Updates!

We had a great visit with Gramy and Grampy Franzen. They came in on the morning of the 5th and instead of running upstairs to take a nap, Grampy decided to visit a while with the boys while I made goodies for my Bible study class. The next thing I know I hear him "ridiculing" Alex saying, "Anyone can go backwards. Try crawling forwards." I teased him about humiliating Alex into crawling. 10 mins. later, Alex crawled. I was still out in the kitchen so I had to come out to see for myself and that took another 10 mins., but sure enough, he DID IT! Yay Alex!

He was getting pretty good by the time they left on 4/12 and he even pulled himself up once on Gramy but didn't repeat it till this past week. I watched him try to pull himself up one morning and it took him a minute, but he got it so Daddy was wonderful and lowered the crib before heading into work which was a blessing because he's kept pulling himself up ever since and has even managed to "cruise" a few steps here and there from one toy to another. He's still falling sometimes and Big Brother Brennan doesn't help when he decides he's to have a toy and Alex shouldn't and yanks Alex off his feet.

For Alex's part, Grampy did (and since so have I) witness Alex taking Bren's hand in his and shoving it out of the way so he's trying to stand up for himself in the toy department. Alex is also using the tried and true little brother trick of screaming to get Bren in trouble. He had figured that one out when we were visiting Gramy and Grampy while Daddy was deployed, but he'd laid off of it till recently.

They do entertain each other and Bren cannot wait till Alex is ready to run in circles with him. I'm still trying to get used to the fact that I put Alex in one spot (in the living room in front of the toys) and 2 mins. later, he's not there and has made it into the bathroom, kitchen, under the table, into the pantry, etc. I'm constantly scratching my head in a "that's not where I left you and wow do you move fast" fashion.

This morning, Alex had decided he was going to follow Daddy out the door to work. It was so cute. Vin was giving us all kisses since he was going on a 2-day trip, and he walked out the door and was still talking to me and Alex put his head down and "charged". He crawled with such determination we had to chuckle.

For Bren's latest development, it's that he's peed on the potty 3 times now. The first was on 3/25 right after his bath and it was a small tinkle. The next 2 times were full pee-pee's. He's averaging one per week about now. I know that will change when we are travelling, but I'm hoping he'll decide he's ready when we finally get settled into a house in CA. The sooner the better but I'm NOT going to push it. He's entirely too stubborn and I refuse to carry around 10 changes of clothes/underwear because I want him to be a big boy before he's ready. Plus, he refuses to wear the pull-ups with the fancy red cars on them. I would have thought he'd like them, but this is my kid. Stubborn as the day is long (a day in the summertime near the North Pole that is).

With the way Alex is go, go, going, I expect he'll be potty-trained before Bren, if for no other reason than to show up his big bro. ;)

We're moving out of our place later this week. Thurs. they come to pick up the stuff we'll need sooner than the rest (Unaccompanied Baggage). Friday they come to pack up our HHG (Household Goods) and if they need to, they'll come back on Sat. to finish. Vin and I are taking the boys and staying on base starting Sat. as the baby gates will be gone by then and anyone who's been here understands how terrifying a prospect that is with our baby-eating stairways. Well, they've never gotten one of the boys, but Simon our cat took the "Express" way from our main floor down to our basement with a mis-step once. He did your typical, "I meant to do that" headshake when I (7 mos. pregnant with Alex) flew down the stairs to see if he was o.k. He did end up with a cut on his bottom that needed antibiotics, but he's the only critter that's managed to fall through the openings thankfully.

The rest of the time, we'll be cleaning up. The biggest job will be removing the carpet runners we put in after I'd slipped and fallen 3 times after we'd just moved in. The last fall was a doozie and wrenched my back but the landlord told us not to put them on the stairs and if we did, we'd have to remove them before vacating. I took off one just to make sure the adhesive wasn't going to damage the woodwork of the stairs, and it's a slow process, but they do come off with a bit of elbow grease and the wood is fine thankfully. 1 down, 29 more to go. Eek.

And all of our many windows for our gorgeous view need to be thoroughly cleaned so that will be a job and a half too. Busy, busy, busy.

Vin is hoping to have his fini-flight next week some time after we're done here. The tradition here is to hose the guy down when he gets off the plane with some old-fashioned fire extinguishers "charged" with water. They used to use a green de-icing chemical that they weren't using on the planes anymore so those guys had a bit of a tint to them for a few days after their hosing. So did the ramp and that's why that particular practise got nixed. It's Germany so we're not sure if Vin will have a 75-80 degree day for his hosing or a 40 degree day. The weather's been all over the map so we'll have to see.

I remember AJ Lewton got "hosed" this time last year and it had been nice up until the day he got doused and I don't think it was much above 50 so the poor guy was frozen solid.

We're still looking to buy a house when we get out there. We're keeping our eyes open and our realtor is being very helpful. She's even got a lead on a place (a foreclosure unfortunately) that the people were very upset about being made to leave so they took everything, including the kitchen sink, the cabinet it was attached to, the stove, a door here and there, the mantel from around the fireplace, one of the bathrooms (sink/cabinets, etc.), just random stuff. The bank will have to replace all of that before selling it, but she thinks they'll bring it down a bit because they won't do anything with the backyard which Vin and I could easily take care of ourselves. It's in a neighborhood we were trying to get into in a town we wanted to live in, near a park for the kids and I to "live" at basically. It's also the same design as the other 2 houses which we liked. And hey, everything will be pretty new in there. The carpet either needs a massive cleaning or to be removed so we can only hope that the bank wouldn't want to take care of that so we can maybe put in a smidge lower of an offer because of that too. We'll have to just wait and see and it wouldn't be ready for a few months anyway so we have some time to get some things worked out, plus if we find a different place between now and then that's NOT a foreclosure, all the better.

That's the latest. I'm not even going to bother to try to post pics till we're at my folks' because I'm done fighting the German DSL. The boys are bigger and Alex is standing so just close your eyes and think, think, think as Pooh would say.

Love to all!