Tuesday, February 19, 2008

We interrupt this epic Garmisch post to answer a few more questions

Whew! I obviously can not muster up the strength to finish my posts about our trip. Don't worry, I will soon, but I thought I would take the time to answer a few questions thrown my way...

Time difference? Well, we are 11 hours ahead of our friends in Hawaii, 7 hours ahead of those in the Central Time Zone and 6 hours ahead of the Eastern Time Zone. Oh, and it didn't take too long to get adjusted to the difference. Luke took about 2 nights and it took me about 5 or so. But I think that was mostly due to sheer exhaustion and being overwhelmed about such a huge move. My mind was constantly going with all the lists in my head of things to do that it was hard for me to sleep. Hawaii was a 5 hour time difference and I always adjusted pretty quickly when I traveled.

Cable TV? We get AFN channels (Armed Forces Network) - about 10 of them right now and they are all in english and they show the popular shows from the States, just on different days and different times. We see LOST on Sunday nights at 9pm. We also get American Idol, ER (an old season though, boo!), soap operas, Oprah, Dr. Phil, The View, Today Show, Ugly Betty, some CSIs, Survivor and other popular shows. There is an AFN news channel which shows a different cable news channel every hour so you watch MSNBC and then Fox News and then CNN, etc...

Luke? Luke is doing great! He has adjusted really well, sleeps in his own big boy bed, is very content and is talking and communicating better and better. We are amazed with the random things that pop out of his mouth and the things that he remembers. He understands the order of things and is catching on to what everything (and I mean EVERYTHING!) is used for. Yesterday he was walking all over the house searching for daddy's keys because he wanted to "lock" the door and "lock" the car doors. He is very independent and tries to help all the time. He'll walk to the refrigerator and get out a yogurt, walk to the drawer and pull out a spoon, take it to his chair and sit down and announce "eat the yogurt!" Oh, and mom - (YOOHOO! MOM!), Luke is into his books again. He has been asking me to "read the books" the last 2 nights and we read at least 6 of them, sometimes more than once. And he carries books around the house and "reads" them to me in his crazy little language. He is growing up fast. But alas, he is two, and that means that he is known to shriek when he doesn't get his way, when he has to come inside, when he has to get into a shopping cart instead of walk, when he has to get in his carseat when he would rather roam around the parking lot, when he wants to get in the elevator AGAIN, for the millionth time and we say no, etc, etc, etc...I have discovered that if we let him have a little more freedom to walk, play, explore, potentially get into trouble, that he is a little more content and able to handle the "rules" a little better. Yes, he is growing up fast.

Our house? Our house is great! We just don't have any of our own furniture. We are waiting for it to arrive and it will be anywhere from 2 - 4 weeks until we receive it. I know some of you would like to see pictures of the house but really it is quite boring with the ugly loaner furniture and Luke's toys scattered about. You'll just have to wait until we get it all set up with all our stuff before you get pictures. :) Oh, and we met a bunch of neighbors yesterday and this whole area has lots of little kids (ages 21 months to 6 years) and a few 13-15 year old girls who babysit (including our next door neighbors - yeah!). Everyone seems very nice and they are all very helpful and patient when answering my many questions.

And I'll leave you with a couple of pictures of Brian and Luke eating ice cream together on the couch. So you do get to see a picture from our house! Notice all the blankets covering the icky couch. :)


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