Germany?

[WhisperOfHope]

Omg 6 days with the in laws?! I'd lose it!

What's a non-German Christmas like? I find it's celebrated quite similar to Christmas in the U.S. except for all presents being opened on the 24th. My mil says traditionally bratwurst and kartoffelsalat are eaten where they're from. 0.0 Doesn't sound like a Christmas meal I'd typically imagine. She's making a Kasseler meal on the Eve though, yummmm! She's made sure some real bratwurst from Brandenburg will be sent nevertheless haha! Can't say I'm a huge bratwurst fan but wieners fresh from the butcher are awesome! Never found an equivalent in the U.S.

I know what you mean about finding work here Whisper. My husband studied something close to computer programming years back and worked in that field for over a year then moved cities and started different work because he wanted change. Now his education is out of date and he basically would have to study all over again to get such a job.. it's ridiculous in my opinion. That's one thing that attracts him about the U.S. that you don't necessarily need an abschluss or ausbildung (or an up-to-date one at that) to find a decent job. If you're capable you have a chance without. In any case we won't go ver until he's got some diploma, too risky with a family. Plus, the setting isn't one I feel as safe in as I do here and last week's events haven't helped. Feel so torn with what to do sometimes. Really want to go back but life here isn't so bad either. Just don't picture raising our family here but I guess time will tell..

our family christmas in the uk was nan grandad, aunt and cousin coming up on the 24th and we would go out for a big family meal then come home and kids go to bed, mum nan and aunt would start in the kitchen preparing dinner for christmas day the turkey slow cooked over night mmmm loved waking to that smell then they would fill our stocking and hang them on the doorframe so when we got up we had them, usualy woken by my older sister at 5 am jumping on my bed shouting its christmas! )she did it last year when they did me a early christmas) shes 30 by the way lol, then we would all go downstairs and open preasents and have breakfast, then the table would get set ready for dinner , have a big dinner then kids would go off and play with toys and in the evening a buffet meal or lft over meat etc with salad and cakes , then boxing day more family and friends would come round for drinks and buffet and games in the evening ben doesnt like that as he doesnt do people.

he hasnt got qualifications but hes done computer programming web design etc for years now an we have found alot of companies if you have the experiance you dont nessesarily need the qualifications when it comes to programming , i also want to study educational psycology or speach therapy but need to be back in my own language for it or it will be gibbildygook.

that was terrible what happend last week them poor babies i really do not see the need for guns in the uk it was banned after one school shooting

 

[WhisperOfHope]

gosh that was a bit of an essey lol sorry

 

[Saphira]

Yum, turkey, now that sounds good! I wonder why turkey is unpopular in Germany! Ever noticed you can't get truthahn anywhere? Just pute, which from what my husband's told me is from a female turkey. I never knew there was a difference in the meat 'til I lived here. Sure do miss Thanksgiving in the U.S. speaking of turkey. We had to replace it with chicken. Sounds like such a nice family Christmas you have Whisper!

He's found companies where you don't need an ausbildung/abschluss to start? There's always the route of my husband doing an ausbildung in a company. He still has to finish his abitur though. I'm not sure what kind of training he got years back, some sort of abschluss from a mix of classes and on the job training, then he was able to start without an abitur. I think that's why it's more complicated for him without having gone the abitur route but I'm not so familiar with the education system here honestly.
Did you know there are some uni bachelor programs that are taught completely in English? The problem would be I'm not sure if there's one in the field you'd like to study in your area and relocating wouldn't be an option at the moment. It's something to look into though (unless you want to get back to England in the next years of course ).

I heard about what happened in Scotland, or was it in England? I watch Piers Morgan on CNN and he's been talking a lot about it. You know, as long as the general mentality of Americans doesn't change, neither will the prevalence of these mass shootings. I was talking to my sister about this the day it happened and she kept saying, but stricter gun laws won't change anything! I said, but look at Germany, there are very strict gun laws here and the amount of shootings is a mere fraction of that in the U.S. Then she said, but Germany is nothing like the U.S.! The people here are insane, Germans are more sane. I thought, by golly she's right. This goes deeper than laws (although I believe there needs to be stricter ones, yes, and semi-automatic weapons all out banned!). I think one of the problems is the mental health system. I don't think enough is done to better these people, instead meds are prescribed left and right for an easy "fix". Well, it's not a fix in all cases and can sometimes end up backfiring. There's more to it than that, but it's something I've thought about since my husband said how rare it is for such meds to be prescribed here and that goes with pain killers as well. The U.S. looks to quick fixes for problems then shoves them under the rug. I'm not optimistic things are going to change anytime soon as sad as that may sound. Because you know the reaction after that shooting? Gun sales up by 48% from what I heard. The reason - so that people can be armed to defend themselves. As if more weapons is going to solve this problem. Completely backed up thinking. It's so frustrating and sad really.

Sorry, there was my novel!..

