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

Catching Up

Well, it's been a little while.  Aubrey and I have had a fun month.  The best part was traveling to Austin, Texas, to see Matt!  It was a great vacation for all of us.  My mom came so Matt and I got to go on a couple dates and Aubrey got some Mimi time.

Aubrey is a champion traveler.  We had 2 flights both ways and she basically slept for all 4 plane rides.

Matt got to feed her the first food besides rice cereal.  She wasn't quite sure what to think of the squash at first, but by day 2 she decided it was really good.

 We went swimming almost everyday while we were there.  She's still not 100% sure what to think about pools.  She absolutely loves her bath and kicks and splashes the entire time, but pools are still a mystery.

 Tired girl!

Enough kisses guys!

Taking a walk through the flower garden.

Just loving on Daddy.

 After we got back home I put together a jumper for her to play in.  She doesn't quite have the hang of actually jumping, but she does finally put weight on her legs.  She really likes the toys and music though even if she doesn't jump.  I can't find a picture of her playing in it.  Just the one of the million parts that need to go together.

She eats green beans and prunes now too.  She's not sure if she really likes the green beans but the prunes are super tasty.  The daycare says she's like feeding a bird.  She opens her mouth up really wide and talks and makes noises almost the whole time.

Our next excitement of the month was a tornado.  Aubrey and I hung out in the basement for about an hour with no electricity.  She just stared at me then went back to sleep.  Even the loud thunder didn't seem to phase her.  I don't think a tornado actually hit our subdivision but there were some spotted nearby and we have some damage from the wind.  The garage door was the worst for our house and after having a garage for several years, I'm not really liking the adjustment back to no garage.

Thanks to some great friends and neighbors for helping get my car out of the garage so I wouldn't be stuck and helping pick up all the limbs and debris from the yard.  I wasn't feeling up to doing it all by myself.

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

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

Matt is Home!!

Matt got back to Whiteman a day later than scheduled but he made it! Aubrey and I drove up for a welcome back/deployment party and then got to spend the night in a hotel. Aubrey had a long day with driving and then not really having much play time so she wasn't quite the happy smiley baby for Matt that I'd hoped for, but she was still pretty good.

In the month Matt was gone, she has grown so much that I had to move up the straps on the car seat and she slept through the night the 3 days before Matt got home.  Of course she decided to wake up what seemed like 10 times the night he comes home.

We only have about 18 days to spend with Matt before he leaves and we're trying to make the moments go by slowly.

E

The Aubrey Effect

Aubrey and I have been hanging out at my parents house for a while to help pass the time until Matt comes home.  We've had a great time hanging out and playing, but the Aubrey effect is in full force!

Mom and Dad have had a couple snow days so we've had extra fun playing.

Aubrey found a sneaky way to get an extra bath even if it was in the kitchen sink.  

Diaper blowout!

This is what she typically looks like around 9:30pm after we've been trying to get her to go to sleep for an hour.  Just too much excitement to go to bed.

 

Matt is starting the 4 day journey back to Whiteman today and so there's a good chance we'll get to see him on Friday night even if he does have to work till Sunday.  I can't wait!! 

This is the approximate route (I'm not sure exactly, but this is close) they took getting to Boise and will go the same way to get back trying to avoid the weather in the mountains.  They may miss everything in the mountains, but if the weather doesn't clear up in Missouri that may be the biggest issue.  I'm praying for no delays!!

E