Hello Out There

Hello all you blog readers. Yes, I'm being ambitious and saying you all. I spoke to Neilson today and he mentioned getting lots of cards recently. He also mentioned that there are more people reading this than I imagined. So now I have to ask you to please comment with your name so I can see who reads my ramblings and follows our wandering. Let me take a moment to refresh your memories on how to comment.

At the end of an inividual post there is a little line noting the time I posted followed by a number and the word comments. e.g. 0 comments --- click on the word comments. The new screen will have two columns, on the left is a list of all the comments, on the right there is a large box. Write what you would like in that box and please sign your name. Then scroll down and it will ask you to choose an identity. Click on the little circle to the left of the word anonymous. Then click on the large button that says, "publish your comment". Viola! you have done it and left your mark.

So on to our happenings today. As I said, I spoke to Neilson. He reports that he is settled in and has a new office that he shares with 1st Sgt. It is cold at night so he is sleeping with his sleeping bag and the blanket provided to him. He also has 2 pillows, one he bought in Kuwait and one sent for his birthday :). He is working on Mosul's city affiars which is something new and interesting for him. He has been receiving mail including many cards and a box from Marjie and Don and a box from us. I asked if he needed anything and he said breakfast or snacky items would be great as he doesn't always have time to get breakfast. However, he said he has plenty of drink mixes and pop tarts. So what does that leave to send? Hell if I know. If you figure that out let me know - haha.

MCCW (Military Council of Catholic Women) started up again for me today. Our parish priest Fr. Wood came and spoke to us. The topic was supposed to be on purgatory and we did chat a bit but really he let us have a Q&A and I learned some cool little tidbits. One of the more intersting things I learned is that he is a married Catholic priest with children. He was a Lutheran minister and got the calling to convert and long story short he has special permission from the pope to be a priest. I thought it was kind of cool. He is the 1st Cav division Catholic chaplain so he will be deploying soon.

Grace had school again today and they are finishing up reviewing the alphabet. She enjoys school and being with her friends. She also likes to show off her room and work to anyone that will listen and look. She has a new photo of her and Neilson on the hero wall.

Creighton has discovered a new game that he enjoys. It's called up baby, down baby. I hold him in the arm pits and stand him up (up baby) and then sit him down (down baby). I announce in a sing songy voice up baby and down baby as we play. He thinks it's wonderful. This game does tend to pump the urp out of him so it is played with a towel in my lap.

Hmmmm I think that is it. Like I said, please leave a comment so I can get a feel for who is reading.

Texas People

Texans are funny. I got an email from Grace's school today. It was the January newsletter and it ended with a paragraph about making sure you had enough firewood and hot chocolate to get through the cold weekend coming up. I looked at the weather for this weekend -- it will be in the 40s and 50s. HA I'm sure I'll see people bundled up too. I might put on long sleeves.

My kids don't even own heavy coats this year. We get by on little sweaters, layers, or sweatshirts. Creighton gets a blanket thrown over him.

See the photo? That is what real cold weather looks like. It was taken in either late 06 or early 07 at our house in Kansas. I remember we played a long time outside that day so it must have been in the upper 20s or low 30s. I don't remember it being particularly cold either. Texans don't know what they're missing.

Diaper Pictures

see i told you cloth diapered babies were cute. look at that fluffy butt.

here's what we look like now

OK

i knew i couldn't keep up with daily posts. between daily emails and well life there just wasn't time.

anyway, we've been quite busy. several of us ladies have been taking turns hosting dinner. it's great for the wives and the kids. it also rocks not having to cook dinner everynight.

some updates on each of us.

grace went back to school this week. she was ready. she missed her friends and the routine. we will miss st. christophers for sure. she also took the bedrail off her bed!

creighton has started giving kisses -- note the last photo. he just opens wide and waves his head around. it's pretty cute.

heather hmmmm... well, hmmm. i'm pretty boring actually. i made a daddy doll for my neighbor and ummm... hmm. well i'll try to do something interesting this week to make up for the lack of interest.

neilson is now officially 30. he is safely in mosul which in bible times was ninevah. there are ancient ruins there and a mosque named after jonah. kind of interesting to be in such a historical/biblical location. he is getting settled in and the brigade they are replacing should be leaving soon.

oh and the rest are just shameles photos of the kids. the other night i managed to get them both to look at the camera and smile - quite a feat. we had fun taking some shots.

