Human Whoopie Cushion

Okay, so thanks to my super hubby, I now know how to post from my iPhone! So, I apologize for the next few random posts, for they have been trapped on this new blogger's phone forever.

Let me preface this post by saying a few things:
1. This is, hands down, MY FAVORITE VIDEO OF WILLIAM.
2. The event captured in the video had been going on for about one minute before I remembered that Jeff asked me to video fun things William does while he's at work so he doesn't miss out.
3. I had to leave the room to get my phone. Upon return, the event was still in full swing.
4. The event continued for several minutes after filming stopped.
5. Even though he is much older now, should you catch him in just the right mood, William will still commence a full-blown rasberry session.
6. My son doesn't just do baby rasberries, my friend. Oh no. These are lip vibrating, spit flying, lip pursing, air blowing mouth farts. Our next mission is to teach him the accompanying arm pit thrust to match the noise he produces.

Enjoy!

Location:Bazeillesstraße,Munich,Germany

Towelzilla

The video says it all. Pushed his excersaucer over to here from the middle of the room. 1 week later we started childproofing.

Location:Bazeillesstraße,Munich,Germany

Lake Garda

How dare Mother Nature serve up bad weather for Father's Day weekend?
The weather was still poopy in Germany, and Jeff was getting the itch for sun . . . so off we went to Lake Garda, Italy for a quick overnight. The weather wasn't supposed to be that much better in Italy, but it HAD to be better than Munich! And it was! . . . for 4 hours, then the clouds rolled in. Ha!

Gorgeous Lake Garda, flanked by two sheer mountains.

Enjoying a lakeside stroll

William discovered birds, namely ducks, for the first time while we lunched on the lawn. He loved them!

The town of Riva del Garda -- very true to Italian buildings and feel, but with a small town feel.

We had a great leisurely Father's Day weekend enjoying the spa at our hotel, sipping chianti while watching World Cup, and eating gelato. We are loving the European life!

World Cup!

Germany's got Walt Meister (a.k.a. World Cup) Fever!
and so do the Zabels . . .

One Friday had us watching the Germany game from Bordeaux Platz in our neighborhood. One of our favorite restaurants, Augustiner, set up tables (and tents thank goodness! It was a smidge rainy.) and a large screen for the game. With good food, good beer, good Munich friends, and good soccer, what's not to love?

Jeff with Lawrence, Peter, and Lauren
We met Lawrence and Lauren (Yes, they're married. How awesome is that?) at our 9-hour-long first aid course for our German driver's licenses the first Saturday we moved here.

Bordeaux Platz

Our Little Rooster

Our sweetie has a row of hair just down the center of his head. I think it's cute. Dad wants to shave it. NNNOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!

If he shaved it and Will rubbed his head along the bumper in his crib, he wouldn't come out looking like this:


Heeeeheeeee!

He may have my eyes, but the hair lets me know he's a Zabel for sure!
He's going to fit in just fine with the Zabel clan and their crazy Christmas morning hair for the rest of his life. :)

Playing Around

William has caught World Cup fever! He can't get enough of playing with all his toy balls. The ones that rattle? The ones that squish? Beach balls? The ones with holes? ALL GOOD!


A future keeper?

Another favorite toy of his is his exersaucer. Don't mind that he can rock, wheel, or bounce in it. What does our son do? He props up his feet like he's in a La-Z-Boy recliner. So funny.

William can't get enough of his airplane door bouncer either. He likes spinning in it and pulling himself up on the door jams with both arms. Oh yeah, and sometimes actually bouncing in it.

Month 7 and 8

Whoops! How did I go without posting our little man's latest and greatest photos???


7 months old
(One of my favorite Gymboree moms took one look at his onesie and said, "Sarah, That's T.M.I.")

William loves to sit and play on his playmat for minutes on end!
He's also working on "Mama", but it comes out more like, "Ama, ama".

8 months old

William loves to pull all his toys out of his toy bin while playing on his play mat.
He is known to not sit for long. He much prefers crawling after balls that he has thrown halfway across the room or that have rolled to the same familiar corner, thanks to our ancient, slanted wooden floors!

