Off and Running

So, after breakfast on Thursday, I called Joni, got directions to our new house, and off we went. (Jim and Joni are letting us borrow their Durango until our cars get here.) Joni met us at the house with Sammy, and the key. Wow, is it nice. It’s a lot bigger than the pictures Joni sent. I trying to decide if I should take some pictures of it empty and put them on Flickr (if I do it won‘t be for another week when we have our own internet instead of using the Starling‘s). I’ll put new ones up after all of our stuff gets here sometime in September. Ooooh, yeeaaahhh. September. Anyhoo. After checking out the place, we walked over to Jim and Joni’s (that’s right, walked, they live that close!) where the boys and I hung out while Josh went out to figure out water, gas, electricity, etc. You know, those minor things.

Josh made it back by 11:00 when Joni and I took the kids to gymnastics! This was too much fun, and great for my boys. Basically, this lady has a little gym that she lets little ones come in and just run around and use the mats and trampolines and things for an hour (it costs $5, and is so worth it). There’s also balloons and hula hoops and bubbles. Oh, we all had a blast. Another woman I knew from Germany was there with her 2-year-old daughter, Claire, too. It was nice seeing her again. Until Zeke tackled Claire. As bad as it was, it was kind of funny. Claire took the balloon Zeke was playing with so Zeke ran up behind her, wrapped his arm around her neck, grabbed her shirt with his other arm and pretty much threw her to the ground. I think we might have a problem on our hands. Claire got upset, but she was okay. Zeke was too excited to even realize he had done anything wrong, but by this point, the hour was up and we all left anyways.

Then we went back to the Starling’s house, picked up Josh (who was taking a nap this whole time), got some lunch then went back to the hotel to put the boys down for naps. Well, I took them back for naps, Josh stayed at the house to wait for the water company to come and to move packages we had mailed to the Starlings to our house. Since then it’s been getting things set up, getting all of those utilities going and making constant trips to WalMart for this and that (we live pretty much right across the street from one - I think that is going to be a very dangerous thing), and just hanging out, getting acclimated to the time change, our new house, our new surroundings and everything like that. Oh, and being sick. How could I forget about that? Yeah, nothing says, “welcome to your new home” like throwing up! I got sick Friday night, Zeke threw up Saturday morning, then Josh was icky Saturday afternoon. Sunday Joni had it, then Monday it was Deacon’s turn. I seriously hope it’s all behind us ALL of us now.

Oh, yeah. And then, on Saturday I found my way to post and then found my way to the commissary and did some food shopping. And by some, I mean a LOT. You want to talk about overwhelmed? That post and the commissary are HUGE! I walked into the store and it was like I was Madame Blueberry walking into the StuffMart on VeggieTales. I was feeling woozy. But I made it through in under two hours and headed back home. I cooked dinner that night. I tell you what, nothing helps to make you feel more at home, in your new home, than making dinner for your family. Granted, it was just a box of macaroni and cheese with some apple sauce, but still. I think it went a long way to giving some sort of normalcy to all of us.

The Big Day

Where to begin? How about with 5:00am when we all got up so we could get dressed, pack up the car and drive to the airport? Because, you know, that was fun. At least we hit very little traffic (not too many other people on the road at 5:45am I guess) and made it to the airport with little ado. Deacon did start to fuss about 15 minutes from the airport, but he quieted down when we put on his favorite cd with his favorite song.

Returning the rental car was surprisingly easy. Almost too easy. We’re a little skeptical as to whether or not we did it right. It did take us awhile to get to where we turned it in as all the traffic that wasn’t on the road was at the airport by the departures zone, and so we sat in traffic for a good 15 minutes there. But we turned in the car and made our way into the airport and to the check-in counter. Where there was an incredibly long line. So, I found some benches and fed the boys breakfast while Josh stood in line with all the luggage. He’s such a good man.

