Skiing in Austria

Wow, what fun we had! We skied for 4 days in awesome conditions - the sun shone, the slopes were emptyish and there was plenty of fresh snow. We were in Gerlos, in the Zillertal Arena in Austria... it took us just 2 hours to drive there from Munich.
I hadnt skied since 1994... thats almost 17 years ago. Even though I skied quite a bit during that gap year I took, I realised once Benedikt started teaching me again how badly I must have skied back then! Clearly I had no style or skill.... as everyone always says you never forget how to ski, its like riding a bike etc etc... well, riding a mtb doesnt exactly come naturally to me so I wasnt surprised when I was like a total beginner again on the slopes. Benedikt was super patient though and kept giving me tips and advice and training sessions the entire 4 days. I tried to do what he told me, but didnt quite master things. I basically established a controlled sliding method to get me down the steeper slopes... So snow plough turn to the left and slide down 10m.... Snow plough turn to the right and slide down 10m... etc etc!
Check out this video Benedikt took on the second day:


So Benedikt is an AMAZING skier. I fell in love with him all over again! He's just so super cool and slick on the slopes. The best by far! Everyone else looked like a joke. So I had the best partner and teacher. He would carry my skis for me whenever we had to walk anywhere, and would load them into the gondola for me. He bought me my boots when it was time to don them at the hotel. And he would even clean the snow off my boots so I could click into my skis. When it came to the actual skiing, he would tell me where to go and would either wait for me to get down, or wait half way for me. He would take 10 seconds to swish swish down the slope and I'd take 10 minutes to weave my way down doing my wide turns. I loved seeing him glide past me. Except when he showered me with snow.
Here's a video of him, playing the fool of course. (he's the 3rd skier to come down)


So we'd ski all day from 9am to 4pm, then come back to the hotel , share a bottle of wine while I expressed and Benedikt watched nonsense on TV... then went to the lovely indoor pool and sauna area where we chilled for an hour or so. Everyone kept their costumes on thank goodness... I've seen how Europeans like to walk around in the nick at these places! Then we'd go for some apres ski and dinner. We went to a different restaurant each night and ate lovely food and drank even lovelier gluwein.

One night we went sledging... to a nearby 7km floodlit course. We took a cable car up, sledged half way down, stopped for dinner and some gluwein, then continued along the course. The sledging was pretty calm at first, then it got a bit hairy. Benedikt was steering from the back while I just screamed and giggled all the way down. We crashed at every corner! This vid shows me going down the last few metres... it was really steep with a really sharp corner at the bottom...

Nic's first (of many) camping trip

So its been a busy couple of weeks. I dont know how I'm going to fit work in in January!
I've started going to a new baby group, which is much better than our little one... there are always at least 15 mums with babies of all ages. Is basically a fat social for all the mums. Although we do we sit in a circle and fun sing songs with actions for the last half an hour...which the kids love, Nicolas included.

We went to a couple of great Christmas craft fairs where I could have bought everything! You get really cool things here I must say - like all the Kikoi stuff and some cool glassware and the lovely indian clothes & scarves which I love and we bought a unique zig zag wooden chair thing. Benedikt tells me these Nairobi markets are krap compared to the German Weihnachtsmarkt... so imagine how mad I am going to go there!

Then we went to a really big and fancy Caledonian Ball last week... there was about 350 people all dolled up, many of whom were in full Scottish kilts and Highlander outfits. The ball was full of tradition which would have made my half scottish father proud - I missed my Pops! We sat at a table where there were no Scots unfortunately so we didnt really know what was going on half the time. And there was loads of confusing Scottish dancing... Benedikt and I tried our hand at one of the safe ones where you don't swap partners & still we didn't get it right. It was a fun evening though. Our 4th ball in the last year and a half!

The next day we had a mtb race - one that I won eaily last year. This time round I came last! I dont know if I'm ever going to get strong on the bike again - maybe when Nic moves out the house when he is 18.

We just came back from a mini camping trip - just one night at Lake Naivasha in our fancy new tent. The tent was awesome and nicolas was even awesomer. He had his best nights sleep yet - he slept for 9 hours on the trot. Clearly he likes the outdoor lifestyle. And he also wasnt disturbed by the hippos, giraffes, loud parties, nor horse and Mahindi's antics in the night. We were very happy
campers. We met up with friends in the evening and had dinner at the camp site restaurant. We'd decided it was easier not to take our own food. Next time we will though - it makes it much more authentic. We also realised how much camping equipment we still need. Pole pole we shall get it all together. Its such a cool thing to do as a family.

