Two months!!

Elliott is two months old!! He's up to 11 pounds and is getting bigger everyday. He has started to squeal when he's happy, suck his hand/thumb, and also discovered that he can pull my hair - which has been fun. He is starting to get more consistent with his sleep schedule, and I'm usually only getting  up for quick feedings at 2 am and then again around 5 am - except for the past couple of days, which have pretty much been all-nighters. We had to reschedule his doctor appointment last week, and rescheduled on Thursday for his check-up and shots.

In other news ... after five long weeks, Vic came home last Friday night!!!! He was so excited to see the house and all of his stuff (and me and Eli, of course). He left before our house hold goods came, so he was running around opening closets and drawers like it was Christmas. He bought his new TV, and we love it! Normally I could care less about TV quality, and Vic gets mad when I say that I can't tell the difference between HD and basic cable ... but this thing is amazing! It has all the bells and whistles, and we're still trying to figure them all out. Thank you to the nice folks who stole our other TVs because we definitely made out in the end.

My new hobby is couponing. I have a lot of free time on my hands, so I figured I should use it to save some money. Last week I bought $36 worth the groceries and only paid $5! I was so excited I could have done cartwheels out of the commissary. I also got four packs of 50 count diapers (regularly $10) for $4.50 a piece! But, this recent money saving venture has caused me to reflect on the past year of my life. At this time last year I was in South Beach with my four best friends for my bachelorette party.

                                        

If you would have told me a year from then that I would be living in Germany, with a baby, and clipping coupons as a hobby ... I would have thrown my cocktail in your face and called you a liar. I couldn't be happier right now, but it is crazy how much has changed for us in just a year!

Anyway, here are some pictures from this week!

His eyes look dark in all of these pictures, but they are getting bluer by the day!

I love this picture ... he's so happy!

Roscoe has been obsessed with smelling him lately.

He is finally getting used to sleeping in his crib! Please note that his pants are on backwards in this picture ... I'm still getting used to dressing a baby.

This was after his bath and he was not happy with me. 

Just a week and a half until our vacation starts!! We ordered a new fancy camera, so I can't wait to take a million pictures.

Family Day

Yesterday Elliott and I were able to drive to Hohenfels to visit with Vic. It was a two hour drive into the middle of nowhere Germany, but luckily Kim and JJ rode with us so we had some company. Both of the boys did awesome in the car, and my first attempt at driving on the autobahn was disaster-free. Vic and the rest of the married soldiers were shuttled in from their training site, and we were allowed to spend all day together. The Hohenfels post is super tiny, so we didn't have too many choices of things to do, but we spent most of the day outside because the weather was beautiful!
We were both so happy to see Vic, and can't wait to have him home at the end of the week!

Taking a walk around post, and the views were gorgeous - very different from ol' Schweinfurt.

Vic was able to see him smile for the first time, along with some other new tricks he's picked up in the last month.

We had to wake-up Eli to get this picture, so he was not too happy! Hopefully now that the weather is improving, Vic and I can work on getting our Florida tans back, because we're looking a little pale.

He was still not happy with the photo shoot!

Love this one ... we don't get many chances to take pictures while Vic is in uniform, so I had to take advantage of this opportunity ...

The ride home from Hohenfels went equally as smooth ... both boys did not make a peep the entire time and then simultaneously burst into tears as soon as we pulled into the neighborhood - perfect timing.

Eli turns two months this week, and it's crazy how fast the time is going ... I feel like he's going to be walking before we know it! He has his two month check-up tomorrow, and I'm excited to see how much he has grown.

Here are some pictures from this week ...

He absolutely loves his play yard, and usually Lola lays on the mat with him to keep him company. I put him there while I'm making dinner, and he entertains himself long enough for me to cook and eat. Most times I just eat in his room because that glider is insanely comfortable.

I love this picture! He is definitely going to take after Vic and I with the longer torso and short little legs!

Mimi an Papa Heath sent his this mobile earlier in the week and he's mesmerized by it. The poor bear has been forgotten about. Side note, this onesie didn't bring too much luck to Vic's Dukies ... but there is still hope for the Boilers tonight!!

Vic gets home later this week, and then has one more full week of work before our vacation starts. We have our travel route pretty much figured out, and are just hoping the weather stays this nice! I can't wait to upload pictures of all the cool places we are planning on going!

Two weeks down, two to go!

It's been a pretty slow week here. Vic is a little more than halfway done with this field exercise, and the end can not come soon enough!!!

This week we received definite confirmation that we are moving. Vic's unit, for the most part, will be gone by the end of the summer, but we won't be leaving until October. We are waiting behind because we just got to Schweinfurt, and we have to wait for the new fiscal year to start before we can move again. Either way, I'm really excited. The new post is much bigger with WAY better housing and more things to do. There's even a dog park!! 

We also heard back from the claims department about our missing and damaged things. It looks like we will almost get fully reimbursed! The only thing that we lost on was the couch - instead of paying to replace it, they will only pay to repair it. The important thing is - Vic will be able to get his new TV as soon as he gets home.

Here's a couple pictures of the house ... we still need to hang pictures, but you get the idea ... 

Living room ... 

Dining room ... there's the new kitchen table from the trip to Ikea when I almost went into labor ...

Our bookshelf was destroyed in the move, so I just threw a bunch of stuff on this shelving unit. Notice the start of Vic's beer stein collection!

