My week as a single mom ...

     Vic was in the field for training ... which made for an interesting week for me and Eli. We are currently trying to get the process started for E's US citizenship and social security, but the Army could not make things more confusing. I wasted a good five hours this week waiting in lines, collecting documents and dealing with idiots. I seem to have everything together, so hopefully we'll get everything squared away this week!
     The week was going fairly smooth until Roscoe decided to break out of the apartment. I was doing laundry, which is in the basement of our building, while Eli slept, and he must have slipped through the door unnoticed behind me. I came back upstairs and fixed myself lunch and did a couple things around the house. I went to give the dogs a treat and noticed Roscoe was nowhere to be found. I quickly put two-and-two together and realized he must be in the basement, so I walk into the stairwell and start to yell his name. Well, the German neighbor comes out and asks if I'm missing my dog. I assume she has him, so I excitedly tell her that I am missing my dog! She replies, "Oh I let him outside and he run far away!" Holy shit, I could have punched this woman in the face ... but extreme panic had already set in. I ran in the apartment, put Eli in his car seat and attempted to drive through the neighborhood - shouting Roscoe's name out the window. After a few minutes I decided this was the worst plan ever - there was too much ground to cover, I had no idea where to start, and even if I spotted him I wouldn't be able to leave the baby in the car while I chased his dumbass down the street. I went home and called the vet on post, who informed me that most dogs usually run for the gates and he's probably on the economy and I would need to alert the Military and German police. Now I am even more hysterical ... I'm picturing Roscoe running through the streets of Germany hiding from some hardcore German dog-catcher. I immediately decided to call Vic, who was in the field and therefore completely helpless. I was a blubbering mess and could barely even get out what had happened. Vic asked if I wanted him to try to come home, but I could just imagine him going up to his sergeant and saying that he wanted to go home because his dog was missing ... haha, not exactly and full-scale emergency. I got off the phone with him and decided to call the military police. I got in touch with someone quickly and started to explain the situation when he interrupted me and said, "building 537 ... a woman called and she has had him for an hour." He was alive!!! I put Eli in the car seat once again and set out to rescue Roscoe. He was hanging out in officer housing with a nice lady who had two other dogs ... I would have talked to her more, but I was still crying uncontrollably at this point. Lesson learned, I need to be more careful when doing laundry and I definitely won't be asking the German neighbor to dog sit.
     Elliott had his two-week check-up and he is doing great! He has grown and inch and put on the right amount of weight. I'm not a huge fan of his doctor ... he's very serious and monotone, not what I would expect out of a pediatrician. During the exam he was rolling Eli over, and the kid farted the loudest fart ever for at least 30 seconds straight, and the doctor didn't even crack a smile!! I don't care who you are ... farts are ALWAYS funny. Anyway, Eli did have to get two shots and his heel pricked and he did great ... lots of crying, of course, but he calmed down quickly.
     Here are some more pictures ... again, nothing too exciting because he doesn't do too much. I can't wait until our stuff gets here and he has his swing and bouncy seat to play in ...
   
This is my favorite picture yet! I was making him try on hats and this was his reaction ... love it.

More of Eli and his 24-7 guard dog ...

Another one from bath time ... you can't tell from this picture, but he really does love the bath.

This coming weekend is Fasching in Germany. From what I can gather, it is a mix between Mardi Gras and Halloween. Apparently it is a time to let off steam and celebrate before Lent begins. There are all kinds of parades and festivals going on, so we are going to try to catch some of the festivities going on in town and also check out the city of Bamberg.  Hopefully we have some fun pictures and stories for next week's blog!

Two weeks old ...

Today Eli turned the big two weeks!! We've had a rough couple of nights, but he is still such a good baby. We have made several outings and he has slept through all of them. He hates his bassinet, which is causing a lot of the nighttime issues ... hopefully we'll have better luck with his crib once it arrives.

Eli's first bath went great! It is like 6 degrees in Schweinfurt, and our apartment is really drafty, so we made it quick ... but he loved it! 

Lola hasn't let up on the guard duty. She's so protective over him! Roscoe has stopped acknowledging him all together ... he's definitely a little jealous.  

