Munich

With moving, and E being sick - we haven't traveled much lately. We decided to change that yesterday, and took a nice little day trip to Munich. It was an easy two-and-a-half hour drive, and we got there around 11:00. I had done some research on the most popular restaurants, so we already knew where we wanted to eat. Parking was a breeze once we did a few loops around the city to find the garage. We were right in the city center, so it was a short walk to Haxnbauer ... a restaurant famous for its pork knuckle, or schweinshaxe - which Vic had his heart set on after we read the online reviews of the menu. This place did not disappoint. From the window you could see the giant hocks of meat roasting on a spit - Vic was in man-heaven. The restaurant itself was a traditional, Baravian-ish beer hall, and it was not crowded - which made life with a wiggly baby much more pleasant. Our Turkish waitress was slightly obsessed with Elliott - she was taking pictures of him, and carrying him all around the restaurant (she would hold open her arms and say, 'come to me, baby'). It was kind of nice because we got to eat in peace, and E was LOVING the attention - but it was a little creepy that a strange women was carting around my child. Nothing against Turkish people, but if you've ever seen the movie Taken - you can understand my anxiety with this scenario. It would have put a damper on the day if we had to go on a Liam Neeson type rampage around the city.

Anyway, Vic's pork knuckle was amazing (I helped myself to half), and we washed it down with a couple Hefeweizens (our beer of choice). We had no real plan for the rest of the day, so we just wondered around, and managed to stumble onto a majority of the major sites. I think you probably need 3 days to see ALL of Munich, but we did pretty well for a day trip.

THE Pork Knuckle ...

I snuck a picture of Eli and his new friend .... this is when she was introducing him to the kitchen staff ...

The New Town Hall ... with the Frauenkirche in the background ...

Glockenspiel on the New Town Hall ...

Inside the Town Hall ...

The were getting everything ready for the Christmas Market ...

Inside the Town Hall ... beautiful ...

Posing by the famous Ratskeller ...

Sweets, sweets, and more sweets. Vic has developed quite the sweet tooth since we've moved here ... he's always talking me into doughnuts and pastries. He doesn't have to twist my arm too much ...

HUGE concert type amphitheater ... it was massive ...

Church from inside the palace gardens ...

Palace ...

Bubble boy taking a nap ...

 Nationaltheater München ...

Vic, patiently waiting for me to finish taking pictures ...

Crypt inside the Frauenkirch ...

Frauenkirch ...

Up from his nap, and so happy!

The most famous beer hall in the world ...

Over 1,000 people can fit in the first floor restaurant ...

Definitely the highlight of the trip ... complete with an Ompah band playing while we enjoyed our beers. Very cool ...

Eli will be entertained for hours by teething on a coaster ... it's our go-to device in every restaurant ...

The next day we drove into Czech Republic to do a little shopping at their Black Market - which was pretty interesting. They had about 400 booths of merchandise - mostly knock-offs of American brands. We didn't find too much stuff, but it was fun to haggle with them ...

Ready to shop!

Along with traveling, we also made quite the Thanksgiving feast on Thursday ... and we're still eating leftovers. It was a great long weekend - after a less than stellar week!

When it Rains - it Pours ...

It's been a rough week for the ol' Rosario family. Elliott started the week with a temperature of 102. He can't go into daycare with that mess, so I called off work (again), and made another doctor appointment. We saw a really nice doc who said he may have the start of a couple different things - mainly another ear infection - and asked us to come back in two days. That night was an all-nighter - Eli was so uncomfortable and fussy, so we kept him in bed with us.
The worst thing about living in Germany is there are no 24-hour clinics available to us. If something goes wrong after the on-post clinic closes - your only option is the German Krankenhaus.
The next morning Vic and I both woke up with Flu-type symptoms ... and it was not pretty. It was a long, horrible day that I would not wish on my worst enemy. I'll spare you the details.
We went back to the clinic the following day for E's follow up - he still had a temperature of 102-103. Vic and I were still a little shaky at this point, but feeling much better. The doctor said E looked pretty dehydrated, and we should wait another 24-hours before taking him to the hospital. In retrospect, we should have taken him to the hospital that day, but we waited like the doctor said. I'll also spare you, yet, another rant about Army doctors ...
Anywho, 24 hours passed and the fever wasn't gone so we packed a few things and headed for the hospital. We didn't have to wait long to be seen by the triage nurse. She was not impressed with the Army doctor's orders to wait out the fever. They did an exam, and tested for RSV (which was negative), but decided he needed an IV immediately. He was so dehydrated that they were only able to put the IV in his head ... it was horrible, and I don't know which one of us cried harder.
We ended up staying three nights in the hospital. While the Germans have incredible hospital care ... they are really lacking in the amenity department. No internet, no TV, no type of in-room kid entertainment. Eli was tethered to machines to whole time, so we played A LOT of peek-a-boo, watched Baby Einstein on the tablet ... and in moments of sheer desperation ... I sang and danced around his crib.
He is feeling much better now, and we are happy to be home!!

