Merry Christmas...the update

Since it's nearly New Year's, I thought it would be a good time to update everyone on our Christmas adventures. Hayden's social calendar rivals page six some days, he is in high demand! We did squeeze in one more trip to the Christmas market on a cold day between all the snow and rain. A little more gluwein, some bratwurst and pretzels and Hayden got really excited about seeing the goats in the manger. I originally thought I might put him on the carousel but it was just too cold to get him out of the stroller with his comfy, warm stroller bag so maybe next year when he can really enjoy it!

On Christmas Eve we had a cookie swap to go to at the bowling alley. We had lunch, bowled a few and got some yummy treats baked by the other ladies in our unit. I made fudge and put it in delightful little bags so that people wouldn't have to touch all over the fudge to enjoy it. After a brief nap at home (for Hayden) we headed to Stephanie's house for dinner. Ham and all the other Christmas Eve dishes, along with my crock pot macaroni and we were STUFFED. Hayden had fun playing with the big kids and the dogs, and was way tired by the time we got home. A few quick shots of him in his Christmas jammies and he was off to bed to await Santa's arrival.

We got some good Christmas sleep and I prepped brunch while Hayden slept in a little. I woke him up and put all his presents in the floor. I started to open one to give him the idea, when he saw one of Oscar's balls on the floor and lost all interest in Christmas. With a 13-month-old, you take what you can get. So I opened his presents and turned them on and he was a little more interested. He was mainly interested in his sippy cups from Santa, still in the package. Good thing we didn't break the bank on our one-year-old who prefers the wrapping paper roll. He got some fun toys from his Granny and Poppy, sippy cups and a Daddy Doll from Santa and a few things from mom and dad. Christmas wore him out pretty quickly, and he was asleep when our brunch guests arrived!

Our friends came over in their Christmas pajamas so we could all celebrate together. Holidays are more fun in a group when our husbands are deployed. We had tons of yummy food and the kids enjoyed some of their new toys and some of Hayden's old ones. They even got into his new Mega Blocks, which seem to be a hit with all ages. We took lots of fun pictures and wore the kids out for a few hours before every one headed home to rest up.

Christmas evening was spent at Kelly's house for dinner and more toys. Hayden seemed to prefer the old toys since they were the ones no one was fighting over. Kelly did almost set the kitchen on fire with a burner misstep, but it was recovered and dinner was great! We had a great holiday even though we were missing Jay but we were pretty glad for it all to be over so we could get back to our schedule. We missed our normal, boring lives!

Hayden's blog got a little upgrade. Maybe soon it'll get a new post, too!

On the mend

Well it has been a long road since this weekend! Hayden had low-grade fevers off and on and was completely messed up on his sleep schedule. He can't help it of course, so I obliged him with 2am playing sessions and food whenever I could get him to eat. For a few days the only thing he would eat were Spaghetti O's or Chef Boyardee. He pushed away all his regular favorites and didn't eat much when he did. Bless his heart!

He started to act like himself on Sunday but we are just now back to normal eating and I'm hoping the sleep will follow suit! He's back to napping normally but goes to bed much later than I'm used to (after 1030pm!) and even last night he woke up at 4am. I gave him some milk and let him hang out in the bed with me in the dark for awhile. Since he's feeling better, I don't want him thinking he gets to decide when playtime happens! After about a half hour he went right back down. It's amazing how much a few days of being sick can change a little one.

He is getting much better at the walking but doesn't cooperate much for videos. I got a short one that I'll post later. He is so curious and determined and loves to explore and test his limits. He's very giggly and silly lately and loves to be tickled. It's fun to play with him but it's even more fun to watch him play with Oscar. They are learning to play together even though Hayden can still be a little rough with him, but Oscar handles it well. I love my little buddies!

Another busy week

This week was like most of our weeks, jam-packed and busy busy. We had our Squadron Christmas party on Monday evening complete with Santa, pizza and movies. We didn't last long for the movies, but Hayden really enjoys his pizza. He did not care for Santa this time around, so the best I could do was stand next to Santa holding Hayden. But at 13 months, how many times do you need to see the man in red?

On Tuesday we had a class on making our lives easier during deployment, and I got to do a little of my volunteer work. I'm the volunteer coordinator for our unit, which involves a lot of emailing to get people to register in our system and log hours. But this month we began our volunteer of the month program, and it was a ton of fun to recognize some of our outstanding volunteers. They work so hard, and it's nice to show some appreciation.

On Wednesday I got a quick haircut and ran some errands while Hayden spent a couple hours in daycare. Later in the evening we got to spend time with Kat, whose wedding we attended in September of last year. Shortly after their wedding, the Mingos headed to Ft. Bliss and had an adorable baby, Colin. Colin and Hayden enjoyed a little time together and then we met some more of our friends for dinner at Delphi, a Greek restaurant. The food and wine were great, and it was fun to catch up with old friends.

