Bye-bye, 2011

Oh, 2011, what a crazy year you were for this family. We started off the year in Virginia and now we are settling into our new, albeit temporary, lives in the old world.  When I think back at all the things that we did in 2011, it's hard to imagine that it somehow managed to fit into one single, solitary year.

The Army took its time letting us know where Big R's next assignment would be.  We were repeatedly told this was normal, but that didn't make the unknown any easier.  Our Type A personalities are not exactly patient.  It wasn't until March that Big R finally got his orders and we couldn't believe our luck. Germany, freaking GERMANY!  It was so unreal...

Now that we knew we were heading overseas for a few years, we started planning.  Knowing that living across the ocean might make visiting people a little more challenging, we made sure to put some trips into our schedule before we boarded that plane to Germany.  We visited friends near St. Louis,

we visited family and friends in Las Vegas and California,

we had family and friends visit us,

we went camping on the beach with friends on the Outer Banks,

and we took a trip to New England to see good friends get married and visit more family.

We threw parties,

 looked at wedding venues,

and said goodbye...

After three long and sometimes grueling months of transitioning, planning, packing, sorting, more planning, and traveling, we finally found our family reunited in our new home in Germany.

And so our European adventure in the Old World began.  We wasted no time starting our travels to discover all the amazing places in this part of the world. We dove right in and cozied up to the German culture and Bavarian charm.  Amidst struggling our way through our broken and horrific German to get our cable installed and our home in order, we managed to have some fun eating far too much Bavarian food and drinking ridiculous amounts of German beer.  We enjoyed ourselves at wine festivals and beer festivals, bike rides along the river, dinners out at beer gardens, and swimming in the fabulous outdoor German swimming pools.

Our first trip away from home was to Italy where we saw Trento...

on our way to Cinque Terre, which was a place I had always wanted to visit so Big R took me there for our anniversary...

We stopped in Dresden and Straupitz....

on our way to Berlin for Big R's birthday...

Then it was off to Garmisch for Big R's annual training with TDS.  Wow, what a beautiful place.  The mountains in this region are magical...

The traveling slowed down just a bit toward the end of the year as we waited for little r's passport to finally arrive.  That hardly kept us from exploring our corner of Germany though.  We took a side trip to Nuremberg,

Rothenberg ob Tauber, 

Erfurt,

and Munich...

If this is a taste of what we have in store for 2012, I like it.  I like it A LOT!!!  

Swimmies

Today marked the third day this week that we went as a family to Bambados (indoor pool and water park). There isn't a whole lot else going on this time of year for little ones and my crazy bear needs some way to expend his wild energy. Our usual family walks are becoming far and few between these days, too, because little r just doesn't last long in the colder weather we're having. So Bambados it is, and let me just say, it's hardly settling. If you go first thing in the day, you can miss the crowds and we all know early works well for little r :) We made a fantastic discovery today: swimmies! You know those inflatable arm wings that kids wear?! I am no doubt way behind the curve on this one as I'm sure most mothers have discovered this secret. Little r is a fish in the water. Problem is, he doesn't swim just yet but he never got the memo. Instead, he flailing and kicking about making it near impossible to hold onto him. Of course the baby pool, as freaking awesome as they are over here in Germany, is no longer fun. My little man wants to be in the big pool all the time. Enter swimmies. So way cool. I was a little unsure if he would let us put them on. Turns out he'd been paying attention to all the other kids with them on and couldn't wait to have his own pair. These simple little arm supports opened his world. He loves being independent and Big R and I enjoy the break. I have fewer anxiety attacks and little r is having so much more fun. Not only did little r swim in the pool all morning practically on his own, but he also went down the huge water slide no less than a dozen times. Now this is no simple water slide. It's one of those water slides you see in water parks that twist and turn and take you through tunnels. He even went in the really fast slide in the intertube with us. The kid has little fear these days when it comes to water. Guess its time to find the boy some lessons :) Sorry we don't have any pictures to share because he sure is cute when he swims. We have our hands a bit full. Hopefully we'll figure out a way to water proof a camera soon - so stayed tuned! - Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

And, we ate the ginger bread house...

Yes we did, little r and I ate his ginger bread house. There are probably a million things wrong with me allowing this to happen, but honestly, I just can't stop laughing about it. It was darn yummy is what it was.  Never realized little r had such an eye for good food. Haha.  And here I was worried about the dog eating it!  Guess you could say we're a couple of suckers for cinnamon graham crackers, vanilla icing, and chocolate (for some reason neither one of us are too crazy about marshmellows). The only thing I'm disappointed about is that I didn't take a picture of it first.  Our friends had invited us over to make these little houses made of goodies this week, and they were a simple way to have fun. And, as it turns out, a pretty fantastic snack a few days later. It was another one of Big R's overachiever moments. He's like that especially when it comes to being creative, and little r never seems to mind the help.  The little house had a steeply slanted roof, a front entry way with Santa standing inside, and it even had a dormer.  Not even kidding you.  That's my hubby for you.  Being that little r and I started the project long before Daddy offered his help, it was in a sad state of disarray and thrown together mispodge of bricks and paste.  Man, I really wish I had taken a picture of it - oh well, we'll try to remember next time, and you can just imagine what it looked like in your mind. Little r and I were giggling so hard that I didn't even think to take an "after" picture either.

