An actual place to call ours for the foreseeable future & our time here in Germany.
We moved in about three weeks ago, and it's been a whirlwind ever since. We received our unaccompanied baggage (a small shipment of stuff that was the first to arrive) the day we accepted the unit, complete with items that were supposed to be in our household goods shipment and missing crib parts (nooooooo!) My car finally arrived after being missing for quite some time, but only after phone calls, complaints, and a lot of fuss, and not without it's fair share of damage. Our household goods arrived last Thursday and MOSTLY went well, until the very end when we realized my husbands two game consoles (including his brand new XBox), a bunch of blu-ray DVD's and pretty much every electronic cable we owned were the only things missing. Since our crates were sealed at our house when everything was packed up, and those were the only two boxes missing, it was easy to put two and two together and we realized the packers had essentially boxed it up and walked it to their vehicles. Asshats. But we have waded our way through; after a lot of searching and navigating German hardware stores we found parts that work for the crib well enough. The damage to my car is hardly noticeable, and probably not noticeable to those who don't see it every day, but we will file a claim & get it fixed regardless. And the HHG, well, it could have been a lot worse. We are grateful for that.
Our living situation was not our ideal situation that we were hoping for, but in true Williams' family tradition, we are making the best of it with no complaints. Living off-post was not an option for us, due to availability within a certain time frame after we arrived, but we were able to wait a bit and get a place that we really liked. We have a nice, newly renovated and spacious three bedroom stairwell apartment, with a good combination of American and German amenities. We live about 30 minutes away from the main post where my husband works, but it's quiet and residential only, which means we don't have the hustle and bustle of Army life. Did I mention the views of gorgeous vineyards out our back windows? It's quiet, and so far drama free, which I'm happy with, and we have had a warm welcome from some of our neighbors. We have gone into sort of a redecorating mode, and have bought a ton of new furniture, but are still in need of some things. Once I get everything in place, I will be happy to share photos for those that are interested.
We are all, for the most part, adjusting. Max could care less, as long as someone is paying attention to him, and he seems to be sleeping better now that he is in a crib. Can we get an AMEN for that one? It's still brutal at times, and he's still not a good sleeper, but every night seems to be a little better than the one before. I look forward to the day when he sleeps longer than five hours at a time. Part of the problem is that there was never an opportunity to start getting him on a schedule. Just when he hit the age where a routine would set it, we packed up and moved. Now that we are where we will be staying for the next couple of years, I have been diligent about working towards a normal routine with him. Some days it's a wash, others he does really well. Bedtime is now consistently at 8pm and we work on getting 2-3 solid naps a day. He didn't fall into a schedule as easy as Lucas did, but come hell or high water, we will get him there. My copy of "Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child" is eagerly awaiting a chance for me to have more than five minutes of reading time.
Lucas -- poor sweet Lucas. He has had a much harder time than anybody. His routine was rocked to hell and back when we moved, and for a child that was a ROUTINE baby from day one, this has been exceptionally hard for him. For six weeks, while we were living in three different hotels, it was "keep him up until he passes out because getting him to go to sleep at 8pm while we are all still here in the room" was really our only option. On top of that, he was sleeping with either me, my husband, or my mom when she was here visiting, something he got used to very quickly. Then we moved again, into our permanent place, but still without any of our things. Bedtime and nap time has been a challenge, with some nights resulting in over two hours of screaming and crying while we try to get him down, and almost always ending with him coming into our room in the wee hours of the night. He does not want to be alone. At all. Ever. Not even for five minutes, which is hard to watch from my notoriously "happy to play alone" child. But the kicker is that even when we are around other kids, he wants nothing to do with them, when normally he would be all over the chance to be with other little people. It's rough, and I know it's just a phase; slowly but surely we are making progress (I was able to get him to sleep last night by sitting in the hallway with the door open so he could see me as opposed to actually being IN bed with him, and when he woke up at 3am I got him back to sleep in his own bed vs ours) but I know we still have a long road ahead of us. Two is hard enough without everything he has been through in a short amount of time.
Other than that, it feels like we have been here forever now. I am struggling to meet people, which is completely my own fault (damn you, social anxiety) and having two kids who nap on completely different schedules aids in this, which means we are in the house for a good part of the day. But -- we will get there, and the loneliness will eventually give way to hopefully some great friendships.
So there we have it. A not so quick update as to how things are going. Labor day is this weekend, and we are still trying to decide where we want to go and what we want to do, but you know it will be fabulous and I can't wait to share!
Cheers!
