Blog Vacation

Time for a little R & R...See you in awhile!

Just Three Words...

TOUGH AS NAILS

Today was Emmy's 4 month well baby check up and I am so excited to share that she is right on target!  She weighed in at 13 lb 3 oz (such a victory for a nursing mommy) which falls in the 37th percentile.  She is 25.5 inches tall, maintaining her place in the 88th percentile, and her head circumference is 41.4 centimeters which falls in the 61st percentile!  She is also right where she should be in the way of developmental milestones.  Dr. Seawell was impressed with her chattiness and assured me that that is something that wont go away. :-p Emmy hasn't shown interest in trying solid foods quite yet (i.e. grabbing for my silverware, salivating while she watches me eat...) so I am going to hold off until she is six months old (or before then if she is seeming eager.)  That is a-ok with me!  Next to come is rolling over--which could happen at any time! She has rolled from her tummy to her back when she gets ticked off enough during tummy time, but it hasn't been a regular occurrence.  We finished off the visit with three separate injections and an oral vaccine...She didn't like any of them, but had a quick recovery time.  After I soothed her, she proceeded to "talk" to me the entire way to the car...retelling her battle story, if you will...It seems we have one tough cookie on our hands. ;-)

Walk To Afghanistan 5K Kick-Off

Today was the kick-off event to an exciting project designed for family members to show support to our deployed soldiers!  Our brigade has challenged the families to collectively walk the distance from the center of Fort Campbell's airfield to Afghanistan--10,644 miles!  Just for fun, there has been a friendly little competition set up between the battalions.  Because the new battalion that we are now attached to is, um, non-participatory, I am considering this to be a competition between our company and other battalions...We are the Free-Lancers!! (Of course I won't be using this new name around any of my superiors because that's a pretty quick way to get myself black listed.) I have been laying down the peer pressure BIG TIME!  So far we have probably about 50 Lancer family members "walking" to Afghanistan!  Team Horn alone has enlisted every eligible participant-Nick's parents and my own are joining the effort! We don't mess around...

Today was our 5K Kick-Off!  It wasn't anything fancy (whenever a car was coming, the person in the back would yell, "CAR!!!") but it was special all the same.  Lots of mommies and strollers out to walk the course.  I had decorated an old t-shirt (I very well might still be high from all the sharpie fumes that had permeated my pores) and stroller to show our team pride! Emmy, as usual, was the model trooper and slept for the duration of the walk...but she woke up with a smile on her face!  How could she not being that it was sunny, with blue skies, a light breeze and the birds were chirping?  I can't think of a better way to start our trek to Afghanistan!

Two minutes in--on the verge of sleep...

We've logged 13.2 miles since Wednesday! Emmy's stroller miles count!

Walking for Daddy!

Girl Meets Bib

Spit happens...Especially if your name Is Emmy Horn.  Her eyes are bigger than her tummy is when it comes to food and more often than not, she over does it...I have tried to avoid covering up her cute outfits with a big old bulky bib, but four (or more) wardrobe changes in one day makes for lots of laundry...I like to think of it as a new accessory :-P...Emmy has found them to be appealing chew toys, I guess that makes it a win-win situation.

One of our friends is a seamstress and made this for Emmy, I'm lovin' the anthropologie-esque style!

Monkeying Around

Operation Strong Square

There is a close-knit sorority of military wives.  When Kris and JP were stationed at Fort Carson, Kris met a fellow military wife whose daughter was in her first grade class.  This woman, a salty veteran of military life, had begun a program called "Operation Strong Square".  Through this project, she handed out donated (clean :-P) hankerchiefs to other wives whose husbands were going off to war.  Kris has told me that her hankie is one of her most prized possessions and that she carried it with her through the duration of JP's second yearlong deployment to Iraq in 2005-2006.

