Let it snow...

When Nina was on sabbatical in the deeper parts of Bavaria, she got Quinn a traditional shirt to go with Lederhosen...and now it finally fits!
Next year, Quinn and Papa are going to get matching Lederhosen and shirts!

Nina visited us last weekend. We definitely love it when Nina (and Frank) visit in and of itself, but it was nice to have some extra hands around the house.

Typical picture of Emily trying to sleep, and Quinn trying to help out. He really is trying to be nice to Emily and to softly stroke her face or hand, but when he does this when she's sleeping, he just wakes her up.

Massive crying tends to ensue. The only person that seems to not be bothered by Emily's crying is Quinn himself.

This morning, Emily's crying woke him up...and it was super cute how he races to her room in his PJ's...wanting to see what he could do to help.

My answer: go back to bed...it is 5am.

Quinn riding the couch like a horse. He only does this when we have the camera out ;-)

Quinn would touch and hold Emily all the time if we would let him.

Conversation today at the Gould house: Quinn, do you have to go potty? No, I've already pooped in my pants.

Oh, the joys of potty training.

As for Emily, she's doing just fine...it would be better if she would cry a bit less and sleep a bit more during sleeping hours. Thankfully, I get to go to work so that I can rest a bit. Coffee consumption has increased.

We're sure the amount of crying with Emily was the same with Quinn...but it just FEELS different. With Quinn being able to verbalize pretty well now what he wants, we are a bit out of practice with dealing with a baby that can only cry (and not tell us what is wrong).

This too, hopefully, will pass. In the meantime, we're trying to enjoy the time together...even if it is a bit more hectic than before. It is hard to believe that it has been almost 3 weeks already.

P.S. It snowed today...Ouch.

The Great Ironies of Life

When you think about it - whether you believe the Creation Theory or the Evolution Theory - the process of child creation is amazing.

From a fertilized egg to childbirth of a working human is too complex to even contemplate. It is amazing how it all seems so pefect, everything working in complete unison. For those of you that have children you understand.

You also understand the associated ironies of this amazingly complex and perfect process. Ironies that such a perfect creation and process should not even allow:

1. Why does gas create such pain for babies and makes them scream like a stuck pig?
2. Why can babies sleep perfectly...except from between the hours of 11pm to 3am...when 99.99% percent of the rest of the world sleeps.
3. Why do babies grab and pull chest hair, when Papa is trying to calm the babies? Perhaps to keep the tired Papa from falling asleep?

2 Children is not 2x the Work

Eva and I are trying to take parenting to the 'next level', and I definitely understand the statement from other parents that say that folks with only one child are not 'real' parents. Not to bash those with one child, but the 'work' curve can become exponential with 2 kiddos, not linear - especially when the newborn (and parents) are sick.

Unfortunately, we hit a milestone with Emily 2 years earlier than with Quinn: Emily was running a fever two days ago, and we had to start giving her antibiotics. Illnesses with newborns can be tricky and dangerous.

Fortunately, Emily is doing fine, but Eva is now full on sick...less sleep for the Gould family.
On the good news side, the weather has been nice, and I've spent the time off of work...outside with Quinn. The pic above is typical Quinn: the stick in his hand is one of my 'tools' and he is fixing the brakes on his trike. He uses his imagination a lot more these days, and then role-plays. A stick can be any number of my tools: weedeater, drill, wrenches...super sweet.

Emily bundled up on one of our walks.

Emily getting weighed...she's putting on weight well, and everything seems fine (outside of the recent fever, of course).

Eva's parents shortly before leaving a week ago.

Quinn loves grocery shopping. First of all, there are two rides for him: the tractor and a moped. I don't put any money in...and he is happy just sitting on them for a while. Oh, if he ever found out that they would move if you put money in them. Second of all, we usually get a pretzel from the bakery, and when we get fresh lunch meat, the butcher gives him a slice of lunch meat (Gelbwurst).

