Well, we actually don't know yet. But we should know tomorrow after our ultrasound!
Get your guesses in now before the big reveal. :)
And a small donut update. We're finally getting there! It's sounding like our current dates will hold, but we'll see. Cross your fingers that we don't get pushed back!
First off, I need to apologize to everyone for dropping off the face of the earth these past few weeks. I found myself in a funk that I had trouble getting out of. Apparently hormones + deployment + holidays = one sad Becky.
I spent Thanksgiving with almost all of my mom's family down in southern IL. It was great seeing everyone, but I definitely noticed the big void in the room with Tom missing. We'll be celebrating our missed holidays after he returns, so I'm looking forward to attempting to make a mini Turkey Day meal for the two of us. Since he's been spoiled with all-you-can-eat meals and a large variety of meal choices over there, I hope he won't be disappointed with my mediocre cooking abilities. :)
We've entered the 17th week of pregnancy, and I'm feeling great! According to babycenter.com, the little one is about 5 inches long and weighs about 5 ounces, and his/her skeleton is changing from soft cartilage to bone. And baby can now sweat! (Uh, can you say yuck?)
Yesterday the wee one made a new discovery: my bladder! It definitely made for an extremely uncomfortable day. Thankfully he/she is swimming elsewhere this morning, so I'm enjoying being able to relax.
Here's an updated belly picture for those who are interested. Still waiting for the baby to make its appearance known, but in the meantime I'm enjoying the little bit of chub that's collected in the area. I'm guessing that it won't be too much longer before I actually have something to show!
All the local kids home on their lunch break--they refused to leave me alone, so I had to choke one (just kidding). I'm still not sure exactly what they wanted, although that little kid on the far left went ecstatic when I gave him a bottle of water (which another kid later tackled him for and stole it). Candy made a few of them go away, but not many. One kid handed me his English text book, and asked me to read it. I was happy to, and then translated the text back into Arabic, much to their surprise! Eventually the sergeant next to me convinced the parents to round up the kids and bring them inside, using........questionable methods.
"Ninja", this guy has split personalities. He's just a regular soldier over at the IA Battalion HQ, but half the time he's convinced that he's a Ninja Master, and then he's a pilot the other half. He likes to talk our medic, who's Korean, about kung fu masters and UFC championship. The funniest part is that he says it in Arabic, with a Japanese accent. The tab on his left arm says "Special Forces"...yeah right
Doc and a few of the guys in the back of an MRAP singing Queen. Not a moment goes by without singing or random Star Wars trivia in the back of the truck. Always fun, but it can be frustrating when trying to maneuver a platoon!We were out on mission about a week ago when our tank took a sharp turn threw some uneven ground and nasty mud. The result was not pretty--the track came completely off the road wheels. We had to spend about 4 hours out in sector just waiting for the recovery vehicle (the M88 "Hercules") to show up and recover it. Fortunately the locals were willing to accommodate my guys with some chay while they were waiting...after I gave them some cold bottles of water in return.
The view from behind the tank about 5 mins after the incident, you can't see it but everyone was standing around laughing.
A better view of how the track came off...at this point I'm trying to estimate how long we'll be out here, and if we'll need the IA to help pull security. Fortunately their base was only about a 3 minute walk from where the tank blew track.
Just another one of those sites in Iraq. This was about 75 meters away from the tank while we were fixing it.
Me and one of our interpreters (or terps), "Scott". Scott, like most of the terps, is from Kurdistan which is infinitely better than Mosul. He showed me a picture of a theme park in Kurdistan that he went to on leave, and it looked like Great America--wow! This picture was taken just before a huge feast at the IA Battalion HQ. The food was prepared for the 12 man MTT (Military Transition Team) that helps train the IA, but we showed up just in time! My company commander, CPT Rasmussen, is the guy behind my right arm.