Unfortunately we had to cancel all our weekend plans since Hayden is sick, but babies just need a break sometime! We've been running pretty hard and I think Hayden's body was just too worn out. So instead we're enjoying the quiet at home and I hope to get in a little scrapbooking and watch some new movies while my little man rests up!

I'm from NC, I can't drive in the snow

That's right, the east coast of the US isn't the only place getting snow. We have our fair share here as well. Which is unfortunate for several reasons. The biggest is that Hayden is sick. He had a fever yesterday of 101.3 so I started the motrin/tylenol alternating routine around 130pm. At 5 his fever was down to 99.8 so I felt pretty good about it. Then he woke up from his nap and felt hot, so I checked and we was back up to 101.6. I tossed him in the tub to cool him down and when he got out, he was up again to 102.1. This was the first time his digital thermometer hit the "red zone" in the color coding system, so I decided to take him to the hospital to have him checked out.

Where we live when there's any kind of medical issue after our health clinic's normal hours, we go to the hospital. There's only one that will see children, so that's where we headed. It's a short drive but the snow definitely slowed us down. We decided to park in the deck to avoid some three-point-turning on a hill in the snow, a decision I later regretted. We went into the peds ward and were seen pretty quickly. His lungs were clear, his fever was down some and he didn't have any other signs of ear infection or the flu, so they sent us home. Lucky for us, because usually they keep you overnight to be safe. It took us longer to get out of the parking lot than it did in the hospital thanks to one closed ticket taker at the exit, near impossibility of navigating my American car in a European parking deck, and somehow having to drive through TWO levels of snow-covered lots to get out. How is that possible? I'm still not sure.

Last night was a very long night, as Hayden only slept an hour or two at a time. He kept waking up with his stuffy nose and had a hard time breathing. His fever went up and down and he didn't feel like eating much but he did drink his milk. I haven't had this little sleep since he was 5 months old! We've spent the day napping, cuddling, and pumping him full of saline every chance he'll let me to clear his nose. His humidifier is working overtime, and poor Oscar is worried about him. It seems to be all just a nasty cold, and we're hoping a few days at home with some extra love will have him better in no time. For now, he's still pretty miserable and that's tough on both of us!

Snow is mainly a problem because I hate the cold and refuse to drive in the snow unless absolutely necessary. I'm from North Carolina, that is the extent of our snow driving teaching...just don't do it. So for now, we aren't! I'm hoping for a little warm up tomorrow so I can run to the commissary but I'm certain I won't find any milk!

Merry Christmas!

Lucky for us, Santa just happened to be in the PX today while we were wasting time waiting for the florist to return! This is Hayden's second picture with Santa, and at least this year he was awake for it!

Another haircut!

That's right, Hayden has had his fourth haircut. The third one was just prior to his birthday, which means he's going a little over a month between them now. Yikes! Dad took him to get the last one since mom was getting her own hair cut, so I knew this would be interesting. I took him in and only waited a few minutes before she was ready, which is pretty rare on an Army post. He liked the booster chair and didn't mind the cut itself, but he does not care for the cape! He was very upset about it and cried a lot. I tried playing with him under the cape, but he was still unhappy. We finally took it off and he was fine for the end. A few days later when I was able to talk to Jay, he told me that last time he pulled Hayden's hands out from under the cape and played with him. I think it freaks him out to not be able to see his wee baby hands. So now we know!

His hair is nice and short, so hopefully we'll be able to go a little longer between cuts. Haircuts went up on post again, so it's $10 even for a kids cut. They were around $7.25 when we first moved here, so that's a huge jump over three years.

Hayden also has a whole slew of teeth ready to come through, which makes for a sad and cranky boy. He officially has a fifth one that has poked its way through and about three more on deck. Bless his heart! Motrin, orajel and snuggles are the best we can do, along with some cold washcloths. It's hard being a baby! He is still in his screaming phase, so any advice on dissuaging that would be appreciated! He screams often times for no reason, which is hard since there's little we can do to stop it. Sometimes it's obvious he's just testing out his voice, other times it's just plain loud for no reason! I keep tylenol on hand these days.

We met Jenn and Addie for one last lunch at the Wu on Friday. They fly out on Monday to go back to Maine for the deployment, and we're going to miss them so much! Hayden and Addie have done a lot of growing up together, so we can't wait to see what they're like when they reunite next year!

