Why You Should Never Miss a Nap Time

Advice I was frequently given when my munchkin was first born was to: "Sleep when baby sleeps!" I thought it was solely for the purpose of keeping up on one's own sleep hours, however over a year and half later, I still sleep when my baby sleeps. Despite the possible productivity possibilities nap time provides, some things are more important.  

"But don't forget...
There is a last time for everything.
They will fall asleep on you after a long day
And it will be the last time you ever hold your sleeping child.
The thing is, you won't even know it's the last time
Until there are no more times.
So while you are living in these times,
remember there are only so many of them,
for when they are gone, you will yearn for just one more day of these.
For one last time."

(Poem excerpt taken from a poem entitled, "The Last Time" with an unknown author)

"Next Chapter!"

I recall thinking about the new year, back in 2012, and I recall posting that I felt 2013 was going to be a very big year for me. Indeed, with moving to Italy and having our first kid, and then the unexpected health issues, it certainly was an intense year! 2014 has been different, and I am quite ready for a new chapter in life. Hopefully a more relaxed and slow paced one. ;) 

Here is our official announcement, we are expecting round 2, due December 28^th-January 6^th.

Our oldest was so excited at the news of being a big brother, that he crumpled his little brother's first ever picture. -_- At least, I'm hoping that is why he crumpled it...

 AND! It's another boy. Whew, clothes and everything else just got waaayyy easier. There is really no prep necessary for this baby. It is so much simpler the second time around! 

So... What's up with my Health?

That is a very good question, and for a long time I didn’t have a very clear answer, thus I was hesitant to say anything, but now I do believe I have been healed! That may be jumping ahead of myself, and I know I’m terrible at keeping people updated so that’s partly my fault.

A health update is long overdue, and this is a very exciting one to write. Since we started doing scans and blood work in January of this year, everything has been good news each time.

            In May I met with my main doctor and the surgeon who performed my partial thyroidectomy over a year ago now (my time flies!), we were reviewing the results of the ultrasound scans and blood work. The blood work showed normal, healthy thyroid activity levels and the ultrasound results showed the lymph nodes had shrunk! The spot on my lungs was already deemed to have disappeared a few months prior, and we had a solid theory for the unchanging mass in my chest (which I shall explain in a moment).

We were supposed to have another CT scan in late April to specifically see how the mass was doing, as everything else could be monitored via ultrasound. However, in April we also discovered that we would soon be expecting an addition to our family (yay for surprises! Trust, me we did not have intentions of creating another life until we had a better buffer with my health issues, but apparently we excel at conceiving when we don’t mean to… lol). As CT scans are unsafe for expecting women, it was out of the question. Since the ultrasounds and blood work were all positive results, our only concern was the mass in my chest, which despite everything I had done, remain unchanged, (unlike the spot, the lymph nodes, and the blood work. I felt like I got 3 out of 4 and just couldn’t budge that last one).  

The doc did some research and believes that the mass might have been unrelated to the cancer and is in fact a thymus. Everyone is born with one of these, however, after one hits puberty, it is supposed to no longer be necessary and will shrink up, and disappear. She said that although it is rare, it is not unheard of to still have a thymus, and the shape and location matched up with where the thymus would be, however it was flagged as something that should not be there because for the majority of people, it isn’t, so they assumed it went along with the rest of my cancer when in fact it might not be. (Wow, SUPER glad that I didn’t opt to relocate my entire family to the states and get a major intensive surgery to find that out… although they would have treated the rest of the cancer as well, that unnecessary discovery certainly would have been a bummer). Since this is our new theory (along with the fact that I am pregnant), I don’t believe I will be doing another CT scan anytime soon (which is more than fine by me!).