Once the boys (and I) finished breakfast, we headed over to where Josh was still waiting in line. My little animals got bored with this quickly so I did little laps around the airport, pushing them in the stroller to keep them somewhat occupied. Zeke got out occasionally and helped me push Deacon along, which is always an exciting time. Then they kindly let us go to the “special help line”, or something like that, since we had kids and a lot of stuff going on. This was great. Especially since as we checked in, we found out that our suitcase was too heavy. You know how if your suitcase is too heavy, you can pay $50 and they’ll put it on the plane anyway? Well, our suitcase was too heavy for that even. This meant that the boys and I went back to the benches to hang out while Josh went and bought another bag for the plane to move pounds and pounds and pounds of stuff into so our suitcase would make the weight limit.

While the boys and I were hanging out at the benches, which really meant I had to chase down each boy as one would take off in one direction as I would bring the other back, who then go off in another direction as I brought the other one back, and so forth. And people wonder how I’m so skinny after having two kids. Anyhoo. Also at the benches were three Indian American (as in from the country of India, not to be confused with Native American Indians) women, with their kids. They were very cute, and really enjoyed my boys. The oldest girl (I would guess she was close to 10) kept touching Deacon’s face, and rubbing his head. It really was sweet. Sweet, that is, until we heard the little one (probably about 1 years old) crying. As we looked over, there she was, curled up in a little ball on the bench, with Zeke lying on top of her. Oh yeah. So, we quickly pulled him off and scolded him, as her mom picked her up and comforted her. I apologized, and tried to get Zeke to apologize, but since he doesn’t know how to say “sorry” yet, we didn’t get far on that front. After that we quickly moved stuff from the suitcase to the new bag and finished checking in.

From there, it was off to the gate. Then enough time to change both boys diapers, go to the bathroom myself, then get on the plane. We bought these CARES seats for the flight so we wouldn’t have to carry their bulky carseats all over the place, and they were great. Deacon may have been a wee bit too small, but it worked and the boys didn’t really struggle against them. I highly recommend them for anyone with a child still using a car seat.

Then there was TEN. HOURS. ON. THE. PLANE. Probably the longest ten hours of my life. Actually, it wasn’t that bad. It didn’t feel like ten hours (probably because we watched [without sound, mind you] “Horton Hears a Who” five times), and the boys were really well behaved. Of course they each slept for maybe 20 minutes of the TEN HOURS, and they each had moments where they melted down and cried for a few minutes, but over all, they really were great. Some women who were on the flight with us, and who saw us later on in the airport told us how well behaved our boys were and how well they did. So, I guess that counts for something. But once we landed in Dallas, we made our way through immigration and baggage claim and customs, then dropped off our bags again, and headed to the gate our next flight to Lawton was leaving from.

We had a little bit of time at this gate so Josh and I just took turns doing laps with the boys in the stroller until our flight was called. Then we boarded the tiny plane (13 rows for 52 passengers and 1 flight attendant who would read the instructions bit by bit and then demonstrate them bit by bit) for Lawton, Oklahoma. It’s about a half hour flight and with taxiing, it takes about an hour. About 5 minutes after we got seated on the plane, Zeke fell asleep. Ahhh. Deacon, on the other hand, stayed awake the entire flight, only to fall asleep once the plane finished taxiing in Oklahoma. Perfect. So, we let everyone else get off first before even moving, trying to give the boys that ten extra minutes of sleep. Not that it mattered, since neither one of them was happy to be woken up. But we had survived and made it safely, and the Starlings were there to greet us at the airport. Yay!

Then all the boys piled into one car, we girls into another, and it was off to the hotel, where we bade the Starlings good night, and pretty much went right to sleep. Well, Josh was majorly stressed out by this point and yelled at Zeke who was seriously stressed out and WAY over tired as he‘d essentially been awake for 20 hours by this point. This stressed me out even more, so I yelled at Josh for yelling at Zeke and sent him to go buy milk for Deacon so I could give him a bottle before putting him down for the night. And through all of this Deacon was asleep in his carseat, sweating up a storm. Because, you know, it was 50 degrees when we left Germany, and it was 103 degrees when we landed in Lawton. Oh yeah, from cool and mountainous to hot and flat. Gotta love opposites.

