SUN SUN SUN!!!

We woke up this morning and the sun was so bright and the sky was blue. Well, ok, I guess it was blue-ish as there was a little bit of a haze. But it was warm! The first thing Didier said to me was that we weren't allowed to stay inside today and that he wanted to do something fun outside. My first thoughts were as follows: "Ahh!! I'm huge and uncomfortable. The only thing that I can think of is going to the zoo, and that will be WAY too strenuous for me." But, after a lot of thought, we decided to go on a boat ride since the "summer" season on the Zürich Lake started today. It was great! We took the boat from Waedenswil to Zürich (about an hour and 15 minutes) and the train home. On the boat Emily was able to run around and look at the water (she really wanted to go in!) while Didier and I were able to sit and enjoy the sun or walk around. Before we got on the train, we stopped and bought some ice cream, which was so nice after being in the sun all afternoon. Once we got home, Emily and I played in the yard while Didier got everything set up for a BBQ/Picnic. It was such a great afternoon/early evening and I really hope that the sun sticks around for a while longer.

***NOTE: There are no pictures of me. I have issues with being photographed while being this big.****

Here comes the boat!!


Emily loved running around the boat.


Didier and Emily with the wake of the boat in the background.


Didier and Emily sharing an Ice Cream on the train


Emily playing in the yard. Didier was getting the food ready, and I was being lazy.

Baby (or Babies) Shower!!!!

My wonderful friend Jess threw me a Bab(ies) Shower last night. It was so great to get together with so many of my friends here in Switzerland to eat, chat, play games, and open gifts. Here are some of the pictures that were taken:

Standing around eating and talking.




Yes, I'm using my belly as a table

Alissa and Ashley

Playing "The Price is Right"


Opening gifts

I was literally showered with gifts. You can barely see my belly!

All of us!

Roberta made me this AWESOME diaper cake.


You can see my HUGE belly in the background, behind what's left of the food.


The Pregnant Ladies; 15 weeks, 25 weeks, and barely 36 weeks

From 15 weeks pregnant to newborn! (Ashley, Jess, Me, Roberta with Tyler)

And of course, my wonderful party planner Jess and me.

One Morning

I thought that this was very sweet. Emily found the baby hammock and wanted me to set it up for her. I thought that she was going to put her baby doll in it, but as soon as I set it up she wanted to get in it. With her breakfast waffle. She is such a sweetheart!

Planeta Magic

Last week we went to Planeta Magic in Waedenswil. Emily had such a great time playing in the ball pit, going down the slide and jumping on the Trampolines.

Here she is in the 1-3 year old play area. She LOVED climbing those foam stairs! I was afraid that she would climb out of the play yard.


Once she figured out how to climb in and out of the ball pit, she was constantly going in and out.




Then, she would walk through the balls (with great difficulty)...


...climb up the ramp/stairs...


...and slide down the slide, all by herself.


She even tried to climb back up the slide, but that didn't work very well.



At the end of the day though, we were both really, really tired.

Fashion Alert!! (and other things)

Yesterday, after getting all dressed up and ready to go out, Emily decided that she wanted to carry her little diaper bag and that no one else could do the job.





Last week, after we'd gotten Emily dressed for the day, I realized that I had the same shirt that she was wearing. So I went and changed my shirt so that we could match, if only for pictures.



So Emily has recently been deciding for herself what she wants to wear and occasionally we actually put it on her - usually when we aren't going anywhere!!! Notice how her shoes don't match in this one and the "scarf" she's wearing is actually a tie that got ripped off of one of my sweaters.



She has also developed a fascination in wearing our shoes and walking around the house in them. Here she is wearing my shoes, taking one of her diapers to the trash.



Just walking around the living room with her breakfast bowl



Her Hair has also gotten long enough that if I don't pull it back, she can't see and runs into things.



This is a picture of the bump she got when she tripped and fell into the bookcase.



