The beginning of the END (of the deployment)

Well, I guess if I continue to keep the blog, I might as well blog!  No, really, between not having internet for the first month we were here and 2 little houligans to keep me busy, I just haven't had the time to blog.  I should have been writing down what I have wanted to blog because o so many times, I have thought how nice it would be to blog about that.  My mind is so stretched these days that I am afraid most of the little moments I want to remember won't be something I do remember.  So, without further adue, here is my thoughts on our trip over here, way back 7 weeks or so ago:


After a tearful goodbye from my mom (and a small mini meltdown on my part), we headed off to the airport.  Upon arrival there, Grammy and Aunt JuJu let the two little ones burn some energy off while Dad and I work on our bags and car seats and extra luggage and 2 strollers (you get the idea, we had A LOT) with the Delta agents.  Hey, I'm not a light packer and on top of that we were MOVING to Germany.  Need I say more and in my defense, we were not nearly as bogged down as the real MOVE to Germany, but then again, we weren't on orders and we didn't have lots of free baggage to throw around.  My one extra bag was $50!  OK enough of that.  We leave there and get through security which really wasn't all that bad and we got lucky and has some security scanners with a heart.  For some reason, most of them operate like robots and have no feelings or sympathy, but we got lucky!  After dinner at McDonald's we head back to our gate where Sadie (who is now past her bedtime) continues to run around like the energizer bunny.  Mason's too worried about getting somethign from the gift shop!   Anyhow, we get on the plane on time (amazing I know and wow, such a blessing)!  After a quick discussion as to whether Sadie's seat is airline compatible (we now know it's not), it is installed TIGHTLY in the seat and we're ready to go.  Within minutes of taking off, Sadie is in dreamland!  How much better can this get?  Mason plays with all of the gadgets on his individual TV screen for a while and Sadie and I doze (and I watch a movie). The whole flight really goes off without a hitch!  Praise the Lord the kids did most excellent and we are now in Amsterdam for leg 2 and we have approximately one hour to make our connecting flight!  As we get ready to get off, we wait for most of the plane to clear because we have SO much stuff.  In trying to get Sadie's seat unbuckled, we encounter a major problem.  The seat was not really airplane compatible, so the buckle on the seatbelt is so tight (the flight attendant kept making me tighten it) that we can't raise the lever to get the seatbelt unbuckled!  Maybe 20 minutes later, every flight attendant and both pilots, the seat belt unscrewed and removed later, the seat is removed!  Our entire personal entourage has taken all of our carryons, coats, etc, out for us and as we exit, the cleaning crew is waiting on us and so is  not one stroller but two!  Seriously?  Oh and to make matters worse, they're soaking wet.  WE have no option but to take both strollers at this point if they are both to make it to the next plane, so we pile suitcases in them and Sadie and Mason in one and BOOK it to our next flight!  Of course we have to go back through security now and fold BOTH strollers up to pass them through the x-ray machine and of course, we are met with people who are not kind in the least bit!  To make matters worse, I am "randomly" selected to be practically strip searched in front of everyone so Dad manhandles both kids and attempts to get both strollers up and running again.  We are a tad stressed at this point :)  One quick run by to make sure the gate is still the same and we're off!  As we make the gate, they are boarding (the busses that is).  We now have to take a bus int he rain and board our aircraft in the rain.  In tow we have one single and one double stroller, 4 carry ons, one car seat, and 2 kids.  It is COLD at this point, too.  Remember we left 90 degree weather and we're now in rain and cold!  Down the ramp we go to reveal an entire set of stairs.  Some nice man grabs my stroller and puts it o n the bus with me, so I am o nly left with the 2 kids and we get on the bus.  Dad, on the other hand, has about 3 of the carry ons left along with a stroller the carseat, and himself of course.  On the decent down the stairs, his luggage takes a tumble from the top to the bottom of the stairs and he comes on the bus practically throwing some of the luggage and runs to get the rest.  He is D-O-N-E at this point. To make matters worse the bus driver is just standing at the bottom of the stairs offering NO help and even shakes his head at Dad.  That's when the whole foreigners thing sets Dad off!  He decides to ride in a different part of the bus than us.  We arrive at the plane and i make the exec. decision to leave our unairline friendly carseat in the belly of the plane.  It seems perfect as there are three seats on our row (they have put Dad in a different row than us) so Dad can sit with us and i can put Sadie on my lap.  As the flight attendent ever so RUDELY announces that we cannot do that because there aren't enough oxygen masks in our row for four, Dad takes his seat between two people in the back of the aircraft and we stay on the front row of the coach section.  The ride goes off without a hitch and i only encounter a small problem when I have to go to the bathroom to find him sleeping so Sadie goes in with me!  That was an interesting experience.  After arriving at the airport in Nurnberg,  Dad has to run to the bathroom himself as he has had to go since we exited our first plane in Amsterdam.  I begin getting our luggage (which all made it amazingly enough).  Upon his return, I get a cart and we begin to figure out how the two of us will make it out to meet our ride with both kids and all of our luggage and strollers.  We figure it out (minus one piece of luggage that I don't discover is missing until 3 days later!)  The trip was made.  We only lost a hat of Dad's in the struggle and that darn piece of luggage that I FORGOT I had!  Seriously?  WHO FORGETS THEIR OWN LUGGAGE AT THE AIRPORT?  AND WHO TAKES THREE DAYS TO REMEMBER THEY HAVE FORGOTTEN IT?  Yep!  This proves why two kids is more than enough for this girl (for the time being at least :)  )  The funny thing is I knew I was missing items and I kept asking my Dad if he was sure I didn't have anything else left in his suitcase (yes, I over flowed MY stuff into his suitcase, too)!  The hour long drive back to the airport actually ended up helping me out. See, I had not really driven a lot on the roads the first time I was over here (Brent did most of the driving), so I was nervous and it gave us a trial run for returning Dad to the airport.  By the way:  the roads aren't just different, the signs are different, the way the pople drive is totally different, everything is different except thank goodness, they DO drive on the same side of the road as we do in the USA!  Anyhow, that was our adventure in a nut shell.  Jet lag reared its ugly head for several weeks really after that, but we adjusted and here we are 7 weeks later..ready for this doggone deployment to END!

