• The beloved wine festival Stuttgarter Weindorf takes place virtually until September 6. Wine tastings, fun interviews and more await us. However, the streaming will be in German so you should be able to understand a bit of the language in order to enjoy the livestream. But if you want to celebrate your own little Weindorf, you can do so as well. Just buy one of their pre-selected baskets in the online shop and taste wines of the region on your balcony, in your garden or the park!
• The Cannstatter Wasen, our version of the Okotoberfest, can’t take place this year, too. But you will find a “Mini-Wasen” in the streets of Stuttgart until October 2. At 29 locations (for example at Königstraße or in front of the Stiftskirche) you will find food trucks and some fun-fair-like huts. It is super important that we support these businesses now, otherwise the Canstatter Wasen will be quite empty next year. So “Bratwurst for everybody” and “Hello fairy floss!” 🙂
• For two years in a row the art installation Stuttgart am Meer (Stuttgart by the sea) at Stadtpalais Stuttgart has brought breach vibes to downtown Stuttgart. This year the festival has changed it’s name to Kopf über Wasser (head above water) and its goal is to help all of us to get through the pandemic as good and happy as we can. You can for example book a time slot for your personal visit to “the dues of Stuttgart” at Stadtpalais and escape the heat of the city – or you have a little BBQ! The art installation will take place at Stadtpalais until September 13
• The Wasen has turned into a huge pop-up drive-in-cinema. At Kulturwasen you can enjoy “Greatest Showman” on September 5 in the original version.
• And also the area at Römerkastell has become a huge open-air stage. On September 4 and 5 a Flamenco show awaits you, on September 9 you can enjoy an open air Jazz concert and on September 12 one of my favorite local singers, Fola Dada, will perform at Römerkastell.
• Join the online meeting of the Empire Study Group of DAZ (Deutsch Amerikanisches Zentrum) on September 11.. Each session focuses on a different article or topic. You will be able to share your experiences as well as your thoughts on a particular subject and reading.
• Some artists are SO creative. The band Dundu came up with the idea of Spazierkonzerte (promenading concerts). Until September 20 you can enjoy their music every Saturday at Feursee between 3 and 6 pm and at Ecksee in front of the opera house between 6:30 and 9 pm. Bring a picnic blanket, a bottle of wine (maybe from the online shop of Stuttgarter Weindorf ;-)) and enjoy the music!
• Theaterhaus has put together a special open air program this summer, too. On September 13 for example you can enjoy Eric Gautier, who is not only a famous ballet dancer and choreograph but also a great musician.
• Go for a hike on September 20, the Day of the Swabian Forest. You can buy drinks along the way.

Transparency: This post contains unpaid advertisements because I link to the events I personally think are worth to participate in.

The post September in Stuttgart in times of Corona appeared first on Living in Stuttgart.

Moritz and I have been debating in the days leading up to the big day whether or not we should celebrate. We are still in the middle of a pandemic, right? But I reallyreallyreally wanted to celebrate so we decided we organize an “open garden” for a small number of friends so that there would still be enough space for the guests to keep their distance. Luckily the weather was on our side, too.

OF COURSE the little one didn’t understand what was going on. And after half an hour or so she was done with socializing and wanted to run around the house for a million times and play with the toy frog in our rainwater collector.

But it was so lovely celebrating this past first year amongst friends and people who care about her. It melted my heart 🙂

The last 12 months…

When I look back at the last 12 months I can’t believe how many things have changed. Obviously our whole life has changed 🙂 We have become parents and are now responsible for a little, helpless, super cute and wonderful human being. I think I personally have changed tremendously – and am still the same person at the same time, too. Does that make any sense?? 😀

I am so thankful that Moritz has taken nearly one year Elternzeit (parental leave) so that I was able to work again a bit after 3 months. I think this was a great experience because I could really have it all – I was a new mom but still self-employed and active. I can only speak from my point of view but for me it was very healthy to be able to wrap my head around other topics than diapers and such all day long.

Another thing I am very grateful for: Our amazing trip to Tasmaia when the little one was 5 months old. We have spent 2 wonderful months in Down Under in a camper van and were able to enjoy this adventure as a family and make memories for a lifetime.

