Almost done ... I'm serious this time ...

Ok ... seriously. Vic is almost home! Expect some good pictures by the end if the week :) I'm busy getting the house ready and stocking the fridge. 

E and I didn't do anything too exciting this week. I had finals and a couple bigs papers due ... so I had to take advantage of every nap and minute of bedtime for Elliott-free work time. I turned in my last paper on Friday afternoon, and I'm so happy to be done with this semester. I have almost three weeks until the summer semester starts!

Here is E eating his ice cream on the steps of the Eschenbach Rathaus ... I love this little town. This is their Easter fountain ...

He finally chose a good flavor - strawberry!

We had some great weather this week and weekend - and we definitely need to invest in some outdoor toys for this poor kid. Here he is playing with a bucket of water ...

Fingerprinting ...

Watering the grass ...

I try to take E to the park every morning so I can wear him out in the hopes that he will take a nice long nap. He's getting so brave ...

He wouldn't dare go across this thing two weeks ago ...

In Friday we skipped gymnastics to go bowling with the soldiers from Vic's unit. Elliott and his friend Kazilee shared a lane, and it was about the slowest 10 frames ever bowled - in the history of bowling. They had fun though ... and E won - not that I was keeping score or anything.

I love this time of year in Germany. I think it's hell on earth for anyone with allergies, but absolutely beautiful. These are rapeseed fields right outside of our town ... and they go on for miles and miles. This picture does no justice for the true sight, but you get the idea. They only last a few weeks before they are harvested, so I had to pull over and get this shot. This is the last time we'll be able to see them in bloom!

I'm not sure what we'll so next weekend with Vic, but it will be nice to have him home!! E has been asking to go to the zoo, so maybe we'll do that.

We have a month until our Paris trip - I'm so excited to take Elliott to Disneyland!! I also booked us on a bus trip Budapest in July. It's an express trip - so we would leave here Friday night, spend all day in Budapest on Satuday, and drive back through the night to get home Sunday morning! Yikes. But, it's cheap and knocks another country off our bucket list!

Back to cleaning! I'll try to update this with 'welcome home' pictures by Thursday or Friday :)

Happy Easter!

Oh boy, what a week. Sunday night kicked off a 12-hour stomach virus that Elliott and I both got ... at the same time. Probably something from daycare, but it was vicious. I cannot even begin to describe the scene in this house from 6:30pm until 6:30am, but I will tell you that every blanket, bed sheet, and towel was utilized. Just horrible.

This has been one of my worst nightmares since Vic left ... I have even avoided cooking any type of raw meat (I have an irrational fear about this anyway) because I am so scared of getting sick. Well it was just as bad as I could have imagined, and I'm just lucky it was only a 12-hour bug. My friend Vanessa arranged for her husband to drop-off Gatorade and crackers, and that was our saving grace. No exaggeration ... I think I may have died without that Gatorade.

Anyway, once the violent, and I mean violent, vomiting stopped -  we spent the next 12-hours on the couch watching Disney movies. I don't think either of us ate a full meal until Wednesday night ... it completely drained us. I worked overtime to disinfect the entire house, and catch up on the insane amount of laundry that this puke-fest caused.

Here is us about two-hours after the plague had subsided ... Elliott bounced back a little quicker than me ...

We stayed in isolation for the next couple days, and then ventured out to the pool on Thursday with a few of our friends from the neighborhood playground. Nothing new except that Elliott learned to go down the slide backwards, and on his belly ... and then he did this for an hour.

Vic's footlockers made it home in one piece - although a little dusty, but no Vic yet. Hopefully he'll be following in the coming week(s). I've given up on listening to the dates being thrown around ... he'll get here when he gets here!

Elliot got haircut #2 on Friday. I was trying to wait for Vic, but it was just too crazy. He did great, and was so serious throughout the whole thing ...

We picked back up on gymnastics class after last week's spring break hiatus. He did so good - he listened and followed all the directions of the instructors. They played a little mini-soccer game and he was really coordinated with kicking the ball and keeping control of it - the dads in class were really impressed! Maybe we have a future soccer player on our hands??