Anyhoo. We all slept pretty well until about 4am when Deacon woke up and made sure the rest of us got up with him. So, we got up and played and watched some Animal Planet for two hours then went back to sleep for another two hours until the boys got up again, and had breakfast and then we just hit the ground running. But that’s another post for another day.

Safe and Sound

Well, we're here. And boy is it hot! Kind of a shock going from 50 degree days to 100+ degree days. Also from beautiful mountainous Germany, to flat (but beautiful in it's own way) Oklahoma. But we're here, and we're safe and we're starting to adjust. We got cell phones, we're in our house (even though we don't have gas yet, which means no hot water), we have a house phone and soon we'll have internet. Which means I'm using Joni's computer, which means this isn't going to be any longer. I just wanted to let you all know we're here and we're doing well. Thank you for your prayers. They were greatly needed. But, I'll write all about the flight and stuff another day. Until then...I hope y'all have a great weekend!

Pray For Us

Well, tomorrow's the big day. Tomorrow we wake up bright and early (since we're in Germany still it will be bright when we rise at five a.m. or so), pack up the rental car with all our goodies and ourselves, and make our way to the airport. Then comes the flight. The incredibly long flight. The ten hour flight. The ten hour flight where our energy balls will have to be confined and controlled in a little bit of space. The ten hour flight that precedes a two hour layover in Dallas, which is followed by a one hour flight. I'm trying really hard not to stress out over it all, but from every way I look at it, it's going to be a LONG day tomorrow and we will definitely be needing your prayers. Tempers will be short, meltdowns will occur (and I'm not just talking about the kids here), and we will all be overtired starting the day. But, once it's over, it's over. We will land in Oklahoma, probably have some dinner, then go to the hotel we have reservations at there and fall right asleep. Let's hope the boys sleep through the night too. Let's hope they don't wake up at 1a.m. thinking it's really 7a.m. and want to get up, eat and play. Let's pray for that too. Having said all that, I guess I should go since I should probably be packing or throwing things away that we brought to the hotel with us, but aren't bringing to Oklahoma with us. But really, both boys are actually sleeping, and I am enjoying the quiet and the peace for as long as I can. Hopefully we will have all our utilities and things set up in our new house by the weekend, and I can blog again then about the flight and our house and all that fun stuff. Until then, here we are, one big happy family. Tchuess!

Auf Weidersehn Peavey Cat!

I have no idea if I spelled that right, but I did my best. Anyhoo, this morning, Josh took Peavey to the airport and sent him on his way to New Jersey. That's right. No more cat. I'd say I'm sad to see him go but he was so awful last night, that saying goodbye this morning wasn't that hard. I'm sure we'll miss him in a few days (or weeks when we see him again while visiting NJ). Peavey is going to be staying with some friends of ours for the few months we're in Oklahoma, then we'll collect him up and bring him with us to whatever future destination the Army has in store for us. Until then, here is a picture of Peavey on our hotel bed, you know, to help you make it through the separation.

We also went back to the town we've called "home" the last 5+ years for our last German fest. It was sweet way to end our time here. I'll post those pictures on Flickr soon.

Relatively Well

That's how we're doing. Relatively well. Living in a hotel is going relatively well. The boys take their naps and sleep at night relatively well (although I think Zeke would do a better job if he didn't have Deacon keeping him up and waking him up at times). The cat is doing relatively well being cooped up all day and night, and having to be put on a leash. Stress levels are pretty low and meltdowns are pretty non-frequent. I'll say it again. Things are going relatively well.

Today was our last day at chapel here. It was...fine. We managed to slip out without anyone making any kind of announcement about it, even though my friend, Laura, tried. When the chaplain started his set-up for his sermon, he said how Laura had whispered to him on her way to children's church that it was someone's last Sunday and he didn't want to miss that. BUT his mike wasn't on yet, and he's a soft talker, so no one really heard him, so we didn't have to acknowledge that it was us, and he's getting up there in age, so he forgot as soon as his mike caused some MAJOR feedback. Nice try, Laura, nice try. I did say goodbye to my three friends who were still there, so that was enough for me. No big to-do's or hard goodbyes. Just slip out quietly.