Growing Like Weeds

So, we weighed ourselves today and much excitement was had!  Mason let out a big, "YYYEEEAAAHHH" when I told him he had almost gained 3 pounds!  That's really big for him.  He's been at 32 for a long time and today he showed as 34.5!  Sadie has gained another pound weighing in at 23 pounds.  This all reminded me that these two are changing so much that I might need to go ahead and record more, so here it is!

Mason still plays all of the time.  He is constantly drawing and does things that amaze me like adding 8 legs (4 on each side) for a spider and adding extra details when drawing people.  He is really into bugs right now, too, and where he used to be skeptical of picking them up, you now have to warn him that not all bugs are going to treat him kindly!  He also loves rocks and while we were at the beach recently collected lots of shells and such that he thought to be pirate booty!  He has some of the funniest, yet most real conversations with his Daddy and many times Brent gets more detail into his day than I do!  He says he dreams good dreams every night about him and Daddy playing together.  He knows his Birthday is coming up and there is a very small list of that which he doesn't care to have!  He has colllected enough money in his piggy bank to replace a broken V-Smile that cost $50.  He referred to Germany as "home" yesterday.  Last but not least, he is still a Mommy's boy and does not want to leave my side. 

Sadie is more rambunctious and full of energy than I EVER bargained for!  She is a real piece of work.  She already knows how to properly roll cars along the floor and even attempts to make "vroom" sounds.  She does like to love on her baby dolls, though, just before she throws it down, so there is a bit of hope!  She has a bit of a temper (not a bit like her Mama) and an amazingly LOUD screech  that she shares with everyone whether she's happy, sad, mad, or whatever.  She loves to hear herself and will talk and put her hands over her ears to see how it sounds different.  She LOVES, LOVES, LOVES her big brother. He, however, likes his space every now and then now. Our Sadie bug is very ticklish. She still signs "more" and "all done."  Her hair is also growing just as fast as she is and she cannot even see if she does not have a bow in (this makes me happy).  Her walking is getting quicker, but she is definitely still "toddling" a little bit and has had 2.5 black eyes already! Although she's still a Mama's girl, she has continued to get better about going with someone else.  She works on new words every time you turn around now.  Here's some of her vocabulary:

mama

dada

bubba (brother)

up

out

uh oh

uh uh (and shakes her head no)

mau (meow)

jack

daisy

paw paw
vroo(m)  (for a car)
at (for cat)

ONE Sweet Little Cupcake

Sadie Bug threw one heck of a party a few weeks ago!  Such a chic little lady she is!  Can you believe she helped her mama with a cupcake themed birthday party right down to every last detail?!  She has expensive taste, too, as she picked out gourmet cupcakes and specially decorated cookies!  Daddy, be careful she's already spending your money as freely as she dirties a diaper!  Here are the events of the day! 

Our little cupcakes' food spread!

For entertainment, Sadie shared some of her new toys with her little friends!  This is Aubrey.  They are only 2 weeks apart in age!  Christen and I always said we'd try to line up our kids in age.... And we accomplished it--unknowingly!

Her cousin Payne brought his inflatable jumper for all to enjoy! Sadie and Ella liked to be bounced!

Bubbles are always a big hit! Thanks for the lift, Corey!

Last but not least, what girl can have a birthday party without having a few boys?!  Our girl is pinning them down (literally) quite early!  Daddy, you had better get home soon--she's a wild woman!

  Poor Luke, his Mama peeked in because she was worried HE was casuing trouble since it had gotten quiet and this is what she found!

Towards the end of the party, Sadie pinned Seth down, too!

Of course our birthday girl didn't forget to take a minute (or thirty) and enjoy her own cake!  What a sweet (and messy) little eater she is!

After playing, filling her tummy, and changing dresses (yes, every diva has 2 birthday outfits), we opened presents!  The most popular present?  A SWIMSUIT!  Our little girl will be the most fashionable one out there this summer!  I can't remember what our final total for swim wear was, but it was something like 4 or 5 suits and when you combine it with what she already had it comes to around 10!!!

