Look what we got in the mail today ;-)

We didn't do a whole lot today, cause it was dark and rainy all day long. But I finally managed to go to the mailroom in Mannheim. I sent off two boxes and we also got something very nice for Lucas. Thank you Caro!! You're the best. It's a picture book, talking about deployments. It shows what daddy is doing 'over there', while the little one is here. It's so cute, it almost got me teary eyes, when I read it to him this eveninig. I'm not kidding, I was even going to look for a book like that this week. I never found one in Heidelberg and wanted to try my luck in Mannheim. Of course I had to read the book to him before he went to bed ;-)

And your card is really awsome, as always!! (She sewed it)

A Fuzzy Sleeper and his first real bruise

These past days have been pretty busy. I'm keeping ourselves occupied every day and it's very nice, because days seem to fly by pretty fast.

Lucas started to be really fuzzy when it comes to bedtime. I don't know why, but a couple days after Brian left, he started to take about an hour again to fall asleep. The thing is, that he starts crying really hard once I leave the room. Before Brian left, he didn't care too much and sometimes whined a littler or talked until he fell asleep completely. Now it seems, that he gets scared being alone or I don't know. It might have something to do that Brian is gone, that's what I'm guessing. Or maybe he's just going through another phase or it's him teething. I just hope that it will get better soon.

So what did we all do these past days or what happened? The week was filled with visits with my friend and her daughter (twice) and we went to the playgrounds or just met up at her house. We also visited my parents three times this week. On Friday I met up with some girls of the GermanSpouses Forum at the Mall. It was a very fun time. I don't know why we went to the Mall though, because we hardly bought anything. We were more talking and walking and talking and talking and talking. Hahah. Once we stopped at a cafe for some drinks. Lucas loved that idea, cause I let him jump around. He tried to escape me a couple time, chasing after dogs or walking into shops. We also did a lot of housework and Lucas helped me sweep the streets and around the house yesterday. Today I met up with another friend from the Forum and her kids on the playground at PHV and we went to the commissary afterwards.

So about four days ago, Lucas scared me a little bit. We were in the kitchen and I tried to put a new garbagecan bag into the garbagecan. All of a sudden he slipped and knocked his head right onto the edge of the one cupboard. It's a very sharp edge and when I looked at it, there was a deep dent in his forehead. It turned purple and I tried to cool it. Of course Lucas wouldn't let me cool it, but he didn't cry for too long. I'm just glad that it didn't bleed or anything. The bruise swell up a little that day, but luckily it's not too swollen anymore. It just seems that it changes colors every day. Today it was green.

So here are some pictures of his bruise

Today was just so cute and also a little sad. I was on the computer while Lucas took his afternoon nap. When he woke up, I put him on my lap. I have a picture of him and Brian as my Desktop Picture. He looked at it and said "Daaahhhhhdeee" and when I shut the computer off and the picture was gone he held his hands straight (like he does when something is empty or gone) and said "daaahhhhhhhhdeee". So I guess he wanted to tell me "daddy is gone". I felt so bad. I know he ment the picture of daddy on the PC is gone, but just the whole thing just felt so sad to me. Then I showed him some pictures and he was walking around with one of him and Brian and he also waved at it ;-)

Look uncle Matthew, I'm going to be a racecar driver, too!!!

One more video

Videos

A few pics of these past days

Our past days

I haven't updated the blog in a few days, because we've been pretty busy. It's a good thing though, because the first week without Brian went by really fast. I know it's just one week out of a whole year, but it's something. And if the days will go by as fast as they have been, the year will be over in just a wink of an eye.

Let me think. Friday was a pretty hectic and long day for us. I was at my parent's house and around 6 pm I drove to the airport to get my friend Jess. She had a layover in Germany for a night from her flight from Kuwait to the States.
The way up to Frankfurt was very horrible, as I forgot that it was rushhour and also a Friday evening... I was in traffic jams all the up there (took me almost two hours) and Lucas was crying for about half the way. He didn't know what was going on and of course he was tired as well.
It was very nice to see Jess again and we had so many things to talk about. The way back home was even worse with Lucas. He screamed all the way to the house. At home it was already 8 pm, but I decided to let him stay awake until Jess and I were done with dinner.
The next morning we woke up around 7.30 am and started slowly to get things ready and eat breakfast and such before we drove her back to the airport. All in all it was very hectic and also stressful, especially for Lucas. BUt it was really worth it. The next time I'll see Jess will probably be in about 8 months or so.

So Saturday we didn't do much more, other than grocery shopping and for a walk and then we had dinner and went to bed.

Sunday was pretty exciting. I had a big Forum Meet up with my GermanSpouses Girls (at least some that live close from here). My dad volunteered to babysit Lucas (for the first time by himself). My mom was in Cologne with her girlfriends and luckily, my dad didn't have any business going on for that day. Of course I was a little anxious, because I didn't know how Lucas would be with just my dad. Of course it was all for nothing. He had a great time, acutally both of them did. And I had a great time talking to the girls and eating brunch. It was nice to see some of the girls again and also to see some new faces.
Around 3 pm I drove back to my parent's house and stayed there for some take out dinner.

Today we had a nice relaxing day. I did lots of housework in the morning and after Lucas' nap I drove to the lake in Rheinau to meet up with my friend and he little girl at the playground. We stayed there for about two hours, until I drove back home to prepare dinner. I also got a nice surprise call from my 'little' brother in law Matt. I definately didn't expect him to call. He told me that he'd call me every Monday now (we'll see about that, hahaha) and he tried to convince me to come for a visit during the winter time. Brian already told me that he'd be jealous if I went wihtout him. I know he wouldn't mind, but I also don't want him to feel bad. On the other hand it would be a really weird feeling going there by myself.

How strong ist Lucas?

