Nuremberg

When my mom left Germany to head back to the states, she flew out of Nuremberg so we decided to try to balance out the sadness of her leaving with a fun day trip just the four of us.  She left at 9am so that left us the rest of the day to explore and whatnot.  One of our army buddy's girlfriend was visiting from Ukraine so we invited them and hung out all day.  It was fun!  And I was so proud of the way me and Chris packed for both of the babies.  We didn't bring too much or too little.  We actually talked about what we should bring and we even packed the night before!  Ah, we are finally growing up ;)

Autumn telling her daddy to "Shhh" in the St Lorenzkirche (St. Lawrence's Church)

This is how Caleb saw Nuremberg.  Doesn't he look gigantic?!  He is only 7 months old!  He's got long lets like the rest of us.

Taken from the bridge in the middle of town.  It is a lovely smallish town.

Lunch...Autumn's getting ready to dump the sugar out.  I remember taking the picture and then yelling "NO'!  :)

Lunch actually was pretty crappy.  Not a good selection and over priced, but we tried to make the best out of it anyway!

Part of the fort I guess?  Sorry, I"m no history buff.

View from the top of the fort.

Pretty funny that Chris isn't holding either of his children in this picture!

Kaity and Autumn. I think it's pretty cute even though I have no idea what they are looking at :)

Only family portrait we got.  It's not great, but it's a memory!

There is this toy shop there called "Steiff".  I'm sure some of you have heard of it, but oh my goodness it is sooo expensive!  It must be like a badge of honor over here in Germany to own one kind of like FAO Schwartz in America.  This is the huge Steiff bear that was outside of the shop.  Of course Autumn loved it! (What 2 year old wouldn't?)

Overall, fun day, fun place!

6 Month Pictures

My baby man is getting so big!  And he is so happy most of the time.  You know, he's happy until he isn't and then he's MAD! :)  Here are his 6 month pictures and I couldn't be happier with them!

Mr. Man! 6 Months Old

I am posting this almost a month late! I wrote it before we left for Germany with every intention of posting it before we left and then I didn't.  I am getting ready to do his 7 month update and he is sooooo different!  Oh my goodness, 6-7 months was a huge leap for Caleb.  But, for now, here is what he was up to at 6 months (June 6):

Half of one year?!?  Why oh why does it go by so fast?  Now, don't get me wrong.  When he was eating 8 billion times a night and cried for no apparent reason (as only newborns can do!) I did think, "Oh, Meg, this is just a phase.  He'll be 6 months before you know it".  So, it's not like this was wholly unexpected or unwanted, but it also makes me kind of emotional to think about.  Chris has missed  so much and it honestly breaks my heart.  I know when it's all said and done and Caleb is grown up that 6 months will only be a drop in the bucket, but right now it's everything.  So, yeah, I'm emotional today!

My baby man can now roll over both ways which was this month's BIG accomplishment.  He is still working on sitting up!  I thought for sure he would have it down pat by  now.  If I was more disciplined to let him practice, maybe he would.

Sleeping
He is certainly not going to win any awards for being a great napper!  I have been trying really hard lately to get him on a regular schedule, but that boy is exceptionally unpredictable.  He naps anywhere from 40 mins to 2.5 hours.  His nights have been going better.  Lately, he's only been waking up once (at 4am) to eat between 7pm and 7am so that's a nice change of pace. .

Eating
Honestly, nursing has been hard lately.  I get so frustrated trying to figure out if something is wrong or if I'm satisfying him or why he's fussy (Did I eat something that bothers him?  Is he hungry?  Is it coming out too slow?).  I am so looking forward to starting him on solids so I can be sure he's getting enough calories.  Maybe that's totally opposite from other people.  I wish nursing was easier!  It's one of those areas that I beat myself up over like I mentioned in my failure post.  I realize that in his 5 month post, I mentioned starting him on cereal but after a couple of days, we stopped.  I am one of those people that believe it's best for baby to wait until at least 6 months and I started earlier mostly in hopes that he would sleep better and then I felt guilty and selfish so  we stopped. Autumn started when she 7 months old and Caleb will probably start when he's 6.5 months.   So, that's that.