To all our friends and family present, and those that were there in heart, thank you so much for making Sadie's birthday party so special!  To our sweet little cupcake:  Thank YOU so much for making your first year so memorable!  We love you!

our babies

This post was written several weeks ago and I never published it!  Funny how much has already changed with our Sadie Bug!  Mason of course is still his awesome big brother self, too!

Mason is still our sweet little man that continues to absorb everything around him.   He is super energetic to say the least, yet super sensitive.  He truly cares about those around him.  He told me the other day on the way to lunch that he wanted to  sit by his, "best friend, Sadie, at the table." It melted my heart beause I know they will eventually annoy each other, but for now he is honestly seeking out the best for her in everything (at least most of the time).  He plays with her and actually requests for me to bring her to his room to play!  He can't stand for her to be upset and will actually knowingly do the wrong thing to make her happy.  Every little laugh he gets from her eggs him onto bigger and greater things in an attempt to entertain (and get her attention). 

He loves school (just like I did) and makes new friends so easily.  He is quite the artist and loves to draw and color.  I truly am amazed at what a four year old can do when he puts his mind to it!  He knows some numbers and colors in Spanish.  He has a memory for music that is just like his Daddy's.  Brent can hear a song and know what year it was simply by the memories he best remembers from around that time in his life!  Our Mason is so genuine in everything--even in his anger and disappointment. He would stay awake for 24 straight hours, I'm sure if someone would only play with him.  The child loves to play an entertain and to be entertained.  He likes to do just like those he looks up to--mostly his Daddy, though.  His latest "Daddy quirk" is to go to bed in just pajama bottoms and no top because that'sthe way Daddy does it.  The other night he was putting on long, flannel pants and I told him it would be too hot.  His response was, "Well, it's hot in the desert and that's where Daddy is...."  I said nothing further.  He likes to make up games and rules for EVERYTHING...and he likes HIS say in everything.  Then again, who doesn't? Eating is definitely NOT his forte, though.  I wish I had that problem!  He just finished his soccer season and we're waiting on more swimming lessons, tennis lessons,and summer camps! 

As for our Sadie bug, she continues to grow and grow.  If fact the little booger has hit both the weight and heighth limits for her infant carrier, so she's moved up to a "big girl" seat.  She will be ready on time to turn around and face forward after her birthday in a few weeks which is totally different than our tiny Mason was.  Sadie has not only began crawling, but in just a few 3 weeks, she's now cruising with an occasional standing up on her own!  I thought I would have a little more time before she began walking, but it is not appearing that way!  She began walking the DAY Brent came in for R&R and he actually got to see her do it FIRST!  Funny thing is Brent actually made it into town on the EXACT same day he did 4 years agon for R&R.  He just barely missed Mason crawling on that trip, so I began to get nervous that he would again miss the crawling stage.  I guess our little diva had it all planned out!  I know it melted Daddy's heart that he got to be here for a first!  She can also sign "more" and "please." She says, "MAMA," "DADA," "NENE", "PAPA," AND "BYE BYE."  There are a few other things that we think she's trying to say, but nothing too consistent yet.  I think she attempts "brother" for Mason.  Although she's been known for her tears, she is quickly developing her own little spunky, more independent personality.  She actually is a HAPPY baby.  She is known for her signature shirll which can be quite embarassing and it can come out in either happiness or out of anger/frustration.  My Dad thinks we'll get kicked out o fa restaurant someday for her shrills, but really, at this age, what do you do?  She doesn't really get "quiet" yet and to tell her "NO"  only makes her cry out loud!    She claps her hands, stomps her feet, and does this amazingly adorable shoulder "dance" on command.  She points with her tiny little fingers, waves goodbye with  her tiny little hands, and even occasionally tries to blow a kiss.  She can make "indian" noises and sound like a motor boat.  She gives out kisses (wet ones at that) and LOVES to EAT anything and everything.  Most importantly, she LOVES and has many loves!  She's still a Mama's girl, but she also LOVES her big brother like I never imagined possible at this age...and he loves her just as much right back!

Boys, Girls, and Baby Curls

We've had my nephew, Payne, for the last few days and it's been so nice.  There are a few extra things you deal with like more baths and dressing more kids and keeping up with more kids, but Mason and Payne play so well together and really love each other's company so much that Mason is so much more content while Payne is around.  To make it even better, Payne has no problems being a way from Mommy and Daddy which is so nice AND as an added bonus, he EATS (which Mason sometimes does not).  I know Ashlee and Casey have to deal with a lot when our little blondie is sent their way, so it's really a perk that Payne does so well with us.  They do have their usual 4/5 year old spats, but in general they can work it out quite well among themseleves.  Today, though, was quite hilarious.  I took them to Monkey Joe's to get out some of their energy (4 year olds have more energy by themselves than 4 of me put together) and while we were there, Mason spotted one of his little girl friends from school.  He came to me and said, "Where did Wiwwy go?"  I thought he had met a new friend named "Willy."  He quickly told me it was a girl and that she was in his class and off he went looking for her.  When Payne caught wind of what was going on, he wouldn't play with Mason anymore.  I thought he might be a bit jealous and decided to just leave it alone.  Shortly, Lily left and Mason and Payne played a little bit until Payne caught up with a girl of his own.  Mason followed them around for a bit, but we left not too long after that.  I have videos that I have attempted to upload of our little ladies' men, but it was a complete and utter failure!  I'll have to figure it out and re-post it later!