The first day without Daddy in the house

Yesterday morning was the not so looked forward day of this year. We had to drive Brian to Mannheim and say our good byes. It went just the way I thought it would. I hate good byes, so I told him that we won't stay until their bus leaves. After he unpacked his stuff, we said good bye and drove home. Of course it was really hard and didn't go without any tears. It was especially hard for Lucas to understand why daddy wasn't driving back with us. I don't think he really understood that daddy will be gone for a longer time this time though.

In the morning I still felt a little mixed, but then it went to be okay when I tried to distract ourselves by visiting Lucas' girlfriend and my friend Beata. We stayed there all afternoon. The evening was really weird, not having Brian at home. I don't know if it was the full moon or the fact that he was gone. But Lucas and myself took a long time to fall asleep and the whole night was a little rough, as I woke up a couple times.
Brian send me a message from somebody elses phone though, to tell me that he made it in one piece around 10 pm that night.

Today he called me around lunch time and it really made my day. He only slept a couple hours, because the didn't get to the tent before the morning hours. But he'd doing good otherwise and he's sweating a lot down there, from what he said.

After Lucas' nap I went to my parent's house real quick and to the bank. We looked for some new shoes for Lucas, since his feet are growing so fast. And then I was back around 5 pm, because my friend Carolin's Mom was coming over to pick up a package. She brought me a nice bouquet of flowers, which was very nice of her. And we had a tiny little chat, as I was cooking at the same time. I felt a little bad for not inviting her in altogether. Maybe next time ;-)

Brian called again right before Lucas' bath! I was so happy. I can't believe that he already contacted me three times so far. I really appreciate this, since I know there will be times when we probably don't hear a lot of him.

Baby if you read this, just know that we miss you VERY MUCH!!! We're always thinking about you, day and night. This year will go real fast and then we can be together (hopefully) for good now. I tell Lucas every night, that we both love him.

Now he really is a big boy

I wrote about almost two months ago, when Lucas took his first steps on his own. Well yeah he did and we all knew that he could walk by himself all along. But he never took more than just a few steps from one furniture to another or so and then he was running around with his walker thingy all day long. I was thinking all the time, that this walker might be the reason why he never improved his walking by himself. I think he maybe though that he would need something to hold on to, to walk. Because he was doing all sorts of tricks with it, like running and such. So I decided about a week ago, that I would hide the walker from him and see if anything changes. The first few days I thought I'd go crazy, because he stopped walking altogether, not even little steps. Then it started again and on Sunday I guess he decided, that he would show us what he can really do. All of a sudden he was walking from the kitchen to the living room and we didn't even notice at first. And now he decided walking is such a nice thing, that he's more walking than crawling. And he's even really good at it, which let;s me know that he could've done this about a month ago if he hadn't used his walker.

I don't have any pics or videos just yet of him walking around. But I'll make sure to put one video up this week.

Brian's Farewell Party

It's a little late, but I wanted to share some pictures with you guys of Brian's Farewell Party. We had it on Saturday night at my parent's house in their basement. It went pretty well. It was just family and one of my mom's friends with her son. But Brian had a blast of course, because anything that involves Beer and playing cards is his pleasure.
My dad made a very yummie ham in breadcrust, we had four different salads and I made some deviled eggs and a peach pie.

Lucas stayed up until about 8pm and then I put him in bed. I even drank a few glasses of champagne, but I didn't stay up too late.

So here are the pictures

Just some thoughts for the last week before the deployment

First of all, I wanted to share some recent pics with you guys

So today in a week, Brian will be gone already. All this time, it didnt' even feel real that he's leaving, but I guess now it's coming right at me. I'm a little scared now, concerning all the things going on here and I hope that we won't forget anything that I might need while he is gone (regarding access or whatsoever...) This week is pretty filled and I'm very happy to say, that some days after he leaves, are already planned ahead as well.

Today I went to the children's doc for Lucas' shots and I also got a shot for the flu. They told me that all my shots aren't up to date anymore, so every time I come in with Lucas now, I get a new shot as well. And since we will try for another little one, during RnR or after Brian comes back, I need that one specific shot 'Roeteln' of course. Other than that I don't have much planned for today, other than grocery shopping and maybe baking some brownies and going to the playground.

Tomorrow I don't have any plans actually. I might look what I can do around the house and go to teh playground with Lucas.

Friday we're invited for another first birthday party in the afternoon and Brian is off!!!

Sat and Sun we'll so some last minute things for Brian and we also try to have a farewell party for Brian. We'll see how that one will work out.

Monday, Brian will be off as well. YAY for that.

Tuesday he will leave....

No plans so far for Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday (but I'm sure I'll figure things out, just to get out of the empty house)

I'm so excited to say that Friday, my good friend Jess is landing in Frankfurt. She's deployed in Kuwait right now, but she'll go on RnR to the States and has an overlay in Germany for one night. So I'll pick her up, she stays over night at my house and the next day I'll drive her to the airport. Even though it's just a night, I can't wait to see and talk to her. Missed her a lot!!!

Sunday I have a bigger Forum Meet Up in Heidelberg. I don't know if I'll take Lucas or not. My dad volunteered for babysitting, but it depends if he gets any orders for that day or not.

Yeah, that's it so far for these coming days.

Just the crazy life of an Army Wive, I guess...

... most of you guys have already heard about the bad news... Brian will leave for Iraq in just two weeks of time. I know, I just wrote a blog saying that he won't have to go anywhere. But that's the Army, I guess. They messed up by telling everybody could stay here, as the commander already planned Brian and three other guys in going down range this month. Of course we're sad about this fact and also frustrated. On the other hand we are kind of relived, that we have an exact date now, instead of waiting and also very grateful that he won't be down there for 15 months, as he will come home with his unit, which has been deployed for three months already.