Eli's crib is complete! This was a gift from Vic's mom and sister, and it's beautiful! It converts into a toddler bed and then to a full size bed, so E should have this thing forever!

Here's a picture of Vic in the field! I keep getting questions about where he's at, or what he's doing ... and I honestly have no clue about the point or location of this exercise. All I know is that he works a lot, and apparently, he gets to carry around a large rifle.

This weekend Kim and I took the boys to a free little zoo in Schweinfurt. It was really cute, and I can't wait to go back during the summer.

They had these big E's everywhere ... for Elliott, obviously ...

We have a lot more smiling going on!! I have found that the more idiotic I act (singing, dancing, crazy faces), the bigger he smiles ...

A couple days ago I put him down in his crib while I did a couple things around the house. I fully expected him to fall asleep in there, but instead he spent almost two hours 'talking' to this bear. I guess he's easily entertained!

Although he doesn't look too impressed here, he loves sitting up in this little seat ...

I love when he falls asleep like this ...

... always with that little arm in the air.

Anyway, Vic gets home in a couple weeks and he is going to try to take a week of leave so we can do a little traveling. We're thinking about hitting Prague and Heidelberg ... and a few other places. With the exception of Prague, we're sticking to mostly day trips, so we don't have to worry about the dogs. I can't wait to get out and start exploring!

Worst move ... ever.

Our stuff was delivered on Thursday!! Everything started out perfectly ... the workers arrived early enough to get the government furniture out and the moving truck was right behind them. The movers introduced themselves and immediately got to work. The first thing off the truck was the leather desk chair we bought at Fort Gordon ... I had forgotten about this, so I was excited to see it coming up the stairs. That excitement quickly changed when I saw the chair no longer had a single intact wheel. Ok, not a big deal - it's just the chair. The desk (also bought brand new at Ft. Gordon) was what I was REALLY excited about. Now, this isn't one of those fake wood desks that you get at Wal-Mart ... this is a big, strong, solid wood desk. It came through the door next and I could already see the mover's face before he completely unwrapped it. Two legs were broken off, the back was gone, a whole corner was missing, and there were scratches and dents everywhere. I started to get a little upset, but figured that had to be the end of the damages, right?? Wrong.
Our big, beautiful sectional couch was next, and after months of sitting on the overly scotch-guarded government couch ... I was dying to swan dive onto this thing. As they were taking off the plastic I could see the movers looking at each other like, "this bitch is about to lose it" ... surely enough, each piece had either a large rip or was stained. I managed to stay calm ... and the next couple hours went relatively smooth. We had a little scare when I opened the box that was supposed to have Vic's XBOX inside, but contained a lampshade instead. One worker quickly helped me find it in another box, and we laughed about how bad it would suck to have something stolen. At that moment the second mover came through the door and annouced that they were all done! The next few minutes went something like this ...

Me: 'Wow, that was fast ... I didn't even see you bring in the two flat screens!'
Mover #2: 'What flat screens?'
Me: 'Hahaha, shut up!'
Mover #2: 'No seriously ma'am, there's nothing left on that truck'
... this went on for several more minutes, until I finally realized he wasn't joking ...
Me: 'So you're telling me both our 50 inch flat screens are gone?'
Mover #1: 'I think what he's telling you is ... your ass got robbed'

Seriously, not one, but both of our TVs were stolen!! Now, to put a positive spin on this (if we can get fully reimbursed) ... we didn't really need two 50 inch TVs. It was nice at Ft. Gordon because we had the space, but here we would have had to put one of those suckers in our tiny bedroom, and it would have looked ridiculous. But, in the end, we spent thousands of dollars on those things, and it sucks to have anything stolen.

I have all the paperwork filled out and as receipts for most of the stuff, so hopefully I can file a claim on Monday and get the process started to get reimbursed.

Anyway, the first box I opened contained wine glasses, so I took that as a sign and had a drink. Today is day three of unpacking and everything is starting to come together. The rips and stains on the couch are pretty well hidden and the desk will get us by with the help of super glue and a Sharpie marker. Eli's nursery looks great and I can't wait to get his crib put together. Our bed came damage free and it's just as amazing as I remember!!

Vic has come to terms with his missing TVs, but is now on a mission to buy the biggest and craziest one he can get his hands on. He is doing well, and we can't wait to get him home in a few weeks!!

In other news, they announced this week that Schweinfurt will be closing and we will be moving to a nearby post about an hour away. We haven't heard too many specifics yet, but it looks like we"ll be here until August or so. There is a meeting on Tuesday night, so I should know more then. I can't believe I will be unpacking all these boxes to potentially turn around and do it again in six months ... but, that's Army life for you!!

In happy news, Eli is doing great. He is back to sleeping (almost) through the night and is smiling like a crazy man.

 
My neighbor friend Kim gave him this little jacket and he looks so cute in it!!

I was having a lot of trouble walking the dogs and doing laundry because I would have to leave Eli in the apartment ... so I invested in one of these things, that I swore I would never use.  It has been such a life-saver and he loves it!! I think we'll get some more use out of it when we start to travel ... and I can't wait to see Vic wearing it :)

He also loves his new swing!! This has also been a life-saver, he will sit in this thing for hours! You can tell in the picture how chubby he's getting!!

I still need to put the knobs on this end table, but you get the idea! My mom got us this glider and it's amazing ...

We just need the crib put together and a couple things here and there and his room will be done!!  I'll take pictures of the rest of the place when we get it put together, but right now everything is a disaster!