We  made our first dinner outing as a family this week. We went with the neighbors to a restaurant across from our neighborhood called Brazils. The place is funny, it's called Brazils but they serve Mexican food ... along with German, and Italian-Asian fusion (whatever that is). Either way, we have been there a few times and I love it. They play really good music and during the summer they have the big outdoor area - so we're excited about that. Side note, Vic thought he was ordering a margarita like you find in the states ... and they brought him out this girly looking drink - he switched to a beer after he downed his cocktail.

Vic was on paternity leave all last week, and it was awesome having him around. He's a huge help and so funny with Eli. He was supposed to have a few more days, but he was called back early to go to the field for a week. They have him sleeping in a tent in this crazy weather, so I know he's ready to come home!

 I've decided that Elliott looks nothing like me. I had my mom e-mail my baby picture to me and I think he got that little chin from me, and everything else is Vic. I am still holding out hope for blue eyes though. But seriously, how cute is that little face???

I went to the mall with Kim (neighbor girl) and another friend today, who both have toddler boys ... they played on the playground while Eli slept . It was nice to get out of the house and hang out with other girls ... plus I got a taste of what  I'll be dealing with in a year and a half!

Tomorrow Eli has his two week check-up! I cried when Roscoe got his first shots, so I'm sure I'll be a mess. Vic and I are also planning our first trip with the baby on President's Day weekend ... we decided since Elliott is so good on outings we'll try for a close little trip first. I think we'll check out Bamberg, which is about 20 minutes by train.

I'll try to do a better job of updating this thing ... there's just not much to show besides a sleeping baby right now :)

First week as Parents ...

I'm not sure if we're in the 'honeymoon' phase, or Eli is just that good ... but this parenting thing is a piece of cake! I'm actually getting more sleep now, than before he was born! We usually put him down between 9 and 10 and he'll wake up at 1 and then again around 5 - for quick feedings. We haven't had any inconsolable crying - just when he's hungry or needs a new diaper. Speaking of diapers ... this kid has gone through 60 diapers since we came home on Friday!!! Thank goodness I bought in bulk. We took our first family outing yesterday. We ran errands o base and went to the hardware store ... he slept the entire time!

Here's some new pictures of him ... all he does is sleep, so it's hard to get exciting pictures of him!! He hates his bassinet, so most of the time (during the day) we let him sleep in his Boppy on the couch with us.

The dogs love him, especially Lola. When he is fussy in the middle of the night, she will paw at me until I get up and get him. When I feed him she will lay next to him ... or on top of him!

This is his super serious look ... he has so many crazy facial expressions.

So tired ...

Home at last!

We are home from the hospital and couldn't be happier about it! At some point I'll post about our whole experience in the German hospital (we have some hilarious stories), but for now I'll just put up some pictures. Our first night with the baby at home went surprisingly well ... minus several exploding diapers, we were able to sleep for about 10 hours with a couple quick feedings in the middle of the night. We even managed to eat a steak dinner and watch a movie ... we have this parenting thing down!


He he is only a minute old!!! I was completely out of it at this point from too much epidural, but so happy. I was in actual labor for 6 hours, but only pushed for 2 hours! The midwife who delivered him spoke zero English ... kind of difficult in a situation where you need very clear instructions! I couldn't get mad though, she was the sweetest little old German lady.

Getting checked out. 

Daddy and his mini-me. He definitly looks more like Vic, but he has a little Potts in him too!

Relaxing in our hospital room. He slept for most of the first day.

In German hospitals they encourage co-sleeping, so he spent most of the first days in bed with me. Kind of weird ... but I didn't argue with the German nurses, some of them were scary.

He refuses to be swaddled ... he has to have his arms out.

German hospital food! The breakfast was always amazing ... but lunch and dinner were a little questionable. This is currywurst and potatoes.

I fought the pacifier for the first day, and then finally gave in. He loves just hanging out and looking around.

Roscoe checking him out. The dogs are really funny with him. Lola gets really panicky and worried when he cries and won't leave his side until he stops. Roscoe just smells him and could care less about him crying.

Bundled up and ready to go home! Mimi Heath bought him this coat and it's perfect. He was perfect on the way home ... even through the bumpy cobblestone roads!

Relaxing at home ... the hospital made him this little 'Rosario' bracelet.

We have a million more pics, but I just picked the best from the bunch. I'll keep posting more, and we will try to call/Skype everyone this weekend to catch up!!

