Deployment Blog

Amy celebrated her 1st birthday today!

The latest on Amy's development:
- She can say MAMA and HI and EIEIO. (She loves saying HI and waving at people.)
- She still has no teeth.
- She is crawling everywhere and can crawl very fast!
- She can pull herself up and "cruise" (i.e. walk while holding onto stuff) around the room by herself.
- She can crawl up stairs!
- She nods, claps, and dances to music.
- She takes one or two 1-2 hour naps per day.
- She enjoys going out and meeting new people.
- She doesn't cry when Grandma and Grandpa come over to babysit and Mommy leaves.
- Her favorite foods are bananas, avacados, and whatever Mommy is eating.
- She's sleeping in her own crib, in her own room all the way through the night (9-10 hours in a stretch most nights).
- She doesn't use bottles anymore and enjoys drinking whole milk from her sippy cup.
- She likes to chase and toss her ball around, play with toys that make noise, and have books read to her. She will crawl over with a book in her hand when she wants you to read to her.
- Her favorite stuffed animals are her tiger, polar bear, spider, moose, and owly.

I really am a very lucky Mom! I had some medical problems earlier this month and even when I had to be in the hospital a few days, she was great for Grandma, Grandpa, and our friend, Theresa! I'm truly blessed to have such a great little kid! I can't wait for Josh to come home and share in the joy (notwithstanding the occasional stinky diaper).

From Kelly | Posted at 11:21 AM | Permalink

Photo taken at the Camp Adder Memorial Wall

From Josh | Posted at 9:21 PM | Permalink

In April, Amy and I moved to a new apartment. If you are a family member or friend who wants our new contact info, please send me an email. (I don't want to post it here for privacy/security reasons.) It was exciting to move everything with a 10-month old crawling around, but we did it! I had lots of help from Josh's parents and from some friends.

Several veterans and college students from the group COMFORT FOR COURAGE at the University of Minnesota came over one Friday and moved ALL my furniture! That was really great! They wouldn't let me pay them for their services, so I highly encourage anyone who feels generous to donate to this group - they are doing great things for vets at the U and in our community! (Go to the group's website to find out how to make a donation: http://comfortforcourage.org)

Josh's deployment continues. He's registered for fall classes at the Carlson School, so that's a good sign that perhaps he will return before Labor Day. I'm hoping that he'll be able to take Amy to her first State Fair this year, but we'll see if he's home in time. For now, here's a photo of Josh taken a couple weeks ago near the Ziggurat of Ur:

As for Amy, she is crawling ALL over the place. She's pulling herself up using anything she can find. I expect her to take her first steps any day now. Her 1st birthday is at the end of the month! I've posted some videos of her on the web to share with family and friends.
- Amy crawling: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b_TIppx82r8
- Amy is ticklish: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DvQzYBvsPZA

That's the update from here! Now that moving is done and my spring semester class is over, I'll be spending my summer settling into the new apartment, getting Amy used to having her own room, and preparing for Josh's return!

From Kelly | Posted at 1:55 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)