On Friday night, Hayden went over to the Bakers where he was greeted with a new baby gate and a Little People farm! Steph just couldn't help herself. I can't tell who was more excited--Hayden or the girls! Everyone has such a good time when they're together, it's fun! I had a Christmas party to go to where I had some fabulous german food, fun with friends and an ornament exchange that had us laughing for most of the night. When I picked Hayden up he was sound asleep after an exciting evening, so we made a quick trip home in some light snow (!) and tucked ourselves in. We cram a lot into our days!

Poland

Last week we took another trip to Poland for more pottery. It becomes somewhat of an obsession after awhile! Hayden was a trooper, getting up at 415am and hanging in there with the rest of us for the first hour. He fell asleep on the way to Poland, along with the rest of my passengers and that first two hours of driving in the dark was tough! The sun comes up after 730am these days, so it went fast but man it was exhausting. Heather took over for a few minutes so I could catch a quick catnap, and we had a fun little adventure getting in to Poland since the roads are a little new since the last time we were there.

We arrived around 1030 in the morning and started shopping. Two of our shoppers were new to the game, so we showed them the ropes and they seemed to have an awesome time (they're ready to go back!). We had some shopping to do with other people's money, which is always the best kind, so we took care of that early on. We had enough time to check out some of the shops twice, and even went to a new store that was worth the drive to the middle of nowhere. Hayden has a hard time napping when it's light out, so when he finally conked out around 3pm in his carseat, I was grateful that he could get a little sleep. He definitely had his share (and mine) of snacks and attention and loved Misty being in the backseat with him

We actually got out of Poland around 4pm and made great time to Dresden, where we stop for dinner. It was a quick three hours home since Heather stayed awake to chat with me, and we made it home on the gas we got in Bautzen before we hit Poland...I love my car! We have a lot of pottery by now, so I didn't get a whole lot but I was excited to get a coffee mug for Jay as well as a spoon rest to go next to the coffee maker. We got some good deals and I was excited to open it all up once Hayden was fast asleep and I was wired at 1am. Well worth the trip there, and as always we've started planning our next trip!

My little boy

I really adore watching my son go from a baby to a little boy right in front of me. He has such a fun personality and is so particular about things. I love the little habits he's picked up and the way he does things. Lately, when I go get him out of the crib he sits up, looks for pup pup and then stands. He hands me pup pup and I have to then kiss pup pup and lay him back down for more sleep. Hayden squeals in delight, claps and reaches for me to get him out. He knows that first things first, we change his diaper but that doesn't stop him from trying to get out of it. He wiggles and worms and eventually gives in, but I know I have a short period of time in which to accomplish said diaper change.

Hayden's favorite things to do by far are take a bath and eat. Well, more than eating he really loves to share his food with Oscar. One cheerio for Hayden, one for Oscar; one pea or carrot for Hayden...you get the idea. I really got to see how much he shares with Oscar one day this weekend when Oscar was still at the farm. Despite the absence of our furry friend, Hayden still periodically dropped food on the floor which resulted in a second round of vacuuming for the day.

He has gotten the climbing bug, and will try to climb up on or down from basically anything. He is also in a screaming phase, which is fun for anyone in the car with us or at the restaurant near us. We think he's just asserting his dominance and letting us know he's in charge! I am just so amazed at the little person he's turning out to be already. There is so much of Jay in him and just as much of me, but none of it in his face; that's all dad! I can't wait to see what he does next. He still enjoys cruising and crawling, walking is apparently for the big kids!

Getting through it

The hardest part of this deployment is Hayden. I've done two deployments before, but this is Hayden's first. He definitely knows daddy isn't here, but he's his usual happy go lucky self. I'm used to the feeding and changing and bathing and putting to bed by myself, to carrying groceries and a baby, and all the things that go along with being a parent by yourself. I just feel sad that Jay and Hayden will miss out on each other for this year. He changes so much on a daily basis and does funny things all the time. It's hard to keep up to email Jay about it all but we're doing our best. Bedtime is the hardest. Hayden is used to me putting him to bed, so he goes right down. But as I pick him up from the living room floor and walk to the baby gate, he turns to the couch and waves because that's how he's used to telling daddy good night. It breaks my heart, and I just hope I can make them both proud for the next year.

Happy Thanksgiving!

What a blessing it was for us to all be together on Thanksgiving. We had anticipated it being our first holiday apart, but it worked out that Jay was still home. We invited our friends the Hatchers over for dinner and I spent most of Wednesday getting ready for the holiday. The tree is up, the house is decorated, and the turkey was thawed.

We had a delightful meal and a ton of fun watching our little boys play. There was more than enough food, and it was definitely more fun for Hayden than last year when he was only a few days old. We ate and ate, played with Oscar and baby toys, and of course watched the boys play Xbox. It was even more fun because I got to use so much of my Polish pottery to cook and serve!