So we are off to Germany this week. 2 weeks of COLD WEATHER. We have lots of warm things to wrap Nicolas in and I am borrowing lots of things from Benedikts mum as I obviously dont have a lot. Kenya is always so warm its going to be a shock to my system. I havent had a cold christmas for like forever - maybe 15 years? And Benedikt and I are going skiing for 3 days in Austria - I cant wait. Although it will be hard to leave Nic for that time. But he will be spoilt by his Omi and Opa so we know he will be in excellent hands.

So bye for now....more blogging in the new year... if I have time!

Daily life these days

So...Nicolas is now 4 whole months old. He is a giant baby. I never really liked older babies cos they get so big and un-miniature but now that Nic is there, of course I love him like this.
I am already looking at little newborns and pining for when Nic was there. Its crazy. I can see how once you have one, you just want a whole bunch of babies. The plan for us is to have number 2 (a girl) early 2012. So I would like to be preggers again by the middle of next year. Lets see.
Nicolas is eating/feeding/drinking, whatever you wanna call it like a machine. 150mls every 2.5 hours! Thank goodness I have milk in abundance so there is no problem with supply. Although he refuses to breast feed at all now which is a total pain. He just prefers the bottle - I think its way easier for him. So I express every 3 or 4 hours which is great fun of course. Especially at night!

I have started taking Nicolas swimming every Monday now to a lovely heated outdoor pool at a golf hotel nearby. There is a group of mums that meet there and take their excited kiddies into the pool for 45mins or so of singing and playing together. Nic is the youngest so far and I've only kept him in the pool for about 20mins at a time. He seems to enjoy it and kicks about a bit, but mostly he just looks around with a dazed look on his face. There is SO much to take in I guess. Lots of kids and toys and singing and the sensation of the water as I chuck him about, doing the actions to the songs. I think its a good thing to get him used to from an early age. And i dont know if its related but he has really started to go crazy at bath times now. He kicks and shrieks and spashes about like a grinning mad man the entire time in the bath! He LOVES it.

Also, a couple of girls I met at our lamaze class and I have started a baby group. There's only 4 or 5 of us, but our babies are roughly the same age so its great. We meet once a week for a couple of hours and share horror stories.
I've also been going on a few girls nights... just relaxed dinners with girlfriends. Always with my good friend Hem whose baby is 9 days older than Nic. Benedikt isnt too impressed but its always when Nic is sleeping so he hardly has to do anything!

I am hitting the gym about 4 times a week and am killing myself there. Its such a good gym, its new and clean and never full. And there are always personal trainers on hand to give you new exercises and to correct you etc. I am now following a program and have a dedicated personal trainer and I swear I burn like 10 000 calories with every work out. So pole pole I am getting strong again. I am actually at my pre pregnancy weight already. But I still have a wobbly belly dammit. Seems it will take a while to have a flat tummy again. Not that mine was ever really flat :-)

Benedikt and I went out on our road bikes this last weekend. It had been a year exactly! We were in SA this time last year fot the 94.7 and the DC and we hadnt touched our road bikes since. I had missed it SO much. Although I did die on our very hilly 70km loop we did. I need to work on my cycling big time, getting out once a week is just not enough. My running is going well though, I run about 12kms every second day. And yoga is just the bomb. I am getting SO good at it! I can go down into backbend and come up again... and I do handstands and headstands and one arm balances etc etc! Am determined to master the primary series within the next year to two. (I do Ashtanga yoga with an AMAZING teacher who does the 3rd series, which only a select bunch of people in the world can do)

We went to a fund raising party this last Saturday night. It was big, almost 300 people there. I got dressed up in a new dress etc... it felt like my debut, going out for the first time since getting back to my pre-pregnancy weight. Everyone told me how amazing I looked considering I'd just had a baby so I was very happy! So happy that I proceeded to get quite drunk :-) Omi was looking after Nic for the whole night, she even gave us a lie in which was awesome. Benedikt also went a bit crazy & shocked everyone with his weird and wonderful dance moves :-)

So ja, life is very good for this new family. Omi and Opa have just left after a really enjoyable 3 weeks for them with their first grandson. Nic will miss the attention I'm sure. And we will miss the babysitting. But we are off to COLD Germany in December so not long till we see them again.

Amboseli again!

Our third trip to this beautiful game park was just as cool- its in such an amazing location at the bottom of mt kilimanjaro, just on this side of Tanzania. We had a beautiful evening the first evening, sitting outside in the middle of the bush, drinking dowas and champagne, watching the sun set in front of us and the moon rise above us. And the impressive sight of the clear, snow topped Kili on our left.
Nicolas was very well behaved the whole trip. He did get fed up with all the time in the car but handled it very well. His routine was very much out of kilter, he had to have his bath at like 5pm and only went to sleep at 8pm...due to our evening activities, but he just adapted - he is brilliant! He only really erupted once, on the way home when he screamed the house down for 20 minutes for no clear reason. Its SO hard to calm a baby down when they go ballistic like that. And its impossible to know why they are screaming too.
The second day we got up early and did a few hours game driving, all with a clear mountain as the back drop - which is rare. We saw loads of elephants, giraffes, buffalo, hippos, buck, warthogs and hyenas. No lions, leopards or cheetahs, but hey we just saw all of them at the mara last month.
The lodge we stayed in was lovely, the walls everywhere were made via a combination of twisting logs and cement, a great affect, and our tented rooms were divine. Really big and luxurious. We were even given a cot for Nicolas. On the saturday night we left Nic in our room with a masai guide outside - a manual baby monitor!
We left on the Sunday after plenty of g & t's and great food and some spectacular views.

