My return to running?

My route along the river

Today is a beautiful day in Basel- 75 degrees and sunny! Such a nice change from the cold and rainy weather we've had for the past few days. I decided to make the most of the day and weather to run for the first time in over a year. It was great!

I forgot just how much I like to run. I ran my first 10K when I was in second grade, joining my school's team to run the Cowtown 10K. After that, I ran the Cowtown for many years, along with numerous other races, eventually joining the cross country and track teams in high school. I occasionally fit in a run in my busy social schedule in college and have continued to run into adulthood. I even worked my way up to a couple of half marathons with friends from work.

But I really haven't run at all since we've been in Basel. The whole learning to live in a new place and figuring our life out over here kind of took priority when we first arrived. Then, I started walking with the pups for about three hours a day, in addition to other errands I needed to do, so going on a run wasn't really on my priority list. With being pregnant and now having Baby K, running still hasn't been high on the list.

This morning all that changed and somehow I managed to get out of the house by myself and go on a run. BK just returned home from the US and was sleeping late, Baby K was taking a morning nap, and my sister was just hanging out relaxing. It was the opportunity I needed to not feel guilty about leaving the house with no baby and no dogs to just do something for myself.

I only ran for 20 minutes, but I figure I have to start somewhere. 20 minutes was my goal, and I met it. I was half expecting for it to be painful and was pleasantly surprised when I just picked it right back up and started running. I ran the route I've walked thousands of times up and down the river, but it was new territory today while I was running. I loved it.

Hopefully these will be making a repeat appearance soon!

I've never been the fastest runner, and am very satisfied with my 10-minute mile. I don't care to improve my 2:10 half marathon time; I figure I'm doing way better than most who have never run that far and actually enjoy the race at that pace. For some reason, I just like to run. My mind wanders as I listen to random music that fits my mood that day. Today it was a few new songs from O.A.R. on repeat.

My mind immediately went to, "how will I manage running on a regular basis." Will I have the willpower to get up at 6am a few times a week, before Baby K wakes at 7? Everything I've read says you shouldn't run with an infant until they are six months old, so I'm not sure that's an option just yet.

I'm sure BK and I will figure something out so the two of us can fit our workouts in. Not sure that I'll make it for the Basel half marathon in September, but hopefully this run will be the first of many more in the near future!

My first Mother's Day

As I was perusing the usual social media outlets this week I noticed that many articles/reflections on moms and mother's day. Since this is my first Mother's Day as a mom I thought maybe I should take a stab at it as well.

Me and mom in Italy last year

One of the most significant things that I've reflected on and wondered about since becoming Baby K's mom is how my parents feel about me. When I look at her, I wonder to myself, so this is how my parents feel about me? And I also wonder, do they still see the tiny person they brought home, the child running around the house, the teenager who thought they had no clue what they were talking about, when they now see me as a 33 year old? I also think how strange it must be to see their daughters with children of their own now as well.

Baby K and my mom enjoying lunch outside

As a child, I don't think you can truly grasp the depth of the love your parents have for you until you have children of your own. It's like until then, of course you know they love you, they're your parents, that's what they're supposed to do. They're just kind of there, helping guide you through life, impacting how you make decisions and molding you into who you will become, whether you acknowledge it or not. But when you have your own children you suddenly realize how deep their love reaches because you feel it for the first time on the other side of things.

Do people have an ah ha moment when they say, THIS is the one moment when I realized how much my mom did for me! I'm really not sure to be honest. Maybe when you become a mom? When you become an adult and realize that there's actually a lot of adult stuff that happens in life that she shielded you from as a child?

All I know is that my childhood was full of love, laughter and lots of experiences together with my mom. She let me do lots of stuff that she did, like ironing cabbage patch doll clothes (she had real people clothes to do) and baking lots of treats with her. I loved to snuggle up with her and "share" anything she had to eat or drink, which may or may not still be a habit I have. She helped shape me into a loving and empathetic person who is determined to make an impact on this world.