While we were at Monkey Joe's Sadie bug stayed with Grandma Judy.  As I dropped her off, I was asked if it was okay to cut her "bangs."  I said, "No."  We had already had the discussion that if we trimmed the hair in the front of her face, it would eventually grow out and we'd have to cut it again and then we'd eventually have actual bangs.  I don't want to have to deal with bangs on a baby, so I'm just waiting on her hair to get long enough to stay out of her eyes after it's combed without having to have a barrette/bow in it.  So, I come back after our Monkey Joe's adventure and this is what my Sadie looked like--Pebbles Flintstone!  My mom and grandmother did this with  both my sister and I and my sister did it with her girls, Madison and Brooklyn.  I think it looks hilarious personally, but I guess you could call it a family tradition.  So, our little Sadie bug, welcome to the family!  It's now official!

EXHAUSTED...AND RIGHTFULLY SO!

Today was one of those days where I wish I had easy access to Mason's baby pics because Miss Sadie has followed in her brother's footsteps in falling asleep while playing.  It was too cute.  She ought to be exhausted tonight because she has accomplished SO much in this ONE day!  Today she signed "more" and "please" to me!  She had been signing more every now and then but not on a regular basis and today that reveresed and she even threw in another sign.  All it took was some frozen custard from Cheeseburger Bobby's to pursuade a regular sign!  She also said, "bye bye" tonight to Lauren.  It was prompted, but she did say it.  Lastly, she pulled herself up to a standing position several times today, too.  She had done that, too, but only a time or two.

I, too, have been exhausted of late because the adjustment from Daddy being here all the time to Daddy being gone in an instant's time has taken a toll on the littlest man of the house.  Poor Mason will not give me a moment's peace.  He is having some serious Daddy withdrawals/abandonment issues as I have personally "diagnosed."  He has no problem staying within our normal routine and going to school, soccer, etc, but he doesn't want me out of sight other wise.  He has given me directions and gone over them repeatedly every car ride as to how I am to get out and go around the front of the car so he can see me before I get him out.  He will not have me getting gas without the window down because he can't see me, and he didn't even want me to go out to eat tonight and leave him with his Paw Paw and Grammie.  I don't know what to do and it is getting incredibly hard for me to keep from blowing up with every waking minute spent in front of and entertaining him.  Not to mention that he still gets up at least one time a night in the middle of the night with some sort of a need.  I can't help but long for a normal life and situation, too, but I guess normal is relative.

So, here's to our crazy, yet somehow perfect and so incredibly PROUD life we live!

People who say they sleep like a baby usually don't have one!

So, I've been struggling to get my little man back on track with his sleeping habits.  He's always had trouble falling asleep with out someone in his presence or without a night light.  Since we have come back to the USA, he has trouble without having not one or the other,but both.  I KNOW that if I would just give in and lay with him, I would have him asleep in no time, but I refuse to get that started.  I have never been the one to lay with him--Brent has though.  Anyhow, there was one night a few weeks ago that Mason just couldn't stay in his room and after several warnings that if he did not stay in his room, I would turn the TV off, I did.  He was NOT a happy camper with me to say the least and he kept coming out to the living room with a different excuse.  I finally told him to quit coming out or I would have to turn his night light and lamp off, too.  He was so upset and so in want of someone to be with him that he never made it back to his room!  He stopped in MY room and fell asleep in MY bed!  Here's his sweet little face.  I did move him back to his bed in case you all were wondering.  I love my personal space while I am sleeping and to be honest, this is about the only ME time I get all day! 

This is a view of what I saw when I walked into my room.  Poor guy.  He hides uner pillows, blankets, etc., when he has to fall asleep by himself.

Oh and I promise to try and just do small little blogs more ofen here.  I won't even attempt to try and completely back track since my last blog, though.  Miss Sadie will be next!

Forever and a DAY!

Christmas 2009

Brent on his first flight in a while January 7, 2009. If you look closely he's holding an Optimus Prime. He takes it everywhere and takes pictures of it so that Mason has something to follow and identify with while Daddy's in the "desert."

