Update :D

It has been a BUSY couple of months, filled with traveling, school, and everyday life. In early September we visited the Alsace region of France. We had family visiting mid-september and went to Cologne, Rothenburg, Idar-Oberstein, and of course shopping in Kaiserslautern. In October the husband, baby and I went to Porto, Portugal...which was honestly a little disappointing. AND we were scheduled to see Cinque Terre, Italy this weekend but had to cancel. We need to catch up on life, (and I need to catch up on posts!). Each place we visited will have devoted posts when I get around to it. We are loving Germany more and more everyday. Husband and I have also been in fitness mode. I have never been a runner (EVER) and began running with baby J. My first run with the jogging stroller was over a 16 minute mile! (I know, I know). Within 3 weeks I had it down to 1245! and last night I discovered 2 SUPER defined abs had appeared. :D I'm trying to be in the best shape of my life, but gaining 65 pounds during pregnancy was a bit of a setback :p We have also been eating healthier. Incorporating more fruits and vegetables, whole wheat, and flax seed. Baby steps, but we are seeing results. On a different note, I have discovered my love for wine :p Life is exciting and stressful. <3



-M

Flying to the states (ALONE) with a one year old!

I recently (okay a month ago) returned home from a month long visit to my family in upstate NY. My husband was unable to join us and I worried for weeks prior about how I was going to fly alone with my active and crazy little boy. I researched tips and tricks on how to manage this. Here are the tips I used, how they worked for me, and a few of my own. 

-To carry a carseat and a baby: use a baby carrier

This would be an excellent tip only problem, I have a wrap that I've used twice. I am nowhere near proficient enough to figure that thing out while carrying everything and trying to board a plane. My tip, use a carrier that you KNOW HOW TO USE! :D 

- Wrap multiple toys and bring them on the plane, unwrapping them will entertain your baby. 

I was super excited about this one I thought it would work wonders. What happened he wasn't into unwrapping anything the first two hours and slept the rest of the way. So I literally packed an entire bag (12 toys) that I didn't need :'( However I think if your child loves that kind of thing, definitely worth a try just don't go overboard. 

-Pack LOTS of Snacks!

This is the best tip ever for plane travel with a baby/toddler. When all else fails snack food usually shuts him up fast :p :D

-Don't overpack, even your checked luggage.

I encountered a terrible problem when flying in to the states alone. I had to recheck my luggage between connections. I was in trouble. I had to push a stroller all my bags and two suitcases through customs and FAR down a hall to recheck them. It was a nightmare. When I arrived in Germany on the way home, similar problem. My husband was past customs, baggage claim was not. I also walked by where I was supposed to claim my stroller (in an oversized luggage area for some reason) and had to search the airport. Absolute nightmare. I also of course overpacked my carry ons taking as much as allowed. Me, a stroller, a carseat, and 3 bags, not fun. 

Overall I was lucky my son slept ALOT and it was exhausting and stressful but I survived. My biggest advice DON'T do it :D Really I will never go again without my husband but I understand life isn't always convenient like that. It will suck but if I can do it anyone can. :D

Brugge, Belgium

I must admit...I have never been interested in Belgium. It just wasn't on my to do list. Today after returning home to Germany from Brugge, Belgium I must say, it is my favorite city in the world (so far). Sometimes refered to as "Venice of the North" Brugge is a shockingly preserved medieval city in which beautiful canals run through. From our wonderfully located hotel (Hotel Prinsenhof which I HIGHLY recommend, look at Trip Advisor reviews and BELIEVE the hype) we could walk to everything we wanted to see, easily. The truth is we didn't know what we wanted to see. Immediately after arriving in the city my husband and our son spent 4 hours simply wondering the city and stumbling upon wonder after wonder. The Market is home to a HUGE and gorgeous church and many restaurants. This area was the busiest we encountered. 

The nearby Burg was my husbands favorite area of town

The best part of Brugge was that you could simply wander and be sure to encounter something beautiful. We were recommended a restaurant just off the square where I had the best chicken I have ever tasted, and I eat ALOT of chicken (like seriously, I need to start being more adventurous). In the morning we ate Belgian waffles from a stand also near the hotel. They were even more delicious than expected. Common things "touristy" things to do in Brugge include a boat ride through the canals and carriage rides through the streets (which are almost all cobblestone). We did neither on this short trip, but definitely plan to in the future. I could go on and on about Brugge and will likely add to this in the future :D 

& yes the beer and chocolate are amazing. 

