Wiener Mummy

Today we tried something new - our first baby disco ! Shake Baby Shake To celebrate Little K's baby group turning 2, we agreed to meet up at the WUK and join the baby disco "Shake Baby Shake! " entry was 7EUR and included a glass of orange juice, prosecco or a mix of the two. It was a very easy location to reach and has been a venue that I have always wanted to visit. Upon entering the red brick building, you go inside and are met with a lovely big pram storage area. Make sure you take everything with you as then you need to head upstairs where you can leave your coats and get ready to party! Entrance of the WUK Pram parking at the bottom We arrived rather punctually at 15:00 and it was not so busy. The event was sold out online (40 tickets were sold) but they were still offering tickets at the door (30) so a few showed up early to try and get in. After picking up my bellini and seeing another friend there we started to explore what the place had to o...

Last week was Little K’s 2nd birthday and the grandparents flew over from the UK for a week. It’s been really nice as I’ve been off so can spend some time with them too. I’m really lucky to have an Austrian family that is nearby who visits K a lot, but as most of the “expat” mummies know - sometimes you can’t beat having your own family here. Waiting for the Ubahn with Grandma and Granddad We spent a lot of time playing at home and K has enjoyed being the centre of attention! The “choo choo” and autos have become new favourite toys. It has been great watching him with them and learning new and fun ways to play with his toys. I find it fascinating how quickly he catches onto an idea and still plays that way the next day. Mum and I got to visit the Mini Markt on Friday and got some good ideas for Bubbles’ outfit for a wedding this summer. Then on Saturday we had birthday pizza with the Husband’s parents at Da Capo. The little birthday boy got spoiled with new toys and a sco...

First post on official documentation needs in Austria (disclaimer: actually Vienna, WGKK and only relevant at the time of posting as never know when things could change!) What is “ Wochengeld ”? To ease the financial burden that you may not work 8 weeks before and 8-12 weeks after due date (depending on c-section / multiple births), the Krankenkasse (in my case WGKK) compensates your income. This is capped at a certain amount and is based on the netto salary from the previous 3 months. There are three documents that you need to have to receive this money. 1. Confirmation of due date - it can either be page 13 of your Mutter-Kind-Pass, a blue slip which is in triplicate that you receive from your doctor or the signed reverse page of the  Arbeits-und Entgeldsbestätigung . The white paper you receive at the start of your check ups is only a pre-confirmation for your employer. I just had my 4th Mutter-Kind checkup and asked the receptionist to give it to me. 2. Ar...

Time to relax and get ready for Bubbles (= project nickname in case you didn’t know). So, what am I doing on my first day? We woke up and had coffee, milk and cuddles in bed with Little K - these moments without rush or stress just need to be enjoyed. Then we got ready, he chose a weather appropriate outfit of tights, short sleeved body and thick winter jumper! He’s obviously as confused by this rapid weather change as we all are. Husband got to drive “Annie” to work so we waved bye bye and had a lovely walk to Kindergarten where he was “chatting” away. We had some drama with our Kindergarten last year, but we are so happy with the new place. Confirmed that on Wednesday K can celebrate his birthday there so we need to buy a Guglhupf and some candles! There are still two more check ups for my Mutter-Kind-Pass, today is one of them. Before going to my gynocologist and say “hey there baby!” enjoyed a nice breakfast at the Anker cafe on Landstraße Hauptstraße in the 3rd. It was a bit ...

Great news - have taken a serious step in my blogging journey and have created my own domain (actually, credit goes to the Husband here). From now you will automatically be redirected to blog.wiener-mummy.com by either entering wiener-mummy.com or wienermummy.blogspot.com :) Also, you should now be able to subscribe to email updates on my blog by clicking on the link at the top of the home page or on the links on the left.

...maybe not... One of the greatest benefits* of being pregnant in Austria is the “Mutterschutz” period, for 8 weeks before and after (12 weeks if you have a C-Section) due date you are not allowed to work! Mine officially starts on March 20, but I was lucky to still have plenty of vacation days to use, so the next week and a half are holiday time! Perfect plan right! Yes, a few of you know... plans never work! Sadly we did not find a replacement for my position in time, but at the last minute we do have a pretty good solution in place. However, this means a few more afternoons to come in. Bonus though - don’t need to say bye bye to colleagues yet :) In other news, the cold has left Vienna and we can finally enjoy some warmth and sun! Looking forward to enjoying time in the parks again. Thanks for all the nice feedback on this blog - looking forward to continuing this journey. If you have any ideas for topics let me know. *more great benefits include: - being allowed to h...

What better way to finish than by enjoying a cup of tea and some leftover birthday cake in bed... Husband is off travelling for three days, so celebrating blog success and day 1 survival :) I’ve drafted some other great blog posts - stay tuned everyone! Good night!

Well hello there! I'm happy to welcome you to my first blog and post! Firstly, let me introduce myself - my name is Rachael, originally from the UK but grew up in Belgium and Denmark. I've been living in Vienna for 11 years now. Originally I moved here to hang out with my parents for two months, but ended up finding a fun job, doing my MA and then met my husband and we got married and had our first son (Knut / aka "Little K") almost two years ago. We are now expecting our second baby! Why am I here? Well, with my first pregnancy/kid it turned out that I was finding out lots of fun and exciting things to do in Vienna with a baby and I wanted to create a blog but just didn't get round to doing it. Now, I got my second chance so here I am! What can you expect to find here? Hopefully some interesting tips, inspiration and any other general comments and thoughts about being an "expat" mummy of two in Wien :) Rachael