Please Welcome Our Newest Addition to the Unit:

All,

We will depart from our normal ops security to announce the arrival of Airman Eve Niele "J" to the Irregular Regulars. We had planned for the arrival on 12/19/07, with the assistance of the "CO's" OB and some Pictocin but we guess ENJ had different plans.

She is 7lbs 2oz which is a departure of the 7lbs 20oz that I had originally reported to everyone. Suffice it to say this tall (20in) little Airman did not want to wait. The CO was probably in intense labor for only 3 hours with the introduction of Pictocin causing ANJ to "slam into position" (their medical terms not mine). In layman's terms, the CO went from 4cm to 10cm and full effaced in only 1hour with active pushing taking only 15minutes.

Well coming out like a rocket-ship does have it's distinct disadvantages, ENJ has developed a few breathing problems and has bought herself a 3 day R&R pass to the hospital NICU. We are praying that her blood cultures do not come back with a positive bacteria test or she may buy herself a 10day stay. Please keep her in your prayers.

CO KJ is doing well with no major complications. She should be "discharged" on Wednesday, 12/19/07.

I know many of our dedicated readers think that newborns look like little "yodas" but there is a small but vocal sect that can not get enough photos.





Enjoy and God Bless...


XO

Famous Last Words

Just in case y'all hadn't figured this out already -

If you are busily painting the bathroom and you hear the 5 year old down the hall say "AJ that was awesome! Let's do it again!" and the 2 1/2 year old replies with "Yeah, that was cool!" you should investigate immediately!

On second thought, maybe one should just not paint the bathroom with a couple of little ones in the house...

A Christmas Dillema

So, I had the kids sit down and do their Christmas lists the other day and they looked something like this...

Dear Santa, I would like a machine robot; a toy dinosaur, and a sword. Love, CJ
- and-
Dear Santa, I want a bear. And a deer at our house so I can open the door and let him come in our house. And a baby deer to come in the window. I put them in the grass! Love, AJ

Now, the first request I can handle (as Santa's stand in), but what on earth do you do with the 2 1/2 year old who is convinced that Santa is going to bring her a deer? And not a toy, stuffed one either (we tried that direction several times). I've also tried asking her again what she wants for Christmas and the answer is always the same - "I telled you Momma. I want deer. One momma deer and one baby deer, but won't let deers in house if you say no deers in house! They go in grass out there (pointing out the window)!"

Between the arrival of a new sister and the deer (or lack thereof) it may be an interesting Christmas. Maybe she'll accept a baby sister in place of a baby deer. One can always hope...

A Few Fond Pictures:

All,

Just wanted to share a couple of pictures of the dearly departed.

We appreciate all of the prayers and kind words regarding our loss of Wolfgang.

He is missed by all in this household.

CO

Devastating and Dejecting News:

Fare thee well sweet Meezer...

Our little unit was shattered when a neighbor across the street brought our 10 year old Tonkinese/Siamese mix cat "Wolfgang" to the CO last night in a box. They stated that their next door neighbor had struck a cat while driving down the street and that they originally thought that it was our neighbor's cat. They recognized the markings on his fur and brought him over.

Needless to say, Wolfgang had suffered significant trauma and was dead.

The CO contacted me at work yesterday evening and told me the sad news. She had held out hope that it was not our cat, given the trauma to him, but when I returned from shift this morning his markings and soft fur was a clear give-away.

For those of you that may read this post and could care less about felines or for a beloved family pet then please surf someplace else immediately.