Like most other children, I definitely have not told my mom how much I appreciate everything she did and does for me…even that statement doesn't do it and can't encompass the gratitude and love I have for her. I truly don't know how she did it.

So, Happy Mother's Day Mom. I love you and will never be able to thank you enough for everything you've done for me. I can only hope the way I live my life and mother I become is a small way I can show my thanks.

And Happy Mother's Day to all the other moms out there as well! Whether you're just starting your journey, have a few years of experience, are putting up with teenagers, or are now experiencing the joy of being a grandmother, I hope your day is filled with as much love and happiness as mine was!

Baby K wishing me a Happy Mother's Day

What a year it's been!

Well, it's that time of day…Baby K's fussy time. I've read that it's quite common for babies to be fussy in the evening, and she falls right in line with this. It's not constant crying, but every evening from around 6:30 until bath time at 8:00, she is not in the best of moods and fights hard against sleeping. I tell you this because ultimately this time of day is what made me realize I need to post about our last year.

Catching a little snooze

The past few days when Baby K has been fussy, I've tied her on to me, turned some music on, and tried to keep moving in one way or another. I play the playlist on Apple TV (typically singing along), which also shows a screensaver of many pictures we've taken over the past year, which is what leads me to this post. I actually started this post with her tied to me, bouncing on the exercise ball.

How we've been spending the evenings

I missed the anniversary of us being in Basel for one year. The actual day was March 24, but as we had a four-day-old baby, some other things took priority over blogging at the time. Over the past few weeks, BK and I have had many conversations about what an incredible year it's been. We often ponder how we will look back on this year as we get older, realizing that there are still many more things to come in life, but the past year has been pretty great, and I'm not sure that we'll have another like it.

Our first night in Basel- living in a hotel at the time

So what has dominated the past year? Travel, of course. I would also say learning to live abroad was a big one too, and I underestimated how intense this would be. BK and I both agree that we never thought we'd have the opportunity to travel to the extent we did this past year. We visited numerous countries, and even more cities within each of those countries. Most of our destinations were from a sort of travel wish list we came up with- Paris, Rome, Greece- but we also had some unexpected ones as well- Romania, Belgium.

Pinning places we've been on the map

People often ask what our favorite destination was, but that's a really hard one to answer. It's almost like they all have hold their own memories, and we liked them for things that were specific to that place. Each place has it's own different and unique characteristics that made it special for us. If I had to pick a few favorites, I would probably go with Rome, Amsterdam and the Grecian Isles.

The Pantheon- one of BK's favorite things we've seen

The sheer amount of history we have seen and experienced is a bit mind boggling as well. Just thinking about how long some of the monuments we have seen have been around and what has happened around them is crazy; especially in places like Paris, Athens and Rome. It's interesting to learn about how events throughout history have shaped the place you're visiting, and typically have impacted world history in one way or another.

Sunset in Greece

And then there's living abroad. It sounds so glamorous, right? I'll admit, it is pretty awesome, but it also takes a lot of work to even start to get integrated and learn all those cultural norms you have no clue about. In the beginning there were plenty of days when I thought my head would explode because I felt like I had no clue what I was doing. Was I going to break every rule the Swiss had? I don't think I broke every rule, but it's definitely a live and learn situation. And German…that's a whole other story.

They're cute, but they sure didn't adjust very well...

I can't talk about the last year without mentioning the thing we topped it all off with- Baby K! She snuck in just before the one year anniversary of us being in Basel, which is quite fitting and obviously an amazing way to end our first year abroad. I love her more and more every day and love the little family that she, BK and I have become.

After dinner on the patio

So after all that, what will the next year hold for us? We'll experience life as a family and all of the adventures it holds. We'll continue to travel, although I'm not sure that we'll go at quite the break-neck speed we did this past year. BK and I still have a number of places on that wish list that we'd like to see before we end our adventure of living abroad.

Who knows what else? I'm sure we'll continue to experience all kinds of new and different things as we live life here in Switzerland. I'll keep you updated as we make our way!

We did it!

