Nicholas loves his brother

Nicholas is always anxious to help with Christopher. Here he is
holding Christopher after putting the pacifier in his mouth.

Company Christmas party

Here we are in a private show kitchen with a star chef.

Christmas Market in Solln

on Saturday, we went to the Christkindlmarkt in Solln - a 20 min. walk
from our house and met up with Anja to listen to a childrens choir
sing, and checkout the stands.

It's me again...

Hi - this is as close as I can get...

more of Christopher

For those checking our site for Christopher pictures - here is a
recent one!

Nicholas' hand on Christopher's head

At the end of our recent Photo session, Will captured Nicholas with
his hand on Christopher's head.

Early Christmas Picture

Here we are after our early Christmas celebration with the Adams.
(from left to right: Nicholas, Brian, Christopher, Juliane, Meghan,
Layla, Jeremy and Matt

What is that gift for?

Nicholas was trying to help Jeremy figure out what to do with his
Christmas gift (a Trunki childrens suitcase on wheels).

First Christmas experiences

First Nicholas opening up a Saint Nicholaus Day gift on December 6th,
and then today showing Mom the cool Matchbox cars he got from Jeremy.

Horsing around

Here are Nicholas and Jeremy horsing around.

Nicholas Chilling

Nicholas relaxing after a bath before bedtime.

Nicholas likes to help

Nicholas is always trying to get Christopher his pacifier, or help
feed him. He always asks where the baby is if he sees both of us
without seeing Christopher. Today after lunch hed wanted to hold
Christopher and gve him a big hug for the firdt time.

Juliane (& Christopher) are back home

Juliane's operation to remove her Gall Bladder went well. Here is a description from Margaret Basso since I don't know all the terms in English:

"It sounds to me like they did an endoscopy to remove stones from her common bile duct. Most probably, they will if possible remove the gallbladder doing a laproscopy, where several small "puncture wounds" are made to the abdomen. A camera is then inserted through one of these openings and the surgeon does the procedure almost like playing a video game. I have had this done and the recovery time is very quick. Previously, they made a diagonal cut across the right abdomen through all of the major muscle groups and it was major surgery with a 6-8 week recovery.  Thankfully, that is seldom necessary anymore. I'm not sure what restrictions I had regarding lifting. Babies don't weigh much."

Everything went well. She is back home and actually feeling quite well. The week in the Hospital probably helped her recover from the Sesection, as well.

Juliane's Operation is on Wednesday morning at 9

Update: Juliane's operation will be at 9 AM on Wed. morning. It
should be endoscopic (so there will not be a large cut). Maybe she can
come home this weekend.

Juliane back in for Gallstones

Juliane discovered the source of her 4 cramp attacks in early summer -
Gall Stones! That was one of the possible reasons next to just plain
old pregnancy woes. She was supposed to go get them checked a few
weeks after the birth. Friday afternoon, she started haveing extreme
pain (which chould also have been attributed to the C-Section), so
picked up some pain killers recommend by the hospital at the local
pharmacy. After a long night of pain we went to the emergency room on
Saturday morning. On Monday the removed the stones causing the pain
(they slid down into some tubes?), and are waiting for the infection
and swelling to die down, so they can remove the Gall Bladder on
Thursday. Juliane will not be home for awhile.


Nicholas having fun pressing the hospital bed buttons


Christopher is hanging in the hospital with mom. They are around the corner from the maternity ward where he was born, so the midwives check in on them. They are in a room by themselves.

Family Pics

Juliane's Mom was here for a planned visit when Juliane went in to labor. Her dad drove down on Saturday, so we got in a few pictures.

Christopher and Juliane come home

Christopher and Juliane came home from the Hospital on Sunday!

5 Star Hospital Room (yes Hospital, not Hotel)

Well, the Hospital in Starnberg is overflowing. Either because they were renovating the second maternity ward or renting it out for someone making a movie (depends on which nurse you ask). So since Juliane was not able to get the single room she booked (only EUR 50 more per night above what the insurance pays), and was in a room with 2 others, they gave her the last room in the Residence. The Residence is a luxury, hotel-like wing built to attract patients from the middle east. The only downside, is she didn't get a hospital bed, which would have been useful after a sesection.