25

We had freezing rain today! Can you believe it?? The bushes in our yard looked like crystal as did the trees. However, the roads were great because they were so warm still.

Grace starts back to school tomorrow so today was her last day of vacation. She is getting quite good at sounding out words to write. She is also quite good at following directions to draw something. She spent her day drawing little pictures for a suprise for daddy.

Creighton was a sleepy boy. He napped on and off all day and was very mellow. He had a nice bath and enjoyed the water. He is trying so hard to talk. When I hold him up face to face he opens his mouth so wide and you can see him trying to make words. I'd try to get a picture but every time he sees the camera he focuses in on it and the only expression is concentration.

24

Happy Birthday to me!
We went to lunch with Loretta, Melissa and all the collective kiddos. YUM YUM!!
Must nap... so tired.

23

Another very warm day in Central Texas. it got up into the low 80s i believe - yuck. No wonder I have a hard time getting into the Christmas spirit when the temps tell my body it's spring. gah!

We took some time to play outside today because of the fantastic weather. Both kids seem to love the fresh air.

Our only outing was to church. I brought my little old lady magnets with me and got quite a bit of attention. Grace charmed all the people sitting around us with her good manners and went out of her way to shake everyone's hands during the sign of peace. Creighton looked ever so cute snuggled into the wrap and I had many ladies peering over my shoulder to look at him.

Oh and now I must confess my new found crispy cruncy granolaness. My disclaimer is that though I now have a cruncy granola coating I still retain my nougety conservative center and only participate in activities that either save me money or do not cost me any more money so it is a combo of granola and thrift.

So back to the confession. I have worked this past week on expanding my cloth diaper stash. Hopefully by the end of this week I'll be up to 18 after some boxes come in the mail. I'm hoping that will get me through the day and bit into the next which will help with the washing. I am still going to use disposables for night as they are more absorbant and keep Creighton's skin drier. I will also use them when we travel. The second bit to the granola is I also started making my own wipes. I made them out of paper towels with Grace but this time I've taken the extra step to make fabric ones. I had a bunch of hand me down baby towels that i cut up and zig zagged around. Now I'll just keep them in a recycled wipes container with a bit of wipe solution. (water, babywash and babyoil) Combine this with my project of making my own grocery bags out of recycled fabrics and there you have it.

22

This afternoon it was in the mid 70s for central Texas which means it is perfect park weather. Here is Grace playing in the swirly ladder tube at our favorite park. Bronco park has the nice rubber play surface. Grace loves to take her shoes and socks off and run around and I wish I had gotten a picture of her feet when we left. They were black! I call them her little dirty birdie feet.

Here are some photos that are pretty typical of Creighton and I's evenings. He goes to sleep between 9 and 10 and we hang out on the couch for awhile before I put him to bed bed. Hey, he's only this little once and if I want to enjoy holding the sleeping baby I'm going to! Grace won't let me anymore!!

We sent off the first boxes today. One big yet light one contained his stetson. The other small yet heavy one had some documents he needed. Sadly, neither was all that fun. Why do I mention such mundane details as the size and weights of the boxes, well, it is because I want you to picture something: (cue dreamy side waves) Myself, Grace (who cannot lift the small box nor get her arms around the large one), Creighton in his baby seat and my purse.

How many trips did it take to get to the car? 3

How did we get into the post office? very slowly because I had to get the stroller out, put small box underneath, give Grace my purse, push stroller one handed with big box under other arm while Grace holds onto handle of stroller.

Point being I'm sure we looked like a motley bunch trying to cross the insanly busy post office parking lot.

The first mail award of this deployment goes to Jean and Stan. Neilson received a card from them today. Congratulations Jean and Stan, your fabulous prize is in the mail, yeah, that's the ticket, it's in the mail.

