The Crandalls

Manderscheid Castle

2011-08-11T15:27:00.001+02:00

Reese turned 3 years old three months ago and I finally got around to taking her yearly photos today. Since Nate’s sister Kendra is in town, we took the kids over to Manderscheid castle and got some cute pics of the kids. Reese is usually only good for a few minutes of smiling so the first ones are smiles and the later ones are more of a brooding Reese look. Finn on the other hand is always willing to smile for Mommy as long as he has a full stomach.

The castle ended up being a great place to take pictures plus we got to enjoy touring the castle. Here’s a few more photos of us at the castle, we just got that new pack for Finn and after using it walking up all those steps at the castle I have to say that I’m very pleased with it. Oh and the photo of the little white and green bear blanket is Emmie, Reese felt she needed her picture taken at the castle too.

Little Chunk is 5 Months Old

2011-08-04T16:38:00.001+02:00

Another month has come and gone with me neglecting to blog. I think I’m still in fried brain mode from having Finn because whenever I try to sit down and write the words just don’t flow like they used to. Hopefully it’ll all come back soon and I can be better about documenting the things that happen around here.

Whether I want to believe it or not, my little baby is turning into a little boy. Finn is the sweetest little boy ever and we can’t get enough of him. He popped his first two teeth right after he turned 4 months old but he has yet to bite me while I’m nursing so I’m crossing my fingers that he doesn’t try that anytime soon. He’s such a happy baby and it’s easy to get a smile out of him, he loves to play peekaboo and he loves just to be held and given attention by anyone. Reese has had basketball camp this week and luckily while I’ve been helping her there’s always been an extra mom willing to give Finn some attention, he’s quite spoiled in that way because people just love how big he is for his age. He’s getting close to overtaking Mr.Monkey in his monthly photos. He’s started doing the tripod sit and does quite well with it so hopefully he’ll be sitting up soon and he’s begun to enjoy a little bit of roughhousing with his daddy and big sister at night. Pretty much the only time Finn is angry is when it’s bedtime and he’s ready to be asleep already. He’s been eating some cereal and other baby food now and he loves dinner time, for awhile he was fairly indifferent about it but lately he’s taken a liking to it. He’d prefer to eat what we’re eating and spends the entire time the rest of us are eating complaining that he’s not eating too despite the fact that he ate his dinner just before us. He’s the perfect little man and as much as we’d like him to stay a baby forever, okay I think I’m the only one who wants him to stay a baby forever but still, we’re eager to watch him grow up and see his little personality continue to develop.

Finn’s Blanket

2011-07-19T17:18:00.001+02:00

I got some material a long time ago that I was going to make a blanket for Finn with and then I got swamped making baby gifts and Finn came along and I never got around to it. Well a few weeks ago I finally decided it was time to get working on it but my ideas for it had changed so I ordered some star fabric to go along with it and it all came in the mail yesterday. After the kids went to bed last night I cut all the squares out and then spent my entire day sewing them together and putting the fluffy minky on the back. I have to say that the minky is really soft and nice but it’s a pain to work with. Luckily all that hard work was worth it because Finn seemed pleased with it and I even made it extra large so he won’t outgrow it to quickly.

A Snapshot of Our Life

2011-07-14T17:29:00.001+02:00

I looked at the kids and realized that even when things seem boring they are having a sweet moment together. Yesterday I caught them playing together which is happening more often now that Finn is getting bigger and Reese has decided he’s worthy of her attention. She was getting toys out for him and reading him books.

Even though that’s becoming a common sight in our home, something that’s even more typical is what’s going on right now behind me. Finn woke up from napping in his swing but was still content to be sitting there watching Reese who has brought him a musical toy and starts the music and then spins around in front of him. When the music stops she starts it again and starts spinning. Oh and she’s begun dressing herself most days with fairly good results.

Finn is 4 Months Old!

2011-07-14T14:15:00.001+02:00

Well there’s been a delay in writing this so now he’s almost four and a half months old but either way he’s getting big. At his doctor’s appt we clocked in at 17lbs 6oz and about 25.5 inches which keeps him at the very top of the growth chart. The doctor said he’s actually closer in size to a 9 month old than a 4 month old which is pretty funny because there’s a little boy at church who is about 13 months old and Finn is the same size as him, granted this kid is small for his age but it’s still funny to see them next to each other. Sometimes when I see littler babies I get sad that Finn was never really a little guy, It can be hard to carry around a kid the size of a 9 month old who’s not developmentally like 9 month old, he’s heavy but he doesn’t hold on which makes it even heavier to carry him, but that’s our Finn and we love him. He’s already getting his first two teeth so that’s been making him a bit grumpy lately. You can see the little tooth buds just below the skin and one of them feels like it’ll be out any day now.

Some things about Finn: he loves to eat but he dislikes letting anyone else eat. When I’m eating breakfast he’ll try and pull my food off the table or he’ll give me a chastising look that says how dare I eat when he isn’t eating. He’s super stinky which makes me fear for when he’s a teenager. He farts all the time but rarely poops so strangers probably think my kid needs a diaper change and that I’m a bad mom by making him sit in it but really he’s just farting. He loves to stand on laps and play in his exersaucer and he’s just discovered that peek a boo is awesome. If Jaeger is playing near him he’ll laugh out loud and if she’s close enough he’ll try and pet (grab) her. He loves to play with Daddy but when it comes down to it he’s a big old Momma’s Boy and just having Mommy hold him cures most fits.

As a side note about Reese, I had to write these down so I didn’t forget. Reese is extremely well spoken, she has a huge vocabulary and speaks very clearly there are just a few words that she mispronounces and the funny part about these words is that there is no reason for her to mispronounce them because she can say them she just honestly thinks it’s the right word. For example banana is go-nana, polka dots is polka gots, in a different category ice cream is ice creamy scoop thanks to Mickey Mouse Clubhouse. There’s a few others that I can’t think of right now, but it always makes Nate and I laugh. Oh and speaking of laughing moments (which are also not laughing moments) the other day Reese was getting ready to take a bath so she’s going to the bathroom and she asks me “Mommy, do I say damn?” I of course responded no but it took a bit not to laugh because you have to imagine her with her elbow on her knee and her chin in her hand sitting on the toilet asking me that question.

And now I must wrap it up because Finn is demanding my attention and he’s demanding it now.

4th of July

2011-07-14T13:40:00.001+02:00

I love celebrating the Fourth of July in Germany and I’m sad that this was the last year of what has become our traditional 4th. The base had Super Saber Appreciation Day on the holiday so Nate went over to help set up and then the kids and I joined him that afternoon. They always have so much fun stuff to do and Reese loves it. She started out by going on the swings which I was a little hesitant about since it was supposed to be for ages 4 and up, but I talked with her about holding on tight and it was one of her favorite things. She kept wanting to go again and again which was really cute. After her first time on the swings we saw them bringing in the horses for the pony rides and since last year the line had been ridiculous for it we headed straight there next and ended up being one of the first people on, the line ended up dying down later in the day so she was able to go a second time. She played all the little games they had set up and won various prizes and candy which she was super excited about and then she took a turn in the bounce house. After going around and around again doing everything we decided to get some dinner and then we headed over to the lawn where we always sit to watch the fireworks. The Christensens were there with us and we met up with some of our other friends as well so the kids all got to run around while we waited for it to get dark enough for the fireworks to start. It takes so long to get dark here that by the time the fireworks started Reese was getting tired, it was a really long show and she ended up falling asleep just before the grand finale. It was an awesome day and the weather ended up being perfect, which is saying something since it’s been pretty cold and rainy here lately.

Reese’s Last Day of School

2011-07-01T09:53:00.001+02:00

I can’t believe it’s July already and I need to update again because things actually do happen around here.

The middle of June marked the end of Reese’s preschool :( She had such a great time at school all year long and she’s sad that she doesn’t get to go anymore. For the last day of school they invited the parents to come in for the last half hour for a little presentation. The kids sang a couple songs and then they ate popsicles while the teachers showed us a picture slideshow of the whole year. It was really cute and Reese had so much fun playing with her friends at school.

Singing the bear hunt song: (side note, there were 14 kids in her class but the last month a lot had moved away or left for the states on vacation)

being a fish

eating popsicles

Ms.Christine

Ms.Lacey

With her certificate

With her friend Sadie and her little sister London

5 Years

2011-06-03T15:28:00.001+02:00

I can’t believe it’s been five years since Nate and I got married….that’s 60 months or 1825 days or 43,800 hours. Time goes by quickly until you stop and think about how much has happened in the past five years and then you wonder if it’s actually ONLY been five years. We were married on June 3rd, 2006 in Sacramento, California and less than a week later we were in San Francisco getting on a plane to Frankfurt to start our life together in Germany. Nate had used up all the leave he had in order to come out for the wedding so we weren’t able to take a proper honeymoon, but when Fourth of July weekend rolled around we used that time off to head up to Berlin on our very first trip. That was back when Spangdahlem did explore the Eifel week and gave you extra time off, the fact that we remember when explore the Eifel was awesome tells you just how long we’ve been here. We took the train to Berlin ended up staying in an awesome hotel that was super cheap and had a great weekend. I remember that on the way home our train was delayed and we missed our next one so they rerouted us and gave us a voucher for a taxi to get the rest of the way home, that was just one of many bumps in the road that we’ve been through together and like all the other bumps that would come in the future we shook our heads and got over the change in plans.

That first summer in Germany we added to our family and got our sweet little puppy Jaeger. It was a little lonely at first in a foreign country where I didn’t know anyone, but Jaeger was a great companion.

Our first year of marriage took us to Germany, Belgium, Luxembourg, France, Hawaii, Austria, and the Netherlands where we celebrated our first anniversary.

pig fest in wittlich:

In Brussels, Belgium:

New Year’s in Paris:

Family vacation in Kauai:

Salzburg, Austria:

In the Netherlands on our anniversary:

Our second year of marriage took us to Switzerland and Italy and then we found out we were pregnant the night before Nate left on an almost 5 month deployment to Iraq. The deployment was hard and when Nate returned I was about 6 months pregnant and soon enough we had our very first child Reese Aspen Crandall. For our second anniversary we left a 2 week old Reese home with my mom while we went to dinner in Bitburg.

Adelboden, Switzerland:

Rome, Italy:

Nate leaving for his deployment:

Nate returning from his deployment:

Our first child:

Our third year of marriage was consumed with our new daughter, seriously as I’m looking through all our photos the number of pictures we took must have multiplied by ten after we had Reese. Even with all the confusion and work of becoming new parents, we still found time to make a trip back to the States and introduce her to everyone, and travel to Poland before Nate deployed for the second time a few days before Reese’s first birthday. We celebrated our anniversary on different sides of the globe that year but decided we would do something to make up for it the next year.

Auschwitz Concentration Camp in Poland:

Nate’s birthday:

Our fourth year of marriage started apart but Nate finally returned from Iraq in September and to celebrate we took a trip to Egypt for Thanksgiving. After lots of time of on and off separation due to TDYs and trips for Reese and I to go home, we finally ended our fourth year on a good note and took a trip to Ireland just the two of us.

Nate returning home from second deployment:

Thanksgiving in Egypt:

Fourth Anniversary in Ireland:

Our fifth year of marriage has been a good one, a little less complicated than some of the others since amazingly enough Nate didn’t deploy at all this year. Shortly after returned home from Ireland we found out that I was pregnant with our second child. In August we took a trip with our friends to Barcelona, Spain and then we were able to go home to the States as a whole family in November for Nate’s sisters wedding. On March 2nd, 2011 we had our second child Finn Everest and now that he is 3 months old we’re celebrating our 5th anniversary probably by putting our children to bed and watching a movie.

Barcelona:

Our second child:

Today we begin our sixth year of marriage which will bring with it many changes including us finally leaving our home in Germany and continuing our lives elsewhere. Whatever challenges this year brings us I’m glad to be facing them with Nate. Here’s to another five years of adventure!

Finn is 3 months old

2011-06-03T14:05:00.001+02:00

They don’t get much cuter than my little Finny, he’s pretty much the world’s best baby. I didn’t write much about Finn in all my catch up posts because he’s just so chill that he just went we the flow everywhere we went. He loved being pushed around Disneyland in his stroller, he’s all about getting to sleep whenever he wants so he was good to go. My dad was in charge of the stroller and Finn kept him walking, if Papa would stop and sit down Finn would let out a little squeak to let him now that he wanted to keep moving and my dad would start walking around again. He loves to sleep with things on his head and face, it worries me but he sleeps so much better if you lay a blanket over him so we usually cover his head and eyes and leave a little hole where his nose and mouth are and only when we’re watching him. He didn’t have to do much tummy time while my parents were here because we were gone a lot and my dad told him that if he didn’t want to he didn’t have to so if Finn got upset when he was put down for tummy time my dad would just pick him right back up. He was a very spoiled little guy getting be held all the time and walked around and he loved it. Once Nana and Papa left he decided that his break from tummy time was sufficient and now he’s an expert at lifting his head all the way up and he’s even rolled over. I honestly don’t think they get much happier than Finn, if you talk to him he gets a huge smile on his face and will start “talking” back to you. He’s still a big guy and we’re excited for his 4 month check up when we’ll find out if he’s still topping the charts. He can still fit in to a few of his 3 month clothes but for the most part he’s wearing 6 month stuff now and even outgrowing some if it. His hair is beginning to look more and more auburn in the sunlight so we’re waiting to see if he’ll end up going all the way or staying brown. When Reese was little her hair would look strawberry blonde in the sun but once her hair fell out and grew back in that was all gone. This little guy makes me so happy and I’m glad that when Reese is making me want to pull my hair out I have this little guy to help pull me back from the ledge.

Finn’s preferred sleeping style:

The Rest of Nana and Papa’s Trip

2011-06-03T13:37:00.001+02:00

The rest of my parents’ trip was a little more low key than the first part had been. They spent a lot of time just hanging out with the kids and wandering around our town. My dad was finally able to visit the bread truck when it came by and I think for at least a little bit they enjoyed our small town life.

We visited Trier, mainly just to wander around eating pastries, and we went over to the Rhine River so they could do the Rhine River cruise. The kids and I dropped them off in Sankt Goar and then we drove the 15 mins down the road to Bacharach and played in the park while they cruised down the very scenic portion of the river with all the castles. When they met up with us we wandered around the town just a little bit before we called it a day.

Now while we were doing all that Nate was busy with his own things. He’s been going through the process to get laser eye surgery since around the time Finn was born and his first day back after Disneyland they asked if he could come in for surgery on Tuesday which was the very next day. So Tuesday morning I drove him out to Landstuhl and he had the surgery. We had to keep the curtains drawn for him for a few days and for the most part he just tried to sleep away the worst part of the pain and then a week later he was ready to go back to life. He didn’t have Lasik he had a different kind so it’ll still be another month before his vision reaches it’s final stage but already he has improved to just shy of 20/20 vision so he’s quite pleased. As an explanation for the photo, he wore sunglasses most of the time those first few days because the sun hurt his eyes and he needed to avoid it to achieve the best vision possible and I don’t know why he’s making the face.

The day before my parents left we decided to do a little Memorial Day stuff and went to the Luxembourg American Military Cemetery. I’d been there once before, but on Memorial day weekend with all the flags and flowers out it was even more special. Every grave had an American flag a flag of Luxembourg and a rose.

When we were done there we drove on to Bastogne Belgium where the Battle of the Bulge was. There’s a monument there that my parents and Reese toured, Finn got angry at that point so he and I went back to the car to feed him instead.

When we were through there we headed back home with a pit stop somewhere in Belgium for some lunch. We kept seeing all these signs for fries so that was kind of funny but the place we stopped advertised fries but also had sandwiches and things like that. It was a nice day trip for us and the next day I took my parents to the airport bright and early and sent them on their way. As you can see, May was a very busy month for us with visitors the beginning of the month, visitors the end of the month, multiple trips, a third birthday, and an eye surgery tossed in there for good measure

Reese’s Third Birthday

2011-06-03T13:13:00.001+02:00

I just realized I got a little out of order while I was catching up, Reese’s actual birthday was the day after we got home from Disneyland (before her gymnastics program). Reese woke up on her birthday and Nate made her some special birthday eggs, usually we would’ve had strawberry waffles for breakfast but since we’d just gotten back from Disneyland and hadn’t been able to run to the store yet she was going to have them for lunch instead. Sometime in the future when she’s old enough to stay up late, I’m going to make her wait until her actual birth time of 11:20pm to open presents since I figure it’s only fair that since she tortured me those extra hours by refusing to come out I’ll torture her by making her wait for presents, but for now we’ve decided to be nice so we let her open her presents before lunch and she was very excited. She opened them all like a champ and was excited by everything. She’s at that in between stage now where she wants to play with things as soon as she opens it but she also wants to see what else she got so it was very cute to watch her open her presents.

When she was done with her presents we went in and had our strawberry waffles. Strawberry waffles are a tradition that we started on her second birthday and has now become a standard for all birthdays. We puree the strawberries and add it to our batter and then we use the extra puree as a topping along with hot fudge and whip cream. It would actually be a healthy meal if we left off the fudge and whip cream, but where would be the fun in that. Reese loves loves loves strawberry waffles and so she was very excited to dig in and Nate had even decorated the kitchen with what she claimed that morning were here two favorite colors, yellow and blue.

