Toby & Daryl

In the middle of opening gifts we gave Toby and Daryl their gifts from their cousins. They are very happy with their gifts and would like to thank them, Mischeif, Zoey, Zues, & Maverick. Abby watched them open their gifts and smiled. Toby didn't want to give it up.
Smells good!
Can I take it?

Daryl has been in trouble lately for getting into things he shouldn't, so he was very cautious about opening his gifts this morning. As you can see in pictures below Toby had no worries!


Very Yummy!

Christmas Morning

Merry Christmas Everyone! We know this is pre christmas. We wanted to thank my sisters and their families for their gifts to Abby also. She loves her purple coat in this picture, she wore it to church last sunday. Thanks!

Mammie and Grampa gave these and some more great gifts to Abby this year for christmas. I pick these pictures to post because she looks so cute in them. I will post her dress they gave her when she wears it. It has teddy bears and hearts. Thanks for all your thoughtfulness.


Josiah received the cast iron from my parents and he loves it. I should go and take a picture of his motorcycle and show everyone his new pipes. We are enjoying them, Abby and I know when daddy is home now.
Josiah was the very kind to me this year and I got the rocking chair from him in this picture. I received the book from my mother. I love it, thanks for all the great gifts.

Merry Christmas Mom and Dad. She is the best gift we could ever ask for!
I think that I am all done for now. Good Night!

Poor Abigail was pooped at the end of opening gifts and of course being one herself!

This was at the end of our day. We were invited over to the Brod's home for pie. It was really good pie. We feel blessed this holiday season to be able to have a wounderful daughter and great family and friends. Thanks to everyone for your support and gifts.

Abigail's Christmas Dresses

This cute dress and shoes that Mammie, (my mom), gave her. She did really well keeping these on today. They came off at the end of church, perfect.

One of the sisters in our ward gave Abigail this dress. She wore it to church last week. She has started a new thing of blowing bubbles and she will smile when she is done.
See my pretty new dress everyone.
Thank you Megan for the bling. She wore it last sunday to church and She received a lot of nice comments about it.

Abigail's Christmas Outfits

This hat came with the booties below. She wore this outfit to our ward Christmas party. She slept most of the time, but of course when they served us dinner she wanted to eat. I have no idea how babies know when we want to eat, somehow she has this down to a science.

This outfit my mother gave us for her 1st Christmas. I loved the butt so I had to take a picture of her backside.

These are so cute, I had to pick them up for her. She was really good, and kept them on the whole time. They have stayed on very well when I put her in the carrier to walk around.

Pictures are in!!!

We went a couple of weeks ago and had pictures taken. Dana did a awesome job on them. I will be adding some more as time goes on. I ended up keeping about 70 or more pictures. I had a very hard time saying no to a picture. Mommy & beautiful Abigail
She must be having a wounderful dream!
Daddy Hands
Welcome Abigail to our family!
Daddy - Daughter I will cherish this one.

Laughter....

What is it about laughing that is so much fun? Yeah, probably being laughed at isn't that great but laughing in general is fun. And I do laugh at myself quite a bit. (Just did it the other day.)

For the first time in our life we have Directv. Yeah, 200 channels and still nothing is on, although I do search out comedy central and other comedy sitcoms. One of my favorites to watch is Jeff Dunham and his puppets. What a riot!! He really brings them to life. He makes fun of himself, people in the audience, society... he is really good.

Everybody Loves Raymond. Who can not associate their family (or their spouse's family) to Raymond's? With a meddling mother, cranky father, gloomy and full of selfpity brother, and yourself not too smooth with words and getting yourself in trouble, how can it not be funny to watch? The things that get brought up are so close to truth. Sarah and I keep pointing out things during the show. "Hey, that's you." "Do I do that?"

It's fun to laugh. It's a stress release. Maybe if people laughed more we wouldn't have so many problems in the world.

Laugh Much. Enjoy Life.

Yeah, I Got Promoted!

Monday, Dec 3rd, I got promoted to Specialist (E-4). It's not a huge step in life but it is an important one. I have to have six months in grade before I can get my Sergeants stripes which is the big promotion. I have a lot of work ahead of me before I can get them.

