A Vietnam traveling wall (3/4 the size of the original in D.C.) came to Killeen recently. Here are a few of my photographs...
Oh- and by the way, we're in MO until Sunday! We got here yesterday. It was was Aidan's first time on an airplane and he was FANTASTIC. So many people stopped us to comment on how cute he is.
I'd just like to say thanks to everyone who sent me sweet Mother's Day wishes - from the comments here, to emails, cards and phone calls - it was a great first Mother's Day for me. John and Heleena came to visit Aidan and me, which was a nice treat. Heleena took me for a pedicure last Saturday and then we all went out for breakfast on Mother's Day.
It's been a busy week at work, so that's why you haven't seen any updates. I also spent Mother's Day doing something NOT so fun. They recenty changed policies regarding the arrival of fallen soldiers, and we had our first arrival Monday. Sunday was spent at an interview with his widow. Luckily, I was just photographing the event and nothing more. I don't think I could have done much of an interview because I was bawling the entire time. Poor Heather (the one doing the interview) WAS crying. Anyway, it was very emotionally draining. Then the next afternoon, his body arrived at the military airport. I have lots of photos and I'll post a few later. It was great to see these guys getting the honors they deserve. Please keep his wife in your thoughts, I can't imagine what she's going through. Poor woman was highly medicated through the whole thing. She was fully cooperative with all members of the media because she said she wanted to spread the word about what a good soldier he was.
Well, on to less depressing updates. This weekend, Aidan and I went to the park at a local college. I wanted to feed the ducks and had a loaf of bread ready, but apparently everybody in this town had the same idea. Needless to say, none of the ducks were hungry and our bread went uneaten.
We also went to the Traveling Vietnam wall that came to our area for the weekend. On Tuesday, I also photographed its arrival. The wall travels in a semi truck, but it was accompanied by at least 500 Patriot Guard Riders. (If you don't know what those are, you should google it. Very cool guys.) Anyway, it was an amazing sight to see hundreds of motorcyclists go by. I had goosebumps. So today, Aidan and I went to photograph the actual wall after it was put up. I've been to the one in D.C., and it's an amazing sight. So was this. We have many local vets because they like to retire here. It was heartbreaking to see them tracing the names of their friends on the wall. I spoke with a few of them. Many of them were very emotional about it. Many had never seen the actual wall, so for them it was hopefully a bit theraputic.
Anyway, I hope to post some photos tomorrow - I have the day off to get a few things done around the house. Here's a sneak peak of what you're going to see! Enjoy!
I know I've been a bad, bad blogger lately. Sorry. So last week Aidan found his feet. He loves to suck on his toes now, and it cracks me up. Oh - and he also had his first real laugh. Instead of a little squeal, it was a real belly laugh. It's amazing how those little things can make a parent so happy.
Anyway, here are a bunch of photographs I took over the weekend. Sorry it's taken so long. Enjoy.
I figured I'd try to put something a little more creative, so this is a trial banner until I come up with something better. What do you guys think?
That's the number of days I have left in the Army! Yay for me.
So in my free time, though nearly obsolete, I have been pondering my post-Army life. There are so many questions and so many decisions our little family must make in the next year. I must say I've been pondering continuing my time in the Army - but don't freak out. I would re-enlist into the National Guard. (You only serve 2 days a month) I'm hoping in the near future they'll approve medical coverage for National Guard and Reserve soldiers. That would definitely make it worth it. Oh - and I would only do that as an officer. This enlisted crap is for the birds.
I see these little brand new lieutenants who know nothing about anything and I have to salute them and call them ma'am and sir. Ugh, I'm so thorougly sick of it. It's time for somebody to salute ME! :)
Aidan seems to be feeling a little better. He actually graced me with a few smiles today. I must say though, it's so sad to put his little baby inhaler on his face. Plus, he really hates it. I think it scares him to have the mask on his face.
So Aidan has been sick for a while. This weekend his cough got so bad he was having a difficult time breathing. So I took him to the ER at 5 a.m. After 3 breathing treatments, a chest x-ray and several hours of monitoring, he was released. They think he *might* have pneumonia. Thet gave him an inhaler, prednisone and amoxicillin. Poor baby - he hates all 3. Sometimes he pukes when he gets the medicine. Not so fun. They said they saw a spot on his chest x-ray, but it was too small to tell if it was pneumonia or not, so we go back to the pediatrician on Monday.
And - he's been sleeping terribly this week. I'm so exhausted I can't even think straight most of the time. Oh - and to top it off, I think I might have pink eye. I need to go to the doctor, but I don't have time.
Anyway, I can see you! Ok, no really, but I have tracking software in my blog that tells me how often my blog is looked at, which is pretty interesting. It makes me post more, since I know people are actually looking at it. You guys are all lazy and don't leave comments, so I never know if anybody really reads this mumbo jumbo.
Dan has landed at his final destination. For security reasons, I was told not to put his location on this blog. Certain people have been known to find out details about Soldiers' lives and put their families at risk. Sooo, let's not specify. OK? Ok great. Thanks. He said it's beautiful and that he doesn't think it will be too bad of a mission. Better than many of the alternatives I suppose. I haven't had a chance to talk to him much, he doesn't have enough phone card time. Hopefully he'll get some more soon so I can give you guys more details. One big bonus is I'm allowed to visit him. I can't wait!
I'm a little late posting this, but Dan and I have been married 3 years! Yay for us! Dan sent me some beautiful roses. I'm sad we couldn't be together, but hopefully he'll be back for our 4-year anniversary next year.