After that she voluntarily took a nap and when she woke up she chose to have pasta for her birthday dinner so we went to our favorite Italian restaurant Isola Bella and got Reese her pasta. The owner of the restaurant is so nice and he knows us since we’ve been eating there for the past 5 years so it was a special place to go for her birthday dinner. When we got home we had some birthday cake that Nate made, can you tell that I was kind of a slacker this birthday and Nate did everything? He even made the frosting yellow for her and put on the requested sprinkles, he’s such an awesome daddy.

Eventually we called it a night and Reese’s 5 day birthday celebration was over. There bar has now been set pretty high for third birthdays considering my niece was out here for her third birthday and we went to Paris and now Reese’s has gone to Paris for her third birthday, we’ll have to come up with something equal to Paris for Finn’s third birthday.

Reese’s Gymnastics Routine

2011-06-02T23:04:00.001+02:00

Reese has been taking gymnastics this year and their end of the year show was when my parents were in town so we all got to go watch her perform. She was so excited and as she watched all the kids go before her, she excitedly clapped and was eager for her turn. We were so proud of how well she did.

Once everyone had done the floor routine and taken a turn on the balance beam they received little medals. Reese was so excited that she didn’t wait to be called up she just decided when her turn was going to be.

Paris and Disneyland

2011-06-02T21:01:00.001+02:00

The main event of my parents trip out was our trip to Disneyland Paris for Reese’s third birthday. We’d been planning this trip for close to a year and we were very excited about finally getting to go. It’s about a four hour trip to Marne Le Vallee which is a half hour outside of Paris and the location of Disneyland Paris, but we made a short detour on the way there and stopped in Harville,France which is where my paternal grandmother’s family was from. It was a small little town but it was in the perfect location for us to get out and stretch our legs halfway through our trip. We took a photo of those with Harvill blood and those without :)

After our side trip it was straight through to Disneyland! We were staying at the Seqoia Lodge which was part of the Disney resort and it was a very nice hotel, especially by Paris standards. We couldn’t check in yet when we got there so we got on the train and headed into Paris for a day of sightseeing. We were hoping to have lunch at the new Chipotle in Paris but when we got to the location it wasn’t open yet (I was quite sad) so we had to settle for the McDonald’s next door.

After we refueled we headed off to the Louvre which wasn’t far from where we were. It was an extremely warm day outside so when we got there we took a break in the shade and let Reese run around and chase the birds, which she loves to do.

After she fed the birds some leftover french fries we headed towards the Champs-Elysees and the Arc de Triomphe. He doesn’t look like it’s all that far away from the Louvre mainly because you can see it from the Louvre, but once you start walking you realize it really is a long walk…especially when it’s super hot outside like it was.

We were going to continue on to the Eiffel Tower and then Notre Dame but by this point everyone was so hot and tired that we decided just to hit up the Eiffel Tower and then call it a day. I was really looking forward to taking some nice pictures of the kids at the Eiffel Tower but then Reese fell asleep on the walk there and I began to fear that my hopes would be dashed by a very grumpy child. Luckily we were able to lure her with the promise of a treat and I got my pictures plus some other cute ones of her running around in front of the tower.

After all those photos we stopped for crepes, because what would a trip to Paris be without crepes at the Eiffel Tower? When we were through with our treat we got back on the train, which could have ended up being a fiasco because Nate and I paid for round trip tickets but the woman had only given us one way tickets so when we went to get on it didn’t let us through but luckily the attendant believed us and let us on anyways. We got back to Disneyland a little late so we grabbed some quick sandwiches and got to bed because we were planning an early day at the park the following morning.

It was still off season for Disneyland so the park had shortened hours, but since we were resort hotel guests we received Magic Mornings everyday and could enter the park at 8 instead of 10. I think Nate would’ve preferred to enter at 10 but when you have an excited three year old ready to celebrate her birthday, you enter early. That first day was probably our best day at Disneyland, it was a Thursday and the park was really slow so we were able to walk on most of the rides without waiting. Nate and I’s favorite was Space Mountain Mission 2 which we both agreed was better than the regular Space Mountain at Disneyland. Reese had many favorites and if you ask her what they were she’ll tell you the carousel, dumbo, tea cups, buzz lightyear, and pirates. She’s so funny, she was so excited about all the rides and she was literally in heaven as we ran about the park following her instructions on what to ride next. Finn’s first Disney ride ever was Peter Pan, I’d like to say he enjoyed it but he was pretty indifferent as always. He also rode It’s a Small World that first day which was the only other ride he went on, he was content to sit in his stroller and people watch from the bench with his Papa. As a side note about it’s a Small World, we were all laughing because in the America section of it there was the cowboy, Hollywood, and a football and baseball fan with a flag and a thing of popcorn. One of my favorite photos is at the end of Reese with her ears on. We were getting ready to leave for the day and I asked her to put her ears on and take a picture and the first photo is typical Reese and then she finally decided to throw me a bone and give me a smile.

We left Disneyland a little early that day and went back to the hotel to go swimming since we’d been telling Reese that there was a pool. Unfortunately the pool was a little disappointing, not for any reason in particular but maybe because it was an indoor/outdoor pool so there was just this garage door like thing that was part way open and you could either be in or out and the water was not very warm. We were expecting a warm indoor pool, but Reese had fun playing in the little kid pool so that’s all that mattered. While we were getting ready after swimming, Nate and my dad headed down to Disney Village to get in line at Mickey’s Cafe for Reese’s birthday dinner. We ended up timing it perfectly because by the time the kids and I got ready and got down there we only had to wait about 20mins before we got a table. Reese loved dinner that night, the characters kept coming by the table and she was so in love. I think the photo of her with Mickey correctly sums up her feelings for the day. When it was someone’s birthday the characters would come over and dance so we were going to have them do that for Reese but it was quite expensive, luckily there were two other people in our area who had birthdays and Reese thought it was for her and got to dance with Mickey so she got the experience anyways.

The next day after we had our hotel breakfast which was super awesome, I’m addicted to european breakfast because there’s nothing better than hard rolls and salami to start the day, we started the day a little later and went to the second park there which is the Studio Park. We went on a flying carpet ride that Reese really liked and then a cars ride and slinky dog ride before Nate and I took a little break and did a roller coaster and the tower of terror. There were a lot of show there but we weren’t really in the mood so we just settled on taking Reese to the Playhouse Disney show which she was mesmerized by and by then everyone was ready for lunch. We had figured that there wouldn’t be a ton for Reese to do there and we were right, but it worked out perfectly because she was pretty cranky from all the late nights she’d been having so after lunch she and Nate went back to the hotel while Finn and I wandered around the resort area. They enjoyed their nap and I enjoyed wandering very slowly through all the shops and hotels with Finn, we even ran in to Launchpad McQuack from Ducktales so that was pretty random.

That evening we went back to Disneyland for a few hours and my parents took Reese and went on some of her rides again while Nate and I rode Space Mountain again and had some time to ourselves. After another run through her favorites i.e. Buzz Lightyear and Pirates of the Caribbean we headed out of the park and off to dinner at the Rainforest Cafe. We figured Reese would enjoy the dinner there and we were right, she kept pointing all the animals out to us and commented every time a storm came through the restaurant. After dinner we went into the store and let her pick out something to buy with the money she’d been storing up in her piggy banks at home. She was so excited about spending her money and ended up settling on a Rex doll and a minnie purse while Nate and I got the kids their usual t-shirts and since they didn’t have any “disney paris piggy banks” we got them each an eiffel tower that was decorated like Mickey and Minnie.

Saturday was our final day at the park so we packed up our stuff, checked out of the hotel, and headed over for another early morning. Reese hit the carousel first like always and then I took the kids over to the sword in the stone to have them try and pull it out. Reese was hilarious because she was hardcore trying to pull that sword out, it was so cute. Then she wanted to do Dumbo and she picked my mom to ride with her and I’m so grateful she didn’t choose me because they ended up waiting in line for over an hour to get on that ride. It was a much busier day on Saturday but luckily she got to do all her favorites so she was happy. When we were walking to one ride we saw that Big Thunder was open for the first time and it was supposed to be closed for our entire vacation so we grabbed fast passes to use later and our time happened to be during the parade. Luckily it worked out because my parents went and rode it while we waited for the parade with Reese and then shortly after the parade had started they got there and took over with her while Nate and I went and rode it. The parade was the farewell of our trip, when it was over we made our way out of the park for good, Reese didn’t even make it out of the park before she crashed out in Nate’s arms. She was one tired little girl after that much Disneyland.

We had figured we wouldn’t get home from Disneyland until extremely late, but we ended up getting home around 10 and it wasn’t as bad of a drive as we’d been expecting so that was nice. We had an awesome time at Disneyland Paris and I’m glad we got to do it before we left because it was one of the things that I’d been wanting to do for a really long time. I’m also glad we did it when we did because it worked out perfectly getting to celebrate Reese’s birthday there and getting to have my parents come along with us.

Finn’s Blessing

2011-06-02T16:35:00.001+02:00

When Reese was blessed we weren’t able to have any family in town for it so when my parents had begun planning their trip I decided that we would have Finn blessed while they were out here. On May 15th Finn was blessed by our home teacher in Sacrament meeting and I was very glad that my parents could be here for it. Finn was such a stud in his white suit and we had to add a little bit of our own personality and have him wear the vans as well.

Keukenhof with the Nana and the Papa

2011-06-02T16:26:00.001+02:00

Just one week after the Lemmons left us, my parents arrived for a two week visit of their own. We didn’t give them much time to adjust because they got in Friday afternoon and early Saturday morning we were in the car for a trip to the Netherlands to see the tulip gardens at Keukenhof. It was a four hour drive there and luckily Reese’s ipod battery lasted almost exactly that long so we didn’t have to hear much out of the way back until we were almost there. Keukenhof was really beautiful but unfortunately we were at the very end of the season and we’ve had an unusually warm spring so most of the tulips had already died and been cut off. There were still a lot of other beautiful flowers though and the park itself was very peaceful and we had fun just wandering through it. There’s a little pond there that has these steps just underneath the water so that at the right angle it makes it look like you’re walking on water, Reese loved it and after she walked across it with Nate she had me do it again with her.

And of course what trip to the Netherlands would be complete without posing in some wooden shoes. Apparently my kids are so cute that other people want photos of them to because when they were sitting in the wooden shoes an old man got up from the restaurant and came over and took pictures of them too.

Going to the tulip gardens was what I had wanted to do for Mother’s Day so I could take my annual Mother’s Day photo with the tulips and since my parents were coming at the end of that week we’d held off on going so they could come with. Reese was very upset about taking photos at first so you can see her eyes are all red and watery but I still got some cute pictures. I especially like the one of all of us with our vans.

Reese had a lot of fun at the gardens as well. Nate had let her pick out a wooden tulip from the gift shop and she had fun comparing her tulip to the other tulips around the park. There was also a playground area with a zipline like thing that she would ride on and then make someone else go get in line with her so she could ride it again, and of course there was a petting zoo that she had fun with like always. Here’s just some more random photos from Keukenhof.

A Visit From the Lemmons

2011-06-02T10:12:00.001+02:00

Just after Easter we had some very exciting visitors…..THE LEMMONS!! The Lemmons arrived in Germany about the same time we did and were one of our first friends out here. Sarah and I were pregnant together and had our firstborns 7 weeks apart so needless to say we’re very close with them. Unfortunately Sarah’s husband felt that going to the Air Force Honor Guard was more important than extending in Germany (just kidding) so they moved to D.C. 2 years ago. I’d been able to go out and visit them after they had their second child last January and they were able to take some time and come visit us now that Finn was born. They caught a military hop out and spent almost two weeks just hanging out with us around here and it was so much fun.

Reese and Lukas were instant friends once again, they played so nicely together and I had so much fun just watching them run around outside and play with each other. One time they were pretending that there was either a goat or a ghost on the other side of the fence, I really don’t know which one it was, so they’d run over to the fence and shout “there’s the ghost/goat” and then run back to the driveway and hide from it in a box. The funniest part was when Luke would shout to Reese “Run my friend, run” it was hilarious. They were having so much fun playing with one another that my attempts to get pictures were not appreciated as you can tell by the lack of nice smiles in the photos. These pictures show pretty much what they did every single day, we had such nice weather and the two of them could not get enough of playing outside together which was convenient because then they weren’t making a huge mess inside.

While they were here we decided it would be fun to take the kids to Eifel Park in Gondorf which is only about 10 or 15 mins from our house but in the 5 years we’ve lived here we’ve never once gone. When the day was over we were kicking ourselves for never having gone before because it was so much fun and it would’ve been fun even before we had kids. It’s basically a wild animal park that also has a couple rides and slides, stuff like that. We invited Robyn and Max to come with us so we had 3 two and half year olds, 1 one year old, and a 2 month old…the three 2 year olds had a blast with one another. All the kids bought a box of food for a euro to feed the animals with and then they fed bunnies, goats and deer plus we saw a bunch of birds and some wolves.

The playground at EIfel Park was a lot of fun for the adults as well as the kids, they had this mini ferris wheel type contraption and it was powered by up to two people peddling on the bicycle next to it so Robyn and Justin hopped on the bike and peddled Sarah and I around the little ferris wheel.

They also had a giant slide that the kids (and the adults) all really liked, we must’ve gone down it 20 times but everyone was having so much fun

Even though all of that was fun, the highlight for most of us was the coaster. Technically the kids were too young to go on it because it said they had to be 3 but we figured close enough and they all loved it, Lukas especially wanted to keep going on it.

After we’d done some rides we walked around to see some of the other animals and we began to wish we hadn’t, it was a long walk and we got to where we were over halfway done but the rest of it was uphill and the kids were complaining about being hungry and Finn was screaming and luckily just at that moment the “train”, which was a tractor pulling some compartments, started coming around so we flagged it down and caught a ride the rest of the way which was much better. The animal walk wasn’t all bad though because we did get to see a particularly interesting species….the mother daughter 80’s combo which you rarely see in nature

Oh and of course Finn did his usual thing, he rode around in his stroller and smiled like the big cutie that he is

Now for the next part of their trip you need to know all little of the back story. Aside from our honeymoon trip to Berlin, the first trip that we took in Europe was to Belgium with the Lemmons. Nate had gone TDY for a few days in Belgium and thought I would enjoy seeing it so we went over Labor Day weekend to Brussels and made a side trip to Brugge and Oostende as well. So we thought it would be fun to go back to Brugge now that 5 years and 4 kids had passed. Here we are as two young couples in our first year of marriage:

and now here we are 5 years later and each with two kids (Devin is a little less visible behind Justin and Finn is kind of hidden by Reese, but they’re there):

We didn’t do much in Brugge that day, we just kind of wandered around and enjoyed making a return visit. It’s a beautiful city and of course we were able to get some waffles as well :)

Also, a picture from Brugge was on the very first Christmas card Nate and I sent out together, so we had to take a photo of our updated family in the same spot.

A lot has changed in 5 years.

Eventually their two weeks were up and it was time for Lemmons to head back to D.C. but not before Nate got a chance to torture Devin by shoving things in the back of his sweatshirt and then watching him try and get them out (it’s a game he plays with Reese too).

Side Note: Finn turned two months while the Lemmons were in town so we had to measure him up against his monkey again, he looks have changed quite a bit from when he was only one month old. At his two month check up he weighed in at 14 lbs 9 oz which put him in the 100th percentile, he was 24.5 in long which is the 98th percentile, and his head circumference was 16.5 in which is the 97th percentile.

Easter Weekend

2011-06-01T17:24:00.001+02:00

Wow, I’m so behind on my blogging that I had to go through my pictures to try and see what I missed AND it required going through multiple folders to find where I left off. Either I take way way WAY too many photos, or it’s been far too long since I’ve blogged…probably a little of both.

I made Finn nursery letters back in April and they turned out to be really awesome. I was quite pleased with them and they didn’t even take me that long which begs the question why did I wait so long to do them, I’d bought the stuff just before he was born. Now they’re hanging lovingly (which means not quite even since our walls are way to bumpy to try and hang anything perfectly) above his bed.

Easter was very exciting for us this year since Reese was ALL ABOUT hunting for eggs, she gets really excited about holidays right now and then we have to hear about whatever holiday was last for a really really long time, I for one was just happy to get Valentine’s day off her mind because somehow St.Patrick’s Day didn’t do the trick for her. On Easter Saturday we went to base for an egg hunt and then stayed for the Month of the Military Child block party they were having. For the egg hunt the field inside the track was literally a sea of eggs and each age group got a chance to run out there and clean them up. Finn and I watched from the sidelines as this massive line moved across the field picking up everything in its path, it was pretty funny. Luckily Nate made Reese skip past the first few and start further along so she wasn’t bombarded by people every time she bent down to pick up an egg. She loved running across the field and finding eggs to toss in her basket, and when she was done she excitedly ran back to Finn and I to show us all that she had found. She’s such a sweet little girl that she even gave her little brother an egg.

Once all the groups had gone through the egg hunt the block party began at the gym. There was a lot of vendors set up inside the gym giving away things like they do at the state fair and then the bank was giving away toys so we put Reese’s name in the drawing and she was one of the first names called to pick something out. They were wanting every child to walk away with something so even Finn got a little baseball toy to play with when he’s just a little bit bigger. After we had gone around collecting water bottles and pens, we went out to the parking lot where they had a merry go round and a bounce house. Reese is a HUGE fan of merry go rounds and she probably rode this one 10-12 times, but she was having so much fun that we just kept letting her go again and again. She wasn’t pleased when we finally made her stop, but we let her have a quick turn in the bounce house before we called it a day. I have to say that I was really impressed with the event, I was expecting just a few little things but there really was a lot of fun stuff for the kids to do.

