Another example of obviously useless research

Impulsive Behavior in Males Increases After Periods of Heavy Drinking

Amazing - who would've thought?!

29 weeks - more fish and first cold

Jack and I have noticed that we keep being busy with so many things that we hardly spend any time together. So we decided to make Sunday a Family Day... where we don't really do anything and just spend time together. Last Sunday was such a day, and it was good. After traditional pancakes for breakfast we went to the aquarium where Tim once again got very happy and excited to see some fish.

Julia was in town on Monday and she came by for dinner - as usual it was very nice to catch up.

On one of our walks we discovered the Berlin equivalent of the Melbourne Croft Institute. It's called Zyankali Bar and is apparently an "institute for conversation chemistry". One amusing poster on their front door reads "credit for organ donation only" :)

Right now our poor baby has his first cold. He's coughing and sounds like an 80 year old smoker, and has a blocked nose. We went to the doctor yesterday and thankfully it's nothing serious. But poor Tim has to put up with me giving him "nose baths" - basically putting in salt water solution down his nose with a syringe... to say that he doesn't enjoy it and makes it very difficult to aim is an understatement. But it does help him to breathe, so ... Despite his cold, he's been in his usual happy and chirpy mood, so I'm hoping this thing goes away soon. Here are some random photos from the last week and a half.

Oh yeah and now after much bureaucratic turmoil we finally have the full collection...

The "Turkish Man" rant

I wanted to rant about this for a while, but somehow never got around to it.

Next door in front of the supermarket there's a fruit and veg stand. It's run by a Turkish guy and his family. We used to buy fruit from him quite a bit, but now I have an anti-obsession with him and avoid him at all costs. It gets to the point, where I don't go shopping to this supermarket, just to avoid him. Or take a longer way around the back of the supermarket, just not to go past him, if I have to walk in that direction. Why, might you ask? Well, he has one of these super friendly southern personalities - where he likes to ask about the health and wealth of all your extended family and then your dog, too. This is fine - as in, being born and raised at least partially in the Soviet Union I am somewhat reluctant "giving out" such personal information, but I've gotten used to that over the years and generally even cringingly find it OK.

However, since I've gotten pregnant, this personal boundary has shifted somewhat to be (at least in my mind) much more on the personal side. Thus when he saw me with a belly in April this year he started commenting how it's great that we're finally decided to reproduce and that I don't look fat at all. Great! Then he proceeded to tell me about the marvels and wonders of large exercise balls, as good means to practice for labour, and tried to demonstrate on a chair where he was sitting at the time. Anyhoo... he's just being friendly, I thought.

Then, after Tim was born I went to get some fruit and he started asking me how motherhood is - whether it's the most amazing thing, and how do I really feel about my baby, and how do I feel about having so much more responsibility, and whether I am ecstatic about being a mother. Now, I don't know about you, but I prefer to keep my "business" relationships business and private - private. I have nothing against talking with a man next door about the weather, but about my feelings of being a mother?! Please!!! I don't talk about that with myself - let alone a fruit and veg dude! Seriously!!!

So it was from that point onwards that my active avoidance of him began. It got to a point where I think he realised that I'm avoiding him, because even when he'd say hi as I was running past, I'd just quickly say hi back and go by without stopping for a chat. I stopped buying fruit there and Jack had to humour me and walk the longer way around so that we would avoid "the Turkish man".

A couple of times recently Jack and I shopped there together (with me kind of hiding behind Jack to avoid too much of a conversation) and that seemed to be ok... so this Friday when it was raining and I really couldn't be bothered taking the long way around and actually wanted to buy some fruit, I decided to try it once again. I was not disappointed. Not only did he once again ask me about my Mum and whether she's still here visiting, and then again if I totally love being a mother myself and also how is my baby, but also pointed at my belly and asked if there's another one on the way already, and when I replied with a 'no', he was very surprised and I think disappointed and said that well he guesses there's no rush. At that point I was very happy to take my fruit and go away.