So, where does this leave me? I asked her, continually at each appointment in fact, if this deems me as a clear bill of health. She continued to say, no, not exactly, and that my condition should continue to be monitored over the next few years via follow up ultrasounds and blood work. I am fine with such monitoring, but not getting an official diagnosis for, YEARS?? That was a depressing thought. This limbo of either having or not having cancer could last for, years?? (I suppose this would be considered remission, the state when one has decreased or no signs of cancer in the body, but cancer may still be in the body, just not currently active. If it doesn’t return after a couple years, THEN you are considered cancer free/cured. At least, that is what I understood from the doc and my subsequent research)

It is now August, which marks an entire year since my diagnosis as having final stage metastasized cancer. When I last spoke with my doctor (the military has since moved her to another base), she said she believes I have experienced a miracle as I am in excellent health and it has been a year since my diagnosis as having final stage metastasized cancer. Although she couldn’t declare me “cancer free”, she seemed satisfied with saying she felt I had experienced a miracle. I'm going to go with it and take that as close as a yes as I’m going to get. I was hesitant to announce this, seeing as it wasn’t entirely official, and may not be by doctor’s standards for another few years, but I don’t want to spend the next few years in a feeling of limbo, so I am going to think of myself, and treat myself, as being cancer free. Unless they discover otherwise, that is what I am. My health has done nothing but improve since that diagnosis, and if anything changes, I will be sure to let you know :)

With that, I have so many big THANK YOU’s to say! I found I have such a wonderful (and extended!) community of people who love and care about me and I don’t know that anything I say can really repay all the kindness I have been given. Thank you for the notes, the gifts, for the meals! (that was huge, thank you so much to everyone who made a meal!), the care for my family, and watching my little one when I was exhausted. Thank you for the encouragement and support you gave my family and me in our time of need during a peculiar journey. And thank you most of all for your prayers! I am quite convinced that each and every prayer helped, so thank you for contributing to my little miracle and keeping me in your heart. 

Jeremiah 33:6 “Behold, I will bring to it health and healing, and I will heal them; and I will reveal to them an abundance of peace and truth.”

I received a lot of inspirational verses throughout the last year, this one was one of my favorites and it is still written in my house. I hope if you ever need it, you will remember it.

Photo credit: Hannah Luedeke! (Sorry, I don't have this one with your name already on it)

Vintgar Gorge - Slovenia

             On Saturday morning of the 5^th, we decided to part from the lake to visit Vintgar Gorge.  Vintgar Gorge was a scenic walk along the Radovna River.

It was about a 5-10 minute drive (roughly 3.5 km) from Lake Bled and the well-posted signage made it an easy find. Tip: Drive past the restaurant for parking. Some people see the rows of parking and cars lined on the side of the road as a sign that it’s a really packed day and decide to park at the first spot they see and walk from there, however if you drive past the restaurant to the gorge entrance, there is plenty of parking spaces and you don’t have to walk the whole distance.

They did charge an entry fee of 4€ per adult, 3€ for students and 1€ for children, but I suppose it is needed for the upkeep of the boardwalks.

It was a beautiful place to be sure, however a bit more crowded than my liking, and my spoiled self grew up in a beautiful place with many river walks that seemed just as picturesque as Vintgar Gorge, so why this one was a tourist attraction with an entrance fee mystifies me. 

The Wooden Bridges were fun to walk over and cross. I saw some people with strollers, however we opted to use the back pack to carry our little one, and he slept for half of our walk. 

This is a dam, but the path was so close we all got well misted as we walked by. It felt great!

Photo of me, courtesy of my sister!

The walk was pleasant and the water beautiful. I recommend going early to beat the crowds and the heat.

  

Above right is a picture of myself in front of the Šum waterfall, the highest river fall in Slovenia measuring at 26 meters. You will find it at the end of your gorge walk, just before you turn around and return the way you came.

 

We definitely recommend grabbing lunch at the restaurant located just before the Gorge entrance after your long walk. We thought the food to be delicious and well priced. Bonus, they have a playground for kids. Hurray!

The Sunshine Bread was devoured. I suggest getting this warm loaf as an appetizer!

My Husband and I each got different kinds of trout in garlic butter sauce. yum!

I apologize, I don't know what this is. When I asked my sister what it was, she said "Heaven". LOL. It was some sort of cheesy ham dish in sauce... that is as much as I know. That, and it was apparently scrumptious.

If you would like to know more and see beautiful pictures from others, try here: www.bled.si/the-vintgar-gorge

Venice Bookshops

Today I took my visiting sister to Venice. I’m not sure how many times I have visited there now, but each time is a new experience as different guests have desires to see different aspects of Venice and Venetian culture.

