susannah and I  get ready and have breakfast.   Then we go in and wake her up and she instantly starts smiling.   Susannah  entertains her while I get dressed.   We actually have a pretty good rhythm going most days.  

She has really started grabbing things lately (including my hair).    

And she really likes her activity mat, especially the hanging lion toy.   

When I remember to do it, she does great with tummy time.   

We call it her work-out.   ;)

The weather is starting to turn colder so Susannah got to  try out her new winter coat.   

And Sarah Avery tested her new snuggly car seat cover.   (We have abandoned the European style stroller.....nothing beats the BOB.)

A character already

Three days a week, Sarah Avery and I go for a nice long walk after dropping Susannah at school.  She much prefers the Ergo to the stroller, which works out really well considering the hills and stairs that are on my route.   

It really is no exaggeration that Stuttgart is just as hilly as San Francisco.   Lots of hills are so steep, the sidewalks are actually staircases.  (Not at all stroller friendly.....another reason I LOVE the Ergo)

This hill is super steep.....the picture does not do it justice.   But the Fall leaves are just beautiful right now.

One of the many city panoramas we enjoy along the way. 

A new American style mall just opened in our neighborhood, so last Friday I took the girls after school to check it out.   Susannah cracked me up.....she has never really been exposed to malls so she kept asking if it was an airport.  ;)    We bought her a couple of things while Sarah Avery napped in the stroller.   It was our first official mother-daughter shopping trip and it made me so happy.   I can't wait for many, many more afternoons like this with my girl.

Any of you who know me well know that crafting is NOT my favorite.   Even going into Micheal's gives me anxiety.   So when I saw translated the sign-up sheet for parents to come and help their child make a lantern at Susannah's kindergarten, I was not super thrilled.   The teacher who led our group is the one who doesn't speak English, so let's just say I was happy that we left with a lantern at least in tact.   Definitely not the most impressive in her class, but it functions.   (More to come in a couple of weeks about the purpose of the lantern.  It is actually a really cute tradition that we are excited to experience.)

Well, that is it for this week.   I'll post Sarah Avery's 2 month check-up stats next week, after our visit to the doctor.   One thing I know for sure....she is tall like her mama already.   ;)   Until then, hope all is well with each of you.   And Happy Halloween!

First Road Trip

Last weekend was a long weekend for Peter because of Columbus Day, so we planned a little family road-trip to Fussen, Germany.   It is a little lakeside village at the foot of the German Alps.   We had an amazing time and Sarah Avery did really well.   We brought her bassinet and she remained on her normal sleep schedule every night we were there.   She isn't, however, too big a fan of her car-seat, so the 2.5 hour drive wasn't the most pleasant of experiences.   (If she wasn't asleep, she was screaming.....screaming with her entire little body......screaming like somebody was torturing her.)   It was just as delightful as you are imagining.   But the views and the relaxation and the fun that we had once we were at the destination were totally worth the ear-ringing we experienced during the drive.   Here are some of the highlights.....

This was the view from our balcony.    Pretty amazing, right?   It was hands down the best view I've ever had from an accommodation.  

All smiles as soon as she was out of the dreaded car-seat.

Talking

"I'm really sorry for all the screaming in the car.....I promise."

There was a great playground right next door to our hotel.   Susannah loved it.

And the gravel path that went around the lake was flat and perfect for bike riding.

These pictures do not do the fall colors justice, but those hills in the background were every shade of orange.   It was so beautiful.

Susannah loved riding her bike without all the steep hills that we have in our neighborhood.

Sarah Avery liked the view too.   ;)

We couldn't stop taking pictures of the view because it constantly changed with the light.   I can't get Peter's pics to download, which is sad because he took some amazing sunrise shots when the sky was pinkish orange behind the mountains. 

The hotel restaurant was authentic Italian.  The owner was from Sardinia.   So of course, we had to taste some of the recommended Sardinian wine. 

The centerpieces were real pepper plants.....thought that was so cute.   Unfortunately, as soon as we finished the appetizer, Sarah Avery decided she was finished with her evening, so we had to get the next course to go.   Luckily our room  was more of an apartment so we had a kitchen and dining table and finished our dinner there.

The next morning we took off on the path around the lake.   The entire perimeter is 5.6 kilometers.   We made it less than half way before Susannah started to tire and rain clouds arrived, so we turned around.   The part we saw was beautiful though.   And so refreshing to walk without any car noise.  

The lake was crystal clear and so calm.   We spent the rest of that day having lunch, swimming in the indoor pool, and watching ESPN  Game Day.   (Yes, we have finally figured out a way to watch college football on the internet.   Unfortunately the hotel internet was spotty, so we only got to watch the first half of the Georgia game.   That was all we needed though....Go Dawgs!!  :)

Sunday morning we headed to the neighboring village where we knew they had a great playground complete with a luge ride.   On the way, we noticed a huge crowd of people gathered outside of the church that is in the background of this picture.   They were all dressed in the traditional Bavarian garb (like what you see in the pictures from Oktoberfest) and there were hundreds of them.   They all gathered outside the church for what we think was some kind of Autumn Harvest service.   It started with what sounded like a sermon of sorts and ended with a parade through the village.  

The famous castle, Neuschwanstein, that inspired Cinderella's home at Disneyworld in the background.  If this looks/sounds familiar, it is because we visited this same village last February and in March 2010.   We just love the peace and quiet and charm and mountain views so much, we keep coming back.  

After lunch we spent the afternoon at this great playground at the base of the mountains. 

They had all sorts of fun toys (if you had the correct coins).   Susannah had a blast.

She was a good little driver.

She loved this the most.

After some convincing, Peter finally talked her into doing the luge with him.    They ended up going again because she loved it so much.

Sarah Avery and I hiked up to the top of the luge course to cheer them on.

We ended our afternoon with a boat ride around another lake in the area.   It was gorgeous, just gorgeous.

We enjoyed some refreshments during the ride, of course.

The weather was perfect and the views were spectacular.

Little Sailor

Perfect end to a perfect weekend.

Back at the hotel, we enjoyed our last night with this view.

How amazing is this Daddy?   Susannah always wants him to brush her hair because  she says he doesn't pull like Mommy.

Last minute family shots. 

I love this one. 

Daddy's girl already.

Sometimes I still can't believe that I am so lucky to be the mom of two beautiful healthy girls.   So very grateful.  

Sarah Avery did some major screaming on the car ride home but we made it with only minor headaches and have settled back into our little routine.   Hope all of you had great weekends.   Love and miss you all!