There is so much to be thankful for and we try to remember it every day, but it's nice to have a day to sit back and reflect. And of course, eat all our favorite food!

And just like that, he's gone

I'm behind on the blogging again, it's been a busy week. Yesterday was the zero hour to start our deployment. We dropped Jay off at 245 and hung out on post with him and the ladies for about an hour. He had a day full of preparation and a lot of standing around ahead of him, so Hayden and I headed home to rest and relax. We went back up around 8 last night, picked up a few last minute things for Jay and headed to the motor pool.

As I pulled in to the gate, I saw a bus in the lane beside me and knew that it was one of the buses the boys would be on later tonight. It's a surreal feeling, doing this for the third time. The only way to get through it is to stay positive, so that's what I tried to do yesterday. We hung out in one of the bays for awhile and finally it was time to form up. The commander said a few words and then released the soldiers to their families for ten minutes. We said our goodbyes, kissed our baby and then it was over. I watched him march off with so many other people I care about, and just prayed for the best.

So today is day one, and it's cold and rainy. We're having the girls over for dinner tonight, and we're going to learn how to do this all over again. Oscar and Hayden know something is up, they're acting differently and that's okay. One day at a time, right?

Tradition

As I worked on our Thanksgiving meal prep today, I thought a lot about tradition. As I poured corn syrup over beans and added brown sugar and minced onion, I thought how many times I watched my mom do the same thing as a child. I also thought about that small pan of baked beans that's always at my Mamaw's house because my mom doesn't eat green beans like the rest of us. I thought how funny it is that I'm making a cheesecake because Jay loves it and doesn't eat pumpkin pie. I thought about all the times I watched my Pawpaw carve the turkey when he was still with us, and how my mom always snuck a few pieces despite Mamaw's exasperation.


I'm sure tomorrow when I'm working on the stuffing, I'll think about the pan of stuffing at my other Mamaw's that's spicy, and the small pan for those of us that don't like the heat. And when I use the buttermilk to make my mashed potatoes, I'll think about how I never understood why Cotton would drink it and actually like it.


I hope in 27 years, Hayden looks back and thinks about the things that were always the same at our house during the holidays. No matter where we were in the world or who sat down at the table with us, or even if some holidays we didn't get to be a whole family, there were some things that remained the same. And hopefully, he won't remember that Boston Market made the gravy and mom didn't :-)

Eating machine

I'm alway so excited when Hayden likes new foods. Truth be told, we haven't found much that he DOESN'T like. Today when I picked him up from daycare so I could get a little gym time, the teachers are always so surprised at how much he eats. On today's menu? Broccoli lasagna! He's never had broccoli before and isn't likely to have much at home since neither Jay nor I eat it, but I'm determined to work on it. He loves spinach and I'm a big fan of that so we'll be getting in a lot of that but I will really have to work with broccoli. We've been archenemies for many years but we're learning to get along.

Last night Hayden woke up while we were still awake so I heated up some milk and discovered that he finally likes it! I don't know if it's because we just kept giving it to him or that I finally got the temperature right, but he gobbled it right down. It's so much fun to see him morph from a baby to a boy right in front of our eyes. Unfortunately our picture-taking has drastically slowed since Hayden's first birthday, but the holidays are right around the corner and we'll have plenty to share. Hopefully soon we can get some steps on video as well!

Working momma

I am officially employed! Well, I have a job. But it starts in January. Maybe I should back up a little.

I have been thinking about going back to work for some time. I started the application process in October, which is confusing and frustrating over here and I do not much care for it. So two weeks ago I asked a friend if they were hiring at the bank, and she told me they were. I printed out the resume that's been ready for months, and gave the manager a call. He told me I could come in anytime to drop it off, so I called my friend Amber to see if she'd watch Hayden for a few minutes. Nothing says low-maintenance employee like someone who comes in with a one-year-old clinging to her legs and demanding attention, right?

I went to the bank and met with the manager. I handed him my resume, he asked me a few questions and said he'd like to set up an interview. He went to speak with someone else and quickly returned saying, "Well since you're here and unprepared, let's do it now." Rock on. Let's do this. So I had a short interview with the two of them, and felt pretty good about it. But I've been here long enough to know not to get my hopes up. They assured me I would hear back from them before Thanksgiving.

So imagine my surprise when, after the weekend, I ran into said bank manager who told me to come in to fill out the paperwork. I was hired! I will be a customer service representative for Community Bank, which is a division of Bank of America that's set up overseas on military posts for American citizens. My job starts in January and will require a two-week training that's about two hours away from here, but we're working on the logistics of that. The best part is that all bank employees start out as part time, which will be a great way to transition to "back to work" for me and Hayden. I also have some time to figure out what kind of child care route we'll be taking for little man, but for now I'm SO excited to be employed again!