On a fun note, Autumn & Caleb have started to really play together!  It is so SWEET!  I put them both in the pack and play sometimes (she LOVES it silly girl) and they just entertain each other for awhile.  She will "read" to him or sing or whatever.  It is just one of those things in life that will always bring a smile to my face!  She still definitely gets jealous of him at times, but she more often is sweet to him and understanding of his needs.  That will probably change as they get older, huh? ;)

What else, what else...his hair is totally goofy!  He has the best old man comb-over on a baby I have EVER seen!  Seriously, y'all, it is hilarious!  I look at his newborn pictures and his 3 month pictures and I think, "Where did all his hair go?!?".

That's about all I got.  Here's a few pictures.  He got some professional ones made that I think I will post later today or tomorrow.  I was trying to pick just one or two, but couldn't decide so I am going to put them all up in another post :)

In Germany

We made it to Germany (or "Germy" as Autumn says).  The trip was quite stressful as I knew it would be, but we're here now and all doing fantastic!  Chris returned about a week after us and my mom left about a week after that.  Thank goodness for my mom's help!! I could not have survived without her help getting me and my two kids across the Atlantic and then dealing with jet lag.  Seriously, crazy times.  


The kids and Chris and I have gotten into a wonderful routine of daily life.  Evenings can be pretty hectic because Caleb naps late so when he wakes up it's like go, go, go with eating and our family walk and baths until bedtime but it's just a season and soon enough they will be on the same schedule hopefully!  Right now Caleb goes to bed at 7pm and then the 3 of us eat dinner and Autumn goes to bed at 8pm so we do baths around 6ish which isn't ideal for Autumn but like I said, it's just a season :)

One thing I'm adjusting to is a severe depletion of my free time.  It just...disappeared.  With unpacking and sharing a computer (long story) and figuring out how to do life in a new place, I'm pretty much busy from sunup until sundown.  Plus, my evenings used to be empty once the kids went to bed and now Chris is here, which is certainly a good trade off ;)  But it is an adjustment.  I'm used to reading blogs and books for a couple hours each night and now I'm not sure where to fit that in.  Today I got up super early by accident but it has been nice having a couple hours to myself.  Maybe I'll become an early bird!

That's all for now.  Hope I didn't lose too many friends when I took my accidental blogging break.  I had no idea it would take 3 weeks to get Internet here!  Bavaria, Bavaria, you are beautiful, but I miss my American amenities (mostly customer service and air conditioning).  We have already taken a day trip (Nuremberg) so hopefully I'll post about that soon!

Here is a reunion pic:

It's really not very good of the kids, but it's all I got!  They were handing out those lei type thingies that Autumn is wearing and I think you were supposed to put them around the soldier's head or something?  And, yes, that is really what Caleb's hair looks like from behind.  Most hilarious hair ever.  :)

Tea for Three

Autumn & I had a tea party with her gorilla, Gumbo.  It was fun (ok, I didn't think it was that fun, but she did!)  and we practiced using "please" and "thank you".  Sometimes she even says it all on her own now so yay!

Sadly, we do not have a little tea table so we had to sit on the floor.  Reason number 896 I like having a baby more than being pregnant: I can sit on the floor!!  And, I suwannee, that dog (his name is Randy and he belongs to my parents) is in the background of hundreds of my pictures.  He hangs around a lot :)

We decided to let Bunny in on the action.  

On another note, I think this gorilla is ugly.  Can I get an Amen?  My brother came in and told Autumn she could anything in the zoo gift shop she wanted (Um, yes, my brother SPOILS her...but it's ok because he only gets to see her about twice a year).  Out of the entire gift shop, she chose this UGLY Gorilla!!  It totally cracks me up!  His name is Gumbo and she loves him :)

And since she has the coolest mommy ever, we even got to eat tea sized cookies!  I'm not sure what tea sized means, but they were little miniature chocolate chip cookies. 

Fun, fun, fun.  Pretty soon, daddy will be home and get to experience the awesomeness of a tea party with a two year old and her stuffed animals!  And mommy will laugh in the background ;)