Well, hello blogging world! I guess I have finally decided it's been long enough since my last blog and have decided to enter the world again! I truly feel like I have been COMPLETELY out of the loop for some time now. As you can see, the last blog was back in October. After we got back from Paris, our lives hit the fast forward button and I think we're still in that mode, but starting to slow down a bit. We had family come in mid October all the way up until the 31st. WE enjoyed getting to show everyone around and let them experience a little of what the culture shock is like when you first arrive. After my mom and Brent's sister left, we had a little over a week before my dad arrived. After he arrived, we began "closing up shop" if you will to prepare for a year apart as a family. I began packing bags and mailing boxes of our "stuff" back to the states so we wouldn't have so much to bring back in suit cases, Brent made the finishing touches on his duffels to head further east with him, and collectively we tried to begin making sense of what it would be like apart from each other and Brent from our babies for another long year. Even as I blog about it now, it's still hard to talk about. The day came and went (thank goodness) and we were back in the states. The kids did exceptionally well on the plane overall and although their little bodies were on a completely different timetable when we made it over here, it wasn't too terrible for them. I must be getting old because my body was in a fog for almost a month, I guess. I was on the right schedule and all, but it just didn't feel right at times. I think if I had a day or two where I could have just slept and slept, it might have helped, but the truth is, anybody would struggle to get back on a good schedule. It was good and bad that VERY shortly after we got back here, Thanksgiving rolled right on in. I don't think I was completely there that day still :) I did thoroughly enjoy being back here and being able to have the traditional celebrations that we've always enjoyed, though. The week after thanksgiving, we all got a bit sick, but once we were well, Mason headed off to school. The night before we went, Mason was terribly worried, but had NO trouble adjusting at all once we made it there. It was as if I had dropped him off like that every day prior. I guess it shows just how resilient little guys are. It's a good thing since our whole life revolves around resliency being military and all.... Anyhow as quickly as Thanksgiving came and went, so did Christmas. It was a great day, but busy as usual. So here we are, the week after New Years. As Brent put it, the best part about the new year is that now we are actually IN the calendar year that he will return home!

Since Brent left (and since we've last blogged), Miss Sadie bug is a NEW girl! She can now sit up completely on her own, eats baby food two times a day, can say, "DaDa" and "MaMa", gives wet, slobbery kisses, waves bye bye, and even tries to handle a few puffs. The girl is HUGE. Well, she was only in the 50% in her weight when we went for her 6 month appointment, but in comparison with what Mason was, she seems like a giant. I am surprised I am even able to lug her around in her carseat out in public now. She weighs 17 pounds now and to give you an idea or comparison of how it was with Mason, at 13 months he weighed 18 pounds and at 7 months, she weighs 17 pounds! She is also a MAMA's GIRL! I have been told by MANY in my family that this is payback for how I was like when I was little. I seriously cannot turn the corner with out an ear piercing WAIL coming out of her! It's kind of neat sometimes, but others, I just want her to be content with someone else so I can breathe a second or two without a baby on my hip :) Anyhow, she is fairly well scheduled, completely weaned off of nursing, and loves to be in the bed by 7:30.

Sadie at 5 months old

Sadie at 6 months old

Sadie at 7 months old

My little man, Mason, is learning how to cope and get some "male" time while Daddy's away. He prays for Daddy every night (and also other various hilarious things like Santa, his elf, Willis, and even inanimate objects). He misses Daddy and isn't afraid to tell you that. He asks a million and one questions about ANYthing and EVERYthing. We have seriously covered subjects such as how Sadie came out of my tummy (no he REALLY wanted to know, but after several distractions we were able to steer away from that whole subject), to why we're in the women's bathroom, how boys stand up to pee, but girls do not, to why is this lady right here at this particular moment in time, and every other subject you can possibly think of. He is still seriously a sponge and just takes it all in. He has learned several new "Papaisms" from my Dad. If you know my Dad at all, you know that he makes up and say silly stuff to which Mason finds completely amusing and repeats it. Not all of it is that flattering for him to be saying! He is also the BEST big brother I could have ever imagined him to be. He does not like for anyone, including myself, to utter a negative word or tone towards his Sadie bug. I have been told that I'm not nice and to stop telling Sadie no many a times. If she cries after I say anything, he immediately goes to her and starts baby talking her and chastising me for "hurting her little feelings." Sadie was screaming one day and Mason's cousin, Payne, put his hands over his ears. Mason took some serious offense to this and told Payne to, "not be mad at my baby sister." It really is quite cute, but I'm afraid we're going to have some trouble in the near future when she is more mobile and wants his stuff. I really do think he might give her something that could in turn hurt her because he just wants to give her everything she thinks she needs!

Mason loves to go to Monkey Joe's

At Mason's new preschool, they had a Christmas program. Mason probably did not know all of the songs because he had only been going to school for a week and a half before they had the program. Instead of showing any kind of embarassment, he just decided to go silent altogether! This is what we saw for about 90% of the performance!

Here's what he did for the other 10% of the performance!

Other than that, we're getting on more of a schedule and getting readjusted to life with Daddy half a world away.

Paris!!!

FRIDAY

So we finally made it to Paris after a truly grueling 8 hour drive. We should have followed everyone's advice and not driven INTO Paris. It took over an hour once we actually hit the streets of downtown. These people drive like idiots. We just thought that the Germans were aggressive. On top of that you have 14 gajillion people all over the sidewalks and roads. It is amazing that this many people are in one area. Motorcyclists make their own lanes in between regular lanes and regular lanes many times don't have anything dividing them so it is pretty much nutty all around. With that being said, Brent did an OUTSTANDINGLY AWESOME job driving us. If we had only known that 30 meters before our hotel the road was completely ripped up, we would have made it to the hotel much earlier. I finally jumped in the back seat with the kids and they finished with an outstanding job as well. I guess I'm the only one who didn't do so well with this trip. It seemed like it took forever and my nerves were pretty much shot by the time we entered the busiest part of Paris. Needless to say, we arrived, it is just as I expected only bigger and more crowded, a little dirtier on the streets, but all in all BEAUTIFUL! The night life is booming here. There are little cafes everywhere.

