Verena's Visit

On Friday, September 19th, my "German sister" Verena came to stay with us for a week. I lived with her family almost 10 years ago and was their au pair (the French word for nanny) for a year. At the time, Verena was 15 and her brother Serge was only 10. I was like a part of their family, and we've remained in close contact ever since! When Joe and I went to Germany this past spring, it was with Verena's family that we stayed for a week of our trip.

We spent the afternoon out in our backyard after Fischer and I picked Verena up at the Greyhound station at the end of our street.

This was the first time Verena (or any of our German friends, for that matter) had met Fischer...when they saw us last, I was almost 7 months pregnant! Of course, Verena and Fischer got along immediately--he liked her smiles and grabbing her long hair!

On Saturday, we all went to Algoma to see Lake Michigan. Joe tried a bit of fishing from the pier while Verena, Fischer and I walked around a bit. There was a wine festival going on, but it seemed crowded, so we just enjoyed a walk along the boardwalk on the beach. Fischer slept in his stroller the whole time.
When Joe had finished fishing and we had had enough of the beach, we met back at the car. We ran into Uncle Mike and cousin Kaylee in the parking lot! Mike said that Auntie Terri and her brother Mike and sister-in-law Debbie were at the wine fest. What a small world!

Sunday we went to Bill's Restaurant for breakfast--yummy pancakes and omelettes! For the most part, Fischer occupied himself well by chewing on his burp cloth, but after awhile, he became restless. Fischer got to enjoy a little dab each of maple syrup, strawberry topping, and raspberry topping, though! Joe walked around with him and made silly faces until we were all done at the restaurant.

Later on Sunday, Verena and I went grocery shopping, and Fischer and Joe went to a friend's house to help him shingle a roof. When they took a break, Fischer tasted some of Joe's apple. I think someone's anxious for him to do more than breastfeed!

On Monday, Verena went to see Barak Obama speak at the Resch Center here in Green Bay. She said it was a great speech. I had to work all day, so Fischer was with me at Bright Beginnings. When Joe came in in the afternoon to do his van run, he brought Verena along so she could hang out until it was time for me and Fischer to go home. She got to see what his routine is like at the center, and agreed that he likes it at daycare.

That evening, we were hanging out in the livingroom at home, and I was playing with Fischer on the carpet. He has such good control of his head, now, that he enjoys all different kinds of play. I spent some time pulling him up to a sitting position, and lowering him down to a laying position again. He loved it!
Dancing with the Stars was on, and Fischer was looking at the TV, just gesturing and talking away. We think he liked the music, and the close-ups of people's faces as they judged the dancers. It was this evening that we filmed him rolling from his tummy to his back! (See Fisch Finder on the left of the blog page) He rolled once to the right and once to the left before we got the camera ready, then he rolled once more on video, but didn't want to do it in the other direction. At least we got it once! He really enjoys tummy time, and doesn't seem to tire too quickly of holding his head up and looking around.
On Tuesday, I didn't have to work until the afternoon, so Verena and I took Fischer to the Baybeach Wildlife Sanctuary. The last (first) time Fischer was there, he slept the whole time. This time, he was bright-eyed and bushy-tailed!
We got to see the ducks and geese, a sleeping cougar, a couple of bobcats, a pair of wet otters...but the highlights were a porcupine and a deer! One of the zookeepers was feeding the porcupine banana chips--he was so cute! He'd go up on his hind legs to "beg" and even obeyed the zookeeper when she asked him to get down off of the barrel and get up onto the log.
The coyotes were restless--it was probably almost time for their lunch. But we did get one good picture.
When Fischer became a little restless in his stroller, Verena picked him up to get a better look at some of the animals.
We stopped by some little girls who were feeding a deer. The two girls were so excited and animated, that Fischer didn't seem to notice the deer at all because they were more interesting to him :)
The deer came to check out Fischer and Verena, though. We've never been that close to a deer!

Fischer was so tuckered out towards the end of our visit to the sanctuary, that he didn't even want to nurse. Once he had his diaper changed and was clipped into his carseat, he zonked out.

Verena and I went for lunch at HuHot, and Fischer slept the whole time! In fact, when I dropped him and Verena off at home so I could go to work and she could watch him for a few hours, he was still asleep. It was quite an eventful day!

Later on at home, we enjoyed hanging out and laughing and smiling with our little boy--who's also taken to sucking on his bottom lip (as seen in this pic).On Wednesday, Grammy Pam came for a visit. And she thought she could wait to see Fischer until Thanksgiving--yah right! Grammy came while Verena was home with Fischer and I was at work in the morning. We hung out together until Kristy and Flora arrived for our weekly coffee. We all went downtown to Kavarna and ate and had coffee and tea, then we ventured to the Broadway Farmer's Market.
It was the last one this season! What gorgeous weather we had all week for Verena's stay. Wednesday evening was absolutely perfect for spending time outside! Kristy bought some raspberries and gave some to Flora to snack on. We were all so busy checking out all of the sights at the market, that we didn't notice until we got to the car how absolutely covered in raspberry bits and juice Flora had become!
Grammy Pam got this photo of us just before we all parted ways. Isn't Kristy's baby bump coming along nicely??? We look forward to meeting the newest member of the Enz family late in December :)

Wednesday night was our last night with Verena and Grammy, too. So we just had fun hanging out at home. We got these adorable pics of Fischer and Joe making faces :)


Oh, and here's another update on our little Fischer man...he's been sleeping in his crib at night! When his swing broke on Thursday night (9/18), I saw it as a tragedy, but Joe called it an opportunity. I had been struggling with how to make the transition, and I guess the chance presented itself. So, with the swing's motor shot, it was indeed the perfect time to make the change.

Fischer's bedtime (at the latest) is 9:00pm. So, by then, he's had a bath and been changed into cozy jammies and a disposable diaper (we use cloth at home except when we're on the go or for overnights). I turn only his nightlight on in his room, and feed him what I hope will be his last feeding of the night in his room with soft music playing. Then, when he's had his fill, I gently place Fischer on his Boppy pillow in the crib. The pillow keeps him a little elevated because he's still so stuffy at night. I've faithfully kept this routine for Fischer for over a week, now, and I must admit, there are good nights and not-so-good nights. But for the most part, he will sleep 3-5 hours, wake and want to be fed, then sleep another 1-2 hours. So not too shabby! Sometimes, though, when I'm feeding him for the "last" time at bedtime, he will want to be nursed a little more and I have to settle him in a second time.

Even though some nights are utterly exhausting for me if he's up a lot or is hard to settle in the first place, I wouldn't trade our quiet times together for anything. Hey, it also keeps my milk supply up, too!