Food Dilemma

I am such a people pleaser. I want people to like me and respect the decisions I make. I am having such a dilemma right now. My pediatrician told me to start Cole on solid foods at 6 months. I really think Cole is ready for food now, though, and I'm ready for him to be ready. He's waking up early from naps hungry, once or twice at night to eat, and is just not satisfied. Baths and walks work to distract his hunger for a while. Ugg. I have read so much online and in books and I just don't know which camp to join. Do I wait or start now? I don't want my doctor to think I'm a crazy American who disregards her professional opinion, but I don't want to keep getting up at night, when for 2 months I thought we were out of that pattern! I don't want to starve Cole, either, and often I feel like I just can't keep up with him. He bit me 4 times today, too. That's not cool, Cole. Not cool.
So, the point is that I'm torn up about what to do. I want Cole to thrive, I want my doctor to be happy, and I want to sleep. My doctor is unfortunately on vacation until September 8. Tons of Austrians take holidays this time of year. I stress out about this so much. I need to pick a perspective instead of worrying what others will think. Sigh.

5 Months!

Cole is 5 months old today. He loves chillin' in his new walker and chewing Piglet's head off. Who ever taught kids that Piglet tasted good? Hilarious. He just got his big toe in his mouth yesterday, too, which allows me at least 5 minutes to read a magazine!

Us

You've seen so much of Cole...don't forget US!

At Work

I think this might be the first time I've blogged at work.
Well, I think it's worthwhile. I wonder if someone has been praying for me about today and my interactions with parents. Either way, God was really generous to me.

This is how:
I've had to be the bad guy recently regarding families paying and their kids attending school or the lack there of. Anyhow, I had some meetings with some families today and they all have worked out about as smoothly as they could possibly go! I mean, WOW! That is seriously a relief to me and I'm sure to them. I've also gotten some communication things cleared up with some other folks. All around, a very busy morning but productive and good.

Then, I just walked out of the office and saw a big group of guys - all the 9th graders! Those are my boys! You know, Anne and I are sponsors of the 9th grade class and will stay their sponsors every year we're here until they graduate. Anyhow, they're great guys and we were happy to see each other. :)

OK, back to work....

Singing Career?

Cole loves playing in his walker these days. There's a makeshift microphone attached! Watch out, Uncle Mike!

In other news, I was doing some research about pretzels for the first elementary chapel coming up tomorrow, since we're doing a study of the Lord's Prayer and the origin of pretzels is connected with prayer. I found out that around 610 A.D., European monks used leftover bread dough and formed it into what we now know as the pretzel shape to represent children's crossed arms while praying. The monks gave this pretiola (Latin for "little reward") to children for memorizing Bible verses and prayers.

Last thing. I also discovered that Cole's doctor, Dr. Stein, has her own website that is pretty cool. She speaks Hebrew! Who knew?

Construction Zone!

This is what our bathroom looks like today, while the tub waits in our entry way. For the last two years, something has been funky with our shower and the lady downstairs has been accumulating more and more water spots on her ceiling because of it. So, today is the day they have com to fix it. Fortunately, Austrian repair men are super nice. They smile at Cole, too. Bonus!

I Have PROOF!

So, for the past few days, I've been telling Anne that Cole hates me. OK, maybe I've been overreacting, but he seriously seems to be inconsolable whenever I try to do anything with him. Only the very best things that he loves kept him from crying - when I gave him a bath (he didn't cry, but didn't laugh) and when he slept (he slept).

So today, I babysat Cole. He cried himself hoarse. Literally. I tried everything under the sun - all kinds of things that he used to laugh and laugh about. No dice.
He slept a little, but threw off any schedule mom had set up this morning. So, when Anne came home he was.... you guessed it. Screaming his face off.
So Anne mercifully took him and held him.
Guess what?
He stopped crying.
INSTANTLY.

Seriously. That cuts me real deep, Cole-man.
What's a daddy supposed to do???

Could it be that I'm hairy? Could it be because I don't have the special food source? Could it be my deeper voice? Me no know.

I just went through a few of the recent posts by Anne and added some links to a few various things. That can give you a bit more of a visual image to some of the things she's talking about :)

As for me, I've had big intentions of writing things recently, but things at the VCS business office have been getting more and more busy. It's the time of year with all kinds of new families coming, some are leaving, and many need some kind of financial info. I even have to be the bad guy (that I really don't want to be) sometimes with some families about payments.
I've also had a lot of fun getting to know and help the new staff. There are 10-12 new folks teaching and/or being office staff. I like 'em all. Their pictures aren't on the VCS website yet, but maybe in a month or so. :)

Good News!