That day ended up being a very busy one because once we got home from the block party we had to get started on dying our Easter eggs and making our Easter cookies. Reese was more involved in dying the eggs this year which was fun for Nate and I. She would color on the eggs with the crayons and then decide which color and how long to leave them in for and once they came out and dried she put mass amounts of stickers on a couple of them. It was a lot of fun to watch her be so opinionated about what she wanted, not that she isn’t usually opinionated but this was her being opinionated about something I WANTED her opinion about so it was different. She also got to open a little Easter present that Nana and Papa had given her so she had fun with that as well.

On Easter Sunday we got up and saw what the Easter bunny had left for the kids and then noticed that he’d also dropped a bunch of eggs outside in our yard so Reese went out with her basket and gathered them all up while Finn picked up the one that she left behind. It’s funny to watch her hunt eggs because she’ll notice one on the opposite side of the yard and run past a few in the process of getting it and then back track to the ones she missed. I just realized I haven’t mentioned much about Finn thus far so I’ll say that he was always present and did his usual thing of watching Reese intently.

Once Reese had eaten some of her candy we got the kids ready for church early so I could take some photos of them in their Easter outfits. You would think that Reese would’ve been cooperative after so much fun but she was in fact not. She was fine for photos of herself but when it came time to take photos with Finn she refused to support him in anyway. All she had to do was keep his head upright and she acted as if I was asking her to hold up the titanic, I realize he’s a big kid but I’ve seen her lug her stupid rocking horse up and down stairs so I know she’s capable of holding Finn’s head up. I did manage to get a few decent photos and I guess I’ll always have the memory of how Reese refused to cooperate, plus they looked cute enough in their outfits to make up for the lack of cooperation.

My little man looks so studly with his tie on, it made me smile getting to dress him that day especially since I know that some day he’s going to refuse to wear what I pick out, hopefully that day is very very far away.

Spring?

2011-04-11T10:35:00.001+02:00

I don’t want to jinx it, but I think it might actually be spring here in Germany. It has been sunny and warm for most of the past three weeks and now the trees have started blooming and everything looks so spring like. Since we’ve lived here long enough to now that spring can turn back in to winter pretty quickly, we’ve tried to make the most of the warm weather by playing outside or going to the park.

I realized yesterday that Finn is 5 1/2 weeks old and we’ve yet to take a photo of all four of us together, so before we left for church we took a quick family photo and some pictures of my adorable children together. I love how much they love each other, I hope that lasts forever. Finn loves to watch Reese and Reese is always asking to hold him or play with him. They both make me so happy.

Also, we finally caught Finn’s smile on camera last night.

Finn will be 6 weeks old on Wednesday and I have my final doctor’s appt on Thursday. It’s a little bittersweet knowing that Thursday will be the last time I’ll ever go in to Dr. Jerono’s office, but I’m excited to start working out and hopefully repair the damage that Finn did to my poor body. I was just comparing photos of Reese and Finn at the same age and I can’t help but notice how much faster I recovered with Reese, I’m going to attribute it to how much smaller Reese was and how much smaller I was when I was 9 months pregnant with Reese compared to 9 months pregnant with Finn. Let’s hope a little gym time will help remedy the situation.

Finn is 1 month old

2011-04-06T14:10:00.001+02:00

Why is it that 9 months of pregnancy tick by as if every second lasts forever but somehow Finn’s first month of life has sped by with no sign of slowing down? Finn has already changed so much in a month, he’s bigger (as if that were even possible) and so much more alert. I’m just loving watching his little personality emerge little by little. He had his first doctor’s appt when he was 3 weeks old and he weighed in at 11 lbs 7 oz, which put him in the 99th percentile for weight, he was 22.5 in long, which put him in the 95th percentile, and his head was still 15 in, which was the 70th percentile, though Nate claims the technician wasn’t very precise when it came to his head measurement and when we re-measured a few days ago it was 16 in. Side note: no I don’t make habit of randomly measuring my children’s heads, but I had my sewing measuring tape out to measure for some online shopping so I went ahead and measured them…I don’t remember what Reese was but I remember it was roughly the same size as my head sadly. Anyways, back on topic: Finn is a big boy was the moral of that story, but it suits him and luckily he’s well proportioned and 100% adorable. When he’s on tummy time he tries his hardest to try and rollover which is really cute, if he could just realize he needs to do something with the arm that is underneath him then he’d have it, but that arm holds him up every time. He’s recently begun to coo which is super cute, I love his little voice, and last night Reese got him to smile in response to her smile for the first time. He has smiled before but never because someone was smiling at him, but last night Reese was hugging him and kissing him and she was smiling at him while she said “hey little buddy” which is what she’s always saying to him, and he gave her a huge smile in response, I wish I’d had the camera because it was the cutest thing.

This week has been the start of our normal lives here, up until now I’ve had someone around to help out. My mom was here for the first two and half weeks and then Nate had his two weeks of paternity leave so I feel very lucky to have had a whole months worth of help. It was nice to get to relax and not feel like I had to be running around getting everything done. Now that Nate’s back at work things have actually been going pretty smoothly. Reese has gotten used to Finn being around and is back to her old self, and I’m getting enough sleep to function and get everything done. My house is actually cleaner now than it was the last couple months of my pregnancy. We were spoiled when Reese was born because she slept through the night almost immediately but Finn wakes up once or twice each night. Luckily he just wakes up to eat and goes right back to sleep when he’s done so there’s no trying to “put” him back to sleep and he’s beginning to go longer stretches during the night so hopefully very soon it’ll just be feeding him once instead of twice.

Reese loves to hold her little brother:

He fell asleep during tummy time:

Pirate eye yawn:

the remnants of a smile:

trying to rollover, his shoulders stay but while everything else almost flips over:

He may weigh a lot but he’s not a chunky guy:

The Things I Love….

2011-03-23T18:59:00.001+01:00

I love my little girl, my firstborn, my child that looks so much like her father but has so much of my attitude running through her. I remember going to my very first ultrasound with her and immediately falling in love with the child growing inside me and when she finally arrived months later she was everything I could’ve ever hoped for. She’ll be three in just a few months and I love watching her grow and watching her find her own interests. She loves animals so much and can name the most random animals and her newest thing is telling you what different animals eat or asking what other ones eat. I love sitting and watching her play with her toys and speak for them. She loves going to school and gymnastics and will constantly practice the different things she learned at gymnastics throughout the week. She says the most hilarious things all the time and makes observations that I wouldn’t expect a 2 year old to notice. She’s had a bit of a hard time trying to find her “new normal” with a new little brother at home. Her attitude reached a climax during those first two weeks but luckily my mom was here to help with the brunt of her attitude and for the most part she’s back to normal now. On the other side of things, she’s the amazing big sister that we thought she would be. She loves Finn so much and wants to help with him however she can. Every morning she looks in his bed to check on him and when we’re out she loves to show everyone her baby brother.

one week old

two weeks old

I love my new little man so much that I can’t seem to put him down. I didn’t bond with him during the pregnancy like I did with Reese, it was a more difficult pregnancy and while I knew I loved him already it was that time we spent alone in the hospital that made me fall head over hills with my little boy. So far he’s been an amazingly content little guy and has made the transition from one kid to two easier than I had imagined (for now). He’s very quiet, except for when he wants to eat, and LOVES to snuggle with Mommy and Daddy. I like watching the way he looks at Reese when she comes over to play with him on his playmat, he’ll stare at her so intently as she talks to him and “shows” him how to play with his toys. He’s the perfect addition to our family and we all love him so much, even if he doesn’t let me sleep quite as long as I’d like to at night.

Not only do I have the cutest little girl and the cutest baby boy, but I also have the cutest puppy too. The best thing about Jaeger is that she seems to be able to sense when you’re not feeling well and comes to cuddle with you and make you feel better. Whenever I’ve had a long day, which was most of them while I was pregnant and trying to deal with a two year-old, she’d be there to curl up on my lap and watch TV with me. She’s been a part of our family since we moved to Germany and two kids later we still love the furry member of our family as much as we did when we got her.

I can’t forget this guy. He had to work extremely long shifts and all through the weekend last week giving him basically zero time with us, but he still changed Finn’s diapers in the middle of the night without complaint and comforted Reese in the middle of the night when she wasn’t feeling well. He started his two weeks of paternity leave on Monday and we’re glad he gets to spend some time at home with us as we try and figure out a new routine.

And one last photo of these two on St.Patrick’s Day because they really are THAT cute

We Love Nana

2011-03-23T17:47:00.001+01:00

This is what happy kids look like when Nana is in town:

We were lucky enough to have my mom come out to help us when Finn was born. She arrived the Friday before Finn was born and we had some fun running errands in Trier that weekend, then luckily enough for us I was headed to the hospital that Tuesday and Finn was born the next day so the majority of her trip was spent with two grandkids. It was really nice having her here to help keep Reese’s schedule the same and just give Reese extra attention so I could relax and have some bonding time with Finn. As if the hours she spent playing pet shops and “beach blu-au” (a Reese made up game that is essentially a picnic) weren’t enough, she also cooked for us and kept the house spotless. Oh how I enjoyed those first two weeks after Finn was born, it was like a mini vacation of laziness for me.

Introducing…

2011-03-11T12:04:00.001+01:00

Finn Everest Crandall

born March 2nd 2011 @ 5:56am

9lbs 15oz, 22in long, 15in head circumference

It was quite a journey, from my perspective, to get Finn out so I’m going to start from the beginning. I’d been having a lot of shooting pain in my baby exit area for a number of weeks but had been told that that isn’t the right kind of pain I need to be in for pushing a baby out. I’d been having contractions as well but they weren’t regular and most of them were very light. On Monday February 28th I went in for my check up and I was in a very emotional state due to lack of sleep and constantly feeling like I’d been kicked in the crotch. I made it through my fetal monitoring with out an emotional break down but when I was in with the doctor I couldn’t contain it anymore. He asked if I had any questions and I asked him when I could be induced which I believe is the last thing I said without having to concentrate on not crying. Dr.Jerono could tell I was beyond uncomfortable and my blood pressure was way up for the first time as well so he said I could be induced at anytime I wanted, I could even walk back to the delivery room right now and start the process but he wanted to see if I was dilated because if I wasn’t the induction would probably take a few days. After he checked he said I was about a 2 so I was good candidate for drinking their dreaded cocktail. I had asked if I could skip the cocktail since it hadn’t been very effective when I had Reese and it was insanely disgusting and he said yes but somehow by the end of the conversation we were back to me starting with the cocktail. I went in for my ultrasound after that and they estimated that Finn was already about 8.5 lbs but he couldn’t get an accurate estimate since Finn’s head was so low, so then he said that he wanted me to be induced either that day or the next so that Finn didn’t get any bigger. I decided that since I was already so emotional and had had so little sleep, that I would go home and try to relax and spend a fun last day with Reese as an only child and then come back the next day and be induced. Nate and I both felt very good about our decision and we ended up having a very relaxing evening with Reese, we even took one last family photo:

Dr.Jerono had instructed us to have a relaxing breakfast and come in after that, so Nate took Reese to school and after we got a few more things ready we headed over to the hospital and got checked in. We were up to the delivery room just before noon and started the fetal monitoring and then the midwife told me that I was dilated to a 1 and still had a little more to go before I was fully effaced, Nate and I were wondering what happened to the other cm I was dilated the day before but we tried not to be discouraged. After they plugged in my IV they gave me the dreaded cocktail and sent me to my room to drink it and hopefully begin labor. Despite the disgusting taste of the cocktail I downed it as quickly as I could and hoped that this time around it would do something. With Reese I took the cocktail at 10am on Wednesday and didn’t have her until 11:20pm on Thursday so Nate and I had prepped ourselves for having Finn Wednesday night but we’re hoping he’d be out by noon on Wednesday. We pretty much just hung out in the room all afternoon watching TV, but I had begun to feel contractions so we were excited that maybe it was working this time. We went back to the delivery room at 4pm for more fetal monitoring and it was pretty uneventful but they said I was having contractions and to go have dinner and then come back at 7 got more monitoring. Even though we knew they meant go to my room and have dinner we decided we’d rather escape the hospital for a few hours and go home for dinner with Reese, so we did. It was so relaxing to be at home for a few hours and it definitely helped to take my mind off the impending pain. We went back at 7 and by then I was beginning to feel a lot of pain so they gave me a little something and told me to walk around and come back at 10:30. It was really cold outside by then so Nate and I were stuck just walking around the hospital and making circuits on the stairs. When we went back for more fetal monitoring Finn’s heart rate begin to sky rocket and the midwife was a little worried because it wasn’t coming down and my blood pressure was still up. Nate and I could tell that if Finn’s heart rate didn’t improve soon we were going to be having a c-section. They started me on some saline and some homeopathic something to try and get Finn’s heart rate to improve, I started rubbing my stomach and it calmed him down enough to get back in the acceptable range, but they were still worried. Since I was at 4cm by this point they decided to give me an epidural in the hopes that it would calm both Finn and I down. The anesthesiologist came in to give me the epidural and to make a very long story short, the first time she tried she punctured my spinal dura and a little bit of fluid leaked out so she had to give me a different type of epidural that was in a different place, I didn’t realize this at the time but this little puncture would play more of a role later on. The epidural helped with the contractions but I immediately became concerned when they checked to see how far along I was and I could feel it, with Reese I couldn’t feel anything and that’s the way I liked it, I tried not to let myself think to much about it right then but I told the midwife and she didn’t seem to have an issue with it. For the rest of the night I was stuck at 5cm every time she checked and even with the oxytocin it was slow going. I had a lot of pain in my pelvis and the midwife said that that was Finn basically banging his head against my bones trying to get out and that the epidural wouldn’t do anything for that and sometime between 4:30 and 5 in the morning I thought my water had broke but they couldn’t tell for sure. A little after that they came to inject some more of the epidural medicine and I was feeling a lot better when all of the sudden I had massive pain and pressure and I told Nate to ring the bell for the midwife because I felt like I was going to poop everywhere. The midwife came in and told me that I was at a 10 and Finn was pushing his way out, I told her she was wrong and that I just needed to poop really really bad but she seemed positive that that feeling was Finn coming and not a giant poop. I’ll spare some of the details and just say that I never ever ever had the desire to feel a child come out of me and yet that’s exactly what I had to feel. I was clutching Nate to my chest and biting his hand and they ended up giving me an episiotomy and after 20-30 mins of pushing and me begging Nate not to make me, Finn was out. He was a purplish gray color and I could see him lying on the table between my legs and after they gave him a quick check there they handed him to me and Dr.Jerono had finally rolled out of bed and wandered into my room, I did in fact inform him that he was late to the party.

They took Finn away for just a second to measure him and while the doctor was sewing me up he made some comment about a 10lb baby, Nate and I were confused and asked what he was talking about and then he clarified Finn’s size with the midwife and told us that Finn was 9 lbs 15 oz. Nate and I were pretty shocked since we hadn’t been expecting him to be so large. Once they gave me a few stitches they gave Finn back and we got to relax in the delivery room with our new little boy for a little bit.

They finally wheeled me to my room shortly after 8 and the nurse came and got Finn to administer a glucose test that he needed since he was such a large baby. Nate and I took a nap and when we woke up Nate went to the nursery and got Finn. Reese had gymnastics that day so she and my mom came over around 10:45 and Reese finally got to meet her little brother Finn.

Reese seemed to enjoy her little brother and was excited to see Mommy again as well. After their visit, Nate took them home so that he could get some rest and Finn and I spent the rest of the day together. It was at this point that I realized the effects of the botched epidural. Apparently 75% of people that get a dura puncture and lose some spinal fluid will end up with a massive headache and have to have some kind of treatment that involves putting blood or something in to the spinal cavity to make up for the lose, I was really really tired and wasn’t paying much attention at the time so I don’t remember the details. Because of this risk I was only to get out of bed to use the bathroom and I was to try and lay down as much as possible, I also had to drink at least 3 liters of water a day and I had to have infusions of saline to try and keep my body extra hydrated. Beyond that since Finn was so large there had been a lot of blood lost when they delivered and they were worried about me being anemic so they were pumping me with even more fluids and some oxytocin as well to help contract the uterus and get all that excess blood out of there. Needless to say not only was I sore from my 10lb baby but I was also carting around my IVs every time I went to the bathroom. I tried to get some sleep during the day but for the most part I just got a few minutes here and a few minutes there. When the doctor came in to check on me that evening he suggested I let the nurses take Finn to the nursery for the night because the thing I needed most at the moment was sleep. Nate came back with food that evening and stayed for a little bit but then he left to go be with Reese and once again Finn and I were having a little mother son time.

That night they were worried about his glucose levels and told me that if they didn’t improve soon they were going to have to send him to the hospital in Trier to get treatment so I was to feed him every 2 hours and then they’d give him a glucose test to see if his numbers improved. For the majority of the night they brought him in and had me feed him and then took him away for his test and brought him back and woke me up when it was time to feed him again. By the time Thursday morning came his numbers were fine and they were no longer testing his glucose levels. I however was back on my infusions and still not allowed to get out of bed. Nate was taking Reese to school that morning so my mom came over and spent some time with Finn and I until he arrived with Reese again.