Aidan and I are doing fine, except he's been sick. It started out as a little cough. Now it's a really bad cough that makes him cry sometimes. He's been running a slight fever and he just looks miserable. He did calm down enough to sit outside this afternoon. It was a very pretty day, even though it did threaten to rain - though it never did happen. It took him forever to fall asleep because he keeps waking himself up when he coughs. The other day I had to pick him up from daycare early because he was too sick. They called and said he only ate 1 ounce of milk the entire time. I immediately went to pick him up. Poor little Aidan. I put him in the bathroom with steam, I ran the humidifier and finally I rubbed Vicks Baby Rub on his chest. Hopefully he'll feel better tomorrow.
It's been a good weekend (for the most part) for Aidan and me. Yesterday we drove to Austin to have a playdate with my friend Belinda and her daughter Katherine (who is 3 weeks younger than Aidan). We had so much fun with them. We went for a long walk in a park by her apartment. There was a really pretty creek where you can rent kayaks and there were so many TREES, which we don't have many of here at Fort Hood. We also went to Babies R Us (they have a fabulous one in Austin) where I spent lots of money on Aidan. Well, not too much, but he got some new clothes, a toy and a new swaddler. It was so nice to get out of this crappy place.
Anyway, Aidan and I had a long overdue photo shoot today. I finally got out the good camera... Hope you like them. Vote for your favorite!
Ok, so I know that's not a big deal to most of you, but for me it's a HUGE deal. He actually slept for 2 1/2 hours straight. This child has not taken a nap at daycare for more than 30 minutes EVER. His afternoon teacher is a genious. Apparently they make a machine that makes a noise like a heartbeat. She put him in his bouncy chair next to the machine and he finally took a nap at daycare. Anyway - I was very excited because usually he comes home with huge circles under his eyes, red eyes and he's crying because he's so exhausted. It was nice to not see him look like that today.
I think it's amazing how once you become a parent your entire life changes. I mean, you always hear people say that, but you can never fully understand that until you have a child. In the beginning, it was so exhausting and so difficult taking care of Aidan. Now, even by myself, it's just become habit. Every day with him is a little miracle, and I'm even getting used to waking up a couple times a night. As long as I can get 3-4 hours of straight sleep, I'm good to go. Usually I get 3 hours straight, then 2 and then 1. So I suppose collectively I get about 6-7 hours, but it's certainly no 6 hours straight. I honestly don't even think I could sleep 7 hours straight. The other night Aidan slept from 7 p.m. to 4 p.m. I woke up in a huge panic, thinking something was certainly wrong. Nope. He was sleeping peacefully in his crib. Oh - did I mention that? He's a big boy now, and he sleeps in his crib in his very own room.
I'm still nursing exclusively. (Sorry if the following is too much information, but deal with it =)
Anyway, I pump at work, and I have to say it's exhausting! Not to mention very difficult to find the time. I had originally planned to stop at 4 months (well actually there was a time I wanted to quit at about 5 weeks or so). I'm definitely going to keep nursing him, but I think I'll just take it month by month. I certainly don't know how women do this for a year though. That's just crazy.
Hmmm. I'm trying to think of something interesting to tell you besides stuff about Aidan. You don't get sick of hearing about him do you? Nah - didn't think so.
(WARNING: POLITICAL RANT TO FOLLOW)
Anyway, so they made a huge announcement about all active duty troops in Iraq being extended by 3 months. Who didn't see that coming? Fort Hood is the premiere post for deployments, and I think we're so used to this it's ridiculous. There are guys going over there for a third or fourth deployment. I can't begin to imagine how awful that would be. Everyone in my office thinks they're doing this to coincide with the elections. They want to get as many troops as they can over there, that way the Republicans can say "the troops are over there, so we might as well leave them there." I don't really have anything to say about that, except for the fact that I've seen first hand what this war is doing to people - people all around me. Many Americans don't fully understand the toll this is taking. Here at Fort Hood, everyone understands. There are 50,000 troops on our post, and absolutely the majority have done at LEAST one tour over there. When I was in Iraq I was fully supportive of the war because I saw what us being over there meant for the Iraqi people. But now, several years later, I'm not going to say I don't support it (absolutely not) but things are out of hand and I really feel sorry for the thousands of families being pulled apart because of politics. Ok - enough of my rant. Sorry if I got too political for you.
So I woke up this morning to discover it was a whopping 30 degrees outside. I couldn't believe it. In April? In Texas? What on earth? Needless to say, I put Aidan in his snowsuit for our trip grocery shopping at WalMart. When we came back and I was taking him in the house, I had a blanket over his face, but he kept knocking it away. The giant snowflakes were falling on his face and he was blinking really quickly - it was so funny. I took a picture of him in the snow (well not exactly IN the snow, but you get the idea). I'll be anxious to see what it looks like in the morning...It's supposed to stay pretty cold here. Aidan got an early Easter present - a new bouncy chair. He was too long for the other one, and his foot would hit the little box that held the batteries. This new one is supposed to hold him until he's a toddler (40 pounds) so hopefully he'll get some good use out of it. It's funny how once you have a child, you never buy yourself anything. It suddenly seems trivial, and all you think about is him. Anyway, hopefully I can dig a battery out for my "real" camera and take some fun Easter shots of Aidan tomorrow. Although I don't know what he's going to wear. It's not as if he has a plethora of winter apparel!
Dan was allowed to take a pass over the weekend. Aidan and I were thrilled to have him home - even if for a short while. He'll be heading to Fort Lewis for training for approximately 2 weeks. Then he'll head to his final destination. He'll be gone about a year from this month. Here are some pictures of my 2 favorite boys in the entire world.