Then the pandemic hit us and we came back prematurely. But at least we made it back safely and healthy.

I remember how strange it was at first to be stuck at home with the little one with no play dates and Krabbelgruppen to attend. I think I can call us lucky again as she is too young to understand what is going on. But I also remember how glad I was when it became warmer and the situation a bit better and we were able to meet friends in the fresh air again.

What a whirlwind of a year. Not only our personal little world has changed so much, everybody’s world has.

When I can wish for one thing for the little one’s first birthday it is that this next year will bring a cure for Corona and wisdom for mankind. Haven’t these past months shown us what is really important? Family and friends and health? We really don’t need much to be happy but very often we forget about that. I wish for the little one and all other kids of the next generation that we as a society learn and grow, that we stop buying stuff only to throw it away again, that we stop destroying the planet and our health and that we remember what is really important and act upon it. I know, I know, big words 🙂

Sources for new moms and moms to be in Stuttgart

If you want to browse through my experiences as a new mom in Stuttgart, check out the following articles:

• What I’ve learned from being a new mom in Stuttgart for 3 months
• What I’ve learned from being a new mom in Stuttgart of a 4 months old baby
• What I’ve learned from being a new mom in Stuttgart of a 5 months old baby
• Being a mom in Stuttgart of a 6 months old baby
• Being a mom of a 7 months old baby (no, I didn’t forget the “in Stuttgart” part 🙂 I wrote this mom life update while we were on our trip in Australia)
• Being the mom of an 8 months old baby in Stuttgart
• Being the mom of a 9 months old baby in Stuttgart
• Being the mom of a 10 months old baby in Stuttgart
• Being the mom of an 11 months old baby in Stuttgart

You find an overview over all my mom life updates here.

If you are pregnant at the moment you might find helpful tipps in my category Pregnant in Stuttgart.

And if you’re thinking about introducing solid food to your little one, here is an overview about the German way of weaning (with recipes for purees and a pdf-document that holds all information and that you can download for free).

I plan to post an article about things I would have loved to know before I became a mom and another about what to buy before the baby arrives (and where – in Stuttgart and online). So stay tuned for that when you’re expecting a little one yourself 🙂

Thank you for staying with me this past year. It was so special to me and I love that you were a part of it through this blog 🙂

The post Happy 1st Birthday, little one! appeared first on Living in Stuttgart.

Here comes my personal small selection of events that are going on this August in Stuttgart that are somewhat safe to visit in times of Corona:

• For two years in a row the art installation Stuttgart am Meer (Stuttgart by the sea) at Stadtpalais Stuttgart has brought breach vibes to downtown Stuttgart. This year the festival has changed it’s name to Kopf über Wasser (head above water) and its goal is to help all of us to get through the pandemic as good and happy as we can. You can for example book a time slot for your personal visit to “the dues of Stuttgart” at Stadtpalais and escape the heat of the city – or you have a little BBQ! The art installation has opened its gates on August 1 and will take place at Stadtpalais until September 13.
• Stuttgarter Kulturwasen is still going. The pop-up drive-in cinema shows movies in their original versions like Le Mans 66 on August 5, The big Lebowski on August 6,  Bohemian Rhapsody on August 11, or Little Women on August 18.
• And another cultural institution in Stuttgart has come up with creative ideas how to bring some summer vacation vibes to the city for all of us who won’t be able to travel this year: Landesmuseum Stuttgart in the city center has turned its inner courtyard in a summer paradise – with sunbeds, parasols and the opportunity to order fun summer drinks. On the weekends various artists will perform for you while respecting all the corona rules at the same time. Sommer im Schloss (summer at the castle) will take place until August 16. 
• The flea market at Karlsplatz will come back weekly on August 8. There will be only half of the stands and you will have to obey to the distancing rules and wear a mask but if you love shopping for second hand finds, this is your event!
• The beloved wine festival Stuttgarter Weindorf will take place virtually this year between August 26 and September 6. Wine tastings, fun interviews and more await us. However the streaming will be in German so you should be able to understand a bit of the language in order to enjoy the livestream.
• If you are looking for some fun, open air activities with y0ur children, check out these locations:
  • Wilhelma Stuttgart (our zoo 🙂
  • Höhenpark Killesberg with it’s petting zoo, the playgrounds and the mini train
  • public pools in Stuttgart (mind that you have to register and pre-book your ticket online)
  • Eins und Alles in Welzheim where you can rediscover your senses in a creative and fun way
  • Märchengarten (Fairy Tales Garden) in Ludwigsburg where you can meet your favorite fairy tale characters
  • and of course all the beautiful nature around Stuttgart is always a great location for an excursion and or BBQ! Have you for example visited Naturpark Schönbuch or Schwäbisch-Fränkischer Wald yet?!