I did hear from Neilson today. He made it to his final destination that I can now say is Mosul. It's in the north. And in biblical times was Ninevah (think Jonah and the Whale). He reports that Mosul is a very dirty, war torn city, the worst he's seen. Their FOB is also very dirty though he did conceed that it is the rainy/muddy season. He also will have spotty internet and phone communications in the short term due to a variety of reasons.

extreme close ups

mr. poopy face

mommy i really don't want to be in the bouncy

really mommy i don't like it.

ok i'll hide behind my hands

creighton was unhappy about being in the bouncer/vibrating chair. i couldn't catch his little pouty lip but i did get plenty of pitiful poopy faces. :(

21

not much to say so i'll just put lots of pics.

20

today is deployment day 20 and i forgot to mention earlier that the mailbox is open for business. you can send neilson mail now and if you email me, i will send you his address.

today is also new years eve and i am doing my traditional celebrating which includes surfing the net, and watching tv. nope, no parties in texas tonight. i can actually only count 3 times my entire life where i went to celebrations for new years. i'm boring i guess.

so let's look back at 2008

jan - officially became a stay at home mom. neilson went back to work in garrision. we also went to kansas to finalize wedding plans.

feb - church wedding! and we found out right after valentine's day we were expecting.

march - beginning of the spring time birthday rush. we went 7 weeks with as many birthday parties to attend and easter was in there! neilson and i also went to the btn ball.

april - grace turned 4! we also went to the division ball. and we said goodbye to our friends the migliores.

may - neilson changed out of command for charlie company. found out we were expecting a boy! we also said goodbye to our friends becci, steve, tana and mandy.

june - said goodbye to the sharmas ( are you seeing a trend)

july - trip to kansas for fourth of july, said goodbye to the riveras :( and :) met new friends like the masks and acrees! neilson took command of hawk company and also had his 2 week field problem and grace and i went to the american girl place in dallas

august - grace started pre kindergarten. i began my obsessive sewing

september - neilson went to ntc in california and i continued my obsessive sewing and crafting.

october - after much walking and hoping, creighton made his apperance.

november - very busy preparing for deployment and taking care of our new family of four. celebrated thanksgiving with the masks and spellmans

december - had karen and thomas down for a visit, celebrated christmas early and bid neilson farewell.

and today on the last day of 2008 i started my new project --- cloth diapering. yes, i'm putting it here in black and white so i am accountable. i have three pocket diapers the bumgenius 3.0 to be exact. after a days use including poops and a wash i'm quite pleased. my only complaint is that the inserts take a looooooooooooong time to dry. i think i need to get twice as many inserts so i have one to use and one to dry. good thing the inserts are cheap. heck i am considering getting the microfleece towels from the auto section at target.

why cloth diapering?
1. cost. the diapers i'm using will pay for themselves if i use them for a month. and they can be sold online for almost what i paid for them. and i don't have to figure in the cost of water and electricity to wash them as it is included in our housing.
2. good for the environment.
3. they are cute. pure white diapers look cute on a nekkid baby.

that said, i'm only part time with this as i only have 3 and well, i think you can figure out that's not enough to use full time. this is an experiment at this point in time.

ok so that's it. that's my day. we'll see what 2009 brings.

19

Papa amazed Grace with the amazing trick of removing his thumb. The look on her face was priceless. She never could figure out how he did that.

Grace has also recently learned the 101. We're not sure how it got started but Wade and I would do this all the time. Mom also managed to get what I think is a great picture of the three of us.

Papa and Mama had to leave today. They did not want to be on the road after dark on New Year's Eve. And they needed to be home before New Years due to an impending ice storm. There were some very sad people but we know we will see them again soon.

Oh and Neilson, my dad fixed the ottoman so I won't throw it away :)

18- also late

Yeah, yeah, yeah, i know it's late but here it is.

Today (well actually yesterday but you know what I mean) Grace and I went on a mommy, daughter date, just she and I. Her choice was to go to the pet store to look at the animals. We spent an hour or so at PetSmart and looked at every living thing, we even did the reptiles. We bought a present for Ramona and fish bowl water conditioner. It was nice just going out the two of us. That meant that Mr. Creighton was at home with Papa and Mama. Everyone faired well and it was all in all a success.

