Bluebird's Nest

Wee babe update:

I need to take the time to record a moment in time where I’m so proud and ready. Let’s hope it keeps happening.

For the past few nights now, the wee babe has woken up in the middle of the night and self soothed herself back to sleep. Yeah baby! I was so ready for this to happen. I need to admit I was a little nervous about how this was going to come to pass. I think I mentioned that I had basically given up rejecting night feedings (even though I knew she didn’t need them) while we were on our trip across Canada as every night was a different sleep for her. Different noises, different temperatures, etc… so I had absolved myself to sleep training her once we arrived in Switzerland. But, I was wondering how I was going to do this. Crying to sleep? Pick up and put down all night long? I wondered.

Then, last Thursday (I think) I said to my hubby, it has to be you that goes to her in the middle of the night, as she associates me with breast milk and feeding. So we planned that as we fell asleep. Without fail, around 2 am she aroused from her slumber in her bed and the hubby began to get up. I said “wait a sec and see what she does.” So we waited. And low and behold she cried for a few minutes and then she found her fingers and off to sleep she went again. It happened again that night and self soothed herself again. Et voila! One night under our belts. Would you call that sleeping through the night? The tweenager says no but the hubby says yes.

Next night, exact same thing. Then the night after we were in a hotel room in France (more on that in a bit) and she woke up at 5 am. We weren’t as lucky that time as she tried to self sooth but it didn’t take and because it was so late in the sleep I decided to breast feed her.

Last night, same as the first two!! I think we’ve established a pattern that I’m thrilled about as I was so scared that I was going to have to do the crying thing. Now cross fingers that this pattern sticks. And not a moment too soon either. The wee babe (and the tweenager) are heading to the in-laws for a sleep over on Saturday (have I mentioned that I’m a little nervous about this yet? It’s me, not them) and it will be my first time to leave the wee babe with someone else for a whole night alone. So, I’m feeling quite a bit better given the wee babe’s sleep patterns of late. I’m a whole lot more relieved.

I’m thrilled actually! Fingers crossed that she keeps up her patterns.

France: Colmar, Obernai, Strasbourg

Our family did a little out trip through the wine district of France on Sunday and Monday. We always do a lot of comparing when we arrive in Switzerland with Canada. So I’m going to do a bit of comparing now. Europe seems to shut down on Sundays (and a bit on Mondays too!). Personally, I think this sucks. I understand that people need a break but I’m sure there are other people out there that would gladly work. And so it make traveling on these days difficult.

Regardless, the scenery was breathtaking. I’m one for visiting little villages versus seeing the view from a mountain top, so this was right up my alley.

We stopped in Colmar for lunch. I had the most delicious meal of Roesti with goat cheese. Oh my god. It was devine. And the town was straight out of Heidi (IMHO). When the tweenager and I read the book and the part where Heidi runs away from the house in Germany, the village is exactly how I would imagine it to be. I seemed like a scene out of a movie. I kept asking, “Is this real? Do people live here? Or is this just the tourist area that they fake-it-up?” My hubby said “Oh yeah, just like in Disneyland where it looks like people live but no one lives here”. He was kidding of course.

After getting our fill of Roesti and walking around the town, we got back in the car and toured the countryside. Castles, vineyards, wineries oh my! Most of the wineries were closed but we did happen upon one that would serve us some yummy pinot gris and gewürztraminer. We bought a couple of bottles to bring back with us.

We also stopped in at a place called Monkey Mountain. This is a mountain in the forest that has a whole bunch of monkeys roaming around. You pay to get in (it’s a tourist attraction) and you get a handful of popcorn to give to the monkeys. It was pretty neat to see them up close and personal. I liked the baby monkeys the best.

We arrived in Obernai and found our little hotel (3 floors up and no elevator). It was nice though. We headed out to find some dinner.

We happened upon this wonderful outdoor restaurant called Zum Schnogolock. Cheap cheap cheap. And oh so good. We had tarte flambé and a delicious goat cheese salad. Oh yeah, the tarte flambé was also goat cheese. I had a bit of a goat cheese craving going on. So I have to explain what a tarte flambé is. It’s like a pizza, only thinner and it’s made with cream instead of tomato sauce. You then get different things on it like mushrooms, ham, munster cheese, etc…Oh it’s delicious. After all that food, we quietly hid our leftovers in a napkin and stashed it in the stroller (doggie bags are poo pooed here) and then we were on our way for ice cream! Yum. The hubby kept saying how cheap it all was. If he’s happy, I’m happy.

The next day, we packed up and had a coffee and French bread for breakfast. Then we took off to Strasbourg. The weather was menacing. Threatening to pour. And I mean pour. Then the wind showed up. We arrived in Strasbourg and it was pretty dark. The city itself was bigger than we had seen the day before. We walked over to the famous cathedral but I didn’t really want to go in and the wind was picking up. The wee babe was also getting a little testy too. So we stopped for some snacks and then we walked around the city. It was so very different than North America. All the architecture here is so stunning to me. Every turn down a different road or alley way is a new unfolding of the senses.

Then it rained and rained so we took cover in The Stub. We had more tart flambé but this time it was desert so I picked a chocolate/banana tart that everyone agreed was the best. We wrote a huge postcard to our friends in Duncan and then headed back to the car.

We stopped for gas and to pick up some cross border shopping that took an undesirable amount of time and headed home.

Oh and it was our Swiss anniversary that day but we didn’t really do anything special for each other. We decided that for our 5th we would jump out of a plane together.