We have a herd of little girls in our town home complex and they ALL love General.  He tells them tall tales of how rough a life he lives and they just coo at him and pet him through the fence.  

He's got a rough life ;)

Jason and I spent some time yesterday hanging things in the baby's room.  This was the last to-do for the room and made a world of difference in my opinion.  I'm really happy with the room and how it turned out.  Its so nice to see it finally come together.  Not that a ton went into it, its pretty conservative overall, but we just slowly chipped away at it over the past couple months that it feels good for it to finally be done.  

Now just to wait for her to get here.  7 weeks until my due date!

On another note, our grass is in!!!  We'll get bushes put in along the fence in the next couple of weeks to add a little bit of privacy, but just having green vs. dirt makes me happy.  It makes such a difference looking out from the living room.  Its still super tiny and I really miss our gorgeous garden in CO, but its something.  Its nice to be able to let General out now too, and the grass has seriously cut down on the amount of paw wiping needed - thank goodness!

It was quite a day!  I did a lot of stuff around the house, including washing General in the bathtub, and now my lower back is getting its revenge.  

I didn't want to give General a bath in the bath tub.  At home I either had the vet wash him or I took him to one of those do-it-yourself places so the mess was never in my house.  General sheds A LOT and with me being pregnant trying to wash him wasn't high on my list.  BUT, he needed it and I still haven't found a good place here so it had to be done.  

Our house here is 4 stories total (basement, ground, and 2 levels above).  Our only tub is on the 2nd floor.  General is scared of stairs period, but ours are made of wood planks and are the kind you can see through.  He doesn't even recognize them as steps.  So he stays on the 1st floor, which is ok.  There's plenty of room down there and it confines the hair, which I like.  

Jason had to carry him up to the second floor today though.  It looked like he was carrying a baby calf!  When we got up there General was completely freaked out, like he was on roller skates.  I don't know what his deal was - maybe he was still confused about how he got up there and where he was - this magical place above the floating wood planks?  It was a little funny but I also felt bad for him.  He would have preferred not to have a bath as well.  

A couple hours later though (I had to completely dry him too with my hair dryer so it took forever - spoiled dog!) he smelled like oatmeal, happily back on the ground floor and my bathroom was back in one piece and hair free.

On another note, we went back to what is quickly becoming our favorite little bar in Wiesbaden - the Belgian beer bar called La Petit Belge.  When we went to Belgium I was told about how I needed to try Speculoos.  I didn't see any  while we were there and therefore didn't try any, but continued to hear people rave about it.  

Well they had some for sale last night and its awesome.  It tastes like gingerbread cookies ground up in a peanut butter like paste.  Its better than Nutella in my opinion, but I'm partial to anything gingerbread.  

Last, we have had three friends this week give birth to three beautiful healthy babies and I'm just so happy for them all and thankful that everything went well for each.  Each one of these friends has their own unique path they had to weather in order to get to this day and I couldn't be happier for them. 

Welcome to the world Paul, Colette, & Audrey!  Can't wait to meet you in person!  

Today is the culmination of a long couple months of planning and preparation to ship my black lab, General, from Ohio to Germany.  He has been staying with my Mother-in-law, Angie, while Jason and I first moved overseas and while we got settled in, found a house, and just figured out what's what.  

The process of shipping a pet internationally, especially a large one that can't fit underneath the seat in front of you, is very tedious.  It involves many visits to the vet, paperwork, flight reservations, more money than I care to mention, all sorts of regulations - from import, to export, to airline, to veterinary, a visit to the USDA, and some very OCD preparations of a kennel.  

This morning Angie, and I woke up before 5am and started our 2+ hour trip from Columbus to Cleveland in order to get General to the airport 3 hours prior to his 11am flight (as required by the airline).  He had to fly out of Cleveland vs. Columbus because the size of the planes that leave Columbus.  Larger jets, that can therefore accommodate larger cargo leave from Cleveland.  

After all the effort listed above and countless checking and double checking that everything was correct and accounted for, we arrive to United Cargo on time and are greeted by nothing but issues.  As the cargo men loaded General and his kennel onto the scale, they cracked the kennel and proceeded to tell me that it was like that when I arrived.  The crack, although it didn't affect the structural integrity or the security of the kennel, was too severe for them to allow us through.  

It constantly amazes me how quick people are to tell you no or to greet you with issues vs. cooperation.  Angie said it best this morning when she said "Its frustrating to me that they are treating this like you woke up this morning with this crazy idea to ship your dog to Germany!".

We then went through a litany of issues:  First they had us try a kennel they had on hand that was one size bigger.  We spent 30 minutes transferring all the stickers, markings, paperwork, etc. onto this new kennel - only to be told that the plane we booked can't accommodate that size kennel after all. Then we were told we had to go find a pet store and buy a new kennel and that he'd have to fly out on a later flight.  Next they started to question whether or not I had the right paperwork with me (I about lost my cool at this point because I KNEW that I did).  Then it changed to Oh... Opps.. we actually have the exact same kennel that you brought in available here for you to buy after all - sorry we just wasted 2.5 hours of your time and now have 30 minutes to rush and get him ready for the flight... 

In the end it was an overall stressful experience that I don't wish on anyone.  I pulled out all the stops too, like a good military wife should.  I took off my coat to show my pregnant belly, I teared up, and started playing the military dependent card.  

I'm happy to say that General has landed in Newark and is hopefully being well taken care of by their on-site vet before his flight to Frankfurt this evening.  My level of anxiety is slowly returning to normal.  Poor baby (real baby, not dog baby), I worry about the affect of stress on the pregnancy!

I know I kind of mentioned this in my last post too, but as we drove back to Columbus, I was reflecting on this experience, and just thinking about life as a military spouse.  There are such highs and lows that are so hard to put into words!  Days like today I find myself thinking "Normal people don't have to deal with this kind of crap!", but then there are such highs as well, such as all the opportunities the military has opened up for us - from Jason going to grad school, the many benefits of having Tricare, the sights and places we've been able to see, etc.  Its a very unique path that we're on.

Fingers crossed General's flight plans continue to go well, there are no issues when Jason receives him in Frankfurt, and that the poor guy's mental state stays as happy-go-lucky as he usually is.

Tip is adjusting to the move in his own way.  He's made friends with my makeup bag for the time being.

Its been a busy couple of days!  The above picture was from General's bath on Friday.  All part of our pre-company prep work!  Can you tell I've been starved for company?  You'd think it was a bigger deal than it really was.  I just like entertaining.

I'm back from San Antonio and although it was a good (and productive) trip, I'm glad to be home and am looking forward to sleeping in my own bed!  I hope everyone had a great weekend!