1st day of school - again

Finally, the girls are in school.  You would have thought it would be an easy process since it's public and the neighborhood school.  But nothing is ever that easy, is it?

We moved into our house on the 12th, which was a Friday.  First thing Monday morning, Nana, the girls and I were in the office of their new school.  I had all of the forms and documentation needed to enroll them in my hands.  Not so fast!  First, we have something called School Choice here in Broward County.  This means that even though you have a school assigned to you if you would prefer to have your children attend a different school you can apply, and if they have space at your preferred school, you are enrolled there.  It did not matter that we wanted the girls to go to their assigned elementary school, we still had to fill out the forms stating this.  But first, they needed ID #s.  Request forms turned in while standing at the front desk we had nothing left to do except wait for the email that would give us their numbers so we could fill out School Choice paperwork.

Late in the afternoon on Wednesday, we got the email with their ID #s.  Paperwork was filled out immediately but there was another snag - we had to mail them in!  Snail mail - no emailing the forms, no faxing, not even able to take them to the office - they had to arrive by USPS.  So first thing Thursday morning the paperwork went out.  And then we waited.  Again.

I finally got an email from the school district on Tuesday with the confirmation that Stinkerbell would be assigned to our neighborhood school.  But somehow MadHatters was missing.  Seems that they forgot to tell me that you had to put both kids on the paperwork, but each child still needed to send in a copy.  It is now Wednesday, and by some miracle, MadHatters paperwork came through late in the afternoon.  The girls were finally enrolled in school.  And it only took us 10 days!

No matter that it was Thursday already - they had a school - they had teachers - they were going.  I dropped them off, looking none too thrilled to be doing this again...  

I don't blame them, this is MadHatter's 4th and Stinkerbell's 3rd new school in 6 years. That's a lot of upheavals and making new friends, and they aren't even out of elementary yet.  They are just hoping we can stay awhile this time.  So am I girls, so am I.

A Gory Story

**** Warning - Graphic pictures****

The Wednesday before we left Munich for the last time, we had a holiday from school.  My new friend C, texted me about noon and asked if I would like to drop the girls by her place for a playdate with a bunch of other friends.  I readily agreed because I still had a ton of packing to do and having the kids occupied out of the house would be a lifesaver.  I dropped the girls and told C that B would be back to pick them up in a few hours.  I should have known that packing in peace was too good to be true.

I had just returned home when my phone rang.  It was my friend M, who was also at the playdate with her children, and she didn't have good news.  She said that Stinkerbell had cut her foot open while somersaulting on the bed (why do they always break the rules when away from home?) and that I probably had to take her to the hospital.  No, scratch that, she definitely needed to be picked up and taken to the emergency room.  I was back in the car in a flash.  Thankfully, my friend C is a nurse and knew just what to do to keep Stinkerbell's foot from getting any worse because Lord knows, it was bad enough already.

M volunteered to come to the hospital with me (C really wanted to - being a nurse and all - but she also had a house full of other people's children and couldn't).  We loaded our patient in the car and headed to the best children's emergency room which is around the corner from our house. (I was starting to feel like a ping-pong ball).  I carried Stinkerbell in, signed the forms I could (but not without a bit of trouble with the German) and then we all sat back and waited to be seen.  And waited.  Remember, it was a national holiday and there was only a skeleton staff on duty and 3 people before us.  Finally, we were taken into an exam room and set up on a bed to wait a bit longer.

And then it got even worse than it already was.  The nurse had to clean out the cut and I had to hold Stinkerbell down to keep her from kicking or trying to run away.  And I get it.  I had finally gotten a good look at the cut and it was not pretty - ***Here is the graphic photo.  I have given you some space on both ends to scroll right past it if you would rather skip it***

She had sliced it all the way to the tendon (missing it by a hair!) and the nurse had just told us she had to wipe down the inside of the whole cut.  Yes, I said INSIDE.  Youch!  Stinkerbell was as brave as could be in the situation and C's quick thinking and nursing skills made the cut so much better (note to self - use sanitary napkins on heavily bleeding cuts to soak up the blood, and then wrap tightly with tape to keep the cut closed).  We had just settled her back down when the Dr. told Stinkerbell she would need stitches.  So much for calm but I am not sure how she thought we were going to keep it closed otherwise.  The tray of needles and sutures did nothing to ease her anxiety when they left it right next to her. 

We calmed her down, again, put on some Ariana Grande and let the teenage doctor do his thing.  I jest about the teenage thing but he was soooooo young I swore I could have been his mother. It makes sense, it was a huge holiday and he drew the short seniority straw.  But I wish he hadn't because even though he sewed her up quickly, it was almost like he was cadaver stitching.  And when I told C how many stitches she got (5) and the fact that she didn't get a walking boot, she about flipped out and asked how she was going to walk.  I told her that Doogie Howser had told us she wasn't.  She was going to stay off of it for a full week.  Like, laying on the couch off of it for a full 7 days.  Like being carried everywhere for 7 days.  I had argued with him at the hospital, stating that she had school (I was to keep her home), she is an active child (So???  Just tell her to lay still.) and we had an international flight in 6 days.  He didn't really care and the prescription he sent us home with was rest for a full week.  This was just not going to work - no way, no how.  C to the rescue - she dropped off a walking boot at school the next morning.