Reese had lunch with us and seemed to enjoy spending some more time with Mommy and Finn and while she had cried for Mommy the majority of the way home the day before, this time she left without too much of a fuss. When the doctor came in later that day he said that I was looking much better and they were going to take me off the infusions and take my IV out. The chief of anesthesiology also came in and was glad that I hadn’t yet had a headache but said I still needed to be drinking lots of water and that I needed to stay off my feet for at least the rest of the day.

Nate, Finn and I spent a lazy Thursday afternoon laying in my hospital bed with the hopes that since my IV was now out we’d be able to go home the next day. On Friday morning I asked the doctor if I’d be able to go home and he said as soon as the pediatrician checked Finn out we could go. She came around that afternoon and gave him high marks and by 3pm I was finally back in my own home. We had a sore couple of days but I was finally able to get some sleep and with my mom around I’m able to relax a little bit and try and get some rest and spend time with both my kids. Reese is still very fond of Finn but she’s giving the rest of us attitude so hopefully her life will find a new normal soon and the attitude will stop.

1st Haircut

2011-02-22T15:35:00.001+01:00

I’ve been thinking of cutting Reese’s hair for awhile now so finally I talked to my friend and made an appt to get the shaggy mop trimmed up a bit. You need only to look back at the last few posts to see how long and shaggy it was becoming and it was becoming less curly as well. I was guessing that the curl was falling out because of how thick and heavy her hair was and was hoping that it would bounce back after a trim. Well today was the magic day for her first haircut so after school I washed her hair and took a few pictures of how long it had become:

and then we went out to Bitburg and got the job done. She was very good for her whole haircut, she remained still and only had to be reminded a few times to look at me instead of trying to watch Elaina. When all was said and done she’s got a cute new shorter haircut and the curl did bounce back up, sure she’ll never have the curl fro she used to but I like that she still has her cute little ringlets at the end.

38 Weeks

2011-02-17T17:45:00.001+01:00

Now that Nate is home my contractions have stopped and I’m fairly certain that I will find myself being induced shortly after my due date. I decided today was as good as any other day to take a few pictures of the giant ball I’m holding beneath my skin. I realize in a few of the photos it looks like I’m sticking it out but I swear I’m not, I’m just trying to stand up straight for the photo.

Nate and I find the roundness particularly creepy

Just a Reminder

2011-02-08T15:29:00.001+01:00

You know that point when your kid is a few months old and you notice other kids their age are starting to put sounds together and you get a little worried that your kid is behind because they’re not there yet? And then a few months later when other kids are using words and you wonder if your kid has as many words in their vocabulary as the other kids? And then of course the point where you hear some kids speaking in full and complete sentences and wonder if your kid is on track? I wish I had never had those thoughts about how Reese was progressing verbally because she is that kid who speaks in full and complete sentences, that kid that most adults can understand without trouble, and that kid that NEVER EVER shuts her yapper! I blame myself for why she is the way she is, I’ve always felt the need to fill any silence with conversation. For the longest time I didn’t like to be alone and I absolutely hated silence, before we had Reese I would actually leave the TV on all day long so that the house wasn’t silent. Now I search and hope and pray for even five minutes during the day where I’m not bombarded with questions and comments and random thoughts that pop into her head. Yesterday we drove to base to get gas and check the mail, this required us to be in the car for roughly an hour and I wish I was exaggerating when I said that she asked me the ENTIRE car ride if we were going to the beach and if we could go to the beach. I told her the beach was a little too far away for us to drive to today, I told her that it was still a little too cold outside to go to the beach, I tried ignoring her in the hopes that the questions would go away, and then finally I told her that we would need to plan a trip to the beach, this final comment upset her and she informed that she did NOT want to go to the beach. As irritating as this conversation became, it was still nicer than the usual car ride conversation that goes a little bit like this…Reese: Where are we going Mommy? Me: (insert destination here) R: Where are we going Mommy? Me: (Insert destination here) R: Where are we going Mommy? Me: Where do you think we’re going Reese? R: (Insert destination she’s been told here) Me: Yep, you know where we’re going……..5 second pause in conversation…..R: Where are we going Mommy?

I’m writing this all down so that down the road when I begin to worry that Finn doesn’t say enough yet or that he’s not as far along verbally as Reese was at his age, I’ll be able to remember that that may just be a good thing. I’ll enjoy those silent car rides just a little bit more and as frustrating as it may be to not know what he wants, I’ll remember that soon I’ll know a little too much about what he wants, how we wants it, and when he wants it. Maybe the bigger lesson I’ve learned from my daughter is that not every silence needs to be filled. My husband will probably be most excited by my new revelation, he’ll finally get the peace and quiet he’s been looking for.

Now on a separate topic, my little girl is really really sweet and cute. Since Nate’s been gone she and Jaeger have taken to bunking with one another and it has got to be one of the cutest things in the world. Reese is completely oblivious to the fact that Jaeger is sleeping with her, which is probably for the best since she would never be able to fall asleep if she knew Jaeger was so close, she’d be far too preoccupied trying to antagonize her. I think that has to be the cutest part of the whole thing; as much as Reese taunts and attacks Jaeger throughout the day, Jaeger still wants to be with her. (As a side note, that is actually a very small amount of stuff with her in bed compared to most nights. She feels the need to have every blanket possible piled in there with her and there’s a stack of books under pluto that you just can’t see in the photo).

Final thought for the day, this baby. (If you could hear the way I just said that in my head then their would be no need to continue on). If he’s as active outside of me as he is inside of me then we’re going to have some serious issues. I keep going back and forth between feeling like he’s never going to come on his own and feeling like he’s going to come very very soon. Each day that passes the amount of pressure I feel…hmmmm how to put this tastefully….on his exit path?…..seems to grow and grow. I realize this isn’t going to happen, but sometimes I’m afraid to go to the bathroom because I think he’s going to pop out when I sit down. I actually caught myself walking with a bit of a waddle today and had to make a conscious effort to try and walk correctly. I figure if the next few days pass without incident then all this worry will have been for nothing because Nate will be home and Finn will wait and wait and wait until I have the doctor forcibly remove him from me. This pregnancy has been so much more difficult than my pregnancy with Reese, I’m just hoping that the child that is produced is extremely easy, though Reese was an easy baby so I doubt I’m going to be that lucky. I just keep telling myself that I was wanting a little boy and that when he finally gets here all the rest of this won’t matter anymore. Also, I’ve gotten stretch marks this pregnancy, though I’m not actually worried about them because they’re only on my belly button….please tell me who (besides me) gets belly button stretch marks? I think they’re kind of random and funny and since I usually have a very deep belly button I figure they’ll suck inside of it and no one will be the wiser when this is all over with. Still though, you have to admit that belly button stretch marks are random.

I Made Something

2011-02-03T22:02:00.001+01:00

Nate got me a sewing machine for Christmas and today I busted it out for the first time and started working on a project. I had wanted to try it out earlier but when you’ve never had a sewing machine before and the only other times you’ve used one have been under the strict supervision of someone who knows what they’re doing, it can be a little scary. I had picked up some random fabric at the craft store to practice with before I got started on making things so I decided tonight that I would just go ahead and thread the machine and see what happened.

In the baby stuff we had some cloth diapers, the thinner ones that are meant to be used as burp clothes, that we had never used much as burp clothes for Reese because Nate’s sister had made us some other ones, so I grabbed those to go with my fabric and figured I’d make a pretty burp cloth for Finn. They’re pretty thin so I took two and folded them both in half and sewed them together that way so it was nice and thick and then I sewed the patterned fabric on the top and I think it ended up turning out pretty nice. It has it’s flaws, it’s not quite straight and one of the corners isn’t exactly perfect, but it was a nice learning project and now I know a little bit more about how to use my machine. I think I’ll make a few more before I start working on some of the projects that I have planned, but I’m just glad that I finally did something.

Mutiny at Gymnastics

2011-02-02T09:04:00.001+01:00

It’s not often that I get to use words like “mutiny” and “commandeer” when referencing my sweet, angelic, two year-old girl, but today’s events have provided me with the opportunity to do so. This is the face of the sweet little girl in question, in fact these photos were taken mere moments before leaving for gymnastics class, she looks so innocent.

Well, we got to gymnastics and after warm ups they go to the wall and do different types of walks across the mat. Before the teacher could even get over there Reese started shouting out commands to the rest of the students and sure enough when she said bunny hop they all went bunny hopping across the floor. She got the entire class doing an activity three separate times and her teacher was just laughing and couldn’t believe that Reese had commandeered her class. Finally Reese stopped shouting out her own commands and started instructing the teacher on what the class was supposed to be doing next. It was a pretty cute day and luckily her teacher thought it was pretty funny that little Miss Bossy was taking it upon herself to be the instructor.

Nate’s Gone

2011-02-01T19:59:00.001+01:00

Nate’s in California right now for some stupid training (his words not mine) so Reese and I are left to entertain ourselves for three weeks. Reese is quite the crack up and can keep me laughing, but she’s also 2 so that offers its own set of challenges. The other day as we were in the car driving away from the pool she told me “I don’t like that attitude Mommy, now knock it off.” Hmmmmm, where have I heard that before. Tonight she’s been playing ever so quietly by herself and I was thinking about what camera slacker I’ve been lately so I took a few photos of her and afterwards she said “thank you for the camera Mommy.” I’m not sure what she’s doing other than she has blocks and a purse and some stuffed animals, other than that her game is a mystery to me, but she does have on her little bucket hat that she’s been wearing every night lately so I felt it was camera worthy.

First I caught her off guard:

Then she gave me this, if you can even call this a smile:

Then I asked for a smile and got this very scary smile:

Then I asked for a “nice” smile and she rolled her eyes at me:

And finally I got this semi cute photo where she is neither sneering nor rolling her eyes:

I also finished a craft project that I had thought to do about 18 months ago. It’s the outfit Reese came home from the hospital in and the photo is of her at the hospital just before we left to come home; she was so little.

Merry Christmas

2011-01-28T20:05:00.001+01:00

It was a little hard to get into the Christmas spirit at first since we got back from the States a week in to the month and were dealing with jet lag, but we forced ourselves to get out and a get a tree quickly and hurry to decorate the house. I was glad we got everything ready because Reese loved all the decorations and was totally in the Christmas mood which helped get Nate and I into the spirit as well.

The week before Christmas we had a ton of snow storms that brought us close to a foot of snow. Reese loved playing out in it and took turns having us pull her on the sled and making Jaeger go for a ride while she pulled it.

On Christmas Eve we had our usual seafood dinner of crab and deep fried shrimp, Nate and I love this tradition but since Reese knew we were opening presents after dinner she had a hard time staying focused on eating. After dinner we opened presents from Nate’s family. Reese was so excited and wanted to be in charge of handing them out and opening them and playing with them all at once, she was so cute.

On Christmas morning Reese let us sleep in, she still doesn’t get the whole rush downstairs thing. When she finally got us up we saw what Santa had brought her and then had breakfast which Nate and I both agreed would probably be the last time we’d get to eat breakfast before we opened presents, she was antsy the whole time. She was so excited to unwrap the presents and then start playing with her new things. She loved Christmas so much that she still sings Christmas carols and asks us when Santa is coming back.

Finn Everest Crandall

2011-01-28T19:45:00.001+01:00

Okay so the heading is a little out of order because this post is going to have pictures of Finn from my appt at the beginning of December, but we didn’t actually decide on a name for him until the first of the year. We had a ridiculously hard time trying to name this kid, we’d be almost settled on a name and then decide that it wasn’t right and at one point his name was almost 100% something else, but finally I decided Finn was my favorite and Nate agreed so the rest was history. Anyways, at the beginning of December we got to do a 3D ultrasound of cute little Finn:

Personally I think he looks a lot like Reese and it’s pretty obvious that we have another kid with Nate’s itty bitty mouth.

The States Part Three: The Final Week

2011-01-28T19:38:00.001+01:00

When we got back from Idaho we still had another week of hanging out with my family before we had to head back to Germany. One of the things I’d wanted to do was take new family photos since the last ones we’d taken had been when Reese was 4 months old and I hated them. Luckily my family was willing to oblige and do exactly as I wanted. We drove over to San Francisco and took some great photos on the beach by the golden gate bridge, I had planned on using the tripod and remote but my sister’s boyfriend David willingly acted as a human remote for us.

When our trip was all said and done we finally flew back home to Germany with 6 full suitcases in tow. We had an amazing time in the States but being there made us realize how much we’re going to miss Germany when our time comes to an end :(

The States Part Two: A Wedding Story

2011-01-28T19:22:00.001+01:00

We got back from San Diego early Tuesday morning and at 9pm Wednesday night we loaded back in the car and headed to Utah for Nate’s sister’s wedding. For those of you who have never driven across Nevada, let alone in the middle of the night, I’ll enlighten you by telling you that there is nothing…..absolutely nothing. There’s about three cities that you look for as landmarks but other than that it’s just a great big expanse of nothingness. Being that I was in my second trimester of pregnancy and drinking water non stop to keep myself awake, the lack of places across Nevada posed a bit of a dilemma for my bladder, lucky for me I’m not a proud woman so I popped a squat at any exit I felt like from Reno to Salt Lake City. It was upon my third or fourth stop when Nate asked why I didn’t just look for a rest stop and I explained to him that A. who knows when we would find a rest stop and B. rest stops are scary, especially at night, if we had found a rest stop I would’ve had to make Nate come in with me so that we could make sure there were no serial rapist murderers in there just waiting for a pregnant woman to appear which would’ve meant getting Reese out of the car as well, my way was just so much faster. Since we had decided to drive through the night, Nate’s aunt had said that we could crash at her place when we got in to town. It was so nice to be able to pull up to a house and go inside and sleep after that long drive. When we finally decided to pry ourselves away from her comfy couches we headed up to Bountiful where the wedding was and checked into our hotel for another nap while we waited for the rest of his family to arrive.

So I typed that up about a week ago and then got mentally stuck and even as I revisit it now I’m at a loss for words so I’ve just decided to let the photos tell the rest of the story.

The wedding was on Friday and it was a very windy day in Bountiful, this picture was taken of us outside the temple and I’m surprised that we don’t look as wind blown as I would’ve imagined.

After the wedding there was a luncheon at a nice place in Bountiful, Reese had fun playing with her cousins and I enjoyed getting to see people from Nate’s family that I hadn’t seen since our own wedding.

After the luncheon we headed up to Idaho Falls to spend the week with Nate’s family. It ended up being a pretty cold week with a lot of snow, but Reese loved getting to play in the snow.

She was constantly wanting to play in the snow and luckily Nate’s sister loaned us a pair of snow pants for her. And luckily for me I had the whole pregnancy excuse to keep me on the porch taking photos while Nate acted as her sled dog. We got to have a lot of fun with Nate’s family and we enjoyed getting to know Molly’s new husband Chris. One night we made gingerbread houses which I had never done before but we had fun with. Ours ended up collapsing but we just labeled it our Hurricane Katrina house and it probably made the activity even more fun.

The Saturday after Thanksgiving was Molly’s and Chris’s wedding reception in Idaho Falls.

Afterwards it was time for us to make the long journey back to Sacramento. It’s usually an 11 hour drive, but thanks to a massive snow storm that kept Nate driving 35mph the majority of the time, it took us 16 hours to get home. There were points where we couldn’t see the road and at one point we were supposed to chain up but when Nate went to put our chains on we realized we’d bought the wrong ones and since it was 4am and we were in the middle of nowhere we just flipped it in to 4wd and continued on our way.

The States Part 1: Southern California Adventure

2011-01-11T10:27:00.001+01:00

At the beginning of November we flew home to the States for a nice month long vacation. Since we’ve been serving two consecutive tours overseas the military pays for roundtrip tickets to the States for us since they didn’t have to pay to move us, so needless to say it made flying to the States extremely affordable for me….not so much for you the taxpayer :) Anyways, whenever we go to the States as a family, which isn’t very often, we try to make sure that we take a family vacation as well instead of just visiting relatives i.e. me laying on my parents’ couch watching tv while Nate plays video games and someone else entertains Reese. This time we decided that with the baby coming we wanted to make our family vacation all about Reese and the things she likes to do. We have some friends that live down in San Diego that we wanted to visit so we decided to take a nice long weekend trip to Southern California and take Reese to all the fun things they have to do down there. We had planned to go to Sea World, the San Diego Zoo and the San Diego Wild Animal Park and between the military discounts each offers and Reese still being free everywhere, it wasn’t going to cost us much to have a very full vacation. We invited my family to go along with us since A. we didn’t feel like we were really going to get to spend much time with them this trip and B. we were planning on stealing their car to drive down there anyways, so on Veterans Day weekend Nate, Reese, my mom, my niece and I all piled in to my Aunt’s car and drove down to Anaheim. My parents love to take the grandkids to Disneyland, it’s kind of their Nana and Papa thing that they always do whenever Reese comes out so they said since we were going to be going right by there anyways we should throw an extra day onto our trip and do Disneyland and of course we didn’t complain because Reese is INSANELY in love with Mickey Mouse and all the Disney characters right now.