A usual play scream

* It's funny to note that I both monthly pics were taken a few days after his actual month birthday. Each time I had him dressed in his latest, adorable outfit, he'd wipe it out with spit up before I had the chance to do a photo session. So both of these photos happened after a subsequent laundry day!

Bazeillesstrasse 15 Playdate

We are so lucky to have so many wonderful neighbors in our building. One of them, Lena, lives directly across the landing from us. Lena and I were pregnant together and I even dragged her to a swangerswimmen class once with me. Lena and Peter welcomed little Milan into their lives in January.

Below is a pic from the boys' first play date. I enjoyed our spontaneous afternoon tea. It was great to share mommy stories and get through the early evening time that can get rather long sometimes.



I'm sure we'll be hearing the boys' pitter pat up and down our stairways as they chase each other soon enough!

Father's Day!

Will and I decided to surprise Jeff by making him an apple pie for his first official Father's Day.


Will helped with the crust by repeatedly tossing toys off his tray and sucking on leftover apple slices.

Here's the finished product! The 'D' for Dada was Will's idea.

I really wanted to get Will's picture with his finished product, but alas, it didn't happen. He was spic and span out of the bath and in his pajamas. I had no sooner placed him in his high chair and had the camera in hand when lo' and behold I watch him throw up his entire dinner and bottle all over himself! We had tried a new rice cereal earlier in the day, and I can only deduce that was our culprit! Oh well! At least no projectiles his our precious pie!

Eagle's Nest

Ahhhhh . . . finally a gorgeous weather weekend in June! Let's get hiking! Okay, I meant that lightly, Jeff took it WAY too literally. We decided to hike to Eagle's Nest, (Kehlstein, auf Deutsche) also known as Hitler's hideaway. It was a bit of an adventurous climb: 2500 feet in 3 miles, but Jeff carried Will and I schlepped the rest of our stuff up the mountain. (I'm trying to write objectively. Can you tell?) The first mile of the trail was extremely steep and on a paved road where we kept getting passed by buses carting tourists up the mountain to our hiking destination. Did these people possess some sort of knowledge that we did not? No! They just lacked any sort of adventurous spirit . . . or so I had to remind myself every switchback.

My boys at the start of our climb. Can you see that tiny little building directly above Jeff's head? You can't? Yep. It was that far away and that's where we were going.

Me not even halfway through the climb. 'Nuff said.

Lunch break! Getting closer . . . .

We made it!
Thank goodness for an impulse buy of hiking poles a few weeks back.
Here we are at the entrance to the tunnel to the brass elevator that would carry us up the final 450 feet to the top. It was only while waiting for the bus ride down the mountain (What? You thought we were going to HIKE back down?) that we discovered a trail where you could hike up this final part as well. Darn! Next time, Jeff!
This trippy tunnel leads you to a candelabra-lit rotunda (reminiscent of the Haunted Mansion elevator!) waiting room for the 100% brass elevator that travels diagonally through the mountain to the restaurant/beer garden up top. So amazing!

Thank you, Mother Nature. You always make any hike worthwhile.
Thank you, Germans. Your beer also makes any hike worthwhile.

Up on top and still climbing? Will the madness never stop????
Can you believe there is still snow? I could. We were THAT high up!

Eagle's Nest

Here's a description I found online. I think it summarizes everything you need to know quite nicely!
Hitler's "Eagle's Nest" was designed and built for Adolf Hilter's 50th Birthday by his personal secretary and Head of the Nazi Party Chancellery Martin Bormann. The monument is called "Kehlsteinhaus" in German because of it was originally intended to be a "Teahouse" for the head of the Third Reich. This mountain-top hideaway played a prominent role as the main unit objective in HBO's critically acclaimed mini-series "Band of Brothers." The allied bombing and battles of World War II left the building intact and today the Eagle's Nest remains in its original state.

Eagle's Nest is only open from May-October. Being there at the beginning of the season allowed us to see a lot of repair going on. It must get a lot of wear and tear from the snow in its off-season, especially with the amount of snow we had last winter!

The fireplace in the dining room

All in all, hiking to Eagle's Nest was a wonderfully exhausting and beautifully rewarding day. Jeff and I agreed that this is a place to take out of town visitors . . . . Don't worry, we'll take the bus both ways!