            This excursion may have been one of the more pleasant visits I have experienced, simply for the fact that my neighbor watched my LO all day and I got to experience Venice child free. I sat on the train and took care of business instead of chasing my toddler up and down the aisles. I didn’t have to wear a large sweaty backpack to carry him, or a stroller (which we tried last time, and with all of the bridges in Venice, that was a miserable experience. Venice is NOT handicap or stroller friendly…) And when lunch time rolled around and the family next to us had a child melting down and screaming, I got to happily munch my Panini and be thankful to be child free. I don't think I'll be returning with children to Venice any time soon... 

            My sister is not one for historic buildings or touring museums, which is a nice change for me because I’ve certainly done those a few times. Instead, she wanted to visit the bookstores of Venice. This was a unique experience all it’s own, as the pictures show below. We stopped at several bookshops, which have been around for many years and held very old books, but our favorite was the Acqua Alta Bookshop.

This bookstore can be found at: and is open from 9:00 am - 8:00 pm daily.

              The Bookshop’s interior had several narrow adjoining rooms, overflowing with books. What made this shop stand out was not it’s assortment of both new and old books, nor the amount or genre range they spanned, but how they were stored.  All of the books were piled into boats, barrels, and even tubs! Some smaller wooden boats were turned side ways and mounted onto the walls, an interesting twist on book shelving!

 

 

What bookstore would be complete without the bookstore cat?

 

 

 The bookshop had an opening right onto the water (as seen in the picture left), and I am unsure whether or not the books are all stored this way to protect them in case of flood (which is frequent in the Venice rainy season, and the water level in July was already RIGHT at the bookstore's edge!), or if it’s solely to attract visitors and make this quirky bookstore stand out amongst the rest. Regardless of the reason, it was certainly fun to explore. 

             The open air nook for reading right on the water was a peaceful and enjoyable way to pass the time. We also got to wave at the curious tourists taking gondola rides as they passed by the opening.

          Through one of the bookshop's exits is a courtyard, and in this courtyard the bookshop has piled, strung, and glued together numerous books to make a large, colorful, book wall (The Great Book Wall of Venice? ha!) And one can reach the top of the book wall by a book stair case on either side. Atop the weathered book staircase, you can walk along the book wall and overlook one of the Venice canals. 

 

Here my sister lounges atop the large book staircase, browsing through the Italian version of Harry Potter. She ended up purchasing the unique book as a souvenir of her time there. The Italian version seemed quite a bit different than the English versions I have seen, and the pictures were drawn in an Italian style and all the characters had Italian looks and hair cuts. It was a good laugh!

 

We did stop in San Marco Square, and also crossed the ever-crowded Rialto Bridge and later viewed the Bridge of Sighs, but visiting the bookshops had been a new adventure, one not packed with tourists like the more popular stops, and it was a good change of pace to pick a less traversed and desired part of Venice to explore.

No matter how many times I have done Venice, each visit always seems to end the same: with me and the guests running across the island to catch the next train. My sister and I caught our train home with a few seconds to spare. I have found that towing bags and not knowing quite where one is going, it takes us an average of 40 minutes to jog from San Marco Square to the train station (just in case you ever happen to be in that situation... there is my time estimate for you).

 

My sister, unbeknownst to me, quickly snapped this pic as of me leading the way as we wove  down narrow alley streets towards our destination.

Belgian Chocolate

There aren’t many perks to TDY’s (Temporary Duty Assignments – when the military sends your spouse to a random place for an undesignated amount of time…) BUT my hubby is awesome and always brings us souvenirs, so I usually get to look forward to vicariously experiencing some of the culture he gets to see from afar. Here is an assortment of Belgian chocolates he picked up after his last TDY. I had already begun eating some before I thought to snag a picture for you, but it’s still a beautiful ensemble. 

Where to stay when traveling

I would like to preface this post by declaring that I am not a representative of any online company and am not getting paid to advertise for advertise for anyone [though if you sign up we could earn travel credit, so if you wanted to do that give us a shout out first and we'll send you an invite ;) ]. With that out of the way, I would like to recommend to you Airbnb when traveling. We have found housing through their site three times now and it has, so far, been nothing but a success!

