Wednesday, November 01, 2006
Did I mention...
Did I mention the boy has 2 teeth now? This photo is the day after they broke through, but from the swelling in his gums it's tough to see them. I need to take new ones, now that they're up farther. I don't think Jake quite believes it...
Happy Halloween
So, Abbie liked dressing up as a chicken-- hated the thought the night before, but loved it when there was a promise of candy involved! Jake didn't really dig the cow costume at first, but he got over it :-). Took the kids trick or treating last night and Abbie brought home a pumpkin full of candy-- she really likes that part of halloween. It was chilly but not too terribly bad-- although being this far north can suck... the pic of the 2 of them outside was at 4:45pm. And it's only the beginning of "winter". Grr.
In other news, nothing new really going on here. Andrew's doing fine, just tired of being in Iraq, which I'm tired of him being there. We will be in the US on the 19th of November-- if anyone needs my local cell # again just shoot me an email. We'll be floating around the midwest until we fly back January 3rd, so shoot me an email and we can make some plans!
That's about it for now I guess :-).
In other news, nothing new really going on here. Andrew's doing fine, just tired of being in Iraq, which I'm tired of him being there. We will be in the US on the 19th of November-- if anyone needs my local cell # again just shoot me an email. We'll be floating around the midwest until we fly back January 3rd, so shoot me an email and we can make some plans!
That's about it for now I guess :-).
Thursday, October 12, 2006
Just another birthday...
2nd birthday in a row without Andrew... although he will definitly be around for my 26th :-).
At least Abbie is really into birthdays right now (although I get the idea she's expecting a goodie bag with stamps in it for some bizzare reason).
Jake could really care less-- but he's my sweet, smiley boy, so it's ok-- I won't hold it agianst him ;-).
At least Abbie is really into birthdays right now (although I get the idea she's expecting a goodie bag with stamps in it for some bizzare reason).
Jake could really care less-- but he's my sweet, smiley boy, so it's ok-- I won't hold it agianst him ;-).
Sunday, October 01, 2006
Big-ish update
Ok, so I know it's been forever aside from the little quickie updates. Everything here is going pretty well-- Monica came for a visit last week, so we kept plenty busy! We went to Rudesheim (where Reisling wine is made) to see the vinyards and the cutsy little town, went to Mainz-Kastel (military base) and got Andrew's "Band of Brothers" DVD set signed by a group of the original soldiers, went to a medevil fest at Ronnenburg Castle (way cool-- except all the hills from the parking area through freshly plowed fields with a double stroller!), Abbie tried to climb Gliburg Castle, went to the Licher brewery, and ate TONS of great food!
Abbie is a spit-fire and a half these days-- ever since Andrew's R&R ended she hasn't been napping well, and is having nightmares at night. Suddenly she is terrified of butterflies and cotton candy (learned of the cotton candy fear at the medevil fest), but loves dinosaurs and lions... go figure. The nightmares are only about once a week lately, and I blame housing here for them because of the roofwork we had a couple months ago (the dreams are about the man outside her window from the scaffolding they had up). She is talking a lot, sometimes way too much! We went to the zoo the other day and she still hasn't stopped talking about the "mingos" (flamingos). She is such a great big sis to Jake, doting on him every chance she gets. Her current favorite phrases are "don't have to, right?", "we'll see", "after baby Jake's done with his bottle", and "maybe later/tomorrow". Usually all of the phrases are strung into one long sentence 9,352 times a day. She loves sneaking up on people "I scare you!", and trying to make Jake smile.
Jake is a little porker-- he is about 15lbs now and growing like crazy. We found out at his 4 month (yes, he is that old already!) well baby that he has some sort of hemoglobin disorder--we'll have more test results in a few weeks, but if he has been asymptomatic so far they think it will continue to be that way. He is such a good-natured easy kid, and he loves to sleep! He slept through the night for the first time (well, more than 5 hours) the day he turned 3 months and hasn't stopped loving his bed since. He smiles at everything, although it really takes a lot of stupid faces from me before I can get a laugh out of him. He can roll over both ways and scoots around the room on his back trying to make me nuts by getting stuck under furniture while I make his bottle! In the last few days he has perfected his raspberry blowing technique, and does it every chance he gets. I am so lucky we had such an easy baby in him, especially since I'm single-moming with Andrew deployed.
Speaking of Andrew, he's doing fine. The good news about the extention is that his unit is staying put, not going to Baghdad like a lot of the other cases have been lately. He tells me how bored he is all the time in his life as a "fobit" (never leaves the fob, aka base), but I am quite happy with the situation! He is doing a lot of good things there, but we can't wait to have him back home with us.
