Discovery

Is there anything

 

more sweet

 

than a baby

 

discovering for the first time?

 

Dental Capital Of The World

What a random title, I know.  I didn’t even know there was such a thing until recently.  I basically stumbled across this blindly when planning an impromptu road trip with our visitors, the Sharpes.  Lindsay wanted to drive across the border into Slovakia and Hungary, so she could add a check off a couple more countries that she’s visited.  Since we are so close to the border of both (around 30 minutes), we thought this was an excellent idea!  The obvious choice for Slovakia was to go to Bratislava to Tesco (click here to learn about my love for all things Tesco), but Hungary was a new one for Jeremy and I.  The closest semi-large city across the border was a town called Mosonmagyaróvár.  

Quite a mouth-full!  Actually, I never attempted to pronounce it…I’m smarter than that.  When I googled Mosonmagyaróvár, I came across a Wikipedia article that was mainly talking about dental care.  Apparently, worldwide it has the highest number of dentists compared to the total population.  After reading this, I started to recall something in the back of my brain where I had read lots of people in Austria cross over into Hungary to get cheap (but good) dental work.  It never occurred to me that it was actually the Dental Captial of the World!  

We arrived there about tooth-thirty (ha), and we did see a lot of dental clincs in Mosonmagyaróvár…an insane amount.  Can you see all the signs on the left?

 

There is even a Dental Tourism Board.  I’m not joking!  Check out this site if you don’t believe me.  According to Wikipedia, it is estimated that around 160,000 Austrians cross the border every year for dental care.  This article talks about an American who traveled to Hungary to pay less than a third of the $50,000 in dental work he needed.  That definitely takes a bite out of the cost (ha again)!  I don’t plan on letting my teeth get that bad, but it’s nice to know that I have help just across the border if I need it!  :o)  

Wiener Wednesday - Sharpe Edition

We currently have Ben, Lindsay, and Clarissa Sharpe visiting us, so this week’s Wiener Wednesday will focus on our latest sight-seeing adventure:  Schönbrunn Palace!

Most of you may remember that we lived just a few blocks from Schönbrunn and had a beautiful view of the Gloriette from our living room.  Well, since my Schönbrunn knowledge has recently been renewed after our tour today, I thought I could share a few random facts about this lovely palace.

-  The land was first purchased by Holy Roman Emperor Maximillian II to be hunting grounds called Katterburg, but was destroyed by the Turkish siege in 1683.  Maria Theresa employed Nikolaus Pacassi to finish the grand Baroque palace from 1744-1749.

-  Schönbrunn was built to be the summer residence for the Austrian emperor and empress.

-  It is home to the oldest existing zoo, which was built in 1752.

-  The Gloriette, designed by Johann Ferdinand Hetzendorf von Hohenberg (yes, we all laughed at this ridiculously long name) in 1775, sits on a 60 meters high hill.  Empress Maria Theresa enjoyed eating breakfast on it terraces.

-  Schönbrunn, which means “beautiful fountain,” was named after a spring that lies on the grounds.  The spring is now surrounded by a beautiful Roman Ruins architectural feature, which was finished in 1778.

-  Napoleon used the palace as his headquarters from 1805-1809.

-  It was the meeting place for the late John F. Kennedy and Nikita Khrushchev in 1961 to talk about a joint moon program.

-  Emperor Franz Joseph died there in his sleeping chambers in 1916.

-  The UNESCO placed Schönbrunn Palace on the World Cultural Heritage List in 1996.

-  It is now home to the Wiener Philharmoniker’s free Sommernacht Concert usually held in beginning of June.  The orchestra sets up a stage in front of the Neptune Fountain and draws tens of thousands of people every year.  

-  In my opinion, it serves the best Wiener schnitzel in Vienna!  :o)

First Time For Everything

I have had lots of firsts recently.  Here is my first time...

Sucking my thumb,

Sitting up by myself,

Discovering that the ball on my exersaucer spins,

Projectile vomiting on Daddy,

 

Playing with my feet,

 

And eating solids.

 

 

I'm growing up fast!

Wiener Wednesday

 

What gives you wings and a slight tremor, AND it is an Austrian native?  If you guessed Red Bull, then you’ve guessed the topic of this week’s Wiener Wednesday!

At about 4am when feeding Eli, I decided that this week’s Wiener Wednesday would be about Red Bull.  I’m sure you can figure out the motivation!  I didn't drink caffeine except for a treat until recently.  Once again, I’m sure you can figure out why!  I don’t drink Red Bull (except for once during finals in college), but I find it fascinating that it originated in Austria!

