So really, I love this place! The culture is different for sure. When I first got here I wondered if the men all suffered from some mild form of Asperger’s because of their gruff, grumpy, anti social, anal retentiveness. Everything here is regulated somehow. Certainly not the land of the free (for example, when paying German taxes, they make you announce your religion and automatically mandate that you tithe). On the plus side of that, I have never seen a run-down German church. But it is like that with everything. So many rules. Once I got the hang of the seemingly endless stream of German laws, I really started to enjoy the end result. It is hard to believe that this country was war-torn more than once in the last century. The houses here are beautiful and I see no real poverty. My neighbor went to school in Berlin and he says that there are considerable issues with that part of Germany, but that it’s looking up. Speaking of my neighbors, I have been very lucky as far as they are concerned. They are so friendly and have a daughter Lea’s age. They both know English well enough that the language barrier is not a real problem. I am hoping that we can be good friends.

We have house plants galore now. I am particularly fond of the ficcus trees and my window ledge herb garden (so far mint, mushroom rosemary, and the all time favorite: basil). The only thing is that when we leave we will not be able to bring them. Which is sad.

I have been busting my butt trying to get the house in order. Our dining room set finally arrives tomorrow! Just in time for us to learn that our television will never work on German cable and that we must retire our 10 year old model for an HDTV. To say I am bummed out by this would be an understatement, but we are getting tax returns and so we are covered.

I have been obsessing over Lea having something like a play house. I researched them but they all seemed way too expensive for what they were. Honestly, 400 bucks for a few pounds of gaudy plastic?! Miles hated the look of them as well. Then like a sign from God, we were at the German hardware store Praktikar yesterday and we found wooden play houses with floors inside for 150 Euro. Through VAT forms (sales tax here is 20 percent and it’s included in the price. American soldiers can purchase forms which take off that tax. Yay America), and the sale that is going on today, we are getting it for 40% off. I suspect that there will be much assembly required, though. I will post pictures when we put it together.

There is more that is new with Lea and life in general, but I am an ADD kid and I don’t want to type anymore.

It has been kind of a rough week for me so far, but things are looking up. On Tuesday night I vomited a rather unlady-like amount of blood and was admitted into the hospital for pancreatitis. Basically, my pancreas was swollen and infected and it can be brought on by any number of things. It has little to do with diabetes, so I was happy about that at least. They stuck a scope down into my stomach and found a couple of tiny bits of concern, one of which they biopsied. I will get those results in a couple of weeks. They didn’t let me eat for about 50 hours and even then it was liquid diet. I was sooooo hungry! Whoever said that hunger pains vanish after a day was a big liar. My blood work finally evened out and I got to eat real food and then got to go home. They never did find the cause. One big sign that I am (possibly)fertile again decided to come visit me while I was there as well which was cause for many emotions. MANY EMOTIONS.

So it was really hard for me to be away from Lea for those 3 or so days. I have never been gone from her for more than 2 hours and we were both upset at the separation. Miles did the best that he could and it was hard on him as well. He didn’t get much sleep and had to figure out ways to get past Lea’s demands for “Mama Mulk.” I did some pumping and dumping (they gave me lots of drugs which I didn't want to share with my baby) at the hospital all while getting very strange looks from the nurses who knew Lea’s age. On that note, Lea will wean when she is ready and I am not going to snatch away her biggest source of comfort and (partial source of) nutrition without her being ready. I have faith that she will wean on her own and that it’s just not time yet. Nay-sayers have my permission to kiss off.

So anyways, I got home yesterday and it was nice to sleep in my own bed. I am behind on math work. Naturally.

It took a while to get Lea down because although she fell asleep pretty fast, every time I placed her in her crib, she instantly woke up and cried for me. She’s just a tiny human nugget, you know. She is getting so big so fast and I can barely catch up with her changes. My mother in law calls all the time and asks what she is doing that is new and there is just so much. She has a little attitude which isn’t bad, but I have to walk out of the room sometimes because it is too funny when she throws a fit and I cannot encourage her by laughing. The other week in a restaurant she was throwing food. I told her to stop and she goes “Shush!” and covers her ears singing “lalalala!” Every jaw there dropped because it was one of her first little shows of outright brattiness and I had to put my head down so she wouldn’t see me cracking up. I honestly have NO idea where she got that! Another was the other day when I went to put her down for a nap. She was being stubborn and when I said “Lea, you need to go sleepy” she smiles and says (equally as sweetly) “Oh really?” Yeah. I am in for it. . . but I am totally up for it.