SylkeWeb – Sylke’s mutterings to herself on an island not so far away

We have a new car, one that I'm not very keen on - yet:

I don't know what's wrong as I don't dislike the colour, the shape, or the make. The only thing I really don't like is the spoiler. I think it's just a combo of how it all works together: it looks poky, like a car for a guy who wanted a much more powerful sports car and just couldn't afford it.

Maybe I'll change my mind once I've actually driven it.

Or maybe I'm simply only in the mind state for a proper family car, an estate… Sigh.

Gosh, it's been a month again. Where did the time go???

We recovered well from that stomach bug, Yannick was so hungry after a week of starvation that he started to eat his banana porridge in the morning all by himself and within a record five minutes. Needless to say that this stopped as soon as he had put on a little weight again. We are back to playing with a book or puzzle while feeding, taking roughly 15 minutes. Oh hum.

Now we are battling with yet another cold that for Yannick is accompanied by a nasty night time cough. Frank is also coughing like a mad man. For some reason I am spared this fate - so far. Yesterday I got a whole bag full of cold medicines to get us over this latest patch.

The weirdest thing is that Yannick actually managed to sleep a whole night through just before the coughing started. I was shocked and hoping for more, but as you've just read that hope was futile.

About ten days ago Frank had an accident with our car and it was a total write-off, meaning the repair was more expensive than the whole car. Frank didn't hurt himself at all and the other car apparently wasn't much damaged either. Now we are without a car which is strange. I'm hoping we'll have a new one soon.

Another three weeks and Yannick and I will be in Germany - for five weeks altogether. I'm looking forward to that. Wish us nice weather!

Sometimes I wonder how I deserve this… Yannick is 21 months old now and still not able to sleep through. This in itself is not as bad as it sounds, as I can get by on about 7 to 8 hours of sleep every night as long as he doesn't wake me more than 2 to 3 times and if those incidents only last minutes. Yep, that's right, that's more than most people could handle without feeling completely sleep deprived.

It's getting bad when he has one of those nights where he wakes up and can't go back to sleep because he has what seems to be a blocked or stuffy nose. Then it can easily take one or one and a half hours before we are both back to sleep and it's me who's completely grumpy the next day. This happens on about 50% of all healthy nights.

It's getting really bad, when Yannick has a proper cold. Well, guess what, we've had a set of at least three consecutive colds ever since we went to Germany and came back. No break. Waking up about every two hours…!

And it's getting to panic level when we are also having a tummy bug going around. Imagine me trying to sleep, exhausted already, waking up feeling sick, noticing that Yannick is also waking up, trying to look after him so he goes back to sleep, and at the same time trying to fight the sick feeling. Not possible. After that waking up at least every hour because one of us has to be sick or just feels bad. Not to mention having to change bedsheets after the first incident, still feeling sick.

The last scenario is what we had on Friday morning and Yannick was still sick once a night to Monday. All of this just after the three colds. I was absolutely shattered and just wanted to sleep for three years or so. I'm still tired but last night was back to normal (see description at top).

Regarding the stuffy nose problem we actually went to see an ENT specialist today (after about 1.5 months waiting time). I didn't expect much and I was absolutely right not to. The doctor said that our little boy is just fine and that the problem is nothing that won't go away as he grows. Apparently his adenoids are a bit bigger than normal but as children grow their airways get wider and then this won't be a problem anymore. Gah!!!

First of all: Happy New Year!

After two weeks in Germany I feel completely out of synch with home. First of all we are still on the wrong time - but somehow the wrong direction. Germany is an hour ahead of us so in theory 8am over there is 7am over here. However, instead of waking up at 7, we are up at 8:30 or 9 even.This is very strange. On top of that, late getting up means late naps. Today was not too bad, but yesterday, Yannick decided he was tired by 3pm and no earlier.

The first evening back, New Year's eve, we spent at a friend's house. This was a first with Yannick and felt odd too. By half past 11 I felt so tired I just had to go home.

Then our phone didn't work until yesterday afternoon as some stupid person dug a hole in front of our row of houses and cut the phone cable. This meant no internet. I felt very cut off after a week or so without internet at all.

I am also missing all the people we used to have around us for two weeks: Oma Gertrud, Elke, Edgar, Felix, and Oma Karin. Even though one evening in our own home on our own for once was very nice, it feels lonely through the day.

Finally, after two years of shift work Frank started to work normally again. There will be no more 12-hour day or night shifts and he'll work just like everybody else from Monday to Friday. This is also strange as he was home by 5pm yesterday which we are not used to at all. Mind you, I liked it!

Hopefully by next week things will start to feel normal again.

I was lucky enough to catch this view the other morning (would have never happened before I had Yannick!):

Of course after the great night we had the day before, last night was the normal stuff. Yannick woke up about five times with a stuffy nose and had trouble going back to sleep. By six I felt so not rested that I gave him Tixylix and we slept another two hours. The drawback of sleeping 'late' (never thought I would call 8am late…!) is that Yannick then won't do a daytime nap - but he will go to bed early!

In January we have an appointment with an ENT paediatric specialist but I doubt that this person will be able to help us with our troubles. How can you avoid both, teething related stuffy noses and colds? It's impossible. At least we only have four more teeth to come. Sigh.

For the first time ever my child slept through! This is unbelievable! From 8pm to 5:25am!

OK, for my sake he could have slept longer - but for him this is sensational. He woke up once, only to go back to sleep seconds later without wanting any milk.

I only helped his sleep a little bit by giving him Tixylix and Ashton & Parsons powder when he went to bed because he's got a cold and a very stuffy nose. However, the effects of this wear off pretty quickly with him, after two to three hours. So the little man really managed to have a wonderful night's sleep more or less on his own!

I've put a photo album together with photos of our relatives in Germany, so that I can teach Yannick who they are before we get there. Even though he's seen my mum, my sister, and my nephew before he's not very likely to remember them all. Maybe my mum, but not the others.

So we take a look at the photos every second day or so and I tell him the names of the people on the photos. Then I ask him where is 'X', e.g. 'Elke' (my sister) and he more or less successfully points them out.

He also started trying to say their names. This is what I get when I ask him 'who is this':

Yannick - points to himself
Oma Gertrud (my mum) - Oo-ma! at first, but now some stuff that sounds vaguely like Gertrud.
Oma Karin (Frank's mum) - At first this Oma was accepted as Oo-ma! too but then I got more than just once: Mama! This is a bit worrying!
Elke (my sister) - Ette
Edgar (my sister's partner) - Edda
Nico (my nephew) - You guessed it: Noni