From what I’ve been told (and verified by Wikipedia), Red Bull is actually based on a energy drink recipe found in Thai, called Krating Daeng.  Apparently, Krating Daeng literally means "red bull," and it even has the same logo.  An Austrian, Dietrich Mateschitz, discovered Krating Daeng when he visited Thai in 1982, and it helped him overcome jetlag.  Mateschitz and Chaleo Yoovidhya founded Red Bull in 1987, and it made its way across the Atlantic to America 10 years later.  Red Bull is different from Kratin Daeng because it is carbonated, and it is not as sweet.

You may also be familiar with Red Bull’s Flugtag…or “flying day.”  

According to Red Bull’s website:

“Red Bull Flugtag challenges teams of everyday people to build homemade, human-powered flying machines and pilot them off a 30-foot high deck in hopes of achieving flight! Flugtag may mean "flying day" in German, but all these crafts ultimately splash into the waters below. They are judged not only on their flight's distance, but creativity and showmanship as well.”

In otherwords, idiots take a flying leap into freezing water.  I would be interested in seeing this sometime.  They host it annually at the Danube River, and what’s more fun than seeing people plummet to an over showcased ride to the emergency room?

I personally don’t like Red Bull…I think it tastes like a liquid sweet tart!  However, it’s neat to know that I’m living in the caffeine capital of the world!           

A Kickin' House

I don't know why, but I completely failed to post pictures of our house!  A lot of you know that two weeks after I gave birth to Eli, we moved outside the city of Vienna to a house in Sommerein.  It's a very quaint little town, and the house give us lots of space.  Here is a sampling of pictures:

        

  

         

You can go to our web album by clicking here to see all the pictures I took with captions to guide you.  It's so nice to have the house completed!  I know what you're wondering, but we're not renaming the blog to The Sommerein Wilsons.  I just don't think it has the same ring! 

Now to see the kickin' part of the house, you have to watch the video!  :o)

4 Months

This past Monday was Eli’s four-month mark.  We celebrated by having a photo shoot (of course)!  

 

He is getting so big…I just can’t stand it!  He is already wearing 6 months clothes because of his length.  The body is so baggy, but it’s pulling at the crotch!  Our doctor said he looks like a toddler.  I think I’d have to agree!

 

He is a rolling fool now.  He’ll roll over to his belly and onto to his back again.  Unfortunately, he hasn’t learned quite how to maneuver in the crib yet.  We’ll hear these muffled cries coming through the monitor, and he’ll be face down and in the corner!  I know once he gets the hang of it, he’ll be all over the crib! I FINALLY caught the little booger rolling over on camera, so you can see it! (Caution: Extreme use of my baby voice in this video)

He is also starting to use more consonants.  It’s “ba” or “ga” now.  He even said something yesterday that sounded so close to “mama!”  I’m sure it was just wishful thinking on my part though!  More than anything, he is a smiler.  He LOVES to smile.  Even when he is crying, you can usually get him to smile in the middle of it!  He’s laughing a lot more now too.  It’s this cute little hiccupping laugh…I can’t get enough of it!

Tomorrow I’m going high chair shopping.  We need to get this boy on solids!  The milk just does not fill him anymore.  He has even started grabbing for my food!  He’s particularly interested in french fries.  I wonder if this is because a lot of his nutrition in the womb was from that food!  :o)

 

You can see more 4-month (and Mother’s day) pictures by clicking here.  I’m starting to experiment more with photography and editing, so please let me know what you think! 

Wiener Wednesday

Have you ever had one of those days where if you could do it all over again, you wouldn’t?  This week’s edition of Wiener Wednesday will be spent talking about my Wiener Tuesday. 

Yesterday started like any other.  I was looking forward to making a trip to town because the girls from my childbirth class were having a reunion to show off the new babies.  One of the girls, Sofia, was hosting it at her apartment.  I arrived at Sofia’s apartment, and it turned out that everyone cancelled but me!  That was ok…we had a good time anyway!  She has an adorable little boy named Ari.  Can you tell his mother is Greek?  

 

I love it how him and Eli are completely unimpressed with one another.  This was the first time he has been around another baby that is the same age as him (Ari is two weeks older), and I was curious what he would do…apparently nothing.  :o)  They both like sticking out their tongues though!