I had an overnight-mail package waiting for me on my doorstep when Emmy and I arrived home from the dreaded farewell.  Inside was my own special hankie...Kris was keeping the tradition alive.  Along with the beautiful hankie was this special note:

"Hankies have been around for ages, just as wives have sent husbands to war for ages.  Who knows who tightly held the hankie in her hands and what trials and triumphs that hankie saw her through?  Each stain is a scar of bravery that only adds to the mysterious strength of the cloth.  Hankies are pretty and look delicate, but are strong.  Yes, so are we.  Hankies remind us that there is still beauty in the desperate moments that our fear and sorrow have trapped us in.  Surely, nothing a good cry can't relieve.  And how wonderful it is to wave a large hankie when our husbands come home to us...It's ok to cry, but at least look pretty."

Recently, my new hankie collection grew...My mom shared with me a gorgeous lace hankie that once belonged to my great great grandmother, Edith.  What a treasure!

The tangible support bestowed upon me by my mom, (my great great grandmother) and sister was something that I felt compelled to pay forward.  The wives in our FRG should soon be receiving their own hankies as we embark on our second month of the deployment, which is notorious for being one of the most difficult.  It's pretty remarkable how far good ideas travel...

From left to right: Great Great Grandma Edith's hankie, Lancers FRG hankie and then my "strong square" from Kris.

Just Three Words...

FOUND MY EARS!

I am embarrassed to admit that I learned that Emmy had reached this milestone from our pediatrician today.  She's been batting at her ears rather frequently over the past two days.  She seemed fine otherwise, but I couldn't help but wonder if maybe her ears were uncomfortable.  Her daddy had recurrent ear infections as a child causing him to need tubes in his ears...So, I figured, it's better to be safe than sorry...I called up her pediatrician's office and found ourselves in the exam room a couple of hours later.  Turns out, Emmy likes to play with her ears and that they are completely infection-free.  I'm going to chalk this one up to experience and tuck it away in the "gettin' schooled file".  I wished the doctor a good day and that all of his patients were just discovering their body parts...Geez....

Four weeks behind us

There are days that it's hard to believe that we have four weeks behind us and others that feel like there should be more...

Nick is still in the process of getting into a groove. The unit that they have replaced has since left and so Nick and his soldiers have assumed all of the missions. He has been consumed with his administrative responsibilities and wishes that he were flying more (I don't think I've ever heard Nick say that he wished he was flying less :-P)...But he logged a good 5 hour flight this morning and was quite happy about that. As I mentioned in my previous update, he is living in a MOD building and is sharing a room with, now, four roommates. He will hopefully have an elevated bed-over-desk unit built to maximize his tiny living space very soon. He has purchased "hadji" internet until his company's satellite is up and running, which has allowed us to "talk" via messenger whenever possible (the highlight of my day!) Nick was able to "see" Emmy and I over the webcam at Kris and JP's house this past Saturday...we are so grateful to Kris for making it possible.

We had a wonderful conversation today, despite the fact I could barely see the computer screen through my tears as I typed out the description of our daughter's eye color. I suppose this is the life of an army wife. Millions of women have done it before me and millions will do it after me. Some days are better than others, heck, some hours are better than others. No one ever said that war is a walk in the park.

I have been growing roots to the couch (I guess that makes me couch potato...) not because I watch too much TV, but because my laptop lives on the coffee table. My last check shows that I have written 265 FRG e-mails alone in the last 6 weeks (and that's just one of my four e-mail accounts...) Among other things, I have been busy organizing upcoming FRG events (a book drive to establish a library from which our soldiers can select stories to read to their children via DVD, new company t-shirts, a Father's Day photo shoot and our baby shower extravaganza). We have also had to put on our counselor hats to handle some family crises. Without going into too much detail, in the last week and a half, we have supported a deployed husband and wife who are in the middle of a marriage crisis and we are taking steps to bring a soldier home to his incredibly high risk pregnant wife (who is at the same early gestation that she delivered and lost their first child). It's been a good reminder that so many people struggle with far more difficult situations, and we are humbled that we have been placed in a position to help them.

