A Picture a Day & 2 months

GUNNAR IS TWO MONTHS OLD TODAY! We are so happy to have this little dude in our lives. He goes for his two month check-up on Thursday, I will post his stats then.

Okay, so no promises, but I am going to try and post a picture a day for Gunnar's grandparents. I know that it is hard to not see him everyday and miss out on all the little things. Today I got a little carried away but he is such a cutie I can't help myself.
Checking out his toy

Dad at the command center watching Gunnar and Oma

Suesse was the babysitter for a bit this morning. She did a very nice job.

Gunnar loves sitting in his bassinet watching the bears go around.

This is the view I see from my bed of the baby. He loves kicking those feet up high


-In other news we got Gunnar's passport today. We have 8 days of leave left...we considered going back home, but in the end we decided that about $5000 for about 6 days of seeing people was not a wise financial choice. Even though we won't be going home having his passport allows us more options for traveling around here, now if only our new car would get here. We are praying that it is off the ship and hopefully in Schweinfurt by Thursday (that is when we plan on starting whatever adventure we are going to take on).

Busy Weekend

We had a fun and busy weekend here in Schweinfurt. Yesterday I played Army from about 9am-3pm for the 1-91 CAV ladies Spur Ride. It was a fun, but long day. Kyle stayed home with Gunnar until about 1pm then came with us the rest of the day. Kyle did a great job taking care of the kid! I have a few pictures but since Kyle wasn't there a lot of pictures have to be sent to me from my girlfriends. I will write a blog with more pictures and details one I receive them.
The C-Troop Ladies

After the Spur Ride, Gunnar and I took a nap, then Kyle woke us up to go out to the village where Beccy's parents live. Beccy and Barrett invited us out there and we had a great time. They were celebrating the longest day and shortest night in Germany. Her parents had a pool that we got to swim in and then we went to the village bonfire. It was so much fun and neat to experience a little more of German culture then we ever get on base. I have pictures from the pool but not the bonfire.


Today we pretty much had a relaxing day. Junior came over this evening and we made homemade pizza and watched movies. Now Kyle is playing DJ with a new music program he got...I am sure the neighbors love him considering it is 10:30pm.
Here is Junior with the doggies.

I'm not sure what is on the agenda for tomorrow, I do know we have to bug bomb our house, I am being eaten alive by something (i have over 30 bites), and Gunnar got his first one today, poor baby.

Kyle has been on leave since Monday, and doesn't go back to work until July 9th. We are enjoying our time together and sleeping in (or I attempt to sleep in). We had wanted to go back to the states, but due to Gunnar's passport not getting here in time we are stuck. There is plenty to do and I keep bugging Kyle to go traveling around here, but he is still holding out that we will get Gunnar's passport this week and be able to head to the states. So in the meantime, we have been hanging out and Kyle has been doing career planning. If the passport isn't here by tomorrow, I think we will start making our plans for a trip to Italy and Switzerland. Technically Gunnar needs a passport to go there, but the borders are open, so we can just keep our fingers crossed that there are no random checks!

The other day Gunnar got Kyle really good. I didn't think to take a picture until I had already started to help clean him up. I warned him, not to jostle the baby as he had just ate...hmm, someone didn't listen. His face was covered, and he wouldn't hold still for the picture.


Oma got her first swimming lesson session with Kyle today. Poor doggy!


Suesse is a really good swimmer, but she doesn't really like it. Today, Kyle took her way out there. She wasn't thrilled.


Here is Kyle and the doggies. I am pretty sure Oma had hypothermia, she was one sad puppy after her swimming lessons.


Here is a picture of Gunnar and I out at the lake. We didn't brave the freezing water. Soon after the picture we both got all bundled up!

Bath Time Fun

Gunnar just loves his bath time. Usually, when I take him out of the bath he screams, he just loves being in the water. But tonight, he was so cute and happy we couldn't help but take his pictures.



Sorry for 3 posts in one day...I just can't help but share these fun things.

Volksfest

We had a great weekend with our friends. Friday night, Beccy and Barrett came over for dinner then Saturday Junior came over for breakfast for dinner. Then the five of us all got together and walked across the street to the Volksfest. We had tons of fun and are thankful for such great friends.

