This had me in tears.
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Here’s one spot in my home that is put together – everything else is covered in boxes and packing material. We have a new bench in the hallway and I put up our Stendig calendar. The calendar is all ready for it’s special purpose. We still have to install a light above the calendar, but just looking at this little bit of non-chaos soothes me.
Of course in the bigger picture I should stop being so dramatic and be thankful that we have so much and I can spend my days taking frivolous photos like the one above. So I am – I am thankful for our beautiful light filled home and all the good times we will enjoy here.
Bea has been busy playing with all the packing materials from the furniture boxes. It’s always the non-toys that are most entertaining isn’t it. She made a house out of styrofoam pieces – doesn’t it look like some sprawling modern mansion. The only problem with her playing with those chunks of styrofoam is that awful sound that is comparable to fingernails on a chalkboard – gives me the heebie jeebies.
I am way overdue in thanking everyone back in the states for all your sweet and encouraging comments and emails. I so look forward to hearing from you and even though I am horrible at responding – you should know that your words make me feel warm inside.
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Look Doug – they have nice little cyclamen here – for only about $3. Amazing price after paying about $13 for some instant coffee.
I needed that little plant to keep me smiling today. Feeling a bit overwhelmed by all the disorder in our home at the moment. Everything seems really disorganized and I don’t have any of my usual routines in place. For some reason I thought once we got our IKEA stuff the house would start to feel in order. I guess I underestimated the amount of work still to be done putting the furniture together and organizing all our stuff. I also realized I have only about 10 or 11 weeks before our little sister baby arrives – that makes me even more anxious to get things settled at home.
On the brighter side – I found what I want for Christmas:
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So the middle of our day was spent in Zurich and Fasnacht was happening. Fasnacht is like Mardi Gras – you know – people celebrating, acting goofy and filling there bellies before lent. Apparently Zurich’s Fasnacht is pretty tame compared to other cities. But it was plenty of fun for us – we saw lots of bands and interesting costumes and the crowd didn’t seem too stifling. Bea was in a grump of a mood most of the time – I suspect she was still tired from our shopping marathon at IKEA yesterday. I think she enjoyed most of the day from the comfort of her stroller. Except when some of the scary witch parade people got in her face and offered her candy. She got scared and said she wanted to go home. I can’t blame her those masks are frightening. I preferred the band that was dressed as swans. She cheered up when we sat down to have a warm drink and she ate her candy. Then she finally fell asleep in her stroller on our way home and she didn’t even wake up when I took her out of her stroller and put her in our bed. It was a beautiful day, I’m so glad we went down to see the festivities and to get to know Zurich a bit better.
Here are our photos (a lot of the photos are of the paraders milling around (drinking) before the parade got started:
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Oh how did my baby become 3 years old? She is my little sunshine so it was appropriate that we got our most sunny day today to celebrate her birthday. Here are a bunch of photos from the beginning and the end of our day. My next post will cover the middle of the day.
We were finally able to glimpse the Alps this morning. We went out to get to know our patio and to soak in some sunshine. Spring feels so close here.
Later it was time for a bitty birthday party:
We had birthday cupcakes decked with little flags and candles and ladybugs. All in pink – I think Bea currently enjoys the more is more philosophy when it comes to cake decorations. I made the patterned flags from a template on the lovelydesign blog. Bea picked out the ladybugs while we were searching for baking powder again (we found it). I think getting to make birthday cakes is one of the biggest perks of being the mom. Soon I’ll get to make one more per year – goody, goody.
The anticipation was killing her. She declared that she was done eating after one bite and was ready to move on to the cake part of the evening.
She licked the frosting off first.
Time to open presents. She got a pretend birthday cake so she can practice blowing out the candles – she loves it.
Happy Birthday Bea we love you to pieces and I can hardly remember my life without you filling it up.
Three years ago:
And today:
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We have loads of big papers left from the packaging of our stuff. It’s a little wrinkled but we don’t mind. It’s perfect for using the new paints that Bea got from Grandpa and Grandma C. for her birthday. Here are a couple of our masterpieces:
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The Chapman family earned a gold medal at the IKEA Olympics today. Wow – what a grueling day of shopping – punctuated by a lunch of Swedish meatballs. We picked out a guest bed, a dining room table, a toilet brush, a big girl bed for Bea and tons of other things that will be delivered on Monday.
Stay tuned for some photos of half put together furniture later this week.
And we will have light! Yeah! We purchased several light fixtures and lamps so Brian won’t have to pad around in the dark looking for matching shirts and pants every morning. On the down side – no more excuse for me to do nothing but sit around and watch TV after dark. Wait. Who am I kidding – I don’t normally need an excuse to sit around and do nothing after dark.
