Preparing for the Siege

I just listened to another great book by Kate Bowler, No Cure for Being Human, which put words to my feeling at the moment. The downside of audio books is I can't remember her eloquent words exactly, but they amounted to something to the effect of preparing for the siege. Her siege is much more crushing, a serious cancer diagnosis, then my Delta variant drama. I know; I read and recommend the seemingly most uplifting books. 

This might be my last blog for a bit as the Delta variant is having a gay old time in predominantly unvaccinated folks in Germany. Our incidence rates are higher than they've ever been since the start of the pandemic. Literally half of Crosby's school is in quarantine right now. I haven't read any official news about when vaccinations for kids over five will start, but Germany's track records with vaccine roll-outs, including the booster, have been less than inspiring. So, this is how we are preparing:

1. Carmen's New Room = Old World Class

Yes, if this doesn't become a Pinterest sensation I don't know what will.  She's been waking up around 5 am, so she's been moved to a place - the bathroom closet - where she'll wake me up but not the boys. 

My other fix was to stop nursing. sniff. Maybe she'll sleep in if she knows she won't wake up to the ultimate form of emotional eating? So far she's taking the change like she takes everything - like a boss. I think my body will also enjoy a break after almost five straight years of being pregnant, nursing, or both. 

Throwback of one my favorite places to nurse: public transportation.

Bonus points if your baby is wearing Lederhosen.

2. Library Adventures

Our search for Dogman and Captain Underpants books led us to a library near the school that has a library of stuff. Paul talked about teaching Crosby how to code and voila:

Today Crosby's school had a teacher in-service, and Paul had some flex days to use-up, so the two of them goofed around on this programable toy for a bit. This was the perfect library check-out because we definitely don't need toys in our house that can only be used when the two littlest aren't around and Paul happens to be free. 

3. Haircuts 

This is such a tease because I'm only posting the before photo. Hugo had to stay home an extra day from Kita yesterday. Before corona, kids had to be symptom free after fever, barfies, etc but now it's 48 hours. Crosby told me he had a stomach ache when he woke up on Monday morning. Crosby was also just fine after all so the two went to get haircuts. Per usual, they weren't great, but for 25 Euros ($30 USD) total, it's a steal and an improvement over:

Seen here with Crosby saying "second graders are too big for painted nails, but Hugo I'll paint yours." #helpabrotherout

4. Enjoying our last along-the-way church adventures before heading back to Zoom.

Not too far from the epic bumpy bumps of Gleisdreieck, is this skate park.

Carmen and I tried to help Crosby out of the skate bowl.

He found one side with a ledge and went this way. Hugo, on the other hand, did this the whole time:

which brings me to my last point

5. Getting more sleep

This day he was so wiped out from a flu shot he didn't even wake up when kids and stuff piled around him.

So much more comfortable (comparatively speaking).

Ha! This point was just an excuse to put more sleeping photos of Hugo. As you can see from Point 1, this Mama is up snuggling bright and early. Speaking of which, my little alarm clock needs to be picked-up from Kita.