As many of you know and have witnessed in person, this cat was and I quote "the best dog that I ever had in a cat's body". Since we first found him the the Animal Medical League (actually he found me when he reached his paw through the cage and batted my head while we were looking at another feline below. It was love at first sight. This cat turned me, the XO, from a person that despised cats into a fervent cat lover. He came when you called his name, rode around on my shoulders, fetched balls when he was younger and always had something uplifting to say no matter how bad your day was going. He was, and I have modified a bit of bible verse, the alpha and omega of cats.
You may say that "How much could we love this cat if we let him get out and get run over by a car..." Well, during the later part of his life, with two rambunctious human kids in the house (a 2 1/2 year old and a five year old), Wolfgang preferred to spend a good portion of his daytime outside in the immediate area around our house. He would rarely wander to the end of our fence line or our property. I guess you could say he was a homebody. I can only assume that he decided to chase off one of the neighborhood strays that came into our yard and accidentally ran into the street.
I will be sure to post a picture of this remarkable and loving family companion as soon as I can get around to looking at pictures of him again.
As much as we will miss him I am positive that he is chasing balls and sitting on the lap of the CO's mom up in heaven getting "scritches" behind his ears.

Thanks for coming into my life you lovable Meezer...........

XO

Ramblings and Happenings

The monarch butterflies are migrating through Texas on the way to Mexico right now and it's amazing to sit in our backyard and see literally hundreds of them flutter by. The plant on the left is Gregg's Mist and is the primary nectar source for these butterflies - plant it and they will come (in Texas anyway)! A lot of them will lay eggs in our yard and next spring we will find a bunch of cocoons all over the yard (especially on the milkweed which the larvae love to eat). Seeing them go through all of the stages and then come out of the cocoons as butterflies always amazes me. God created such amazing plants and animals and it always captivates me to watch nature's happenings - especially when you can do it right in your own backyard!

On to other subjects...

We had 1LT CJ in for his 5 year check up this week and discovered that he most likely needs glasses. He screened at 20/120 at the pediatrician's office and she said that was "being generous". He has an appointment with the pediatric ophthalmologist, but their soonest appointment was December. He was having a hard time accepting the idea of having glasses for a few days, but Eric found a book at the library about a kid who doesn't want to wear his glasses and then finally does (when an imaginary space monster tries to eat them) and he realizes that he can see much better with them and do more fun things. CJ seems to be OK with the idea at the moment, but we'll see how he reacts when he actually has to wear them all day long. The momma in me is wondering about the logistical aspects of keeping track of the glasses, making sure they don't get left on the playground at school or conveniently "lost" somewhere. I guess we'll see how it goes! I guess it was too much to ask that our kids have perfect vision when both the XO and CO are blind as bats without corrective eye wear. Darn those genetics!

On the subject of what not to do if you'd like to remain employed... both true stories that happened with either the XO or CO's employees in the last few weeks. #1) Do not call in sick to work and then have your picture show up on the front page of the newspaper, beer in hand, cheering on the Longhorns before the UT/OU game. At least have sense enough to tell the photographer not to take your picture for heaven's sake. #2) Do not "clock in" at work, tell your supervisor that you have a meeting to attend on another part of base and then be found in civilian clothes on the base golf course. Maybe an off base course would have been a better choice if you were going to pull that kind of stunt. Some people are just plain dumb.

Hope all is well wherever you're reading this from!

Highlights from NY State

Do all kids look at the camera and say "cheese" with big goofy grins on their faces? These two are such little hams for the camera!

The VERY happy couple! I've never seen two people with such big grins on their faces - and they lasted through the entire ceremony AND the reception! Congratulations J and Janice!!

Highlights of our latest trip to New York:

1) My baby brother got married! I remember changing his diapers and rescuing him when he got his head stuck in the stairs on the deck and now he's married! I'm in shock...

2) 1Lt CJ and SSG AJ both caught their first fish.

3) 1Lt CJ caught momma on the fish hook. Thankfully, just a flesh wound...

4) Instead of normal October weather, we got temeratures 20 degrees warmer than normal. Perfect for the Texans!

5) We got to eat Aunt Cookie's subs. For those of you who have never been to Geneseo, NY to experience these - my sincere condolences!

6) Italian cake from the Holy Cannoli bakery - yummmmy!

7) And best of all, lots of wonderful time with family.