Although I have been using this site to vent a lot…there is a lot that has gone as well or better than expected.
It is the East European in me that makes me hesitate to count blessings out loud.
First of all, Lilah is gaining weight from some very successful breastfeeding. Apparently this is unusual for a heart baby. This is especially wonderful since the breastmilk will help protect her from illness.
Lilah generally sleeps for decently long stretches at night despite the fussiness during the day and the occasional resistance to falling …

I wish!
No Muss?
This is the hole in my wall:

Yeah, I know…she looks happy there. Don’t let the drama queen fool you.
The doctor’s appointment was useless. What a sour, humorless pediatrician! She basically offered me no tips, no strategies, no information. She even suggested that maybe I was tense (uh, no…I’m very relaxed with my baby…if I’m tense, it is due to you) and implied that it was because DH is deployed.
I’ve been reading up a lot and the connection between a tense mom and a crying baby has been disproven. …

I need today to go away. The deployment gremlins are out in full force.
First, I have a plumbing leak somewhere. It leaked and the varnish soaked off the entertainment center and onto the rug. Last night they came to move the entertainment center and turn on a huge fan to blowdry under the rug. This of course had to stay on all night. This of course sounded like a freight train moving through the living room.
Now the plumber is coming tonight, possibly to cut a hole in my wall.
The house …

Technology has made this a new war both for our soldiers and for those of us who “also serve.”
I don’t often agree with my fellow alumnus’s political opinions, but I think this Trudeau cartoon is pretty on target:

DH never tells me when he is going out or when he is going to be back. First of all, it is a violation of OPSEC (Operational Security). Second of all, it just produces unnecessary worry.
However, I know there are plenty of couples who are constantly online together and DH and I communicate …

A couple of days ago, DH left on his return journey to the sandbox.
Lilah and I loved having Daddy around. We gave Daddy a New Daddy present–an Iron 4ID emblem that reads “Home of the Free, Because of the Brave.” Now I just need to find a place for it in DH’s study.
In many ways, it felt lik DH had never left. He is still the same calm and loving man. DH said it felt like a long, lazy weekend (minus the sleeping late, of course). If we hadn’t just …

I just wanted to say that my thoughts and prayers are with the 172nd Stryker Brigade Combat Team and their families.
Deployments are never easy, extended deployments are never easy, and finding out just as your soldier was about to head home–that has to be difficult. A big understatement, I know.
The welcome home signs were already up; weddings, vacations, and moves were in the works; some of the troops were even back in the states when the word came down of an extension of their tour of duty in Iraq.
I know …

One of DH’s soldiers has recording equipment so DH serenaded Lilah and e-mailed me the file.
I really wanted Lilah to hear DH’s voice in utero…and DH came through for me! What a sweet, wonderful husband he is and what a caring Daddy he will be!
Mostly he sang college songs and a couple of traditional, poignant songs. There is one song from college where you insert someone’s name and so he inserted Lilah’s–when I played it the second time I swear she kicked when he sang her name. Maybe just a …

My Eagle Scout DH should appreciate this…
I was chatting with my mother who will arrive here about a week before DH is approximately expected (how’s that for vague).
My mom mentioned how my hometown was terrorized by an extremely rare tornado. I live in the New York City metro area (about 40 minutes out of mid-town Manhattan)–not exactly tornado alley.
Then the topic drifted to the infrequent, but not unheard of, tornados in Killeen (we are protected by hill country…most tornados in this region go around us) and the far more regular …

This article is a couple of weeks old, but I figured I would share with those of you who do not read National Review. I excerpted, but since it is mostly statistics, it is hard to cut.
The article’s premise is that although the Iraqi war may seem to be a public affairs failure on the “Arab Street,” Iraqis actually have a more positive view.
This is consistent with what my DH has been telling me.
Anyway, I’ll let the article speak for itself for those of you who are interested.
The Word on …

When DH and talked about trying for a baby before he deployed, we realized that there would be challenges if we were successful.
We knew that no amount of photographs and updates could ever make up for him actually attending ultrasounds and being able to feel the baby kick.
We knew that it would be a struggle for me to get the nursery together as my strength fades and restrictions on what I should and should not do expand.
We knew that the hormonal ups and downs might be exacerbated by the loneliness …