The local Kurdish Army Commander, Lieutenant Colonel Ali...this guy was ecstatic when I showed up the first time, as they don't see Americans very often (and for those who don't know, Kurds love Americans................And hate Arabs)
One of the first things you notice when patrolling in Mosul is the number of apparently random animals there are roaming the streets. Except for the cats and dogs, most of them belong to someone, but I'm fairly confident that even the locals don't keep track and just make it up depending on what day of the week it is. Anyway, here's a small sample of what I've come across so far...
Conducting a raid on a courtyard late at night in attempts to find a weapons cache. I was searching around with my light and found this group of sheep in the corner. You may need to turn up the brightness on your computer to see them
I was interrogating a local and noticed that one of my soldiers was chasing this rooster around. The owner told me that he is the local champion of cock fights, and is actively searching for a female hen to mate with him.
The "Cow-borne-IED"...sometimes when on patrol you have to make jokes like that, no matter how disturbing they are. This cow was wandering around a vary dangerous median...Here are some pictures of our COP (Combat Outpost). There's not a lot here, but the computers are always close by, and there are always plenty of cookies and muffins to eat!
The outdoor gym...cardio equipment is rather lacking here, but there are plenty of free weights
A 400-ft tall tower belonging to "Al-Mosuliya" TV station that is attached to us. My knowledge of Arabic has helped me acquire some friends who work at the station. 
A necessary evil: A snare set up by my gunner to trap the diseased cats that roam the COP eating our food. A little bowl of milk is being used as bait.
Minutes after opening four packages from my Aunt Ann's class--simply amazing. Thank you to each and every one of them, a truly patriotic class!
Thank you letters from the kids and family--my room is much more friendly now!
The other side of my room, the first thing that I see when I wake up...thanks to Becky and my mom for sending me these picturesThat we're expecting! Baby Burnham is due in May!
We were a little surprised, but very happy with the news. It's a little strange discussing names, parenting, symptoms, etc. from such a long distance (and with those conversations few and far between) but so far we've been able to communicate very well and have a short list of names that we both like. While I've been home dealing with morning sickness and fatigue, he's been in Iraq suffering from dysentary. The two of us have made a pretty pathetic pair these past few weeks, but luckily we're both starting to emerge from our respective funks. Hopefully we'll both be feeling good as new this week!
I hope that you don't mind a bare belly picture, but it's the only way to show off my tiny, tiny bump. This was taken around 11 weeks, and I haven't really changed since. Today marks the start of 14 weeks, so it shouldn't be too much longer before I actually have something to show.
To make a long story short, I made the difficult decision this week to put my life in Colorado on hold and move back to IL with my parents. Things were getting too hard out there alone, and I had run myself ragged between work, school, and everything else. It's a huge relief to be back in familiar territory surrounded by family and pets that love me. :)
Jasmine and I have been settling in over the past day, and she appears to be adjusting well after the long drive.
We've been watching the corn surrounding the house being harvested all day, which I suppose is better than watching the corn grow in the spring. It's great to be home in the sticks!
And now for the best update of all:
The only green grass I've seen here so far
Pulling security near a building, notice all the holes from a Bradley's 25mm cannon
Joint patrol with the Iraqi Army
A common site in Iraq is destroyed cars on top of buildings...still trying to figure this one out
Talking to locals mid day
Kids going crazy at a school when we walk by
Hard to see, but more kids inside of the school say hello
Zeroing our rifles at a mock range before a patrolHowdy everyone. I haven't posted anything here since I got to Baghdad, so I figured I would make some posts over the next few days to bring everyone up to speed.
Life has been good in Mosul so far. I spend most of my time at FOB (Forward Operating Base) Marez as the Headquarters Platoon Leader for Delta Company. I've had a lot thrown at me so far, but I'm definitely getting the hang of it and am fitting in with the guys pretty well. Some additional duties include being the OIC (Officer in Charge) of the Company CP (Command Post) and tracking what our units are doing out on the streets of Mosul. I'm also the Arms Room Officer, Unit Movement Officer, and "Special Projects" Officer (for planning things like Dining-In and other misc. events). Average workday is about 12-14 hours, every day.
