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.