Lets see, what else... for those of you in the Cincy area (and Lafayette/Chicago area), I will be braving the 11 hour exercise in torture by boarding a US-bound plane with the kids (by myself-- eeeeeek) in early November, and likely staying through Christmas (waffle house???). We plan to come back here sometime around the new year, and getting the house ready to celebrate Christmas again with Andrew when he gets back. If you want to try and get together, email me and let me know when you'll be where and we'll see what we can come up with! My cell # will be the same as my last stint in the States.
Anyhoo, Jake is crooning for me in the crib-- bottle time.
And now for some pics (assortment from the last 3 months)...
Abbie is a spit-fire and a half these days-- ever since Andrew's R&R ended she hasn't been napping well, and is having nightmares at night. Suddenly she is terrified of butterflies and cotton candy (learned of the cotton candy fear at the medevil fest), but loves dinosaurs and lions... go figure. The nightmares are only about once a week lately, and I blame housing here for them because of the roofwork we had a couple months ago (the dreams are about the man outside her window from the scaffolding they had up). She is talking a lot, sometimes way too much! We went to the zoo the other day and she still hasn't stopped talking about the "mingos" (flamingos). She is such a great big sis to Jake, doting on him every chance she gets. Her current favorite phrases are "don't have to, right?", "we'll see", "after baby Jake's done with his bottle", and "maybe later/tomorrow". Usually all of the phrases are strung into one long sentence 9,352 times a day. She loves sneaking up on people "I scare you!", and trying to make Jake smile.
Jake is a little porker-- he is about 15lbs now and growing like crazy. We found out at his 4 month (yes, he is that old already!) well baby that he has some sort of hemoglobin disorder--we'll have more test results in a few weeks, but if he has been asymptomatic so far they think it will continue to be that way. He is such a good-natured easy kid, and he loves to sleep! He slept through the night for the first time (well, more than 5 hours) the day he turned 3 months and hasn't stopped loving his bed since. He smiles at everything, although it really takes a lot of stupid faces from me before I can get a laugh out of him. He can roll over both ways and scoots around the room on his back trying to make me nuts by getting stuck under furniture while I make his bottle! In the last few days he has perfected his raspberry blowing technique, and does it every chance he gets. I am so lucky we had such an easy baby in him, especially since I'm single-moming with Andrew deployed.
Speaking of Andrew, he's doing fine. The good news about the extention is that his unit is staying put, not going to Baghdad like a lot of the other cases have been lately. He tells me how bored he is all the time in his life as a "fobit" (never leaves the fob, aka base), but I am quite happy with the situation! He is doing a lot of good things there, but we can't wait to have him back home with us.
Lets see, what else... for those of you in the Cincy area (and Lafayette/Chicago area), I will be braving the 11 hour exercise in torture by boarding a US-bound plane with the kids (by myself-- eeeeeek) in early November, and likely staying through Christmas (waffle house???). We plan to come back here sometime around the new year, and getting the house ready to celebrate Christmas again with Andrew when he gets back. If you want to try and get together, email me and let me know when you'll be where and we'll see what we can come up with! My cell # will be the same as my last stint in the States.
Anyhoo, Jake is crooning for me in the crib-- bottle time.
And now for some pics (assortment from the last 3 months)...
Monday, September 25, 2006
Saturday, July 29, 2006
Wednesday, July 26, 2006
Quickie, much needed update
Well, we did wind up moving after all-- I came back to Germany in March (about 30 weeks pregnant) and moved all our things to the other side of the building...
Jacob David (Jake) was born May 20th, 2006 at 2:07am after signing into the hospital at 12:19am... had I waited any longer he may have been born on I-471 (can't blame me for not thinking I was in labor)!
Abbie, Jake and I flew back to Germany on the 5th of July-- well, 6th, we spent the night in Charlotte after many many flight issues... and US Airways accidently broke my stroller basket, but they're going to pay to fix it (although it's going to cost a whopping $20, so I don't think the postage to send them the bill will be worth it). Ben and Kate (his girlfriend, who is fabulous by the way) flew with us to help me with the kids, then gallavanted all over Europe for 2 weeks while I got the apartment and the kids settled. They left Monday.
We get to see Andrew in a whopping 4 hours... count 'em, 4! YAY!
He is staying for appx. 2 weeks... I'll expand on everything that has happened since last update when I get a chance-- but don't hold it against me if it's a few weeks for that!
