The course starts with the basics: understanding the different layers of the pelvic floor and learning how something as simple as abdominal breathing can support both activation and relaxation. It’s informative as well as empowering.

We trained together as a group, supporting each other and sharing experiences — and yes, babies were welcome, too! I felt incredibly safe, understood, and well-guided throughout the sessions. Yessica creates such a warm and inclusive atmosphere, and the fact that the course is held mainly in English makes it accessible for everyone, locals and expats. So maybe you don’t only find your strengt again or the one or other new mom friend 🙂

The class is perfect for anyone who’s been cleared by their doctor for pelvic floor training 6 to 10 weeks after giving birth and wants to gently regain strength in a supportive group setting.

Yessica is a wonderful warm and understanding person. As she has been living in Cape Town, South Africa, before she started her family, she knows how demanding expat life can be thus she has a very open ear for everything international

Practical info about the Pelvic Floor course:

• When: The next course in English starts on Wednesday, June 25 from 10:00 – 11:00 AM, 6 Sessions

• Where: Maybachstraße 9, 70771 Leinfelden-E. (with changing rooms and showers available)

• What to bring: Comfortable clothes, clean indoor shoes, a towel, and water

• Costs: 90 Euro (Please note that the course is not covered by German health insurance as this is not your “normal” postnatal workout)

You can get in touch with Yessica via email or through the contact form on her website.

If you’re in the area and looking for a thoughtful, well-rounded way to reconnect with your body postpartum, I can genuinely recommend this course from personal experience. You’ll leave each session feeling stronger — physically and emotionally.

More information

Yessica’s website www.mami-gesundheit.de (only in German but the course will be held mainly in English)

The post My Experience with “MAMI-Fit Pelvic Floor Course” in Leinfelden appeared first on Living in Stuttgart.

[Post with amazon affiliate links* and other links to shops where I bought the furniture and decoration of our German kids room.]

Let’s start with these cute wardrobes.

Aren’t they adorable! At first I thought they resemble little houses but then I noticed they look like changing rooms how you find them in sea towns. One thing I didn’t like about them tough is that the mechanism of how you attach the “roof” to the wardrobe isn’t working a 100 percent. The screws are somewhat to long or so for the wardrobe and can damage the surface a bit. We bought them online here but I just noticed that the price has increased in the last months…

The drawer on the left is actually an old one from our bedroom. It is an IKEA  Malm.

What I love the most about this corner of the room are the colorful dots. They are wall tattoos and easy to remove once the little one doesn’t like them anymore one day. As soon as I have put them up, they have changed the whole atmosphere of this part of the room, making it joyful and cozy. I found them here on etsy and simply ordered three different colors.

The lamp with the lion head on the drawer is the newest accessory of the German kids room. I actually ordered it online on my birthday so it is more a present for me then for her 🙂

OK, let’s move on the the next wall…

As I have mentioned in my last post, the little one doesn’t sleep in her own bed yet (it is used for reading books in it at the moment:-)). But when she decides to do so she will have her own little house to sleep in 🙂 This bed is very low so it is easy for her to climb in and out by herself. There is also a “fence” which is half as long als the length of the bed that we can attach to it on the open side to prevent her from falling out at night. We simply put a blanked on top of the bed to make it even more cozy. I found this beauty on etsy, too, but unfortunately the shop doesn’t seem to sell it anymore.

The little bunny flying away with a balloon is a wall tattoo, too. I found it on amazon [affiliate link]. However, we didn’t use the stars that come with it but ordered golden dots from this etsy shop.

The seat is an old one from our former living room. It is an IKEA Ektorp.

Next to the seat we have a little Montessori inspired book shelf. All the books face the little one when she is standing in front of her shelf so it easy for her to find the book she wants to look at. We bought it online here.

In the middle of the room we have an activity area. The mats on the floor are from Ikea as well, called Plufsig. You can fold them when you want to store them away and they are water resistant and thus also easy to clean.

The wooden activity center is again from etsy. The set consists of the climbing triangle with three different sides, the bridge that is a rocking toy when you turn it around and the slide that can also become a bridge as you can see in the picture above. The set was actually a birthday present from her grandparents and now, in her new kids room, we finally have enough space to put all three parts up together. She loves it 😀

So this is our German kids room. How does your little one’s kids room look like?

