Alexandra's latest tricks...

She can now eat her books and serve herself cheerios!



Alexandra eats up her books from Moya Z on Vimeo.



Alexandra pinches Cheerios! from Moya Z on Vimeo.

a 7 month comparison

It is always fun to go back & look at photos of Sophia from the same age that Alexandra is now & see just how much they look alike. Although their coloring is a bit different, Troy & I are both stunned at how similar the hair is, and the huge eyes!

Can you tell who is who?

Family Time

Its been a while since we have shown daily life in our family. It is a bit crazy at times, but we usually don't allow Sophia to play keep-away with Alexandra's toys. Actually I think Sophia was singing a song, and using the rattle to dance.

More play in the hallway, it seems to be the best place to get a little crazy. Good dance space as well.

More after dark reading from our sleepy girl. She was so tired she couldn't even hold up the book & had used some of her doudous (including Koukala) to prop it up in the right position. It makes me smile every night...

Sophia & her friend Niamh (Neev ~ she has an Irish friend!! ) playing dress up during Thanksgiving dinner.

Watching Sleeping Beauty on the couch with Daddy. (on a side note, Disney films are usually dark, but this is unusually so. I think that the Princess is only in less than half of the film, obviously the marketing guys weren't on their toes with this one...)

Alexandra at 7 months...

So we have a little drooler on our hands... Alexandra turned 7 months this week (I'm a few days late, blame it on Thanksgiving!) and is just the most amazing personality! Her eyes continue to get bigger (and those of you who know me know what a miracle this is!), and are staying blue as far as we can see. The hair is a bit sparse at this point, but very much like Sophia's at a similar age.

Her new trick is to lean forward from a sitting position & put her weight on her hands. Sometimes she does quite well and manages to balance in an "in between position" for a few seconds before going back to sitting.

Sometimes she is able to scoot right to the edge of the carpet in this way (notice the nice extended drool of concentration), and then she likes to play with the hardwood floor.

Through it all she smiles & invites all of us to play with her on the ground. It is hard to just let her play, knowing that sometimes there is a big crash**

**notice the big red blotch on the side of her forehead.

Through it all her great personality is shining through, and she is really loving the interaction with people right now. Older ladies are the most fun for her, for there is no fear and they smile, and it has been great practice for my German by interacting with them.

She still saves lots of laughter for Sophia, and is quite content in the car every day as I tell her we are going to pick up Sophia, and she gets to play with all of Sophia's friends at the school. The older girls (8-12 year olds), LOVE playing with her, and we often hang out around the school yard for 30 min after school gets out so they get lots of practice with entertaining a 7 month old (it is not that hard!). Alexandra loves the big girls...

Home with Daddy

Troy got home from his mammoth traveling schedule last Saturday, and we finally will see him over the next couple of months, as there is another travel ban in place for the region. This is becoming quite the norm in the area as all kinds of companies are cutting back. Rumor has it the BMW factory shut down for 6 weeks.

Anyway, Troy is home and the girls are thrilled, as am I...

Sleepy Girl, sleepy girl...

I have to say I'm a little bit proud when I see this photo. (My heart is glowing) Knowing how much I loved escaping into books, and still do, I'm thrilled that the last thing Sophia wants to do before she goes to bed is to have 5 minutes more with a book. It's hard to say no, and doesn't really even make sense to when I go in 5 min later & she is asleep with the light on, books in hand.

Personally, I don't know how she ended up in this position, but she was able to move her fingers.

St Martins Day in Germany

Last week we celebrated St Martin's Day at Sophia's school. The week before we had all made the lanterns, and the kids had special lights (no candles this year), and the singing & walk were done during the day so it wasn't exactly the same as last year... Of course last year it was zero degrees & pouring while we were outside.

Anyway, the kids had prepared a number of songs, and were able to perform them with & without the parents right next to them. Sophia was a bit embarrassed at first & would barely look at us, but it was so great to see all of the kids perform, and to finally hear the actual songs (rather than her interpretation of the songs) that she had been singing for weeks!

St Martin's Day from Moya Z on Vimeo.

Alexandra at 6 months... Check-up

An interesting check-up today to say the least... Sophia is on a 2 day break for Parent Teacher Conferences (ours is postponed because Troy is traveling), and so she had to come with us this morning.

Alexandra was a star. She went thru all of her tests with flying colors (apart from not being able to pay attention to the hearing test because Sophia kept talking & running around the room so the ear attachment kept flying out of Alexandra's ear as her head was spinning). And the doctor felt she has a very good personality because she didn't cry when he was throwing her around in the air to see what her reactions were. (all of those body movement tests that they do to newborns in the US, they still do to the 6 month olds here - I've forgotten if they did it to Sophia?!)

So then we came to the shot. I have to say, one of the best things about getting immunizations in Europe is the combined shots that they have. For the 6 immunizations that Alexandra received today she only had one shot. AMAZING! The other amazing thing, the drugs are from a US company (the doctor keeps telling me that as if to re-assure me that it makes the meds safer for my daughter), why don't we have this in the US?

Anyway, Alexandra handled the shot like a pro. She looked down at her leg, and made a squeak saying "Wow, that hurts." And then looked at me when it was over. At the same time Sophia is in the corner screaming "THEY ARE PRICKING HER!" over & over again with tears filling her eyes.

Then Sophia looked at me & said, "I'm never coming back here."

Alexandra is now 71cm (about 28") and 7,240 grams (almost 16lbs). No teeth yet, but the doctor said it is way to early for that... He was surprised when I told him how early Sophia got hers! Safely above average in both height & weight. Basically a happy & healthy child. And very smile-y (that threw him off a bit...)

We start them early

This evening as I was getting dinner ready I put Alexandra in the entry to play, and Sophia brought her computer to play with as well. Before I knew it, both girls were on their stomachs, enthralled by the screen.

At least they were learning the alphabet in French... ;-)

Take my picture please!

Can you tell we take a lot of photos? We were walking downtown last weekend, on a beautiful fall day, when Sophia saw a very photogenic pillar, hopped behind it & yelled, "Take my picture daddy!" She actually wouldn't move until we took the photo.
As it happens, she picked a good spot. The residence of the Hapsburg family is behind her left shoulder, and Odeonsplatz behind her head.
She's already got a good eye!