Yesterday we went to Karlstadt. Oma and Opa's oldest son, Uda, owns and operates a guesthouse/restaurant there, and we've been promising for five and a half years that we'd go check it out. Yesterday was the day. We packed up the boys after morning naps and drove the 40 minutes to Karlstadt. We went to say goodbye to Oma and Opa too (and to give back the keys to our place since Josh forgot to bring them with him on Friday when he turned the apartment back over).

This weekend is a huge food fest that all the food establishments on the street set up tables and booths at. I must say, the food at Uda's place is phenominal. Oh, it was so good. Deacon, who we've decided is part monster or beast of some sort, sat with Josh and ate for an hour straight. Just french fry, after noodle, after piece of chicken, after whatever else was put in his face. Marienne, Uda's wife, also gave Deacon his first taste of soda (Sprite).

Zeke, found the fountain to be more entertaining than the food and promptly drenched himself. So, while Dee Dee and Daddy ate and ate and ate, Mommy and Zeke went looking for some new clothes for Zeke since it was a cool day. I found a cute three piece outfit (hat, shirt and capris - because that's how Europeans roll) in a little German grocery store. The grocery stores here are outrageous. You NEVER know what you'll find and where. I mean, who keeps underwear and bras next to pickled beets? So, I bought this outfit and changed him right there in the store, so he would be nice and dry. All in all, a good day. Of course, as we left, Josh commented on how we should have gone out there earlier in our time in Germany so we could have visited it more often. Oh well.

Now, we're figuring out our last two days here and all that needs to be done before we fly on Wednesday. How crazy to think that our time in Germany is truly coming to an end.

And Here We Are

Okay, so Tuesday morning, I wake up at 7:00, my usual, TEN minutes before the first set of movers showed up for our unaccompanied baggage. AAAHHH! So, I snatched up Deacon, grabbed the box of toys we set aside to bring to the Bradley with us, and we hid in Zeke's room while the movers did their thing. Which, really only took about 45 minutes. During breakfast, as we sat there waiting for the next set of movers Josh realized that Tuesday was only unaccompanied and that our army furniture, our appliances, AND our household goods (in other words EVERYTHING) were being picked up on Wednesday. He had originally thought appliances and army furniture were being picked up Tuesday so household goods we be the only ones there Wednesday. So, we were done by 8:00 Tuesday morning.

Then Wednesday came. 7:00 I'm lying in bed not wanting to get up because it's warm and comfy and happy there, when Josh walking in holding Deacon and says, "Honey, I need you to get up because I think the movers are here." WHAT?!? Have these guys never heard of sleeping until a decent hour? SO, I got up, got dressed, grabbed Deacon and the toys and hid in Zeke's room until my starvation took over and I had to have breakfast. And wouldn't you know it, as close to 8:00 as you can get without it actually being 8:00 the guys come to take the army furniture. So now there are boxes and wrapping materials and movers all over the place. So, I called Elizabeth.

We had arranged the night before for Elizabeth to come over and help with the boys so I could help with the boys and the move. She was supposed to come around 10:30 because, well, I thought for sure they wouldn't ALL be there that early. So she graciously came over two hours early and hung out with the boys while I moved stuff from the house to the car so it wouldn't get "accidentally" packed. I also got Deacon to nap for an hour. YES! After waking the wee one, we packed up the boys and rented a car (Elizabeth held Deacon and watched Zeke while he played with some dirt and rocks while I did all the rental stuff), moved the stuff into the Bradley (Elizabeth sat in the car with the boys while I made three trips back and forth), and we bought lunch for us and the movers. Then we picked up Sara (Elizabeth's roomate and another friend of ours), and we all had lunch. Then the girls left, I packed up the boys and brought them back to the Bradley Inn for naps.