The odd thing is that he always has to ride them in the same order: first the tractor then the moped. If a kid is on the tractor, he patiently waits instead of going to the moped first. I don't know where he got this patience from (Eva) and I don't know where he got the ideosyncracy to always do things in the same order (probably from my dad ;-).

I think he looks super cute in his Timberland lumberjack jacket when he is on the tractor.

Quinn helping out with Emily. He is still very caring and mostly gentle with Emily. He mostly leaves her alone when she's sleeping...but when her eyes are open, he is all over petting her.

Last night was especially cute, touching, and funny for me: Emily was screaming (this was about midnight), which woke Quinn up. Quinn sat next to me in the chair, so I was sitting there with both my kids in my arms. Quinn started petting Emily to try to calm her down as well.

I later got up to try to walk / rock Emily to sleep - or at least to get her to quit screaming. Quinn followed me, but ran into the glass door with his head. Ouch. Now I had two screaming kids. This is what I mean by exponential work. When they play together, all is OK...but two screaming / hurt kids is definitely a challenge.

A few weeks ago, Quinn went to the dentist for the first time. He didn't like it, but the dentist left an impression, because now Quinn plays 'dentist' all the time. The thing on his face are a pair of plastic tongs from his 'kitchen'. When he plays dentist, he opens the tongs and puts them around his face. Strange (I guess he's imitating the dentist and his mask ?!?), but super cute.

At the playground.

It freaked me out when Quinn started climbing this ladder without my help, but he did just fine, and he's getting a better feel for these sorts of things - climbing, jumping, sliding, and of course, running.

Learning to Read Minds Again

Neither Eva nor I know what happens with the time. Eva came home from the hospital on Wednesday evening, her parents went home yesterday, and our Friday flew by.
This was the view I got when I came out of the hospital after Emily was born: my mother in law patiently waiting outside, basking in the last rays of the September sun, with my father in law and Quinn. This is so typical Göttgens: sitting outside, face in the sun, enjoying the rays. Makes me smile every time I see it.

With having a new addition to take care of, we're getting used to guessing again. With Quinn, he pretty much can tell us what he wants and why he's upset. Emily just cries when she needs something and sleeps when her world is OK. We have to guess again what the issues are: diaper, hungry, hot, cold, older brother pulling her arm...

I haven't received the editor's approval for this pic yet, but I like it...and since the editor is breastfeeding now, I get my way ;-)

Two pics of Emily and her Oma.

As I mentioned earlier, Eva's contractions allowed us to drop Quinn off at friends before we went to the hospital. They were going to an open house of the fire station (Feuerwehrfest) anyway (which we were planning to do as well with them). Quinn loves firetrucks, so he is especially stoked about his fireman's helmet. As a sidenote, after taking his tub, he ran around the house naked (like normal)...but this time grabbed his fireman's helmet. Imagine a naked 2 year old wearing only his fireman's helmet...

Emily seems to really like napping on my chest. It is a great feeling to feel her soft head on my chin...plus, I like to nap as well. We already have something in common...

Emily's welcome home. I'm still very grateful for Eva's parents for coming over after Emily's birth: it allowed me to clean up a few things at work and was a great help and relief as I tried to get things ready for Emily and Eva.

Since Eva's dad is also a great cook, I ate great every night...but, I'm not used to seeing fresh lard (Speck) in our fridge.

Family pic...

Eva's parents also took Quinn to day care every day and picked him up as well. They spoiled him by letting him take his trike each day. Quinn had a blast.

I love this jacket...I think it makes him look a lumberjack. Then I get the Monty Python Lumberjack song in my mind for the rest of the day...

Quinn has been a very proud brother so far. Outside of hitting Emily upside the head a few times, he has been very gentle and loving. His first word each day is Emily. He even gave Emily his favorite Lego Men (LegoMännchen) this morning. Those are his favorite toys.

Quinn and Opa cracking hazelnuts.

