Being a parent is hard! (Especially when you're also a teacher)

So now I'm seeing life from the other side of the classroom door. The parent perspective. The side that only hears half the story and is expected to do "something" with only half the information.

Aidan has been having trouble at school with another kid. This other kid pushes him at recess, so much so that Aidan's come home with bruises and refused to go to a birthday party this kid and his older brother were at. So I've talked to his teacher. Ugh. I hate talking to his teacher because I don't want to be "that parent". I don't want to bug her and have her think that she's not doing something right. I don't want to be too overprotective of my kid. I don't want to be a helicopter parent and fix everything for my kid. I think kids need to solve their own problems sometimes and that parents should trust that the teacher is doing all she can to improve the situation.

Unfortunately, haven't gotten much better. Aidan feels like he doesn't have many friends at school (but he's got lots at home) and I just think the kids at his school play a lot rougher than he's used to. He gets silly, but he's not a rough and tumble boy. So, since talking to him about it and talking to his teacher about ithasn't solved the problem, I became "that parent" today. Encouraged (forced) by Jason, I got the principal involved. I know Aidan isn't completely innocent, but he should not come home with bruises! He's in Kindergarten for goodness sake!

I so don't want to be "that parent" that is up at school all the time, trying to solve her kids' problems for them. But, what else can I do? Ugh. At least I don't work at the school my kid goes to. That would be a really icky situation. Hopefully, things will work out soon and I can just be the "helper mom" that teachers really prefer!

The World was Watching...

Tuesday in Zurich, was a lot like Tuesday in Michigan, I bet. People here were Obama-crazy! BBC and CNN were 24/7 Obama. The kids and I went to an Inauguration Party at Aidan's classmates house (poor Jason had to work late-gotta earn that bailout!). The front pages of the local papers were covering the events leading up to the ceremony and yesterday, Obama made the papers again. People here are just as interested as those back home.

It really amazes me how aware foreigners are of US politics-and how personally interested. At school yesterday morning, I heard two moms talking (one Australian and one English) about the Inauguration. Both said they got teary-eyed during Obama's speech. They aren't even American, but they were glued to the TV and all emotional and hopeful. Wow.

I think I need to set a goal to learn the names of at least 5 foreign leaders. I'll never be as interested in other leaders as people are of Obama, and I certainly wouldn't be watching 24-hour coverage of other elections. But in all fairness, I think I should at least know a few names.

Food Deprived Travel Agent

So I've been doing the South Beach diet for a full week now. I've been really good! My only "cheat" has been a bit of milk in coffee a few times. I haven't eaten bread, rice, pasta, fruit, potato, sugar....it's been a l-o-n-g week. Jason's doing it, too. You have to do it as a team to keep each other on it. Last night watching the MSU game, we both wanted a beer so badly, it almost hurt! But, we kept each other out of the fridge! Go us!

However, being carb-free has turned me into a travel agent! I have to keep busy so I don't cheat and won't be crabby as I watch my kids eat pancakes for breakfast.

This week, I've booked a trip to Dublin in February (we're falling off the wagon to go to the Guiness Factory for sure!), made plans for my girls' trip to London with my neighbor (the week after Dublin), booked my mom's trips to London and Dublin for when she's here, planned the trip to Stockholm during Easter Break with Pattone and the kids, and booked one night in Munich with Pattone and kids! So many countries, so little time!

My next trip to plan is our Anniversary trip. Jason and I will be married 10 years (!) in July, so while my mom is here, we're going away for a trip by ourselves. A whole week sans kiddos! We're going somewhere the last week in April. I think we've narrowed it down to Tuscany or (my first choice) a Greek/Italian/Turkish cruise.

We didn't recently win the lottery or anything, it's just that you can find amazing deals to travel within Europe once you're here! We're flying to Dublin for $65 round trip and London for $100 round trip! I mean how can I afford NOT to go! Plus, "visiting Ireland" is something on my Life's To Do List (or Bucket List-for those who've seen the movie).