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We went for a long walk this morning. Starting with some swinging on the swingset next to our building.
Then down to the lake to say hi to the ducks – this tiny park is directly down the road from our apartment. I can see it from my kitchen window. There seem to be lots of garden plots here in Switzerland. There’s a whole section of them next to the little park. They look quaint and kinda cluttered too. Some of them have cute little sheds with a couple chairs or a table out front. Can’t wait to see these plots in the summer – maybe I’ll even have to check into getting one someday.
Here are a few photos of some of the interesting buildings in our town. We walked down the main busy street to an international school that I’m interested in for Bea. Then we walked along the water for part of the way. There are tons of sailboats around – Jennifer would feel at home.
Yes Dad, there are fish in Lake Zurich. Here they are:
Back from our walk in time for lunch.
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My butter dish is useless – since butter comes in a different (larger) size here. Duh
They are so very punctual here. Some people have to come through our house to do some repairs on the outside of our building – they specified they would be here between 1:15 and 1:30. Ha – usually in the US if some sort of fix-it person is coming they say we'll be there between 10:00 a.m. and 3:00 p.m. and then they show up at 4:00 p.m.
I spent over 8 Swiss Francs (about 8 dollars) on two measly little chicken breasts. I also spent a very long time in our tidy little grocery store looking for baking powder and came home with corn starch. Arg – I'm dying to do some baking.
Stupid things I did yesterday: Bought the wrong type of train ticket – in my defence the kiosk starts out in English to make you feel confident when you start and then it turns to German. Luckily I wasn't stopped and fined. Also I could not for the life of me open our stairway door with our key when someone rang the buzzer. Brian had to show me how to do it.
So much to learn here.
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Our travel day went really well. Bea was such a good girl. She spontaneously fell asleep on the plane from Chicago to Washington DC – with her head bobbing uncomfortably to the side – poor thing. She pulled her little Trunki through the airport like a big girl (with a little encouragement from mom). She watched Cars on the long flight and had a harder time settling down to sleep. She finally slept for a few hours with her head on my lap. When we got to the Zurich airport she jumped up and down with excitement when I told her we were so so close to seeing Daddy. And after a little bit of being coy she grabbed on to Daddy and didn’t let go until we go to our new home. Wow what a big day.
I love our place. Brian did a good job choosing it. It is bright and it feels so much more spacious than our old place – something I had been yearning for – a little more breathing room. Right now our stuff is just in piles on the floor – the movers unpacked and took all the boxes and paper. Since garbage and recycling are such a big production here that seemed easier. When we first came into our home I had lost my humor a bit because I was so tired and my pregnant body was feeling a little taxed, but Bea, oh you should have seen her, even after our huge day she was running around the place with a huge smile on her face and discovering all her stuff and looking in all the rooms. She asked us to put her in her crib and started jumping up and down. And as I was slowly looking at each room and talking with Brian she was running around the house saying mommy, mommy come see this or that. Every step of the way in this bothersome moving process Bea has been full of smiles just when I’m feeling tired – and she has lifted my spirits so much. She’s my little treasure.
So today we hope to get out for a walk, start to sort through and get all our stuff where it should be and make a huge list of things we need to get at IKEA like lamps (it’s quite dark at night), a big girl bed and a dinning room table.
So I know my mom is dying to see photos. We spent a lot of time looking over the plans and little photos of our apartment and speculating what it was like. Here’s a little more of what it’s really like mom:
The girls room and Bea jumping in her bed.
The living room/dining room – I think we’ll move the couch opposite the fireplace. There are these shutter type of thing on the outside of the windows that you can close. And there are tracks for curtains – just have to find the right hardware to fit them.
The wall between the living/dinning area and the kitchen. I’m sure we’ll move that bookcase too.
The kitchen – very white huh. And my fridge – very cute and small huh. But there’s lots and lots of storage space as Bea is demonstrating in the last photo.
This is a very boring photo but Mom and I kept wondering just how big this storage room was. It’s pretty big. I’m trying to decide if Brian’s Bike and a sewing nook can co-exist in there… maybe.
And here’s our entry way and hallway which seems nice and roomy too. Plenty of room for a bench and some coat hooks. The floor in this area is heated and there are two big round sky lights.
Okay that’s all for now. I’m off to find some paper so I can start my big list.
Thanks mom for taking care of me in Midland. Bea loved seeing you and she keeps playing with her toys saying that her people are going to their grandma’s house which is very far away. Also thanks for helping me with your muscles to zip up my enormous, overfilled bag. You know I couldn’t have gotten out the door with that help and all your other support during our week and a half.
We are thinking of all our family and missing you already. I must put up some family photos pronto.
Laowai 