The amenities aren't too bad on the FOB...fantastic gym which is about a 3 min walk from my CHU (Contained Housing Unit) and a DFAC (Dining Facility) w/ a wide variety of food. Probably the most frustrating thing is getting to the computers to use the net...about a half hour round trip of walking.
Other than that I've spent some time patrolling and living at the smaller COP (Combat Outpost), where the computers are always close by, which I enjoy. Already seen some action, but fortunately no one has been hurt, knock on wood. Enjoyed some Iraqi food about a week ago and look forward to going out and meeting more of the locals.
Was feeling awful this morning, so I left work early, bought myself some organic macaroni and cheese (the only thing that sounds good), and have been home relaxing/napping the day away. Been having a not-so-great week, as I think all of the alone time is starting to get to me. I guess this is the beginning of the slump to 50% that everyone talks about.
Thanksgiving needs to hurry up and get here.
Tom's address is:
2LT Thomas P. Burnham
D Co 1-8 IN Bn
Unit # 43177
APO AE 09334
Happy mailing!
I've had several requests for my list of commonly requested care package items. While we still don't have an address for Tom, we should have one within the next several days. The list contains all of the commonly requested items with a few thrown in specifically for Tom. If you're interested in sending a care package to Tom (or to one of his guys who doesn't receive any packages) here's the list.
FOOD ITEMS:
This is the first picture that I took upon arriving in Kuwait. As you can see we're trying to stay out of the sun here...it's only 8 in the morning and already in the 90s. I believe at this point we were waiting on transportation to go to Camp Buehring, where we spent the next few days.
This is the last picture of Becky and I outside of the IRT building, maybe about 15 mins before being forcefully separated...do we look happy?
Looks like we'll be flying out tomorrow morning, likely taking a jet as Mosul is much further away than I had thought. Everyone from our initial group is gone except for those of us going to 1-8.
I just got done working out, so I'm gonna go shower and enjoy my last night in Baghdad, maybe post again later...hopefully I'll find out what I'll be doing tomorrow.
The internet here is giving me serious problems, so it may take me a while to post all of my pictures, and looks like they'll probably be out of order. Here is my good friend, Ben and me on the C-17 about to fly from Ali As-Salem, Kuwait to Baghdad. Right now we're waiting for them to load the pallets of gear on to the jet.
We're waiting to hear when those of us w/ 1-8 IN will be flying out to Mosul...as of now it looks like Saturday
Hello everyone, and greetings from Kuwait and Baghdad! I'm not quite sure where to begin, so I'll use some pictures to help guide myself...
All right so I've tried uploading more pictures but connection keeps resetting...I'll have to try again later. This picture was taken outside the IRT building the before leaving...most people were in good spirits, but a few of the wives were having a rough time. I just drew my weapon from the arms room...they gave us new weapons that hadn't been zeroed to our specs which seemed very strange. As you can see I'm wearing a subdued, infrared American Flag patch on my shoulder--this is the standard patch when in theater.
I did end up receiving a phone call from Tom on Thursday night. We were only able to talk for about 2 1/2 minutes, so I don't really have much info to share. He arrived safely in Kuwait, where he'll be for several days to acclimate. It was early morning there when we spoke, and he told me that the temperature was already in the high 80's. He told me that he was going to be attending some briefings over the next few days before hopping a flight to Baghdad.
I haven't heard anything from him since so I assume that he has not had any access to communication. Hopefully I'll hear something soon so I can update on how he's doing.
In good news: the donut has moved! We're already 2% done, which means that time is moving much faster than I had anticipated. It'll be at 50% before we know it!
After saying goodbye yesterday, I was expecting today to be especially tough; however, it proved to be a relatively good day. It started with a 4am wake-up call from Tom, letting me know that he was at his first layover, and it was so wonderful to hear his voice. After lazing around this morning and early afternoon, I had the treat of talking to Tom online through Yahoo messenger while he was at his second layover. This layover was abroad, and we were pleased to find that the call feature worked very well- we were able to talk for about a minute before he had to turn it off due to a lack of privacy. (Literally the whole terminal could hear that we were talking, poor guy. Thanks, hun, for putting up with my silly requests!) Hopefully the Internet connection in Iraq will be able to carry the signal and we'll be able to chat often.