Here is our hotel room. It's cute, but it is a lot more expensive than what we're used to paying in the states.

Tonight when we went out to eat, the little chinese waitress saw Sadie sleeping and me struggling to hold her, so she came over and took her while I ate. So sweet of her and it was nice for me, too. Mason caught wind of this immediately and did not like her taking his Sadie at all! He said he needed to go over there to make sure they didn't take her! He was totally jealous, too, but it was kind of sweet (once you get past the annoying part) that he is so protective of her. He became foolish and climbed under the table in which the lady was holding Sadie so they bribed him out with a lollipop. That was a bit embarassing.


Of course, the trip has already had SO many disasters I can't begin to count them. We hope all will smooth out tomorrow.

SATURDAY

Well, we've decided that we're pretty much your test pilots. See, we're doing the hard work so that we'll have things somewhat figured out when you all decide to come over here :0) So today started off with our breakfast in the hotel. It's 10 euros per person including Mason. Kind of crazy if you ask me...especially since all you get are french baguettes and croissants and jellies with some SUPER STRONG French coffee. Oh well, I guess we won't get that next time! Next, we decided we would check into the open air tour buses since we are only close by foot to some things. We really discovered a gem in doing this. It was 79 euros for Brent, Mason, and I for 2 days and totally worth it. There are over 50 stops in Paris amongst 4 separate routes that you can get off at. All of the major stops that are high on a tourist's list are on one route, so it's easy to keep up with. Also, you get headphones that you can plug in at your seat, select your language, and get info. about everything as you're passing by. Pretty nifty! So, today we got to see Cathedral of Notre Dame, but it was way crowded, so we are going to save that for another trip, we walked up the Arch du Triomphe, walked and shopped a bit on Champs Elysee and we went up the the 3rd level of the Eiffel Tower (that's the highest). We even got to see a few extra things on our bus ride. Lines are decently long at all of the major attractions, but this is pretty much the opportunity of a lifetime, so we prioritized what we most wanted to see and did it! We also did all of this sans stroller! It was crazy, but both of the kids did amazingly well considering. We weren't sure how stroller accessible things were, so we didn't want to deal with the hassle. Sadie stayed in her Baby Bjorn most of the day and Mason walked most of the day with a few trips on Daddy's shoulders or Mommy's hip. He even walked up (and did a much better job than me) the 284 steps up (and down) the Arch du Triomphe. The in between part in which we wanted to see out and around the city was where he had several major meltdowns and became a devil child! He also didn't like getting on the elevator to go up the eiffel tower, but he did well once we got on and made it up! While waiting in line, he got a mini eiffel tower and decided to take his lightning mcqueen and beat the eiffel tower to pieces. I think Brent thought that we might either get arrested or beat up for disrespect. Later on we were taking night pics at the arc du triumph and Mason was kicking dirt and Brent said something to him again. I just laughed because he is only 4 after all.

The kids and I at a cafe after a long day!
L'Arc du Triomphe
Oh...and get this! We ate at Madrigal, a restaurant on Champs Elysee, and you wouldn't believe how much it cost! I thought about my sister when we got our bill for an oreo milk shake, an iced vanilla latte, a water, cheeseburger, and grilled chicken sandwhich. It was 60something euros. That equates to around 90 dollars! Pretty nutty, huh? Kim would have had a heart attack right then and there. Later on we ate at one of the stands on the side of the road so we didn't pay so much.

I really wanted to find some boots here because that and leggings seem to be the in thing, but it's just hard to do when you have kids with you. I guess that calls for a trip out here my coffee ladies (or Kim and Ashlee)!


We have plans to go to the Louvre tomorrow followed by day time pics at the eiffel tower followed by the invalides (Napoleon's tomb) then back to the eiffel tower to take pics at night! We hope it turns out prettier than Champs Elysee did. They have tons and tons of lights and crystals in the trees that line the road, but they didn't come on tonight! We may just try to be super touristy and eat at the Hard Rock Cafe tomorrow for lunch, too!

Bonsoir to you all!

SUNDAY

We started the day off at the Louvre with massive crowds taking pictures of a super small Mona Lisa. Seriously, why is this painting so famous? Of course I had to wait amongst all of the crowds to get my picture too, but that's beside the point. It is so small and you can't get that close, it's guarded and there's not even a line formed to take pictures. Some of the other paintings were much more impressive and about the size of a wall in a regular room.


Now, there's always a truth to a stereo type and we ran across one today. Asian tourists in general love to take pictures! They were walking around and if you looked at their camera I'm sure what you would see just taken in pictures would almost look like a continuous video camera because they were walking along and clicking almost constantly! They are apparently also in love with babies or baby girls or Sadie's hairbows. I'm not sure which one, though. They stopped in front of us (many times) and were in AWE of miss Sadie. They even took a picture of her and of them with me and her. Brent got his camera out at this point and thought it was so funny that he took a picture of them taking a picture with Sadie and I. Next, I made the mistake of letting Brent roam the Egyptian collection by himself while I sat and fed Sadie and Mason napped and when he came back, he had taken so many pictures of the artifacts that I am surprised we had more room on the SD card!

