Extension, or Reason #21,894 To Hate the Army

So we got word that Tom's unit is being extended a week due to "logistical reasons." In Army speak that means that either someone up high made a change to a perfectly good redeployment schedule for no reason or that someone somewhere screwed something up.

Or that's my interpretation, at least.

But I'm still heading back out to Colorado early, as planned. Showing up very early to the party suits me just fine as I've got plenty to do to keep myself busy before he gets home. I don't think it's a nesting instinct just yet, but I find myself wanting to clean everything for him before he gets home. Tom has started his list of grocery items that he'd like for when he returns, so I'm eagerly anticipating shopping for our usual items while sipping a chai latte at the Safeway and Starbucks across the street from our beautiful home. And I can't wait to see those mountains again every time I step out of the door.

I miss the simple life of spending my days with Jasmine, cleaning, cooking, doing laundry, and doing more laundry. And while I complain sometimes, ("Can you please explain to me why you're the ONLY person coming home soaked head to toe in clay?") I miss it. I miss having Tom come home from work to me having tried a new recipe that failed and having him eat it anyway without complaint. I miss curling up on the couch and watching our favorite movies or television shows together. I miss my bread machine, our bed, and my car. I miss too many things to list in one blog post. But most of all, I miss him. He's given me a wonderful life in Colorado. And while it's been great being home with my family, I can't wait to return to the warm weather, the sunshine, and the love of my life.

Less than a month to go, hun. Thank you for working so hard for our family and for sacrificing so much for our country. I love you, and can't wait for you to be home eating my crappy cooking and making mass piles of filthy laundry again. :)

An Anti-climactic Answer

Now that I've kept you all hanging for FAR too long, the only news that I have on the baby front is that we are, in fact, having one. We were unable to get a clear view of the sex, so we're looking forward to the next ultrasound which will be done shortly after Tom redeploys to the states!

Keeping it short and sweet, here's what the donut is looking like. He'll be home next month!

IT'S A............

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!

I Can't Believe That I Forgot...

to add this!!!!!!!!




And so begins the downward climb!

An Apology and An Update

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!

Out in Sector!

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!

Woops!

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.