A German Canadian Adventure: Adjusting to life with a newborn

Things are going well here. I think it is pretty safe to say that everybody is happy. Our little peanut is doing well. She is soaking up all the love and attention like a sponge. She gained some weight since she came to be with us, which is good since eating is not her strong point. After crawling around in my attic at 3:30am the first night to see if I had some bottles that fit the disposable nipples Neil got at the hospital things started looking up. We found a bottle/nipple system she does well with. She does have a bit of a problem with indigestion, so per the midwife's suggestion I add a drop of canola oil to her bottles, which doesn't seem to help her much though.
She sleeps well during the day, preferrably in our arms or while I am wearing her in my Ergo baby carrier. She does well riding in the car, too. A sure way to wake her up is to put her down somewhere, ha! Nighttime is not great, but not horrible either. She eats about every 3, sometimes 4, hours, and she has yet to actually sleep in her crib. :-)

It was so nice to have this extra long weekend (today, Tuesday, is a holiday and Neil took Monday off) together. Neil is leaving on one of his business trips to Italy early tomorrow morning, so that is when real life will start for me. I have lofty goals for tomorrow! They are: take Finn and Lily to Kindergarten ON TIME (dressed and with their lunch boxes), take a shower (a REAL one, you know, where I wash my hair and everything), don't forget to pick the kids up again. Make sure all kids are fed when hungry, cleaned up when dirty, and, most of the time, happy. Lofty goals, I know. You're laughing. You either forgot what it is like to have a newborn attached to you at all times, or you never had one. All right, if I am feeling REALLY adventurous I might actually attempt a trip into town to buy some more baby bottles.

Here are some more pictures.

The story of how we got Baby S. is pretty funny, actually. My sister invited Finn, Lily, and me to come along on a get-away to a 5-star hotel in Austria for a few days. Since Ulli stays in hotels a lot she collects points on her membership card, and every now and then she can cash them in to get discounts at certain resorts. So we all (well, except for Neil who had to work) went to Schloss Fuschl near Salzburg, Austria, where we were treated like the royalty we are (not) and enjoyed this view of lake Fuschl from our rooms (we had two luxurious rooms with a connecting door, perfect!).

And while we dined, enjoyed the spa area and pool, emptied the contents of the complimentary mini bar that thankfully was replenished daily, and went sight-seeing in Salzburg, Neil made arrangements to pick up Baby S. from the hospital. Because, you know, after not having heard from the social workers for about 5 months they need to place a baby the one time I am away from home. But Neil handled the situation perfectly. And thankfully his boss was really understanding, too, when Neil had to take Friday off. He did say it felt a bit surreal to arrive at the hospital with an empty car seat and take a baby home he didn't even know the last name of and that came with nothing of her own, not even the clothes on her back. Plus, the nurses were very protective of her and Neil needed to prove he could feed her a bottle before they let him take her. :-)

Here we are chillin' in Fuschl

The kids after their swim

This is from their website, just to give you a feel for the place. :-)

"The balance between tradition and modernity reflects itself as much in the unique collection of works by the Old Masters that characterise the Schloss Fuschl as in our rooms, which are specially made to measure to meet the particular needs of our guests. ... This castle has hosted archbishops, empresses and film stars since 1450. ...
The hotel's own fleet of classic limousines and Rolls Royces is ready at all times for excursions anywhere in the state of Salzburg."

I am proud to say that Finn and Lily were really well behaved and charmed their way into being spoiled rotten with chocolate by the staff. My favorite moment was when we dined at the fancy restaurant the first night and Ulli asked Finn and Lily if they still played soccer once a week. Finn said they did, but not last week, because two kids from the "rabbit classroom" at their Kindergarten also play soccer. Ulli then asked if those kids weren't nice, and Finn said for all within earshot to hear, "No, it's because the rabbit classroom has lice!".