Waiting his turn on the trampoline ...

On Saturday we went to an Easter event organized by Vic's unit. I had to get there extra early to help set-up, so I decided to skip E's nap entirely. This has never happen - the kid sleeps like clockwork from 12:00 to 3:00 everyday, so I was so nervous about how he would act. He actually did pretty good, but was definitely ready to go by 3:30, and he fell asleep before we even got out of the parking lot.

Stopping by Burger King before the event ... he loves his fry-fries ...

Getting his face painted ... so serious. He asked for a lion, but the lady painted balloons? Whatever - I think there might have been a language barrier. I told him it was a lion anyway - he couldn't see it.

This may be one of my favorite pictures of all time. This is E's best girlfriend Kazilee ... he loves her, and their little faces are just so cute. I feel like he's looking at me like, "mommmm, stop taking pictures - you're embarrassing me in front of my girlfriend!"

Elliott had mixed feelings about the Easter bunny ... he ran right up to him, but then refused to look at him or move any closer.

A little better ... but he still wouldn't look at him. By the end of the event he was a little more comfortable, but then wouldn't leave the poor guy alone.

Easter egg hunt. E did really well, and I tried to hold back some of my competitiveness.

He was taking his sweet time. He had to open each egg as he found it, and if he didn't like the candy inside he would put it back down for somebody else.

This is when all the eggs were gone ... he was telling the kids, "all done" ...

A random shot from the park this weekend. The weather has been bi-polar ... sunny and 70 one day and rainy and 30 another.

This week should be fairly low-key ... I have one big paper due on Friday and this semester is a wrap!! I think my last two classes start mid-May, so I should get a couple weeks of downtime.

I hope everyone had a great Easter!! I'll keep you all updated on any news from Vic!

Still Waiting ...

Vic update ... he's not here yet, but it's looking good at this point!! Maybe. I think. Who knows.

We should get some information on Monday, but either way - it can't be too much longer at this point.

Not much going on this week ... just cleaning and getting things organized in the house - both of which are extremely difficult with a toddler following behind you to mess everything up again. Elliott is crazy - have I mentioned this? I don't know where he gets some of the stuff that comes out of his mouth. His new favorite word is 'ridiculous', but it comes out as dick-less (that sounds crude, but that's the only way I can write it for the way it sounds, and it's funny) ... and everything is dick-less to Elliott. For example, I'll say, "Elliott we can't go outside because it's raining" ... and he'll follow this by putting one finger in the air and saying, "Ok. Dats dick-less mama". I know he has to be picking some of this stuff up from me, as I am the only person he has extended interaction with, but I swear I have never said that - especially with one finger in the air. He's also really into talking about his feelings, and if you know me ... you know he does NOT get this from me. He's constantly telling me about his current state of being ... and always in first-person ... Elliott happy. Elliott mad at mama (I hear this a lot). And anytime I ask him to do something he doesn't want to do ... he's suddenly sad. Elliott can't do dat - Elliott sad.

I really think we're going to have our hands full here.

In other news ... April is the month of the military child - which basically just means there are a whole bunch of things going on around post (that should happen year-round, but whatever), and Elliott gets to participate in a lot of it at daycare. This week they had a dentist visit their classroom, and had a pajama day. Next week a military police officer and a K-9 unit are coming, along with some military equipment - which E will love. I think they also have 'dress like a soldier day' and other random visitors and activities throughout the month.

E made the cut for the big display at daycare ... he looks extra white in this picture - I swear he has some color to him ...

We went to the pool on Tuesday, and it was a good time. We had the place to ourselves - except for the older crowd who like to hang out in the jacuzzi pool. Germans love to stare ... like a dead-on, relentless, stare right at you. I have gotten used to it (Vic is still struggling), but they were in full force at the pool that morning. I have learned to just stare right back, and if that doesn't work ... I just give them a big, cheesy, "HALLO! GUTEN MORGEN!!" That usually does the trick.