Emily has also taken to putting on every hat that she sees, which I find astonishing since she has never really liked hats until about 3/4 of the way through this winter. Here's the hat that she "found" within minutes of getting out of bed, and wore while she was eating breakfast.

New Blog!

Hello everyone! As our old .Mac account has expired, we've decided to start a new blog. We're still trying to figure everything out, but hopefully we'll be able to archive our old posts. Most of the photos from the old site can be veiwed in our Picasa Web Album.

The First Year Party(s)!!! August 2008

This week we celebrated Emily’s first birthday (even though it’s not until tomorrow!). Once on Wednesday with the Gantner’s, and twice on Thursday with Didier’s Parents and younger brother Michael, and then with the Kovac’s. We had so much fun with everyone and Emily loves birthday cake. And presents. She couldn’t figure out how to blow out the candle, so everyone got to help with that. A package from her American Grandparents arrived just in time for the Family parties too. She really liked to rip the paper off of her presents and find out what was inside.

I really can’t believe that a year has gone by already. She has her 1 year doctors appointment the first week in September, so we’ll find out then her height and weight, which is something I’m looking forward to.

Teeth, hair, and Walking 12 August 2008

Sorry for not updating in several months. I have no idea where the time went!

Emily now has 2 (soon to be 3) beautiful baby teeth that she uses at every opportunity to chomp down on things, usually fingers (Didier’s), toes (mine), noses (everyone’s), as well as her food. Her first one came in just 2 days before she was 10 months old, and the second one came in a week later. We are so glad that she finally has chompers, but would rather her use them only for chewing her food, not causing us physical pain.

Her hair on the other hand is amazing. It can stick straight up for no reason at all. And its not even short! I think she must have inherited that trait from her Grandpa (Jungpa) Ron, as I have only ever seen hair like that on him before.

And finally, Emily has started walking. I believe that she is a very shy walker, in the fact that she won’t walk during the day. It’s only at about 7pm that she starts going anywhere, and then she’ll walk all the way across the living room. And if she falls, I’ve seen her stand straight up again, without any help from the furniture. But she is faster when she crawls, and she knows that.

As for mama and papa, we’re doing well. I went to the states with Emily in May to see my family and Didier went to Military at the end of June. Other than that, we’ve had a fairly quite couple of months.

Hugs and Kisses from
us all!

J,D, & E

February and March 2008

The past couple months have been really great. My cousin, Brittney, came to Switzerland to be an Au Pair, and when that didn’t work out she stayed with us for a couple weeks. It was really great having her with us. She watched Emily for Didier and me so that we could spend a really needed weekend away at the spa.

We went up to Matzenbach, Germany to visit the Spencer Bean Family for a weekend, which was a real treat for us. We went to Adrianna’s Basketball game, and she even made a basket! I was so impressed with her. Later, we went to the Varsity Girls and Boys games to watch Spencer coach and it was so much fun. They boys lost, but it was a really close game and we had a great time.

In March, Didier’s sister Suzanne and her family moved back to Switzerland from Canada where they’ve been living for the past 3 months to escape the insanity that is Zimbabwe. They looked well and happy and its so great to have them close.

Over Easter weekend, Michael, Martina, Malena, and Menja visited us. Then on Friday the whole Schluchter family met at Christian and Lilli’s home and threw a birthday party for Didier’s mother, Vivianne.

Last but not least, I got a new calling in the Branch as 2nd Counselor in the Primary Presidency. I’m really excited for this new calling and am looking forward to having a bigger role in the Primary.

January 2008

We started the new year off with a 7.5 km sled run with the Kovacs. It was a bit difficult with a baby, and I had to go slow, but all in all, it was really fun. After the winter break Didier went back to work at Xencore where he’s finally getting settled in. Emily and I are getting back into the swing of things and Emily is finally figuring out how to take a nap during the day, which helps her sleep better at night. We try to go swimming once a week -Emily absolutely loves it! But January was a relatively slow month, which was great for catching up on sleep!