Moving to Zurich has been such an opportunity for us-in SO many ways. I was all for it when Jason was offered this assignment, but of course I was nervous when the time came to move. I'm SO glad we did this-to those of you who said you could or would never do this-DO IT if you ever get the chance! This international assignment has been a true gift. No way would we be able to see all these amazing places, do so many new things, and meet people from all over the world if we were still hanging out in Michigan. I've been able to cross 3 things off my Life's To Do List since moving here, and another is looking like a real possiblility in the future (going to Australia, consider I have a very good friend here who's from Melbourne!)

I'm loving life (even without carbs)!

New Year's Resolutions

Now that I'm back in Zurich and things are back to normal, I need to get back on track.

First, no more eating like I did the last 3 weeks. South Beach here I come (that's the diet, not Miami). Day one in progress and all is looking good. I even went to the gym.

I also want to really focus on playing with the kids more. I tend to let them play while I do housework (or plan vacations online or Blog or Facebook...) instead of really doing stuff with them. So Lainey and I played Scooby-Doo this morning. She was Daphne and I was Velma, and we searched the house for clues and set a trap to catch the monster. (She's at Gymboree now, so I'm okay blogging now!)

Finally, I'm going to try to procrastinate less. I'm going to just get stuff done, even though I don't feel like it and it can wait (like laundry, organizing the storage room, etc.) But, considering that I was 2 weeks late posting my Christmas blog and 1 week late with this New Year's one, this is one resolution that doesn't seem to be sticking yet.

Christmas Vacation in the US

So, I'm a few weeks late in posting about Christmas, but better late than never! Considering all the "Griswold"-like things that tend to happen when our extended families get together, a late post is no biggie! I'm glad to say the trip was "Griswold"-free. (National Lampoon's anyone?)

We had a great time during our 3 weeks in the States. We were crazy busy trying to see all our friends and family and celebrate 2 holidays. I'm still recuperating from all the running around and eating out, but I'm happy to say that I was able to meet up with almost everyone I had hoped to. The kids even had a few playdates with friends they had to leave behind.

After hitting the malls with a vengance the first few days we were home, we settled into doing the family "thing". Missy, Chris, Jenni, Tyler and Jeremy were up from Alabama the first weekend so we were lucky to spend time with them. On Christmas Eve, we tackled presents at Mamaw and Papaw's and at Pattone's. Aidan had such a great time with Alec. Jeremy bought them each the Dangerous Book for Boys. Aidan loves his. He's been playing games from it and learning about first aid. It's a bit of a tough read for him, but he's trying. The other day he highlighted the words he didn't know as he read so we could define them for him. He could read the words, he just didn't know what they meant. But who would expect a 5-year-old to understand words like "patient" , "suggest", or "heave"? I'm amazed he could sound out such words!

The other thing Aidan and Alec did together was play video games. I am not a proponent of video games at all, but I let him play since it was a vacation. He and Alec played tons of ATV racing, at first. Then, once Alec got "Rock Band" for Christmas, Aidan's inner rock star came out. One night he spent at Mamaw's, he and Alec and Aunt Pam stayed up past midnight rocking out! I'm thinking a Wii may be in the cards for his birthday. At least that one requires some movement!

Erin came over to spend Christmas Eve at Pattone's with us. She bought Aidan this cool MSU fleece and Lainey a MSU cheerleader uniform. She's asked to wear it nearly everyday since. Lainey also got lots of other dress up clothes, like this fairy outfit.

All in all, I had to borrow an extra suitcase and bring a box back with me to fit in all the gifts! (Well, and lots of food supplies too.) As usual, we were all very spoiled this "kiss-kiss" (as Lainey says Christmas) and very blessed to be with our families.

After the holiday festivities, we went over Becky and Jed's to celebrate Becky's birthday. Aidan and Lainey were so excited to see Jacob and Corinne. We couldn't get the four of them to sit still long enough for a picture. But we were dealing with a 5-year-old, 2 3-year-olds, and a 1-year-old so we did the best we could!