Which didn't really happen. I put them both in the same room (as you can see by the pictures spread throughout this post there are only two rooms), but since Deacon was in the hotel's crib instead of his own pack-n-play, he cried the. entire. time. Which, of course, meant that Zeke was awake the. entire. time. After an hour and a half of Deacon crying I got him out so Zeke could get SOME sleep. This also meant I didn't get to rest at all, which I was really hoping to do since I didn't sleep well the night before. So, now we're all cranky.

But then, my sanity savers came to the rescue again. That's what I'm calling Elizabeth and Sara from now on. My sanity savers. Because seriously, Deacon almost got packed up and mailed to Oklahoma. And Zeke would have been right behind him. But not only did Elizabeth spend all morning with us and help me with all those errands that would have been a kagillion times harder if it was just me and the boys, BUT, BUT these fabulous girls made and brought us dinner last night. Even more than that, they stayed and fed the boys dinner so I could go and get Josh once the movers were finished and take him to pick up our rental car. Talk about amazing. I am so touched by their help and generosity. I can't even begin to imagine how to thank them, but rest assured, once we're settled in Oklahoma, I will. And the pictures I've posted here are of the bag the girls brought us dinner in. They really are too sweet. But moving on...

Sleeping last night went pretty well with only one freak out by Deacon. But he got over it relatively quickly (he's back in his beloved p&p) and we all got a decent night's sleep. Today is going better too. Naps are going on. I don't know that either one of them is asleep yet, but I think they will be soon. We have internet in our room, so I should be able to email as regularly as I usually do (which is rarely), and blog as things happen. I am also putting pictures of our hotel room and stuff up on Flickr if you're interested in checking them out. Good times, good times.

And I Shall Call Them...

Splashtastical Salvatore
(this is what happens when Zeke is put into the tub
on almost every occasion.
this is also why Josh comes out soaking wet.)

and Sherpa Steve
(as you can see in this video, Deacon has learned how to climb
onto the couch all by himself.
he's very pleased with himself & this accomplishment.)

I'm Not Ready For This

The movers come tomorrow and Wednesday (and Thursday if they don't finish Wednesday). We move into the Bradley Wednesday (or maybe tomorrow?). We fly next Wednesday. I'm not ready for this.

My mom and I were talking the other day about how this is one of those "bittersweet" things in life. Right now, though, it's more bitter than sweet. This is home, and I'm incredibly sad to leave. This is where Josh and I have spent our entire married lives. This is where life, as we now know it started. This is where I gave birth to our children. This is where we've made great friends (even though most of them are gone now). I love our town, our house, our landlords. I love Germany, and it's quiet, relaxed pace of life. It has been an incredible 5+ years, and I'm sad to leave.

Last night Oma and Opa came over to say goodbye since Opa had to go help his son with his guesthouse in Karlstadt. They gave us this:

It was very hard for me to not cry at that moment. It was also hard for me to not cry at chapel yesterday morning thinking about all of the spiritual growth I have done thanks to that place through chapel services, and PWOC, and the friends we've made there.

Saturday night we went to the Schiesshaus (I don't know if I'm spelling that correctly) for the last time. The boys had a great time playing the rocks as we enjoyed tasty schnitzel and fries.

Don't get me wrong, I know it's going to be great being back in the states. I know it'll be wonderful seeing everyone again. I know it'll be fun living by the Starlings and being able to understand what my neighbors are saying to me. But I'm still sad right now. I'm not ready for this.

My Knight in Camouflaged Armor

Friday morning, around 6:22 a.m. I woke up and the room was spinning. About a half an hour later I threw up. I got Zeke out of bed because he was crying, then called Josh and started crying myself. "I don't feel good. I just threw up, it's 7:15 and Deacon's still in bed because I just don't think I can make it up the stairs, and I just don't know what to do." Very calmly he said, "It's okay. I'll come home. I have an appointment at ten that I have to keep, but I can come home, give the boys breakfast and take care of them until nap time. Just try and get Deacon up and give him his bottle." Which I did. Barely.