We left Sacramento Wednesday and drove to Anaheim which really wasn’t a bad drive at all, I remember it being worse in my childhood and besides my niece rotating between asking for a snack and asking when we were going to be there every five minutes, it wasn’t so bad. That evening we wandered over to downtown Disney to just hang out and walk around and as soon as we got there Reese started freaking out over all the images of Mickey, she was shouting and pointing out every single picture of him. We went in the Disney store there and my mom ended up getting her a Minnie Mouse suitcase which she was in love with and proceeded to drag it all over the place and did not want to leave it behind at any point during the trip, she tried to take it to the park with us the next morning and was quite upset when we told her she wouldn’t need it.

The next day my dad flew down and met up with us and we went to Disneyland. While my mom picked him up at the airport, Nate and I took Reese and Ava over to the park to start the day. The second we walked in the characters were all there so we spent some time wandering from line to line so the girls could meet Mickey, Pluto, Donald and Goofy. Finally the characters dispersed so we went off to Fantasyland to ride some rides. Reese loves the carousel so we had to ride that a few times and she also was a big fan of the Dumbo ride. I think we ended up going on most of the rides before my parents even showed up which was good because the park ended up getting REALLY busy that day, I guess that’s what you get on a holiday weekend. When my parents got there we decided we’d “let” them take the girls on Peter Pan a.k.a. the ridiculously long lined kids ride, while we went off and found churros to eat…we’re such selfless people. By the time they were done there Toontown had opened up so we went back there so they could do that area of the park. When we went to Disneyland in March Reese was still a little to short for the rollercoaster there but she was tall enough this time so she got to go on it with Nate, I was a little sad that I couldn’t take her her first time but I’ll just hold that fact against the baby for the rest of his life :) We spent the rest of the day wandering to various rides and just having fun at the park, I really can’t stress enough how packed it was, I think the only “adult” ride we rode was Pirates of the Caribbean and that had the longest line I’ve ever seen it have and I’ve been to Disneyland enough times to know. We left the park for dinner, Nate and I were meeting up with our friends Lara and Alan while my parents took the girls to dinner, and we had the intention of going back later on that night but Reese and Ava pretty much crashed after dinner and Nate and I didn’t have the energy to go back after such a long day either so we just called it a night. Overall I’d say it was one of the best trips to Disneyland, Reese was so excited by everything that it made everything seem so magical again.

On Friday we packed up and drove down to San Diego and went to the Wild Animal Park. Nate would tell you the best part of that day was this coke machine that he found at Jack in the Box that dispersed like 130 different combinations of soda, he really loved that. It was such a hot day as we were wandering through the animal park and I was sweltering, it’s a very spread out place so it’s not like at the zoo where you’re stopping and seeing things all the time, you walk a pretty good distance to see things. They had a pond with duck food which was one of our first stops and Reese loved feeding the ducks. Then we went on this tram tour that takes you out to see the animals kind of interacting in a natural habitat. It was amazing to see rhinos just moving about freely instead of in a small pen like you usually see and Reese enjoyed pointing out the giraffes that we were constantly seeing. It was a pretty cool park and it was interesting to learn about the conservation things they do there.

On Saturday we went to Sea World and it was another hot hot day, it was actually nice to have such hot weather because we knew it was cold back in Germany so we were soaking up the warmth, but I only have maternity pants since maternity shorts are not necessary where we live so I was hot all the time. Reese enjoyed seeing the animals at Sea World but she wasn’t that in to the animal shows, she got a little distracted during them and it we were sitting in the sun as well so that probably played a role as well. One thing she did really enjoy was touching the starfish and sea urchins and feeding the bat rays, though Nate did most of the feeding of the bat rays while Reese just dropped the fish when they came near.

Sunday morning our friend Tyler met up with us and we all went to the San Diego Zoo, that is one massive zoo. Reese had a ton of fun that day, she loved seeing all the animals and she knows what a lot of animals are that I doubt most kids her age do so she was really excited about seeing the koalas, kangaroos, and meerkats among others. I think the highlight for her that day was the petting zoo, she got to go in the pen with the sheep and goats and pet and feed them. Reese loves goats so after she scared a few of them back to the roped off area she finally found one that enjoyed her adoration and fed it for the rest of the time. At one point a huge sheep was eating the food where she’d been taking it for the goat so she shoves the sheep out of the way, literally she puts her shoulder into this sheep and just keeps pushing until it moves and she can get to the food. Nate got video of it so I’ll see if I can get him to load it on here later because it’s pretty funny. After the zoo we took my parents and niece over to the airport to fly home and then we spent that evening and the next day hanging out with our friends Tyler and Stephanie. It was fun to get to see them again and Stephanie made us lots of yummy cookies too. We finally left San Diego around 9 that night and drove back to Sacramento, luckily we had my mom to watch Reese the next day so we could sleep.

It was such a great vacation and we all had so much fun. For days later Reese would tell us that we were going to see animals or that we were going to see Mickey Mouse, I’m just glad we were able to do a trip like this before the baby came so that we could really focus on the things that she likes and wanted to see and do.

Halloween

2011-01-10T13:25:00.001+01:00

I got back from Italy on the 29th so to say that Halloween caught up with us fast was an understatement. We had gone to the pumpkin patch earlier in the month but hadn’t carved our pumpkins yet so Halloween was a busy day as we tried to catch up on the holiday and be good parents by getting the pumpkins carved and Reese prepped for her annual Halloween photos before trick or treating. We had actually discussed not going trick or treating since she’d already gone to two trunk or treats but in a pregnancy moment of emotion I began crying about how it made us bad parents so we got ready and went which ended up being the right decision because she was so cute about running house to house and saying trick or treat. It ended up being a really good holiday despite the lack of forward planning on our part.

Italy Again

2011-01-10T13:04:00.001+01:00

It’s been so long since I last updated my blog that it seems like a daunting task to even begin, hence why I’ve kept procrastinating, but today it’s either finish cleaning or start updating so I opted for the lesser of two evils. I’m sure there’s things I’m skipping since the last post but we’re just going to have to hit the highlights if I have any chance of ever catching back up.

At the end of October I flew to Italy to meet up with two of my college roommates, Sharon and Aly, for a little roommate reunion trip. We’d been planning this trip for a long time and I was so excited to have a week away from all my responsibilities. I’d made arrangements, and back up arrangements, for Reese and as soon as she and Nate dropped me off at the airport I tried not to worry about her and just let myself be a single individual again (and I don’t mean that as in hitting on guys, I mean that as in two legs and two arms instead of the attachment I usually travel with). I left very early Saturday morning and flew to Milan. It was nice to be alone on a flight and just listen to my ipod, the whole worrying about only myself aspect of the trip had to be one of the best parts. I never had to look around for anyone else or worry about paperwork for the whole family, it was just me. Clearly I’m overemphasizing this point but it truly was AMAZING! After I landed at the airport that was actually a ways outside Milan, I had to take a bus to Milan and then a metro to the hotel and I ended up getting there about a half hour before Sharon and Aly so I found some breakfast and then they caught up with me. Milan wasn’t overly impressive in my opinion, but it was a nice lazy first day for us and Sharon had done a great job of finding us nice hotels to stay in. We went over to the Duomo which was beautiful, we even climbed up to the top and walked around the roof, after that we just wandered around the city and enjoyed spending time with each other for the rest of the day.

Sunday morning we got up and hopped a train to Venice which was by far my favorite destination on our little adventure. When we arrived at the train station we had to take a water taxi to our hotel and then wander through the awkward streets of Venice. It would have been amazingly easy to get lost there but somehow we never got too turned around. After we got checked in we went over to San Marco square and went to a museum of some sort, I don’t really remember since I was far more involved in deciding what flavor of gelato to get next then to pay attention, I do however remember that we got an amazing slice of pizza at some random little closet sized pizza place in an alley on our walk. The next day it was raining so hard that Venice was flooding, San Marco square was flooded and had these makeshift walkways for people but trying to follow them to get to the line to go in the cathedral was insane so we just took our shoes and socks off and waded through the water until we got where we wanted to be, it was far more efficient and we didn’t have any open sores so I doubt we contracted anything :). After the cathedral we just meandered about the city eating gelato and enjoying the sights, it was a very relaxing trip and the only thing that would’ve made it better would have been if the rain had stopped or at least not been hitting us in the eyes.

Tuesday morning we left Venice to head for Florence. Sharon and Aly had reservations at an art gallery but I had decided that I’d rather explore the city so we wandered over to Ponte Vecchio bridge and then they went on to the gallery while I just plain wandered. I actually had a lot of fun on my little adventure and enjoyed just being completely alone in a foreign city. After they were done at the museum we all wandered around and then had the best meal of our entire trip at a little hole in the wall restaurant whose name I can’t remember, I do remember that it was good though since the thought of it still makes me salivate. The next morning we went to the duomo, Aly and Sharon climbed to the top but I opted not to since I’d been having some troubles at this point in my pregnancy and wanted to climb the leaning tower later that afternoon instead, I figured one ridiculous climb would be enough for my body. They said the view was amazing, the outside was pretty awesome but the inside left a little something to be desired. When we were finished we took a train to Pisa for the day to see the leaning tower, Sharon and I had reservations to climb to the top but Aly opted to stay down and wave to us. The climb up was crazy because of the lean, you’d start falling one way and then be falling the other way but it was worth it for the experience. They only give you a set amount of time at the top but it was enough and when we were done we wandered around the rest of the area and then very tiredly headed back to Florence.

Thursday morning we packed up our stuff and took a train out to the small Tuscan town of Chiusi, we’d wanted to go out to Tuscany and it was quite a quaint little place. There were not many tourists at all and we just spent the day wandering around and talking. We found a little park to sit in and we sat on top of this hill and looked down at the countryside. It was a very low key day for us but it was nice to just relax and take in the sights.

Friday morning we left Chiusi for Rome and my final day of the trip. When we got in and got Sharon and Aly checked in to their hotel we started hitting the highlights, the Coliseum, the Pantheon, Trevi fountain, etc. I was excited to go back to Trevi fountain since when Nate and I went in 2007 I’d thrown a coin in with the wish of coming back. The day went by pretty fast and soon it was time for me to fly back to Nate and Reese. As soon as I sat down on the bus to the airport time seemed to slow down, I was so ready to get back to my family that I couldn’t take it anymore. I got back super late that night and even though I’d had an amazing time with my friends I was glad to be back home.

This Time, It’s a BOY!

2010-10-06T12:43:00.001+02:00

I went to the doctor a week and a half ago (when I was 17.5 weeks pregnant) and the doctor confirmed that we are in fact STILL having a boy. Nate was certain after the last appointment but the only thing I was certain about was that there’s was a pretty good chance that we’d find out we were having a second girl at this visit. Baby Boy looks very healthy, no signs of down syndrome or spina bifida which is of course far more important then what’s going on between the legs. I’m already a bit concerned since his head measures in the 97th percentile, an entire week larger than the rest of his body, but the doctor didn’t seem as concerned as I was (probably because nothing on him has to stretch to get that gynormous melon out). I had been having some kidney, back and abdominal pain which concerned him but all the tests say I’m fine so he has cleared me to continue to do as I please. We’re hoping the rest of this pregnancy goes smoothly and of course that when we go back in a few weeks we won’t be told that the third leg fell off. Now it’s on to more important things like picking names and getting the bedroom ready, though I’m not holding my breath that either one of those things will come about quickly since Nate only likes stupid names instead of the amazingly perfect names that I’ve come up with. Why is it that last time we had a boy’s name picked out and had a hard time deciding on a girl’s name while this time we had a few girls names picked out but are far from having a boy’s name.

Being the proud mother that I am, I had to include his first 3D photo (I already think he’s quite a handsome little guy) and a photo of his man parts.

Jodi Came to Visit!!

2010-10-06T08:46:00.001+02:00

We always love when people come out to visit us, it’s a nice excuse to abandon all responsibility and have a fun time traveling around Europe. This time one of my best friends from high school came out to spend a week with us and I really wanted to do something that Nate and I hadn’t done before so we decided to head to Oktoberfest 2010. Jodi came in on a Thursday and it worked out perfectly that I was able to drop Reese off at school and head straight to the airport and I would’ve been there right as she walked out of customs if it hadn’t been for my ridiculously far away parking spot and the fact that there’s no way I was going to walk that extreme distance without using the bathroom first (gotta love pregnancy). We had a nice car ride home and since we only had a week with her we didn’t allow her any rest time when we got back to our house. Nate was able to get off work early so after some food we headed to Trier to show her one of the oldest cities in Germany. We had a great night and even got to go to our favorite sushi place for dinner.

The next morning we got an early start on our trip down to Munich. Jodi had told me the only things she cared about doing were eating German food and going to a concentration camp so our first stop was Dachau concentration camp which is just outside of Munich. This was Nate and I’s third trip to Dachau which worked nicely because I was able to play tour guide and give her a little information that I’d remembered from previous trips. After Dachau we drove an hour and a half south to Garmisch where we’d be staying for our weekend. I had decided to stay further south at the nice military resort there instead of trying to stay in and navigate Munich during the festival. By the time we got to Garmisch we’d been in the car so long that we were all tired and ready to relax. We ate dinner at the hotel and made our plans for our trip in to Oktoberfest the next day.

Saturday morning was the official opening of Oktoberfest so we took the train from Garmisch to Munich, which was actually a great deal with special weekend pass they offered, and headed over to the festival grounds. We hadn’t left as early as had been suggested to us but we ended up getting to a spot right as the parade started going by. There were lots of marching bands and then the horses pulling the carts with all the kegs of beer to the beer tents. Reese enjoyed the parade at first but then the horses began to lose her interest, unfortunately there was no place to go so we were stuck until it ended. When it finally did we just followed the floats and too many other people over to the festival. When we walked in it was crazy with people, we could hardly move there were so many people filtering in to the area. The beer tents hadn’t opened yet and we were starving so we happened upon this restaurant that was set up like the beer tents but we were able to get in so we went in and enjoyed our “beer tent” experience. Reese enjoyed munching on the little pretzels and the waitress even gave her one of those cookie necklaces so we had a very happy little girl on our hands.

After our lunch the beer tents had opened up so people had filtered in there and the area was easier to move aro und in. We decided to let Reese pick a few rides to go on so she went on a little flying ride and then she got to ride the ponies, she loves horses so I thi nk the pony ride was the highlight of the day for her. The rest of the time we spent wandering around, getting snacks and watching Reese devour her cookie. Towards the end I finally found the giant pretzels I was hoping for, in my opinion nothing says Oktoberfest like a pretzel that’s larger than your head. After we’d had our fill of Oktoberfest we went in to the old part of Munich and wandered around for a little bit and then caught the train back down to Garmisch. All in all it was a very enjoyable time at Oktoberfest and I’m glad that Nate and I were able to make it to Oktoberfest during our time here in Germany.

On Sunday it was time for us to head out so we took a leisurely morning at the hotel. Jodi and I went for massages (prenatal massage = ahhhhhhhhh) while Nate and Reese rode the little carousel in the basement far too many times to count. Our plan had been to stop by Neuschwanstein Castle on our way home so we headed that direction but somehow the GPS sent us through Austria and I, having not planned to drive in Austria, didn’t bring my International drivers license or our passports and I usually wouldn’t have worried but we were stuck in a major traffic jam that I did not want to end with some time of police check so we turned around and decided to head the other way and go straight home. We stopped at some restaurant for lunch and I ended up ordering what we can only guess was boiled bacon encased in some kind of gelatin, it was cold and it looked like fake vomit. Luckily Nate stepped up to the plate and Nate nearly all of the disgusting pile he saw in front of him, I was quite proud to be his wife in that moment. After lunch we began a different route home which ended up taking us by Neuschwanstein so we stopped and wandered around the town for awhile and ate delicious desserts before we began the rest of the long ride home. Despite the traffic and construction we made descent time on the way home, which means we got to City Grill just before they closed so we were still able to get some Doners for a late night snack.

On Monday my baby carrying body was pretty tired out from the weekend so we took it a little slower and just did some shopping and wandered around our town. I was glad Jodi was up for a down day because I don’t think I could’ve kept going at the pace we had been. On Tuesday we dropped Reese off at school and went to see some local places. We stopped at Abtei Himmerod and then went to Manderscheid castle before we picked her up and headed to Marksburg Castle which is near Koblenz. Marksburg is one of my favorite castles to take people to because to me it’s exactly what I would’ve imagined a medieval castle to be. Jodi agreed with me that the castle was amazing and I was glad that she enjoyed her final sightseeing day. For dinner we had some traditional German schnitzel and then came back to our place to play Rock Band until it was time to call it a night. Sadly, the next day I had to drive Jodi to the airport. Reese was sad to see Auntie go bye bye but we were all glad that she made the time to come out and spend a week with us.

Who’s pregnant?

2010-09-13T19:03:00.001+02:00

Reese stuffed herself full of baked ziti tonight and when she got down from the table I couldn’t resist taking a few belly comparison shots.