Landstuhl Regional Medical Center

LRMC is a huge Army hospital that military families from all over Germany may at some point use. My husband happens to work there so it is very conveniently located for us. So far I have had numerous Family Practice and Pediatric appointments as well as gallbladder surgery at LRMC. I have had great experiences thus far. The only negatives I have encountered have been wait times. The pharmacy takes forever. Just yesterday I had to wait almost an hour for my number to be called to pick up baby tylenol. There are many groups with different priorities and active duty in uniform almost always get through the fastest. This can be very frustrating when you have been there for 30 minutes with a sick baby and someone comes in wearing their uniform and is called immediately. However the service is good when you finally get it and I can't really complain about free medicine. If you need specialty care while living in Germany it is very likely you will end up at LRMC. If I have negative (or exceptionally positive) experiences in the future I will definitely update. :)

Breastfeeding in Germany :)

Breastfeeding in public:

Breastfeeding in public in Germany has been much more laid back than I experienced in the states. It may have been the area I was living but breastfeeding in public was not exactly embraced. Here you can breastfeed pretty much anywhere without being stared at or feeling insecure. My son is a little older now (almost 11 months) so I don't have to feed him nearly as much as I used to. It would have been wonderful with a younger baby to just feed the whenever without worrying. In the states I spent a lot of time hiding in the car feeding the baby while my friends and family ate dinner at a restaurant or shopped, here that has never been an issue. 

Breastfeeding support: 

I have found many breastfeeding support groups while living here. Facebook is a great place to start. My favorite (that I've found) is a group called mom2mom. mom2mom is a large group that has many smaller "chapters".  My areas has a Facebook group and holds weekly meetings. I highly recommend checking for groups in your area. 

***There is also great support for cloth diapering in the area which I will later discuss in a separate post. There are many cloth diapering mommies here in the KMC, I never considered it myself until arriving here and am now SO happy I gave it a chance.

Breast Pumps:

I've included this topic because of a recent negative experience. After having surgery I was forced to pump for a few days while on medication. During this time my Medela Pump in Style Advanced, suddenly stopped working. Apparently these are not meant to be used overseas, even with a transformer. You must buy a separate 220V adapter that can be found online ( I found mine on ebay). I was sure my pump was ruined so my husband and I went to the Ramstein BX and bought a new one, for almost $300. Upon arriving home, and after opening the seal I found that my old one still worked, it was only the adapter that was ruined. So now I have two, but lesson learned. I have now heard horror stories of pumps actually breaking. Be safe and buy the adapter (mine was around $20). 

Berg Nanstein (Landstuhl Castle)

One of the first sites we visited upon arriving in Germany was the castle in Landstuhl. The castle is mostly ruins but is a very interesting site nonetheless. For those of us living in the Kaiserslautern Military Community the castle is an easy choice for your first European site seeing experience. The castle is a 5-10 minute drive from Ramstein Airbase. It can be a little tricky to find the road, at first glance the road to the castle appears to be a bike trail and the road is very narrow going up the hill. We find it easiest to follow the signs to Schloss Hotel and then proceed past the hotel to the castle itself. Once at the top you can wander the grounds, eat at the castle restaurant, and tour the castle (3 Euro per adult). If you are bringing small children to the castle be aware that the ruins themselves are NOT stroller friendly. There are multiple small winding staircases that I can't imagine carrying a stroller up. In our most recent visit my husband carried our 10 month old on his back in a baby carrier. I was still very nervous as the ground can be very uneven and I was terrified my husband would fall with my baby. However if you are bringing a small child to the castle this seems to be the best way. The castle itself was a very cool thing to see. Stone carvings can be seen throughout and there are cave rooms underground (which are very wet and you will probably be dripped on). You can follow the winding stone staircases all the way to the very top of the castle where the views of Landstuhl are gorgeous. Overall we loved visiting Berg Nanstein and while I am sure we will see even more impressive castles during our time in Europe this castle is very conveniently located for anyone living in the KMC. I highly recommend checking it out especially if you are in the KMC and lack the time or resources to travel further. 

Willkommen in Deutschland

I won't lie almost a year ago when I found out we would be coming to Germany I was not thrilled. I was almost 8 months pregnant and hoping to be assigned close to where I grew up. We've been here in Germany for almost 4 months now and it has been a learning experience. Adjusting to life within the German culture has been difficult, especially living off post. I'm still learning and will share some of my experiences here.