So, Josh got home, and I went back to bed feeling miserable and nauseous and like there was a pool of poison hanging out in my belly, undecisive as to how or when it wanted to remove itself. After putting Zeke in bed for his morning rest period at 9:30 Josh came in and said he had to leave and he'd be back once his appointment was over, but that he wouldn't be back in time for naptime to end, so I'd have to get up and get the boys up at 10:30. "Okay" I sniffed, then went back to "sleep" (I put quotes around that word because I wasn't really sleeping since I was in so much pain, but I was trying really hard). About ten minutes after Josh left I threw up again and felt like I could actually pass for human again. Then I fell asleep.

Then 10:30 came along, and with it, Josh appearing in our bedroom. I popped up and said, "What's going on?!?" I was realizing all at once that I had almost slept right through waking up the boys and Josh was there and all kinds of things, so I was a bit confused. Especially because Josh was there, because the only way for Josh to be there was for him to drive to post, cancel his appointment and drive immediately back home. Which, apparently he did. I said, "What are you doing here?"

"Rescuing you" he answered. "Now go back to sleep. I'll make you some tea and bring you something to eat for when you wake up again." And he did. And I fell back asleep thinking, "Thank You, God, for such a wonderful man." Thank You, God, indeed.

And then, there was cat food...

You know the rest.

*PS - When you look at this picture, you need to imagine Deacon sitting in the middle of it all, soaking wet and covered in mushy cat food. And it's only 8 a.m. Groovy.

And then, there was rice...

Spread

out
ALL

across

the

land.

Baby Boy Bum Blues

7:30 in the morning almost always finds me changing two poopy diapers. I say "almost always" because there are mornings where either one or both of them didn't poop yet, or Josh is in there taking care of business. This morning, was no exception. However, this morning was pretty bad.

It started two nights ago. We were getting Zeke ready for bed when we noticed a little bit of a diaper rash starting. So, we applied a little ointment, diapered him up and put him down. Around ten o'clock he started really crying. So I went in to find him curled up in a ball on his pillow with his bum in the air. And boy was he stinky! So I turned on the light, and proceeded to change his diaper. Upon opening the diaper I could see the red of his bum shining through the poo. Oh yeah. So he screamed while I wiped and Josh held his legs still. He freaked out when I applied another dose of cream. Then calmed down once we were finished and released him to his bed (where he lied on his back, but still curled in a ball with his bum lifted off the bed - poor baby). Yesterday it looked pretty good all day. I still applied some ointment throughout the day, but it looked fine. Looked fine, that is, until 7:30 this morning when I went to get him out of bed and change his poopy diaper. WHOO BOY was his little bum red. And WHOO BOY did he HOWL as I wiped his poor, red, raw bum. It's 10:30 in the morning now and he's since pooped twice more. Needless to say, diaper changes haven't gotten any better. In fact, with the last one his bum started to bleed a little. So you can imagine how much that stung when the wipey hit it.

But back to 7:30 this morning. So I change Zeke's diaper with him understandably crying the entire time. However, Zeke was not the only one crying throughout his diaper change. Nope, Deacon was joining in the festivities by crying and trying to climb up my leg the whole time. Nice. Once I finish with Zeke I pick up Deacon and lay him down on the changing table to take care of poopy diaper #2. Now, Deacon does not have a terrible, terrible diaper rash. No. Deacon is teething again. I love my son, but I don't think I like him very much when he's teething. I kid. Poor baby started running a low fever yesterday and he was whiny and complainy all day. Even Josh coming home from work did little to console him. Food did little to console him. Then there's the fact that this morning's diaper was "less than solid", let's say, and so Deacon cried his entire diaper change as well since he was unhappy and hurting and just all-around uncomfortable.

Now it's 10:36 and, as you can see by the pictures I just took (sorry Zeke's is so dark, I didn't want to wake him with the flash), I have to wake them up from their naps. Let's hope the rest of our day goes a little bit better.

Let's Go To Walterland!

