the end of breastfeeding.

It's been about four months since I gently weaned Iris, and she gave up nursing much more easily than I ever imagined. Although I was ready to stop breastfeeding by the time she turned two, I do find myself missing the connection and closeness that nursing gave us. I haven't spoken much about the weaning experience because honestly, it's just too personal.

It's been about four months since I gently weaned Iris, but she still occasionally puts her hand to my chest and lovingly coos "oh, my memes." Sometimes, she scrunches up her face and sulks for a few moments, staring at my shirt and mumbling, "memes go nigh-nigh."

It's been about four months since I gently weaned Iris, yet she has still begun nursing her own baby doll. She makes her baby cry "waaah!" and responds, "okay okay, come have some memes baby. Okay no juice. Okay time to go nigh-nigh, more memes."

It's been about four months since I gently weaned Iris, but nursing goes on.

scavenger hunt sunday (on tuesday).

My friend Meg over at Borrowed Heaven let me know about a weekly feature called Scavenger Hunt Sunday, hosted by Ashley Sisk. Each week, five photo prompts are given and anyone who wishes to participate can link up on her blog! 

This week's prompts were:

lace

bling

wood

fuzzy

fabric

Here are my interpretations!

The lace curtain in our kitchen, which I think looks the little faces of bats. 

The fallen bling from my engagement ring, which needs to be sent back stateside to be fixed. I noticed a while ago that I'd lost one of the diamonds and luckily found it right at my feet!

Details of a wood carving  my sister in law sent for Christmas.

Furry faced meow.

My little one modeling the lovely fabric of a dress that was mine when I was her age!

little things.

Two coats of Rimmel Black Satin, topped with two coats of Anny Absolutely Fuchsia.

Modeling my friend's new crocheted creations! See more at her blog , Make It Cozee.

Big rawrs!

Slippers and snuggles.

Lots of snow!

A little girl trying to take a bite...

...of my newest felt food creation - peanut butter and jelly!

a slice of Germany - Brauhaus Zils

I haven't made A Slice of Germany post in such a long time! For a while now I've been relying on Marius to take pictures with his little pocket sized camera, so I can skip the hassle of my huge camera considering I'm usually wrangling Iris most of the time anyway. Well, from now on I am not allowed out of the house without my camera - for that simply makes for NO blog posts! Unacceptable. 

This Slice of Germany Post has been in my queue for many months now. These photos were taken during the summer, while the sun still shone his face. If you've been reading my blog for a while, you'll know that Marius and I really enjoy all that beer has to offer and we consider it one of our hobbies. We search out local breweries and have even started brewing our own beer!

Bräuhaus Zils is a lovely little brewery which is quite close to us. They serve traditional German food and have at least three varieties of beer available. We haven't been back since, but this is a nice reminder to make our way there again! 

Information outside the restaurant.

The entrance.

 The special of the day.

Summer flowers.

Coloring with great attention to detail.

My love.

Yum!

We ordered a hefeweizen (wheat beer) and a dunkel (dark beer). 

Apfelschorle (apple juice with carbonation).

Experimenting.

German-style onion soup - with chicken broth, onions, cheese, herbs and country bread.

Iris loves her bratwurst!

Delicious sauerbraten (sour roast).

Oooh!

Ice cream is very serious.

The view of the patio from the back stairs. 

Dried hops tied to the railing.

Inside - the bar and beer brewing going on in the background.

webcam love.

I am trying to get into the habit of posting more often here, so here are a few photos!

"I'm not into this right now Mama."

Harassing Iris while she watches Howl's Moving Castle after breakfast.

A sweet hug from my baby.

I tried out a reverse manicure for the first time by adding black tips to my lavender nails!

I love it! What do you think?

Love!

little things.

We've been in Germany for almost eight months now. When we first got here, we were warned about the "inside joke" existing here - "Hey, it's raining! Welcome to the Eifel region!" No big deal, we thought, they can't be too serious about that. Well, fast forward to today and I will tell you - without exaggerating, mind - that I can count on one hand the number of times I have seen the sun in the last four months. 

If by some amazing chance, the sun peeks out from behind the heavy blanket of clouds, both Marius and I laugh and remark, "wow, I forgot the sun existed!" Even Iris yells, "oh no the sun! Bright!" Luckily, we prepared for this by installing "false sunlight" bulbs in our house which are left on all the time to give us more natural looking light. We all also pop a dose of vitamin D daily. So far, none of us have felt depressed about the lack of light, though sometimes it is exhausting to be in the dark all the time. On top of the constantly grey skies, during the winter here the sunrise isn't until 9am and the world is pitch black again by 5pm.

Needless to say, sometimes it takes effort to keep upbeat. I thought it would be nice to do a post about our daily life, about the little things that renew us with brightness each day. I'm starting a feature called Little Things, to prompt me to get my camera out more often and to keep blog posts regular! Here you will find some little snippets of our days - sometimes, it's the little things that keep the day bright.

I love the silhouette effect of bare branches against the rain clouds.

Freshly painted nails! Two coats of Lilac Powder, topped with two coats of Starlight.

Iris and I love to watch the color drop toy Santa brought for her.

Sweet little baby toes.

My lovely little orchid, which I'd given up for dead, bloomed once again despite adversity.

Iris' favorite lunch - peanut butter and jelly!

My lunch - lightly toasted country bread, slices of fresh herbed german cheese, tomatoes and half an avocado -
drizzled with olive oil, salt and pepper.

We brewed our own beer and it turned out great for our first try!