Reese’s First Day of School

2010-09-07T20:49:00.001+02:00

Last week I was able to get Reese signed up for the part day enrichment program for two year olds on base, it’s basically preschool for 2 year olds. I was so excited to have her signed up because she’s such a social little girl and I don’t want to stunt that by keeping her home with me all the time, granted we were always doing playgroups and other activities with kids but I was still eager for her to be in a social setting without me. She was so excited for her first day of school, ever since we went to sign her up and she'd played in the classroom she'd been eager to go back. Today ended up being a very rainy day so I took a few of her school photos inside the house but still forced her to the porch for the obligatory first day of school photo. She looked so big in her backpack with that excited smile on her face. When we went in her classroom we put her stuff in her cubby and then ran over to sit at the computer, I kissed her goodbye and she was not the least bit sad to see me go, I even peeked back in through the window a few minutes later to find her happy and content. When I got home the house was quiet and I was all alone for the first time in a very very long time, it was quite enjoyable. I sat there eating Cheez Its wondering when the last time that I was able to eat food without sharing it with someone else was. When I returned to get her 3 hours later she was too busy picking up the toys to even notice that I had come in and then when she did notice me she was excited to see me but in no hurry to leave despite the fact that all the other children were leaving as well. When we were walking out to the car she asked if she was going to school tomorrow, I'd say that's a good sign. All in all I’m so excited that I made the decision to enroll her, she had fun and is excited to go back and adding the structure to our day was really nice. I hate to sound mean but I’m eager for her to go back as well, it was so nice to have some quiet time to myself and I found myself being far more patient throughout the rest of the day because of it. She starts gymnastics tomorrow and then back to school on Thursday, it’s going to make for a more hectic schedule but I’m excited for her to get out and start doing more. (nevermind the zoned out look on the last photo, she was totally preoccupied and wanted me to go away)

Dr. Franz-Rudolph Jerono

2010-09-07T09:48:00.001+02:00

The question isn’t why would I post the hospital websites photo of my doctor on my blog, but why WOULDN’T I? Don’t you all feel like you’re missing out by not getting to have this man as your doctor? I’ll have to get a recording of him someday but he sounds like Mr.Bean with a German accent. I guess Nate and I will have to be done having kids after this one unless we somehow end up back in Germany, because I just can’t picture myself going to any other doctor for my pre and post natal needs.

Deja Vu

2010-09-06T17:12:00.001+02:00

I had my third check up for baby #2 last week at 13.5 weeks along. They were trying to do an ultrasound to check for signs of down syndrome but the baby was moving so much that they couldn’t get it to sit still long enough to look, she did however tell us that baby #2 looked like a boy. If you’re wondering how much I believe this you can look back in the blog archive to see how I was burned the first time around when they told us at 11.5 weeks that Reese looked like a boy. Since they couldn’t get baby to sit still long enough to measure they sent us to lunch and had us come back an hour later hoping baby would be quieter. When we came back my doctor was out of surgery so he did the ultrasound and was able to get the measurements he needed, baby looks healthy with nothing to worry about, and once again told us it looked like a boy. Please see the above statement about me lacking confidence in a gender guess at this point in time. The following is a photo of something in between our child’s legs. Now we would enjoy having a little boy join our family, but I know from experience that my little girls like to tease Mommy so I’m holding off judgment until my next appt when I may or may not believe what the doctor says.

(the arrow is pointing to what the doctor labeled “the mark of a boy”)

Phantasia Land

2010-09-06T16:50:00.001+02:00

We had planned to do something Labor day weekend months ago, but our plans to go to Prague for the long weekend slowly fell through as the prospect of a 7 hour drive two weeks after our trip to Spain and two weeks before the arrival of a guest seemed a little too much for even us to handle. We were still trying to figure out what we wanted to do right up until the last minute when we decided to take Reese to Phantasia Land for the day. Phantasia Land is a theme park just outside Cologne and only ended up being an hour and fifteen minute drive from our house which was exactly the length of time we were willing to sit in the car. We had looked online and it looked like Reese would be tall enough to ride the majority of the rides and we were pleased when we got there to find out that despite the fact that she was 1cm too short for the majority of them, they only measured her at one ride so she was able to go on all the rest.

Right as we walked in Reese saw this red dragon and was very excited. She was a little wary of getting close to it at first but ended up going over with Nate to shake his hand.

Reese’s favorite ride was, as always, the carousel. She loves riding on the horses so we probably rode the carousel 10 different times throughout the day

Nate got the luxury of squeezing in to this tiny little plane with her, she had so much fun riding rides with Daddy all day long.

Reese told me that this mini ferris wheel, went fast and I laughed.

More carousel photos, I told you we went on it a ridiculous number of times.

This ride scared me the most because she had to go all by herself, but she was so happy to get to ride with all the other kids (I was scared for nothing as it was the least scary ride that every existed)

We ended the day by all going on a log ride, we had gotten fast passes to any ride in the park earlier when a ride we were waiting in line for broke down so we walked right past the long line and jumped on. By the end of the day Reese was ready to pass out, she’d stayed awake the entire day and she’s definitely a nap girl. The second we got in the car she fell asleep and didn’t wake up until we were turning on our street.

Barcelona Spain

2010-09-01T13:16:00.004+02:00

I'm kind of a jerk because we've been back from Spain for a week and a half and I still haven't posted anything about it. I'd like to chalk my lack of blogging up to a busy schedule or pregnancy woes, but I can't it's just laziness. Anyways, so here's the story of Spain:

Nate went TDY to Spain in May and Reese and I were supposed to fly out and see him while he was there but between appointments that we had and the trouble of getting to his exact location it just didn't make any sense for us to go, so Nate suggested that we instead take a week in August and go to Barcelona. We asked some friends if they wanted to go as well and it turned out to be a lot of fun to take a relaxing trip with other English speakers :) We had a wicked early flight on Monday, and by wicked early I mean we had to leave for the airport at 4am. We flew into Girona and had to take an hour bus ride to Barcelona. Reese was such a champ for the entire journey, we'd been potty training and while we were on the bus she said she had to go and despite the fact that it took us 20 minutes before we could get to a bathroom she didn't have an accident. We had a nice hotel just outside the main districts so it was nice and quiet and our first order of business was to get to the beach. Reese LOVED the beach! I was wondering how she would react to it but she went down to the water and was having fun collecting rocks and then I took her out in the water to ride the waves and she thought that part was awesome too. I was so excited to see her enjoying the beach, she even let Nate bury her in the sand...well to tell the truth he dug a hole and then she climbed inside and started pulling the sand on herself so he helped push the rest of the sand in. That night we called it quits early and got some much needed sleep after our very long day.

On Tuesday we went to La Sagrada Familia and it was pretty amazing. Most churches are the extremely similar inside and out but this one was so different and I was really glad that we went. After that we wandered over to some other buildings that Gaudi had designed and then went back to the beach for the afternoon. The day before we had noticed that a little ways down the beach it was less crowded so we decided to head down that way, BIG MISTAKE! That part of the beach was less populated because everyone was nude and though it doesn't matter either way may I please just say Why is it that only old people go nude on the beach? Anyways, we headed back down to the crowded part of the beach and found a place amongst the merely topless women to toss our towels. After awhile on the beach we were all laying out and a huge wave came out of nowhere and tried to take our stuff out to sea. Luckily the only thing we lost to the wave was a toy rake, but our towels were soaked since I'd had to chase them down so it effectively ended our beach day that day. That night we wandered Las Ramblas which is a busy pedestrian zone with street performers and shops, but after dinner Nate, Reese and I called it a night because I was having some contractions and figured it was a sign that I needed to take it easy.

On Wednesday we hopped on the train a little ways out of Barcelona to the monastery at Montserrat. It's high up on a mountain so we had take a cablecar to the top which was fun. We went to the Basilica there and then Nate and I just relaxed while our friends hiked down to see where they'd found a statue of Mary, after the contractions the night before I was trying to take it easy. When they finished with that we took a funicular higher up the mountain for some nice views and by then it was getting late so we took our train back to Barcelona.

On Thursday we went back to Las Ramblas to do some souvenir shopping and find churros con chocolate. The churros were good but I would have preferred a sweeter chocolate, still delicious none the less. After some shopping we were going to head back to the hotel and go to the beach but while on the metro someone stole my wallet, burn on them that they only got 10 euro, but burn on me that they got our only credit cards (long story short Nate and I each had one but I'd taken his when went to the beach and forgot to give it back) and my ID cards. We went back to the hotel and cancelled everything and then wallowed for a bit in the fact that we had a day and half left on vacation and absolutely no money, luckily we were traveling with friends who were able to loan us some money for the rest of the time but by the time we had done all that some bad weather had set in so the beach was a no go for the day. That night after dinner we went and saw the Magic Fountain show complete with lights and dancing water, Reese really enjoyed it.

Friday was our last day and since we had to check out of the hotel in the morning we decided not to go to the beach and be covered in sand until we finally got home at midnight, which ended up really sucking because it was by far the hottest day there. We went to Parc Guell and it was a massive hike up to the top, I felt bad for poor Nate pushing a sleeping Reese in her stroller to the top and then when we get there and Nate is pouring sweat Reese wakes up and tells him that it's hot, it was really funny. It was pretty cool but it was so sweltering hot outside that we just skimmed through it and headed back to some air conditioning. That evening we caught our bus back to the airport and flew home. Despite the whole stolen wallet thing it was a really fun trip, perhaps the best part was where Reese finished potty training while we were there. She'd been good on peeing in the toilet for awhile but was fighting me on pooping in it but she pooped in the toilet everyday we were in Spain, I had been worried about it but somehow it just clicked and I was immediately de-stressed.

The Saturday Morning Surgeon

2010-08-07T10:16:00.004+02:00

Reese has a habit of waking up earlier than Nate and I would like on a Saturday morning. This morning she woke us up with her everyday call of "Momma, gotta go poopoo," so Nate took her to the bathroom and then tossed her in bed with us in the hopes that she would fall back asleep. Now as soon as Nate tossed her in bed he rolled over and fell right back asleep while I was left to deal with a very awake and very not tired little girl. This morning he didn't just toss a little girl into bed, apparently he tossed a mini surgeon in. She crawled out of bed and ran to get what I thought was a bag of plastic animals but apparently plastic animals are here surgical tool of choice. She climbed back into bed next to me and as I naively thought she was going to entertain herself with animals, she began operating on me. First I received a facelift with the hoofs of a plastic horse. For those who have not experienced this procedure, it is extremely painful and I'm pretty sure my surgeon should've brought in an anesthesologist before she began. I found this procedure a bit offensive since I still view myself to be young enough to forgo a facelift for a few more years. I explained this to my surgeon, and the fact that I was in a lot of pain, and she agreed to move on to more pressing surgical concerns. I next had my arm sliced open with a cow, I don't remember my arm hurting prior to the procedure but I just assumed that my little Doogie Howser knew what she was doing. After a little more work on my arms and hands she decided that her work with me was done and thought she might dabble in veterinary medicine, luckily for Jaeger she jumped away from Dr. Kevorkian before she could start in on her. I'm not sure if I should be pleased that my little girl is showing such an aptitude for medicine or afraid to close my eyes. I am sure that this is one more thing that makes me fear for the spawn growing inside me. The first hint that I should be afraid was:

I just don't think that baby is big enough to be giving her a horsie ride. Please tell me you see the same visions of tummy time going terribly wrong.

UH

2010-07-23T16:07:00.003+02:00

I'm having a hard time trying to remember why I wanted to have another baby. When I was pregnant with Reese my only first trimester symptom was extreme exhaustion which was easily cured by a nap when I got home from work. This go around I'm sick with a capitol ICK! I've had at least some degree of nausea every single day, most days I can't even stand up without feeling like I'm going to puke. Oh and speaking of puking, I do it all the time, it's become my evening ritual and no I don't feel any better after I do. The newest joy in my life is the kidney pain that started last night and has yet to subside, it's not that it hurts terribly it's the fact that I know how bad it can get and that's enough to make me want to cry. Other than that it's just the usual joys of having your hormones messed with, I'm mean to just flat out call it what it is. I roll my eyes constantly at what I deem to be the stupidity of others and have labeled innocent bystanders my arch nemesis. I feel bad for poor little Reese because my fuse isn't as long as it used to be and despite my best efforts to fight against it, I fear she may be getting the short end of the stick.
Did I mention we're potty training? Well we are, and that's enough to make anyone rethinking having more children. We started a week ago and Reese is doing really well with peeing in the toilet but we're still having trouble trying to get her to poop in it.
I'm 8 weeks along today so hopefully the first trimester woes will end soon, if not expect to read more blogs about the stupidity of those I encounter.

#2

2010-07-03T11:02:00.004+02:00

There's another little Crandall on the way. I have my first doctor's appt. in a week but by my calculations I'm 5 weeks along and will be due March 5th. Which means that in 35 ridiculously long and tiring weeks Reese will undergo the transformation from only child to Super Big Sister.

Ireland

2010-07-03T00:00:00.010+02:00

The day after Reese's birthday party, Nate and I left for 6 days in Ireland without the little princess. This was a hard earned trip as I had watched a little girl for 10 days while her parents were in Italy so that they would watch Reese while we went to Ireland, and if you add up all the other time I spent watching kids over night then you'd see that this vacation was a necessity for me.
We left Sunday and flew in to Kerry which is in the Southwest of Ireland. We picked up our rental car and I hoped behind the wheel which was of course on the right side of the car. I was nervous about driving on the "wrong" side of the road but other than having to focus on which side to be on when you turned, it wasn't that bad (side note: it's screwed me up for life because now when I turn into a parking lot that's got one of those dividers in the center I have the hardest time remembering which side I'm supposed to enter on). It was raining when we got there and we were starving so we stopped at a pub and waited the longest period of time ever to get some food, luckily when we got it it was good. After lunch we drove to Killarney Forest and went to the Muckross House. Originally we were going to rent bikes and ride around the lake and over to the waterfall, but since our lunch took so long to get and it was raining, it didn't make much sense to do that. Instead we wandered around outside and then drove straight through the forest to get to our hotel. It ended up being a good plan for us because there were so many turnouts on the road that Nate and I were constantly pulling over and getting out and running around looking at things. At our very first stop as we were climbing wet slippery rocks, I realized how nice it was that it was just the two of us and we didn't have to worry about Reese falling. We drove the rest of the way to Kenmare and checked in to our Bed and Breakfast for the night. It was the most amazing place and we had what would be equivalent to the master suite in the place, we were up on a little hill and one of our walls was a giant window so when we were done for the day we just layed on the bed and looked at the sheep grazing in the fields. After we had checked in we wandered in to town and looked around. We saw our first stone circle just outside of town and then we went to Holy Cross Church which had an amazing wooden ceiling. Most of the shops in the town were closed by the time we got there, so we went to a pub where we had AMAZING food and then called it a night.

The next day we got up bright and early and had our first Irish breakfast at our B&B. I could definetly get used to having bacon, sausage, eggs, cereal, and toast every morning, it was so good and it was a great way to start off our long day. After breakfast we started off on our drive of the ring of kerry, now I mock Rick Steves incessantly, but we took the route he had suggested for the ring of kerry and the entire day we only saw one tour bus and we hardly saw any cars. It was amazing to be completely by ourselves, it made it feel more like we were explorers than tourists. One of the first places we pulled off the ring was at Staigue Ring Fort. The road from the main road to the fort was ridiculously small, and the funny part was that it wouldnt' even be the narrowest road we drove on during our trip, we were glad we had gotten our dinky Nissan Micra. When we got to the fort we wandered around enjoying the views of the ocean and I swear we didn't see the sign about climbing on it until we were going to leave.

Our next stop along the ring was Carroll's Cove which had an amazing little beach. We got out and played in the sand for awhile and I braved the ocean, which actually wasn't that bad, while Nate found jellyfish washed up on the shore. I don't know why I hadn't thought that Ireland would have beaches, but I was amazed and it made the trip that much better to get to play in the ocean. The next part of our drive had some amazing views of the Skellig Islands, despite the overcast day, and then we pulled out for what was supposed to be an amazing view and we were not disappointed. Finally we ended up in Portmagee which is home to the Top Toilet according to the sign. We had a quick lunch at a bakery and then hoped back in the car for the rest of our journey. At the bakery I had picked up this little map that lisetd things in the area and it showed a castle in the next town we had planned to visit, I had just been telling Nate how we hadn't seen a castle yet so I was eager to go to the one on the map.

When we got to the town of Cahersiveen we wandered around the shops for a bit and then drove out to Ballycarberry Castle which ended up being one of the highlights of the trip for us. There was a barbed wire fence around it but it was tied off so we went ahead and walked under the fence and went up to the castle. We were able to climb up the stairs inside of it and just have a lot of fun. The man who is in charge of it actually came out and watched us, but just warned us to be careful and didn't mind that we were getting an upclose look at the castle. After our time at the castle we drove on over to the Cahergal fort before we finished our drive to Tralee where we stayed the night.

Tuesday was going to be one of our longest driving days and just getting out of Tralee with all the traffic took longer than we had expected. We were taking a ferry across the Shannon Estuary and got there just as the ferry we had planned on was leaving. The next one was only an hour away so we went back to the town and got some snacks to eat while we waited. When we got off the ferry we had directions to go one way but the gps wanted us to go another, so in the spirit of adventure we followed the gps and it ended up being a good idea. It took us on these crazy, and I mean CRAZY, backroads that were up and down hills and the fear of where we would pull over if another car came was a very real one. We had so much fun just zipping around on the roads though. When we finally met back up with where our directions were leading us too, we were in the town of Lahinch and we figured we'd go ahead and stop for lunch. Stopping in Lahinch ended up being one of the best decisions we made, it was this super awesome little surf town. We had our lunch at the pub and then as we were wandering around we found a surf shop and I was so excited, I got an awesome sweatshirt and then we went and played at the beach for awhile. It was actually a fairly warm day so it felt nice to run around in the sun.

