It's been a month since I wrote this post, but never got it published (no big suprise there). A lot has happened in the last month, but that will have to be covered in another post. There is one quick update though...Elly has been doing wonderful with sleeping through the night!! It's like a switch got flipped in her little brain when she turned 16 months old. She now just sleeps through the night (mostly). I have been so grateful to get more sleep. Well, so I don't let another month go by before posting I'm going to just attach the pictures and get this finished up....ENJOY!!)
September 14~
I should finish the second part of the Alaska trip, but I've been waiting on one of my boxes to arrive so I could get the disk of pictures. I usually have them on my camera to download to the computer, but I put them all on CDs at Walmart while I was home and ended up mailing them. So, this will probably be a picture-less post unless it takes me a while to finish and they arrive in the meantime.
It's been pretty rough since we returned to Germany. The 10 hour time difference is so hard on Elly and totally messes with her sleep. There were many nights of getting up at 2:00am because she couldn't sleep. Lots of grumpy days, but as I write this, my little angel is still sleeping and for the first time in her little life has gone the entire night (10 hours) without waking. I am such a pleased Mama this morning :) I could so get used to this!!!
We ended up staying in Alaska for 7 weeks total. That's a long time to be away from my home and husband (actually 5 weeks away from Sam), but I really enjoyed spending the time with my family. We were scheduled to come back at 6 weeks, but Elly ended up getting sick that last week. For the entire week she had a fever of 102-104. A few days into it she started throwing up. I took her to the doctor, but nothing was determined. Sometimes it feels like such a waste to go to doctors. It was so hard on Elly and in the end we left knowing nothing more than when we got there. My intentions were good because I was concerned about her and wanted to make sure she didn't need any medication, but after it was over I wished I hadn't even gone. Anyhow, she was just too sick to get on the plane, so we postponed our return flight for a week. It was a hard decision to make, but I was so glad I did. That last week ended up being more relaxed and I truly enjoyed the extra time with my family.
I was dreading the flight home by myself. Travelling stinks and if there was any way I could avoid it I would. Of course the plane was completely full too, so I had Elly on my lap the entire 9 hours. I am happy to have that behind me. Elly does great on the flights, but it's just so hard to keep her busy since she won't sleep. We did a lot of trips to the back of the plane. She wanted to walk and stop to visit with just about everyone. She's such a little social butterfly :)
Sam's mom was scheduled to arrive in Germany just 4 days after we got home. For that reason it would have been nice to get home a week earlier, but it worked out alright. The house just didn't get cleaned like I would have liked and I was still exhausted from being up all hours of the night, but it's starting to get better.
Elly is really starting to say alot of words now and it's just so cute. She's so much fun and growing up so much. Sometimes I forget how little she is. Sunday on the way to church Sam's mom was in the back seat with Elly and telling her we were going to church and out pops "church" from Elly. Of course she had to say it another 20 times. I love her little voice! That day she started saying "church", "auto", "orange" and "baby". Then yesterday we were in the commissary and I pointed to a pepper and told her what it was and she said "pepper". Same thing with "apple". She really liked saying "apple" and continued saying that all through the store. Even pointing to other people's carts saying "apple".
Here are some pictures from our time in Alaska after Sam left ~
September 14~
I should finish the second part of the Alaska trip, but I've been waiting on one of my boxes to arrive so I could get the disk of pictures. I usually have them on my camera to download to the computer, but I put them all on CDs at Walmart while I was home and ended up mailing them. So, this will probably be a picture-less post unless it takes me a while to finish and they arrive in the meantime.
It's been pretty rough since we returned to Germany. The 10 hour time difference is so hard on Elly and totally messes with her sleep. There were many nights of getting up at 2:00am because she couldn't sleep. Lots of grumpy days, but as I write this, my little angel is still sleeping and for the first time in her little life has gone the entire night (10 hours) without waking. I am such a pleased Mama this morning :) I could so get used to this!!!
We ended up staying in Alaska for 7 weeks total. That's a long time to be away from my home and husband (actually 5 weeks away from Sam), but I really enjoyed spending the time with my family. We were scheduled to come back at 6 weeks, but Elly ended up getting sick that last week. For the entire week she had a fever of 102-104. A few days into it she started throwing up. I took her to the doctor, but nothing was determined. Sometimes it feels like such a waste to go to doctors. It was so hard on Elly and in the end we left knowing nothing more than when we got there. My intentions were good because I was concerned about her and wanted to make sure she didn't need any medication, but after it was over I wished I hadn't even gone. Anyhow, she was just too sick to get on the plane, so we postponed our return flight for a week. It was a hard decision to make, but I was so glad I did. That last week ended up being more relaxed and I truly enjoyed the extra time with my family.
