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It's not like our work load has changed. It's not like we gave up rescheduling our lives because of someone else's urgent needs. But our focus has definitely changed.

More simply put, Joanne Moss Design is currently on extended maternity leave.

This is not to say we are totally unavailable for the occasional freelance job, but frankly, the needs of our current client take up an enormous amount of time. And I didn't spend all those other years working and wistfully watching, as other friends paused to have families, to short change myself now that it's my turn. I'm going to enjoy every minute of motherhood. (It's not worth having the experience, otherwise.)

Before, our interests were boring things like graphic design, advertising, technology. Now, we can think of nothing more fascinating than potty training, language development and toys.

As parents who come from different countries with family members on both sides who are not fluent in the other's language, there was never any question we would be raising a bilingual child. As an adjunct to this, we've also become rather adept at traveling with a small child. And for fun, I've got a list of cultural curiosities and assumptions for the American planning on visiting or living in Germany, and conversely for the German planning on going to the States. Some of these may be found in books, but some are the kinds of things you just don't find out till you get there.

Mac to the kitchen, wench.

While working as a designer, I became very good at avoiding the kitchen, except if it was to heat up leftovers from a restaurant. Now that I'm a full-time mother, I've discovered what fun cooking can be. Because I spend much time in a foreign country, my return to the kitchen was a whole new adventure. Not only did I have to accustom myself to metric measurements, but I had to learn a whole new area of German vocabulary (cooking terms and ingredients) so I could follow recipes from friends and read our German cookbooks. I also had to learn how to find or get along without some ingredients, like brown sugar or molasses, that are uncommon, difficult or impossible to find in Germany. As a result of all this, I've compiled a small German-English cooking glossary which may be of use to people in a similar situation.

Portfolio
Advertising & marketing bloopers
Anything but design
Chef's corner
German-American cooking glossary
Parents' corner
Raising a bilingual child
Traveling with a small child
Potty training in a day
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