The lyf so short

so it was time to clear the Christmas decoration away, and also to take the cards off the wall.

Which reminded me that I haven't yet said thank you for the lovely Christmas cards you sent me! So it's high time I rectify that. Huge thank yous to
caduceus (Good luck with your exams and the Frisian house!),
chili_das_schaf (my fellow Momster Anonymous...),
joyful_molly (tell Alfie he makes a dashing Kitty Claus!),
sermanya (I love how you started your lovely long letter with "I don't have much to tell"!),
and
silver_trails (I always get such kicks out of getting mail from the other side of the world!)

(Most priceless moment of the card season was caused by someone not on LJ.
Jörg: "You've got mail from... Leningrad?"
Me: "Oh yes, that'll be from my Russian translator." PRICE-LESS.)

Am alive, 31, and recuperating.
In-depth birth report will probably follow. Sometime. And pictures. (Not of the birth, just of the baby!)

For now, please give a warm welcome to Julian Moritz! Born April 28, 2:52 pm (yes, we were fast this time!), measuring 52 cm and weighing 2960 grams. SO TINY. Currently looks like a very fair-haired version of his big brother at that age, pointy ears included (though I had forgotten that Felix ever was this tiny.). Also slightly yellow, but nothing out of the ordinary. Somewhat more sweet-tempered (unless you change his nappies!), but I'm sure that's going to change when he grows older and more energetic ;)

Also, thank you for the kind wishes and sweet messages both on the occasion of Julian's birth and my own birthday. I'll hopefully manage (despite "nursing dementia" ;)) to respond to you all individually, but for now feel collectively hugged and thanked!
Massive hugs and love go especially to sermanya and flower_star for the parcels that were waiting for me today when I got home! Wow. Looking forward to trying out the tea (whatever doesn't hurt during pregnancy is also great when nursing!), looking into the book and having the chocolate stolen by Felix eating the Mozarttaler. I also used up the rest of my wildflower seeds this spring, so the new ones come in handy! And the kids are going to love watching the soap bubbles. (I'm not letting Felix have his own yet because that'd give no bubbles, though he'd have very clean hands for a short while at least! ;))
flower_star, your quilt is gorgeous and has been admired by everyone who's clapped eyes on it so far. How did you know that our "nursery" is predominantly yellow and blue? Also, HOW DID I DESERVE IT, I haven't even sent you a tiny thing for that creativity meme. >______> Seriously, my mind is blown!
In conclusion, thank you so much! <3333

HAPPY NEXT DAY!

Good thing I bought (most) of the necessary Christmas gifts already ;P

ETA: joyful_molly, your card arrived! Thank you so much! I'm very glad you thought of the velociraptors, too. They never get enough love. (Or even just goodwill.) :D

PS PS: Ok, I LOL'D. (The German text says: "Now or never! Apocalypse getaway car.")

It's been an.. enlightening weekend!

We visited Jörg's best man in distant Swabia, who has three sons and no plans for more, so we got a huge box of baby clothing + a nursing pillow + babyphone + stuff from them. That was very nice (though to be fair otherwise they'd just have thrown it out because they no longer needed it and it was blocking up their attic, or so they said). Weekend as such was slightly stressful, as two of the three sons are rather complicated and noisy and continually demanded attention and threw stuff down if they didn't get it (or even if they got it). By Sunday it was kind of hard to keep back and not constantly tell them what to do, because the parents clearly didn't so the boys just kept on being fussy. But that would probably have looked pretty bad, the not-yet-parents-guests acting as if they knew better than the actual parents. So we mostly managed to keep our mouths shut.
Sunday afternoon we went to the local Fasenetsumzug, which for some reason starts there as early as right now. Swabian/ Alemannic carnival is rather different from what we know from Cologne and surroundings - limited range of traditional costuming options but going a loooooong way back. Despite the different background, however, the actual practice was much like in Cologne: Groups with more or less impressive costumes and displays parading through roads lined with drunk people stepping on each other's feet. Pity. I think in Cologne at least the audience participates more.