Nairobi Half Marathon

So Benedikt and I ran the 21km this last weekend. It was quite a big race with some amazing kenyan runners showing us how its done. The route consisted of loops so we were able to see the marathon and half marathon winners running circles around us. Wow they SPRINT the whole way.
Benedikt and I ran together and we finished in 1 hour 54 mins. Yay - so chuffed to have broken the 2 hour mark. Although admittedly the course was mostly flat with some gentle hills.
Benedikt claims he could have run faster than we did in the last few kms... and that I held him back! Whatever :-) It was his first 21km ever - he's gotten quite into the running thing lately. Finally he sees its benefits!
I was quite proud of myself for not walking one single step. And it was only 3 months after I gave birth. Not bad eh?
Now its time to get my cycling legs back. Will back off on the running a bit.

Omi and Opi arrived in the early hours of the morning today, and were very happy to wake up and meet their grandson. They bought us loadsa cool goodies from Germany too and some really cute clothes - Yay!

Nicolas is now 3 months old

And he is much cuter then when he was newborn! I look at photos at when he was first born and he looked awful! His skin is a much better colour now and his head is no longer swollen. His face is more in proportion and he has eyebrows (very feint ones) and eyelashes and is generally looking much cuter! He is SO much more alert now and he smiles and coos all the time. The newborn stage is actually not so nice when you look back on it. They are just sensitive little shriveled blobs! They are so unresponsive and fragile in the beginning and you have to be so careful when handling them. Nowadays we can pick Nic up, plonk him down and hold him any old way. His neck is nice and strong and he likes to sit up and face the world. And its just SO nice getting a response from him... the smiles and coos and gaas are just so addictive. I never thought I'd be the coo-ing type of mother who would talk in baby language for long sessions... but I am! I never get tired of interacting with him - he is just SO cute when he is in a good mood and smiles away and talks to you.
He knows exactly what he wants too. Like he refuses to breast feed during the day anymore. He only does it at night now. So we give him breast milk via a bottle during the day. I think its easier for him to get the milk - lazy bugger.
He also isnt happy to lie on his back anymore. So dumping him in his playpen under his mobile while you want to do something no longr works. He wants to be where the action is. ie in the kitchen while we are cooking. Or on our laps while we are chatting with friends.
He is still very happy in his pram though. And he LOVES going for walks and being outside amongst the birds and the trees. He does all his day time sleeping in his pram - its such a great pram, well its a whole travel system. The carry cot fits into it, or the car seat. Very handy. Thanks Vicky - we think of you everytime we use it! His day time sleeps are becoming less and less - he sleeps on average about 3.5 hours during the day. And then he sleeps from 7pm to about 7:30am at night. Waking up at least twice for a feed in that period. His first feed being around 1am or 2am usually, so he does sleep for 6-7 hour stints which is great. We are working on ways to get him sleep for longer so lets see if they work.

He can roll over from his tummy to his back now. He did this already at 2.5 months which we were very impressed with. And he can hold himself up while on his tummy pretty well. Check the video!

I've been going to a couple of baby groups which are great. Its so nice to hear what others are doing in the same situation and to compare babies. Nicolas is always the best behaved. And the best looking. And the best dressed. Yesterday we had an unofficial baby massage class where a couple of the girls shared their knowledge on baby massage techniques. Nicolas wee'd on me 3 times during the session!


Sara, our nanny is turning out swimmingly. She's here monday to friday 8am to 6pm, although she gets a lot of time off when I take Nic places. She has a room on our compound so all very handy. I just sms her when I get home and she comes and carries Nic inside for me! She also works Saturday and Sunday mornings so that we can go for runs or rides. As soon as we get home she is free. We like to have Nicolas as much as possible to ourselves on weekends.
Sara is REALLY good with him. She constantly points out things and gives him things to hold and to look out. She talks to him a lot and takes him on walks. He loves sitting on the terrace in her lap watching the dogs!
I do feel bad about how much I leave Nic with her. But then I remind myself that plenty of mothers do it when they return to work. I have been working quite a bit lately, and going to the gym and for runs and to yoga of course.
What I especially like about Sara is that she doesn't hog him. She hands him straight over when I get back and goes and cleans his room, or does the dishes, or sterilises the bottles, or chops some veggies, or some other useful task. She also encourages him to smile at me and notice me whenever she is holding him - these small things are important I've realised!

