Sanya - first family holiday!

We are back from our Sanya...and it was a turely wonderful holiday. The weather was perfect with over 30 degrees and plenty of sunshine. The resort we wer booked in was perfect and in this short time we stayed there we found out that Hannah really enjoys travelling and also appreciated a change of scenery. All this green everywhere!..she could not stop lookg at this whole different world which was so different to Shanghai. With Mommy and Daddy around 24/7 it was not surprising that also a lot of "first time" things happened whilst we were away. Let me share with you some of them:

Mini Lincoln.. ready for take off:

She did really well on the plane and slept through all l take off´s and landings..

Told you.. she is a traveller :-)

Actually as long she can hold onto her "adventure monkey" 

it doesn´t seem to matter how and where she travels..

At the resort we built Hannah her own lounger and entertainment center at the pool :-)

a new skill: bursting bubbles with her mouth...

 ...grabbing and holidng onto things...

Pooltime!..

unfortunately the little yellow pelican could not convince her that paddling in the pool is a fun thing to do.
She kept pulling up the legs as soon as her feet touched the water and looked very grumpy until we took her out again...

So introduced her to the "big water".. beachtime!!..

first contact with the sea!!!...she didn´t mind too much..

first sand on her feet!

Hannah´s  first sunrise

and first tropical rain storm

She didn´t mind the water from above.. probably knew that it would safe her from going into the pool:-)

Evening stroll along the beach:

But the best thing about the whole holiday for Hannah was definately all this extra daddy time!!

Happy Fathersday, Paul!

Thank you for this wonderful holiday

We love you!!

Ready for Take Off

Wow - I can´t believe I made it!!...I have managed to tackle one of my biggest personal challenges - beeing grounded in Shanghai for over 6 months!

When our plane decended, coming back from Bangkok last October, I found it very hard to believe that it would be my last flight for a VERY long time..I remember feeling slightly claustrophobic by the thought of beein stuck in Shanghai. And not only that - even Hannah was kicking me as if she would protest that travels would come to rest.

See, by that time Hannah had been a well experienced traveller herself. If Miles and More would credit miles for pregant bellys Hannah would probably have achieved silver card status before she was actually born!
I did my best in training her travelling skills whilst pregant and she travelled very well with me.

I know half a year on the ground does  sound not necessarily sound like a long time - but for me, who was even without my previous job, used to hopping on and off a plane every 8 weeks or so it seemed a life time.
Shanghai is a great city but every now and then I just have to get out of this chaos.

So since the last touch down my longest journey has been a taxi ride back to the airport to drop off friends.
And whilst everyone else kept on exciting Shanghai, flying back to Europe or beaches in Asia, I was left behind waving eveyone good bye (yes, I can hear you saying..".ohhh"...:-)

But Finally!!! the day has come and I have a plane ticket in my pocket, making me feel like a normal person again.The journey starts on Saturday and is taking the three of us on our first famil beach holiday to Sanya Hainan) where we went to already two years ago.

It´s a convenient t 2,5 hour plane ride - a good length to try out flying with little Hannah before we go on our big exotic summer holiday. (thought about it: Germany and England are actually an exotic countries for her!)

Hopefully our little one will recognize the sounds of a plane immediately and will be just as happy and excited as I´m going to be when finally walking down the gangway again.

After 6 months I´m ready for take off  again- hooray!!

Hannah´s World ( March)

March was a great month for our little Hannah.. She gratually turned into a little person, a fun little person. Being able to see better she started discovering the world around her.

All she wants to do now all the time is look, look, look (what else do you expect of the daughter of a photographer! :-) ). And once she was able to see things she started smiling, too..

I will never forget the first time she smiled - not at me - at the ayi!! Thought that was a bit unfair: After all it is Paul and I  who put  the effort into her upbringing and than one day the ayi arrives on a thrusday,  is saying something sounding funny in mandarin and Hannah give her the brightest grin..

But our little girl made up for it only a few hours later and melted my heart with her first real smile to me. Since then she is just one big sunshine (at least in the mornings, starting at 5am..)

she has also started to "talk". She likes chatting to us. We have very important conversations such as "grr grr grr,  mhh mhh..nge nge na..... jaja jaja grrr grrr..".
She also seems to have some imaginary friends she likes communicating with. And they also really make her laugh. Sometimes the aircondition above her changing table seems to be her best friend in the world..