We also went to visit Maddy at her new home. The kids were really excited and I think Maddy was happy to see us too! She came right over to me and cuddled. Lainey was all over her. We miss her a lot, but I'm definitely glad we didn't bring her to Switzerland. She's better where she is. Knowing this didn't stop the kids from asking over and over if Maddy had "learned enough manners yet" to come home with us.

(Lainey's face got all scratched up the night we lost power at my mom's and she tripped over Aidan and fell face first into the DVD rack)

Aidan even got to spend time with the other Aidans and David from his pre-school. The boys are such good kids and they are really good friends. They picked up playing together as if Aidan had never moved away.

We finally all made it back to Zurich on Friday. I flew alone with the kids, and it was quite smooth, except for Lainey kicking the poor woman next to her constantly as she slept. I got 2 jars of peanut butter confiscated from my carryon at security-who knew peanut butter was such a threat? I guess peanut allergies can be fatal, but really! 2 of our bags got left in Amsterdam, which really worked out well for me. I didn't know how I was going to get through customs with 2 kids, 7 suitcases, 1 box, 2 carryons, 1 booster seat, and a stroller anyway. The 2 bags getting left behind was great because the others barely fit on the luggage cart! The other bags were delivered to our house later that evening and we got $75 flight vouchers! Not a bad deal at all!

We're slowly getting over the jetlag. I thought we were fine, but Aidan's been waking up at night crying saying he wants to move back to Michigan because he doesn't have any family here (um...are Jason, Lainey and I chopped liver?), which means I'm up at night. So that screws me back up into the 6 hour time difference we had before. I think that spending 3 weeks non-stop living with and seeing all our family made him really homesick. He was fine when we moved here, but back then he wasn't living with Pattone or Mamaw and Papaw. I thought this may be hard on him, but I didn't realize how much. Hopefully, now that he's played with his local friends and is back at school he'll be fine again.

Comment Confusion

Sorry to anyone who's been trying to comment on my blog but hasn't been able to. My mom kept telling me it wasn't working for her (and of course I just thought she was old and didn't know what she was doing:), but when Jenni and Missy were having trouble too, I figured I should look into it.

So, I just figured out that somehow my settings got screwed up and it was only letting others with blogs on Blogspot make comments. I fixed it. Sorry, Mom, for doubting your computer capabilties.

Now you are all welcome (and allowed:) to comment freely.

Merry Shop-mas!

I haven't posted since we got to Michigan because I've been shopping. Seriously, it's not funny. I may have to go to a meeting and say "Hello, my name is Christine and I'm a shopaholic". All we've done in the last 2 weeks is go to malls with occasional stops to visit family and friends. All right, maybe I'm exaggerating a bit, but not that much!

In a two week period, I've been to Southland Mall twice, 12 Oaks Mall twice (with another trip forthcoming), the outlet mall in Howell once (with another trip forthcoming), to multiple Targets multiple times, and to a few random free standing stores. I wish I could say I had to go Christmas shopping, but since we did most of our Christmas shopping online, 90% of these trips were just for me (and some for Jay and the kids).

I thought ahead and brought 3 empty suitcases with us from Zurich. However, I was planning to fill these bags with Christmas gifts and food supplies. I didn't really plan to buy so many clothes and shoes...it just happened! I started packing the empty bags this morning and I've filled 2 already-and I haven't been to Sam's Club or the grocery store yet!

Jason's leaving tomorrow so I'm trying to send 2 stocked bags with him. I think I'm going to have to borrow another big suitcase for the food stuff to make it back. That was what I was really planning! I want to stock up on the things we can't get in Zurich (or the things that I refuse to pay quadruple for).

I think I'm pretty shopped-out for a while. But I am looking forward to hitting Sam's...at least if I spend $200 there, it'll look like a lot. I usually can't leave Migros or Coop without spending that much on less than half a cart full.

So, I'm accepting my Shopaholic status. At least until my credit card bills come in.