This morning I watched Channing and his nine-month-old sister while my friend and her husband ran a race. It was fun ... and interesting. Elliott was extremely jealous of the baby. I couldn't feed her or hold her without E trying to climb in my lap too ... it made things a little difficult, and was a hint of possible things to come. E and Channing got along great, like always, and wore each other out. Elliott slept for 4.5 hours when they left!

This is the only picture I got ... as my hands were pretty full. Elliott is mad that Channing is using his cup and eating off his plate ... seriously, he needs a sibling.

Here are some pictures of Vic's elusive time in Turkey.

These are his battle buddies ... and guys that have the same MOS (job) as him. He got lucky - for as much time as he has to spend with these two - they are at least normal and intelligent ... it has made his life a little easier.

Looking into the city. You can see the missiles set up. I'm not going to say too much, so this post doesn't get flagged, but if you know what Vic is doing there - then you know what these are used for ...

This cracks me up ... like a 90's style boy band ... Army edition ...

We definitely can't wait until he's home. I don't complain too much on here because nobody wants to hear that, but this has been a rough 4ish months. I thought it would be easy with E being so young, but he's at the exact age to make it a horrible experience. He understands that Vic is gone, but can't understand why ... it has been heartbreaking at times. I truly have the utmost  respect for military families who go through this much longer and much more often than we had to do.

This blog should (hopefully) close the deployment chapter ... I think. Maybe. I'll keep you updated :)

Almost Done!!!

Vic is so close to being home ... we think! Again, I'm not even going to mention a time frame because I'm scared of a jinx, but he should be showing up on our doorstep in the near future! The past week has been a little nuts with news and rumors going back and forth ... and back and forth, but it seems like they finally have their plan straight, and it's a good one.

Elliott and I have just been trying to stay as busy as possible. A lot of ice cream has been involved. Normally I make him share a cone, but last week he told me I eat too much, and then cried when I took the last bite. Since scoops are on 90 euro cents, I thought I would be a nice mom and let him get his own cone. He did great eating it by himself, but picked the worst flavors imaginable. The yellow is some kind of Spongebob Squarepant flavor and was absolutely horrid, and the blue was a bubble gum ... which wasn't too bad, but I can't imagine eating a scoop of it. He loved both, of course, and I stuck to my 'cookie' flavor - so delicious.

Obviously sick of taking pictures!

This is the city of Eschenbach - which we live right outside of, but, technically, inside the city limits. It is a teeny-tiny town, but they have a really cute marktplatz (downtown-ish) area with a cute little rathaus (town hall).  Elliott loves the fountain ...

The previously mentioned bubble gum flavor ...

I don't remember what flavor he chose this day, but he obviously was enjoying himself. Seriously, we eat a lot of ice cream ...

I was so happy to see that our post was FINALLY offering some kind of organized sport for under three-year-olds. There has never been anything like this, so I was quick to sign Elliott up for this awesome little gymnastics class. The best part - because Vic is deployed he gets to go for F-R-E-E ... my favorite word. It was a pretty good time, and Elliott really enjoyed himself. I could tell the instructors were still trying to get a handle on trying to run a class for little ones, but I think it will improve in the coming weeks. Elliott did awesome on the beam, and wasn't scared to try anything. His friend Channing is also in the class and they were actually really well-behaved together!

Our friends bought their daughter a trampoline and Elliott loves jumping with her. I refuse to buy one of these things, but we will surely enjoy this one whenever we visit. Elliott loves Kazilee - definitely his first crush, and he even picked a flower for her.

Potty training is going great, and we're going three weeks strong without a diaper!! I know we're still a long way off from overnights in undies - considering E gets up religiously at midnight to drink a full glass of milk, but we'll deal with that in good time ... or when daddy is home to help. 

Elliott and I joined a playgroup ... just moms and kids from around the neighborhood. This is not really my style, but we'll see how it goes! Once Vic is home our daycare prices will increase greatly, so I'm looking for other options to get Elliott out and about with other kids. We are hosting this weeks get-together, and expecting about seven kids ... yikes ...  

I doubt Vic will be home by next week's blog posting, but I will probably have some more definite news!!! Keep your fingers crossed!