Sleep is overrated

"Half My Heart is in Afghanistan"

This past Saturday was my first Family Readiness Group meeting to lead on my own.  The most important part of the meeting was, of course, the update from Kandahar courtesy of my commander hubby.  I was sweating bullets, refreshing my e-mail inbox throughout the night (each time that Emmy woke up--but that's a different post entirely), in the hopes of finding Nick's very important e-mail.  Four hours prior to meeting time, it arrived!  Nick did a wonderfully thorough job explaining to our spouses what their loved ones have been up to since D-Day.  Here's a summary:

Nick's brigade (which is made up of of several battalions which are made up of several companies like Nick's) is replacing the 82nd Combat Aviation Brigade.  Since the majority of Nick's company of soldiers (he now has 70 troops under his command) arrived "in theater" on March 19th, they have been completing mandatory classes and briefs, orienting to the area and completing training flights.  His company has been performing exceptionally well at dust landings, two-wheel landings, gunnery, mountain operations and knowledge of the Kandahar flying area (which is very congested with aircraft).  He has been told that their 82nd counterparts are impressed by their performance and how quickly they have learned the ropes.

Nick's company will be supporting the Medevac aircraft as they provide care to wounded and fallen Soldiers and Marines throughout the Area of Operations.  They will also be supporting ground forces as they complete a variety of missions throughout the area.

Nick and his soldiers are now situated in their permanent living quarters called a "Mod".  The Mod is comprised of seven 21'x15' rooms with one bathroom, consisting of three showers, four sinks, three toilets and two urinals for 36 men.  It's definitely tight quarters!  And that's just half of Nick's company! The others live in a different Mod about 100 feet away.  Nick is hoping to build some sort of an elevated bed with a desk space underneath to maximize his tiny space.  Fortunately, his company packed wood and power tools for such projects before they left.  I have already been told by other spouses that their soldiers were green with envy when they laid eyes on Nick's Tempurpedic mattress topper...There was a whole lot of planning that went into packing for this deployment!

Nick is hoping that they will settle into their "ground hog's day" routine in the next week or so and then, hopefully, the days will begin to fly by...It feels great to have two weeks behind us already (although it will feel even better to have 12 months behind us, with him on a plane headed for home!)  One day at a time...

Wiped out after our FRG meeting...She was on her best behavior!

Spring Cleaning

All of this sunshine has sparked an urge to purge!  Spring Cleaning 2010 in the Horn household is well underway!  Getting the two cars parked in the garage, with room to get in, has been a goal of mine since we moved in...Nick had a shed put up in our backyard to help with our storage problem before he left (thank you, Babe!)  He loaded it up with all the heavy items and so I tackled the remaining clutter filling one side of the garage.  I detest clutter with such great intensity (I try not to use the word "hate" but it might apply to my feelings toward clutter)!  It was positively cathartic to sort through and pitch so much garbage!   In the end, I made room for both of our cars!  Nick didn't think it could be done...Which I guess makes me a miracle worker. ;-)  I take spring cleaning very seriously.  I was on such a roll, I decided to attack our "man room" and attic space during Emmy's next nap...Before I knew it, there was order in the second level of our home as well!  Today my focus was on the exterior of our house!  As soon as I laid Emmy down for her morning nap, I secured her baby monitor to my hip and sprinted to the shed to gas up the mower and get to work.  Four hours and two Emmy naps later, the yard was mowed and the backyard was weeded! It's amazing how a manicured yard can turn any day into a good one!  Now I just have to figure out my planting and mulching strategy for tomorrow...

Bored with Spring Cleaning 2010.

Just Three Words...

I DID IT!!!!!!

I fit both cars in the garage for the first time EVER!!!!

(don't worry honey, I didn't throw too many of your things out ;-)

Someone has the giggles...

Field Trip #2

Emmy and I were invited to join our mommy friends for a special outing at the Nashville Zoo yesterday!  We jumped at the opportunity to go on our second field trip on such a glorious spring day!

I had forgotten how much fun it is to visit the zoo! It was my first outing with Emmy at such a venue, flying solo no less.  I had definitely played out every worst case scenario in my head...Thankfully, she was such a perfect angel!  (I am still curious how one might go about using the restroom when you have an itty bitty baby strapped into a big stroller and your by yourself, but I decided to figure that out on a day when the zoo wasn't, shall we say, such a zoo.)  I felt like one of the cool kids pushing my stroller around among the masses...We spent some time hanging out with my friends and then on our own getting lost among the animal enclosures...After a solid two hours, feeling great about our day and with an excessively full bladder, we headed back to our car to feed the little one and to drive home in time for Emmy's nap.

I love giraffes!

So does Emmy!

This guy was doing some "trunk lifts" with a log-pretty cool!

I didn't dare take her out of her stroller and mess with a good thing!

This one's for you, Baby! These guys were making all kinds of noise!

Such gorgeous creatures!

Catching flies.

Nick Update!

I have received a few phone calls and a couple of e-mails from Nick over the past week (one week down-HOORAY!!!)  He tells me that they are very much still in limbo.  He's been sleeping in a "bay" with about 200 other soldiers, but should (hopefully!) be moving into his permanent "home" within the next two weeks.  He said that despite the fact that this base in Kandahar has been in existence for several years, it is a model of inefficiency.  There might be many amenities, but there are so many people stationed there, that there is a wait for everything.  A typical wait for food at the mess hall is 15 minutes...ugg!  So it's taking him much longer than usual to get even the simplest tasks done.  All of his soldiers are looking to him for answers to their questions (and there are lots!), so his "to do" list is endless.  He flew for the first time last night, and said that it felt great to get behind the controls again.  He promised that they weren't doing any dangerous maneuvers!  We've discovered a couple of  interesting facts about Afghanistan--it is 9.5 hours ahead of me here in Tennessee; and that they drive on the right side of the road with the driver seated on the right side of the car...Just a couple of examples just how different things are in that part of the world.

Helicopter Boy Update: He has called his mother!  Hallelujah! (Unfortunately that hasn't stopped the e-mails; how am I supposed to know what the "task organization" of our company is?!?)!  I can thank my husband for reminding him, upwards of 20 times a day, to reach out to her.  When Helicopter Boy asks if she has sent another e-mail, my trusty hubby's response is always, "Probably."  What a good man he is looking out for me and my inbox! ;-)