We finally made it home to lay the patient down on the couch and gave her some cheese balls for her bravery...

And then spent the next 6 days with crutches, a walking boot and a lot of rest before boarding the plane in a wheelchair (who would have thought?) and make our way back home. 

It has now been 18 days since the accident.  We have been to the doctor two different times to have our stitches removed because as our new pediatrician said, "the doctor that did this was clearly in a hurry and not in their right mind because 5 stitches are about 20 too few."  Today, Stinkerbell got to lose the boot and walk out of the office in two shoes.  And she couldn't be happier!!!

The stitches are gone but that scar will be there for quite some time!

Happy girl!

The first 2 weeks

We have been back in the US for about a week now.  It has been a whirlwind of activity and not much downtime but I have managed to snap a few quick pictures to show that we are all still alive (though not in school yet - don't get me started).

New car and official drivers license in hand on day 1!

Dad's getting blurrier as he gets older!  So glad we were there to celebrate his 70th!

B came in for a whirlwind trip over the long weekend.

She got her first Dr.'s visit within a week of moving (and her second a week later).  The stitches weren't ready quite yet which meant no pool time for another 5 days :(

{I'll post the story of how she got the stitches next}

I think we will keep the view!

I have been introducing the girls to all of my favorite board games - LIFE always made my top 5.

We finally got a place to sit.  This is the outdoor furniture and rug but it will work until we get the sofas and chairs we ordered.

Downtime on the flamingo.

And some downtime at the local theatre.  It has been so great to catch movies when they come out and in English!

The dentist!

The dog, on vacation, in Estonia.  Our pet sitter rocks!

MadHatter picked a few shades of blue to test out on her walls.  I'll keep you posted on how the rooms turn out and what color she picked.

Stinkerbell on the other hand only needed to see the one color in the store before she knew it was the one.  And she was right!

Quite a week, right?

Auf Weidersehen

The day dawned early.  Well, in reality, it had not even dawned yet.  But we were up and out of the house before the moon even had a thought of retiring for the night.  And it was just as well because if I was awake and thinking I may never have gotten on the plane.  And not because I wasn't ready to come home, because I was, but more because I would be leaving such great people behind...

Just a smattering of the fabulousness I found in Munich!

But I did not have time to dwell on any of that.  I had flights to catch, a daughter in a walking boot (more on that update later) who needed a wheelchair to get around, a cat that was very confused by what we were doing and two super sad kids that I needed to keep occupied for the next 16-18 hours.  No time for my own emotions (those would come later).

Appropriate last picture at what would now be a former home airport.

We spent hours travelling away from the new day; a new beginning.  It almost seemed like we were trying to stave off the inescapable reality that daybreak would mean that we were no longer expats, but were now repats.  And we just don't know what that life looks like anymore.  But you can only go so far, so fast and daybreak finally caught up with us somewhere over Portugal.  It was inevitable.  As was our return to "home".  I silently said a quick thank you - to whom I am not quite sure - for the adventures, friends, for the lifetime of memories. And then I settled in for the long flight back to the U.S. and all that awaited us on the other end.

Here we go. Again.

One blog post in 3 months?  You can call me Speedy.  Granted, I did have to start from scratch so maybe a little slack?  And it's not like I hadn't done this before and didn't know how long it would take me.  The problem was I have done this before (4th go round) and I knew exactly how long it would take me.  Which is why, in the midst of uprooting the family, moving them across the ocean, settling them into a new life in a country they don't ever remember living in but are supposedly from, and trying to set up a house to feel like home asap, I kept putting it off.  But we are now  3 months in and I am starting to realize that unless I miraculously find that 25th hour in each day, I will never have enough time to get this just so before publishing, so I just have to bite the bullet and do it while it is still being tweaked.

As I type this, setup is not complete.  If you try the drop-down menus at the top they will give you a partial insight into our travels.  The complete list may take me a little while to finish as it seems we traveled a bit while living overseas.  I also need to update some of the pages, finalize the design and layout and add some finishing touches.  This means you will probably see things move around a bit so if something isn't in the same place next time you visit, search around a little and I'm sure you will find it.  I will try to keep the disruptions to a minimum, promise.   

So here it is - Sartastically Speaking*.  I hope you enjoy!

*The name came from MadHatter who has a tendency to mash up two words to make a fantastical new word (sometimes talking to her is like speaking another language).  One afternoon, she said that our family was Sartastic - Fantastically Sarcastic for those who don't speak MadHatter. She had us pegged.  We do tend to be a bit droll, a lot silly and plenty of fun.  That happens when the adults (well, at least this adult) are just overgrown kids.  And I wouldn't have it any other way.

** You will notice that this is backdated.  By 3 months.  I have done this intentionally.  As this blog is a place for me to document our lives it just makes sense to keep things in chronological order and as close to the date that they really happened as possible.  Posting about Halloween on Valentine's Day (which is about when I would get to it) just isn't relevant.  I hope to catch up in the next few weeks and post in real time from then on but until then all posts will be backdated to the time they really happened.  Who said we can't go back in time???