   

So, I hung out for a couple of hours, and then I headed back a couple of blocks to the garage where I was parked.  This is where the story goes downhill (literally). On the way to the garage, I had to pass by a bar where several men where standing outside.  This didn’t really faze me because this is not uncommon in Vienna, and there is usually never any threat.  However, these men began catcalling, whistling, clapping, and yelling at me.  Also, not uncommon, and I usually just ignore them and walk faster.  These guys were a bit more determined than I’ve ever encountered before though.  They began following me at a brisk pace while making lewd gestures.  Now this is the point of the story where I started getting nervous.  I was not worried for myself, but I didn’t know the best way to protect Eli!  So, I basically started running from them to which they responded by running as well. 

Now, I discovered that a LOT goes through your mind when you are terrified.  My first thought was how in the world do I get out of the garage ridiculously fast?  Here in Vienna, they do not have garage attendants that sit in a booth to collect your money as you exit.  You stick your ticket in a machine located somewhere in the garage (usually at the stairwells) to pay BEFORE you get in your car, and you put the paid-for ticket in another machine that lets you exit.  It can be quite embarrassing for a first-timer in a garage of this fashion when you pull up to the exit with an unpaid ticket, and people are lined up behind you.  Just imagine having to get everyone to reverse!  Anyway…back on topic…

The second thought was forget the ticket, I’ll just get us locked up in the car and drive around in the garage till police come.  The third thought was how do I get Eli out of the stroller and into a car seat?  I decided that I would simply grab him out of the stroller, leave the stroller in the garage, forget the car seat, and Britney Spears him out of there.  The final thought?  Well, what if they stayed around in the garage?  Would I be prepared to run them over?  Abso-stinkin’-lutely.  I honestly think I would have done anything at that point to protect my baby.  Alright, here we go….

Instead of going to the pedestrian entrance where I would've had to tackle stairs or wait for an elevator, I decided to just run down the steep hill where the cars enter.  In hindsight, it was not the best idea.  See, I’m a bit of a klutz.  I promptly tripped, lost my shoe, and oh yes, broke my toe.  *sigh*

Did I mention Eli is hysterically crying out of exhaustion at this point?  Naptime couldn’t have come at a worse moment…

I’m at my car, and I realize the men must have decided they had terrorized me enough for the day.  I’m still not comfortable with lingering, so I quickly get Eli into his car seat and lock the doors.  Now I can leave, right?  Wrong.  Remember thought number one?  Well, I had forgotten to pay for my ticket.  STINKS!  I look around, and I don’t see a machine anywhere.  I don’t even see a sign that points to where it is.  Since it is a grocery store garage, I thought it might actually be in the store.  So, I go over and stick a coin in a shopping cart to rent one (yeah, they do that here too), and I sit the car seat in it to head up to the store. 

As Eli’s crying wafted through the store, I realize there is no machine.  Where in the dickens is this thing?!  I decided it was time to call in the troops…I call Jeremy.  I left out all the small talk (and story leading up to this), and I read him the garage sign about parking tickets.  He said even though he’d never seen a garage like that, he thought I had to go through the cash register in the grocery store to pay for my ticket.  DOUBLE STINKS! 

I go and wait in line and promptly grab some chocolate to attempt to snuff out the memory of being chased through the street.  When I get up to the register, I hand the cashier the ticket.  She speaks of lot of German to me, and hands me a receipt.  I point to my ticket that she had validated but didn’t give back to me, and she speaks more German.  I tell her that I don’t understand, and she points to the garage and shoves my Snickers bar in my face.  Okaaaaay, so this is where I start crying.  I walk back to the elevator, and I call Jeremy again.  I tell him she wouldn’t give me the ticket back even though I paid, and now I don’t know what to do.  At this point the cashier leaves the store and walks down the street.  So, now I’m thinking, “great, she just left for lunch!”  A few minutes later, she comes back and starts yelling at me.  I cry more, and Jeremy tells me to give the phone to her.  He converses with her, and he tells me that she has to manually unlock the gate in the garage, and that’s where she went.  But of course, I stood there blubbering like an idiot.  So, he told me that she was going back, and I needed to get to my car as quickly as possible because she was pretty ticked off.

I got to the car in record time…crying, shaking, and traumatized…but would you like to guess the next part?  Someone parked so close to me, I couldn’t get into the car from the driver’s side.  I had to climb in through the passenger side door.  And as I peeled out of my spot (being very careful not to hit the car next to me), what did I forget about?  The garage foundation pole on the passenger side of the car in my blind spot.  Yep, I put a nice, big dent in our new (to us) Ebay car. 

The cashier waved to me as I exited, and Eli fell asleep peacefully as I drove home.  A Snickers bar never tasted better.  :o)