It's nice to start moving up the food chain. As an civilian you can ask for a raise whenever you feel like you are worth more than you are getting paid. Here in the military it's almost socialistic. Everyone in the same rank/grade gets paid the same regardless of job. You're paid salary so sometimes you may work a 40 hour week or maybe a 80 hour week. You still get paid the same. You have to work at getting promoted.


Sarah got to pin me (velcro me?) which was really nice.

1st Doctors Appointment

Our little one

is growing up. We had our one month check up on December 4. She is now 10lbs and 9.5 ozs as you can see in her picture. The nurse was so nice to let me take a picture of her. She loved the scale and wiggled all around on it. She however didn't like it when the nurse had her pull out long to see her length. She grew .1 inches, so now she is 21.1 inches long and her head is now 14.5 inches instead of the 14 inches.

She was really good for the doctor too. She didn't cry at all. I on the other hand wasn't so lucky, I needed to get the flu shot and my arm is still sore from that. She goes back in a month and that time I believe she will have to get shots. I am not looking forward to that visit.

Oh, by the way...

The Saturday before we left for Maine, to pick up Abigail, we went to Sea World San Antonio with another couple. It was fun to relax and to see all of the animals.
These sea lions were part of a skit. It was pretty funny and quite entertaining.
What a beautiful day! The temp. was very nice and we thought it was even a bit hot but I guess the Texans didn't agree because the waterpark was closed. What a bummer.





Sarah and Lauren thinking that they needed to toss a couple of kids out of the way to take their pirate pictures. (JUST KIDDING) And they say that us husbands are childish and embarrassing.

And of course we had to see Shamu, the killer whale. The trainers must spend a good amount of time working with the animals to get them to respond so well. It was impressive to see them jumping out of the water, doing flips, splashing the audience,... I thought that going without children was a little silly but we all enjoyed it. The Army gave us free tickets to go. We plan on taking Abigail in a couple of years if we're still here in Texas.

Our New Addition

Well, here we are folks. After putting on more than a million miles on our mini-van and what seemed like weeks of being on the road, we made our voyage to Maine and back and we have a child to prove it. Here is our new pride and joy, Miss Abigail Anne;










She weighed in at 8 lbs 7 oz and was 21" long. She has been a real trooper and has put up with two brand new parents who had to learn how to put diapers on and how to dress a wiggling, fussing baby. Mid-night feedings were a joy and after being poked in the ear by a half asleep dad, she learned to turn towards the bottle being jabbed at her. She would play the occasional trick of waiting until her diaper was off to go pee but her parents are quick learners and catch on fast. We now prepare things ahead of time.








She sleeps for about 3-4 1/2 hrs at a time we gives her weary parents enough time crash and burn for a bit to gather enough strength to do it again. The advantage of being bottle fed is that Sarah and I can take turns feeding Abigail at night. The hard part is that instead of having one parent who is well rested and can make rational decisions and one burnt out parent, Abigail had to put up with two semi rested and slightly toasted parents. I'm not sure which way is better. I do know that I can sleep in the mini-van, anyone's couch, and at the check line at Wal-Mart because there are always 50 people in line and only 3 registers open at a time.

Since being born she as experienced Wal-Mart, McDonalds, snow, her crazy cousins, Panera Bread, AC/DC, art school, Daryl and Toby, ten different states, and all in 3 weeks!


It's been crazy! We came how Monday night, carried in some essentials and crashed. Our house looks like a disaster. We suddenly have so much baby gear, thanks to our generous friends and family, and a little two bedroom ranch that doesn't have much closet space.

But do you know what is awesome,... snuggle time. When they snuggle themselves into a ball in your arms and you both pass out. It's been a long time coming for Sarah and I to have our own child and we feel very blessed and honored that Abigail's birth mother chose us to adopt her.

Thanks to all of our family and friends who have been putting up with us, helping us out, and being there for us. You guys are awesome!

Snuggle Time

This was a too cute moment. I felt I needed to share with everyone. I really enjoy my dogs and their company. They have been laying closer to each other as the cooler weather has been here.

