A few things...

Lärm macht nichts Gutes,
Gutes macht keinen Lärm.

Noise does nothing good,
Good doesn’t make noise.

1. Have I mentioned before how noisy our apartment is? We live at the intersection of two busy streets, and the noise doesn't die down until the wee hours of the morning. Scooters, honkers, people driving big cars that like to REV up the engine, patrons at the downstairs restaurant, fire engines, ambulances... for a country that has rules about how noisy you can be, and when, I just never expected it to be so loud. Now that Elena is getting older these noises wake her up when she's napping. Seriously people, take the road rage a block down. Please!!!

(In the defense of a nation, we do have our windows open all the time, which makes the noise much worse. But what can a girl do when it's scorching out and there's no air conditioner?!)

2. Elena has jet lag. When we were in the States she kept waking up at 5am for about a week. Now that we're back in Deutschland, she doesn't want to go to bed until after midnight. This would be fine if her Daddy didn't need to get up for work in the morning. And if she wasn't a grump from about 9 until midnight when she finally falls asleep, utterly exhausted. Ideas anyone?

3. I'm starting to wonder if Elena will ever crawl. She does this hilarious "tent" position, up on her hands and feet, but whenever she gets excited and actually wants to GO somewhere, she just scoots backwards. Then she stops and starts crying because she's not where she wants to be. Poor little lady.

4. We went to our favorite restaurant a few nights ago and the waitresses smiled and welcomed us home from our "Urlaub". One asked us what they had in America that made babies grow so fast. I had to smile and answer, "Grandparents!!!" Elena really misses her Grandparents. The first night that we were back, we were talking to both sets of Grandparents on Skype and Elena kept reaching for the screen like she wanted to be held. It was cute. And a little heartbreaking.

5. Am I only talking about our daughter? Oops.

6. Alright, until I have something interesting to say about Nate or I, I will sign off. Peace!