Happy 9th Birthday, Benjamin

On April 23rd, right in the middle of our two weeks of Spring break, Benjamin celebrated his 9th birthday.  He woke up an immediately wanted to open his gifts.  Since it was break and we had no where to be, he happily dug in and was very excited. 

We wanted to wait to have his actual party until everyone was back from break so we invited a few of his good buddies over for a day of play, lunch and loads of giggles.  I don't know why lately I'm obsessed with Benjamin's little boy voice.  I know someday very soon his voice is going to change and sound nothing like it does now. 

His friends, Zeke and Evan, came over and the three of them had a great time with his new remote control car, digging in the sand pit in the back yard for hours and putting

together a cool marble run that Grandma and Papa had sent that showed up from Amazon right in the middle of their play time.
Benjamin has always marched to his own tune.  He rarely cares what others think of him (this works to his advantage and disadvantage) and is kind, intelligent and always so curious.  He has become an extremely skilled and quick reader.  He has read more books this year than most kids (or adults) read in 5 years!  His laugh is still one of the best I've ever heard and he is often in such a good mood he can lift anyone's spirits.  He runs out of school each day with a huge smile and a story about his day.  I

often wonder if moving here was a good idea for the kids.  I know that I have my own ups and downs with living here but I know it is a good place for me and for our family right now but sometimes I wonder if it was/is the best for the kids.  The fact that he is so happy each and every day to go to school and walks out with such a huge smile and such happiness helps rest my mind and heart that this is a good place for him for now.

Josie was still doing a LOT of this

He got a pair of noise canceling headphones and a
remote control car.  He was in heaven!

Frohe Ostern

We were pretty low key this year for Easter.  The kids died the eggs and I prepared the "baskets" filled with treats for hiding.  Marty is the master hider taking over Opa's job.  I made a nice brunch of tons of fruit, french toast, juice and, of course, dyed Easter eggs.

Our friend Juli had given us free tickets to the Berlin Soccer match that was held in the afternoon on Easter Sunday.  Our original plan was for the 4 of us to go but since Josie still wasn't feeling 100% we decided that it would be best for Marty and Benjamin to go with friends.  Thankfully one of his best friends, Clayton, and his dad Vilash, were able to join and the boys had a great time together.  The tickets were amazing and right near the field.  

Josie had asked if she and I could go to our

favorite Asian restaurant.  I was so happy she was feeling up to an outing and eating.

Since she is supposed to still drink a lot she convinced me into getting her a fancy drink.  We normally only bring our own water because drinks, especially water, are disproportionately priced.  We enjoyed our dinner just the two of us and then she felt good enough for an ice cream cone.  Why not?  We celebrated her feeling a bit better and the peaceful night just the two of us. 

Sick with Limited Language Skills

When I took Josie to the Dr on Wednesday she was really REALLY sick. She could barely breath because her throat was so swollen and sore.  She also got a cold on top of Strep Throat and Mono.  She was on sick little girl.  We had to allow 15 minutes to walk the normal 5 to the bus stop.  Thankfully our Dr.'s office is very close by and right in front of a bus stop. 
We knew that our normal Dr. would not be there as she was still on vacation but I just assumed, even though I should know better by now not to ever assume that the replacing Dr. would also speak English the way our Dr. does.  Sadly, even though the replacing Dr. was very kind and competent he did not speak English.  He understood English and allowed me to speak English and clarify things in English but he spoke nearly exclusively to us in German.  I have said many times before but I will say it again, not having a firm and/or comfortable handle on the language in the land you are living is frustrating on most days but sometimes it is vital that you understand and being a mom who has a very sick girl and I could only understand about 75% of what the Dr was very anxiously telling me about my daughter's condition was EXTREMELY unnerving. How do immigrants do life without the language?  I will never know. 
What I did understand was that she was very sick.  She needed to get a blood test to make sure it was in fact Mono and she needed a throat culture to see if she also had Strep throat in addition.  But because of the Easter holiday that office, even though just upstairs, was closed until the next day.  He looked at Josie, who speaks and understand German nearly perfectly, and said very clearly - if you can't breath you must go to the hospital.  Which of course set her off... how will she know when/if she can't breath in time to know to go the hospital.  I muddled through with my combination of German and English and he told me that we needed to go to the hospital right then to get her an IV because she was so dehydrated.  I asked if we could go to the one that is just across from our house?  No, he said, for some reason I didn't understand we needed to go to a different hospital.  Apparently Dr.s have huge preferences over hospitals?!?!  He said we should go right then.  Then he asked if I had a car.  When my answer was no he said, OK, then don't go to the hospital. The bus/train ride would be too much for her.  He said we must go directly home and she needed to DRINK, drink and then drink some more.  As we waited for the bus back home we were both in tears.  Both of us scared but for different reasons.  When we got home she knew the importance of her flushing her body with liquids and even though it hurt her throat (why she had not been drinking much previously) she drank and drank and drank.Her breathing improved and she slept and the next morning Marty was able to take her to the Dr. for the throat culture and blood test and both came back positive which confirmed the other Dr.'s assumptions that she had Strep and Mono.  Poor thing but since she tested positive for Strep she was given antibiotics and within 12 hours she was half as sick as she had been.  She was on the mend but it would be a loooong road to recovery.  Again, so thankful it was break and there was no school or no where to be for another full week.  A bummer of a way to spend your break but really the best timing for such a nasty illness.