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[This post contains unpaid advertisements as well as affiliate links. Affiliate links are always marked as such on Living in Stuttgart.]

But before we start: Check out the super cute shorts the little one is wearing on the picture above! A friend of mine started a small business here in Stuttgart. She offers baby shorts and trousers in the cutest colors and styles. You can find her on Instagram under the name Kaiserkleidchen. When you like one of the designs, just write her a direct message 🙂 These are the designs I went for: 

Sooo cute, aren’t they?!

Anyway…

How is the little one at 11 months?

Veeeery active. She LOVES to walk. She still needs to hold on to our hands but apart from that, nothing is stopping her 😀 Her favorite tracks lead around the house and up and down the stairs. From time to time she lets go of one hand. But it seems like it is still very tricky for her to hold herself upright so she grabs for the second hand again quickly. She still loves her little walker/cart [affiliate link] but she definitely prefers to walk holding ours hands now.

On the sleeping front I can report: things have changed for the best ever since we completed weaning three  weeks ago. Now she sleeps through most of the nights and that is AMAZING!! Falling asleep is still a problem for her in the evenings (not during the day though. she only needs 5 to 10 minutes to nap…?!) but once she is sleeping, not much wakes her up anymore.

When it comes to eating she is getting more and more curious about “real” food and tries everything we hand her. Of course she doesn’t like everything… but at least she tries! 🙂 Her favorite meals at the moment include:

• pancakes – either with vegetables or ham and cheese
• pasta (without sauce!)
• wiener sausages
• fish (so far we have tried salmon and mackerel and she likes both)
• and she is still a HUGE veggie lover and nearly inhales broccoli and cauliflower

And as dessert all kinds of fruits are always high in demand. Her favorites at the moment are raspberries and watermelon 🙂

What is she loving lately?

• I could name her most favorite activities “The two R’s”: running and reading! As I have mentioned earlier, she is up on her feet from dawn to dust… But she is also a big “reader”. Well, of course she is not really “reading” but she loves flipping through her picture books. Sometimes she makes noises while doing so, just as if she was reading to herself 😀 I love that we were able to install an interest in books in her already. Reading is SO important and in my opinion, it starts in this young age.
• Watching animals. We have been to the Wilhelma (this is how our zoo in Stuttgart is called :-))  with her last months but in the end she doesn’t need a whole zoo. It is enough to go to smaller enclosures like “Saurucken” at Naturpark Schönbuch where we were able to observe wild boar and deer. And she also loves to pay the horses a visit on the fields behind Möhringen.
• Playing with her stacking tower [affiliate link]. It took a while until she figured out how to play with it but now it keeps her occupied for quite some time.
• Playing with these little man from Grimm’s [affiliate link]. She loves to take them in and out out of their bowls. She doesn’t care about sorting the colors but it is so cute watching her working with them very concentrated.
• Watching other kids at the playground. She doesn’t approach other kids herself a lot but she is very interested in them, especially in older kids.
• Splashing around in her baby pool. We have this pool with it’s cute mushroom top [affiliate link].
• Playing with this toy frog in our rainwater barrel 😀

How are you feeling as the mom of an 11 months old baby in Stuttgart?

Great and not so great. Let me start with the great part: It is SO amazing seeing her grow into a toddler. She is a little personality now. She knows what she likes and what she doesn’t like. And she can tell us! She has a wonderful spirit, she is strong minded but also kind and I pray that she will keep and grow these attributes throughout her whole life. And it is so fun that we can really play with her now.