Mason with his Pluto balloon on the bus after leaving Hard Rock Cafe.



Mason and Daddy at the Hard Rock Cafe.

Anyhow, we left the Louvre and ate at the Hard Rock Cafe. We didnt' take any pictures of the outside, though, so I guess we can't really prove that we've been there. It sure took a long time to get there by foot seeing as we walked about as far around it as we possibly could have (and then past it) and had to come back to it before we ever made it in. This made our day run a little late, so we left there and went to take pictures at the Eiffel Tower and missed the tomb where Napoleon was buried. When we got there, it was beginning to rain, so we took what we could and left. It was almost dark, so we decided to go and grab a dessert (to the tune of $60) even though we had not eaten dinner so that it could get dark and go back to take pictures of the Eiffel Tower at night. It continued to rain but we persevered and went back to see the Eiffel Tower lit up in red and white and to watch it sparkle. It was pretty much GORGEOUS although I hardly got to enjoy it because I was too busy trying to fiddle with my camera and get the setting just right for some good pics. While we were there, the street vendors stayed on Mason like white on rice. First of all it doesn't help that the ratio of tourists to vendors is like 1:1 or even worse and secondly, that we have a cute, little endearing spoiled rotten 4 year old who wants 2 of everything he sees. Mason's famous line was, "Well, I'll give this one to my cousin, Payne," if he decided he wanted something else. How sweet of him to give his used, left over souvenirs away!


All in all, it was an awesome get away for the weekend and we will definitely be going back again!

I'm a Brave Woman!

(written the third week in september)

Well, Sadie is finally sleeping in her own bed! I figured it was time to move her since she is as long (or a little longer) than the bassinet and as big as it is, too, so for two nights now, she's slept fine, but I can't say the same for her Mama! No, really and truly, I have slept okay but it has taken me quite a while to get to sleep. Once she starts tossing and turning which is usually an hour or more before she actually wakes up, I'm of course up, too. You've got to remember that this baby has been either in the bassinet (before we moved and since we moved into our house here in Germany) in our bedroom, in the moses basket (in Georgia) in our room, or actually in our bed in the hotel because she didn't have a crib there, so this is HUGE for me. You also may recall that Mason was a very similar situation. He was in our bedroom in a bassinet until Brent deployed and then I went back to Georgia and he was in a crib in my room until he got older and I decided to move myself down the hallway. This whole baby thing in another room is for the birds. Mason, bless his heart, had a monitor in his room until we moved here, and the intention was to get another monitor for his room, but I have stuck it out and he does just fine without one. Of course I can hear him...I never fall asleep without being on baby alert!

Sadie has also officially turned 4 months old (according to the actual day of the month). Mason helped me out with this. He even took pictures with his cell phone (doesn't really work)! Sadie is becoming quite the chatter. Mason claims she's actually saying words all of the time! She is also a bit of a fussy baby. The mornings typically start out pretty good, but by mid day, she'll scream her lungs off if you're not carting her around while you're trying to get things done. It depends on the day as to whether I actually give in or not. Most days at some point I give in for sanity's sake. The girl loves to eat and most days end with nursing, cereal, AND a bottle! She will be sitting up before we know it because she's nosy (like her Daddy...HA HA...more like her Mama). She can put her paci in and out, but she really would like to become a thumb sucker. Her smile and laugh are the cutest darn things around. Her hair is growing back on the top of her head (STILL) and it is just long enough to stick STRAIGHT UP! Everyday is new for her and Brent because he missed this time with Mason so it's fun to watch the two of them together.

Since I give so many odds and ends updates on Sadie, here's some on Mason. First off, he is growing unbelievably fast. I tried some jeans on him before we left for here and now that we need them, they no longer fit! He showed me his arms as they were stretched out and said, "I'm getting bigger. See how my arms are getting bigger like this." He wears his underwear backwards so he can see the picture. He is loving going to school every day. He is learning the concept of time, but is still very confused with it. He is also learning the difference in the days of the week. He loves to do the limbo at school. He is still soaking up everything he hears you talking about and uses it in the correct context most of the time when he decides to regurgitate it...even the bad things! He is compassionate about all of his loves like transformers, v-smile, cars, legos, you know all the boy things! He is the best big brother we could have ever asked for. He loves Sadie. He will help out on almost anything as long as it involves her. He loves to sneak in and sit in her things like her swing and bouncy seat. He does have a bit of jealousy but it's not expressed in a bad way. You always know if you're sweet talking her and he's in ear shot, he's going to come join you. He loves to help cook. Cleaning the dishes is pretty great, too. He's pretty much a Mama's boy and has a mini breakdown if I have to go somewhere and he's not with me (except for school). He is really interested in the things that Mommy and Daddy did when they were little.

Well, that's all for this post. Maybe I'll get around to posting about our adventure last weekend before we head out on another one this weekend.