Since Quinn has been playing quite a bit with Legos (Duplos), Emily thought it would be good to get him a Lego Cement Mixer as a gift to celebrate her birth. Quinn has been playing with it ever since.

The Legos have been a blessing as Quinn has been playing with them more and more...even playing by himself in his own room! Legos were some of my favorite toys growing up, and I love to play with them too. Quinn doesn't mind if I help him build his houses, but I have to do it his way. And, he's rather adamant about his building codes.

Grandpa will have fun with the Legos with Quinn, but he'll have to leave his engineering knowledge at the door ;-)

@ Dad: you'll understand what I mean when you get here.

Emily Lydia Gould

Emily Lydia Gould was born today at 14:37. 3960g and 53cm long. Both Eva and Emily are in great shape and doing well.

Quinn even had a chance to meet his sister today...and this is his 'what do I do with her now' look.
Doesn't he look a bit devilish here?

Super cute with her tongue out...but still with some blood on her forehead.

More pics and stories to come...but I wanted to post some pics tonight. I'm pooped, and I didn't even do anything.

Jetzt geht's los, Part II

Eva started having contractions a few hours ago, we've dropped off Quinn at friends, the bag is packed, and we're heading to the hospital soon.

More info soon, when we have it. Wish Eva luck.

10 fingers, 10 toes.

Late Summer Bliss

With Fall setting in and the temps dropping, we're waiting not only for #2 to join our family, but also for the weather to get a bit more rainy.

So, when we get a fall day like today, we head outside. We did start the morning with some inside playtime - with Quinn and his Duplos. He is really starting to play with the Duplos a lot, and if we play with him, we have to build things his way...

Today was the last home game of our local football team. Quinn had a blast the last time we went to watch the game, and with the perfect weather, we hopped on our bikes and took the few minute ride to the field.
Of course, we put on our football shirts (thanks to Mom and Dad!) and our CU hats. Since we lost to CSU, I put on my Miracle in Michigan T-Shirt on, hoping for better days of CU football while reminiscing on one of the best days of my life (almost as good as my wedding day, of course ;-).

There are no bleachers, just a soccer practice field with some goalposts, but it is still football, and it is live!

We brought our camping chairs, and Quinn took mine - forcing me to pace up and down the sideline in Ize fashion.

Quinn and his football. He loves the darn thing, and we're still playing 'touchdown' when I get home from work. I think this may be the reason my body hurts all the time...I'm getting too old.

But, it is worth it all, when you see the smile on his face.

C is for Cookie

Eva does it for my own good. She hides the junk food to protect me from snacking in the middle of the night.

It is a Gould thing: my dad is rather restless at night and oftentimes wakes up, and then finds himself in the kitchen snacking. When my uncle was visiting us a few years back, all three of us found ourselves in the kitchen in the middle of the night. While I rarely sleep through the night, and while I try not to snack when I do wake up, open boxes of cookies are just loud. They talk to me.

The last two days, I've seen leftovers (crumbs) of these cookies in the house, but I couldn't find the darn package. Eva really hid them good this time. Where did she hide the darn cookies. She knows not to hide them to high, for she is afraid that I'll climb on a chair in my half sleep trance to get them.

When I came home yesterday, I found a half eaten cookie...and wanted one myself. I looked...looked...and looked. Nowhere could I find the cookies.

Then, at dinner, I had an idea:

"Quinn, where does Mama put the cookies".

"Over there", he said, pointing to the cabinet where we put our games.

"Good boy". I finally found the cookies. Eva and I laughed hard and loud for a while - Eva's face even turned red.

"I knew I should have not shown him where I put the cookies."

It's a Gould thing, I guess.

Not Every Weekend can be Perfect

Lest you think that we only have perfect days and weekends...this blog post will attest to the normal ups and downs that we all go through.