Right when we got into our room ... before they hooked up his IV ...

Breathing treatments ... which he loved ...

Hospital room with his jail-cell crib ...

Hanging out with daddy on day two ... thank goodness Vic has such an understanding command. They allowed him to take the week off to stay with Elliott. I'm not sure what I would have done without him!

One slab of lunch meat, and some bread. The Germans aren't big on dinner ...

A calmer moment. The nurses were great the whole time, and so nice. They spoke very little English, but Eli loved them ... especially Frau Ursula who would sing German songs to him at night.

Watching Baby Einstein ... he was pulling at his IV, so they fashioned this lovely headpiece for him.

Helping me open my birthday presents!!

Finally IV-free!! They had this awesome ball pit right outside of his room. We couldn't take advantage of it due to his IV, but we let him play for a few minutes while we were waiting on his discharge paperwork.

All-in-all, it was a pretty horrible week. I definitely learned my lesson about trusting my 'mommy' instincts ... even over a doctor's advice.

Finally!

We are finally fully settled in ... complete with Internet and phone! Life is good here in Grafenwoehr  - very different from Schweinfurt (good and bad), but we're getting used to everything. The new house is amazing. We couldn't have asked for a better location. Because we are on a back corner lot, we are essentially invisible to our neighbors ... and it's fantastic. We are living off-post, so we don't have to show our ID's, and go through security checks just to get home ... so we feel a little more normal.

Elliott has fully adjusted to daycare and he loves it. He doesn't even look back when I drop him off in the mornings, which makes me a little sad. I am very happy with the daycare, and the staff ... so that makes my day a lot easier.

E's room is huge ... and he has tons of space to play. He isn't happy until every last toy is off the shelf ...

He did great during the move, and had to spend a lot of time in his playpen while we were unpacking and setting things up. The picture below is how he would watch Baby Einstein with his face smashed against the netting. Unfortunately, we are going to the end of the Baby Einstein obsession ... which I have been dreading. He is on to bigger and better things, like; chasing Roscoe and Lola, unraveling toilet paper, pulling all of my shoes out of the closet, attempting to climb the stairs, etc. He is in to everything!

We had our first snow on the weekend before Halloween. We ended up getting a couple of inches, but it didn't stick around for too long. I don't think this is a good sign for the winter to come ...

Eli's first Halloween was pretty exciting! We carved a pumpkin at home, which he was extremely interested in ...

He had a party at daycare where he dressed up as a skeleton. These are the stairs that he attempts to climb, and nearly gives me a heart attack. I have looked away for a second and found him standing on the second ostair while hanging onto the gate for dear life.

Vic and I picked him up from daycare, and headed to a Halloween 'Fun' run put on by Vic's Battalion.

He changed into his lion costume, and looked adorable ... of course.

Our neighborhood was the mecca of trick or treating, and was FULL of children from post AND German kids trying to get in on the action. In the craziness of the day - I forgot to buy candy (whoops), so we closed all the blinds and ignored the doorbell.

If you're wondering what to get Eli for Christmas - just send him an empty box ... it seems to be his favorite thing to play with.

Here's a video of E crawling like a pro. It's hard to get good footage because he's so fast! At the rate he's going, I'm thinking I'll have a video of him walking by Christmas!

I also just discovered that his top two teeth are coming in!

The new job is going pretty well. I'm working in the Special Ed department with a first grade student. The job itself isn't hard, but it is SUCH an adjustment from where I came from. I'm not used to crying, boogers, tattling, hugs, etc. The kids are hilarious, but I have never worked with first graders ... so it's going to take awhile to get used to these things.

Things are going great, and we are really looking forward to E's first Thanksgiving (Vic's favorite holiday), and ... of course, Christmas!

I will get pictures of the house up soon!!