Elliott is here!!

I'm a little late to update .... but he's here!! We are having technical difficulties, so I will give a full recap with pictures when we get home tomorrow. Most importantly, Baby E is healthy & happy. He was born at 4:57 am on the 24th, weighing 7.4 lbs and 20.5 inches long. In my opinion, he's the cutest baby ever born! I will update more tomorrow, the slow internet is testing my patience :) Talk to everyone soon!!

Stubborn Baby

After the news at our last doctor's appointment, I was sure Eli would be promptly on his way ... it appears he has other plans though. Maybe it's the cold weather or he could even be waiting for our furniture to arrive ... but either way, he hasn't budged an inch in the past two weeks. The good news is that our regular doctor is back, and she has given us the choice of deciding when to induce - although she suggests we at least wait until the actual due date. Since I know very little about inducing labor, aside from what I just googled, I am going to follow her advice and give Eli until the 23rd to come out on his own. We head back next Tuesday and will most likely be inducing later on in the week!
Our doctor tried for at least ten minutes to get a good picture today, but he just wasn't cooperating. At one point he had both arms, a foot and the umbilical cord pulled across his face. He's getting a little too comfortable in there.This is the best we got when he decided to peek out for a minute ...

She said everything is looking good, and at almost 8 lbs ... he's going to be a big baby! Speaking of BIG ... I have become too large for a pair of maternity pants. These are the same pants that I bought because the sales lady at Macy's said they were impossible to out-grow. Seriously. This picture does me no favors in the looks department, but you get the gist of how enormously huge I am.

In non-baby related news ... we are still awaiting the arrival of our curtains and I would like to formally apologize to the neighborhood for my pink robe that continues to shrink in length as my baby bump increases in width. Vic's new tech-savvy computer did arrive, and he has been glued to this thing. He is currently tuning out my complaints of swollen hands and my fear of impending stretch marks.
Vic is having a big week ... his one-year Army anniversary was January 17th and his 34th birthday is on Saturday! The Army one-year wasn't cause for much celebration, but we're planning something fun for his birthday - where I will most likely serve as the designated driver. Since he was in Basic Training last year, this is the first time we have spent his birthday together ... exciting stuff!
Anyway, we're going to try to get the most out of our last 'baby free' days and just try to relax. Hopefully this time next week Eli  will be here!!!

Busy week

It was a big week for Vic and I. First and foremost, we finally ordered curtains!! They should be here in a few weeks, and I'm sure the neighborhood will be just as happy as us to see them go up. We also are attempting to paint Baby Eli's room ... it's still an empty nursery at 38-weeks, but at least the walls will look good.Tomorrow I'm calling about our household goods shipment, so keep your fingers crossed that our stuff is almost here and the boat hasn't capsized. This is the bed the Army loaned us ... so you can imagine why we're so eager to get our stuff!

I passed my German driving test on Tuesday!! It was just a written test, no driving - and let's face it, I wouldn't have fared so well if driving was involved. On Saturday we took the Jeep for its first trip on the Autobahn. We were headed to the Ikea in Wurzburg to get a kitchen table. The trip there was perfect, but I may have overdone it shopping and could have swore I was going into labor before we reached the checkout lane. Mix that with getting lost on the way home and we had a full-blown hormonal breakdown on our hands. Vic held it together well, but he has cancelled all further out of town trips ... and I don't blame him. This is what 38 weeks is looking like ... enough already!

We had our third doctor's appointment this week, and everything seems to be moving along as scheduled. Our regular doctor is on 'holiday' so we saw her replacement ... a very nice, but completely ditzy woman. While doing the 3-D ultrasound she looked really confused for a couple minutes and then turned to Vic and said, 'Yeah, I have no idea what I'm doing'. She turned the machine to the regular ultrasound and had a little more luck - but not really. This was the best shot that we got ... and we're hoping our regular doctor is back before Eli decides to come! I've decided he is going to have huge lips and definitely Vic's nose!

The doctor seems to think he could come tomorrow or two weeks from now - I'm not ready for tomorrow, but I don't want to wait two more weeks!
With no more trips planned, this will probably be the last post until we meet Eli!! I will have internet in the hospital, so I'll be able to update everyone by text/email. We're excited!!!