Disclaimer:
Some of the links in this post are amazon affiliate links. This means that when you click on them and buy something on amazon later I get a little compensation from amazon. This does not affect your price but it helps me to maintain my blog. Thank you for supporting Living in Stuttgart 🙂

The post Part two of my room tour of our German kids room appeared first on Living in Stuttgart.

[Post with amazon affiliate links*]

To get to the toy simply click on the picture and the link will lead you over to amazon where you will find more product information.

Our little one got this ring pyramid around her first birthday and she is still playing with it (she is 20 months old now). It is great for practicing hand eye coordination and arm movement. The big holes in the middle the rings help with stacking them on (we have another pyramid where the holes are much smaller, that was a bit frustrating for her at the beginning). Nowadays she uses the rings as bracelets 😀

We have a toddler walker quite similar to this one. I didn’t want to go for one of the combinations with toys/activity games etc as I want her to concentrate  on one thing at a time. It was great watching her taking her first steps with the help of the walker. Small steps towards more independence, away from mom and dad’s helping hands 🙂 Nowadays the walker is still in use as a stroller for her toys!

A ball pool definitely belongs to the category great toys for 1 year old children in Germany and older! It is still a hit in our house and I reckon it will be for a long time. This model also looks good (we got a used one on eBay Kleinanzeigen and we hide it in a corner because it is way to pink for our taste 😀

A set of finger puppets are great toys for 1 year old children in Germany! This set of forest friends  also teaches them which animals live in our local woods.

At the age of one you can start offering easy puzzles. This wooden one teaches the kids a bit about farm life and the pieces can be easily taken in an out by little hands thanks to the extra large wooden buttons.

This wooden play center is one of the toys for 1 year old children in Germany that will stay in your household for quite some time. Around one the kids start sorting out which form goes into which opening. Then the gear wheels become interesting, then the wooden clock… Definitely a great toy.

Building blocks become a thing when your little one turns one year. These ones are extra big so they can be picked up and put on top of each other easily.

I hope this list was helpful to you for finding toys for 1 year old children in Germany.

You can also visit my post about toys for 18 months old children in Germany.

If you want to find out how our German kids room looks like at the moment, check out this post.

*Disclaimer: All links in this post are amazon affiliate links. This means that when you visit amazon from this page and buy something, amazon has to pay me a little compensation. This does not effect your price but helps me maintain the blog. Thank you for your support 🙂

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[Post with affiliate links to amazon*]

Creativity toys for 18 months old children in Germany

These colorful pencils can be used as water colors and even on glass! And here comes what mom and dad will like the most: They can be removed easily! 🙂

Theses finger crayons are super easy to hold for little fingers. Great for kids that are just about to start painting.

If you want to be on the safe side, you can start with this Aqua Doodle set. There will definitely be no stains – just wet clothes 🙂

Toys for little engineers

We got this latches board from a friend (Hi Lora :-)) and the little one LOVES it! It keeps her occupied for quite some time. She can open most of the latches herself now. It is also great for pracicing colors. We ask her for example “Where are the orange fish?” and then she thinks about it and opens the door. And one day, we can use it for practicing counting as the number of animals behind the doors varies between 1 and 6.

The good old wooden building blocks. Who hasn’t created the most amazing cities with them? They definitely belong in every kid’s room and are a great choice of toys for 18 months old children in Germany.

And here comes another classic: Lego duplo building blocks. I don’t think I have to introduce them to you any further 😉

The fascination kids have with railways is amazing. Our little one laughs every time she sees the S-Bahn pass by. So you can imagine how much joy she has with her little wooden railway 🙂

Why does the big carrot not fit into this whole? What seems so easy for us is a whole new world for our kids. This wooden puzzle does not only look cute, it teaches the little ones a lot about size, logic and motor skills.

Activity toys for 18 months old children in Germany

I ALWAYS wanted a Bobby car when I was a kid! So you can imagine that OF COURSE our little one got one when she was still to small to sit on it 😀 You can buy a lot of gadgets nowadays, a blinking horn, shoe protectors, whisper wheels and much more.

Another great vehicle for 18 months old children in Germany is the Pukymoto. It offers a more dynamic and sporty ride than with a classic slip vehicle and is considered an ideal precursor to the wheel.

In case you’re looking for a tricycle for your little one, the Puky Fitsch is a great choice (you see, we Germans love our Puky :-))

Pikler triangles are a great invention as you can use them indoors and they invite your little one to move, climb and be active. This one is eco and easy to store away.

