Happy Birthday!

Happy birthday to this man...

Aubrey and I can't wait till you get home.  We love you and miss you so much!  We'll celebrate my 30th, your 35th, Aubrey's 1st, our 5 year anniversary and all the other holidays that we're missing as soon as you get home.  It's going to be one heck of a party cramming all that together.  

E

7500 Miles

Well he made it.  He's at his "home" for the next 8ish months in Afghanistan about 7500 miles from Aubrey and me.  So far we've been able to communicate pretty easily and regularly, but he hasn't officially started his work since he's still learning the area with the unit that's getting ready to leave.  In the next week or so he'll get on his work schedule and we'll better know how/when we'll get to talk.  He's 9.5 hours ahead of central time right now.

For the most part it's good accommodations for being deployed.  It's super super hot which I don't think he's enjoying that much and because there's no rain or grass everything's covered in a layer of dust and is gray.  Other than that he said the food's not that bad and as long as the power is on, the A/C is running and the tent stays fairly cool.  We've only had a couple issues with communication so that is going much better than I anticipated.

Leg 1 of the trip over

Leg 2

 

 

The base

"Home"

 

E

Here and Gone

Well....

That seems to be about all I can manage about this past week.  It came and went way too fast.  The time seemed to fly by up until the about 40 minutes when we sat in the airport right outside of security.  We mostly just sat.  There didn't seem to be words for the occasion.  It didn't help that Aubrey was sick the majority of the week.  Matt barely got to see the happy playful baby that's been around for a while now and instead she didn't feel good at all.  We even ended up in the ER Saturday night where she was diagnosed with pneumonia.  Poor thing didn't have a good week overall but still had some good moments when the Tylenol was working.

I had planned on taking lots of pictures so I would have them for the next 9 months, but I just didn't want to miss any moments behind the camera so I didn't get very many.

Play time before getting sick

Twins!

4th of July

 Hospital

Airport

Final Hugs

Boy am I going to miss this guy.  He's a rock for our family, the laughter in the house and most certainly the man God intended for me.

Love you, Matt!  2 days down.

E

Conflicted

Today marks 98 days of deployment.  In 2 days it'll be 100 days and I'll get to pick Matt up from the airport for a week at home.  I wish I could say that I'm super excited, but right now my emotions are all over the place.  On one hand I am really excited.  I miss Matt so much and want to see him so bad, but I also know the week is going to fly by and then there's the goodbye that I'm dreading.

Five weeks ago I went to Austin and had a great time, but at the end of the weekend I had to say goodbye knowing what I was going home to.  I couldn't pretend that the time was going to fly by or that I was going to be motivated to do all sorts of things to make the time seem to go faster like I could in March.  The only reason it wasn't so bad was that I knew I'd get to see him again in a little over a month.  That won't be the case this time.  In a week and a half I'll say goodbye for approximately 9 months.  I also know that this time he'll be leaving the country and there will be new hurdles to figure out.

I think the worst part is that Aubrey doesn't have any idea who her daddy is.  I see so much of Matt in her especially when she smiles and it's heartbreaking that she doesn't get to spend time with him.  I'm praying this week drags by and that I can focus on the time we do have.

E

Ft. Hood Training

Well Matt has been gone for over a month now.  I've gotten to speak to him everyday so far even if only for a few minutes.  For the most part the first couple weeks were really slow for him.  His first days were just in-processing and medical checks.  He got a small pox and anthrax shot and a few others as a welcome. :) He had a couple hours of language training.  I asked him what he learned to say and he couldn't remember anything.  Seems like that class was super helpful.  There was a couple days of weapons qualifications, one gun he will carry while in Afghanistan and the other he won't.  He's also had some combative training so if you read any news articles about the Taliban wrestling with soldiers, have no fear!  He only got to fly one day in the first 3 weeks then last week he was in New Mexico all week for high altitude training.  Now he's back at Ft. Hood and his days are getting busier.  He's actually starting to fly simulated missions and do more of the type of training I expected.

It's been a long 5 weeks but we've managed.  I had some good plans for making the year go by quicker by setting some goals that I can track besides just the time.... and so far I haven't even started most of them. I might have to adjust my goals a little but I still think I can at least attempt to do most of them.  I've followed through on eating my M&M everyday though! :)  Now that it's May I'm on to my second color.  I think one of the major struggles right now to go to bed and fall asleep every night.  Speaking of bed, I should probably head there right now.

Last Purple M&M

Weapons Qualifications

Barracks

E

Random

This post is just a bunch of random stuff.  I'm not good with transitions even when talking about the same topic so I'm not even going to attempt it with all these random topics.

I forgot to upload Aubrey's "artwork" and pictures from daycare for Easter.  She looked pretty cute with bunny ears!  The little chick is her footprint.

We are 2.5 weeks down with 49.5ish to go.  Right now it seems like it's going super slow, but I've been able to visit with several friends to help make the days less lonely.  I'm so thankful for friends who love us and enjoy spending time with us even when Aubrey's cranky.

I've started back to work and have hit the ground running.  My coworkers had been saving several things waiting for me to come back.  So much for easing back into it.  Some days I miss Aubrey like crazy and other days I'm glad to be around people that I enjoy working with.  I miss Matt like crazy everyday, but I'm learning how to continue focusing though it.  I think one of the hardest things right now is sleeping at night.  I'm exhausted from work and then Aubrey and then "chores", but it's still hard to fall asleep.

It's baseball season again!  I dressed Aubrey in Cardinal gear for opening day and the day care thought I didn't know what was going on.  They organized a Cards day for the home opener and didn't realize that it wasn't the first game.  She looked cute both days though!  Grandma Mary has hooked us up with all kinds of Cardinal gear so she'll always be ready.

Opening Day

This is what she thought of them opening on the west coast. 

Home Opener (I wish my double chin looked that cute)

She's only seen a little baseball, but so far it seems like she prefers basketball.  She loved March Madness.  There's a little more movement and crazy colors I think.

I can't believe she'll be 4 months old in a couple days!  That is all...

E

Sending Off

Well the day I've been dreading arrived.  Matt has officially started his year long deployment.  He will be at Fort Hood, Texas, for the next approximately 3 months and then leave for Afghanistan.


We got to spend a couple nights with him at Whiteman AFB and attend a deployment ceremony.  Even though the snow almost foiled the ceremony, it was fun to put Aubrey in it for a little while.  She wasn't quite sure what to do. 

1-135th Attack Battalion Reconnaissance entering.

Matt!

The whole battalion (about 320 people) in prayer.

I woke up Aubrey from a nap to take pictures so she was a little sleepy.

Headed to Fort Hood.

This is how I'm going to track the time while Matt's gone.  

 He'll be at Fort Hood for approximately 3 months (left) and around 9 months (right) in Afghanistan.

I'm not looking forward to this year, but I know we will survive.  Thank you everyone for your thoughts, prayers and encouraging words.  We truly do have the best friends and family.

E