Update From Afghanistan

The Stars & Stripes Flying High in Herat

It always seems that Holly & I update the blog right on top of each other and always after she has updated you on the course of her pregnancy. I promise I'm not trying to upstage her. Well she's not the only one who can update you on the pregnancy. I'm hoping I beat her to the punch on this one but she felt the kiddos stirring yesterday. We're not sure if they were dancing or wrestling with each other but apparently they were throwin' some serious elbows!

Okay, back to the point of this update...Afghanistan. Since my last post I've had the opportunity to travel more and take some more pictures. I've been to every major base in the country so far and some places more often than I'd like (read, Kandahar & Bagram). Throughout the course of our travels we've flown on everything from Cessna jets, to prop planes, to big giant cargo planes, to even bigger & gianter cargo planes and they are often not always US either. I've flown on Dutch helicopters, Belgian helicopters, Germany helicopters, and Italian cargo planes. Below are some of the types of aircraft we've used to get around the country. I really that's all I have to say for now. We keep traveling and keep trying to help our forces get what they need to accomplish their mission as fast as we can. Enjoy the photos and stayed tuned for a very special blog update to come this weekend.

I definitely snuck into this picture. I normally stand in the back but I decided I needed a picture with the boss.

Here we are waiting for the helicopters to refuel up north.

This is the Lieutenant Colonel who works in my office. We're standing on a tower in Bagram. It was very difficult for me to hide my death fear of heights as we walked up the staircase but I had to get a view.

Hope you enjoyed the photos! See you soon!

BIG Changes...

So lots of things have happened in the last month, but the most obvious is the size of my belly. I'm almost 18 weeks pregnant (so, right at 4 months) and I'm getting a pretty big belly. I guess that's what happens when there are two little kiddos in there trying to grow as quickly as they can. It's hard for me to believe that I still have over 4 months of growing left to do. Yikes! But here's the belly so far. I'll try to be more consistent with posting pictures and I continue to expand. I'm just happy that it's all belly so far.


An even bigger event (but not visibly as big) is the fact that I am now on terminal leave from Active Duty service. I am on leave until September 15th at which point I am no longer in the Army. It's weird to think about, but I'm excited to be able to live with Dan and not have to worry about getting stationed together in the future. My very last day in the Army was a significant one because the 5/2 SBCT redeployment ceremony was held that day. I'll write more about that later, since I feel that is an event worth sharing and an amazing close to a significant chapter of my life.

I have now spent the last week in California visiting my family and enjoying a relaxed schedule. I have been able to take Coda on walks most mornings, went to Disneyland with my parents, went to the mountains with Tim & Stef, and have spent a good amount of time in the pool. I like being here, but I'm also looking forward to the fact that Dan and I will be back in D.C. together by the end of the month.

Here we are at Disneyland!

Danny and Coda enjoying each other's company at Arrowhead Lake

I guess that's it for now. I'll keep taking pictures as we do fun things. Pray for Dan and his safety and sanity in this last month of his deployment. I can't wait to have him home! :)

Update From Half A World Away!

So obviously this is Dan speaking this time. Holly did a great job of updating everyone on her last post so I’ll just add some color commentary and share some more of my photos.

First, I want to quantify some facts for you. This is my fourth deployment since the end of 2002, my second to Afghanistan, and my first as a married man (and father to be). That last key fact automatically makes this the toughest one yet. Luckily, it will also be my shortest.

So I finally have reliable internet that won't block me from viewing and/or updating the blog. I arrived in Kuwait in late April and then flew on a few different aircraft and finally landed in Kabul. The living conditions here are probably the best I've had for all four of my deployments. However, believe it or not, I lament the loss of my cot and tent on most days. The accommodations are nice and I greatly appreciate the fact that I can shower every day since that has rarely been the case for me in the past. I will NEVER ever complain about whether the water is cold either having been stuck with no showers for weeks at a time in most of my previous deployments.

Kabul has changed quite a bit but mostly stayed the same. The best part about my job is the fact that I can actually get outside of Kabul and go see other parts of the country. We travel almost exclusively by air and although most of the pictures of myself are sitting on the helicopters we do travel almost exclusively by fixed wing (plane). I don't want to show you pictures of me on the airplanes because then you won't so bad for me that I'm in Afghanistan. :)

We've been to every major base in the south, north, east, and west and I can tell you for certain that this country is just as diverse as any in the world including our own with exception of our coasts. I've flown over mountains that echo the Rockies and have seen valleys so green you'd think you're in wine country of California.

The days here are long but that was to be expected but because of that I find myself often physically drained on a constant basis. Lucky for me, I work in an environment that allows me to sleep in late twice a week. This is not the case for most but it is for me so I refuse to feel guilty about sleeping in…mostly because I’m asleep! We get out of the city about 2-3 days a week which is actually really good because those trips really help to pass the time quicker but it also means that I’m constantly moving and constantly working to coordinate the next trip even as I’m executing the current trip. This is not unlike the conduct of my job back home but a little different given the fact that we travel a little differently when we’re in DC.

Here are some pictures from my many adventures so far! Enjoy!

Welcome To Pakistan!

This is a few of the border from the Aghan side.

This is picture of me in front of Friendship Gate on the border of Pakistan.

Here is a Stryker vehicle rollin' through the desert.

I threw this one in there because it's unique to see these three aircraft all on the same airfield.

This is the Arghandab Valley...green as can be.

Another view of the valley outside of Kandahar.

