If only there was a pause button in life...

Thank you so much for sticking with us despite the fact that we've made it a little harder to access our blog.  We so appreciate it!  Time is beginning to wind down very quickly...Nick is scheduled to leave for his year-long deployment the second week of March, and it's now become very, very real.  As I type this, he is at the hangar seeing off the "Torch group" of soldiers, who are going to scout out living quarters and to make way for the main body of soldiers to arrive.

I was telling Nick tonight that it feels as though we are on a roller coaster, and we have slowly been inching up the steep incline for some time now.  The anticipation of what's to come has been mounting.  We are now 'on deck' and the first cars have embarked on the rapid decent and we can hear their screams.  We're next up...

We have become very accustomed to the short deployments (30 to 60 days), Nick has done five of them since we were married.  The first four weeks usually blow by pretty quickly and then you are busy making plans for the homecoming.  It's like a brief sprint, and you just power through it because you know that it wont be long until you can catch your breath.  We are about to enter a marathon, and I am relying heavily on God to provide us with all that we need to sustain us for the long haul.  It's hard to describe the variety of emotions that one experiences when preparing to say goodbye to your better half, especially when they are leaving to go to a combat situation...

I thank the Lord every day that He has blessed me with a little piece of Nick to carry with me while he is away...

Sportin' some heat rash :-(

Napping in our bed

So rudely awoken by the camera flash.

Ditching the jammies

Banana Baby

There have been many defining moments this week--between our Baptism, our 3rd Anniversary, Emmy's two month well baby check up and our very first FRG meeting...We are worn out! Thank you so much for all of your kind words of congratulations, we appreciate them more than you know!

Thursday morning started bright and early with Emmy's doctor's appointment! We have been very curious as to how much she's grown since her birthday. I have been attempting to calculate her weight by weighing myself and Emmy and then just myself on our bathroom scale...I decided that it wasn't accurate at all (particularly my personal weight). She has been "eliminating" very well (we are quite accustomed to changing "blow-out" diapers that also require wardrobe changes) which is a great sign that she is getting enough milk, even still we were eager to know her stats! Turns out little Miss is built like a banana--long and lean! She is 9 pounds 6 ounces (in the 13th percentile) and 23 1/2 inches tall (85th percentile). Her head measures in at 39 centimeters (50th percentile). Anyways, Dr. Seawell is very pleased with her growth--Emmy just seems to be putting all of her calories into getting tall for now! She took her 3 shots like a champ--and didn't need so much as a drop of Tyelenol to get her through the day. :-)

I was so grateful that she did so well with her vaccines, because I happen to be an idiot and scheduled our first Family Readiness Group meeting that night. Nick and I were very pleased with the turn-out. We had 19 of our 31 spouses in attendance as well as many of his soldiers. I feel confident that our FRG members left with a better picture of what to expect with the impending deployment and feeling more aware of the resources in place to support them. It was a great feeling to work side-by-side with my Nick. I think we make a good team ;-).

The weather finally cleared up today! We stuffed Emmy into our Kelty pack and went for a "hike" at Dunbar Cave...Such a relaxing way to finish off our special week :-).

Ready to go!

Still have some growing to do before our headband fits!

Keeping busy melting Mommy's heart.

Bummin' a ride from Dad.

Three Years Today

Just Three Words

TOOK THE PLUNGE

 

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

We made a public declaration of our Christian faith today...Nick and I participated in Believer's Baptism through immersion, and we pledged to raise Emmy in a godly, prayerful way until she can make the decision on her own.  Our Pastor, Chad, led a beautiful baby dedication for Emmy and a very thoughtful, personalized baptism for both Nick and I.  There is no other way that I would choose to celebrate love today than to profess our commitment to walking with Christ as a family.

P.S.

If you haven't received the blog invite, check your junk mail box just in case! ;-)

Going Private on February 22nd!

Just a reminder that we are making our family blog private on February 22nd, if you'd like to keep following us, and we hope that you will, please:

*Send me an e-mail to: alisoneodell@aol.com with your e-mail address. Subject line: Blog invite!

