Well. That's done.

Jay's surgery was a success last Thursday, and as usual we've had little time to update the blog! We went up to Landstuhl Tuesday evening for his Wednesday am appointment, while Hayden got to have a little getaway with one of his favorite families, the Bakers! Jay took care of all his pre-surgery stuff while I got to sleep in a little (!) and then we spent the day at Ramstein. We had a fun lunch, we shopped, we GOT TO SEE A MOVIE IN THE MIDDLE OF THE DAY.  For most of you, this doesn't mean much. But for those of you that live here in Germany and NOT at Ramstein, you know how special this is. First off all, with both of us working usually the only thing that happens in the middle of the day is just that ...working. And the occasional lunch date. Also, our movie theater is open Wed-Sun, and only has day time showing on the weekends. Those day shows are typically for the kids, so the fact that Jay and I could watch the remake of Nightmare on Elm Street at 130 on a Wednesday is just amazing. It's the little things :-) We also followed up the evening with a wonderful dinner at Macaroni Grill, where we split a steak and lobster ravioli. We kind of forget what it's like to be able to have a whole day to ourselves, and to have a date!

Thursday morning came too soon, and Jay had to be at the hospital at 615. We checked him in, and he immediately was called back to prep. Unfortunately in the Army climate of "hurry up and wait", his prep didn't actually take place for two more hours. Then he had ANOTHER two hours to wait for surgery. Waiting, for the record, is awful. I will say I didn't shed a single tear...until they actually wheeled him back for surgery. It was set to last over 2 hours, so I headed to the KMCC to shop my worries away. I picked up lunch, some things for Jay and Hayden and even myself (!) and went back to the hospital. I finished one book and started another whilst in the waiting room, since the surgery took over three hours.

Finally someone came to get me and tell me Jay was in recovery and that I could see him. He was a little drugged still, but feeling good. We spent the rest of the day hanging out in his room, watching movies and relaxing. I finally left him around 10pm to check in my room, which was a disaster but I made it through the night, no thanks to the hotel staff. Believe I got my room comped, after a hotel employee expected me to sleep in my room with the KEY STUCK OUTSIDE IN THE DOOR. Where any crazy person could come in and kill me in my sleep. Garbage. Housekeeping also gave me a rude awakening at 7am by walking in and turning on the light. Did I say she knocked? Because she most certainly did NOT. Nevertheless. I survived.

Jay started his discharge from the hospital at around 9am, was up and walking around well, but we didn't get on the road until almost 4pm. What a long few days we had! But we picked up our filthy dog, our sweet baby boy and headed home sweet home.

We're back to adjusting, this time to dad who isn't supposed to lift more than 10 lbs and Hayden who does not care for this new rule. Everyone is doing well, Oscar included. Work is crazy because we just launched our new, paperless system for customer service. It's AWESOME but almost like starting over, so I've learned a lot this week. Hayden has unfortunately picked up the dreaded hand-foot-mouth from the daycare center, but is a happy little guy as always.

We go back to Landstuhl for a 10-day follow up on Monday and a six week follow up at the end of June, but for now Jay just gets to relax and heal! We are so grateful that he is not returning to Afghanistan and will have time to fully recover from an injury that should have been taken care of two years ago.

Weekend getaway

The week after Jay got home, we had a spouses retreat scheduled down in Garmisch. He got to come with us! So while I was in the sessions and Hayden was hanging out with the other kids, Jay got to relax and even get a massage! He and Hayden spent one of the morning sessions together, which was fun for everyone. Since we had so much free time built into our schedule, we got to do a few things I'd been wanting to do for awhile.

Our first stop on Friday was Munich for lunch at the Hard Rock Cafe. The place was nearly empty, so the kids got to play and have balloons and eat fun food. We had a nice relaxing lunch before getting back on the road to Garmisch. An hour later we were checking into our hotel and enjoying another weekend down in the Alps. Traveling is always more fun with friends, and Amber and the kids and Mandie made the road trip down with us. We went to our evening session and were done and enjoying some time together by 930.

Saturday morning we had our sessions and then finished up in time for lunch. We headed to the Linderhof palace to see the gardens, which weren't really in bloom yet but we did get to see the fountain! I had been in December 2007 but it looks so much different in the winter! We bummed around and enjoyed the beautiful weather before heading back for dinner. We tried to go to the pool but Hayden was not too pumped about it. He spent most of the time wrapped up in a towel sitting with me, but he did test the waters a bit. Hopefully some more pool time this summer will clear that anxiety right up!

Sunday morning we had more more session and then lunch and back on the road! This time we made a pitstop at the Herren Chiemsee palace, King Ludwig II's summer palace modeled after Versailles. You have to take a boat to get to the island, which was a ton of fun. We spent a couple of hours walking the grounds and admiring the work put into this place! Hayden of course went straight for the stairs, up and down, up and down, but how cool that he spent his weekend climbing in the footsteps of kings at two royal palaces!

We had a great time, as we always do down in Garmisch, and learned a few things as well. We could not have asked for better weather, or better traveling buddies!

Well it's been awhile! Jay got home to us on April 15th, and things have been a whirlwind ever since. The next morning I had to work my first Saturday at the bank, so Jay and Hayden enjoyed some boy-time at the house and met me for lunch after work. Hayden was so excited to see Jay but was still not ready to relinquish his mom-ties, but boy was Oscar glad to see his dad!