Jacob David (Jake) was born May 20th, 2006 at 2:07am after signing into the hospital at 12:19am... had I waited any longer he may have been born on I-471 (can't blame me for not thinking I was in labor)!
Abbie, Jake and I flew back to Germany on the 5th of July-- well, 6th, we spent the night in Charlotte after many many flight issues... and US Airways accidently broke my stroller basket, but they're going to pay to fix it (although it's going to cost a whopping $20, so I don't think the postage to send them the bill will be worth it). Ben and Kate (his girlfriend, who is fabulous by the way) flew with us to help me with the kids, then gallavanted all over Europe for 2 weeks while I got the apartment and the kids settled. They left Monday.
We get to see Andrew in a whopping 4 hours... count 'em, 4! YAY!
He is staying for appx. 2 weeks... I'll expand on everything that has happened since last update when I get a chance-- but don't hold it against me if it's a few weeks for that!
Wednesday, January 04, 2006
Grr
Housing screwed us over-- what else is new?
So we aren't moving. We'll cram in until we move back to the US for good.
Oh, and my pups are flying to the US on Wednesday... I have to say goodbye to them Tuesday when the pet-fly service comes to pick them up. Anyone in Cincy, feel free to go by my dad's and give them a treat.
So we aren't moving. We'll cram in until we move back to the US for good.
Oh, and my pups are flying to the US on Wednesday... I have to say goodbye to them Tuesday when the pet-fly service comes to pick them up. Anyone in Cincy, feel free to go by my dad's and give them a treat.
Turns out, ladies and gentlemen, you can't count on the Army for much of anything anymore. He is leaving sooner than we thought; how soon I can't say for security reasons, but I'll update when I can.
And, they're yanking us around on housing... I will definitley be moving without Andrew's help... if we get to move at all now. Will know more about that Thursday when the supervisor returns from vacation... if they don't tell me Thursday morning, they will be dealing with a very angry and hormonal pregnant woman (dragging along the toddler missing her nap and morphed into superwhinybeastmonster) by lunch. They will do as I say-- if nothing else, out of fear for their own sanity and drvien by pure, unadulturated desire to get me and the superwhinybeastmonster out of their offices.
And, they're yanking us around on housing... I will definitley be moving without Andrew's help... if we get to move at all now. Will know more about that Thursday when the supervisor returns from vacation... if they don't tell me Thursday morning, they will be dealing with a very angry and hormonal pregnant woman (dragging along the toddler missing her nap and morphed into superwhinybeastmonster) by lunch. They will do as I say-- if nothing else, out of fear for their own sanity and drvien by pure, unadulturated desire to get me and the superwhinybeastmonster out of their offices.
Monday, January 02, 2006
Happy New Year!
Well hello everyone! It is now officially 2006 (yes, I know it has been for like, almost 2 days now) and life here in Germany is continuing as we know it. Abbie had a great Christmas, and seemed a little peeved when she didn't get to open any gifts on the 26th! She has had a blast playing with all of her new toys that have come into our lives (and living room) since my ILs came to visit mid-December. This was their "last time to see Andrew before he goes to Iraq" trip, so it was kind of bittersweet. Abbie loved having her "Grandparent puppets" here to indluge her every whim and desire, so she was a little upset when they left and she was back to being ignored (like this child is ignored, you people have seen the pictures!) and pitiful.
Christmas totally wasn't the same without being back in the US. I really missed Waffle House with the "Cincy gang"-- I even missed the rushing all over the midwest to get to all our events for both sides of the family. It was Christmas, but it wasn't "Christmas", ya know? I'm sure as we have more Christmas' at our own house with our kids we will start to feel like it's actually right, but this year just didn't seem "right". We had a huge potluck with our neighbors/aka our second family on Christmas day, and while it was great, it was no Waffle House. I will be in the US for Christmas next year, but it still won't be right because Andrew won't be there.
We were really boring for New Year's... like, REALLY boring. We stayed in and watched a movie, then watched the TV Guide channel for our countdown since there is a seconds counter on the clock there. Andrew then dropped Abbie's plastic playground ball with the kissing bees on it to make it "official". We aren't cool enough to get any actual countdowns on tv here I guess. The Germans really take their fireworks seriously though-- we went outside to watch around 1210, and it was completely panoramic-- every direction we looked in was filled with color for a half hour or so. These weren't just the little bitty firecrackers either-- they were the spidery, the flashy, the poppy, and the multicolored big ones. Someone dropped serious euro on their (and our) entertainment for the evening!