Dear Salem College, thank you for teaching me how to construct a proper resume. Thank you for reminding me how to be professional, how to dress for an interview even if it's not supposed to be an interview, and not to wear perfume to an interview. Thank you for telling me to write a thank you note after an interview, to make eye contact, have a firm handshake and to speak openly and honestly about my job experience and characteristics. This job's for you ;-)

Updates

Well Hayden is one, and big things are happening! He took his first steps for Jay on November 9, but is far from actually "walking". He will get into a groove, taking a few steps back and forth between Jay and I. It's a lot of fun to watch, and he is definitely more interested in walking when dad is around. Crawling is just so fast, so he seems to prefer that. He has also turned into our little climber and therefore our little daredevil. He can now get up and down the couch in no time, and has a blast climbing over anything in his way. Sometimes that happens to be Oscar, which does not please Oscar but he deals with it.


We started giving Hayden milk in his sippy cup about two weeks ago to mixed results. After a few tries, he definitely prefers whole milk once it's been warmed. He's still not in love with it, but he is making excellent progress. As a result, we're washing and packing up the bottles this week because he is no longer interested in them! This was a huge relief, as the bottle seemed to be a great source of comfort to him for a long time. I guess he's ready to move on to bigger and better things!

Food is a ton of fun for little Mr. Hayden. He loves to eat whatever we eat, which can include Thai food, avocadoes, whole wheat banana bread, pasta salad, anything on our plates he seems to think is fair game. He is such a good eater and is surprisingly on the "skinny" side for his size, but he burns a ton of calories with all that playing! He is having a blast with all his new birthday toys, and we're going to have to clean out some of the old ones to make room. I still owe you a blog about Austria; I got a little behind there for awhile but we're working on getting caught up!

One year check up

We took Hayden to the doctor for his one-year check up on Monday morning. Jay got to go with us, and he always finds good parking so I was not surprised when he found one right in front of the door. Good thing, too, since it was raining and yucky out! We only waited a few minutes before we were called back for his weight and height. Hayden is 22 lbs, 3 oz and 30.5 inches long! He has nearly tripled his birth weight and is in the 75th percentile for height but only 50th for weight. He's long and lean! Some days he definitely feels more than 22 pounds.

The doctor did some motor skills testing and checked him out. Luckily his cough is just some congestion and nothing more serious, so we got him some nose drops to alleviate the stuffiness and he has been sleeping better already! The cough seems to have subsided and we are grateful it wasn't anything more. The German doctors are definitely more laid back than American doctors, which seems to suit our family style. We asked a few questions and were out the door in a half hour. Not bad!

Because of when he got his six month shots, we actually have to wait about 2 weeks before we can get his next round of immunizations to make sure they're spaced correctly. I don't mind putting them off; they're definitely the worst part! But our little boy is developing right on track and always brings a smile to his doctor's face so we're happy.

Birthday boy!

It's so hard to believe my little boy is one already! We started the day with a little sleeping in, which was nice for everyone! I woke Hayden up singing "Happy Birthday" and he loved it! He had waffles and peaches for breakfast, played and had his birthday nap. I told him to rest up, because when he woke up it would be time to party!

I iced his cake and the cupcakes and packed up the car. We had gotten him a birthday balloon on Saturday since nothing is open on Sunday, and Oscar was not pleased with our helium friend. He was terrified of it, so it had to go in the car as soon as possible. Most of the birthday goodies were in two bags so it was quick work to get the car packed and get us ready. We got Hayden up, put on his special birthday outfit and headed to the bowling alley. About halfway there Jay realized he'd left his bowling ball, so we decided to drop me off to set up and he and Hayden would go back for the ball.

A month ago I called the bowling alley to reserve Hayden's party. So imagine my surprise when I got there to confirm it last Tuesday and they had no record of it. The big issue was the little birthday room, which was already booked. We decided instead of trying to move around our date or time (since the invitations were long sent) that we didn't really need the room, we just wanted lanes and space. We requested the last four lanes, since they were furthest from the door (for escaping kids!) and closest to the snack bar. So imagine my surprise AGAIN when I arrived yesterday and our lanes were not reserved. We took the other four lanes, and obviously our bowling was free. I refused to let anything ruin Hayden's day, and since he didn't really care where our lanes were, I started decorating.

