Three months later

The picture below has been taken on the 7th of May, the day before Mia was born. When posing for this picture, I had just completed a four hour trek with my mom. Thinking back, I am kind of tempted to believe that Mia was born BECAUSE of this trekking. Poor little worm had probably enough of being shaked around in my belly over "Stock und Stein". Today, we went on the same trek again (the picture below has been taken on more or less the same spot). At least this time Mia had a chance to see a bit of the landscape and participate more actively (and loudly) in the daytrip.

Summit

Pictures from Mia's first summit, the Königangerspitze @ 2400 m (with a bit of cheating, since she obviously didn't reach the peak by foot but rather was carried like a babykangoroo).

Kings of the road

One might think that pushing a stroller ahead of you would trigger polite manners by other traffic participants (in particular drivers of cars and bicycles). Not so in Suedtirol. Here, if you walk with a stroller, you better get yourself a second pair of eyes that help you cover a 360° radius, to make sure you don't oversee the kings of the roads with their bully jeeps or their 5000 Euro bikes.
Just today, I was already in the midst of a pedestrian crossing, a biker (who approached me and the stroller on his 5000 Euro bike) shouted at me - while almost driving into Mia's stroller with 50 kmh - to open my eyes before crossing the street (note: on a pedestrian crossing) . How comes these idiots on bikes think that they are exempted from traffic rules, just because they have fancy outfits and expensive bikes and well trained bodies? After all, I was already on the pedestrian crossing while he was still 200 meters away. Before I was able to tell him that it would be him to pay in case of an accident, because he 1) drove to fast 2) did ignore the pedestrian crossing - he was already around the corner.
But worst then the bikers are the owners of jeeps, and here again in particular female owners. I remember a middle aged women who recently parked her disgustingly big jeep in the midst of a pedestrian strip. I with my stroller had to walk on the street in order to pass her jeep. When I noticed her that the pedestrian strip was for pedestrians, she only shrug her shoulders and continued devoting her whole attention to her unnaturally full lips. Bitch. Besides the fact that I think its ridiculous to drive a jeep in a town where you can count the potholes on one hand, they should at least respect traffic rules. But after three months of stroller pushing, I have learned that it's size and speed that matter in Suedtirol. No wonder Italy has one of the lowest birthrates around the world.

Life outside Hollywood

Though still waiting for the happy end, I should add that there is more to tell about life with a child (and life in general) than what shallow hollywood movies are able to tell us. Luckily. How awful would it be if one would have to constantly worry about too many, too few, or simply the wrong men, deal with mothers and mothers in law, live in messed up appartments, and on top of everything also try to be funny while dealing with all this?

One thing that's beautiful about having a child is that suddenly, there are so many things out there to be (re)discovered. How should I put it? It's different to do stuff with a child, even if it is about something which one has done a hundred and more times before. Simply things. For instance spending a day on lake Garda, or going for a trek, or going for a swim, walking through the town in the evening, or travelling by plane, seeing relatives or friends. All these apparently well known things suddenly feel new, as if I would do them for the first time. Sometimes it doesn'teven require one to do things; it's enough to follow the eyes of Mia, try to look at things she is staring at, and suddenly there are new things in the room, in the street, in the car, whereverI am with her. Things I never noticed before - even so they were always there - because I just didn't pay any notice to them. Little things. Which are out there and all around to be discovered. First time trekking with Mia

First time lake Garda with Mia

Hollywood

Somehow I just can't keep myself from drawing analogies between my life and a shallow hollywood comedy:

One baby - Mia
Three men - Mia's dad, someone I love, someone I can't forget about
A flat in dire need of a cleanup
A facial skin that could put up with some scrubbing as well
A mom who believes that grandmothers have a bigger say in the upbringing of grandchildren than the granchilds' mom has
A mother in law that is not quite a mother in law but would still be happy to babysit whereever I decide to work and live
A dog who loves sunbathing on his back in the garden at 30 something degree
A bunch of lovely-crazy self declared aunties of Mia, around the world
And a group of other moms for the occasional gossip-coffee meet ups in town

I'm confident the happy-end is just hiding around the corner.

Früh übt sich

Pictures taken during a recent - improvvised - martial arts training session.

She's a real little fighter...

Thinking - screaming

At least she knows what she wants.