The room was a mess after Nicholas had been there for awhile.

Juliane's mother, Edith, arrived for a planned visit the day Christopher was born!

Nicholas and Jeremy at the Sports Club

Nicholas has been going to "Baby Sport" at the Sport Club. The have a whole gymnasium setup with matrasses, trampolines, balls, swings, etc. just for under 4's. Nicholas and Jeremy were the only two running around and yelling. All the other kids were quietly doing their "thing". A couple of times when I wasnt paying attention, Nicholas slipped around the end of the wall into the other Gym to watch the big kids. He just stood there and watched...

Christopher has arrived!

Christopher James arrived on November 13th, 2007 at 9:43 pm. He weighed 3220 g ( 7 lbs.), and was 52 cm tall (20.5 "). 

Both the Mother and Christopher are doing well! 

For more information checkout www.christopherporter.net

Taking a bath

Here is Nicholas taking a bath. Checkout our new Nicholas TV!

Nicholas and Oma

Here is a video of Nicholas in Hamburg with Oma

Edith and Michael's Surprise Party

As Juliane's father turned 60 last year, and her mother this year, Juliane (and her Aunt, and 2 of her Mother's friends) decided it would be cool to throw a surprise party. They did it on the weekend between the birthdays while her father was still 60, and her mother just turned 60. Ula used her connections to get us the whole restaurant for the evening even though we were a small group. Here are some pics.

Testing our new video camera

Nicholas helps me test the new video camera. First I asked him to sit on the couch. Then...

Fingerpainting with Jeremy

Nicholas and Jeremy fingerpainted last week. Nicholas finally tried after watching Jeremy.

Nicholas does all his own stunts

Here is Nicholas with his cool t-shirt which he got from the Adams. He does all his own stunts!

Nicholas almost gets his first stiches

Nicholas was messing around on the Adams' couch after getting his hair cut this past friday, and he fell against the coffee table and gashed his forehead above the eye. The doctors taped it... On saturday we were at a wedding, so his war-wound attracted allot of attention.

Nicholas likes to talk on the phone

Here is Nicholas involved in one of his most favorite activities - pretend talking on the phone. Sometimes he walks around the house with his cell phone. Here is an old phone he saw laying on the basement floor and had me bring upstairs.

Nicholas talking to the camera

Nicholas talking to the camera, but not saying what daddy wants him to say!

Video of Nicholas playing with a saftey blanket

My car emergency kit expired (yes - check your date, they do expire), so we saved the bandages for home use, but gave Nicholas the vest and saftey (space?) blanket to play with.

Video with the other kids in the alps

Here is Nicholas with the other kids playing a German game - obviously the other kids have done it before - I don't even know what it is called.

The crew from our Hütten Weekend in Austria

Here is a picture of us with two of the other couples from the Hütten Weekend in Austria. Mike & Susi with their twins Fiona and Sophia as well as Steffen & Loreta with Jette.

Vacation Pictures updated

We just updated our vacation pictures with pictures from Hamburg and the Ostsee, the weekend in Tirol, Austria, as well as some 2005 pics from Cabo San Lucas, Mexico. Enjoy (click on the travel Menu).

Video Conference

Nicholas just got off the computer with his first Video Conference with Grandma and Grandpa where he could actually talk some. He didn't want to say good night at the end - he was having too much fun.

Car train to Hamburg

We took the car train to northern Germany for 10 days. It was a night train, so we boarded around 8 pm and got there in the morning. On the way back, we arrived on a Monday morning, and Brian went to work after getting home and freshening up.

Jeremy comes to try out the pool

Jeremy came over this past Wednesday to play in the pool with Nicholas, they thought they were pretty cool, and had a blast.

Major Hail

The weather has been in the low 30's here the whole week (90's Fahrenheit!), and we have has some pretty major thunderstorms and such. Well last night we had a little hail, which is not too unusual here. But this evening, it hailed again. The hailstones where anywhere from cherry size to ping-pong-ball size!