Emmy is having a ball establishing her place in the world. She's our little monkey, clinging to every object, fabric, (hair) in her sight. (I told Nick not to be surprised if he comes home to a bald wife because Emmy is hard at work pulling out each and every strand of hair from my head). She loves hearing her own voice and most prefers her high pitched shriek. Her favorite toy is a little rattle ring with pieces of "noisy" fabric from the Easter Bunny (aka Auntie Kristi). She stops wiggling just long enough to watch the videos Nick made of himself reading to her. Looking at herself in the mirror brings forth her biggest grins. I cherish each of these Emmy-isms...I just wish I could call Nick over to cherish them with me. That's why I carry our flip video camera in my pocket. I think about the feeling of elation that I will undoubtedly experience the next time I watch him wrap his arms around our sweet girl. That image helps me through the tough days.

Field Trip Part 2!!

Clairey and Emmy's first introduction to Barbie at the Indiana Children's Museum... :-)

Indiana Field Trip!

Emmy, Molly, Darla and I were able to escape to Indiana for the last week...Hanging out with our family was just the distraction we needed from the deployment.  Kris, JP, Mom, Andy and Claire provided us with lots of giggles, glasses of wine, children's books, dessert, listening ears, cuddles and love.  Just what the doctor ordered...Thank you, Lord, for blessing us so richly.
 

 Mommy and Clairey...so beautiful

Emmy and Mimi chatting it up

Hogging Clairey's toys

Big cuz Andy rockin' the backwards jammies.

Sweet, patient Clairey

So excited for the Indiana Children's Museum!

Emmy's favorite exhibit at the museum--she couldn't take her eyes off of it!

"Bob the Builder" Bulldozer

The only pic of the whole group (minus Jape)...

Emmy struts her stuff on the catwalk.

Indoor Merry-go-round

We love children's books!

Cousin love.

Mimi and her grandbabies!

Mommy and Emmy (looking especially like Daddy in this pic)

Andy got three m&ms for this smile! It's worth each and every one.

Easter Shout Out!

We tried to upload this on Easter but Blogger wouldn't let us!! We hope that everyone enjoyed a VERY HAPPY EASTER!!

Easter Blessings

Emmy, Molly and Darla and I have been crashing at our second home with the Sacksteder family since last Friday!  They have welcomed us with open arms and have been spoiling us rotten since the moment we got here!  We have been counting our blessings this Easter holiday...

I survived my first extended roadtrip with all my girls!  Molly assumed her usual position in my lap, Darla settled into her bed on the passenger seat, and Emmy hunkered down for a good nap all before we left our driveway.  The drive went exceptionally well! One stop and five hours later, we pulled into Kris and JP's driveway to be greeted by the whole clan!

We celebrated a special family Easter (the Easter Bunny was so good to us both!) and have been cherishing all of the togetherness.  One of the many wonderful benefits of us sharing this stage of parenthood is that there isn't any pressure...Someone is always napping or eating...Flexibility is the name of the game!  We are having a blast watching all of our babies get to know one another!  It warms the cockles of my heart!

Mom arrived yesterday (yay for spring break!)!  We are loving every second of it (I have been taking full advantage of all the extra hands to help me out!) Even though I am still spending a great deal of time extinguishing FRG "fires" (yep, my laptop made the trip too), I am proud to say that this fourth week of the deployment is by far and away the best one yet!

I will give a much more thorough update later, but Nick made me promise that I'd put up more pictures of our peanut.  Ask and you shall receive, my love:

Clairey has the best toys!

These two can't keep their hands off of eachother!

Package deal

Baby blue eyes

Mimi's a laugh a minute :-)

At it again...

What are you looking at??

The thinker pose.

Going for the pacy....

Time for a nap.

Her eyes are looking a little more blue...We each have a parent and a sibling with blue eyes, so it's possible...