First of all, Eva wasn't feeling well...with a sore throat and stuffed up nose, not to mention being ready to pop. Quinn felt the need to test his boundries this weekend, and I apparently left all my patience in the office on Friday evening. Not a great combination.
At least we could leave the weekend on a high note: One of the forest stations 'near' our house had an open house. We've been wanting to go there for a while, and we thought that this was the sort of field trip that would be good for all of us: Eva got a break from her boys, Quinn got some more fresh air, and I got to spend more time outside with the Quinn I'm used to.

It was about a 25 minute bike ride through the forest, pulling Quinn in his chariot. Of course, the first thing he sees when we park the bike is a girl eating ice cream. So we had ice cream.

I'm super paranoid when he's climbing, but he does really great, and it seems second nature to him.

One of the forest paths. When I told him this was not the path to ice cream, he immediately turned around and started running in the other direction. I think this was the only time he listened to me all weekend.

The mini roller coaster was the highlight. Quinn was the last one to get to go down...it was way past closing time, and I was getting a bit worried that Quinn would get hungry on me (and I, in my infinite wisdom, didn't bring anything to eat).

While the weekend wasn't perfect, it was (somewhat) relaxing and certainly family oriented. I think we are all (especially Eva) somewhat in a holding pattern, waiting for #2 to join our family. While we try to just enjoy the great fall weather and our time as a threesome, it is just natural to feel a bit uneasy...while you are in that 'calm before the storm'.

The Calm before the Storm

Eva is still going strong, and the baby shows no real signs of wanting to join us in the near future. So, we are trying to enjoy our 'quiet' time, before the cycle starts all over again.
Quinn got a new hat for fall, and was dorking around a bit when putting it on. We thought he looked like a Smurf (Schlumpf) ... or even worse, a Frenchman ;-)

This is typical Quinn: he sees his Papa do something (trying to fix his car) and he tries to do it himself. On this particular occasion, he went into our utility closet (Abstellkammer), got my electronics screwdrivers, and started 'working' on his car.

We knew something was odd when it got so quiet. He was quietly fixing his car...with 'his' tools.

One of my smaller cordless drills is his now too. He carries it around and 'drills'. Thankfully, we've convinced him that the only things that need drilling are on the small patches of carpet that we have...

Family pic: all of us hussied up before going to a friend's birthday party.

Mama and son.

There is finally a way for me to watch live college football games on TV. A while ago, I connected our flat screen in the living room to the computer as an extra monitor. Last week, I subscribed to espn360.com, which streams tons of live college football games.

Finally...the days of listening to radio broadcasts of the Buffs games are over.

Espn360.com doesn't stream all of the Buffs games, but I can still catch all sorts of other teams, and since they store the games, we can watch at 'normal' times.

To celebrate the occasion, I made a full on Tex Mex Fajitas meal: homemade fajitas, salsa, guac, refried black beans, and margs (frozen strawberry without tequila for Eva).

Unfortunately, after the great meal and after putting Quinn to bed...the Buffs lost. But, it was really nice to see real, college football again!

A Walk in the Forest

Knowing that summer will slowly come to an end, we headed to the Fränkische Schweiz for a 'hike'. It is about a 40 minute drive, which for us is becoming a really long drive. After all, we practically only use our bikes for transportation and seldom need to get in the car - even on weekends.
But, we overcame our laziness of having to drive. After getting up, we packed our gear, picked up breakfast at the bakery, and hit the road.

Our destination has a sort of 'path' for kids so that they can experience different things: from walking barefoot on different things like pine cones to pebbles, to crossing a hanging bridge (the logs were connected to chains that were freely hanging), to a maze, to a huge hanging xylophone.

(Editor's note: Eva is highly pregnant now...and may be only a matter of days!)

Of course, we had to take a break and eat our breakfast...

The weather was perfect, and it turned out to be a great way to spend the morning and early afternoon. We were beat...but for some reason, Quinn was full of energy and didn't want to take his nap.

What are we going to do in winter when it is more difficult to tire him out ?