I was dreading the flight home by myself. Travelling stinks and if there was any way I could avoid it I would. Of course the plane was completely full too, so I had Elly on my lap the entire 9 hours. I am happy to have that behind me. Elly does great on the flights, but it's just so hard to keep her busy since she won't sleep. We did a lot of trips to the back of the plane. She wanted to walk and stop to visit with just about everyone. She's such a little social butterfly :)
Sam's mom was scheduled to arrive in Germany just 4 days after we got home. For that reason it would have been nice to get home a week earlier, but it worked out alright. The house just didn't get cleaned like I would have liked and I was still exhausted from being up all hours of the night, but it's starting to get better.
Elly is really starting to say alot of words now and it's just so cute. She's so much fun and growing up so much. Sometimes I forget how little she is. Sunday on the way to church Sam's mom was in the back seat with Elly and telling her we were going to church and out pops "church" from Elly. Of course she had to say it another 20 times. I love her little voice! That day she started saying "church", "auto", "orange" and "baby". Then yesterday we were in the commissary and I pointed to a pepper and told her what it was and she said "pepper". Same thing with "apple". She really liked saying "apple" and continued saying that all through the store. Even pointing to other people's carts saying "apple".
Here are some pictures from our time in Alaska after Sam left ~
At the end of July we went to the Deltana Fair. It's just a small town fair, but it's "home" and I like to be home for it, when possible. We went the first night and visited the animals. Elly really enjoyed that.
Visiting the pigs
Chickens
Ducks
The next morning we went downtown for the annual parade. Here's Elly with her buddy, Michele.
She thought the lollipops were pretty neat
After the parade she was ready for her nap
Playing in the dirt. (She looks so tired in her eyes. It must have been late in the day)
My little niece, Hadassah, watching a play put on by Delta Christian Drama Association.
Looks like she's giving her cousin, Eli, a night-night kiss
Playing in Grandma's greenhouse......
resulted in a very dirty baby.....
who needed to wash off.....
and turned into her having a blast getting wet :)
Putting her face right in the water
Such fun!
Pure joy!
Then it was time to get warmed by getting a bath inside
One day we went over to my cousin's house to pick raspberries. Elly enjoyed playing and keeping herself busy while the adults picked berries.
She loved playing in Gaylene's water barrel.
Elly meeting her first cow...which just happened to be the same cow that Mom and Dad get their milk from.
Spraying herself with water.
Over one weekend, we went back to Chad's cabin on the Totatlinika River for a couple of days. I was hesitant to go with Elly, but we had a nice time. We rode 4-wheelers back in for 11 miles (Elly and I were on the back of Mom's). There is no water or electricity unless the generator is running....and no bathroom.
Hadassah on our way back to the cabin
Grandma and Elly getting ready to head back to the cabin.
Kristy, Mom and I with the little ones
Mom, me and Elly on our way back. Elly slept most of the way.
Finally woke up...
We watched this caribou for awhile, but didn't get that close. I guess at some point he thought we were too close though because he started acting aggressive. He would take a couple of steps toward us and kind of "bark" at us. He finally ran away.
Chad and Connor in front of the cabin
Mom cleaning the fresh-picked blueberries, which were added to the pancakes for breakfast
Making biscuits for breakfast the next morning
After breakfast the babies took off down the road with Grandma following
Elly...loving the freedom of running down the road
If we go back to this cabin on our next visit I'll be sure to take a lot more changes of clothes for Elly. She started out clean, but as soon as she could she would sit down in the dirt and start playing. She loves having her hands in the dirt.
Elly with Uncle Chad and Papa
Papa helping Elly sit on the 4-wheeler
"Look Mama! More dirt!"
Me with my girl
Playing in the mud on the bank of the river/creek
I just LOVE those rolls on her legs :)
Chad panning for some gold
Time to wash some of the dirt off
Examining Papa
Elijah and Elly
These two had so much fun getting into things together.
Grandma with her two youngest grandbabies
At the end of the ride out
Off to get into some trouble
Mom made the cake for Michele's farewell party
Elly getting into Cheryl's kitchen drawers.
Elly with the Helkenn's
Elly trying out a curler in her hair
This was how Elly was the week we were scheduled to leave. She was so sick. It would have been a really hard trip for her so I changed the flight to return a week later.
Elly on Grandma's table. There are pictures of each of the grandkids around this age standing on the table.
Grandma, Elly and Papa on our way to Fairbanks and our flight back to Germany.
