Arriving in Dayton

We drove to the Dayton area three weeks ago and spent the first five nights in an extended-stay hotel.  It had a bedroom, living area and kitchenette, and we got to keep the cat with us (for a fee, of course).  It wasn't ideal but was so much better than a basic hotel room, even with the extra cost.

Mike had some inprocessing and other base things to do the first few days, and then we house-hunted with a realtor (and both kids) for three days.  Neither our adventures in real estate nor being stuck in a hotel pleased the kids.  We did find a house, but we can't move in until Oct 1st...more on that later. 

We explored the area a little and found some shopping areas.  After spending two years in Germany, I really appreciate all the stores in the states.  Yay, Target!  I never thought I'd appreciate being in a consumer society so much.  Here, Mike and Ben found the 3D TV demo in Best Buy.

Once there was a spot available on base, we got to move into temporary lodging.  It's great: two bedrooms, full kitchen, living room, and a washer and dryer.  I can do laundry whenever I want!  Hey, it's the little things.  Availability for these rooms is limited, and Mike has to go back every so often to see if we can extend our stay.  We'll be here for another 2-3 weeks.  If we're super lucky we can extend again.  Oh, and this isn't free...we get so many days paid for, and the rest is up to us.

Since the whole point of this short-notice move was to get medical support for Madeline, we got the ball rolling by taking her to see her base pediatrician right away.  Ben reluctantly tagged along.

Sesame Street on my iPod kept him occupied for 2.5 minutes.

The doctor we saw is great.  She signed off on the referral to see dwarfism specialists in Cincinnati later this week, and she also set up referrals for both physical therapy and occupational therapy.  Plus Maddy's having some eating issues - she eats very small amounts and often throws up anything but formula - so she sent us off-base for some tests.

Here's Ben at Dayton Children's while Maddy was having an upper GI.  It was kind of neat being in a children's hospital where everything's tailored to kids.  We'll be going back soon to see a pediatric GI doc because we still don't know why Maddy's not eating normally.

We dragged Ben along to do a lot of boring stuff.  So we tried finding some playgrounds where he could blow off steam.  Yeah.  The base, while huge and boasting a ginormous golf course, doesn't have any functioning playgrounds right now.  But before we could hunt down one within driving distance, we found this play area in the local mall.  Score!  We thought it was kind of lame...and Ben thought it was AWESOME.  He can run, play, and badger other kids.  It's all he's ever wanted.  Besides his own iPad.

Nine Months Old

Maddy is nine months old today!  This month has been a whirwind.

She has spent the last month sleeping in this portable bed.  With us moving around so much, napping hasn't been as easy as it used to be.  She still wakes up 3-5 times each night to eat or find her pacifier.

She has given us her share of grumpy faces lately.  This one was after an upper GI to figure out way she can't hold down any solids (cereal or pureed baby food) lately.  And she's been less than thrilled about all the hours she had to spent in her car seat.  Plus she's been strapped into this reclining stroller a lot.

So it was a good month for her to develop her sense of humor.  She loves pulling blankets big and small over her face to play peekaboo.  It's truly precious.

She now also prefers to be carried like this so she sees everything upside down.  This is not a very comfortable position for whoever's carrying her.  She loves being mobile.  She's still not crawling but she gets where she needs to go by pivoting and rolling.

Her new favorite silly face.  While doing this she exhales loudly through her nose.  Such a goofball.

Her cuteness has even won Ben over.  He will do just about anything to make her smile.  Here he is shaking his head back and forth, which for some reason seems to amuse both of them.  It's so neat to see them starting to play with each other.

Aunt Becki, Uncle Jim, & Emily

Recap: We flew from Germany to Baltimore, stayed in Elizabethtown, PA, and then went to Binghamton, NY.  From there we drove to Pittsburgh to stay at Uncle Jim and Aunt  Becki's house for five days.  It was awesome.  It was like home away from home, and it was so much fun to hang out with them.

Though she tried, Madeline couldn't resist Aunt Becki's charm.  

Both of the kids had a blast with Emily.  She really had a way with them.  Ben still asks us when he can play games with Emily again.

Ben loved the backyard pool.  Mike moved far from the pool steps, and Ben kicked his way out to him. 

Every once in a while, for no apparent reason, Ben would get out, run to this fountain, and stick his finger in the water.  Then right back in the pool he went.    

Maddy's designated blanket for the kitchen floor.

Saturday morning brownies :)  Ben had sooo much fun making and eating these.

Aunt Becki treated Ben and Maddy to their own pillow pets.  Maddy was tickled by her purple ladybug. 

Ben "helping" Uncle Jim fix the deck.

Ben's special makeshift bed in his own room.  He was pretty excited about it.

We got showered with love, attention, clean laundry, free internet, and Dairy Queen while we were there.  It was hard to leave.  But we'll be back to bug them again before too long - it's a mere 4.5-hour drive from Dayton.

Visiting Gram

After our week in Elizabethtown, we drove up to Binghamton, NY to visit Mike's grandmother.

At the park.  Gram got lots of smiles from Madeline, but Maddy still wouldn't let Gram hold her without crying.  And Gram is kind of a baby-whisperer: all babies love Gram!  Maddy must not have gotten the memo.

Day 1 of the carousel in the park.  We tried calling it the merry-go-round but Ben kept calling it the "macaroni round."

This trip was the first time Gram got to see Maddy.

Day 2 at the carousel. Ben waited patiently for a chance to get on the ride, then stayed on for a long, long time. 

This carousel is so neat.  It's been around for generations and is free to the public.  Gram was a kid when it was being built.

Every time the ride stopped, Ben picked a different horse.  Or dog, in this case.  Also, do you know how hard it is to take a decent picture of a moving carousel while standing outside a chain-link fence?

Check out the bandages on Ben's knee.  He had two more on the other knee.  He kept falling and scraping his knees on the walkway to the carousel.  The silver lining was that he got to wear four Cars band-aids at once.  

 

Then we headed to Mike and Donna's house for a cookout.  They had an awesome house with a great deck and big pool.  Again, Maddy was fine as long as she was in the shade. 

Mike helping Ben "swim" with his brand-new floaties.  Let me see if I can explain the family relation: this Mike was the cousin of my husband Mike's mom.

Taken from the deck.

Maddy was sooo good. She loved lying on the deck because it was shaded and had a ceiling fan.  And Mike's cousin Sharon kept her entertained.  I regret I didn't get any pictures of that.

Ben making a play for Daddy's beer can.

 

All tuckered out at the end of the day.  It was so nice getting to hang out with Mike's family members who we rarely get to see.  Now that we're back in the states, hopefully we'll get to see more of them. 

At Aunt Jeanie's House

 

Because I have lost the ability to pick out just a few photos to post, here are a ton of photos from our visit to Aunt Jeanie's two weeks ago. Jordan was a tad bit jealous of Madeline when we first got there.

Pretty sure Ben was pointing to Jordan's awesome train set.  Maddy was thrilled to be with the kids.

I think this is a Daddy smile.

Rachel can hold Maddy longer than most people can.

See?  Still not crying.  She's even smiling!

It was sometime during that week that Maddy finally got her foot into her mouth.

The boys had a blast in the backyard.

I'm really glad the cousins had so much fun together.