Slacker

I have been a real slacker when it comes to blogging lately. Well, if you ask Kyle and Gunnar they would probably inform you I have been a slacker when it comes to just about everything lately.
Here is about a 2 minute video of Gunnar doing his thing over this last month...

Despite my poor blogging efforts we are all doing okay. Kyle went back to work today, which isn't fun for anyone. I have to drive him because his right foot is the one broken. So at 5:45 I have to load Gunnar up in the car and get Kyle off to work. Gunnar and I bundle up and sit in the car and wait until Kyle is done with PT to bring him home to change his clothes, then take back to work. It isn't fun, but we are managing. I am hoping Gunnar doesn't think that 5:45 is his new wake-up time, as he has finally been sleeping from about 8:30pm-8:00am, and I like that!
Kyle went back to the doctor on Monday and we found out that he could be looking at another surgery. Part of his leg is still broken. They are hoping that it fixes itself before his next appointment Feb. 19th. If it does not he will need surgery. Another surgery means no deployment, but in the same regard we want his leg to be fixed. Kyle is hoping his leg does not heal itself. What a strange thing to hope for...surgery.
Here is are pictures of Kyle's leg where you can see the part that is still broken.

2 months+ with no haircut for Kyle (probably a record)

Here is Kyle with his work haircut (a very sad thing for Kyle).
Gunnar and Me just being silly.

Gunnar with a cheesy smile.

The Boy

Here are just a couple pictures of Gunnar being Gunnar.

Come and get the boy Auntie Jami...

Cookie Monster

Things got awfully quiet this afternoon when we were hanging out in the living room.
That is when I noticed Gunnar was standing next to the end-table enjoying a little snack...

Apparently a cookie got left on the table last night, Gunnar pulled himself up on the table, saw the cookie, and thought "why not?" He enjoyed himself, and was not happy when after the pictures were taken the cookie got taken away.
What a silly (and apparently hungry) boy. He knows a good thing when he sees it.

Gifts

Yesterday Gunnar got his Christmas gifts from Auntie J and Great Grandma & Charlie. A little late, but we had planned on celebrating Christmas when Gunnar and I got there in January. Since plans have changed some gifts were mailed. He had a great time ripping the paper and eating the gift bag...plus the stuff inside was pretty cool.

Thanks for the gifts. We love & miss you all.

8 months (plus a few days)

Time flies...Gunnar is a little over 8 months old now. Here are some things he up to these days:
*Crawling, pretty much mastered this along with pulling himself up on everything.
*Cruising (I didn't know what this meant, but it is when they are basically walking along furniture and such)
*Eating lots of fruits, he still hates his veggies, so I have to trick him into eating them.
*Playing tug-of-war with the dog and chewing dog toys...he is fearless of the dog (a little scary, I hope she continues to be VERY patient with the little guy).

*Screaming. Talk about driving you nuts! Gunnar loves to be heard, we are trying to break him of the screaming thing, but so far no luck. He was screaming bloody murder when Kyle was gone, but since his return has stopped and now just uses a very LOUD voice to get attention.
*Chewing shoes (and toes)
*Playing in water. This kid loves the water, I signed us up for a Baby and Me swim class that starts next week. He should really love it.
*Giving kisses. Well, more like major slobbers, but he loves to kiss. If you give him a kiss and ask for one back he usually will comply.
*Not sleeping. I have no idea what happened, but this boy will not sleep. He is waking up about every hour to two hours. I can get him right back to sleep usually, but wow, this is no fun. We are now working on sleep training which is so hard on mommy and daddy. He used to sleep wonderfully, not anymore, I even have a hard time getting him to nap. What is going on???
*Spitting Up. I read kids are suppose to outgrow spitting up at 6-7 months. Apparently Gunnar didn't get that memo. He spits up so much, I have to pack extra clothes for the entire family. This could be part of his sleeping problem. Whenever I go in after he has woken up I usually find spit-up all over the place.
*Clapping his hands. Not exactly a clap, but he loves hitting his hands together and moving his arms up and down when he is excited or really likes something.
*Taste Testing. Anything and everything has to be tasted. I love watching him crawl around and find something new, even if it is a new spot on the carpet and having to take a taste. Nasty, but funny.
*Standing up...this is new. He has started pushing himself of of low things and just standing there not holding anything, and of course, falling down on his bottom.
*Smiling and Laughing. I feel so blessed to have a happy baby. While he is active, into everything, destroys the house in a matter or seconds, he is always quick to give a smile and a giggle. He can turn any day into a great day!!! I love our little Gunnar.

Tonight I was exhausted and tired of fighting with Gunnar to get his PJs on. Gunnar has a hard time sitting still long enough to get dressed or get his diaper changed. So, Kyle got a turn tonight.

Kyle won the battle, but there was very one unhappy baby in the end.

I think Kyle wants sympathy from everyone, he ask me to post this picture. Like always, the scanner isn't working (a new printer/scanner is on the way) so excuse the quality. He has a month of leave, and always tells me he is working. What? I thought he had a month off of work...oh that's right, he is working on his video gaming skills. What a dork! He is a dork, but he's my dork and I love him. ;)

 

Christmas and More

So much has happened since Christmas Eve...
We celebrated Christmas here in Germany with our little family. We started the morning with letting Gunnar opening his gifts. As we has assumed the paper was more interesting than any of the gifts that he got. I did make us a small Christmas dinner with the main dish being ham. When I heard Kyle was coming home I braved the commissary line and got a few things, luckily I bought less than 20 items so I could hit the express line.
Here we are all looking our best on Christmas morning...

