Wooow..can you believe it? It´s been three months since we posted something here! About time we continue again or we won´t be able to catch up any more!
The reason why you haven´t heard from us for for a while is we enjoyed a super long summer holiday.
In June Paul, Hannah and I headed over to Europe to finally get our little one to meet our friends and family back home. Our travels brought us first first to London, than a few days in Germany before we hopped over to Rhodes to catch some extra sunshine and enjoy a beautiful family wedding
All in total 4 suitcases, 1 maxi cosi, 6 flights.. 3 countries, 2 different sea sides...
Yes! - Hannah carries the travel genes and enjoyed all of it (especially watching suitcases going round on the luggage belts :-)!
Three weeks later our family time came to an end and Paul had to board a plane back to work in Shanghai. Hannah and I decided short notice to extend our time in Germany and to stay on at "Oma and Opa´s" place.
Reason for this decision was that Shanghai experienced it´s hottest summer in 130 years! It was almost 40+ degrees every day. With the temperature at night dropping down to a cool 38 . Paul sent me Pictures of some people bbqing on the pavement and sleeping outside in their underpants!
With all our "mommy friends" having gone back to Europe and Paul expected to travel round the globe on a business trip, it seemed like the right decicion. There was not much point in spending summer in our airconditioned Apartment with no one to visit around. This way we got to enjoy our first summer together in Germany. Here we were able to go for our daily swimm in the local Swimming pool, eat loads of ice cream and Hannah could get spoilt and entertained by my family and friends.
Just in time when the temperature dropped to a nice "cool" 30 degrees Paul returned one month later to Germany to pick us and 5 full suitcases up to come back to Shanghai with him. And therefore a couple of weeks ago the three arrived again reunited 8000km further east in our our apartment in Gao An Lu.
I was a bit worried what it would be like. . Two months are a very long time not only in Shanghai but also in Hannah´s life. Would she recognise her bed? How would she cope with all those people and city life again? And - How on earth am I going to keep the entertainment level up?
Hannah has developed so beautifully in Europe, is so much more aware of things that it was almost like returnig with a new Baby. But the worry was for nothing: From the Moment we walked through the door she was fine. And after 5 minutes of wondering about all those People in the street she was busy playing with her toys on the stroller again. No Jetlag, no drama.. just happy and excited as she is.
Now, let me tell you a little about our first couple of weeks here:
Mr. and Mrs Jing (our neighbours) were so pleased to see us back. Mrs. Jing had to give Hannah a huge cuddle and couldn´t stop commenting on how beautifully "pang" = fat she had become.. (I case you don´t know the previous Posts, this is a real compliment for the parents and means your child is developing great!)
No wonder! During our stay in Rhodes we started Hannah on solid food.
She loves to munch on anything!
In good preparation for the coming months we brought back a "babyfood" suitcase as this is ridiculous expansive here!
For example: 1 jar of "Hipp"-puree costs in Germany about 1 Euro.. here 4-5 Euro!.. Babymilk is even worse: 1 Pack Aptamil 12 Eur in Germany, about 40 Euro in Cityshop...
Another suitcase could have been called "Santa Clause suitcase" because it was filled with toys for Hannah (and loads of new shoes for mommy :-) )
But as it is: sometimes the simplest things can be just as exciting!
In the past few weeks Hannah has turned into a real active little person(ality).
No toy can beat the fun she has in her bouncer which is also a souvenier from home.
She LOVES it!
If we Combine it with her favorite tune she goes rock and roll!!
She has also come VERY close to crawling
concerning the entertainment I had the idea of staring the day by
.. reading the papers every morning before breakfast :-)
...and help in the household as we found out that our current ayi will leave us....
together we baked a cake for daddy´s birthday:
..which we celebrated last weekend with a big brunch and lazing at the swimmingpool
in the Le meridien Hotel in Sheshan
And it would not be Shanghai if we wouldn´t have already visited one of the great bars on the Bund. Our friend Serkan was again over from Germany. A great excuse to find out what VUE bar is like. It is known for having one of the best views over the City.. and it has!
(good Cocktails, too by the way...)
Looking back it´s been a wonderful summer in Europe and we enjoyed every single day back home. I loved the space, breathing the fresh air, driving a car, meeting up with friends and family we could not be more thankful for this very special time.
But it´s just as great to be back in town.
After all: Home is where DADDY is!!
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