After our time in Lahinch, we drove up to the Cliffs of Moher which are some of the most amazing cliffs I've ever seen. This was another moment where we were glad we didn't have Reese because we were able to go past the "do not go past here" sign and get some of the best views of the cliffs. I had read that the wind gusts push tourists off the cliffs a few times a year so I was a little freaked out that Nate was getting so close and at one point I thought about what would've happened if we had taken Reese with us and had a mild meltdown at the idea of her falling off a cliff despite the fact that 1. she wasn't with us and 2. if she had been we wouldn't have gone past the sign. Even with my fears it was still amazing to see. When we had finished at the cliffs, we finished our drive to the town of Doolin where we'd be staying the next two nights. We were so exhausted from our long day that we ended up taking a quick nap before we drove out to the burren which is this crazy rocky landscape that has grass and flowers growing in between the gaps in the rocks. We drove out to the Poulnabrone Dolmen and then just wandered around the Burren some more before we headed back to town and got some food and listened to some pub music.

Wednesday we took a boat from Doolin out to Inishmore which is one of the Aran Islands. It ended up being a ridiculously warm, sunny day and we even ended up getting sunburnt while we were on the island. When we got there we rented bikes, really crappy bikes, and started peddling out to the main site on the island Dun Aenghus. Part way through our ride we stopped at the beach, naturally, and cooled off before we finished our ride up to Dun Aenghus. Dun Aenghus is another ring fort, but this one is situated against a cliff and is actually missing parts due to erosion. We had to hike up the hill to the fort but when we got there the ocean view was amazing. We just sat on the edge of the cliff and ate our lunch while we enjoyed the sun and sea. After that we rode our bikes around the island until it was time to return them and catch our boat back to Doolin. In the end I think we ended up biking about 15 miles that day, which is a lot when you consider the island is only about 9 miles long. When we got back to Doolin, and could feel our sunburns setting in, we wandered around the town and then headed out to dinner at a pub that we had been told would have really awesome music that night. Our B&B hostess was right on with how good the music was, despite the fact that we were exhausted we stayed out for awhile listening to the crazy folk music.

Thursday morning we had to be up super early so we could return our car in Galway by 8am and catch our 9am train to Dublin. It was kind of shock to arrive in Dublin after all the time we'd spent out in the quaint countryside. We couldn't even think of anything we wanted to do there because we really just wanted to be back out by the cliffs. Luckily we got over ourselves and decided to just wander around. We walked past Dublin Castle and St.Patrick's Cathedral on our way to the Kilmainham Gaol which was the only place I really wanted to see. I have an unnatural fascination with prisons so I was very excited to get to go inside this one and our tour guide was really informative and taught us a lot about some of the political history of Ireland. Nate was a little mad that I'd made him walk all the way there in the sun when he had a sunburn but when we walked past the house that was using an old car as a garden it made the whole trek worth it for both of us. Since Thursday was our actual anniversary we were trying to come up with something to do when we decided to just go out to the suburbs of Dublin and see Iron Man 2. We ended up having the best night, if we didn't know any better we would've thought that we were in America and while it may sound sad to go to Dublin to feel like you're in America, for people who haven't had a regular American night out in awhile it was awesome. We took the tram out to the suburb and went to this huge 4 story mall where we spent some time wandering through mostly American stores before we went and had dinner at TGI Fridays and then watched Iron Man 2. We loved our night in Dublin and as we got back to the city after our night out and saw all the people at the pubs we realized that we had made the right decision because we're just not nightlife people.

Friday morning we took a taxi to the airport and got back to our baby girl that afternoon. I was so excited to see her after being away from her and despite the fact that she was completely fine without us, she was still really excited to see us too.

Reese's 2nd Birthday Party

2010-07-02T23:34:00.007+02:00

Reese's birthday party was over a month ago now, but I've been putting off posting about it until now. It's 11:45pm and despite the fact that Reese and I spent the entire day at the pool and I'm exhuasted, it's SOOOO hot in the house that there's no way I'm going to be able to fall asleep....guess that means it's the perfect time to work on the blog.
Since Nate didn't get home from Spain until Reese's actual birthday, we decided to have her party the following Saturday. Since her favorite movie is Bolt I decided to go ahead and through her a Bolt themed party. I ended up finding a lot of cool party supplies online and I even found a shirt for Reese to wear to her party. She invited a few friends from playgroup and church and they all had a lot of fun. When the party started we just let the kids run around and play with one another in the backyard for awhile, we got lucky that the weather was nice. After they had gotten some of their wiggles out we fed them lunch while I got ready for our games. The first game was essentially an Easter egg hunt, but we called it "Find Penny" (Penny is a character in the movie) and whoever found the egg with a penny inside would get a prize. This game was perfect for the kids because they all knew the concept of collecting eggs and dove in running around to get them. All the eggs were filled with candy so everyone was a winner. After that we played "Pin the Mark of Power on Bolt" which was a little bit harder because they didn't quite get the concept, but they all enjoyed getting to pick different color lightning bolts so it wasn't an entire bust. After the games we had cupcakes, which by the way I spent an entire day making. It's no secret that I'm not a crafty person, but I really wanted them to look nice without having to go to the store and buy a cake so after I baked them I froze them for awhile so they'd be easier to frost and I even heated the frosting up so it would spread easier, then I refrigerated them until they were hard again so that I could more easily draw the lightning bolts on them. In the end I was so proud of my accomplishment and even better was that they tasted delicious too. Anyways, enough tooting my horn, after the cake Reese opened her presents and then we turned on the bubble machine and let the kids run around and play until their parents took them home.
I had been hesitant to throw Reese a party, but in the end I was really glad I did because she's become so social and she loved getting to have all her friends over and run around and play. I love that she has so many friends that she enjoys playing with and that she's not timid about playing with other kids. When we go to the park now, she just takes off and plays with her friends without looking back and she's such a daredevil about doing things that it's hard for me to just let her go and not hover but I try my best. I'm so excited about the little girl that she's become, she makes me laugh everyday and even though I sometimes want to pull my hair out, it's all worth it when she runs up and gives me one of her big hugs.
We rented a helium tank so that we could have mass quantities of balloons

Reese was such a big help with setting up for her party

Posing with the bolt cutout I made for one of the games

All the party guests wearing their party hats

Delicious bolt cupcakes

She was an expert candle blower outer

How is My Baby Already TWO?!?!

2010-05-24T12:36:00.016+02:00

I can't believe it's been two years since Reese came into our lives. She's such a sweet little girl that I can't imagine what my life would be like if without her. I took her to the dr. on Thursday and she got an overall rating of "perfect", I love when the doctor uses that word to describe my baby. She says and does so many new things that I can't even think of all of them. She has started moving the kitchen chairs around and climbing up on them to get what she wants, she's an immense hoarder and generally sleeps with roughly 10 stuffed animals in her bed. She's got a great vocabulary and is learning more words everyday. Yesterday I asked her how old she was and she told me to guess, I started laughing so hard. She's started to play with other kids without caring where I am. When we were at the park the other day she ran off and didn't even check on me likely she usually would. She's a very caring and thoughtful little girl, when she's with her friends she always wants to make sure that they are treated fairly for example, we were watching her friend Max last weekend and I was getting them fruit snacks, I handed her hers and she said "and max?" because she wanted to make sure he was getting some as well. She's hilarious, but she's also capable of driving me insane. I love the little person she's becoming and while I wish I could stop time and keep her this age forever, I'm also eager to see her continue to learn and grow.
Her birthday was Saturday and that was the same day Nate came home from Spain. I woke up really early and made her homemade strawberry banana waffles and topped them with strawberries, bananas, hot fudge and whipped cream. I even put a candle in them and attempted to sing happy birthday, but every time I started singing she would yell at me or clamp her hands over my mouth so I couldn't.
Birthday breakfast complete with a candle

The after effects of hot fudge for breakfast. Needless to say we went straight up to the tub after this. After all that we played outside for awhile and then got the phone call from Nate telling us what time he would be arriving in Frankfurt. Reese and I decided to go to the park for a picnic and then we headed for the airport. Nate got in right after we arrived and Reese was happy to see Daddy and the presents that he had brought for her. Since Nate wasn't arriving until her actual birthday we had decided to postpone her party for a week and figured we'd just pick him up and take Reese to the zoo for her birthday instead of having to wait for him to ride the shuttle home to us. The Frankfurt zoo was really cool, and Reese had a blast seeing all the animals.

The goats were the first thing we saw and she didn't want to leave.

You could go inside the goat pen and pet them which Reese proceeded to do to that particular goat for a long time.

At the sea lion exhibit one of them swam right in front of Reese for a long time, it kept looking at her and going back up, it was really fun for her.

The baboons are always a hit, probably because they have so much in common with a two year old human.

This thing was crazy, I don't remember it's name but I've never seen one before and it kind of looked like it should've been around with the dinosaurs. The little girl however is 100% adorable.

Reese loved getting to spend time with Daddy after his month away.
This picture makes me laugh, she was a little freaked about sitting that close to that lion. For a little girl that always wants to pet and hug every animal she sees, at least she has common sense enough to know that lions are dangerous.
This is just proof that tigers ARE bigger than two year olds.....and pink puppies too.
When we got home from the zoo we opened all her presents from family. She was so spoiled with all the things that were sent by grandparents and great grandparents and aunts and so on and so forth. When she had got up that morning she had made a beeline for the presents but was told she had to wait for Daddy to get home, she did end up opening one but other than that she patiently waited.
She's an expert present opener.
That's the tiara she wore randomly throughout the day since she was the birthday princess

I'm so glad that Nate was able to get home for at least half of her birthday this year, last year he left for Iraq 3 days before her birthday. We had a great time and now we have to get ready for her party with all her friends this Saturday.

Mother's Day 2010

2010-05-10T09:08:00.002+02:00

This Mother's Day had the all makings to be an extremely terrible day and despite all of that it some how turned out amazing. Nate has been in Spain for the past two weeks and despite our desire to go see him it just would've been too hard. He's 2 1/2 hours outside of Madrid so Reese and I would have to fly in and then rent a car to get down to him plus he's staying in dorms on a spanish base so Reese and I would have to get a hotel as well plus when you figure in the fact that there isn't much to do where he's at it just would've been a waste. So anyways, it was just going to be Reese and I for Mother's Day. I decided last year that every year for Mother's Day I want Nate to take some nice pictures of Reese and I, not just your run of the mill everyone with mom on the front porch pictures, but actually going somewhere and making an effort to get cute pictures. With Nate being gone this year I was afraid I would just have to settle for a quick front porch picture but instead I was able to enlist my friend Eric, who is a wonderful amateur photographer by the way, to go out with Reese and I to take some pictures. They turned out great as you'll see at the end of this post.

Nate's not being here wasn't the only thing standing in the way of Mother's Day perfection, last week Eric asked if I would watch his 14 month old son from Saturday night through Thursday morning so he and his wife could go to Rome (maybe that's why he was so willing to take pictures for us). So now instead of just being Reese and I, I also had a spare kid for Mother's Day, to say I wasn't expecting much of the day was an understatement but boy did those two kids surprise me. I woke up Sunday morning by myself, meaning there were no children yelling for me, I ended up having to wake both of them up to get ready for church. At church they were both well behaved and then Reese went to nursery without crying for the first time in weeks which made me VERY happy. On our way home from church they both fell asleep in the car and despite the fact that they both woke up when I was getting them out of the car, they both fell right back to sleep when I put them in bed meaning that I was able to take a wonderful Sunday nap. When I woke up from my nap they were both barely waking up so I got them out of bed and then we had a snack of fresh baked bread with honey butter that a sweet woman at church had given us that morning. For dinner we'd been invited over to our home teacher's house and we had an amazing looking and tasting meal with his family plus Reese got to run around and have a blast with their kids. When we left to go home she was actually crying because she couldn't stay and play. We got home just before bedtime and I put the kids to bed and those ended a very low key but extremely enjoyable day. Is it selfish to dream of more days like yesterday?

The Finger

2010-05-06T09:22:00.003+02:00

Yesterday Reese was playing outside at our friends' house when she fell and cut the tip of her finger. She came inside and got it all washed out and it bled for just a tiny bit and then was fine, but the way she had cut it she had scraped some skin off so it was hanging there and finally I had to pull it off because she couldn't handle it being there. This tiny little incident resulted in the meltdown of all meltdowns. There was absolutely nothing that would make her happy, no amount of kisses and hugs could heal this vicious injury which she had sustained. She would finally stop crying and then something would set her off and she'd be back crying about her finger. I did feel bad for her, but she wouldn't let me do anything so I just had to sit back and wach her deal with it. When we got home we had begun to calm down but she was still behaving the way someone who had just had open heart surgery might behave so I layed her on the couch and let her watch a movie to take her mind off of her woes. This is how she sat throughout the entire movie, finger raised because afterall you have to keep it elevated so you don't bleed to death. Luckily the movie seemed to take her mind off the finger because she didn't seem to have any issues with it for the rest of the night.

Too Cute

2010-04-29T18:13:00.002+02:00

That face, that smile, that laugh, that personality, make the overdramatic whiney fits tolerable.

What did we do today you ask?

2010-04-23T19:09:00.003+02:00

The same thing we do everyday in some way or another, torture the puppies. Today Reese was playing with her doll and decided that maybe the dogs would like to wear the hat so she started putting it on them and I took photos; I think their faces say it all.

While puppy torture does tend to take up a large part of our day, we also found time to go to the pool with a friend and get a chunk of our spring cleaning done. Oh and Reese wore snowboots while we did the latter, even though it was just clearing out the too small clothes in her room, just picture her in those hawaiian boardshorts with snowboots on.

Sharon Visited Us

2010-04-22T07:17:00.014+02:00

Earlier this week, my friend Sharon came to spend a few days with us. It was a last minute trip since she was working in Switzerland and finished early, but I still wanted to find some fun things to do with her. On Monday we decided to go check out a waterfall in Irrel which is just 20 minutes or so past Bitburg. I wouldn't say there was much of a waterfall, it just looked like a river with rocks in the center of it, but it was still really pretty and we had a lot of fun. I couldn't help but thinking how big Reese has gotten while we were there, instead of carrying my baby I had a little kid bouncing up and down along side me.

On Tuesday we went over to Cochem castle for a tour. The castle is way up high so you have to walk up to it at what I will call a 35 degree angle, I don't want to be accused of exaggerating, and I was pushing a stroller which made it even more...umm...fun.

The last time I was at Cochem castle was with my Mom shortly after Reese was born. When we were up on the balcony I remembered that my mom had taken a picture of Reese and I so when we got home I found it and looked at how much has changed in almost two years.

When we were walking up to the castle we saw a little carnival ride and I promised Reese that if she was a "sweet girl" at the castle then she could ride it afterwards. Well Reese was very sweet on the tour, she was quite, avoided touching things, and walked with the group, she even got some candy from our tour guide when we were in the armory (that's what she's so intently looking at in the above picture). So when we walked back down the hill and got to the carnival ride I let her ride on it.

And this is what she looked like when the ride came to a stop and she had to get off:

The irony of getting to go on the ride because you were good and then throwing a fit when your turn is over.

Gravity

2010-04-16T21:04:00.002+02:00

Why is it that gravity allows a giant plane to float through the sky but it won't allow my child's head to stay off the ground? I'm the first one to admit that Reese has a gynormo head but it's still really sad to watch gravity punish her for it. When she was learning to sit up she'd be doing great until she turned to look at something and that huge head would mess up her balance and send her to the ground. Well today gravity decided to punish my child yet again for something she has no control over. We were at the playground and there was a little step from the grass up to the cement to walk to another area so Reese had her hands and feet both on the ground with her butt in the air as she maneuvered this step, her head couldn't have been more than 4 or 5 inches off the ground and then all of the sudden it was as if gravity remembered that her head was too big to be in the air and it yanked her back down. I wish I had video because it was a phenomenon no doubt, the rest of her body didn't even move but somehow her head smacked into the cement like it was being pulled down by a magnet. Lucky for her she has a hard head so she cried about it for all of 30 seconds and then moved on to what she was doing, but gravity still left a pretty nasty mark on that litttle angel face.

Easter

2010-04-16T20:56:00.003+02:00

I realized I never put up the pictures from Easter and truth be told I don't really have any pictures from Easter. We got back from the States Thursday evening so by the time Sunday rolled around we still weren't back to normal around here. We did however try our best to make the most of the holiday that snuck up on us. On Saturday we painted eggs and Reese had fun drawing on them and then telling us what color to put them in. On Sunday we had a few friends over for dinner and Nate and I made bunny cakes. I'm sure it goes without saying which cake Nate decorated and which one I decorated. Reese hunted for eggs in the house, since it was raining, with two other kids and was running around trying to get all the eggs. That was pretty much Easter in a nutshell. I know someone has pictures from the egg hunt but it isn't me so if I can get some maybe I'll post them later.

