Introducing Senor Grumpypants

So...Will has been a little grumpy lately. OK, a lot grumpy. He has two issues: gas and the refusal to nap when he needs to. I know...remember this same person saying that he slept dang near all day? Yes, that was me, but keep in mind that that was five weeks ago. As any mother knows, a tiny baby changes a great deal in a five week period.

The gas problem is something Josiah and Annika both suffered from, so I'm experienced with that. We say "Oh, Will is popping popcorn!". He is that gassy. Sometimes he'll pass gas and I'll give the side eye to Hans. It's that loud. Sometimes it's more than a little funny and we'll all burst out laughing at the poor little thing, but I know that having gas is no laughing matter for Will, who gets quite angry and red-faced trying to get it out. I have actually Googled infant gas pain to get some tips on how to get the gas out of him. This has led to several new techniques that would probably cause onlookers to call CPS on me. Some of them work, others just serve to make Will more angry.

We have the mylicon drops and give them to him after almost every feeding. I have been trying to find something called "gripe water" here in Germany, but not having much luck. I've heard that it can help babies who have bad gas and are colicky. Sigh...as my fellow mothers-in-the-trenches know, it's very difficult when your little one has a persistent problem that you can't help with (and one that makes him scream bloody murder for long periods of time).

The only other difficulty we're having right now is getting him to sleep. Common enough in infants, I know. Except:

LAST NIGHT HE SLEPT FOR SIX STRAIGHT HOURS...

Totally a fluke, I know. Will just does. Not. Want. To. Sleep. He is up every morning between 4:00-5:00. He'll eat a little, get fussy and push the bottle away, start snoozing. So I put him down, he quasi-sleeps for a few minutes. I say "quasi" because he's not really asleep--he's making his little grunting and chuckling noises the whole time. Then he's crying and gnawing on his hand, so I feed him more, he fusses and pushes the bottle away and falls asleep again. Repeat ad nauseum until one of us just gives up and gets up with him.

Then he's awake until he starts getting fussy again around 9:30...but will he sleep? Heck no. He screams and screams and fights it until he's all red-faced and sweaty and finally falls asleep, only to wake up 15 minutes later and be grumpy for another half an hour until he falls into his real morning nap. Now he's been asleep for almost an hour and should be for another couple. He usually sleeps most of the afternoon, but when night rolls around, he's a complete crab from 7:00-8:30. Yikes, not fun. I'm thinking that he'll grow out of it soon. Annika had a crabby period of time too, until about three months, when she screamed for a couple of hours every night.

When he's awake and calm, he's an absolute doll. He is getting more cognizant every day. This morning, he lay in his gym and watched himself in the mirror and stared at all the hanging toys. He's close to smiling. He's cooing and making happy sounds more often, talking back when we converse with him. I know there's a happy baby under there somewhere. He has his two-month checkup in two weeks, maybe they'll be able to give him some help.

Anyway...in other news. No orders yet and the latest news is that the detailer really was lying to Hans all along. Without going into detail, he was missing a piece of information vital to generating the orders all along. So, in other words, him telling Hans that the orders were waiting for approval, or would be there on October 1st...all lies because there simply were no orders. Ever.

Are there orders now? It's hard to say. Because Hans drummed up this job for himself, he's been doing a lot of the detailer's work, contacting the new command and trying to get the necessary information from them to the detailer. It's such a SMALL BIT of information and yet it is so damn difficult to get it from one person to the detailer. That tiny little number is holding up our lives and making life miserable around here...orders is all we discuss around here and to say that it gets a leeeeetle tense is an understatement.

In other other news, Josiah and Annika are doing well. All greens at school for weeks now, which is great. Annika went to the daycare center yesterday while I had my six-week checkup. She had a fabulous time. Me, not as much, though it was very nice to go to the OB's office and come home smiling and happy instead of crying in frustration! I bid auf wiedersehen to the good Frau Dr. Voss and fairly skipped out of there.

That's the latest and greatest from Stuttgart...everyone have a great Thanksgiving. We don't have a turkey. I know, I am the most pathetic celebrator ever. We're thinking of going downtown to the famous Fernsehturm Stuttgart, the TV tower, from which you're supposed to be able to see the Alps. It's supposedly one of the sights to see in Stuttgart and we've never been. We're going to try to find a restaurant somewhere that serves turkey. Any suggestions Jennifer?