It was quick work, since 1st birthday parties in my opinion should be all about the little ones. The pizza was ordered, the cakes were ready and now I just needed our guests and of course, the guest of honor! Everyone started arriving shortly before 2 and the bowling and pizza party began. Hayden had chicken nuggets and fries for his birthday lunch, and was so excited to see everyone! He loves his friends and Germany family, and was pretty excited about that balloon that had caused so much anguish for Oscar.

After a few rounds of bowling, we started opening the presents. Hayden was a little tired at that point, so I started out with daunting task of opening gifts while holding a squirmy one-year-old. Jay was a big help, switching opened presents for unopened presents, clearing trash and generally being awesome. Hayden was excited about everything once we got home and he was able to see it individually without the distractions of friends, food and falling pins. Then it was time for what everyone was waiting for...the cake!

I made Hayden a mini-cake, along with some cupcakes and picked up a sheet cake from the commissary. We set his chocolate-iced, dinosaur-sprinkled yellow cake in front of him with his lit candle and he was ready! We sang Happy Birthday, which he loved, blew out the candle and let him go to town. He had no problems digging right in. Jay helped him put a little on his face, which startled him but then everyone started to clap, so he followed suit clapping with his chocolate-covered hands. He ate about 3/4 of the cake and decided he was done, so Jen and I took him to the bathroom for clean up. Luckily I had brought a new outfit, towels and baby soap so the two of us made quick work of cleaning and changing him. He was glad to be clean again, and spent the rest of his party moving among the remaining guests for snuggles and testing his escape strategies.

We got all his gifts in the car, cleaned up the mess and strapped him in. He was asleep before we left the parking lot! Bless his heart, turning one is a lot of work. He napped a little when we came home, and then started testing out his presents. We only brought in a few so as not to overwhelm him, and he had a blast last night with his ball popper, cars and Vsmile toys. He also enjoyed his new "bathketball" tub toys during his bath and ate some big boy dinner with mom and dad before bedtime.

We're sad Hayden's family wasn't here to see his first birthday, but his Germany family provided tons of love and fun to help us celebrate! Today's tasks include all the cleaning and laundry that fell by the wayside in preparation for this weekend, more attempts to get Hayden to like milk and learning how to parent a one-year-old. Let the new challenges begin!

Happy Birthday Hayden!

One year ago today at this time, I hadn't even begun having contractions. I had no way of knowing that at 11:59pm, my healthy baby boy would be born. 8 lbs, 9 oz and 20.5 inches long with a head full of hair and the ability to change our lives so completely.

Happy first birthday Hayden!

Family photo...finally!

More Halloween

This is Hayden's halloween picture we had taken on post and just got back. He was definitely more interested in the backdrop and in taking of his hat than having his picture taken, but I think it came out well.

Determination

I think he really thought he was getting somewhere!

Happy Halloween!

We love Halloween in this house, and were very excited for Hayden's first celebration of the holiday. But first, we had an adults only party! On Friday night we dropped Hayden off with our good friends, the Bakers, who were all too excited to watch him for our night out. We headed to a pub on post that we'd decorated earlier in the day and set up with lots of yummy food and treats. Several other couples and some single soldiers attended as well, and we had a blast! Good food, pictures, music and costumes made for a really fun night. Hayden had a great time with the Bakers, and has a new best friend in their dog Harley.

Our late Friday night meant we got to sleep in a little on Saturday. We headed to post to take Hayden's Halloween picture and grab some lunch. I love his Hulk costume and it's so easy to get on him so we didn't mind putting it on a few times. Halloween night we met our friends to go trick or treating on post at 6 and walked around for about an hour and a half. Hayden always gets confused when he's all bundled up but he was a champ in his stroller. He's too little for candy but we trick or treated at a few places and put candy in his fun Halloween bag for us to later enjoy. We tried to get a few pics of the kids inside but Hayden wanted nothing to do with it. It's a rough life for a baby!

After trick or treating we headed to the bowling alley where games were free if you were in costume. It's so much fun feeding Hayden now that he can eat real food and really enjoys feeding himself. He has grown very anti-bottle lately, only wanting to drink a few ounces of formula here and there so we decided he was close enough to his first birthday to try some milk. Boy is this going to be fun! He doesn't care for it at all, since it's not nearly as sweet as formula. We're trying some things to get him to like it (mixing it with formula, warming it) but so far he just spits it out. It's pretty funny to watch. But he didn't like juice or water in the beginning either, so eventually we'll prevail and hopefully he'll be a milk drinker like his parents!

Hay ride and pumpkin patch

Things in Germany are always a little different than back home, but we love to try new things. Our Family Readiness Group (FRG) organized a hay ride and visit to a pumpkin patch last Friday so we were excited to go on an adventure. We headed to Seufert's Ranch and had a good time watching Hayden explore all the animals. The hay ride didn't actually have any hay; it was a wagon ride through a rural town and up to a pumpkin patch that wasn't really a patch! All the pumpkins were picked and put into groups already, but we got some fun pictures of Hayden with the pumpkins and gourds. We also got some homemade jams from the farm and they were delicious!