But this last month was also hard. Hard because I didn’t react very great to the completion of weaning. It all went great  at the beginning and I was so released about that. I didn’t breastfeed her during the day anymore anyway, just at nighttime. When we decided to end that now, too, we were worried a bit. But she only woke up in the first two nights from now and then and when she did we offered her a bottle with plain water and she accepted it most of the times. In the third night she slept through. That was the first time in nearly a year that we slept through, too. You can imagine how surprised we were when we all woke up in the morning with the sound of the birds singing – not at nighttime with the sound of a crying baby. From then on she slept through most of the nights. Only in the first week there were two nights were she woke up and then it was a bit tricky to make her fall asleep again. But now, this isn’t a problem anymore.

So far, so good. You can guess that I was so happy that everything went so well that I didn’t anticipate what happened two weeks later. It was a regular Sunday noon. I prepared lunch for her, steamed veggies with pasta. One of her favorite dishes. For some reason she didn’t like it that day. That totally irritated me. And then Moritz gave her a Wiener sausage and she nearly inhaled it. And this made me so upset that I started to cry. And all of the sudden I also felt very, very exhausted. I needed to sit down and could have fallen asleep at the spot. I told Moritz that I have to lay down right now and that’s what I did. Luckily this happened on a weekend so that I wasn’t alone with the little one. I took a very long nap and when I woke up again I still felt so weak that I stayed in bed for a bit longer. I started to google and found a lot of articles about women who have experienced the same a few days or weeks after they have completed weaning. Apparently this is the equivalent to the baby blues some new moms are experiencing right after birth. It has to do with the hormones and that makes totally sense for me as I always react strongly to a change of hormones. I felt SO relieved when I read through theses articles because I realized this breakdown is actually quite normal (and doesn’t mean I’ve totally lost it! :-D). I just wonder why I haven’t heard about it before. The baby blues after giving birth is quite well known but this breakdown not so much I think. This is why I wanted to share it with you because if maybe one of you will experience the same in the future you might remember what I wrote here and you won’t feel like you’re the only one on earth who is going through this…

Now, one week later I have to admit that I still feel more tired than usual but it is definitely getting better and better from day to day. And I can assure you: I am not crying anymore when the little one doesn’t like the food I have prepared for her! 😀

The post Being the mom of an 11 months old baby in Stuttgart appeared first on Living in Stuttgart.

• A few weeks ago designers from Stuttgart have created posters to cheer us up in these difficult times. You might have spottet some of them on public spaces. Until July 15 you can visit the Public Poster Gallery in a special exhibition at Stadtpalais Stuttgart for free.
• Every Wednesday the lovely bookshop Sweet Things and Stories organizes an online book auction!
• Kulturwasen is still going on and some fun movies await us in their original version: Ask Tesadüfleri Sever 2 (Turkish) on July 5, Mad Max: Fury Road (English) on July 6, La La Land (English) on July 7 and Blues Brothers (English) on July 22.
• Kraftpaule will organize another online beer tasting on July 3! The event will be held in German but the beer tastes the same whatever language you speak 🙂
• The international La Leche Liga Bad-Cannstatt will meet on July 4 – either virtually or at Haus der Familie, depending on how many people want to attend and what other events will take place on that day. If you want to attend you can follow their Facebook page for more information.
• On July 6 you can follow the lecture Making Democracy work again, organized by DAZ, in a free online zoom session.
• Do you want to meet other moms in Stuttgart? Then join the next virtual mom talk organized by Gravidamiga on July 8.
• The  17th Indian Film Festival  will be held in an online version. For 4,99 Euro you can purchase a festival pass and enjoy all the movies from your couch between July 15 and 19. Tickets can be purchases online.
• On July 16 you can join the DAZ reading group and talk about the book “Florida” by Lauren Groff in a free zoom session.
• A fun live mystery game awaits us on July 25: You can play Witchcraft and Wizardry in downtown Stuttgart starting at 9 am. The whole event will take place outdoor.
• Feeling like Mexican cuisine? Then learn how to cook like a Mexican – on July 25 in an online course from vhs Stuttgart!
• The Christopher Street Day Stuttgart will take place virtually and live this year between July 10 and 26. You can follow the events online here. For an overview over all events please check the official website of CSD Stuttgart.

The post July in Stuttgart in times of Corona appeared first on Living in Stuttgart.