Hope you enjoyed the photos!

Crazy kiddos!

So I went in for another appointment this morning and had a nice long ultrasound. I actually had a quick on yesterday and a more thorough one today (no issues, just appointments for different reasons). Well, yesterday the doc had the hardest time getting a heart beat because both kiddos were moving around so much. There were arms and legs flailing around everywhere and neither would hold still. (So, no good pictures from that one)

But today the kiddos wouldn't move. They were just lounging around. One even looked like it had its hands back behind its head and its legs crossed. Talk about some serious relaxing. :) Guess they were just tired from all the action yesterday. I still can't feel any of it, but you can see it all on the screen. The doc had to get measurements of certain parts of the body, and she actually had to bounce (almost kind of punching me with the ultrasound wand) my belly just to disrupt their sleep and get them to shift around. They must be heavy sleepers like me.

Another thing was that the nurse said she thinks they're fraternal. There are two placentas, but they're smashed up next to one another. If a cell splits early enough to create identical twins, it is possible that they will each have their own placenta...and since the placentas are so close together it's hard to tell if that's the case or if they really are fraternal. So we'll see... but that was her 2 cents worth. I'd be okay with that so I don't confuse my kids.

Here is a picture of both kids from the front. You can see both of their faces (still kind of like scary skeleton alien faces). :)

Baby "A"

Baby "B"

Sorry, I didn't use the greatest scanner in the world to scan the photos, but I hope you enjoy. I won't have another appointment until late July, so the next picture updates to the blog will probably be from Dan's trips all over Afghanistan! :)

Double the Updates!

So most of you know by now that Dan and I found out about 5 weeks ago that we're pregnant. Then about 2 weeks ago we found out that we were having twins! We were absolutely in shock about it, but we're getting excited about the additions to our family.

I went in to the Dr.'s office last Tuesday to get the results of my lab work. Everything came back fine so far, and the nurse did a second ultrasound. Here's the photo.

During the ultrasound I was able to see little flickers of light that was their heartbeats. I also saw the one on the left move a little bit. It looked kind of like a small ab crunch or a sneeze (but it was probably neither since the babies don't have abs or noses yet). But that was kind of fun. It was also just nice to be able to look at the picture and smile...where as the first time I had an ultrasound I was far from smiling...I couldn't do much other than count to two over and over again in my head and say "oh my goodness....there's two of them!"

Other than that, our lives are crazy as is. I left Charlottesville yesterday and I will be headed back to Fort Lewis on Tuesday morning. I'll be there for several weeks while I work on getting out processed, then it's off to CA for a visit, and then back to D.C. to find a place to live and welcome Dan back at the beginning of September.

Dan has bee doing well out in Afghanistan. He travels around a lot, but it's all by air, so that makes it significantly safer. His job is challenging, but not because of the work he's doing... more because of the personalities that he's working with. Let's just say he has a lot of chances to practice patience. It's also hard not to be able to be here with me going through the pregnancy. It just makes him wish he were home that much more. But other than that, things are going really well for him. He got to Kandahar a couple weeks ago and visited with a lot of people from our unit, so it was great to see friends. Here's a picture of Dan and Tommy a few weeks ago. :)

That's really it for now. I have my next Dr. appointment at Ft. Lewis on the 18th, so maybe I'll have more pictures after that. I'll make sure to update sooner next time! :)

Family Visits

So within the last month, we've gotten the opportunity to visit with a lot of family. A few weekends ago Dan and I took a quick trip up to Valparaiso, Indiana to visit Sean and Ty (Dan's bro and sis-in-law). We had a great weekend of just visiting and playing Wii (and I did a lot of "shooting hoops" with Dane).

Then the next weekend we went down to North Carolina to visit with Dirk and Erin and Dan's parents. Again, it was a quick trip down there, but it was great to surprise Big Bri for his birthday and to spend some quality time with everyone down there. (We also retrieved Boscoe, and he is now living with me in Charlottesville...what a treat.)

Then this last weekend my brother Mike was out here for work and chose to stick around a few days to spend some time with me and Dan (thanks for letting us borrow him, Kallie...we appreciate it!) We spent some time walking all around the city on Friday and had some AMAZING seafood for dinner. Then Saturday we had a lot of great food and played a lot of Wii. Then today we went to church (yes, we made it to the early service even with the time change) and a brunch and then Mike headed home. It was a great visit, and we're very glad to have had so much time with family in the last few weeks. We love our families!!!

Don't have a cow!

(This is Holly typing) :) There are many things that I have come to like or appreciate by being out here in Virginia (just look at my post about the fall if you need more examples). But one of the funniest things is my love for cows! I love cows! I drive by thousands of cows each week as I drive to/from work and to/from D.C. (my favorites are brown cows). When the weather is nice and my windows are down, I'll often yell "hello cows!" or "good morning cows!" One day there was a cow right up near the road (on the other side of the fence, of course) that was staring into the sun and squinting...but I swear she was smiling at me. I also love seeing tiny calves running around fields. That will make my day.

But the tragically ironic part about my new love for cows is the fact that my belly has decided to hate cows. After having an upset stomach for about 5 weeks, going to the doctor, and changing up my diet, I've learned that I've become extremely lactose intolerant. No more milk or cheese...or even anything with milk product in it. What an unfair thing for someone who loves milk, cheese, and ice cream so much. It's going to be difficult, but at least it's managable (and thank God for lactaid pills).

And if you're worried...don't be. I'll still say good morning to the cows! :D