 

[WhisperOfHope]

Yum, turkey, now that sounds good! I wonder why turkey is unpopular in Germany! Ever noticed you can't get truthahn anywhere? Just pute, which from what my husband's told me is from a female turkey. I never knew there was a difference in the meat 'til I lived here. Sure do miss Thanksgiving in the U.S. speaking of turkey. We had to replace it with chicken. Sounds like such a nice family Christmas you have Whisper!

He's found companies where you don't need an ausbildung/abschluss to start? There's always the route of my husband doing an ausbildung in a company. He still has to finish his abitur though. I'm not sure what kind of training he got years back, some sort of abschluss from a mix of classes and on the job training, then he was able to start without an abitur. I think that's why it's more complicated for him without having gone the abitur route but I'm not so familiar with the education system here honestly.
Did you know there are some uni bachelor programs that are taught completely in English? The problem would be I'm not sure if there's one in the field you'd like to study in your area and relocating wouldn't be an option at the moment. It's something to look into though (unless you want to get back to England in the next years of course ).

I heard about what happened in Scotland, or was it in England? I watch Piers Morgan on CNN and he's been talking a lot about it. You know, as long as the general mentality of Americans doesn't change, neither will the prevalence of these mass shootings. I was talking to my sister about this the day it happened and she kept saying, but stricter gun laws won't change anything! I said, but look at Germany, there are very strict gun laws here and the amount of shootings is a mere fraction of that in the U.S. Then she said, but Germany is nothing like the U.S.! The people here are insane, Germans are more sane. I thought, by golly she's right. This goes deeper than laws (although I believe there needs to be stricter ones, yes, and semi-automatic weapons all out banned!). I think one of the problems is the mental health system. I don't think enough is done to better these people, instead meds are prescribed left and right for an easy "fix". Well, it's not a fix in all cases and can sometimes end up backfiring. There's more to it than that, but it's something I've thought about since my husband said how rare it is for such meds to be prescribed here and that goes with pain killers as well. The U.S. looks to quick fixes for problems then shoves them under the rug. I'm not optimistic things are going to change anytime soon as sad as that may sound. Because you know the reaction after that shooting? Gun sales up by 48% from what I heard. The reason - so that people can be armed to defend themselves. As if more weapons is going to solve this problem. Completely backed up thinking. It's so frustrating and sad really.

Sorry, there was my novel!..

im going to wait until lena is 3 so she can go to preschool in the uk and i can study plus we need to save up as courses and driving lessons are not cheap and i dont want to miss out on the first major bits of her life.

yeh it was scotland dumblane, i have some americans on my facebook and all are more annoyed over the thought of security guards being put into school then those who own guns someone said it goes back to whent he english invaded but im preety sure thats not gonna happen again any time soon

 

[WhisperOfHope]

https://www.bild.de/regional/koeln/...eine-lea-sophie-wo-bist-du-27768850.bild.html

hope they find this little girl safe and well

 

[Saphira]

Definitely enjoy those first years! I'll be doing the same.

Yeah, there was a guy on Piers Morgan's show saying he thinks all teachers should have guns in their classrooms and the principle should have a semi-automatic one at hand for such instances.. talk about insane. Some people honestly believe such things, yikes..

Very scary about that little girl. Hope she's found very soon!

 

[Saphira]

Gosh, you know, it brings me back to earlier today.. we wanted to get our grocery shopping done before the pre-Christmas shopping madness tomorrow.. it was still pretty crazy in Lidl, which adds to my disbelief in what I saw. So, we parked in the eltern parkplatz. Next to us we see a lady get out and I looked in the back of the car and saw no child so thought, typical lazy person taking up the parent spots, you see a lot of that. Anyway, there actually was a child in that car. In the front seat a baby of no more than 3 months was in the infant car seat. The lady was since long gone and I asked my husband if she was just going to get a shopping cart, for which I wouldn't even leave my child in the car for but that's another story.. no, she actually went into Lidl, the windows of the car were shut tight so no air circulation (if it were hot the police would have gotten a call!) and she had no view of her baby obviously. With the lines she must have been in there at least 10mins even if she was just getting a couple things. Unbelievable people take such risks. There are carts available at nearly every supermarket WITH car seat adapter things on top. There are people out there that steal babies!

 

[WhisperOfHope]

They have found her body poor little angel

 

[Saphira]

They have found her body poor little angel

Terrible.

 

[morri]

We'll be at my mothers place-- where my sibs will be as well.

 

[Saphira]

Merry Christmas everyone!

 

[SarahDiener]

Merrrrrry Christmas!!

Took Ella to the dr today, she has a skin allergy

 

[Saphira]

Merrrrrry Christmas!!

Took Ella to the dr today, she has a skin allergy

Oh boy, that's no good. Do you know what she has? Aurora has "dermatitis sicca" going by what her pediatrician has written in her yellow book. Practically went away in the summer with help of her cream and a lot of changes with laundry/bath time but it's back again so we're trying to get a dermatologist now..