* I will input your e-mail address into the blog and it will send you an "Invitation E-mail".

* This e-mail has a link on it, through which you can either set up a google account (it walks you through it) or enter your existing google account information (e-mail username and password). 

Thanks so much!

Spreading the love...

Emmy has had a plethora of opportunities to spread her special brand of Emmy love lately.  She went out to her very first sit-down restaurant for a dinner with all of the VIPs from Nick's new brigade.  We had our "exit strategy" in place should she have a meltdown mid-dinner, but that was all for naught as she slept through the whole outing!  She stirred just once while I was signing the check...We could not have been prouder of our little miss!  She joined us for a lunch "steering committee" meeting for the battalion-she also slept peacefully for the duration of this gathering (we are so grateful that Nick's Battalion Commander and his wife have six kids, so they are very family friendly!) This past Saturday she got to cuddle with a bunch of ladies from our Family Readiness Group at our Welcome Brunch!  :-)

We celebrated Superbowl Sunday with our wonderful friends from our church group.  At this time, we held our second annual "Chicken Wing Throwdown".  It started last year when our good friend and group leader, Ryan, was talking up his wing recipe.  Never having made chicken wings before, I felt compelled to give Ryan a run for his money.  Our buddy, Mike, joined in the fun...Ryan crowned himself to be the winner (we didn't have the whole judging aspect of the competition figured out so Ryan assumed that he took the prize).

I was overly-ambitious in my wing preparation this year...I didn't factor in breaks to feed Emmy (minor problem).  So, sadly, we were unable to stage our boycott of Ryan's wings as we had previously arranged with our groupies (all in good Christian fun), because I came running in with my wing platter an hour after kick-off :-P.  Once again, Ryan claimed victory for himself...

I didn't watch a single play from the Superbowl, instead enjoyed our first "play date" with the littlest babies in the group!

Dane (4.5 months), Lauren (4 months) and Emmy (7 weeks)

Turns out Lauren and Emmy are football fans.

Auntie Annie has such great fashion sense! ;-)

Just Three Words...

             

 SLEPT ALL NIGHT!!!

After taking awhile to settle down last night, Emmy slept for six and a half hours (Daddy slept a solid 8-but because he goes to work for us he gets a pass)!!  I wish I could say the same...But here's hoping that this is the beginning of many restful nights to come in the Horn house!

Our Three Words

My sister is full of wonderfully creative ideas, and I am going to steal one of them (this is not a first for me)...Each week (hopefully) I will choose a picture and have a three word caption that describes our week. Kris' inspiration was a segment from Good Morning America Weekend, where viewers send in video clips and they are holding up signs with three words that summarize their week. It is really moving...I got goosebumps when I saw a woman in a hospital gown holding up signs that read "Goodbye Breast Cancer".  I loved the clip of a little girl with missing teeth grinning at the camera with a sign that said "Got New Smile".   I chuckled when I saw the clip of a school bus pulling away to reveal parents jumping up and down waving "Back To School" signs!  It's amazing how much you can say in just three words...So, here is the first installment to the "Our Three Words" series...

                 OUR SNOW FAMILY

Snow Family 

(Left to Right: Dad, Molly, Mom, Darla, Emmy)

Ali's Snow Angel

Molly's Dolly

You might remember from my first blog post, that we were concerned about how Molly would adjust to being a big sister...Well, apparently there was no need.  Often times, when a new baby is arriving, parents will give their older child a baby doll in preparation for the transition...It seems that Molly has taken it on herself to adopt her own "baby".  Meet Charles, Molly's baby elephant.  For the past few weeks, Molly has assumed the responsibility of being his mommy.  She brings Charles with her everywhere she goes...if she happens to forget him outside in the cold (which she frequently does), she immediately scratches on the door so that she may go retrieve him.  Everywhere you see Molly, Charles is right there next to her.  He's missing both of his eyeballs because she has chewed them off, which is, perhaps, Molly's way of showing love.  We sincerely appreciate that she now has a focus for her irrepressible need to dote on others...Thank you, Charles, sorry about your eyeballs.