Highlights Reel

Wow, thank you all SO MUCH for your responses to my cloth diapering post.  I'm still processing all of the comments I got here and through Facebook and email, but I can honestly say that you all made me feel tons better about my current "plan of attack".  I think the two most frequent and most helpful comments I got were:

1. Don't commit fully to one system before the baby comes--buy a lot of different options and try them out because different diapers will work for different babies.  How sad would I be if we spent $500 on BumGenius 4.0s and then they didn't work on our kids?
2. It's not only okay to start out with disposables, but pretty darn smart since most people had lots of leaks until their babies got to be bigger (8-10 pounds).  And have disposables on hand for emergencies--they aren't The Devil.

There's been a lot of baby talk around here lately, and obviously that's something that's going to happen with more and more regularity, but there has been a lot of other stuff going on in mah life, and I thought I'd rely on my favorite lazy writer's crutch, bullet points, to get through it all.

** The seemingly never-ending moving process is actually getting pretty close to ending.  After four trips to Ikea over the course of four weekends (ugh), we finally managed to cobble together a linen closet, meaning that I was able to unpack my last box.  We've gotten lots of pictures and decor on the wall, and I think one or two more dedicated weekends will finish up the rest of the house.  Well, aside from the nursery.  But that's another post for another day. 

** We painted the big open great room over the weekend, but sadly ran out of paint about 80% through, so we'll finish that this weekend.  But it's a delightful pale greenish-yellow and I think it'll keep things bright and cheery through the long dark German fall and winter.  I finally feel very much at home in our house.

** I've been taking a German class for the past 3 weeks and I'm having so much fun being back in the classroom.  Learning a language is such a different experience when you're a) not in highschool and b) actually living in a country where the language is spoken.  I don't think I'll be fluent or anything by the time we leave here, but I really want to be able to understand more of what I'm hearing on the radio and out and about.  This was just an introductory class (telling time, asking for directions, numbers, colors, etc) and it ends next week, but I'm planning to continue my education with online lessons and maybe some vocabulary books.  I love languages, and it's really nice to start understanding the very foreign world around me a little better!

** The Air Force is making me exceptionally grumpy in that they STILL haven't paid us all of the money they owe us following the move.  To put it in the simplest way, each paycheck we get BAH or OHA which is a housing allowance set according to the costs of homes where we currently live, as long as we live off base.  Also, in Germany, we get a monthly utility allowance since it's so much more expensive over here than in the States. They still owe us all of our OHA and utility allowances for June and July, as well as a one time "move In allowance".  That comes to a LOT of money that we're owed. It's amazing how long it takes for them to pay us money owed, but if they make a mistake and overpay us it's snatched back fast enough to make our heads spin.  

** But the good Air Force news is that it looks like Colby won't be going TDY (Temporary Duty Assignment for the non-mil folks), to DC for the entire month of October and into early November like we thought.  The current plan is still for him to go for a few weeks in October, but at least my mom will be here and hopefully I'll be able to keep the babies inside until he gets back in mid-late October.

via 

** And the most exciting news--we're going to Turkey in  just a little over two weeks!!!  Colby's squadron dicked around just long enough on approving his leave to ensure that we had to pay higher prices for airfare and hotels than we would have if they didn't suck, BUT, we're still going and I CAN'T WAIT!  We're going to spend four days in Istanbul and three days on Cirali beach, laying around enjoying the sunshine and the ocean.  There's a pretty good chance this will be my last big trip before we have the babies--we *might* be able to fit in Belgium in September if I'm still feeling mobile, but I'm not counting on it--so I'm planning to enjoy the heck out of it and really appreciate my diminishing days adventuring with Colby as "just us".

Comments

[Kate P]

That sounds like a cool color for the great room. (Boo to running out of paint, though.) Hooray for the good Air Force TDY news and travel news!

[erin - heart in ireland]

wooooo to almost being moved in!
and have fun in turkey! i'm so jealous!

[Elizabeth]

Turkey! That sounds incredible. I've heard good things about their public (I think?) baths where you get scrubbed down, or I don't know. I just saw good Facebook pictures of that once, hah.