 

[SarahDiener]

Ouchhhhh, that looks sore from what I just googled. Ella's looks like heat rash. I don't know what it's called, but it comes in winter when it's dry and the allergy things get into dry skin. So shes covered in thick cream (even in her hair). I guess we'll know more at her actual pediatrician, we were at on here on Christmas... You use sensitive liquid dm washing soap right?
I

 

[SarahDiener]

I think it's Atopic dermatitis, infant eczema

 

[Saphira]

Ouchhhhh, that looks sore from what I just googled. Ella's looks like heat rash. I don't know what it's called, but it comes in winter when it's dry and the allergy things get into dry skin. So shes covered in thick cream (even in her hair). I guess we'll know more at her actual pediatrician, we were at on here on Christmas... You use sensitive liquid dm washing soap right?
I

I just googled too and it looks nothing like what I saw in the pics! Her skin was perfect until those 2 weeks in January when we were living in the arctic or something, remember? It was like -20° for what felt like forever. Right when that started so did her skin problem. She began to peal like crazy and we read up about that and from what we read believed it's a normal stage many newborns go through with their skin renewing and all. It only got worse. Red patches all over her face, chest, legs and arms. The only areas that were never affected, and I don't want to jinx it here, have been her diaper area and back. Her pediatrician put that down to her skin lacking the ability to store moisture therefore dry air (cold winter) is a disaster for her. It was virtually solved in the summer until we put Weleda cream on once and it started from the beginning again minus the pealing and we needed a few days with her prescription cream to get it under control.

For Ella - did the pediatrician you saw recommend any creams? Ask about Dermifant Kindercream in the pharmacy - one product that doesn't irritate Aurora's skin more, maybe it'd work well for Ella too. We've been trying out Eucerin 12% and it's been working well so I think we'll go on with it more to see what combination works best. It's a lot of trial and error. Over the counter creams from Weleda, Bübchen, Babylove.. are out of the question for us. Be careful of products with any sort of scent. Many say "sensitive" but they're really not. Pharmacy products are your best bet. We use this laundry detergent: https://www.dm.de/cms/servlet/segment/de_homepage/denkmit_home/produkte/produkte_waschen/produkte_waschen_colorwaschmittel/10442/denkmit_colorwaschmittel_ultra_sensitiv.html
No weichspüler or anything else and her clothes are always separate from ours. It says for color wash but we use it for lights too because that one is only sold in a powder form, which clumps badly from our experience. Maybe because our washing machine is really old though.
We use only this shampoo/body wash for baths (Kindershampoo at the bottom): https://www.allergika.de/Produkte/Trockene,%20allergische%20Haut/Pflege%20f%C3%BCr%20Mutter%20und%20Kind/Babys%20und%20Kinder.html
We're going to try bathing her every other day since her skin has become trickier again and wash with a wash cloth on the non-bath days.

How did you get in to the doctor on the 24th, by the way? We had to go to the hospital because nothing else was open. We thought the conjunctivitis hadn't completely gone away because she woke up with a lightly swollen right eye and a lot of redness around it - I wanted to get her on antibiotics this time because I'm scared of lingering infections. The doctor said she sees no sign of infection, so I really don't understand why it's just around the right eye. Such a headache, just want to get it under control.

 

[morri]

shame, luckily emilie is at good health, she wasn't washed yet as her belly button was not dry yet, but she may be washed tomorrow, but'Idd only use water i reckon.

 

[Saphira]

shame, luckily emilie is at good health, she wasn't washed yet as her belly button was not dry yet, but she may be washed tomorrow, but'Idd only use water i reckon.

She's healthy minus the on and off skin irritation.
Aurora's cord stump fell off at 5 days old so her first bath was when she was around 10 days old. We also just used water the first few months.

 

[morri]

My midwife recommended only to wash when the button was dry, but her cord only fell off at about 2 weeks or so. she had some goop left in it for some tme but it has dried up now
christmas was good quite exhausting for Emilie though she didnt give us a nice night after (well she also had her big cousins there as well (7 months old and nearly 3 yo and the grandkid (1.5y old) of my mother's husband)well not too bad either but I was quite exhaused as I didnt have a nap during the day.

 

[Saphira]

My midwife recommended only to wash when the button was dry, but her cord only fell off at about 2 weeks or so. she had some goop left in it for some tme but it has dried up now
christmas was good quite exhausting for Emilie though she didnt give us a nice night after (well she also had her big cousins there as well (7 months old and nearly 3 yo and the grandkid (1.5y old) of my mother's husband)well not too bad either but I was quite exhaused as I didnt have a nap during the day.

Oh I see! Our midwife did the first bath. Don't think we'll have one this time. We'll go in to the hospital for my main midwife to take a look a couple times although she did offer to stop by so we'll see. Just really would rather have her than the local one we had last time.
That's great you had a nice family Christmas. I bet it was exhausting too! Any New Year plans or just taking it easy?