P.S. Just to make you all jealous, here's what's in the works in the next month: Paris, France, Austria, and Rome, Italy! It's rough being over here and having the time to travel!

smorgasboard!

So I find myself thinking several times a day (I know that's a shocker to some =) ) about how I need to post this or that on our blog, but like many other things, I forget soon after that. Today I had the brilliant idea to actually write some of those things down and tonight I am going to just bounce from one subject to the next to cover all that we can! Here goes!

Our neighbors all around us seem to be pretty nice. It is really hard to explain just how many neighbors you actually have because all of these houses are crammed in together like a bunch of puzzle pieces but just bear with me. One of the ladies who lives behind us (kind of) met Brent, Mason, and Sadie one day soon after we moved in. I wasn't outside because Brent says I was in writing our divorce papers out, but basically I was just having a hard time adjusting and needed a break! When she came over to talk to them (which we all have a hard time doing because she doesn't know much more english other than "moment"), she brought fresh home grown tomatoes and then went and cut me some fresh flowers. The bouquet of flowers was gorgeous! I mean you seriously might pay $40 for these in the states. The last time we saw her out there with some encouragement, I went over and attempted a conversation with her and she again brought fresh tomatoes, green peppers, and then some other kind of pepper as well. She also brought more flowers. I really wish I had taken a picture of them, but I will be sure to do that next time! I feel so bad because I never have anything cool or fresh to give these people. So, feel free to send me any good "American" ideas to hand out to all of our German buddies! I must admit that I just may be beginning to like it here (ssshhh...don't tell Brent though, I'll never hear the end of it)!

Oh...another cute story. So, Mason was getting out of the car to go to school yesterday and Brent was staying in the car with Sadie while I walked him in. As he gets out of the car Mason yells, "Daddy take care of Sadie....and when she screams, give her paci!" Too cute and too sweet that he thinks of her like that! He really is good with her and he is THE man to make her smile. She loves him!

Speaking of Sadie, she had her first cereal tonight! Lately I don't know whether she's on her growth spurt or I'm not enough for her anymore, but she has barely been going 2 hours in between feedings including at night, so needless to say, I am a bit of a zombie in the mornings again. After feeding her bottles several times after I had already nursed her, I decided we might give cereal a whirl. She has been watching us eat at every meal lately and follows the food to our mouths while drooling, so I know she's gotta be ready. When we went to the store today, Mason ran up the actual cereal aisle yelling, "Mommy what kind of cereal are you going to get Sadie?" Too funny! He wasn't impressed with the cereal that we bought, but Evan (I'm sure you'll read this) you would be because we bought her ORGANIC cereal! At any rate, we had our first attempt at eating tonight. If we can ever figure out how to download the videos on here, we'll show you how it turned out. At first she didn't act like she really cared for any of the activity going on but after we stopped filming, she would get really excited when I picked up the spoon and kick her legs and if I put the spoon down, she would begin crying. It's all a learning process I guess. Oh and on a less exciting note, I must post this so that my sister doesn't feel too bad about stuff that happened to her little ones when they were babies. I won the bad mom of the day award yesterday. I was cutting Sadie's nails and yep, I cut her little finger. Poor baby just whimpered a bit, but it did bleed for quite a while and I finally gave in to Mason's request to give her one of his Transformer band aids!




Last but not least, Mason has decided that cooking in Germany must be cool (and cleaning the dishes since we have no dish washer) so he helps out quite a bit. Well, tonight he decided he wanted some hot chocolate, so him and Brent made hot water and Mason mixed everything up for us. He is quite the barista as he made sure that no single part of our hot chocolate was exposed and it was all filled up with marshmallows. Here are some cute pics of the little barista! Side note: He has not grown 2 feet, he is on a stool!


Just one more marshmallow (about 6 more times!)


He's just cute!

O the places you'll go!

So, last weekend we decided we would be more like those around us (aka Germans) and take the train! It was amazingly easy to do. I kind of find the train schedule hard to figure out, but once you get the hang of it, it's not too bad and once you know where you're going and what platform you're going to, you're in business. We made it to the train station decently early and caught the first part of our trip on a train to Nurnberg. From there we rode a double decker train (and of course we had to sit up top) to Bamberg, Germany. After a few initial scares that something had to be wrong with the train, Mason was all for it, too. Who knows what makes this kid scared of nearly everything, I'm not sure. Here's some pictures of the trian ride. The "McClean" you see there is the bathrooms. Yes, you have to pay to pee (or you know)! It is one euro there which is almost $1.50. Pure craziness, but we all used it!


This is the double decker train that we rode to Bamburg.


The potty!


The first train ride to Nurnberg.


...and again...
Mason chillin' with his game like he's a teenager in a seat all by himself!

Now for Bamberg. This town is EXTREMELY old with a lot of history (of which I will not bore you to death with like Brent would if he were writing this blog). While there we toured a palace which was acutally quite cool to see how well preserved it is considering it was in the 1400s or something crazy like that when this place was thriving. We also peeked our heads in a couple of cathedrals which were so incredibly ornate! The town is known as "little Venice" because of its canals in the middle of the city and the gondolas that are present as well as the buildings right on the water. Here's some of what we saw.