But before I start one word about the picture at the beginning of this post: HOW GREEN IS THE BACKGROUND?! 🙂 I look as if I am hiking through some rainforest! Whereas it is just Schmellbachtal between Stuttgart-Rohr and Leinfelden! We are blessed with the lush nature in and around Stuttgart, aren’t we?!

How is the little one at 10 months?

She is SO active! After she had started to pull herself up last month she is standing now whenever she can. She is standing when she is flipping through picture books that are lying on the couch, she is standing and leaning against the mirror and “talking” to herself, she is even standing when we have to change her diapers (yep.. quite a challenge… :-D).

And not enough that she is standing now, she even started to climb up the stairs and to walk when she can hold on to something. And now, that she has acquired theses new skills, she wants to practice them all the time! So you can imagine there is a lot climbing up and down stairs and walking around and through the house. My poor back.. 😀

While on the one hand she got more active through these new skills on the other hand she got more relaxed regarding her sleep. I think it has to do with the fact that all the four new teeth that I could see coming through are now there and don’t hurt her anymore. And according to The Wonder Weeks [affiliate link] she is in between two development steps at the moment and thus this is a relaxed phase right now anyway.

After she hasn’t eaten much for a little while last month she is now back to her old self and enjoys the purrees I make her as well as little samples of our food. If you are curious to find out more about the German way of introducing solid food to your baby check out this article that I have put together a few weeks ago.

Oh, and she can say “Papa” now! With a real “P”. You can guess who was especially happy about that 🙂

What is she loving lately?

• Riding her rocking animal. We got this adorable giraffe from labebe [affiliate link] second hand from Ebay Kleinanzeigen. It is not only a rocking animal, it also has four wheels so we can push her through the house on it. She loves it!! She looks so proud when she is riding her giraffe. It is too adorable!
• The ball pool I got for her recently on Ebay Kleinanzeigen. It looks like this one [affiliate link] and she loves picking out balls and throwing them in the hallway. Yeah, I know, like this I can join in the “fun” when I have to pick up all the balls afterwards…
• Being in the garden. She always wants to go outside. When it was raining the last few weeks she used to point out through the window to the garden and look at me with her big eyes. I know, there is no bad weather, only wrong clothes – but I really didn’t feel like crawling through the muddy garden so I had to break her little heart and we stayed inside (with all her toys, books, the ball pool.. I know, what a burden ;-)) But now that the sun is out again we go out a lot and she loves it. There is so much to see and discover like grass, birds, snail…

I can’t wait for summer to arrive. We have bought a baby pool (guess where, Ebay Kleinanzeigen of course :-)) and I am SO looking forward to watching her splash the water in it:-D

The post Being the mom of a 10 months old baby in Stuttgart appeared first on Living in Stuttgart.

• Kulturwasen is probably the biggest new event format these days. At the Wasen, the same area where usually the Frühlingsfest and Volksfest take place, you can enjoy movies and concerts – in your car. And the best: the movies can watched in their original language, you simply have to select the right cannel on your car radio. Kids will for example love Pets 2 on Monday, June 1 at 2 pm or Peter Rabbit on June 6 at 3:15 pm. Cinema lovers Bohemian Rhapsody on Monday, June 1 at 5:15 pm, Grease on June 6 at 9:30 pm or A Star is born on June 7 at 6 pm. Even some (German) bands will visit Kulturwasen like pop singer Tim Bendzko on June 6 or rapper Sido on June 15. You find more information about how to get tickets and such in English here.
• Livesommer 2020 – Car concerts follows the same format. At Flughafen Stuttgart you can enjoy a night out with good music – in your car. You can for example go see singer-songwriter Michael Patrick Kelly on June 13 or listen to rock’n roll tunes on June 20 and 21.
• Thinkers & Drinkers organizes an online workout every Wednesday at 7 pm and Saturday at 3 pm.
• Every Wednesday at 2 pm Gravidamiga organizes a free Zoom mama talk about changing topics.
• From June 1 to June 5 you can watch the opera Don Giovanni live and on-demand on the website of Opera Stuttgart.
• StuttgarterBallet@home will show JIŘÍ KYLIÁNS ONE OF A KIND on June 4 on their website.
• An amazing new format is organized by Opera Stuttgart at the moment: 1:1 Concerts. You can apply for a 10 minute performance just for you in exchange to a donation.
• You like craft beer but are bored of drinking it all by yourself at home? Then don’t miss the Online Craft Beer Festival on June 27, organized by Kraftpaule! The presentations will be in German but you can still enjoy the different brands and the feeling of sharing the experience with a big community – and brush up your German at the same time 😀

The post What’s up this June in Stuttgart – Corona edition appeared first on Living in Stuttgart.