Fun can show up in places you'd never expect. I hope you all are having fun in a creative way today, too :)

Happy days...

This could very well be a prematurIe celebration, but I'm at the point where every little bit makes me happy.  The monsters have released my little man, and sleep is starting to return to the household.  Yeehaaaa!  This has translated into a very happy little bear and an even happier Mommy.  I wish I could tell you that I discovered some genius solution for why my toddler has suddenly started sleeping again, but it remains a complete mystery.  At this point so many things were at play creating a perfect storm of issues resulting in insomnia and sleep deprivation.  Potty training somehow triggered nightmares, which started a fear of the dark, and translated into restless wakenings.  Believe it or not, we went from having the room be almost bright as day with night lights, to regressing into complete darkness again.  I started to realize that the "I'm scared, mommy" call was simply little r's way of telling me he didn't want to be in bed and was ready to play.  Manipulation is a powerful tool when it pulls at your heart strings, and when it has to do with fear, it's hard to tell your toddler he really isn't scared at all.

Somehow it all came together though and has gone full circle.  He's even asking to use the toilet.  Not much going on in that category, but at least the little guy isn't afraid of the toilet anymore.  Thank God for small miracles.  I was afraid we were looking at a year of toilet nightmares and dirty diapers, and I was NOT looking forward to any of that.

I also started to realize that he was getting bored during the day.  Let's face it, I'm not the most interesting cat in the room, and my toddler isn't the first person to make that determination.  I have many Mommy and wife things that need to get done throughout the day, which often translates into not being able to play with trains every solitary second like little r wants me to.  Our apartment is a really comfortable place to live, but these walls get old for a toddler whose brain is growing in warp speed.  Turns out the best recipe for sleep was Christmas - a little sugar crash and new toys wore the kid out and he slept until 7:30 a.m. the next day.  Not sure it's a good idea to feed him cookies and give him new toys every day, but it was a perfect Christmas gift for a worn out Mommy, let me tell you.  I'll take that any time he's willing to dish it out.

And then yesterday we made an even better discovery!  An indoor water park just 10 minutes from home. Bamberg recently opened its new Schwimbad called Bambados.  It has been heavily promoted and we were anxious to try it yet never seemed to make it over there.  We finally took little r yesterday and what an awesome place.  Little r was in heaven, and I found a new destination to add to our weekly routine to get exercise and have fun.  It's time for little r to tap back into those swimming genes he has undoubtedly inherited from Big R's side of the family.

Needless to say, the perfect storm has started to dissapate, and I am working on creating a more regular routine to help keep that growing mind in little r's head engaged so that he sleeps more soundly.  So far it's working, and I'm sure I could use some more structure in my life as well.  Hopefully this will calm my sanity until kindergarten starts - it's only a month away!

Christmas cheer and choo choo trains

Christmas was quiet and intimate for our family this year.  No big family gatherings or party traditions. We instead had our first Christmas at home as our own little family and started what we hope will be new traditions.   It was a cold and blistery day, so we decided to stay inside and bake goodies and a yummy Christmas Eve dinner.

Despite there being only three of us in this house, we had no shortage of food.  Being his first Christmas away from his family ever, Big R had a list of items that were a must. Even little r got to pitch in and do his first holiday baking.

With the butter cake baking and the cookies mostly in our tummies already, we started making the traditional Swedish meatballs, ham, and other yummy treats.  

We used enough butter to make Paula Dean proud.

I should never be trusted cooking these things. Luckily there were a few left over for dinner.

Being far away was made easier by using Skype to video chat with our families.  We devoured our dinner...well, kind of, considering we'd been eating all day and had eaten most of the dinner before we sat down - oops!  And once little r was tucked into bed and Santa visited our house, I crashed while Big R stayed up late to call his family during their traditional Christmas Eve gathering.  

Little r didn't disappoint and had us up bright and early.  It was ok though because he was in the best mood. Seems to take the edge off the early rise when you have a sweet little boy to wake up to.  He had no idea how exciting today was going to be.  We weren't sure what he'd be like with his presents.  I always thought he would dive into all the presents and go crazy, but he was actually completely opposite.  He'd be so excited by one gift, that he'd probably play with it for hours if we let him.  The last thing he was interested in was opening more presents. It was super cute.  Somehow we managed to get through his mound of presents.  He is a spoiled little man - Santa (and all the grandparents) were very good to him.  Our little man loved all of his gifts (except the clothes, little kids never like those but Mommy does!), but I think his absolute favorites were his new Thomas the Train toys that he got from Santa (Daddy couldn't hold back).  The kid seriously loves trains - and cars, too, of course, but trains are his most recent obsession - actually, he likes most things that have wheels and can "crash" (don't ask...).

Here are some fun pictures of the shenanigans from our Christmas morning.   

Shiny train, Mommy!

So many cars - how can I hold them all at the same time?

Got to get them all lined up perfectly...

Choo-choo.  Notice the unopened present in the background.  

Oh, another present for me?!

I think the kid is a fan of Christmas, what do you think?

Merry Christmas everyone!  We hope your holiday has been warm, loving, yummy, and most of all fun.  We love you and wish you a very happy and safe holiday!