Jack really doesn't seem to have this problem with him, but then I guess Jack doesn't get pregnant. So is it just me and my Soviet super secret upbringing that makes me feel uncomfortable about it, or would others feel this to be a bit too far on the personal side?

28 weeks and counting

On Thursday Christine and Finlay invited us to take part in St Martins day and walk in a "parade" with paper lanterns. Tim and I were slack and didn't get a lantern, but it was still nice to see so many of them and kids around us being all excited. Basically for those unfamiliar with this tradition (and I was until this week), you walk the streets holding a paper lantern and sing songs about St Martin. It was pretty nice and I think next year we might make more of an effort. Next year Tim might also be able to _carry_ the lantern, rather than try to eat it, which would've been most definitely the case this year :)

On Friday we made it to a Russian playgroup. I was very excited to discover that there is one in Berlin. It's actually organised by a club Karussell, that promote bilingual education of children - ie. German and Russian. So they have various music, drawing, language classes for kids of all ages. We went to the youngest group and there were a total of 4 babies - 3 boys and one girl. The teacher is very nice and plays guitar and the flute and has many toys and props, so there's a lot of singing and dancing... overall I think Tim enjoyed it... the only problem was that it was during his regular naptime. He usually sleeps between 10 and 12, and the group is at 11. He was pretty cranky the rest of the day, so I think we might try it once or twice more and if it doesn't improve then sadly we'll have to give it a miss.

Random photos from this week:

I am getting old and it's a good thing

Read this article which claims that people get happier as they get older. One part of it really struck a cord with me: "As people get older, they're more aware of mortality... So when they see or experience moments of wonderful things, that often comes with the realization that life is fragile and will come to an end. But that's a good thing. It's a signal of strong emotional health and balance." This is exactly the way I began to feel after Tim was born. Perhaps this means that my emotional health is getting stronger and I have more balance in my life? hmmmm

27 weeks - meeting his cousin

Zoya, Clive and Katya were here for the weekend. It was very nice to see them and the flat feels once again empty with the guests gone. I think the only creature in this household who might be of a different opinion is Unix, who got mildly terrorised by Katya. But then again - he keeps bugging us for attention, so I guess he just got a bit more than he could chew. It was pretty interesting to also see Tim and Katya interact. Tim was fascinated watching Katya running around. She was very cute and a couple of times placed a peck on Tim's cheek.

All of us managed a trip to the zoo on Sunday, where Timmy's cousin was super excited about pinguins and on Monday we ventured out to SeaLife - an aquarium near Berliner Dom that has a round lift that goes up through the middle of a 16 meter tall fish tank - quite impressive. Tim once again was so overstimulated by the various fish, that as soon as I put him down into the pram afterwards he fell asleep.

The guys were wonderful and brought us an English version of Trivial Pursuit, which we played one of the evenings. We played in teams - girls vs. boys, and to our utmost female disgust, the boys seemed to have won. Jack and I also attempted a game against each other last night after the guys left and decided that on our own we're pretty unintelligent. Ah well - we always knew that we were nothing more than a pretty face! Some photos follow:

Something mushy this way comes

Tim had his 5th checkup at the paediatrician today. Parents are happy to report that he's doing fine - weight 7980gr, height 66cm and head circumference is 43.5cm. According to the WHO growth chart he is smack bang on the 50th percentile. As Jack put it "nothing better than average". Whatever! I'm happy everything is as it should be and our little boy is happy and healthy.

Today we started solids. Why do they call them solids exactly? Germans are more honest at least and call them "mush" (Brei). Today's menu was carrots out of a jar, and our little critic gave 'em huge thumbs up. He was so excited in fact, that he started rocking his highchair so hard that it made me worried about its stability.

Here are some photos from before and after lunch, as well as some snaps with parents from dinner (thank you Lucija for the cute Mt Isa bib).

PS: before Timmy was born, pictures of smiling babies covered in mushy food always made me cringe and I thought it was pretty _off_. So yeah - to all of you without kids, who are reading this and thinking "ewww, baby covered in mush - yuk!"... I understand where you're coming from... I see things through baby-coloured glasses now, hence find it cute :)

6 MONTHS!