Papa was quite busy. He took down all the outdoor decorations and trimmed the unruly bushes seperating our home from the neighbors. Later that evening he put new hinges on Betsy Baby's crib. I don't think he'll come down anymore since all we do is make him work.

I'll have to get pictures of his handywork tomorrow when there is daylight.

17

Happy Birthday to me! Grace threw me a suprise pink poodle birthday party tonight. She planned the meal (pizza), the cake, the decorations and party ware and the presents. Oh and how could I forget the games! We played hide and go seek, musical chairs and crazy 8s. It was a wonderful party and I throughly recommend using Grace for all your party planning needs.

Today Dad and I went on post to look at laptops for mom. We also drove around housing to check out what's new and what's old. Dad, Grace and Mom went on some secret shopping for the party. And this evening was party night!

16

We were quite interesting today in the land of Texas. We got up this morning and in the span of 10minutes Creighton managed to wet all over himself, the bed and me and then urped all down my leg for good measure.

Well we did finally all get cleaned up and we piled in the car and went to Salado to the quilt store and for a bit of shopping. Then we had lunch at Shoepfs in Belton. Afterwards we came home and worked on various projects. Grace sewed on the machine for the first time by herself. She made a pillow with buttons sewn on. She also stuffed and closed it herself.

Creighton discovered he has hands today and that he has some control over them as evidenced in this video: http://s37.photobucket.com/albums/e99/ksuwahab/?action=view&current=MVI_3246.flv

My dad encountered the crazies at home depot and their lack of direction giving skills. He finally called me and I was able to get him to Lowes. :) He is working hard on projects like fixing the ottoman and grace's baby doll crib.

My mom may win the prize for strange occurances, though. She went for a short walk this evening and got pulled over by the MPs for walking on the sidewalk. She got stopped and questioned as to where she lived or who she was visiting. She came back laughing.

So lets caption some pictures now. Photo one is a beautiful quilt apliqued, pieced and quilted by my ever talented sister Mandi. She started this for Grace in celebration of her Baptism and sent it down this week. We are going to hang it proudly above Grace's bed. The next photos are of Creighton checking out his sister's Dragon Tales quilt with great interest. Next we have Mama watching Grace complete a beautiful painting project. And finally is the chub chub measurement. Mr. Creighton has a 9 inch thigh. WOOT WOOT.

14- Late

Sorry my update is late. Last night instead of blogging I was waiting for the police to come make a police report. Grace's 5 ft tall light up Rudolph was stolen out of our yard. grrrrrr
Neilson bought that for her when he came back from Iraq last year so I was especially pissed. double grrrrr.

But overall yesterday was a wonderful day. We played, went to the local quilt store and made a big Christmas dinner. yum.

13

Happy Birthday Jesus!
We spent an anxious day waiting for Mama and Papa to arrive. They made it safe and sound in just over 10 hours so they made great time.
Grace was ecstatic to see them. They came via the north pole and brought an entire car full of presents for the kids. Grace got to unwrap it all and so of course that made her happy. We were all very much spoiled by our loved ones in Kansas. I got lots of quilting and crafting things to keep me busy. Grace got a doll bed for her American Girl doll and a sewing kit. Creighton got a jumper/activity center that he will be in before too long.

I also heard from Neilson. He is busy with work and is safely at his course. I sent him the login and password information for our blog so hopefully he'll start posting soon.

I am also trying to figure out how to upload to youtube so I can post longer videos but that is proving difficult. I feel it has to do with the format our camcorder records in.

12

On the twelfth day of deployment my true love gave to me, the first email of this tour. Neilson is on the move and safely at his next destination. He is busy taking care of some business over email and I know is looking forward to settling in for the long haul.

Today was a busy busy day for us back in Texas. We had friends over to celebrate Jesus' birthday at lunch. We made steaks, baked potatos and salad. I also made "death by chocolate" cake.

The church program was tonight. Grace was in the angel choir and looked beautiful. She did a great job singing her songs and behaving in mass. She sat with the other kids across the chapel from mommy so behaving tonight was a BIG deal.