We had a lot of firsts with Baby K last weekend, specifically we took our first overnight trip with her…and it was a success! I won't say that we didn't have any fussiness, but all the action was a lot to handle, so who can blame her? She did really well overall and we will definitely be doing it again!

On the train to Lausanne

BK and I set off to meet his parents in Lausanne on Saturday morning. They came to Basel first for a few days, then went to Italy for some sightseeing and at the end of their trip headed north back to Switzerland to meet us in Lausanne. Baby K did really well on the train. BK and I chose a train time that coincided with her morning nap, and she pretty much slept the whole time, which was great!

When we got to Lausanne (about 2.5 hours by train from Basel) BK and I headed straight to the hotel to feed Baby K lunch and get her settled. After we were done with business, the three of us headed out to explore the city. Lausanne is a really nice city- it is situated on the north side of Lake Geneva, with the lake at the bottom and the city stretching up the hills above it. You will absolutely get your workout walking up and down the hills here. There are lots of shops, cafes and restaurants in the city center, and the streets are very pedestrian friendly. BK and I enjoyed lunch outside at a cafe, then headed down to the train station to meet his parents.

Park by the lake

When they arrived, the four of us decided to head down by the lake. The Lausanne marathon also happened to be going on, but didn't make getting around impossible. Baby K hung out in her stroller, sleeping off and on until her next meal time. We stopped at a lakeside cafe for happy hour and Baby K's evening meal, then headed up to the Olympic Headquarters and Museum. The museum was closed for the day, but you can walk around the grounds, which has lots of sculptures and Olympic art.

Olympic flame

Our next step may have been overdoing it just a bit. There is really nice hotel lakeside, Hotel Beau-Rivage Palace, and we wanted to see what all the fuss was about. After the museum we stopped at the hotel to enjoy their outdoor patio and gardens. Unfortunately this was during Baby K's fussy time of the day, so it didn't go so well after the stroller stopped moving. 

BK and I took turns walking her around, trying to console her, which wasn't working. The low point was when BK walked her around and decided that he should try to re-swaddle her. So there he is, with her laying in the grass beside the hotel trying to do this. He describes it as her, laying in the cold grass, with big crocodile tears running down her face, the roomba lawn mower-thing headed their direction, and she's mad because she likes to fight hard against sleep during this time. A funny picture to all of us, not so good for dad and daughter. Live and learn, right?

Roomba lawn mower on the loose

We regrouped back at the hotel, trying to make her bath time and bed time routine as close to normal as possible in our hotel room. I think it worked too! The three of us did our usual nighttime routine and Baby K drifted off into a deep sleep. We did so well that the five of us were able to go out to dinner at a little Italian place around the corner from our hotel, with Baby K sleeping the whole time!

Sunday was relatively short in Lausanne. We got a bit of a late start (Baby K slept from 9pm to 5:30am, then from 6am to 9am!) and headed to the cathedral first. The cathedral is one of Switzerland's oldest and largest Gothic buildings. 

Lausanne cathedral

We spent the rest of our time in Lausanne on a lake cruise around Lake Geneva. We started at Ouchy Port in Lausanne, making stops along the way to Vevey, where we got off for lunch. Very little was open due to it being a Sunday, but we found a great little restaurant inside a hotel that was traditional Swiss and had some of the local specialties.

Lake cruise together

We caught a train back to Lausanne from Vevey and got ready to head back to Basel. BK's mom and I stayed near the train station, while he and his dad hiked back up to the hotel for our luggage. We caught a train back to Basel in the afternoon and made it home in time for dinner. Upon arrival in Basel, BK's parents were so into their Sudoku they didn't realize we were in Basel. Luckily, BK got back on the train and let them know that we had arrived at our stop!

Baby K contently riding the train

Overall, I think the trip was a good one, and it was really nice to have help on our first trip away from home. Baby K's next trip will be a big one: Paris for three days when my sister comes to visit in a few weeks. I'm sure I'll have a lot to say about that one!

Duty calls…it's almost bath time. Hopefully I'll be back soon!