Popsicles, Pools, and all the grilled food.

This morning, Jane was throwing a tantrum for literally no reason at all.. I mean, she is a two year old! I would feel like I am missing out on an essential part of parenthood if I didn't have to endure or diffuse tantrums multiple times a day. But I've learned to be able to tell when the tantrum is just a plea for some extra loving. So I wrapped her up in a blanket, gave her a tag, and cuddled her on the couch like a little baby. She was grateful. So grateful, in fact, that she began to shower me with compliments: "Mom! I love your eyebrows!"... "I love your mouth"... "I love your FACE!" My eyebrows that need to be plucked, and my face that is make-up less and graced with a few lovely zits. When I returned the compliments she replied with "Oh thank you! That's so nice!" She is just a gem, I'm telling ya.

So, moving onto the picture documentation portion. It was a little funny celebrating the 4th of July in another country. And honestly, our "celebration", if you can call it that, was severely underwhelming. We spent the morning watching dad play ultimate frisbee in the scorching heat, and then went to the gym, where there is AC (!!), to run around and watch dad lift heavy things. It was so hot that I couldn't really bare the thought of going outside and doing anything else that day. We ate watermelon though, and that's about as far as we got, festive wise. 

 I wanted to take a picture of jane in front of these two flags: USA and Germany. Ironically, Jane decided to lay down and throw a tantrum right in between the two flags. I guess she was feeling conflicted too about celebrating one country while being in another.

Doing the rowing machine like daddy. She felt pretty awesome. 

 Back to the topic of scorching heat...we have been doing everything we can to beat the heat lately. Germany doesn't believe in AC so we have had to get creative with fan placements (ie. opening the freezer for a few minutes at a time and placing the fan in front of it to blow some of that blessed freezing air around)

We got a little pool for Jane and have spend a good amount of time out there. Sometimes she wants to swim more than once a day and her suit is already wet. Enter: see-through underwear as a swimsuit.

One day, we went to Weiden- a bigger town about 20 minutes from us. Also where I will be delivering this little baby I've been housing! Speaking of baby, she was the reason for this trip. I have all of Jane's newborn stuff saved up in boxes. But our household goods (aka all of our stuff) still hasn't come. So, poor me, had to go shopping for newborn baby girl clothes. We found an H&M, and the good news is that the only word you really need to know in german to buy clothes at a store is also the only word in german that I know. (the word for thank you) Sometimes, the stars align like that, but usually, NOT.

Jane and daddy snuck away for a little ice cream date while I searched the racks for clothes tiny enough to fit my baby.

 Moving on. We bought a grill! We are both excited about it. I mean Jeff is actually eager to grill dinner practically every night. I'm equally eager to watch from the inside and to NOT have as many dishes to wash afterwards. I love this picture of Jane relaxing in the chair after swimming in the pool, eating a nectarine, while my man grills us some dinner. So hot. Literally and figuratively.

STUD. 

 I also decided that the heat warranted a need for popsicles. So Jane and I made our own popsicles! She helped me blend up fruits, veggies, and greek yogurt to put into our little popsicle molds. It's like a triple win because: healthy, delicious, and a fun activity we can do together.

 Ok so it's a fun activity, except for when I turn the blender on. The loud noise of the blender causes her to react as if there was a stampede of roaring lions heading right for her. Here she is curling up into a ball on the floor out of pure fear.

Despite their less than appetizing color, they were a hit!

 Another day. Another scatter-brained blog post. It's fine.