Here comes your multi use activity station for 18 month old children in Germany and older children too of course. You can put it together in many different ways, build towers and houses and caves… And you can use it in- and outdoors. Definitely a toy your children will love for many years.

A sling is always beloved by kids. Due to the safety bar and the additional seatbelt the kid is double secured.

Other fun toys for 18 months old children in Germany

I feel like there is a wooden Grimm’s rainbow in every German family household these days 😀 But what can I say, we have one, too and we love it. It does not only look great, it offers so many ways to play with, it is amazing.

A baby doll is definitely another must-haves of toys for 18 months old children in Germany. I love this one because of the many realistic and loving details such as body wrinkles and realistic hands, feet and face. You can even bath this cutie.

When I was a kid, I was obsessed with Playmobil. Event more than with Lego I have to say. And so is my little one. The Playmobil 1-2-3 series is a great choice for 18 months old kids in Germany who just start playing with figures.

This toy is a great combination of two activities, 18 month old kids love to do spend their time with: Hammering around on things and creating sounds. It is a hammering game and a xylophone!

Our little one is obsessed with vehicles theses days. “Tractor” was one of her first words. So this set of four different vehicles is definitely a great choice of toys for 18 months old children in Germany.

With this wooden puzzle your kids learn to concentrate, to differentiate between different forms, to pick up little items and they practice recognizing different animals all at the same time.

So these are my recommendations for toys for 18 months old children in Stuttgart. What does your kid love to play with? Do you miss it on this list? Let me know in the comments 🙂

*all links in this post are amazon affiliate links. This means, when you follow them and buy something on amazon, I get a little compensation. Your price it not affected at all. Thank you for supporting Living in Stuttgart! 🙂

The post Toys for 18 months old children in Germany appeared first on Living in Stuttgart.

[post with amazon affiliate links*]

Before Christmas the little one had only a small nursing room with the changing station, a shelf with some toys and that’s it. So during January and February we started to redecorate. We moved our bed in her nursing room and created a whole new kids room for our big girl in our former bedroom 🙂

For the record: She is still sleeping in our room. We have decided against sleep training or something similar and sleep in a what you could call “family bed” – minus the bed 😀 We have the mattresses and the slatted frame directly on the floor (too scared of our little whirlwind  falling out…) It sounds strange but it is actually quite comfy and very very nice. I know there is a huge discussion about what is “wright”, sleep training, own room, family bed… We do we, you do you. It’s all good as long as it feels good for you and your family 🙂

So, let’s start with our room tour, shall we? 🙂

Kids room in Germany – the play shelf

I wanted this part of the room to be a fun area, with bright colors. But also organized. It is a bit Montessori inspired. Every toy has it’s given place. That makes it easier to keep it clean and organized.

Let me point out her favorite toys (she’s 19 months old)

Toys in a German kids room

1. Grimm’s rainbow – This is such a “must-have” at the moment 😀 You see the rainbow in nearly every kids room on Instagram, Pinterest and co. But what can I say, it is great! First of all, it looks good 🙂 Then there are thousands of ways the kids can play with it. At the moment she likes to sit in the circles 😀 One day they will become bridges for toy cars to drive over or caves/houses for little animals and dolls. We also practice colors with them actually. You find more information about Grimm’s rainbow here
2. Plantoys instruments – not that it sounds like an angels choir but she likes to hammer on her drum and xylophone and enjoys it quite a lot. These instruments are from Plantoys
3. Toniebox – This is another must-have in Germany. The Toniebox is a music box for little kids. Using it is super easy: You just have to squeeze one of the “ears” to turn it on and then place one of the many little figures on top of it. You can forward by “slapping” the box on the side. Most of the story- or song figures are in German but some come in English, too. Our little one is obsessed with it. And she already has her favorite songs and dances to them :-D. You can get a Toniebox through amazon for example as well as a Tonie figure with English songs [affiliate links].
4. Lego Duplo Primo – These building blocks from Lego are designed for the youngest. But I fear they are not produced anymore?! We got them handed down and I have only seen them in second hand shops so far. But they are great! Super easy to put together and build towers with. Plus there are little cars and figures, too, that keep the little one occupied for quite some time. If you want to look for them you could check on eBay and eBay Kleinanzeigen.
5. Imbucare Letter Box – Imbucare boxes stem from the Montessori approach of learning. They stimulate the development of eye-hand coordination. Due to its special design, Imbucare boxes encourage repetition and training of finger and hand (joint) motor skills. Our little one is nearly too old for this box but we still play with it from time to time. You can find the Imbucare letter box from Nienhuis here.
6. Spinning top – The good, old spinning top 🙂 A classic that shouldn’t miss in any kids room. Ours is very similar to this one here [affiliate link]
7. Hammer game – I am still debating with myself wether this hammer game where you knock the moles on the head is cute or cruel… But the little one likes it so all is good 🙂 You can find it on amazon for example [affiliate link]

So much about her play shelf. The potty on the right is actually not in use yet 😀 She likes to play pretend with it.