This is a busy time at work so I haven't had much time at home to spend with Jay and Hayden but that's given them some time to each other. Hayden likes for his dad to take him to school and pick him up, and dad lets him do a lot more fun stuff than mom does; walking everywhere, eating messy stuff outside of the house, playing in the grass with Oscar. It's nice to have him home!

Next week he has surgery, and this few weeks that he's been here has flown by. Thanks to everyone for being so supportive and helpful! We have a long road ahead of us, but for now we're just grateful to be a family again.

Quick update

Life has accelerated to warp speed when we figured out that Jay would be coming home in April. His R&R is scheduled for September, but he has a leftover back injury from the last deployment that has been aggravated by the current deployment, and requires surgery. It's all very whirlwind and in true Army fashion, I actually found out that Jay was for sure coming home when I checked my email and had a message from our commander. That went out to everyone. Solid.

Anyway, Jay is en route to Germany as we speak, and will be seen at Landstuhl (Army hospital conveniently located near Ramstein AFB, home of the mall and Mac Grill)...scratch that, just received a phone call, he is currently at Landstuhl. Not sure when we will actually see him, but we're in the same country now! Eeep!

Look what the bunny brought Hayden!

Despite our never-ending traveling status, the bunny managed to find Hayden anyway! He's on a reading kick, so he really enjoyed his basket full of books. We did also enjoy some warm chocolate chip cookies this afternoon, and maybe next year the Easter bunny will drop off a few sweet treats for him!

Happy Easter...from the Netherlands!

For Easter weekend we headed up north to the Netherlands. I booked two rooms at the Holiday Inn Leiden for the four of us (Amber & kids, Evonne & Anessa, Mandie, Hayden and myself) for two nights. We planned to go to Amsterdam and also to visit the Keukenhof Gardens. We headed up Friday morning, and to our surprise were met with NO traffic. Thankfully, since our last trip was definitely soured by horrendous traffic.

We arrived at the hotel, checked in and were pleasantly surprised with our accomodations. Our rooms were spacious and comfy, breakfast buffet was included but best of all, this hotel totally catered to kids! There was a "jungle room" for the kids with a ball pit, video games, small playground, blocks, etc. The kids were in heaven! Whereas most of the time we spend with bored kids in a room, this time around they were begging to go play. We also had an indoor pool to enjoy, but Hayden was not really feeling that adventure. They had Easter activities for the kids, and another play room with more video games, a bounce house and ping pong tables. We love to travel but it's hard on the kids sometimes, so this was win-win for everyone!

Saturday morning turned out to be grey and cold so we bundled up and headed to Amsterdam. We wandered aimlessly for a bit but by the time we had a destination in mind, the rain started. And poured. The rain definitely put a damper on the day, and limited what we could see. I had been to Amsterdam before, in 2007, and had seen everything I wanted to see then but the others hadn't been yet. In the end, we split into two groups...one that wanted to get out of the rain and go back, and one that wanted to see a bit more before calling it a day. It worked out perfectly, and everyone was pretty happy with our adventure.

On Sunday I heard the rain at 6am so we all slept in a bit before getting up and at 'em. We ate breakfast, let the kids play and packed up the cars. The weather was grey and dreary but not raining (!) so we headed to Keukenhof to see the tulips. We spent a few hours wandering around amongst the gardens, and really enjoyed it. We saw the giant windmill, wooden shoes and tons and tons of flowers. With the cold winter and cold weekend, the tulips weren't all the way up yet but it was beautiful!

We headed back home around 3pm, after a diaper disaster with Hayden was handled. We stopped for food and gas (in MORE rain) and were making good progress. Hayden was having a little trouble with his teeth and general crankiness, which came to a head about 30 minutes before we got home. He was crying uncontrollably and chewing on his fingers and threw up everywhere. I took the first exit I could, cleaned him up and changed him and got back on the road. When we got home he slept through his diaper changed and slept until 8 this morning! We had a great time, but today there's no place like home!

Bazaar weekend

Last weekend was the annual Spouses Club spring bazaar. Since I'm actually a member of the Spouses Club this year, I got to help with the bazaar instead of just shopping! I worked a little on Thursday before going to work, and volunteering gets you early shopping before the doors open on Friday! Friday morning I showed up and bought two cases of wine and four kinds of cheese...all before 10am! Seemed like a pretty good way to start my day. There's a wine vendor that Jay loves so I picked up a case of his favorite, and they had the gluwein we love so much in red AND white, how could I choose between them? I didn't, I split a case between them. Jackpot. Jay also really loves this South African hot sauce the cheese guy always has so I picked up a few bottles of that for him as well.

I worked Friday and then stopped back by the bazaar. They needed a few extra hands so I hung out for a bit, thanks to my full-time daycare I had two extra hours to help out! Hayden and I came home to hang out for the evening, and relaxed for the most part.  Saturday morning I took him to CDC for Super Saturday and was able to volunteer for four more hours at the bazaar. Some of those ladies worked all day, every day from Thursday to Sunday so being able to help them was nice.

I picked up a few gifts, and one more piece of Polish pottery (like I needed another one, right?) from Andy's, one of our favorite stores that was closed when we went. I have some egg plates, yes, but I had to have this one. Did I mention I love the bazaar? It was quite a successful endeavor, for both the shoppers and the Spouses Club!