Meatloaf is having the hardest time coping.

Nonni and Nonno (formerly known as Mom and Dad) left about 28 minutes ago.

Sad day.

Not too sad though because I know they're anxious to get home... my dad to his birds and my mom to her kickboxing.

And probably a lot of other stuff too.

Like their own bed... shower...television...car.

All the things you kinda miss while on vacation.

Although I don't know if you can consider their visit a vacation because they worked REALLY hard.

My mom descended the steps to our laundry room a gazillion times.

My dad pulled weeds and fixed our cuckoo clock (no easy feat, let me tell you).

Chad and I really appreciated all their help. There are no words.

Every new mom should have their own Mom (and Dad) around to help them in the beginning.

At least that way you're guaranteed to start motherhood with an empty laundry basket and clean dishes.

Which is the best way to start motherhood in my opinion.

The best part about our goodbye was that the only 'person' to cry was Meatloaf.

He actually just removed himself from the window now... 33 minutes after their departure.

He's going to miss his Grandpa and Grandma very much.

We all will.

We had a terrific visit though... saw a lot, experienced a lot, ate A LOT, and loved on our little man a lot.

What more can we ask for?

We love you Nonni and Nonno!

Can't wait for next time!

(Meatloaf especially)

Until then, Thank goodness for Skype. Too bad it doesn't do laundry.

A Mother

The moment a child is born...

the mother is also born.

She never existed before.

The woman existed, but the mother, never.

A mother is something absolutely new.

-Rajneesh

Hard to believe

Last Tuesday, Rhett turned 1 month old... where has the time gone? Days and weeks seem to go by so much faster when you're thoroughly sleep deprived. And when you have visitors it seems. Visitor's visits never seem long enough in my book. Maybe I'm just not looking forward to having to clean my own house and do my own laundry again (thanks, Mom!).

Anyways, despite my lack of sleep, we've managed to stay busy every day this week. Tuesday we returned to Ludwigsburg so my parents could tour the palace and because their annual Pumpkin Festival is going on and Rhett had the perfect hat for the occasion.

We celebrated little man being 1 month old with pumpkin strudel, pumpkin cake, pumpkin muffins and pumpkin champagne (oh yes we did).

For three consecutive days I had asked everyone to be on the look out for the number '1' in an interesting/unique/memorable place (Ulm, Triberg, etc) so we could prop Rhett next to it for his 1 month birthday. Well... turns out... 1's are hard to find... at least relatively interesting ones. I had to settle for F1 but it's the name of a pumpkin and it says Oktoberfest and it will just have to do.

Happy 1 month my little man! You've turned our lives upside down... but we love you for it! xoxo

Diary of a Visit- Year 2- Day Trips

Since our passports were taken by the consulate in Frankfurt in order to process Rhett's passport application, we have been forced to explore more of Germany during my parent's visit. We've tasted a variety of German specialities, toured palace halls, and walked the steps of church steeples for the last few days, all of which have left me with the conclusion that I love Germany even more than I did prior to these recent explorations. Here are some of our excursions...

Waldenbuch, Germany

Our visit here started with a desire for Ridder Sport chocolate which is produced here in the town. We thought the town was so cute that we returned the next day for lunch.

And this is Rhett in Waldenbuch... very enthused.

Another day we had planned to go to Triberg, however, our GPS led us astray and we ended up in Hornberg first. We had a typical Swabian lunch... kasespatzel and then found our way to our original planned destination.

Nonni & Rhett at lunch... the waitresses loved his jeans.

Last time I went to this waterfall... it was frozen. Thankfully it was a little bit warmer this time around.

Oh and here's Rhett and the Triberg waterfall... engrossed by its beauty and magnitude.

In Triberg, we also stopped to see the largest Cuckoo clock in the world.

Here is Rhett at the clock... amazed.

Our next outing didn't take us too far from home... we spent the afternoon at the Herbst Fest in Vaihingen with friends.

Rhett thoroughly enjoyed himself (do you see a pattern...?).

He got to spend some time with his first girlfriend, Lauren Olivia [their due dates were originally 6 days apart, however, Lauren was born before her due date and is now 2 weeks older than Rhett... good thing he loves older women.]

We visited ULM, Germany so we could see the tallest church steeple in the world... and climb it. 762 steps [um, 4 weeks postpartum might I add]. Rhett and Nonno watched from below.

We rewarded ourselves with gelato sundaes because we deserved it.

Lastly, we ended the afternoon with a peek at the Danube.

And THIS... Rhett really had to see.

Check back soon for Rhett's 1 month birthday!

Diary of a Visit- Year 2- Goings on

Nonno and Nonni arrived safely last Thursday night. Just in time to see Rhett... sleeping. Of course. Since then Nonni has been busy doing 3 weeks worth of our laundry and Rhett's wet pajamas. They also take Rhett in the morning so I can get 2.25 hours of uninterrupted sleep until little man screams for his breakfast. It's been glorious.

Their first day here we all just took a little R&R.

Walked the dogs and went to our little German restaurant up the street.

Saturday we went to downtown Stuttgart to get goodies from the Markethalle and enjoy the lovely weather.

We ended our visit downtown with a trip to the Cupcake Boutique and picked up these beauties!

And Sunday we spent the afternoon visiting Schloss Solitude...

Rhett loves having his grandparents here... even though Nonni calls him Mr. Magoo.

Until next time...