I hope this first part of the room tour was somewhat fun and interesting for you. Maybe you got the one or other inspiration for your little one’s room. And Easter is coming up so it you’re still in need for the one or other present… 🙂

What toys do your little ones love to play with? And is there any toy you would LOVE to buy but don’t find it here in Germany?

*about amazon affiliate links
Let’s face it, amazon isn’t your nice next door company. It is way better to buy stuff a) locally or – even better- b) second hand. But sometimes this is hard to do (lockdown…) and we order online (me included of course). So in that case, if you go to amazon via my affiliate link, amazon has to pay me a little compensation. That supports my work here on the blog and at the same time the big global player amazon supports a little Stuttgart-based blogger and does at least some good 🙂

The post Things you do during the lockdown: Redecorating the kids room appeared first on Living in Stuttgart.

[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.

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.

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Introducing solid food to your baby the German way – official recommendations

When I started to do research about how to introduce solid food to my little one I turned to the website of Baden-Württemgberg and found this brochure: Von Anfang an mit Spaß dabei – Essen und Trinken im ersten Lebensjahr. It points out all the official recommendations that are based on scientific research. Unfortunately it is written only in German. So here comes an overview about the main facts when introducing solid food to your baby the German way in English:

• Don’t start with solid food before the 5th month as it might overwhelm your baby’s body.
• Don’t wait longer than the 7th month as breast milk or formula won’t supply enough iron and zinc in the second half of the first year anymore
• Trust your baby. It will show you when it is ready for solid food. Indicators are when it is interested in what’s on your plate, when it tries to grab your food and when it opens it’s mouth so that you can give him or her a spoonful. Your baby should be able to sit upright and turn it’s head away from the food before you start introducing solids.
• In Germany we start with a vegetable-potato-meat-puree. It is full of iron and zinc and thus provides exactly what your baby needs after the first 6 months. This puree is usually served as lunch.
  • Vitamin C is important to help the body absorb the iron so it should be part of every lunch. You can for example mix 3-4 teaspoons of apple- or orange juice in the puree or offer your baby fruit puree for dessert.
  • In order to help your baby to get used to solid food you should start with introducing just one sort of vegetable at a time and just offer a few spoons. Increase the amount from day to day and introduce other vegetables, then start mixing the vegetables with potatoes and add one tablespoon of oil. Use high quality and organic oil. Rapeseed oil is particularly good  but linseed oil, sunflower seed oil or soy oil are also suitable.
  • Replace the meat once or twice a week with fish. Salmon, cod and haddock are very healthy for your baby.
  • If you are skeptical about introducing meat at such a young age vegetarian alternatives are 10 g millet or oat flakes. They are a good source of iron, too. Add 3-4 tablespoons of apple or orange juice or fruit puree as iron from plant sources is harder to absorb for the body and the vitamin C is very needed. Raising your baby vegan is not recommended.
• Between month 6 and 8 the second puree follows: The official German recommendations state that it is now time to introduce milk-grain-puree as dinner. This is the first time the baby gets introduced to whole milk. It is a good source of calcium, proteins and iodine however you can also use formula or breastmilk for this puree. Fruit is also part of this puree in order to help the body absorb the iron of the grains.
• The third puree is introduced between month 7 and 9 as afternoon-meal. The grain-fruit-puree is prepared without milk.
• Water is introduced with the third puree. 200 ml spread over the day is sufficient until the baby starts eating what you are eating, then the amount should be raised to 600 ml.

Introducing solid food to your baby the German way – recipes

Here come the official recipes for the three purees named above:

Vegetable-potato-meat-puree

Cut the vegetable, potatoes and meat/fish in small pieces and steam for 10-15 min. Add 1 tablespoon of oil and blend everything. Add water until the consistency is as your baby likes it. Add the fruit puree or juice into the puree or serve the puree as dessert.

Milk-grain-puree

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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.

The post Being the mom of an 8 months old baby in Stuttgart appeared first on Living in Stuttgart.