Our world has a new navel

Exactly two weeks ago our life has taken a sharp turn and entered a completely new path with the birth of our son Jakob who from the very first moment concentrated all our attention. While during Jakob & Kerstin’s stay at the hospital everything was fully organized around them we had to adjust ourselves to taking care of the little one and to simultaneously make sure we get enough sleep, food and nutrition, take care of the household, make sure we got all necessary equipment at home and sort out all bureaucratic issues like birth certificate or certificate of citizenship.

What absolutely took us by surprise was the randomness of sleeping, eating and being awake and it took us quite a few days to realise that we have to use every moment of peace to rest, as we don’t know, when Jakob is awake again and needs full attention. Our first visit to the doctor gave us a lot of confidence in doing the right thing as Jakob’s growth in size and weight were both on the upper range of the bandwidth – a strong signal for a healthy child and a gratification for hours of lost sleep during the nights.

Who would not get up at night to look after this sweet boy?

Last night Markus picked up grandma Heidi from the train station as she came to Vienna again for a week in order to support Kerstin at home when on Markus’s first week back to work. Another change for all of us and its unclear who is hit hardest: Markus who has a peaceful day at work not seeing his son, Kerstin who takes another step towards taking care of our son on her own during the days or Jakob who gets fed whenever needed, a clean diaper every other hour and all the sleep he wants. Take a pick.

Jakob, Kerstin & Markus

The Eagle has landed in his new nest

An intense programme of final check-ups, blood tests and detailed examinations were necessary in order to get the approval for Jakob and Kerstin leaving the Semmelweis-Klinik on the third day, Thursday 16th. We all were very happy and relieved when a very nice paediatrician gave us the good news, that Jakob is a healthy boy throughout and that we have the ok to leave for home.

On one of the hottest and sunniest days of the year we left the clinic early afternoon and Jakob clearly was fascinated and swamped at the same time by the totally new environment and impressions outside the clinic and in the car on the way home. It seemed though that he felt comfortable as he fell asleep halfway to home where grandma Heidi and aunt Sandra have prepared some welcome decorations for the new inhabitant and were waiting impatiently. The elevator was decorated with balloons and a little stork-figure, outside our entrance a beautiful picture painted by Sandra and Heidi was positioned and also Jakob's room was decorated with balloons. The long work Wednesday night and throughout Thursday definitely paid off.

Home sweet home - Welcome to your nest

The little man seems to have settled well in his new home, and even though it was pretty warm inside due to the heat, he was sleeping very well and long in his first night. Unfortunately we will have to wait long to find out what he was dreaming in this first night in a new place, we might even never find out. Anyhow we really hope that all his dreams do come true as the peaceful sleep he had gives us very much confidence, that it was nice dreams he had.

Jakob, Kerstin & Markus

The mystical expansion of "We together"

Monday morning our life has taken a planned and prepared but yet extreme turn - upon arrival to the Semmelweisklinik and after a check-up we immediately were transferred into the delivery room in which Kerstin was working hard and brave on the contractions and after several hours of being in labour, at exactly 14:04 our beloved son Jakob was born. His size of 53 cm and weight of 3610 g are indicators of the hard work Kerstin and Jakob, assisted by Markus and a lovely mid-wife had to do.

Here comes not the hotstepper, but our new family member: Jakob

Whatever one imagines and expects from the experience of giving birth, it is absolutely amazing, unbelievable and not explicable how wonderful this moment is. We both were absolutely overwhelmed when we held Jakob for the first time in our arms. All our imaginations of his looks became more realistic and it is simply great. Both baby and mother are well and healthy.

While the new dad met up with his friends that were available at short notice for some decent celebrations in the evening, ending at 0400 at the terrace with the last beer, Kerstin and Jakob chilled, relaxed and got more and more accustomed to each other. The grandparents are already on their way and will be able to meet&greet the newcomer soon.

Needless to say we are indescribably happy about our son and look forward to exciting and interesting years to come that will be pretty different to the years we have spent together so far!

Jakob, Kerstin & Markus

Vote labour (pains)

After a night of regular and intense contractions it is getting serious now. With a few days delay our little one seems to be ready to leave his space capsule - Ground control to Major Tom - and hence we checked into Semmelweisklinik early morning.

Kerstin & Markus

10 years "We together" - and the best is yet to come!

Today it is exactly 10 years that we got together. What started off as two neighbours who were initially after the same flat - which by the way had windows providing a nice view in each other's flat - turned out to become something very special. For Markus that meant to learn a new set of language as the Gsiberger dialect is more like a foreign language for someone from the very east of Austria and to get to know a whole bunch of new - by now very good - friends (just imagine a "boring" banker clashing with a crowd of people from the advertising industry).