Junior, Kyle, Beccy & Barrett on the puke machine

Beth, Junior, Barrett & Beccy on the Log Ride

Kyle, Junior, and Beccy flying high

Kyle and Beth are ready for bummer cars

This is Jager, the Lee's dog...he was hanging out in Suesse and Oma's bed!

Happy Father's Day!

Today is Kyle's first Father's Day. He has been a daddy for a little less two months! He is such a great dad to Gunnar, and we are lucky to have him in our lives. He is looking forward to Gunnar getting a little older so he teach him things and do "cool" things with him. I am a little nervous about what these "cool" things are, but I am sure Gunnar will enjoy every minute of it!


I am thankful for our Dad's this Father's Day as well. I feel so blessed to have my dad as a major part of our lives. He has such a gracious and loving heart and is always fun to be around.


We are also lucky to have Kyle's Dad as part of our lives, he is always so supportive and is helping Kyle learn from his experiences.

Smiles

Oops...that isn't a smile, that is a very ANGRY Gunnar!
However, Gunnar has been a smiling machine lately...that is when he isn't screaming his head off at me! I am not sure he is has control of all his smiles, but I have convinced myself he knows what he is doing. I talk to him and he looks up at me and will give me big smiles, he also had all the ladies at school gawking over him and he gave them the biggest smile ever. He really made their day! I never seem to be able to catch a smile on camera, but today I was determined. I didn't get his best smile, but you get the idea...

Last Minute Trip

This weekend Kyle had a 4 day. We had planned on heading to Austria, but since Gunnar was in the hospital and I wasn't feeling to hot, we thought it best not to go. However, Sunday morning everyone was feeling great, so we packed up and headed out.
We decided not to go all the way to Austria (we were like 5 minutes from the border) and stay in Berchtesgaden. There was so much to do, and we really could have used all 4 days, but now we will just have to go back some time.
We arrived around 1530 and headed straight to the Eagles nest because the last bus left at 1600. We got there about 5 minutes before it headed up the mountain. It was so beautiful up there. I wish someone would build me a place like that for my birthday. :) I got major blisters on my heels from my shoes, it was a bummer, but I tried my best to power through the pain...at least we got to ride a bus and I didn't have to walk.
After the Eagles Nest we went and checked into our hotel. We got checked in and headed down to Konigssee lake to grab a bite to eat and see about catching a boat ride. The boats were done for the day, and we were tired so we opted to head back to the hotel for some shut-eye.
On Monday we got out of the hotel around 10am. Of course since my shoes were causing major blisters and my only other shoes were flip-flops we got to go shoe shopping...yipee!!! After our shopping adventure we started our day out with a 3km hike through the Almbach Gorge & Marble Mill. This is considered the most beautiful Gorge in Germany, and I think it lived up to its expectations. It was beautiful...(please note I am very out of shape, my legs were dying, there were so many stairs). After going through the gorge, we grabbed a bite to eat. I was feeding Gunnar and ask Kyle to cut some more of my schnitzel for me. He cut me the biggest pieces, he called them "man bites". Our waitress saw me struggling to eat these huge pieces and came over and cut them for me....I was pretty embarrassed, and so was Kyle, but appreciative none the less.
After lunch we headed out to the lake. This is the cleanest lake in Germany and it was just beautiful. We really enjoyed out boat ride seeing the water falls and an ancient pilgrim church. We choose to take the long ride so we could go hike to see another lake, Obersee. From here you can see Germany's largest waterfall the Röthbach. We got back to shore around 1700. We stopped at good old McDonald's for dinner and started home. Our GPS was avoiding construction and took us on a very scenic route home. Instead of the 4 hours we had planned it took us around 6 hours. We got back home around 1am on Tuesday. Kyle had to be up for work at 5:30. I am not sure how he survived, because Gunnar and I laid around until noon!
We want to go back sometime soon to check out the world's largest ice caves. This place was full of so many cool things, I think you could spend a week there and never get bored with so many things to do!