We still haven't gotten word on when we can move into a 3 bedroom apartment yet-- rumor has it that the current people in the one we're trying to get have found a place at their next duty station, it just isn't ready yet. Hopefully we'll get to move sooner rather than later. If it isn't in the next 2 weeks, I will be moving all by my lonesome (well, with Abbie's help)-- and hopefully with the help of the Rear-D (the guys that don't deploy) in exchange for free beer and pizza. We are probably shipping the pups back to the US next week sometime, so anyone in Cincy that feels like playing with a couple of high strung labs, just give my dad a call! Abbie and I are probably going to be flying over at the end of the month-- hopefully by the 28th so that my dad doesn't have to entrust Ben with the care of our dogs while he's out of town.
The first of our neighbors to deploy is supposed to go this week, so it's kind of the beginning. Thankfully, we know Andrew won't go before the end of next week, but that's about all we can count on right now. I am so dreading the goodbye-- picture a bunch of women with really sleepy kids (since this seems to take place at 5am every time thanks to some unwritten Army rule that everything starts before the sun is up) trying to hold onto their husbands so tight that they can't get on the bus that will eventually take them to the desert (well, the airport and the plane that will take them there). Then all these women with their sleepy kids (some that don't even know what's going on, just that they're cold and want to go back to bed) stand and wait the 5 minutes or 5 hours it takes those busses to pull away-- once they're on the bus, they can't get off the bus, no matter how delayed they get. Then watching the bus take your husband to a place where his safety cannot be guarunteed-- where contact is limited-- and where he will miss a year of his children growing up (or being born). He will come back to a whole different family as a person forever changed by war. Just keep Andrew and the rest of his fellow soldiers in your thoughts or prayers as they embark on this terrifying year-- and hope the families can stay strong while they're gone.
Christmas totally wasn't the same without being back in the US. I really missed Waffle House with the "Cincy gang"-- I even missed the rushing all over the midwest to get to all our events for both sides of the family. It was Christmas, but it wasn't "Christmas", ya know? I'm sure as we have more Christmas' at our own house with our kids we will start to feel like it's actually right, but this year just didn't seem "right". We had a huge potluck with our neighbors/aka our second family on Christmas day, and while it was great, it was no Waffle House. I will be in the US for Christmas next year, but it still won't be right because Andrew won't be there.
We were really boring for New Year's... like, REALLY boring. We stayed in and watched a movie, then watched the TV Guide channel for our countdown since there is a seconds counter on the clock there. Andrew then dropped Abbie's plastic playground ball with the kissing bees on it to make it "official". We aren't cool enough to get any actual countdowns on tv here I guess. The Germans really take their fireworks seriously though-- we went outside to watch around 1210, and it was completely panoramic-- every direction we looked in was filled with color for a half hour or so. These weren't just the little bitty firecrackers either-- they were the spidery, the flashy, the poppy, and the multicolored big ones. Someone dropped serious euro on their (and our) entertainment for the evening!
We still haven't gotten word on when we can move into a 3 bedroom apartment yet-- rumor has it that the current people in the one we're trying to get have found a place at their next duty station, it just isn't ready yet. Hopefully we'll get to move sooner rather than later. If it isn't in the next 2 weeks, I will be moving all by my lonesome (well, with Abbie's help)-- and hopefully with the help of the Rear-D (the guys that don't deploy) in exchange for free beer and pizza. We are probably shipping the pups back to the US next week sometime, so anyone in Cincy that feels like playing with a couple of high strung labs, just give my dad a call! Abbie and I are probably going to be flying over at the end of the month-- hopefully by the 28th so that my dad doesn't have to entrust Ben with the care of our dogs while he's out of town.
The first of our neighbors to deploy is supposed to go this week, so it's kind of the beginning. Thankfully, we know Andrew won't go before the end of next week, but that's about all we can count on right now. I am so dreading the goodbye-- picture a bunch of women with really sleepy kids (since this seems to take place at 5am every time thanks to some unwritten Army rule that everything starts before the sun is up) trying to hold onto their husbands so tight that they can't get on the bus that will eventually take them to the desert (well, the airport and the plane that will take them there). Then all these women with their sleepy kids (some that don't even know what's going on, just that they're cold and want to go back to bed) stand and wait the 5 minutes or 5 hours it takes those busses to pull away-- once they're on the bus, they can't get off the bus, no matter how delayed they get. Then watching the bus take your husband to a place where his safety cannot be guarunteed-- where contact is limited-- and where he will miss a year of his children growing up (or being born). He will come back to a whole different family as a person forever changed by war. Just keep Andrew and the rest of his fellow soldiers in your thoughts or prayers as they embark on this terrifying year-- and hope the families can stay strong while they're gone.
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