After the pumpkin patch we took our wagon back to the ranch where we enjoyed yummy cookies and my favorite German cold-weather treat, gluhwein (prounounced glue-wine). Gluhwein is mulled, spiced wine and is by far one of the best things I've ever tasted! They come in red and white varieties and you can usually only find them October through January. Our FRG leader, Megan, also picked us up the cutest mugs to take home with us...a great addition to my ever-growing Polish pottery collection.

Hayden had a blast at the ranch, and was certainly worn out when it was all over. Luckily Saturday was a quiet, easy day for us and we got to relax. He has a bit of a sniffle and cough, so we're trying to keep him healthy in this cold and flu season!

Remnants of fall

The weather changes quickly here in Germany, but we still have four distinct seasons. Some are definitely longer than others, and fall seems to be rather short. It stays warm for a long time, then suddenly there's that chill in the air at night and the leaves start to turn. Shortly after, the temperature drops and stays low. So we took the babies out this week for a photo shoot in the leaves while they're still around and not sopping wet. It does a lot of raining in Germany, so it's hard to find a sunny day with dry leaves. But we did our best!

Winter already?

It would seem so in Germany! All of a sudden last week it got terribly cold out but for the most part the sun still comes around. This weekend was a fun, lazy family weekend for us. We were celebrating Jay's 25th birthday (which was Monday) and enjoying the time together. We are big fans of games, so we've been playing a lot of Uno and the Amazing Race DVD game. We rented some movies, cooked some of his favorites and went to the Schiesshaus for dinner on Sunday. The Schiesshaus is a traditional german restaurant with HUGE schnitzel and Jay hadn't been there yet so we went for an early dinner. Hayden enjoyed some of my jagerschnitzel (the kid's size!) and some of Jay's regular schnitzel as well as our fries. Germans are typically not too fond of little ones in restaurants (it's often said that your dog is more welcome in the restaurant than your child) but Hayden is undaunted. He would take a bite, and turn around in his high chair while chewing to look at the people around us. He would continue to look at them until they smiled, and then he would break into his million-dollar Rogers grin. He is irresistable, cultural barriers and all! We also took some family pictures this weekend and can't wait to see how they turned out!

Yesterday was the second round of the flag football tournament, and the high was only 44 degrees! Good thing we just bought Hayden a snowsuit. We went to a Discovery Toy party at 5 and then headed to the field for Jay's game at 6. Talk about torture, Hayden got to see all these fun toys but then had to give them back. I bundled him up in his snowsuit and mittens, and then put him in his "sleeping bag", a wonderful stroller sack that keeps him warm and cozy. He's never been so bundled up, so he wasn't quite sure what to do for a long time. He likes to chew on the top tab of the snowsuit, and often loses his pacifier which is troublesome to recover with those mittens! It was a tough game especially with the referees, but we emerged victorious and play again tonight. Good luck Jay!

Hayden's new trick

Baby Hulk

This is just too cute not to share! We ordered Hayden's halloween costume in September and FINALLY decided to try it on him. They only had it in 12-18 months and luckily for us it fits perfectly! And because of the way it fits, we can put basically anything on under it so he'll be warm for trick or treating. We can't wait for Halloween!

11 months old

We are getting more and more lax on updates! Things are in full swing around here and life is keeping us busy. We can hardly believe Hayden is 11 months old! He has four teeth, just had his third haircut today and is not yet walking. Which we are fine with :-) He's still an expert crawler and is really working on standing lately and cruising from furniture to furniture. He is into absolutely everything, which means we have installed a new, sturdy baby gate downstairs and blocked his entry from the kitchen as well.

11 months means we're now busy preparing for his first birthday, which I can't believe. Time flies! Jay is still playing flag football and the weather has taken quite a cold turn this week so we have to bundle up a bit more to watch him play. This last week it just got too chilly for us towards the end of the game, so Hayden and I packed up and got the car nice and warm for dad when the game was over. Monday is the semi-final game, so we wish him lots of luck!
We recently took a trip to Ramstein Air Force Base to visit the mall and it was huge! We've lived in Germany over 3 years now so seeing an actual mall is a little overwhelming. It's basically a giant PX with a ton of other shops, but we picked up a lot of things we aren't able to get close to where we live. Mainly things for Hayden, a little Vera Bradley for me and some combatives gloves for Jay. We also got some American chinese food (we miss it the most) and stayed long enough to enjoy dinner at Macaroni Grill. It has quickly replaced Chili's as my favorite place to eat at Ramstein.