Home Sweet Home

Some days I think that I spend more time at the hospital than my own house.
Thursday I took Gunnar to the pediatrician because he has been projectile vomiting after eating and spends most of his time screaming at me instead of actually eating. He also had diarrhea and a rash. We ended up with who I would consider the rudest doctor I have ever seen, who made us (more so Kyle) feel like a complete failure as a parent. She told us she wanted him to go get an ultrasound to rule out pyloric stenosis, something that develops about this age and is fairly common, and requires surgery to be fixed. However, when she came back with the referral for the ultrasound she told us that we had to take Gunnar to the hospital because he was dehydrated. We were shocked because her reasoning was things that she never ask us about, like how often he peed or if he had tears when he cried, and she said he had a lack of saliva. Well, we don't know how she figured all this out, without asking us since she only saw him for 5 minutes. However, we did what she said and took him to the hospital, they checked him out and wanted to do an ultrasound. Gunnar has a lot of gas so they couldn't see anything. They tried again later that day and had the same problem. We ended up staying two nights in the hospital. The kept him on an IV and watched him closely. They let us come home this morning with the conclusion that he was having a reaction to the medicine I was taking for mastitis. So to say the least is has been a long couple of days, but we are glad Gunnar is healthy and that we are all back home. Now, we think I have mastitis back again (I haven't been over it for a week), so we will see what happens with that, it is so discouraging...the things we do for our kids health. I was ready to throw in the towel with breast feeding after the first infection, but thought I would try and stick with it, since it is better for Gunnar!
Well, I am ready to get some good rest, as you can imagine I didn't sleep the greatest in the hospital.

After the put the IV in his head they put this interesting net hat on him to keep him from pulling on it. He looked so silly, and it made him look so pathetic and sick...poor baby!

Here is daddy and Gunnar hanging out on the bed. Gunnar was feeling much better!

Gunnar is back at home, YEA!!! Home Sweet Home

Groundhog Day!!

This is a very exciting post, so get ready to contain yourselves! This is what we all do in a typical day...life is very different not working!


Apparently the bouncer is pretty comfortable, do you think I could fit in it?! I am not sure who uses it more, Gunnar or Oma!


When Suesse and Oma aren't sleeping their day away, they like to play a game where Oma goes under the crib and pops out at Suesse, then Suesse smacks Oma with her paw and Oma goes back under the crib. It reminds me of the game at Chuck-E-Cheese where you hit the crocodile on the head!

So while Gunnar, Oma, (and Suesse) all snooze, I do my domestic duties around the house! I folded a couple weeks worth of clothes that we let pile up!

Kyle goes to work and in his spare time is enjoying his remote control helicopters.--Like his clothes? we just got back from the gym!

See...life is exciting!!!--In case you were wondering Kyle titled this post. He thinks I am the weird one, since I had to have him explain the reasoning behind it.

11 Pills a Day!

This past week I have been suffering from Mastitis. Kyle and I figured out that was what was wrong with me late Wednesday night, when I was running a high fever with the chills. My entire body was aching and it was proving to be a difficult task to take care of Gunnar. I usually don't complain about pain but I was in so much pain that I would have tears coming down my face as I would feed Gunnar or even just with him laying on my chest! Thursday I called my doctor and found out he was on holiday so I had to see another doctor in his practice. She did not speak good English and sent me home and told me to put cream cheese on my breasts after feedings...what??? Luckily she had me schedule another appointment the next day with another doctor who spoke better English. On Friday the doctor took one look at me and said I had a serious infection and could possibly need surgery if the antibiotics don't start working quickly. So I am now taking 11 pills a day, some for pain, some for the infection. I am also suppose to continue with the cream cheese and then after the cream cheese put some other herbal stuff on my breast. All of this in between feedings, plus I am suppose to be sleeping and not getting out of bed...what an easy task with all this silliness, plus caring for Gunnar! Luckily Kyle was able to get a four day pass to stay home with me and help out. I am thankful because this morning when I woke up I had the infection in the other breast as well. I am pretty sure that this is all more painful than actually giving birth (no joke). I am better tonight, but had a pretty rough day. On Monday I go back to the doctor see if the infection has gone down enough to avoid surgery (I sure hope so)!

Here is all my pills...wow, 11 a day is no joke! Plus my Quark (like cream cheese) and my herbal solution

Kyle and Gunnar get some extra bonding time with me not being very comfortable even holding the sweet baby boy!