One of the first pictures together - taken in autumn 1999 in Schoenbrunn

During the course of the ten years we went through loads of great times with our friends as well as on great holidays in Bali, Brasil or Thailand but also had to cope with some serious exams and situations like the seperation when Markus was working in London while Kerstin worked in Vienna. This almost 4 years of long-distance weekend relationship did not result in more distance and was the a strong binding factor for our relationship.

Whether we can fully enjoy all the plans for our anniversary day depends though on our little one who is due any day/minute - but we are more than happy to share the day with him.

Kerstin & Markus

Loads of meat on the bone

Summer is back with temperatures around 30 degrees during the days and remaining above 20 degrees also during the night and thus we have the perfect settings for long evenings on the roof terrace enjoying a barbeque. The fact, that each day at least a short, but potentially heavy rainfall provides some humidity and water for the plants could not spoil the outdoor plans and so we have had 3 nights of delicious BBQ since Thursday.

Thursday night Viki and Stefan stopped by before leaving for their holiday in Spain on Friday morning and we had a nice farewell dinner. Stefan made it very clear that he would prefer our little one to arrive only after their return at the end of this week. Flo, who arrived in Vienna Wednesday night for his brother’s scholastic ceremony, was of a completely opposite opinion: he was hoping for delivery this weekend. As there were no signs at all we decided to invite Flo, his brother Philip and girlfriend Cherry as well as Flo’s mom Christine and partner Norbert for BBQ with spare ribs, Berner sausages, pork chops and turkeybreast on Saturday night. We expected the need of a lot of meat for the 7 of us and were pretty much surprised when after two courses everyone was done. We suspect that the amounts of beer that were consumed - and that took us by surprise as well – could be one reason for the low food consumption. Luckily we could use some more meat on Sunday night when we expected our neighbours Andrea and Stefan, but we definitely failed to eat up all we bought and so the freezer is full now as well.

Given the fact that most of the recent nights were quite short and Markus’s running programme foresaw a 2 hour sting of running on Sunday afternoon Monday is a slow and tired day and will see us early in bed. Lets see how long we can rest before the big day and when Flo has to return to Vienna together with Sandra, Heidi and Eugen.

Kerstin & Markus

A window to the perfect day for Sissi & Andi

The whole past week was dominated by heavy rainfalls – 240 l of rain/sqm- in parts of Austria which caused heavy floodings and also our friends Sissi & Andi had to fight the water and underwent a tough first week as married couple doing absolutely everything to enable the church wedding and big wedding party on Saturday. In contrast to Don Quijote’s battle against windmills, their full commitment as well as the support several of their friends was remunerated with a truly perfect day.

The rain clouds disappeared on Saturday (after still torrential rain on Friday) and the sun came out early afternoon to provide a nice setting for the wedding. The ceremony contained several moving moments like when the bride’s nephew broke out in tears when she was about to sing a song for the couple and was rewarded with standing ovations after not running away, but definitely the highlight was the vow sung by Sissi to her husband with huge emotions and a perfect voice. Once the married couple left the church in Oberwart the sun was out completely and they were able to accept congratulations by many invited guests and spectators under blue sky.

Lateron we transferred in an old regional train to Hannersdorf where the wedding party was planned in a huge tent on the hill overlooking the surrounding area. There were no obvious signs that a few hours ago this tent was still flooded and the party pretty much at risk. We all enjoyed the fact that the weather has opened the weather window so perfectly, enjoyed the sheer endless amount of wedding dishes - traditional for the Burgenland pancake strips- and liver dumpling soup, boiled beef with horseradish variation and potatoes, escalopes with salad and rice and roast pork with dumplings and kraut– celebrated the newly-wed couple, danced and had one or the other glass of wine, caipirinha or strawberry daiquiri.

Bubu the dancer - The opener of a long party night!

When we left the party at 0300 it was still running on full steam and rumour has it that it still went on until 0500 in the tent. The couple hopefully enjoyed an unforgettable wedding night and we wish Sissi & Andi once again all the best for their future together!

Kerstin & Markus

The Twin City Party-Weekend

The good thing about a friend's wedding is that prior to the wedding ceremony and -party a decent stag night is celebrated. The past weekend it was Andi's turn and rather than a one-night party the boys extended it to a stag weekend with a first leg on Friday night in Vienna and a transfer with the Twin City Liner on Saturday to Slovak Capital Bratislava for another night of partying.