Hayden is in his big boy car seat now, since he was just not enjoying his rear-facer anymore. We ordered it from Amazon and to our surprise it was here in less than a week! Hayden is much happier now that he can see what we're doing, and it's also a lot easier for us to get to him when he needs something (usually he wants his shoes off). In his Nikes and his big boy seat with his new hair cut, he barely resembles the tiny infant we brought home from the hospital last November.

We also recently went to Hayden's friend Gabe's birthday party. He's 7! Hayden enjoyed a lot of good dad time while mom socialized, and even got to test out the bouncy boxing ring a little. Mainly he was sitting on the outside where he can just kind of bounce around on his baby butt without being knocked down by kids, but he loved it. He has become quite the birthday partier, and will be in for a big surprise next month when he gets to eat his own piece of cake instead of sharing with us!

Food for thought

Life has suddenly gotten more interesting as Hayden is now eating table food. He still has his bottles, since babies are supposed to get the bulk of their nutrition from formula or breast milk for the first year. But now when we eat, Hayden eats with us. Most mornings he still eats baby fruit or yogurt mixed with oatmeal since he can't have whole milk or eggs just yet, but sometimes he gets a bite of french toast or sausage. Lunch has gotten way more fun, since I can just cook up some pasta or veggies and feed it to him, or let him feed himself. I've found he is very tricky when it comes to food. Sometimes he won't take anything I try to feed him because he wants to do it himself. That's fine with some things, but pasta with sauce only works with naked babies! If he's eating dinner with us, he'll let me feed him but only off of my fork. Doesn't matter what I'm feeding him as long as it's off of my fork. Apparently the baby spoon isn't grown up enough for "dinner with dad".

Fruits are still a little tricky since he can't chew most of them, so he's still hanging out with the pureed fruit mixed with oatmeal. We did try a banana the other day, and found that he wants nothing to do with the slimy slices but will happily bite into a half banana that he can hold. He still prefers his food spiced up (not that I blame him, we go through more garlic than an Italian family of 5) but doesn't really care about temperature.

Out of the blue he started enjoying the cup, which means he's getting a lot more juice and water than the two sips I used to fight him for. He gets very excited when he sees his cup and knows the "good stuff" is in there. Eating out is also more fun, since I can share what I'm eating with Hayden. We went out for chinese food recently and I'm pretty sure Hayden had more chicken and noodles than I did! It's fun to see him experiments with new tastes, textures and types of food.

We're still here!

You'll have to excuse my two-week hiatus from blogging. When Jay got back from his field training exercise, we started to realize how quickly our time together is running short. Jay will be deploying late this fall, so we've been spending as much time as possible with our little family. Jay has been very busy at work and getting home later than usual, so Hayden and I try to make the most of our time with him. When Jay first got home from the field Hayden was still in mommy-mode and didn't want to spend much time with dad alone. But two weeks later, we feel like he has a baby-sixth-sense that dad is leaving soon for a long time, because he's grown increasingly attached to him.

We are constantly surprised at how bright our son is, and how many of our traits he has acquired already. He is stubborn like his mom, sneaky like his dad and very intelligent. He's a climber and is fearless. Lately he's gotten very good at waving and mimicking the sounds we make. He is into absolutely everything, and already tries to evade us with his sweet smiles and big blue eyes while doing something he isn't supposed to. He is also enjoying more people food, including a giant piece of chicken he gnawed on at a BBQ last weekend. He's standing for just a few seconds on his own, and is showing definite signs of wanting to walk. Our little boy is growing up!

This past weekend Hayden and I hung out at home on Sunday while Jay went to Oktoberfest in Munich. We decided to give him a little boys time while we relaxed at home with Oscar. Hayden is also growing more and more interested and what we're eating and drinking, particularly the cups out of which we drink. So we end up having to down our water pretty quickly and give him the sip that's left in our cup. He loves it! He also enjoys cold bites of our freezer pops even though he makes the funniest face when the frozen treat hits his mouth. It probably feels pretty good on his teeth that are pushing their way through.

Now that Jay is back, flag football is back in business! Hayden and Oscar love to be out at the field for the games. Oscar gets to run around a bit and play with the kids, and Hayden enjoys crawling all over the ground and off of his sheet. Hayden gets very excited when everyone gets loud and claps and cheers, and he joins right in with the clapping.

We have a lot of fun stuff coming up so we're taking every opportunity to relax and do a lot of nothing! October is going to be a busy month with birthdays, long weekends and Hayden's first Halloween. Soon our little boy will be turning one, and we just don't know where the time has gone! It's amazing what a unique little person he's turning into.