He's now on the final leg of today's journey, on a plane between somewhere in Europe and Kuwait. I'm expecting to hear from him again after he arrives, so hopefully I'll be able to update with that info again later.
As for me, tonight I'll be enjoying the Grey's Anatomy premiere and preparing to go back to work tomorrow. I'm almost looking forward to it, bratty kids and all. Seeing as I spent most of my day watching the computer to see if Tom would log on, I think working will be a more productive use of my day.
One last thing: military wives use something called the "Donut of Misery" or the "Deployment Donut" to keep track of homecoming in a way that doesn't violate OPSEC. Since we can't say "he's coming home in 43 days," the donut tracks the percentage of the deployment that is complete. Here's a snapshot of today's donut. Pretty depressing, huh?
So it's my last week at home with Becky (assuming no change in flights) and I'm trying to enjoy it as much as possible. We went to Wal-Mart today to stock up on toiletries and miscellaneous clothing, and then took a little drive around Fountain trying to find where are friends live. We never realized how much nice housing there is south of us, and we wish we did a little more looking before we chose--although we are extremely happy with our place.
We had a layout of our gear on Friday morning--talking 2 duffle bags, 1 rucksack, and a small backpack for personal items.--I'm pretty much ready to go, just have to pick up my ACH (Advanced Combat Helmet) cover which is getting the 4th ID patch sewn on it.
Thanks to everyone who has posted, e-mailed and kept us in their prayers--we appreciate all of it.
I found out today that John will remain a student at the high school, and that I'll be working with him for two 90-minute blocks per day. Yikes. We were finally introduced today, and it went pretty well. But tomorrow I'll be dealing with him taking a test in a new place with a new person (me), during which the first fire drill of the year will occur. (GULP!) One of my coworkers will be joining us tomorrow as we're expecting big problems; we've even talked with the resource officers about the likelihood of a major meltdown and tested the panic button in the room. I'm just hoping to make it out with all of my skin and hair and without getting hit by a thrown chair or laptop. I have to set my sights pretty low after the last two days!
Also, another one of the students with autism had a meltdown today. After yelling, hitting, and pushing her para down the stairs, she ran and hid. Four of us searched the entire school and grounds for her, and we finally determined that she had probably left and walked home. After much panic and searching the subdivisions near the school, she was located in a bathroom that had been searched multiple times by each para. She said nothing to the SPED Dean when she was brought to his office, and was ultimately sent home for the day. We still have no clue where she was hiding while we searched, and I have a feeling that we might not ever know.
And now the good news: the student who suffered the seizure was back in school today, feeling fine and with quite a goose egg from where he landed on his head. I'm so thankful that he didn't suffer a head injury, as the fall was pretty nasty.
As for the rest of the day, I gave myself the afternoon off after coming home from work. The past two days have been unimaginably stressful, and tomorrow will most likely be worse. Tom is a currently at a Meet and Greet with the commander of his unit. I am unable to attend since I have class tonight, and I'm pretty sure that I've never wanted to skip class like I do at this moment.
If you have a few moments to spare, I would appreciate a quick prayer that John has a good day tomorrow. This job is getting pretty crazy, and I definitely don't get paid enough to be dealing with a kid that could inflict severe bodily harm at any moment with little warning. I'd much rather be at home watching Project Runway re-runs. :)
To make the story of a really crazy day short, yesterday I was scheduled to begin working with a young man who has highly functioning autism and anger problems. When the student, we'll call him John, gets stressed (from new material, new people, tests and quizzes, etc.) he gets violent. Very, very violent. So violent, in fact, that yesterday he spent the entire school day outside with two administrators, a counselor, and a cop to prevent him from hurting anyone. Thankfully, this happened before I was scheduled to meet with him. And it now sounds like he's being moved to a special school.