In June we applied for our Austrian Visa renewals and a visa for Cole, and today we picked them up! The laws for obtaining visas are growing more strict, so we want to make sure we're in the right with the government. We're official until next summer. That's a relief!

foto.com

I love having pictures in the frames around our apartment. There is a fantastic website that I completely recommend to you. It's how I can continually order and have current photos inexpensively. Credit goes to Linda Schwartz for giving me this tip. I use the Austrian version, but there is a US version that's perfect, too.

The benefits:
1. 4x6 pictures cost 9 cents each
2. delivery to your door within 4 business days of online ordering
3. quality, quality, quality prints
4. options for enlargement (i sometimes order 5x7 or 8x10)
5. i once ordered 400 photos and including shipping my bill was 45 euros
6. you can use this to order mass quantities of photos to give to supporters, friends, family, mailmen, etc.

You really can't go wrong! I'm not sure how much Costco or Wal Mart cost, but this is the ultimate for the photo ordering fool.

Normal!

Today was our first normal day since our trip back from the USA. We ventured out to the Naschmarkt, took a walk to get chocolate for cookies, and even watched some of Baby Mozart. All in a good day's play.

Prater Billa

Grocery stores, bakeries, post offices, shops, and most restaurants are closed today in Vienna in observance of Mary's Ascension (or assumption). Yes. Mary's Ascension. So when Cole and I ventured out to pick up some groceries for dinner tonight, we were not so pleasantly surprised, since most Americans tend to forget these Austrian holidays. Humbug. Our only grocery option was a store called Billa located at the train station near our neighborhood and next to a huge amusement park called Prater. This store more often than not resembles more of a circus or zoo than Kroger or Trader Joe's, but we braved it. Imagine the Indy 500 on your high school track. You can find people from I think every country in the world at this store, and their top selling item: beer. Not somewhere to sip a cappuccino and relax as you peruse the gourmet selection. Cole and I navigated the mess just fine UNTIL the check out herd. I was quietly waiting in my line and looking at the stuff for sale near the cash register, when a middle-aged lady grabbed my shoulders from behind and moved me over out of her way. Then, she grabed Cole's stroller, lifted it up, and moved him out of her way, too. A glare follwed as she shoved her cart through to check out at the lane next to mine. Woah, lady. I smiled at her and went home. All in a day's work at the Prater Billa. Next time I'll check my calendar.

Back in the Swing

We're back in the swing of life in Vienna now, yet jet lag's grip hasn't fully loosened. Bummer. We celebrated Chris's 32nd birthday downtown last Thursday with friends and belgian waffles, and the back to school staff cookout was last weekend. But, we cooked in. Rain.

It's really nice to see everyone at VCS again, and there are a lot of new staff this year. It's cool to put names with faces of people we've heard about for so long.

Cole is discovering so many new things daily, and it's truly a privilege for me to watch him grow. Unfortunately, though, he is getting another new tooth, we think, and he's eating like a MANIAC. I can't keep up with him, and he's unusually fussy and just plain wierd. Thankfully, we're heading to Dr. Stein on Wednesday so we'll see what she says about starting rice cereal before 6 months. That's what Austrians do. My pediatrician is Austrian. We'll see!

A Fun Surprise

I got to see some of my old students today. Yahoo! You may remember that last fall I had a student teacher, Elizabeth, from the USA, helping out my 4th grade class. She has been visiting Vienna the last couple days and I was able to see her today. But not only her! We had lunch at Burger King with almost our whole class from last year. It was such a fun surprise for my first day back in Vienna. We all had ice cream sundaes and caught up about the summer. I loved seeing the kids and Elizabeth, and they loved seeing Cole, especially now that he's laughing, grabbing things, and responding to them.

We're BACK!

Cole loved the ocean!
Zeke & Jason Griffice
Jimmy & Jana Rourk! Yahoo!

So we're back in Vienna now. Whew! Cole was a super duper flier. We had a great

time in San Antonio visiting with our friends the Griffices and being a part of

our friend Jana's wedding. Above are a few photos from the last week or so.