We had a lazy weekend after Christmas apparently because I can't remember anything we did. Lately our days consist of just hanging out and naps. At this point Kyle can't really do much else.
Monday Kyle had to be at work at 6:00, so that meant Gunnar and I got to take him...lucky us.  He finished morning PT around 7:30 and then had to be back at 11:00. It was a joke as all he could really do was sit on his butt, but we all survived, and they didn't work him to hard.
Monday evening we drove to Landstuhl where Kyle would be having his surgery. For $41 we were put in this awesome family room. It would be great if you had to stay for any extended amount of time. Gunnar slept in the car on the long ride there and didn't sleep well that night, and we had to be up at 5:00 Tuesday to get to the hospital, so while I was thankful we stayed the night, I still was overly tired!
Here are a few pictures of the room...

Tuesday Kyle had surgery. We  got to the hospital at 6:00am. Kyle was taken back for surgery around 7:00 and we didn't see him again until 1:00pm. Gunnar and I did a lot of walking the hallways, but really he was a perfect baby. I don't think he fussed at all the entire time we were waiting, which made it much easier for me. The surgeon didn't come talk to us after the surgery so we really aren't sure all that was done and the prognoses on things, but Kyle's next appointment is the 11th, so I suppose we will find out then.  I know he has lots of screws and a plate in his leg & ankle. Kyle left the hospital the same day he had surgery and we drove home that evening. Not a very fun ride for any of us as the road and weather was awful, but we all got home safe and sound, just really tired.
We are now all at home enjoying our time together, trying to keep Kyle's pain under control. Kyle has one month off! One month of sitting on the couch doing nothing. We might try to take a little trip close by once he is feeling better, but we will have to wait and see. Right now we wouldn't get very far...maybe down the stairs of our apartment. :)
Here are some pictures of Gunnar, hanging out in his playpen and with his babylegs on. Kyle saw them and said "why is my boy wearing tights?" I informed him of their proper name "babylegs" to which he responded, "so it's worse, he is wearing leg warmers." Then Kyle decided that Gunnar needed to do a jazzercise workout routine in his totally sweet leg warmers....

Christmas Eve

Tonight we went to the Candlelight Christmas Eve service at the church. It was a goodtime, but I felt bad for Kyle the entire time. He had to have been so comfortable, but he put up with it all. Gunnar actually sat quietly on my lap the entire service...and he wasn't sleeping. He just played with about every toy I could fit in his diaper bag and he was impressed with the fire from the candles, as he would say "ooooo."
Here is a picture of the family before the service...Merry Christmas from our family to yours.

Gunnar in his Christmas PJ's from Poppa and Grandma Rodstol. He is anxiously awaiting Santa's arrival for tomorrow (to bad all his presents are already under the tree).

Here is a sweet picture from earlier today. I needed to cook dinner and Gunnar was taking a nap on me. I didn't want to move him because all day he had only taken little 10 minute cat-naps. He was a cranky kid, and needed a nap, so Kyle took over the holding while I cooked. So sweet, what a lucky kiddo to have his daddy here for Christmas, even if it is with a badly broken ankle.

My two favorite boys on Christmas Eve 2009...

Christmas Gift

Gunnar (and I) got the best Christmas gift...

Kyle is home. He got to come home from the hospital until Tuesday and that is when he will be having his surgery. They then anticipate him being home from 3-5 months before he redeploys.
While we are thankful for this extra time we have together, but we feel so bad for Kyle and are sad he had to break his ankle to be with us. He is in a lot of pain, and keeping him comfortable is not easy. The pain meds make him itchy, and without them he can barley move. We also have a curious little guy who I have to keep away from his one leg and crutches (a fun new toy).

Santa and his little reindeer

Here is Santa and his baby reindeer. We couldn't get him to smile, but at least he wasn't crying. :) (Sorry for the poor quality, our printer/scanner is causing me all sorts of problems, so this is the best I could do).

Just to let our friends and some family (most already) know, Kyle broke his ankle in two places and is being sent to the Army Hospital either here in Germany or to Walter Reed in the states. I was able to talk with both him and the doctor that is treating him in Afghanistan this morning. I will not know until morning which hospital he was sent too. His ankle is requiring surgery. I am hoping that he will be sent to Germany so that Gunnar and I are able to be with him. Please keep him in your prayers as I know Kyle won't be very happy about all of this.

When no one is watching

This is what it looks like when I am not paying attention to Gunnar. How did he gets his pants off? I also would have loved to see him climb in there.

I did get to see him climb out. He came out of the shelf very gracefully.

Apparently yesterday Gunnar was feeling fat and thought he needed to weigh himself.

This is Gunnar tonight after his bath and in his jammies. However, he doesn't look ready to sleep, he is checking out the Christmas tree lights.

Kyle was able to put a few pictures up today. I ask if they were okay to share and he said "yes." There are none of him, sadly he was taking the pictures not smiling for them, but this gives you an idea of what it looks like where he is.

Side Note: Plane tickets were picked up today, we leave Jan. 7th!!!