Overall she is developing beautifully. At her 2 month check in March she weighed in at already 5,05kg and had grown 5cm to 58cm. She is very strong, can  hold her head up by herself and even gives the impression when laying on her tummy that she has an idea about crawling.

She has also become used to travelling in taxis with us.. and since she uses a dummy she doesn´t mind even the craziest taxi driver.

So funny: I ordered a cab the other day.. when the driver saw me coming out with the maxi cosy he opened the boot  (=trunk for my american friends :-) ready to this black box in there (he did not see the baby inside from the distance)..

You have to understand: Not many people transport their kids this safe here. And I must admit we sometimes travel with Hannah "Shanghai style", too.. wrap her in a blanked and cuddle her in our arms..
aehm.. yes, Paul is responisble for developing car safety...:-)

only 2,5 months ago.. can you believe it??

There are still a few things she needs to get used to.

Her hammock for example.. she really isn´t sure about the whole rocking idea...

or taking a bath.. we spent a ridiculous amount of money on this "tummy tub" (15EUR in Germany, 40 EUR in Shanghai..)

It is really nothing else than a slightly different shaped plastic bucket 

The concept of "makes your baby feeling safe and reminds them of being back in the womb"..

 does not really work for little Hannah...

But the best thing about March was that Hannah got to meet her Granny and Grandad Lincoln

who came over all the way from England to welcome her

Granny invented the "bouncy" game.. good exercise for toning your biceps!

Hannah loves it!! every time you bounce her on her legs and then stop, 

she does a real fun whoola whoop with her belly

Can you imagine how bored Hannah was after 10 days dual entertainment and than being

stuck with me alone during the day again??.. :-).. 

Good that we now have a Baby Gym.. she loves it:

finally a place for an afternoon snooze

(before I always had to carry her in the sling)

But the (almost) best thing about Doug and Sheila visiting was that after 2  months Paul and I got to enjoy our  first meal out since Hannah was born.. And there would have been no better place to go to than back to Jean Georges on the BUND where we went already last year

Unfortuntately we managed to go the one night in Shanghai where the lights of the skyline were switched off for World earth day (all major cities in the world switch of their lights as symbol for energy saving)

But who cares.. the food was still unbelievable and wearing my super high heels 

I felt like a normal human beeing again :-)

Thanks Doug and Sheila for coming all this way!

You were a wonderful help to us!

A speedy Sunday - F1 in Shanghai!!

Finally time for a "Paul"-Posting!! :-)
Today was the Formula 1 in Shanghai. In Anting, to be exact which is about 45 minute cab ride from where we live.

With 26 degrees and loads of sunshine it was the perfect day for the boys (and Kerstin) to head out to see the race.  Paul beeing a F1 fan just came back..still deaf and thrilled that after 3 years in Shanghai he finally made it to see the cars go round real time:

with Kerstin at the Entrance

Ole Ole!

Kai Ebel - der Deutsche Kommentator

Driver Parade

.. 

apparently the Chinese love Kimi...

Out: Weber looses a wheel:

.. and drives off  with slower speed :-)

And in case you wonder what Hannah and I did all day long? We had a real "ladies day"..went for a nice long walk followed by a  pedicure and after that enjoyed coffee and cake in the sun :-).

Panda Yoga

Have you ever heard of Panda yoga? No?..what a surprise!..
It´s a brand new style and well popular with tiny babies.. one called Hannah in particular :-)!!

Almost 2 months after giving birth my back started to feel like it could do with some excercise.
As a matter of  fact my whole body did. It is quite amazing what having a baby is asking of you.. I managed to stick to stay with  regular yoga practise until the day Hannah was born.
But only 8 weeks without asanas and an extra portion of hormones, and my body seems to having turned into one big jelly. It is about time to do something about it. And how do I do this with a tiny baby around me?

Very simple: Bring on "Herr Panda", light a candle and play some crazy music which I got once in an ashram in India. Hannah knows the tunes from from before she was born.. back  then I was turning her upside down in my belly.. now she get´s to enjoy it from the other side.. and she loves it!

Shavasana (Deep relaxation) is her favorite asana :-)

.. and mine!!

Om Shanti!

Namaste!