How is the little one at 9 months?

She has now finally started to crawl on her knees and hands. Moreover she has learned to pull herself up in the playpen and she can stand for minutes now when she can hold on to something. She was so proud when she did that for the first time, it was too cute 🙂

Unfortunately she has still troubles falling asleep and with sleeping in general. Remember, I pointed that out in my last mom-life update already and is hasn’t changed much since then… We think it is a combination of the development step she is going through at the moment according to The Wonder Weeks [affiliate link] – and because she is getting 4 (F-O-U-R !!) new teeth at the same time at the moment. Good lord, why four at the same time?!! In the pharmacy they have recommended Denti Nox gel when she is in pain. You can also order it online at amazon [affiliate link] or buy it at your nearest dm. I have the feeling it helps.

On the food front we have arrived at three purees per day now. We feed her one milk-grain-fruit purree for breakfast, vegetable-potatoes-meat puree for lunch and semolina pudding (Grießbrei) with blended fruits for dessert. The semolina pudding is her favorite 🙂 I use Grießbrei from Holle [affiliate link] which you can as well find at dm for example. It is organic and has the Demeter standard which is the highest standard of organic food in Germany. And the little one seems to love it, so win-win 🙂 Next to the purees we have started to offer her little portions of food she can nibble on, like pieces of bread, avocado, banana and baby crackers like these rice-lentil-rings from dm babylove. She is not eating much of these items but she is curious to try everything. I will put together about the German way of introducing food to your baby next week so stay tuned for that.

What is she loving lately?

• Playing hide-and-seek! I hide behind the doorframe of one of our rooms and stick my head out to say “Kuckuck” (peek-a-boo :-)). She laughs and comes crawling towards me. I hide again, stick my head out again and say Kuckuck again. And she laughs again. Joy can be that simple. When have we adults forgotten about that?! 🙂
• Browsing through children’s books with thick pages. She is very good with turning every single page by herself. Sometimes she doesn’t even look at the pictures, it is all about turning the pages. In order to get some new books I have planned to visit the cute English bookshop Sweet Things and Stories in Malmsheim for a while already. I hope I find the time to do that in the near future. All fellow moms, what children’s books can your recommend??
• Birds. When I say the German word “Vogel” or make the sound “Piep-Piep” she turns her head and looks for the nearest window. And when we stand at the window or are outside and she sees a bird she instantly stretches our her little arm and points her finger at the bird. My little ornithologist 🙂
• Her new hat 🙂 She usually isn’t a huge hat-lover but luckily she likes this cute baby turban that we got as a present recently. If you have read my post 7 things I am loving lately you know the story already. On our flight back home from Australia we sat next to a lovely family from Estonia. It turned out the mom has just started her own business Nikiki and manufactures these lovely baby turbans. I was just about to order one when we were back home when she send me one as a present. And I am so in love with it! It looks SO good and the material (organic cotton) is very comfy and soft. And the best: She has now started to sell the same hat for adults as well! I will definitely get one for myself so that the little one and I can twin!! 😀 If you are looking for a new hat for your baby (or yourself :-)) or a lovely present for a (expecting) mom, please check out their website and support a fellow mom and new-business owner! You find more info and her online shop here: www.nikiki.co

So that was month 9 with my baby girl. Let’s wait and see what the next months holds in store for us 🙂

The post Being the mom of a 9 months old baby in Stuttgart appeared first on Living in Stuttgart.

We are back home in Stuttgart from our Elternzeit adventure in Australia. When we realized that all major airlines are cutting back their international flights we instantly looked for an earlier flight home. It was a nightmare, 2 (!) airlines cancelled on us. But eventually we arrived home safe and healthy – and that’s what is most important these days.