Since we were in Swabia already, Jörg dropped me off at barbardin's on the way home, where I had two more vacation days! Quails were cooked and devoured, movies were watched, Terry Pratchett was fangirled, so that was good. (Also, one night on barbardin's fantastic air bed cured the knotted muscle in my neck that I'd suffered from all weekend. Yay!) Went home by train, which against all probability reached Cologne exactly on time, so I got an earlier bus than expected, so Jörg couldn't pick me up because he was still at work. Managed to walk home (in the last daylight, too!) just fine, although mom-in-law would probably be extremely cross if she knew how heavy my bag was...
Train journey had its surreal moments; for a long while the tracks go through the beautiful Middle Rhine valley, which due to the massive snow in December and the massive thaw of the past weeks was quite flooded. Weather kept changing between foggy, rainy and bright sunshine perpetually, and the river was insanely vast. All the usual riverbank had disappeared, Pfalzgrafenstein castle was no longer upon an island, roads and gardens were under murky water. A bit more and the train tracks would probably have been impassable...

Back home I was welcomed by a parcel from rahja which contained - more cute baby stuff! ^^ Thank you so much! I watched the DVD today and was indeed hugely amused by them expectant parents and their overacting *g*

And my aunt Karin (she of the five sons) has also invited us to drop by and pick up used baby clothing. Seems like the only part we'll have to worry about is a nursery...

(Which is indeed going to be a bit difficult. Eh well, we haven't been working on the actual house for such a long time, serves us right that now we've got a sort of deadline... ;))

And today I got a letter from mirien which contained the most adorable felted crow ever. Thank you! So cute. ^^

So this is a good week. Until tomorrow when I find out that there are still no further results to be had, I assume...

Good grief, only two and a half weeks left. Aaaaaah!

I got the first Christmas cards today - thank you so much, nimielle and etoilepb!
(I did not yet dare to check whether there really is a cocoa bag in there, nimielle. There is, isn't there? :D)

Speaking of cards (and this goes to all of you): If you'd like one from me and haven't signed up yet, here's where you can do so. As stated there, please let me know your holiday of choice if it's not Christmas, because I'll gladly wish you a happy Whatever It Is You Celebrate At The End Of The Year but I fail at keeping track of just what people celebrate. Sorry!

Do NOT leave your address in the comments to this here post, please, because unlike in the linked post, comments here are NOT screened.

- - -
In other news, I had a kind of minor lumbago* yesterday (while on the toilet, too, which is a great place to temporarily think that you won't be able to move, like, ever again). I AM TOO YOUNG FOR THAT SHIT. I mean, a lumbago at 25? If I had no back muscles at all, perhaps, but I'm not that out of shape!
By now the unbearable jabbing sensation whenever I move has kind of given way to a constant annoying but bearable pain, so I can walk around and do stuff as long as I don't exaggerate. This is the "minor" part.

Also have a majorly sore throat and suspect it may actually have been the violent coughing that caused the bloody lumbago in the first place. It certainly caused the strained ribs. (Strained ribs from coughing, wtf.)
Why is this happening? I feel so betrayed. I am the woman of the notoriously iron health. I DO NOT DO SERIOUS ILLNESS. Let's remember that, body, ok?

Have a presentation to do tomorrow. Hoh joy.

- - -
*The German term, "Hexenschuss" or "Albschuss" is way more fun. It means "witch's shot" or "elf shot" because apparently in the olden days people thought the pain came from some kind of invisible arrow (which is precisely what it feels like, so there). BLOODY ELVES.² I didn't think my fanfiction was that bad.

²Actually in that book on Anglo-Saxon Magic that I copied in the university library there was a ritual against elf-shot, so the English apparently used the same term until they started stealing words from the Latin.

... and it wasn't even too bad. A tad boring in places, but luckily I was given a lot of books and my cousin Felipe (son of my father's youngest brother; he got by the name because his mother, my aunt Betty, is from Brazil) got a toy train which helped bide the time ;) And it was mostly harmonious, at least. And there was lots of really good food. So, aside from some awkward moments, annoying questions ("So how long is it going to take until you finish studying?") and boring stretches of time between one binge and another, it was enjoyable.

Sooo. Because everyone is doing this, I'll be shameless and post a list of my loot, too. It's kinda longish because I have an enormous rat's tail of a family, in case anyone hasn't noticed that yet

( Loot List )

Happy birthday mirien!
May naked Noldor jump out of your cake and cater to your every whim. ;)

And nimielle: Thanks muchly for the CDs! I am very amused. ^__^

When I came home from work, I found a parcel waiting for me! And inside the parcel were belated birthday gifts (or maybe perfectly-on-time Erulaitalë gifts? ^_^) from leany75 and juno_magic: Morgoth's Ring and The Peoples of Middle-earth! Yay! Only two books to go and I'll finally have the full HoME! And the two I just got were the two I wanted most. ^_______^

So, a big, big thank you to you two! You know how to make the day of someone plagued by a stressful week. *hugs*

And to everyone a happy Midsummer!