If you are a host, you post the place you have for rent, be it a room in or off your house or a separate apartment or even a house! Those who are traveling type in the location they would like to go, and a map pops up with locations in that location and the nearby cities. Each location/host will have lengthy descriptions, pictures, and reviews from other travelers so you can get a feel for the host and their place. The first time we used the site was on our trip to Austria last year, when we rented an apartment that we and our friends shared for five days.

On this journey we rented a studio apartment in Munich and a room in someone’s house in Heidelberg. 

This was the studio apartment that we stayed at in Munich. Complete with a balcony, it was a great fit for us and inexpensive!

 

This method adds a new element of adventure because you are staying somewhere where the locals live. You’re not in a cookie cutter hotel room with the bland walls and common place water colored pictures above the beds. Each location offers you a host of personal experiences that a hotel could not offer you. Furthermore, we find this option to be much cheaper than hotels, and we can also call or email the host to negotiate our arrival and departure times. The décor, furniture, and style of the locations we stay at also offer us a taste of the culture as seen by our host. Even though we browse through pictures before selecting where we will stay, it’s always a different experience than anticipated in person.

 

Heidelberg is a fantastic place! And being a city many hundreds of years old and steeped in history, coupled with a famous university, hiking trails, and castle ruins, it was a very pricey place to stay! Our most cost effective option would be to have a room in someone’s place. I had a slight hesitancy at first, since we previously had only had places entirely to ourselves. But we took the leap and it may be the only option we chose from now on!

The pinkish tinted room above was the one we stayed in at Heidelberg. Again, the decorations may not be something I would do in my own house, but it was fun for the experience! We had our own room and bathroom and balcony, and the entrance was off of their kitchen balcony so if we were to come home late at night we wouldn’t even disturb much of the family as their rooms were off a different hallway.

A fun staircase in our room!

Our host truly adopted us into her family for the day! When we first arrived, just after getting our own set of keys and dropping our bags in the room, she made us tea and we sat in her kitchen and had great conversations as we rested up from our drive there. She told us all we wanted to know about the city, where the best places to park for tourist destinations were, where to eat, and at what times. This is the sort of insider information you can only get from a local!

And small world that it is, she turned out to be an Italian woman who was born and raised less than an hour from where we currently live in Italy. As such, she spoke to our little one just like our Italian family do, and she doted on him like his grandparents.

 She is fluent in Italian, English, German, French, and Spanish. How fantastic is that? What a talent for languages. I am quite jealous and hope to reach fluency in as many languages some day. She has lived all over the world and had traveled much of California. She and her family are moving to France at the end of this year and she said we were welcome to come and visit her. I feel as though we made a friend for life, and at the very least another contact and connection in another country.

The balcony off of our room. We had a great view of the castle!

A closer view. Heidelberg was very quaint. We hope to go back there.

 

And the final picture is of our host lady crawling around with our little one. She loved him! And we fell in love with her and relished the experience to be adopted by her sweet family for our stay in Heidelberg. I highly recommend this method when you travel. You will gain experiences and connections I don’t believe can be found in a hotel.

 

Mimes and a dinner at Hofbräuhaus in Munich, Germany

We stayed at the beautiful park until the sun began to set, then we made our way to dinner at the Hofbräuhaus. 

Many of the buildings we passed had the year they were first built (or when the business first started) inscribed on the side.  As you can see in the picture here, in the bottom right it says “anno 1589”. That’s right, the Hofbräuhaus has been brewing and serving beer for over four centuries now! 

It was an interesting experience to be able to walk down the uneven stone streets and see when the buildings around us had been built. It made me feel almost as though I were walking through time to know that the lay of the area was roughly the same as it had been centuries prior, and that the food served in these buildings was the same food eaten by the people of that time as well!

 Photographer me was snapping pictures and walking at the same time, so I wasn’t really seeing where I was going, and my hubby and I nearly ran into a statue! “Whoa!” exclaimed my hubby as we nearly backed into a fountain statue.

