Roomates

Raquel has been asking for a while to have her baby sister sleep with her. It was my plan to move Nataly into Raquels room in the winter so that we didn't have to heat two rooms and Natalya's room is always cold since it doesn't get direct sunlight. So today was the day, I took Natalya's crib apart enough so that I could get it though the doors. Everything went just fine except I picked the wrong time of day to do it, Natalya's nap time. She was fine for the first bit but then started to get quite tired and wanted to get into her crib. I thought it might be a bit of an adjustment for both girls but it was nice because I could read books to both of them and get them to bed at the same time. Hopefully every night will go as smoothly as tonight.

The girls and I had the opportunity to have my parents come and visit. It was a short few days and it rained half the time they were here and I was sick the other half but it was good to see them. The girls had fun playing with Grandma and Papa and it was a good break for me.

We passed the one month mark of Mike being gone. Its hard to believe that its been that long but at the same time its hard to believe that it has only been that long. We miss him!

Raquel is really enjoying preschool and amazes me everyday with the things that she learns. She is such a big help to me and has such a joy and love for life like her dad. She is taking swimming lessons again and is becoming mobile, so hopefully she can move up to the next level of lessons. She loves peanut butter and honey sandwiches and eats them for at least one if not two meals a day if I let her.

Natalya is growing and getting cuter everyday. She is a fast crawler and I'm sure it won't be long before she is walking. She is able to say Mama and Dada and is able to whine a lot, but we are working on that. She loves the water like her sister, so I guess I'd better get her in swim lessons too (I'd be more willing to do it if I didn't have to get in the water myself, its cold!). Her and Raquel love taking baths and showers together.

School, traveling and more

This past week has been busy. We spend 5 days down in North Carolina with cousins, which is always fun. The girls have really become great friends and love playing together from dressing up to barbies and the new one polly pockets. Raquel came home requesting barbies and polly pockets, I guess I know what I'll be getting her for Christmas.

This week we moved Raquel from 2 days/week to 3 days a week preschool, I think she likes it so far but we will give it another week. She did request to go back to her other class but I think its just because it was smaller which will change next month since they are adding more kids to make it full. She is really enjoying school and learning to identify all the letters in her name. Just today I put a movie on for her and the credits came up and she said there is an R like in my name and A and L. We sure are proud of her and how well she is learning and playing with others at school.

Natalya turned 10 months this week and is getting cuter everyday. She has a new tooth making two total and as soon as I can capture it I'll try to take a picture with her cute smile and teeth. I enjoy the time that I get to spend with Natalya alone now that Raquel is in school. Lots of it is spent with Natalya napping but the few hours a week that we get is lots of fun. She is learning to play by her self and not needing to be next to me all the time and is growing up fast. We are working on saying dada and hopefully she will have mastered that by the time Mike gets home. She gets so excited when I show her pictures of Mike and say dada.

Here are some pictures of Natalya showing off her teeth.

We are all doing well so far since Mike left, the girls seem to be fine and I'm holding up. We have had lots of nice friends and neighbors have us over for dinner and play-dates which helps break of the day.

Mike is doing fine, he has spent his time setting up a trauma bay which they hope they never have to use and spending time at the TMC. He has had no real trauma issues to deal with, except for a solider who fell which resulted in a concussion and a very large laceration. Some days are pretty boring, but boring it good! Which may result in him never wanting to watch a movie again, since he has been able to walk a few. He has had a chance to go and have dinner with the Germans a couple of times. This last time he went to one of the German BBQ's with some other soldiers from Greece and Belgium. I guess the Germans have a pretty nice hospital facility with state of the art equipment and they even have a pool. The Afghan people seem to be very nice and polite (the few he has met), there is poverty everywhere. He went shooting the other day and about 20 kids were around them waiting to collect the brass (which is not a good thing for the soldiers.) Unfortunately his internet is so slow that we can only email and not video or even voice chat like we had hoped. Internet is still better than snail mail!

Afghanistan

Mike made it to Afghanistan! He has been at Camp Phoenix in Kabul for the past week and will be leaving for Konduz (his final destination) tomorrow morning via helicopter or plane. He is already packet and will sleep in his uniform since he has to be ready by 5am. He said there are troops from all over there, he recognized France and Bulgaria only by their English labels. There is even a Virginia Tech section, who knew there would be Hokie fans over there.

He is still dealing with the side effects of the small pox vaccine that he got: insomnia, malaise, myalgia, headache, dizziness and mild fever. Here are some pictures of his adventures so far.

Our last American meal on US soil.

In Kuwait where we spent a few hours trying to find a flight out. The temp when we landed was 120. It still seemed very hot in the middle of the night when this was taken.

My current home at Camp Phoenix in Kabul. 5 star ratings...

The VT area

(Good to see we have Hokie fans in Afghanistan)

The Romania area

The French area

The bunker we had to spend a few hours in last night when the TB attacked our Camp. Just a suicide mission on their part.

Mike's travels

Mike left Fort Benning yesterday and flew to Ireland. After a 4 hr. layover they flew directly to Kuwait where I just received a call from him (yeah! I was so excited and cried at the same time). They landed were able to sleep for a couple of hours and then loaded buses and drove. Got off the buses had to find their gear in the dark and now he is waiting to get on another plane to head to Afghanistan. Hopefully it won't take him too long to get to his post! Thats a lot of traveling for 2 days.

Yellow Ribbon

Its not tied around an old oak tree or even a pine tree (since thats what we have in our yard) or around our necks, but I'm proud of it just the same since I did make it my self. Love you Mike!

'Round her neck she wears a yeller ribbon,
She wears it in winter and the summer so they say,
If you ask her "Why the decoration?"
She'll say "It's fur my lover who is fur, fur away.

Preschool

Our big preschooler

Playing on the playground outside her school

Raquel had her first day of preschool on Tues., it was an orientation day where the kids & parents were invited to the class for an hour to let the kids get acquainted with the room, were the bathroom was and interact with the other kids in their class. Raquel had no problems socializing and playing with the other kids and had a great time coloring, playing with ponies, the play kitchen and train set. She also drew a nice picture of our family. They have a fun play set outside also that they will get to play on each day. I'm already wondering if I should have put her in more than 2 days a week she is so excited to go for her full first day by herself tomorrow.