Hit the ground running...

Well, it's now been officially one month since our arrival home! Time has FLOWN by, which is understandable with all we've had on our plate. We've had all kinds of Dr. appointments to go to for follow-up care, lots of running around in preparation for our move, organizing and the packing itself, and now we're in the stages of fine tuning our planning of getting ourselves to the US. May 15th (our flight date) is going to come SO SOON, I know!

Thus far, our adjustment home has been a good one. I'm thankful for a speedy recovery so I can be much more functional as a Mom to the other kids, caretaker of our household, and a help to Nick than I otherwise would be if I were just a few days out from giving birth (one huge bonus to having a long hospital stay--plenty time for recovery on my part!).

Titus has been doing very well. He had an appointment for checking his eyes and his retinas were deemed fully developed and looking great, for which I am grateful because those are NOT fun to witness. He's also had pediatric appointments to check his growth (I'm happy to report he is now 7 POUNDS!!), and tomorrow he has his hearing test. He's sleeping well, now having his days/nights figured out (though definitely NOT "through the night," which is perfectly fine and normal). He has good periods of being awake and alert during the day, too, which is very fun for Mom and Dad to see. He loves hanging out in the sling while I'm doing housework or helping the kids (have I mentioned how much a lifesaver a sling is when you have multiple children?). So far, so good.

Stella and Ezra have thoroughly enjoyed having their little brother home for good, as well as Mommy. Ezra still occasionally asks Nick if I'm at the hospital, especially when Nick gets him up from his bed, and constantly asks if Titus is "okay" whenever he cries. He has such a caring heart. Both kids are always asking if they can pat his head and give him kisses. Ezra says, "Me pet Titus?" They love helping me (if I'm taking a shower or what have you and Titus is in the swing or wherever) by singing to Titus as you can see in the following video.

Stella especially loves holding Titus any chance she gets, and sometimes gets upset if she didn't get to hold him all day. She's doing very well being the biggest sibling, taking care of Ezra at kindergarten, helping me whenever she can by clearing the table, sorting laundry, picking up toys, etc. She even says, "Mommy, I'm going to help you keep the house clean." Believe me, I'm encouraging this every chance I get! She's enjoying her ballet class and has a performance coming up in another couple weeks. I'm currently finishing up her mermaid costume, and having a BLAST doing it. She's also making progress in her swimming lessons, though it has been a big challenge for her. She's very intimidated by swimming in the "big" pool, and expressed it by not wanting to go to her lessons. We're trying to be encouraging with a firm hand and explaining to her how important it is to learn how to swim in the big pool, and that learning will help her get over her fears. It's SO HARD helping your kids work through their fears! Today will be the first time I get to go to her lesson with her, and I'm hoping my presence will help give her more confidence. I'm just excited to see what she's been doing the past couple months!

We've been trying our best to help our kids have fun with all the chaos and turmoil we've had in our normal routine for the past few months by getting them involved in some of the decision making. Even simple stuff like what we have for dinner and letting them help me prepare it lets them feel more a part of what's going on. We were at the grocery store the other day and Nick bought some funny glasses for the kids to wear. I still have to get a photo of Ezra with them on...

I feel like we got gipped, though, as they don't have the mustache part.

Oh, and speaking of mustaches, it's March, which means the annual growing of mustaches has been going on... Ezra thought Daddy's was so cool he wanted one, too, so I drew one on him for fun. :) He is constantly talking about it, which is funny to me. He drinks milk and gets some on his upper lip and says, "Me have mustache. Like Daddy."