I figured that would be the craziest thing that happened all day, but in the afternoon I had a student have a Grand Mal seizure in the resource room. Pretty scary stuff as he hit his head very hard and was taking a looooong time coming around. (I was told that the average time from sleep to fully awake is about 15 minutes. He hadn't come around after 30 when the paramedics took him to the hospital.) I'm hoping to get an update today as to how he's doing, poor kid. Here's hoping that today is uneventful!
Well IRT is officially over, and now its time to enjoy a four day weekend with Becky and my mom who's flying in today! We've got a reservation tomorrow night at our favorite local restaurant--The Craftwood Inn (where we had our anniversary).
So training concluded yesterday with a lesson in modern CREW--Counter Radio-Controlled IED Electronic Warfare. This is the latest and greatest in current methods being used to prevent IEDs from detonating. There's dozens of different types of machines out there that the military is currently using, but we focused our efforts on the Warlock Duke (by the way this is unclassified, so don't worry). The Duke is very expensive 1 cubic foot box which can be filled with frequencies from a PDA or laptop. The idea is, you roll out the gate on a convoy or patrol and turn the box on voila...the box emits all these frequencies at a VERY high power and any receiver connected to an IED within your "bubble" that responds to one of these frequencies will be distracted by the Duke and unable to hear the transmitter---therefore unable to explode. This works great against cell phones, pagers, walkie-talkies, garage door openers and car remotes, just to name a few.
It's important to know that this only works against Radio-controlled IEDs, not other kinds, but this makes up a huge chunk of the bad stuff over there, so it's definitely a plus. Another system we learned about is Compass Call, which is a large CREW system which can go in a C-130 jet. Not only can this jam a very large area, but it can do the exact opposite....it has the option of sending out a large wave of varying frequencies all at once over a large area and actually detonate any RC IEDs that may be around. This is often used in the middle of the night, when people aren't wondering the streets, thus helping to clear the route before any convoys or patrols head out. Neat eh?
For those of you who don't know, I've started graduate school pursuing a MA in Special Education. I've only had two classes so far, but I can already tell that the courses will be challenging, but fun. I'm currently enrolled in Into to Special Education and a seminar course in Multicultural Education. So far most of the readings have related to sociology (my undergraduate degree). However, with these courses we'll actually be applying our acquired knowledge. That will be a nice change of pace from sociology, where you just study and memorize theories.
Also, I've accepted a full time job working as a Special Education Paraeducator at Fountain-Fort Carson High School. I'm spending my days collaborating with teachers in their classrooms and working in the Resource Room. So far, I've just been "baby-sitting" some students who have behavior issues, but soon I'll be working alongside those students who have been identified as needing a little extra help. My coworkers have all been great in showing me the ropes but are always quick to point out that I look like I should be attending high school, not working in a high school. :)
Other than that, we've just been enjoying our last couple weeks before the big D. It's finally hit me that it's real and that it's SOON. I wish that the denial stage could have lasted a just a little bit longer...
So IRT is going pretty well so far, the focus so far this week has been CLS (Combat Lifesaver) training---basically first aid. I've learned a few new things and even got a chance to destroy a few of my buddy's veins while trying to give him an IV...
Butts Army Airfield...CLS central
A fellow LT checking for the mid-clivicular, second intercostal space, just above the third rib to treat a sucking chest wound via needle chest decompression
A medic explaining the procedure mentioned above
Another medic showing us how to initiate a saline lock and give an IV transfusion, most of us look in shock knowing that soon we will be doing this to each other
A close-up of a completed IV
Joe wrapping a Combat Application Tourniquet (CAT) around a dummy's leg
Ahhh...it felt good getting that restricting band off (I was starting to lose circulation)
My arms after getting stuck five times!
Even a successful IV can be messy. Inserting the catheter opens up the blood flow...gotta put that saline lock on or pinch the vein to cut the circulation!