The weekend started in Fischerbraeu on Friday night with lots of singing and beer whereas the group of 25 had some decent singing competition from a neighbouring table and thus pushed the boys to the extreme. As a consequence the waiters tried to calm us down because of complaints by next door neighbours, but they have been successful only to a certain extent. Around midnight the stag-boys transferred to a of Vienna's newest and hottest nightclubs – The Box which the hardcore team left at 0500 when the sun was almost rising again. Andi did quite well and was still fit at the time - he has been treated though quite nicely throughout the night.

When meeting early Saturday afternoon for the 75-minute boat-ride the groom - who by the way has married already legally Friday morning! - was weak and refused to eat or drink, complained about feeling not good and almost spoiled the evening. Time though all kind of wounds and so later in the evening a mojito was the final ice-breaker. From that point on the party picked up pace and ended very early in the morning in the recommendable City Hotel Bratislava right in the heart of the city (or was it a 10 minute taxi rode away?). The hotel seems to be an insider tip for stag weekends. Sunday lunchtime Andi realised how lucky he was when he saw two other grooms - both from the UK - one dressed in really cheap dessous and the other one in a gimp suit botth heading back to the town in taxis. Coming weekend we are going to celebrate again - this time at Sissi & Andi's wedding party.

Kerstin & Markus

The heat was finally on again

While the month of May has been very generous with warm weather and sunshine the past few weeks were rather cool, overcast and wet. Also the long weekend started like that and so we had to bury our plans to go to the Stadionbad on Thursday but at least our plan of a barbeque in the evening with Mirko, Maria & Valentin as well as Stefan & Viki worked out after a short shower.

On Saturday morning though clouds were gone and the morning was all blue sky and so we did use our season-ticket and met with the Haemmerles in the Stadionbad. As if we were jinxed, as soon as we got there, clouds appeared and covered the sun for the next 1,5 hours. Little Valentin, used the time efficiently and trained his gigolo skills by “chatting up” several girls on their towels and managed to squeeze in between two of them within minutes! Once the clouds disappeared and the sun warmed us nicely he let off the girls and went for a swim with mom & dad. We finished the day off at the Wiener Eislaufverein, where “Sand in the city” offers food, drinks & music as well as playground for children with beach-flair right in the heart of the city throughout summer.

A worn-out race car was the main atrraction for Valentin on the city beach

Sunday morning the weather was even better than the day before - temperatures reached more than 30 degrees - and we yet again ventured out to the Stadionbad and enjoyed together with the Haemmerles as well as Claudia & Oliver the summer sun. Valentin followed the same procedure as the day before and flirted with several female bathers and he was already known by some of the crowd from the day before! After 2 days in the sun we dropped to bed in the evening rather dead and Markus’ plan to watch the decisive Game 5 of the NBA Finals – the Los Angeles Lakers beat Orlando Magic in Florida 99-86 and crowned themselves for the 15th time NBA champion (Lakers coach Phil Jackson is now the only coach to win 10 championships – were scratched. The sun gives you lots of energy during the day, but it takes its toll in the evening. We are not complaining though at all about being tired for that reason!

Kerstin & Markus

Ha det så bra, Goeteborg!

It was time, to say “Good-Bye” to Gothenburg, the sea and the Astro de l’Est on Sunday for Markus and his colleagues. The Polish team, Tomek, Sebastian and Zbigniew were the first ones to depart early morning while the rest was still sleeping and recovering from the night before. Singing along and dancing to ABBA’s “Dancing Queen” and other old classics did make everyone pretty tired and so it was no big surprise that Sunday was very slow. One can not really call it sightseeing what Staffan, Helen Nicole and Markus did in the afternoon in Gothenburg’s city centre after Fritz’s departure but it was rather a gentle walk and a few relaxed drinks in a nice Restaurant/Bar called SoHo close to the central station.

Not everything at Gothenburg's Poseidon statue is big...

The flight back home for Markus was unfortunately not a direct one, but he stopped over in Frankfurt and thus only arrived at the departed home around 2330 and he just managed to unpack all his stuff before falling pretty dead into bed. The sailing though was absolutely worth it, the experience to sail in relatively cold conditions with full gear on was special and not surprisingly the fun-factor with the people on the boat was as expected also very high. After having spent two nights together with 11 other people (incl. boat crew) on a 25m long yacht it felt very strange to be alone in the flat as Kerstin only comes back from Hoerbranz to Vienna by train on Monday and both are looking forward to seeing each other again Monday evening.

Kerstin & Markus