 The statue was oddly placed right in front of the entrance to the Hofbräuhaus.  He glanced up at it and then turned to me, “I almost thought it was real”. He chuckled and then continued on. I put down my camera and turned to take a picture of the fountain statue. It was of a worker man standing on a platform. It's coloring was an aged gold from head to toe, and he held a cup in his hands from which water poured out into the bowl below him. However it couldn’t be a statue as the arm, which held the cup, moved slowly from side to side and the head would occasionally tilt and turn. A machine then? How peculiar. I stared up at its face and my jaw dropped open. “Honey, it is real!” I exclaimed! I watched him move. His movements were not entirely smooth; he jittered as he mimicked how a machine might move. “He’s a mime!” my husband declared. And my DH was quite right. It was indeed a mime, and I thought a most excellent one at that! He sent us a wink as he heard that we had figured him out. I was in awe. One other couple had stopped and was observing him, however aside from them and us, everyone passed him by without a second glance. I gave my camera to my hubby and asked if he would take my picture with the first mime I have ever met. Naturally hubby obliged and I ran to stand next to the mime. The mime made a series of unusual faces at me, and instinctively I held out my hand. He then turned and poured water into my hand. That got people’s attention! Very quickly a crowd gathered and all were observing the mime move. Other people began to take pictures with him and a bald man requested that he pour water on his head! After my hubby took the photos, I dug through my pockets and pulled out the euro coins I had on hand and placed them in a box in front of the mime (a box that nearly blended in with his statue self!). I wish I had had more than a few dollars to give him; we found him to be very impressive! (If anyone is interested, here is his fb page: AlexStatue)

 

After a significantly sized crowd had gathered and began to clog up the street, we departed and entered the Hofbräuhaus. When I asked my hubby what some of the things he most wanted to get out of our vacation were, excellent German food was at the top of his list, just under relaxation. So for my hubby (and myself), this dinner was a highly anticipated event. We were overwhelmed when we first walked in. It was a very large restaurant, though it didn’t look it at first, as it was divided into many sections, but after observing the many paths, which led to further rooms or tucked away cubbies, I began to realize it was a very large restaurant, and it was packed with people. All of the tables and benches were wooden, the high walls and ceilings painted with ornate German designs, the staff dressed in period attire, and a live folk band performed Bavarian music (with large mugs of beer at their feet!).

Unsure if we should seat ourselves or wait for someone to seat us, I asked the nearest man dressed in Lederhosen. “Excuse me,” I began, “Should we seat ourselves or should we wait for someone to seat us?” The man gave me a smile and replied, “I will seat you, but you’ll have to leave your boyfriend behind” giving a nod to my DH, who was still in the entryway with our LO taking in the scene around us. “Ah, thank you.” I replied. He gave a nod as I left to tell my hubby we were to choose whichever table suited us.

We walked past the steinvault – an area with locked cubbies where loyal drinkers could keep their steins safe – and past a very large bar before we found a tucked away corner that met our desires. A kind waiter in Lederhosen took our orders, brought a chair for the baby, and even toys to keep the baby occupied while we awaited our food. 

 

While we waited for our food, we read the backs of our menus (we were given an English translation), which gave us the history of the place. Among other things, it told us that back in the 1500’s, beer was not regarded as a beverage but as a fundamental food. We also discovered that the building we were in had been redesigned and rebuilt several times due to everything from bombs to fire to necessary expansion.

 You can see our drinks in the picture at upper left there. The food we ordered did not disappoint. My husband ordered a roasted knuckle of pork and received that large hunk of meat you see at right.

Most dishes seemed to come with a sticky dumpling and a form of sauerkraut. I had the pork and dumpling as seen below (and yes, I did not conform to my usual diet while on this trip. I did the last time we went to Germany three months ago and this time I was eager to sample their cuisine).

My dish of roasted pork slices with crackling in homemade gravy.

For dessert we shared this apple strudel from the Hofbräuhaus bakery!

We were so full that it took some effort to squeeze this tasty morsel into our stomachs. 

The vanilla sauce it was in was particularly delicious. Seeing that we enjoyed it so much, the waiter brought a whole bowl of the vanilla sauce over. We liberally poured it onto our strudel to increase it's deliciousness factor. 

 

Unlike Italy, Germans do tip, and it is customary to round up to the nearest ten. After polishing off our plates and drinks, we departed for the gift shop were we purchased memento mugs, including a small one we intend to put on the Christmas tree, along with our other souvenirs from our travels.

The dinner proved to be very fulfilling and a grand experience to conclude our first day in Germany. If you ever happen to get the chance to go to Munich, we  certainly recommend this place to you!