Creighton was a good boy in mass as well. He rode in the sling for most of the time, had a snack during communion and went right back to sleep. During pictures afterwards he made a new friend in one of the other mommys who was talking to him and making him grin and laugh. Who knew he was bilingual? The mommy was chattering away to him in Spanish and he looked right at her like he understood.

11

we had a productive day. but i need to back up to last night. Neilson called. he's on the move to his course he has to take and then will be at his final destination in a week or 2. no news from him really other than he's bored. oh, and he has no internet right now. he's also heard that the internet where he's going is not that great :( very slow so it looks like webcams are out but we'll see.
grace was upset she didn't get to talk to daddy last time so i made sure to wake him up. she talked to him for a few minutes and promptly went back to sleep. it was after 11 our time. sadly, she doesn't remember today but hopefully she'll get to talk to him during daylight hours soon.
we went to child and youth services this afternoon to enroll grace and creighton. during deployments each child can receive 16 hours free hourly care per month and after that it is only $2 an hour. each child also is elegible for 4 free classes adn 2 sports during the deployment. it is a real blessing and i wanted to make sure we were ready to go.
after that we ran to the commisary. our favorite bagger was there and came running over and loved on the kids. she still won't tell me her name so for now she is bagger 19.
this evening we went to the church for pageant practice. it really came together and i can't wait to see it tomorrow. grace is an adorable angel and is in the front. i am planning on getting a good seat to video it. we'll see if i can swing it.
so that is what we are up to. neilson still hasn't been able to look at the pictures and the blog but i know he'll love hearing about our antics these first few weeks.

Comments

I've had a couple of questions about how to leave comments so I thought I'd post a little walk-through :)

First look at the bottom of a post and in green it has a time stamp and *a number* comments. Click on comments and it will bring you to a screen that has two columns. On the left are the comments left and on the right it says, "Leave a comment".
You type what you want to say in the box and then you have to choose an identity. If you don't have a google or blogger account, scroll down and select the little circle to the left of ANONYMOUS and hit post.

Just a note, if you use the anon. identity to post please sign your comments so we know who you are :)

Let me know if you need more clarification.

10

it was cold again today in texas. fear not they are forecasting 70s for christmas day!

creighton had his 2 month check up and shots today. he's been a tired, cranky boy as a result. and very very big. 13lbs 13 ozs and 24 inches long. he is very healthy as well.

we had dinner with friends of ours today and as we were getting out the door i was struck with the image of how we are the picture of deployment. i was wrangling a preschooler and a newborn in the cold into the van by myself then i headed back for the stepladder which i wrangled into the van. our friend has cathedral ceilings and needed help changing a lightbulb. her husband is deployed as well. only during a deployment would such an odd scene be normal.

speaking of deployments i had a bit of a scare this morning. the doorbell rang at 8am and woke me up. let me just say NO ONE comes to my front door and rings the doorbell and i'll leave it at that. it was the mailman thank goodness.

9 was fine

I think I'm cracking up. I lost the peanut butter in my pantry for umm.... 5 days this week. Yes I looked everywhere for it. You see, I live on pb&j. I had decided that I must have accidently thrown it away. It was on the list for the next grocery trip. Tonight I happened to be walking by the open pantry and I swear the PB jumped out and yelled, "Here I am!! Here I am!!!" It was at eye level in the front. I had just put the couscous on top of it but it was still very much visible. Doh!

Anyway, today we were working on cleaning up. We did laundry, dishes, Grace cleaned her room, oh and we made gingerbread cookies. We were supposed to go to the greening of the chapel and potluck but I fell asleep about 30 minutes before we were set to leave - oops.

I think Creighton's thrush is much much better. My biggest clue *TMI ALERT* his diapers don't smell yeasty anymore. They just stink! ha ha ha

Grace is continuing to practice reading her books. She is getting quite good I must say and I'm very proud of her.

We have a READER!

http://s37.photobucket.com/albums/e99/ksuwahab/?action=view&current=MVI_3235.flv
I still haven't figured out how to imbed the video clips just yet so a link will have tod do.