The greatest place on earth. Or not. But it's still a lot of fun. Most of the time anyway. And now that we're here, let me tell you what's been going on...

I forgot to write about this when I posted about Zeke's doctor's appointment last week, but the doctor did an autism screening, per my request, and Zeke passed with flying colors. So, no autism. Which, we knew, we just wanted to rule it out for sure. Apparently, screening for autism is a new thing they're doing with all 12-18 (or is it 18-24) month olds now, and Zeke missed just missed that, so we did it now. You should have seen how many people were confused as to why we wanted an autism screening at his 30 month check-up. Obviously kids were going to miss the new screening process by being too old once it starts. Anyhoo...he was tested, and he passed. Good deal.

An even better deal is the fact that the following day, Karen, from EDIS came out to do a final evaluation before we leave for Oklahoma and said that Zeke has come such a long way in this past year that she is no longer concerned about him and does not feel that he needs any further work with EDIS. Unless we get concerned along the way again, but she said he's doing fine, and she's pleased with where he is, and so am I. You've come a long way baby!

In other news, we pushed our "fly date" back two days just to give us (and by us I really mean Josh) more time to get everything taken care of before we leave. Our tickets have been purchased and all that jazz, so it can't change again, but we will be leaving Germany on the 23rd of July. We will land in Lawton (after a lay-over in Dallas) around 1800 (6:00 pm). It's going to be crazy between now and then, so if you don't hear from me for awhile, don't worry, I'm sure I'm okay.

Speaking of being "incommunicato", they come to take our stuff away starting the 15th. That's next week. We will be moving into the Bradley Inn (the hotel on base) either the 15th or the 16th, depending on how the 15th goes, which means that there will no way to call us (or for us to call you) from the 15th until we get to Oklahoma. We will have our laptop, and I'm hoping there's internet access in there (anyone know for sure whether or not there is?), so I can still email (hahahaha...because I'm SO good at that) and/or blog (most likely the case). I'm sure my stress level will be pretty high from the 15th until the 24th, so it's probably better that we don't speak to each other during that time. Hahaha.

We enjoyed a quiet four day weekend. Here are pictures of Josh and Zeke bonding while watching Thomas (or "Hamas" as it's pronounced over here). I went to IKEA with my friend Elizabeth on Friday to buy new sheets for our German bed (just in case they don't sell the right size in the states) and to get some stuff for her new place. We had a great time, and it was nice being able to go without having to tote around a baby or two. I am also including a picture of one of the new sets of sheets I got, they just make me so happy. I think they'll make you happy too.

I'd Say I Feel Bad For Him...

But really, he could move.

Oooo-klaaaaa-ho-ma!

Where the something, something go sweeping down the something. Or something. Okay, so I don't know the words to the song. Big deal. I DO know we will be heading there in three weeks though.

That's right. Josh got his orders last Friday and we have been busy, busy, busy little bees getting things ready. Here's the essential lowdown: we are flying to Oklahoma on the 21st of this month. AAAHH!!! Well, that will be official once Josh finalizes the tickets, but yeah. We will spend about three weeks in OK checking out the area, and aquainting ourselves with our new home. Then, on the 10th we head off to New Jersey for three weeks. Yee-ha! SO, if you want to see us, that would be the time to do it. The last day of August will be our last day in NJ, then it's all OK all the time for the next six months. After that? Who knows. We're not worrying about it now since we have PLENTY stressing us out at the moment.

In other news, Zeke's appointment that we walked out of on Monday was rescheduled for today and it went smashingly. Everything ran on time, we had two nurses checking us in so the one could help me with both boys, and the doctor (whom I really do enjoy) was on time and she's just so cute. But Zeke weighed in at 31 1/2 pounds (a little under the 50% range - maybe a 48.692% ish) and is 37 1/2 inches tall (a little over the 50% range). He's prefectly healthy, listened really well, and both behaved beautifully. They had most of the nurses and the doctors cracking up. Those boys.

And that's about all for now. I will leave you with this as your "moment of zen" for the day (totally biting that off of the Daily Show - I'll admit it).