The Zoo on Good Friday

Benjamin and I were really itching to get out of the house.  The weather was perfect the first week of break - mid 70's and sunny.  But with Josie home sick we couldn't do much. 
Benjamin and I decided to leave Marty home to nurse Josie and he and I along with his buddy Zeke took off for a sunny day at the zoo.
In Germany, and maybe all over Europe, Easter is celebrated for the entire weekend.  Good Friday is a national holiday and all stores are closed.  Likewise Easter Sunday AND Easter Monday are all

national holidays. 
For this Good Friday it was a gloriously sunny Berlin day.  The entire of the city must have had the same idea to go to the zoo because I

have never in all my times going seen SO many people.  It was crazy.  But the boys had a ball.  They spent a bit of time at the petting zoo but then spent nearly 3 hours at the epic playground.  I sat on a sunny bench and read my book. 

Josie was back home napping in a very quiet house.  It was what the Dr. ordered for ALL of us.

Foster Fail - Almost

A few weeks back a parent at the kids school had posted about a rescue dog coming from Crete.  We have been discussing getting a dog and knew we would get a rescue but we had planned to wait until after our 6 weeks in Seattle and after our move to our new house before getting a dog.  But there was something about this dog that was posted that pulled at my heart.  And I'm not even a dog person.
His name was Siggi and I reached out to the woman who was trying to find him a home.  I explained our situation and even though we really wanted him thought that maybe we should wait.  We had a few exchanges and agreed together that we should wait.

Several weeks past and I had forgotten all about Siggi.  The day after Josie was diagnosed with Mono the rescue woman writes and says she has a bit of an emergency and was there any way we could take Siggi for a night.  36 hours to be exact.  Since we were homebound with a sicky and wouldn't be able to do much it was a perfect time to take a dog for a day.

Josie showed us how sick she really is as she wasn't even really able to enjoy Siggi.  Dogs are her FAVORITE!!  Benjamin was a doting pet owner.  He fed Siggi, he walked Siggi, he snuggled Siggi, he curled up and read his books next to Siggi.  It was super sweet. 
It was super sweet up until his forever family came to pick him up. Benjamin and I both got a little teary saying good bye.  What a COOL, cool dog.  I don't want to think we made a mistake by not taking him when we had the chance but I have to say I did feel that way. 

Our forever dog will be just as cool or cooler when it is our time.  I have to believe that.  We definitely would have been a foster fail (what they call people who set out to foster a dog and then end up adopting them) if he didn't have a family lined up to take him and love him. 

See you around town, Sweet Siggi.

One VERY Sick Girl

Josie woke up on Monday morning, the first official day of Spring Break with an extremely swollen neck.  I've never seen her swell up like that before.
As it turns out, most people here take the week before Easter or the week after Easter or both off for vacation.  Our normal doctor was following protocol and was gone.  We asked around and were given a few Dr. names in town but none of them opened until 10AM.  It was 7 AM and she was in a lot of pain.  We decided to go to the ER as it was right around the corner from where we live and we knew they could get her in right away.  Plus, we knew it would be a normal sized bill unlike using the ER in the states.  They don't really have the in between "Urgent Care" places that we would normally use in the US if the same thing were to happen there.

We didn't have to wait too terribly long and in fact were in and out and diagnosed by 9 AM.  So an hour before even the normal Dr. offices were even open. 

The diagnosis was Mono!!  It is interesting because for the past couple of weeks I told Marty it almost seems like Josie has Mono because she always looked so tired but I didn't think you could get it that young.  Apparently Mono is silently multiplying in your body for 30-60 days before you show signs and symptoms!!

We came directly home.  I went to the store to stock up on tons of liquids (juices, teas, popsicles, etc) and Josie went straight back to bed and slept most of the day.  Poor thing.

West Seattle Visitors

 If you think we get excited when we get physical mail from home, you should see us when friends from home come to visit.
One of Josie's friends had planned a family Spring Break vacation in Europe and ended their 10 day whirlwind European tour in Berlin!  Lucky us.

We met the Orwigs downtown and Marty gave his tour of the important parts near the Brandenburg Gate and the surroundings.  Todd and Kirsten have two kids nearly the same

ages as ours.  Ainsley and Josie became friends in 3rd grade and remained friends over the years and they live just a few blocks away from us in Seattle.  They also have a son one grade younger than Benjamin named Grady.  The kids kept each other busy with small talk (girls)  and throwing rocks

(boys)
After several hours of touring we were all hungry so decided to head to our favorite Indian restaurant.  Even if it was a bit out of the way.  And funny enough, Kirsten even lived in Steglitz (the area where the restaurant is) for a month back in College.

After lunch we headed to the Allied Museum to have a look around. What day of sightseeing would be complete without a trip to the ice cream shop!
Josie was acting kind of strange, super tired and kept saying it was hard for her to breath.  She is so much in the teenager phase where nothing is a big deal or it is the BIGGEST DEAL IN THE ENTIRE world.  So we kind of blew off her complaints.  She was tired from just finishing up

school right before break.  A good night sleep will make her feel better.
The next day she did not feel better.  We hosted breakfast out at our place and walked them around our boring, sleepy little part of town. Josie was in no position to go out even though our plan was to all go to Mauer Park

and the weekly Sunday Flea Market.  And then dinner at our favorite Greek restaurant right around the corner. 
Since the kids were very well entertained I suggested that Kirsten and Todd take advantage and go on their own.  We could bring their kids to them later in the evening.  Thankfully they took us up on it

because really, the kids were having a ball and I know what a treat it is to have a bit of alone time without the kids after a tiring albeit exciting 10 days of being together 24/7.    A win/win/win for all of us.  Marty and I both wanted to take their kids back to them downtown so we flipped a coin. Marty won and so the three of them trekked back downtown.  Josie went straight to bed with a fever. Surely another night of sleep and she would be back at it.