The Tables Have Turned

2010-04-15T08:33:00.002+02:00

Long, long ago, while Nate was deployed, I had made big plans for all the places that we were going to travel to this year since our time in Germany was growing shorter and shorter. Then Nate came home and we went to Egypt and he got it in his head that going to Egypt meant a long break from going anywhere, not sure where he got this idea from because it wasn't from me. Then lots of things started popping up that made it look like we just might be spending a lot of time home this year. Well I'm happy to report that the tables have turned in my favor and that if everything works out the way it seems it will at this point then I'll be crossing a lot of places off my list this year.
A few months back a family in our ward asked if anyone would be willing to watch their little girl for 10 days while they were out of town and in return they would do the same. Nate and I decided that this would be a great opportunity for us to take a trip without Reese, she's a great traveler but we thought it'd be a lot of fun to take a trip without having to worry about doing any kid friendly activities. So we're watching their daughter right now and we've planned a trip for our anniversary to go to Ireland for 5 days, plus they've been telling us we need to take another 5 day trip so they can fully pay as back so I'll need to think of something else. Then while Reese and I were in the States, Nate found out that he would be going to Spain for a month for work. We were hoping it would be possible for Reese and I to visit him in Spain for a little bit but we weren't sure where in Spain he would be going and what his schedule would be like while he was there. Well we found out yesterday that he's leaving for Madrid next week, earlier than expected, and I found tickets for Reese and I roundtrip for 100 euro so as long as his schedule doesn't have him working nonstop Reese and I are going to go to Madrid.
If that wasn't good enough already, my friend from high school is coming out in September to visit and I'm not sure where we're going yet other than she wants to go to Auschwitz which we've already visited but I'm excited to see more of. Then in October, two of my college roommates are coming out (I'm trying to convince a third so we'll see how that goes) and we're going to tour Northern Italy. Finally for Thanksgiving, since I've decided that it is our travel holiday, we'll finally be going to Prague. I promised Nate that since we went so far away last year that this year we'd stay closer.
This year is shaping up to be pretty awesome which is good because when this year is over we'll only have one year left in Europe and that makes me sad.

Oh Dear....

2010-04-13T18:53:00.002+02:00

I guess I'm potty training now, Reese peed and pooped on the toilet today and we haven't even started potty training so hopefully that's a good sign.
I guess I should somewhat explain how my child used the toilet when we haven't been potty training. Nate got the toilet set up while we were in the states so we've been showing it to her and telling her what it's for so that she's not scared of it when we start. So today she goes in there fully clothed, sits on the toilet and poops, then a while later she does the same thing but pees. So I was talking to some people at playgroup and telling them about my fears associated with potty training, mainly my lack of knowledge on the subject, and they all suggested I go with it because she seemed ready. After lunch I told her we were going to go potty before naptime and she peed right away. Then this evening she said she had to poop so we went in there but she didn't and then a little while later I started to smell something so we went back into the bathroom and though she had started in her diaper she finished in the toilet. I think it was the most excited Nate and I have ever been about poop and Reese had a huge smile on her face which grew even bigger when she got her jellybeans for pooping on the toilet.
I'm still freaked about doing this, but I guess we're doing it now so I'm crossing my fingers that it goes smoothly. I guess we'll find out soon enough whether it was a fluke day or not.

Things We Like To Do When The Sun Is Shining

2010-04-07T09:25:00.003+02:00

We like to jump around....(you'll just have to tilt your head because I couldn't figure out how to straighten it)

We like to go off roading on our ATV....

We like to go on roading on our ATV....

and We like to torture Jaeger...

The Golden State

2010-04-05T15:45:00.006+02:00

Reese and I went to California the last week of February to visit with family since we hadn't been home in 9 months and people don't take well to not seeing Reese for that long a period of time. We were originally going to fly out the end of the week but since Nate had an exercise at work and wouldn't be able to take us to the airport any other time we ended up leaving on Sunday. Now I speak more about my hate of Dover in the final post about our trip out, but our flight out actually foreshadowed the events that would eventually take place. We flew from Ramstein and stopped in Dover to refuel and pick up/drop off cargo on our way to Travis. When we went to get off the plane the guy told us we could leave any carry-ons that we weren't going to need for the next two hours, so I just grabbed our passports and got off the plane. Well when we went through customs the guy told us that everything had to come off the plane to be inspected and we couldn't clear customs without all our bags so we had to wait for them to finish loading and unloading the plane and refueling it before they could get back on to grab my carry on, I was then informed that they may not get it off in time for me to clear customs and get my bags rechecked on the plane. I was off course freaking out but luckily they were able to get my stuff off and I got it rechecked in and boarded the plane to head to California.

Reese had fun playing with her cousin Ava while we were in California, though we did hear a lot of screeching while we were there because Ava wanted to constantly hug/be on top of Reese and Reese would screech every time Ava got too close to her. Other than that they enjoyed playing with each other and I know that Reese learned a lot of new words from her big cousin.
The first weekend we were there we went to an aquarium in San Francisco so that Reese could do one of her favorite things, look at fish. The whole time we were there Reese only wanted to be held by her Papa and she would only hold his hand not mine, which was fine by me because I was enjoying the break. She and her Papa looked at all the fish they could find and of course Ava was also there to help point out all the Nemo's and Dory's to Reese. At one tank there was a diver inside cleaning the window and he waved at Reese and she waved back, then he took his oxygen thingy out of this mouth and mouthed "She's sooo cute" to me, I of course melted at the fact that someone found my child so cute they were willing to go without oxygen while underwater to tell me :) After we'd seen all the fish we could handle, and also penguins and an albino alligator, we went shopping in San Francisco for a little while before we headed back home.

The next week we went to Disneyland!!! We flew from Sacramento down to Anaheim on Thursday for our long Disney weekend. On Friday we went to Disneyland and while Reese was kind of whiney at times and made me carry her practically the entire day, she still had fun and found her favorite ride...the carousel. She wanted to ride the carousel over and over and over again which was fine because the lines weren't that long. That afternoon we watched the parade down mainstreet and Reese danced along from the sidelines which was super cute to watch. On Saturday morning as we were getting ready to head to Disneyland she was playing in the stroller and tipped it over causing her to faceplant into the corner of the wall. She got over it quickly but it provided her with a nice red line going down her face for the majority of the trip. After we got over our fall we went to Disney California where Reese discovered the Bug's Life area and fell in love. She just wanted to go on the rides over and over again which was cute to see. She was definetly in to any ride that went in circles like Dumbo, Flik's Flyers and the Astro Orbiter, she found all of those very much to her liking. That afternoon we were waiting to meet up with my parents when some music started so naturally Reese started dancing to the entertainment of many people around us, that kid will dance whenever she hears music. That night we met up with my old college roommate Lara and her husband Alan for dinner. It was fun to get to catch up with them for the night. The next day was our final day at Disneyland so Reese and I went early for the magic morning and took all the obligatory Disney photos before they got bombarded with people. We went over to Toontown and I just let her run around all the houses, I had never understood the appeal of Toontown but Reese loved it and when we went to Minnie's house she took a photo with her and didn't freak out which was surprising to me. Later on when we saw Mickey she was desperate to get to him, she'd already taken her photo with him earlier in the day so I wasn't going to wait in the super long line but luckily since she was shouting "Mick Mick" he turned his head and waved at her which appeased her need for him. That night we went back to the park for the firework show and of course Reese passed out before it started, but it was still a fun show and I enjoyed getting to see it. Monday we had to leave Anaheim and fly back to Sacramento, we'd had so much fun that I didn't want to leave but alas the time had come to leave the beautiful sun warm sun behind.

Our final week in Sacramento was gorgeous, I spent the majority of the time laying out in the backyard soaking up the sun while Reese played which was my idea of a great vacation. We ate at all my favorite places and went shopping to make sure I finished my list of things I had wanted to get, but mostly we played in the sun. Reese found that she liked to dig in the dirt with Ava and she also liked to use the sidewalk chalk. We were able to go up to my grandma's house for a visit and we also went to lunch with one of my high school friends so it was a trip packed with fun and visits. We love whenever we get to go out to California, Reese has so much fun with my parents and with my sister and Ava and I like her getting to spend time with family. There were so many little things we did that were fun that it would take way too much time to document everything, but we did have a great three weeks there and we hope we get to see them again soon.

Early Easter in Idaho

2010-04-05T12:55:00.005+02:00

After a great visit to California, Reese and I headed out to Idaho Falls to visit with Nate's family for a week. Reese was a little shy and timid at first, thanks in part to falling asleep on the plane shortly before we landed, but after playing on the playground at the school where Aunt Evie works she was feeling a little more upbeat. On Thursday Nate's mom was watching my niece Kiersten so Reese and Kiersten got to spend the day playing together. The first thing Kiersten said when she walked in and saw Reese that morning was "wow, crazy hair!" it made us all laugh. That evening we drove up to BYU Idaho to pick up Nate's sister Molly so she could spend the weekend with us. Reese immediately became friends with her Aunt Molly and there was a lot of laughter coming from the backseat on the way home from Rexburg.

The next day Reese's other cousin Benjamin had the day off school so he and Kiersten came over to spend the day at grandma's house. Reese absolutely adores Benjamin and will do anything he tells her to and finds everything he does to be hilarious. In the morning they were all playing with the kitchen making a variety of dishes for Aunt Molly to try and that afternoon we all went out and played in the backyard on the trampoline and had a soccer game.

Nate's mom had gotten the kids some outfits to take pictures in, so on Saturday we had a little grandkid photoshoot and then we went over to Blastoff, which is an indoor playplace, to spend the afternoon. Reese had so much fun playing in the ball pit and in the littler kid area and then Aunt Nikki took her into the other area with Benjamin and Kiersten and I think she had even more fun doing that. After all that fun we went back to grandma's house for an easter egg hunt. I didn't know how Reese was going to feel about the egg hunt but she got the idea down fast and took off finding eggs with minimal assistance from me. When it was over and she realized that there was candy inside the eggs she became even more excited with hunting eggs. Once she'd had what I determined to be enough candy, the kids all went and jumped on the trampoline some more since the weather was nice enough to be playing outside.

On Sunday we went to dinner at Evie and Johnnie's house and Benjamin got his motorized SUV out of the garage and took Reese and Kiersten on a ride around the yard. They were all so cute playing together and at the end of the night when we went to leave I think if Reese had understood that she wasn't going to see her cousins for another long while, she probably would've cried. We had so much fun hanging out in Idaho and I know that Reese misses everybody there.

D.C. and the dreaded Delaware

2010-04-05T12:11:00.003+02:00

After a week in Idaho it was time for us to fly out to D.C. to start trying to catch flights back to Germany. The friends we were going to be staying with unfortunately had a sick child in the hospital so luckily Nate was able to contact my friend Trina from BYU and she was happy to let us stay with her til we could catch a flight out. All seemed to be going well on our trip until we landed in Denver on our layover to D.C. and a huge snowstorm hit. We were getting ready to take off but our wings wouldn't stay de-iced so after waiting around in the airport for awhile they ended up cancelling our flight. Reese and I got to stand 12 people deep in a line to get reticketed and it still took us nearly two hours to accomplish. I'd had Nate get on Travelocity and find us a room for the night since sleeping in the airport with Reese and all our luggage was a non option, and I'd called Trina for the hundredth time to let her know that we wouldn't be coming in til the next day (she deserves a saint medal for agreeing to let us stay with her and then having to deal with pushed back flight times and cancellations). Reese and I were able to catch the shuttle to the hotel but when we got there we were told that Travelocity was overbooking rooms for them and that the airport had booked them up as soon as the snowstorm hit. Now I didn't book through the airlines, which would've been cheaper, because I was 12th in my two hour line at the gate counter and in order to book a hotel I would've had to have gone to the customer service line which was over 120 people long when they officially cancelled our flight. So I sat in this hotel trying with a sleeping child in my arms and a trolley of luggage next to me trying to decide what my next move would be when the manager came up to me and said that they had one room that was closed for soem repairs but if I wanted it I could have it. The maintenance guy took me upstairs to show me the room and there was one tile in the bathroom ceiling that had water damage and the rest of the room was fine so of course I took it despite the water damage and the fact that it was a suite and meant I had to pay for a suite. In the morning we went back to the airport and everything was cleared up for our takeoff and arrival in DC a mere two hours later than my rebooking said I would arrive.When we got to DC Trina picked us up at the airport and we went back to her place to relax and let the kids play. Trina's oldest daughter Claire is a day older than Reese and her youngest Alice is 4 months old, luckily Reese pretty much left Alice alone and she and Claire had a blast playing with one another. They went out in the front yard and rode bikes up and down the sidewalk and used sidewalk chalk to make pretty pictures on the walkway. When they were inside they played on the slide, watched videos, and did everything else they possibly could together. It was so much fun to watch them play together because they're that same point in development so they both do everything the other one does, it was super cute. We had so much fun hanging out with them and told them that they'd have to come out to our house next.

We'd arrived in DC on Wednesday and hadn't seen any flights out yet so on Friday I saw there were 3 flights out of Dover, Delaware and another two on Saturday. By this time we'd been in the states for nearly 5 weeks and were ready to get home, so Trina's husband drove us the 2.5 hours to Dover so that we could get home. Unfortunately we barely missed getting on the first of the three flights and the other two took zero passengers so we got a hotel room happily assuming that we'd get out the next day. Well, Saturday, Sunday, and Monday were more of the same. I believe it was Monday when I started losing hope and the only thing keeping my attitude upbeat was the knowledge that Reese would start freaking out if I started freaking out. Everyday we'd get to the terminal around 11am and sit and wait on flights until about midnight when they'd finally say the last one was cancelled, oh and I forgot to mention that I'd picked up a package in DC so I had a huge box on top of my two bags and Reese's carseat to haul to and from the termainl everyday. Luckily they had a playroom with toys for Reese and a place for her to take naps and my child is wonderful because she was so good the whole time we were in the terminal and didn't add any stress to my already overstressed mood. On Tuesday night we finally got ticketed on a flight and I was elated to finally be heading home. They took us out to the plane.....and then decided they were overloaded with cargo so they bumped us off. The next day I talked to Nate and we decided that if I didn't get out on a flight that day then he was going to fly out to meet up with me so that Reese and I would get bumped up a couple catergories and at least we wouldn't be apart anymore. All the flights out of Dover were going to be overfilled with cargo that day so we saw there was a 1am flight out of Baltimore and hopped in the cab and hoped for the best. Luckily after the $170 cab ride we were able to get on a flight to Ramstein without Nate having to come out to get us.

Moral of the story is that we made it home, despite the nearly 6 days spent in Dover which is by the way a place I refuse to ever go again, in fact I told Nate that I will never again set foot in Delaware because it's a hole of a state. I wish I'd taken a picture of us in Delaware, with our stuff sitting by that same chair day in and day out, but it's probably for the best that I didn't because I'm now attempting to block that period of time from my memory. Hopefully in a months time the last thing I'll remember is having fun with the girls at Trina's house.

Mugshot

2010-02-18T22:42:00.004+01:00

Reese and Jesse in D.C.

2010-02-10T20:12:00.007+01:00

Reese and I are back from our getaway to D.C.! We were there for five days and it was the perfect amount of time to see our friends and their new baby. I've already posted about some of the stuff we did so I'll probably end up repeating myself. On Thursday we took Lukas and Reese to the park to play, they were very cute getting reacquainted with one another.

Then on Friday we went over to Arlington, we got there just as the wind was picking up for the big snowstorm that was coming. We walked over to the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier and watched the guard for a little bit and then walked back to the car since it was getting colder and I was not prepared to be out in a storm. That afternoon the big snowstorm hit, the weather channel called it Snowpocolips and the Curse of Snowbama. We stayed inside the rest of the day and just watched it snow which gave me the perfect chance to hold Devin some more.

The snow stopped Saturday night so Sunday afternoon Justin made an igloo with all the snow on the porch for the kids to play in. Reese and Lukas had a fun time wandering around in and out of the igloo so all in all the snowstorm wasn't that bad.

On Monday night Sarah drove us to the airport and we were able to easily catch a flight back to Ramstein. We had a great trip and we look forward to going out to see them again.

As a side note: The night before we left Nate took me outside to build a snowman since the snow was finally packing snow. We built a roughly 6 foot snowman and gave him chocolate eyes/nose/mouth.

Visiting D.C.

2010-02-05T19:28:00.002+01:00

Reese and I flew out of Ramstein Wednesday afternoon and arrived in D.C. that night. I was really annoyed because the flight I had been on earlier that I had been hoping to return and get on the following day hadn't been listed so I called in the morning to check on it and it was already taking off. My punishment for not having shown up at 4am just in case the flight went was that I had to drive to Ramstein and wait basically all day for the flight to Baltimore to finally take off. I guess the punishment fit the crime since I was able to get on a flight that day and get to D.C. relatively quickly.
I can't post any pictures until I get home but I will say that Reese and Lukas playing together is the cutest thing. Before we left for D.C. I had asked Reese if she was going to play with Lukas and she had very strongly informed me "NO!" Luckily her outlook changed when she arrived and first thing the next morning when Lukas woke up they started playing with one another and have been doing so relatively nicely ever since. Yesterday we went to the playground and just watched them run around with one another and follow each other down the slides.
The main reason why we took this trip at this time was so that we could see the new baby, Devin. He's absolutely adorable, of course, but I hadn't realized how much I had forgotten about babies. I'm in charge of holding him whenever I see the need and making sure that Reese doesn't OVERlove him. I feared the latter would be quite a task but she's been very sweet to the baby and has only been over loving their two dogs.
Today we went over to Arlington and saw the tomb of the unknown soldier. It was very cool, but the snowstorm was just beginning to start and I'm the moron that thought wearing Converse to D.C. in February would be a good idea. Needless to say my toes were near frostbite when we got back to the car.
We're only going to be in D.C. for a few more days but already it was worth the flight to come out and relax with friends for a few days.