Another Day at Work

I was one of the lucky guys from our company that got to go out to the range and clear a spot for some targets that were being brought in by helicopter. The range was difficult to get to so we flew in. The first day we flew in a Blackhawk, the second a Chinook. What a difference! It could be compared to driving our Neon (the Blackhawk) or driving a tour bus (the Chinook).










I perferred riding in the Blackhawk.











The Chinook is the workhorse of the helicopters. It can pick up a tremendous amount of weight. The pilots are amazing. They really showed off their skills placing the targets were they wanted them and flying us around.











Here is some of the ordnance that we blew up. There was stuff everywhere. It was one of my first range clearances and it was a lot of fun. We're hoping to do this again when they have more targets to bring out here. It sure beats working in the office.

Adoption Update

Here's the latest for all you family and friends that we haven't talked to yet. I (Josiah) will be able to travel with Sarah to Maine to pick up Abigail. We're finishing up our last minute stuff, doctors visits, paperwork, and getting last minute items. As we were shopping for baby stuff it was hard not to keep thinking that there was a possibility that the adoption could fall through but we're remaining positive. We're only getting certain things right now, waiting to get the bigger, more expensive items when we get back. Thanks to everyone that we've talked to about baby gear! We've received some great ideas.
It's been really exciting for us. We have two weeks before we head out. We're making packing lists, lists of people to visit (schedule now with us!), things to bring, things to leave behind,... it's a whirlwind of paper, sticky notes, and pencils. We're excited about the new challenge of parenthood. Is an 8" cresent wrench good enough for a rattle? I did get her a Harley Davidson receiving blanket, in HD orange color. (Take that Barbie!) I did find some camoflauge infant clothes in the Cabela's catalog. And of course we'll have to get her a Boston Red Sox shirt. (Sarah isn't so thrilled with my fashion sense. hehehe)
We've been reorganizing the house a little, making room for Abigail and her new things that we have to get. (Military housing isn't the most spacious housing.) Now we have to think about child proofing things and keeping the dogs from slobbering all over her. (Does that count as bath time?)
Like I said, it's been fun and exciting as well as a little stressful. I hope that you guys bear with us. We'll keep everyone posted as we get closer to the adoption.

PRK

Look! No contacts! Hey guys, just a little update. The PRK surgery went great. The moment that I got up from the table I could see fairly well. I had 7 days off from work with strict orders to rest my eyes so my Vicodin and I shared the next couple of days being good friends. Sarah was a saint and kept the house running while I stayed in the bedroom snoozing off and on. (I have never slept so much in my life!) After just a few days the pain went away so I quit the Vicodin and tried to rest my eyes as much as possible. Sarah kicked me out of the house after my 7 days so I could go to work for a day before our 4 day weekend! (I think I was getting on her nerves a bit.)

I'm very functional right now with probably 20/40 vision. My eyes are still sensitive to sunlight, so I make sure I have sunglasses when I go outside.

This is amazing! If any of you have a chance to do this surgery I would recommend it. (I chose PRK over Lasik. I think that it's better, but that's just me.) It's nice not to have glasses or contacts to worry about. It's still a bit weird not taking my contacts out at night or not reaching for my glasses in the morning. Yes, my insurance is great. It makes up for being underpaid and overworked.

Pictures from work

Hey guys,
I thought that I would post some pictures of some stuff that we found at work and disposed of.
This is a 250lb practice bomb that the Naval Station dredged out of their lake. It's filled with concrete. It's funny to see the look on the guards faces when we roll through the gates at Ft Hood. We tell them not to mind the bomb in the back of the truck.







The guys strapped 20lbs of C-4 to the bomb and blew it up. All they found was concrete dust.
















Here's a 60mm mortar that failed to fire so we blew it up with an old hand grenade that was found way in the back of a range. The grenade was rusted solid.

Here is a video of us at the range. We had a couple of blocks of C-4 left over so we decided to try to "punt" a 155mm practice projectile over the tree. The 155mm is filled with concrete. I would say that we made it.

I thought about trying out for the New England Patriots' new punter next season.