... at our new place took us a little while. Things have been back to the everyday-normal for a few days already, but I just had a hard time finding time to update my blog. Evan is back on his regular one-nap a day and sleeping through the night schedule. It took him about a week to get adjusted, but now he´s back to sleeping like a pro. We decided to take the chance and put him on a complete time based schedule, and he took really well to the change. As you can tell, this is the smile of a well rested little toddler! 
The flight itself went rather well. We had already expected things to be difficult for Evan when it came to sleeping on the plane. 
We were not so much worried about him getting bored. We were prepared for that. We had brought new toys, books and crayons, etc. .Sleeping however is a completely different thing. Evan hasn´t slept in his car seat or stroller ever since we put him on a regular napping schedule which was when he was about three months old. So we were dreading the flight, knowing that it would be a big deal for Evan to go to sleep. And it was. Surprisingly he was a really good boy despite his tiredness all the way until 8 hours into the flight when he just couldn´t cope with it anymore.
At this point he had been up almost three times as long as he usually stays awake at once, plus all the excitement that he had to deal with was getting him exhausted as well. Luckily I managed to get him to fall asleep on my lap rather fast even if only for a little while. Of course it wasn´t any kind of really good sleep. He startled up a few times, but went back to sleep with a little convincing from me. Then he woke again when we were getting ready to land. At this point we had to put him into his car seat in order to buckle him up. Overtired as he was he didn´t agree to this and cried until we touched ground. Then he was so amazed about what was going on that he forgot his misery and instead decided to look out the window. When it was time to get off the plane we expected him to want nothing to do with them anymore for a while to come. But we hadn´t even walked ten feet before he started pointing at the plane, and making his plane sign - his way of telling us that he wanted back on. We asked him if he wanted to fly again, and he said "Yah!". What an unbelievable little boy! After going through immigration services and getting all of our luggage, we finally could meet Evan´s American family. We had expected him to be extremely shy around them, since he usually is around strangers. But he must have been too tired at this point to care. He let people hug him, hold him and take him by the hand, much to the delight of his grandma and great-grandma.
We planned on staying with Charles´ family for the first few days until we could get an appartment of our own. That was very helpful, especially since they had prepared a room for Evan and put up his crib before we even got there. This way it was ready for him. However sleeping was the last thing on his mind once he realized that there was a horse living in the backyard of his great-grandmas house.
We managed to get an apartment the next day, didn´t move until the day after though. It was already late and we didn´t want to drag Evan around again. He had just gotten a little comfortable at his great-grandmas house, so we stayed there until the day after. The move itself went fine. Since we had to rent a U-Haul anyways to get our current luggage, some boxes we had stored at their place last time we moved, plus my bike over to the new house we decided to stop by wal-mart to pick up some of the basics.
We have been living at our new place for almost two weeks now. We know our way around 
already since it is the same apartments that we had lived in before. So far things have been going good. We are settling back into our routine. Evan is enjoying himself a lot. He likes to go on walks around the apartment complex, of course, needless to say, with his Bobby Car and Puky Wutsch. There is a little bridge in front of the managers office that Evan loves to walk and drive over. He has also already met many little people his age which he had a good time playing with. That´s one of the positives of living so close to so many other people. There is almost always somebody to play with. He also enjoys his new weeride child carrier for the bike. It´s one that is mounted to the middle of the bike, so he is right up there with me. This way we can talk with each other while on the bike, and he can see more. He loves pointing out all the squirrels we see on our way to the store, and all the puddles he wants me to drive through. He also gets to push the buttons at the lights which he enjoys a lot. He seems to think that the toy section at target is just 
as good as the toy store we went to while living in Germany, and always asks us to go there by making the train noises of the trainset he likes to look at.
Otherwise we have taken Evan to the mall, the library, a playground and many stores. I think what he likes the most right now though is what he can see right outside our apartments. He has the best of views to the construction site that is right next to his balcony. When we first moved in it was nothing but a piece of wasteland. Then the next day while I was playing with Evan, Charles called over telling us to look outside the window. So we did. I was so surprised to see a big yellow backhoe driving right by us. Evan, of course, had a blast. Charles and I still aren´t quite sure what to think of the fact that we will be living next to a big construction site for who knows how long, but Evan is definitely pro construction site. Since then he has watched several backhoes, bulldozers and a huge truck type thing working away. We do appreciate that he will get a first hand view of something being build up from nothing. Having an almost constant gathering of various interesting construction vehicles right in front of his room must be one of the most exciting things imaginable for a little toddler boy.
Okay, gotta go. Evan just woke from his nap and we have to finish cooking. Click here if you want to see more pictures of Evans´ move and first two weeks in America. And this one is of Evan in front of our new place. We live in the upstairs apartment. Have a good day everyone.
