Now when did Ruby think it was okay to turn 2 and then the next day Sadie turned 4 to boot. I have no idea where the time has gone? It seems like just yesterday we moved here with a 3,2, and 2 month old. Now we are about to leave and have an almost 6, 4, and 2 year old. The girls had a lovely and quiet birthdays at home. We got Ruby a battery powered quad that she loved. She put on her helmet and was riding it all around the living room. It had rained for a few days straight so there was no way that we were going to let her outside with the thing. She had a blast anyways. Lilly and Sadie picked out a Lalaloopsy doll for her too and she has loved the crap out of the thing since it came out of the box. She named it Cutie Pie and dragged it everywhere for at least a week and a half. She also got some pretty horses from Memaw, Papop, and Shelby. She was so excited for her cake and candles to blow out that she blew the candles out the second it was placed in front of her. So, we had to light them again and she got to blow them out twice :)
Sadie's birthday was very chill. Daddy had to work so we played Disney video games all day. She is definitely the gamer out of the three of them. Her favorite thing to do is just to sit with Daddy and 'help'/watch him play video games. Whenever I had to go out into the city for doctor's appointments he would stay home with Sadie and Ruby and they would just sit around and 'play' video games together. So if you think the child had a boring birthday and had no fun at all, you're sorely mistaken. She had a blast and when I told her it was time for a break, she pouted and got all whiny. Instead of having cake 2 nights in a row, she opted for some birthday ice cream sundaes and then have cake the next night. She got a Nintendo DS for her birthday, a Disney Princess game, and a Hello Kitty carry case for it. She also got a pink camera from Memaw, Papop, and Shelby! She was in heaven. She had a blast playing with everything. So much so that she killed the batteries on both the DS and camera in less than a day!
Yiayia and Papou sent gift cards so the girls could 'do their own shopping', which they love! They even get to swipe the cards like credit/debit cards. Ruby picked out another Lalaloopsy doll. She carried the box around all by herself until we got home and she needed me to open it for her. She promptly named her Cutie Pie and went off to show her other Cutie Pie the new Cutie Pie. Lilly and Sadie desperately tried to change Ruby's mind on the name. The really didn't like her giving the doll the same name as her other doll. Sadie found a Disney Princess game. It's like those electronic poker games but with Princesses, for kids, and in pink. She loves it. I told you, the girl loves video games. They were both so happy to 'pay' for their own things. They just keep growing too fast.
Then came Steven's trip to Landstuhl. He was there for a week for a sleep study and sleep testing. He doesn't sleep very well and on top of it had been on night shift for over 9 months and finely a few weeks ago got back onto to day shift. But it didn't last long. When he returned home from Germany, he was informed that starting in January he would be back onto nights until we PCS is February. PCS means permanent change of station, also known as moving to another base. Anyways, he had to wear a monitor on his wrist for a week that was very similar looking to a watch. The doctor checked the readings it was getting and was not too pleased because he hadn't actually slept much. He doesn't sleep very well to begin with but the boy can't sleep at all when I'm not with him. Sweet man I have. Well the day of his overnight study she told him that if he didn't sleep than he would have to stay for another 10 days and wear the monitor again. Way to put the pressure on. If that happened he would have missed Christmas with us and would still be up there right now. Thankfully he slept, despite several vivid dreams in which he didn't sleep, and got wonderfully normal results. Had any abnormalities shown up, we risked Steven being medically discharged and out of a job. Praise the Lord, the guy is fine. When it rains in our house, it pours, huh?!
Despite everything, we had a great Christmas. It was awesome to be able to spend time together. We decided that next year we will go all out with home cooked, from scratch food for Thanksgiving, but Christmas we are just going simple and maybe even take out. We wanted to spend time with the girls and not standing around in the kitchen cooking and doing dishes. The girls got some great gifts this year. Lilly got a vanity, Sadie got her coveted cleaning cart, and Ruby got a pirate ship play set/ride on from Santa. The biggest disappointment, Lilly and Sadie's Huffy scooters. Steven was so excited to get them for them and when we took them out of the box to assemble, the back wheels for both scooters were not there. The boxes were sealed shut and we had just opened them and the wheels were no where to be found. I'm hoping the company will just mail us some. I have to give them call but with the time difference it's a little hard to find the right time. The girls got some awesome presents from Memaw, Papop, and Shelby. Lilly got a battery powered horse and a basketball. Sadie got a full doll house that she was ecstatic about. And Ruby got a Baby Alive. The girl loves her some baby dolls. What she doesn't know that we will be donating all other baby dolls except for her Baby Alive and Lalaloopsy dolls. We've had to hide them for now because she will line them all up and try to take every. single. doll. everywhere with her. They also got some more gift cards from Yiayia and Papou so that when we get to Nebraska in February they can buy some new toys to tie them over until our household goods get there.
Next week I'm headed to Germany for another biopsy and a consult with the Endocrinologist there. Hopefully the test will be easy and pain free and I get the results before I leave. I am having some anxiety over it all, not only for the test and implications but traveling internationally by myself. Traveling is kind of difficult for me, especially when there is more than one language barrier to get past. I know I'll get through it and I'll be fine but I have a hard time coping with change that I can't control. If you know me you know I'm a huge control freak. But say a prayer for me anyways. I can always use an extra prayer.
In better news, all of our PCS paperwork is submitted and we are now waiting on dates of plane tickets and a set of orders so we can pack out. We still have to clear our car and beyanname. A beyanname is a form with all of the furniture and electronics we brought into the country in our household goods shipment. It's because there is a huge black market here, the beyanname is the Turkish governments way of trying to contain and control it. Luckily we had a great guy do ours and he only put a handful of things on it so it'll be no problem to clear it. Hopefully it won't be as difficult to clear the car as it was to get the car. Either way it'll work itself out. The biggest thing we really have to worry about is what to separate into the suitcase pile, the unaccompanied baggage pile, donate pile, toss pile, and household goods shipment. I'm really not too worried about the housing inspection. Every time we've moved out of base housing we've had to pay something and since the exchange rate is in our favor here and it will come straight out of Steven's paycheck, so we don't need to worry about making a payment, I'm really not stressed about it. It feels like everything is finally coming together and in 2 short months we'll be in our own house in Nebraska. Hopefully 2012 is a much better year for us.
Here's hoping that everyone has a happy and healthy 2012!
-K
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