I do feel VERY spoilt having a full time nanny. And I appreciate every moment of it. I'm pretty sure it wont be this easy with our next child. Theres no help in bloody first world countries!

Oh yes, before I forget... a funny incident with Nicolas. He was just 6 weeks old (which seems like a lifetime ago) and I'd dropped off my mum and dad at the tea farm for the day. I was on my way back when my car broke down. And I was in the middle of a real african town - Banana Hill: Terrible road, muddy pavements, shack upon shack lining the roads, dodgy little kiosks selling everything but the kitchen sink, matatus blazing past and hooting loudly, people milling about everywhere. Goats, donkeys and stray dogs all digging in the piles of rubbish. And there sits me, a mazungu woman with her baby, broken down on the side of the road! I must say I didnt even feel scared. In SA I would have been petrified. Although in SA I would never have been driving through a township in the first place. And it was BOILING hot. My car just died on me, so I couldn't even run the engine and use the aircon. And of course Nicolas started to cry, he was cooking in the back of the car in his car seat. And he was very thirsty. So I had to breastfeed the little guy. Right there for all to see! It was too hot to cover him too. And uno the funny thing, people didn't even stop to stare! They just walked on past. No one even approached me. So Nic and I just got on with our thing and waited for the tow truck and Benedikt to come and rescue us. It was only about an hour or so that we had to wait for. Guess the whole incident made me more relaxed about breast feeding in public in the end!

I've done 2 mtb races already!

So for my mum's last weekend here we took her away as a way of saying thank you for ALL her amazing help with Nicolas. It wasnt because we wanted her to babysit or anything for the entire weekend. But she did. And we happened to go off cycling. Fancy that!
We stayed in a beautiful 5 star lodge very near to Mt Kenya, Benedikt and I had stayed there before and loved it. And needless to say, my mum loved it too. How could she not?!
So after a very bumpy journey there we had a very peaceful and early night on the Friday as Benedikt and I got up early to ride on Saturday. We did a 70km mtb ride... which took me almost 5 hours!! I did have a puncture that needed to be fixed twice and caused a half an hour delay. But still! I DIED. At about 50kms I was facing YET ANOTHER hill I just wanted to get off my bike and lie down in the shade. I was crawling upwards at about minus 10km/h... the sun was baking down on me, I was on my own at that stage and I was not in a good way! Somehow I managed to finish, and I was broken for the rest of the day. What an introductory post pregnancy ride (8 weeks after giving birth) - I couldnt have chosen a harder one! Everyone found it very tough. It was at a high altitude too, all round the Timau/mount Kenya area.
I still managed to enjoy a glass of wine or two in the evening though which perked me up a bit :-) We had a really social dinner with the couple that manages the lodge and the other guests. Mum was very kindly looking after Nic for the night so I could recover and get a full nights sleep.

The next ride I did was 2 weeks later... another 2 day mtb race. Well, I did day 1 while Benedikt looked after nicolas. And Benedikt did the harder and longer day 2. We rode from Tigoni which is just north of Nairobi to Lake Naivasha on day 1. It was a self supported, self navigating team event. I'd done the web site actually and Benedikt had been involved a little with the organising. It was a great weekend, we stayed in a lovely camp site on the Saturday night, with great food and great company. About 40 of Nairobi's cyclists came out for the weekend which was a good turnout.
The distance was 70kms on day 1. And I managed no problem. Besides from an obligatory wipe out or two. Mike and I ended up riding with another 2 teams for most of the ride which made it quite social and fun. And it made sure we didnt get lost as Mike and I were not so hot on the gps side of things. The last 8kms was a flat tar stretch which I absolutely LOVED. How I miss tar!!
Benedikt and Mike went substantially faster the next day and arrived back at the camp by 1 o clock, after I'd had a nice chilled morning with Nicolas. Who was an absolute star. He slept well and adjusted to the new environment no problem. So far the little guy is fitting into our lives very well which is great. I needed to get back into sport after being a blob for 9 months!
I have been running loads and loads (and going to gym and doing yoga) and the weight is coming off quite fast. 3kgs to go! I cant wait to fit into all my clothes again and to feel normal. Benedikt and I are running the Nairobi half marathon at the end of this month. We've been training for it so we should do under 2 hours - lets see. Getting back into cycling is a much slower process as I only get out on my bike once a week... but slowly I will get back to how I was. I am determined! Its fantastic having a nanny as it allows me to get out during the week and for Benedikt and I to train on the weekends. Living in Kenya and having kids is great!