The craziest bit of the past few weeks has been frantically preparing for the packers to come. Funny thing, they were scheduled to arrive on my due date. Weird! From the date Nick called to arrange our pack out date to the pack out date itself we had 11 days. I must say I am thankful that we have a small house and not a ton of stuff, because 11 days just barely cut it (what with Drs. appointments, three small children, a nursing newborn, daily housework in general, etc.). The worst part was when they arrived, having told us it would be two days of packing and one of loading the truck, and informed us they would do it all in one day. Now, mind you, I was on the one hand relieved, but on the other breakfast was still hot and on the table, the kids were still at home and not dressed yet, and we had still had stuff out that we DID NOT want packed. Within mere minutes of them walking through the door, there were packers everywhere (well, only five, but when you only have 3 bedrooms, a small kitchen and a living/dining room, it feels like they're everywhere) and boxes, tape and paper flying about at random. Ezra kept running around and I had to order the kids glued to the couch to prevent them getting run over. Nick and I then frantically ran around and threw the random DO NOT PACK items (like Nick's wallet, Titus' diapers, my diaper bag...) into the bathroom, tried to tell them to not take apart our computer (which they did anyway), and attempted (somewhat successfully) to keep the kids on the couch all at the same time. (Are you panicking yet? I was!) Then, Nick decided to get the kids off to school (SO THANKFUL for the kindergarten), and I was by myself with Titus and 5 huge Turkish men. One had almost completely emptied a closet that had "don't pack" stuff in it, which I had to explain with very large arm motions and then help him unpack it from some boxes, and then found he had also wrapped up a couple suitcases that were still out (I'm telling you, these guys were ALL BUSINESS and crazy fast.) While that was going on, the guy in the living room had packed up our computer (my heart still flutters a bit at this, but at least we still had the original boxes to put it in, so it shouldn't get broken. I hope.), my favorite sweater, and Stella's pillow and blanket and I didn't notice it until WAY later. When he was getting ready to pack up our bedding with the other couch, and I explained that we needed those sheets and pillows, the guy in our bedroom was packing away Titus' blanket and our only cell phone charger. *sigh* It still exhausts me thinking about it. They had our entire house packed and loaded onto a truck, into the crates and nailed shut in NINE HOURS. Amazing.

Stella and Ezra came home moments after the truck pulled away with 95% of our worldly possessions. Stella's first question was, "Is my bed gone?" And then I had to explain that it was gone along with her pillow and blankie. Thankfully no fit throwing ensued. The kids had fun riding their bikes around inside our now spacious house while Nick and I finished up sweeping and mopping the dust bunny strewn floors. Once we were done, we went out for dinner.

Now, the whole thing with them moving us in one day was fabulous--I had already arranged for the kids to be at a friend's house that day and had not made further plans yet, so that was convenient. However, the temporary furniture (i.e. beds and such) that we were planning to use until we actually leave Germany was scheduled to arrive after they packed up the truck on the 3rd day. Problem. We called to see if they could come earlier, but the best they could do was the next day. Providentially, as the moving truck was pulling away, our neighbor came over to see how we were doing and if we needed anything, and lo and behold, they had two air mattresses. Problem solved! We still had Stella's matress and a pack 'n play for Ezra and a borrowed cradle for Titus, so we were good to sleep. The next morning, just as we were preparing our picnic breakfast, the truck pulled up with furniture for us. Yeay!

Now we're all settled into our very spacious and echo-y and LOUD house. Thankfully, the sun has been out and the temperatures in the very comfortable 60s, so it's been much cheerier than it otherwise would be. Plus, Nick had off the three allotted days, so we've been able to do some much needed work on planning our travels, etc. We bought our plane tickets for visiting family and friends: We fly from here to TX on May 15th, then May 24 (Stella's 5th birthday!) we'll be landing in Omaha and hopefully visiting Lincoln on the 25th. The 26th we'll drive up to Sioux Falls area to see Nick's family, then fly to Birmingham on the 31st to visit my family until the 4th of June. Then it's back to Texas for a couple days before Nick has to get back to work. We have one week (the 15th-24th) to find a house, find a car, unpack some, get internet/phone/utilities/etc. set up. AAAHHH!! I can't wait until it's July and all this is behind us and we're settled. Then again, I want to savor every moment we have left here in Germany with our wonderful friends here, too. *sigh* That's life this side of Heaven I suppose. Never quite right. In the meantime, we're thankful for what we've been blessed with, which is a whole lot more than we deserve.