As most of you know, we have spent 2 months Elternzeit in Tasmania, exploring the island in a motorhome with our little one. The plan was to stay in Sydney the third and last month of our trip but this didn’t happen anymore. Oh well

We eventually booked a non-stop flight from Sydney to London with Quantas. There is only a short stopover in Singapore to refuel the aircraft. From London we took a British Airways flight to Frankfurt, from there we drove back home to Stuttgart with a rental car. We were traveling for 35 hours straight. Nothing I ever wanted to do with a then 7 months old baby (the original plan was to break up the flight and to stay in Singapore for 4 days but, oh well…).

The little one did surprisingly well during this odyssey. We had a lot of toys and books with us on the planes so we could entertain her for some time. And she also slept in the baby cot. But obviously there was also some crying as 35 hours are just too long for a baby to sit still or sleep. But in the end it is astonishing how babies adopt to nearly anything as long as they have their parents around. She was bored at some points, yes, but there was not one moment where I thought she is not feeling well.

How is the little one at 8 months?

According to The Wonder Weeks [affiliate link] – one of the few parent books I really like and value highly – she is going through a development phase at the moment. And we can tell! She has troubles falling asleep and she wakes up more often nowadays, too. Seven times one night two weeks ago. That was bad, I felt like a zombie the next day – well, actually the whole next week! 😉 And she is in a mood very often during the day. She used to be a very happy baby, now there is a lot of crying. But the good thing is: it is only a phase and we will get through through it eventually (see how I’m working on my positive mindset here ;-D)?!

When we came back from our Elternzeit trip we introduced the second purree to her diet. We now feed her vegetable-meat purree for lunch and milk-grain-fruit purree for dinner. We have noticed that this must have a huge effect on her digestive system which might actually increase her sleeping problems. There is a lot of air my friends…

But the main novelty now that she is 8 months old: She is crawling! Hurray! Not on there knees yet but on there belly. She is using her arms mainly and boy is she fast! From now on we can’t let her out of sight for one second.

We often play a fun game together: We have these colorful wooden balls from Grimm’s [affiliate link]. And we have a long hallway. Can you put it together 😉 We sit on the one side of the hallway (well, I sit, she lays flat on her belly) and I roll the first ball. Not too far, otherwise she is not interested in it anymore. She starts crawling, reaches the ball, turns around and lifts the ball up in the air and laughs. Too sweet!! Then I roll the second ball, a bit further. She goes for it. I roll the third, fourths, fifth… It is so much fun to be able to play games with her now! My big girl 🙂

Oh, and she is able to sit by herself now, too. This is too cute and it makes her look like a toddler so much.

What she loves

• Definitely crawling 🙂 It’s her thing now.
• Sitting in her stroller. We are not using the pram anymore as she has grown out of it and she doesn’t want to lie on her back anymore when we go for a stroll. She loves sitting in her stroller and watching the world fly by.
• When dad brings her to bed! Now that we have started to feed her purree for dinner she doesn’t need to be nursed to sleep anymore. Big win for me 😀
• The sound tree she got for Easter from her grandparents. It is DIY but  similar to this [affiliate link] but we use the wooden balls instead of the marbles. She can’t play with it herself of course but she loves listening to the sound when I make the balls roll down the branches. It can even calm her down when she is in a mood.

How is mom-life in times of Corona?

A bit lonely I would say. I really miss meeting other moms and going to play dates and such. I guess the little one is too young to suffer from the isolation but I would love her to meet other babies her age again.

And it is of course also a bit tricky to balance the time you have between looking after the little one and getting some work done. Obviously I can’t offer my German Conversation Groups in bars and restaurants anymore. But I have started Online German Conversation Groups and they are actually a lot of fun, too! So if you are interested in improving your spoken German while sitting at home in quarantine, contact me! 😀 I am doing groups and individual meetings now. It would be lovely to talk to you! 🙂

I was also about to offer some fun courses at vhs stuttgart but I don’t know if they will take place or not. It depends on the German government and if they allow Volkshochschulen to open again. We will see…

Anyway, all I want to say is that mom-life is definitely a lot different at the moment. Other moms out there: How are you dealing with the situation? How do you organize your days in times of Corona? I would love to read about your experiences in the comments.

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