HAPPY THANKSGIVING TO ALL...

Hope everyone has a wonder Thanksgiving as I know I will since our Soldier and his new baby girl and wife will be joining us this year. We won't have to leave an empty chair as he is home and if all goes as planned he won't be returning to Iraq EVER...

I am again hosting my Dad's whole side of the family at my house. It will be close to 50 here this year and my new house is almost 1/2 the size of my previous one, but I promised my grandmother before she passed away years ago that I would carry on the tradition and have Thanksgiving at my house. I'm a glutton for punishment I do believe. Actually I love having it at my house, just hate the clean up afterwards.

I'm off work until Monday of next week, and I plan on enjoying every single minute of my time off by spending it with the ones I love.

Happy Thanksgiving to you all. Please keep our TROOPS that are in harms way in your thoughts and prayers on this day.

Pictures of Alexis

Daddy checking her out to make sure all toes and fingers are there.

One proud Daddy.

Thursday when I picked him up from the airport and we surprised Kristy at the Hospital.

Leann holding Alexis.
Alexis's first kiss from her MiTa.

JoJo (Kristy's Mom) showing off our little princess just moments after she was born.

Her Daddy is spoiling her every second he gets the chance. They were at the house last night visiting and showing her off to my sister and her family.

HAPPY VETERANS DAY!!!

Thanks to all our Vets, past and present for all your sacrifices that you have made for our Country.

Our veteran is serving his second tour in Iraq on this Veterans Day. Thank you son for making me one proud Mom. I love and miss you very much. Counting the days down until you are home for R&R.

9 year old singing The Star Spangled Banner

4 LONG MONTHS

So, I've been thinking, and yes that can get really scary. If Michael were in the the Air Force, he would be coming home right now, as they only do 4-month tours most of the time.

Just a thought and I will share it with him the next time we talk/chat/text. Thinking he might agree with me right about now, as he is really missing home.

Can't a Mom dream or wish at least once during a year long deployment that something like that could happen.

JUST SAYING...

HURRY UP PLEASE...

It's been 116 days since his BOOTS HIT THE GROUND and only 71 DAYS UNTIL ALEXIS IS DUE.

I think we are all ready for this baby to get here.

Michael text me Thursday night and then called me Friday night and we talked for almost an hour. It had been almost two weeks since I had heard from him. He must know after about 12-14 days he must call so I can just hear his voice. Lots going on with him. He is give out. Working 12 hour shifts, 7 days a week is getting the best of him I do believe. He is exhausted. I can hear it in his voice.

I did tell him that we can start our countdown now for his R&R.

We all think that the baby will arrive before he gets here. Just a feeling we all have. For Michael's sake, I really want her to wait on her Daddy though.

Yesterday I was also able to text with him off and one while I was out and about enjoying my day off. Nothing better than hearing from him.

I'm missing him really bad right now. Sure could use one of his big hugs that is knows how to give at just the right times.

That's all for now I guess.

HOSPITALS

I sure do hate them. Spent Saturday night and up into the wee hours Sunday morning there with Kristy. She has been put on strict bed rest by her doctor. She has a UTI, and he gave her some antibiotics and put her on a low sodium diet for all the swelling. He also put her on strict bed rest until he figures out why she is swelling up so bad. I did not know until we were told by the nurse that a UTI can cause you to go into labor. She had several contractions while they were monitoring her and the baby. It's way too early for Alexis to make her grand entrance at 6 months, so lets hope the bed rest and antibiotic will work.

Michael had come online about the time we were headed to the emergency room with Kristy, so he was very worried about her and would not get off the computer until we had gotten all the test results in. He was exhausted by the time we finally figured out what was wrong with Kristy. I was able to record the baby's heart beat and emailed it to him. He thought that was pretty cool. Thank goodness for iphones and an application called voice memos that I was able to download. He feels helpless being 7000 miles away, but he knew that Kristy's Mom and I, along with her best friend were taking excellent care of her.

She will now go to the doctor once a week until Alexis is born.

Will update when we know something else.

GOLD STAR MOTHER'S DAY

Today is a day that we are to honor our Gold Star Mothers. Words can't express the thanks that I have for these Mothers who have given so much.

THANK YOU TO ALL THE GOLD STAR MOTHERS.

3 LONG MONTHS

It sure seems like longer than 3 months since his boots hit the ground in Kuwait. Melinda can probably tell you right off the top of her head how much time our guys have left. Me, I don't even want to think about it.

Sure miss his smile. He called again Tuesday night and everything is good with him. He's excited about the baby girl that will be here around Christmas time. He's got lots going on, and will be able to share once everything is final and he gives me to go ahead to tell what all is going on with him. It's all good, I promise.

REMEMBERING 9/11

Jackson's local Channel 12 interviewed me today. She caught me off guard, which I guess is a good thing as it did not give me any time whatsoever to think about it.

FINALLY

IT'S GOING TO BE A GIRL.

Sonogram this morning told us what we already thought, but we just needed it to be confirmed.

Seems as though it's time to start shopping now.

Michael called last night and he and I talked for an hour and a half. The delay was terrible, but so worth getting to hear his voice. The excitement in his voice about finding out today if the baby was a girl or a boy was overwhelming him I do believe.

He is working night right now. Says he prefers nights over the days and said that it was much cooler at night. Other than that, he is good. He's so ready for this deployment to be over with. We are keeping our fingers crossed that he can come home for the baby's birth.

ANOTHER CALL

It's been a very hectic week around here. Michael called again on Tuesday, which was very unexpected. He sounded great, but said he was tired. I received a card from him yesterday and yes it made me cry. He's missing home terrible.

I ordered these two shirts for Kristy and I and they came in yesterday. I also ordered Kristy's Mom one as well.

I'm anticipating that it's going to be another crazy week.

FINALLY

He finally called yesterday afternoon around 1500 and we were able to talk for about 19 minutes. He is good, sounded great and was headed to bed to try to get some rest.

NOTHING

It's been since Monday of this week since Kristy or I have heard from Michael on IM, and its been since August 4th since we have received a phone call from him.

He's sick again, and not sure if they have put him back in isolation or not.

This waiting game is getting the best of the both of us. My phone rings daily or I either get an IM from family members asking if we have heard from him, and I have to say those dreaded words "NO NOT TODAY"...

Not sure how many more days of silence either of us can handle, and just think, it's only been 56 long days since his boots hit the ground.

DEATH OF 3 MS ARMY NATIONAL GUARD SOLDIERS

DoD Identifies Army Casualties

The Department of Defense announced today the death of three soldiers who were supporting Operation Enduring Freedom. They died from wounds suffered when insurgents attacked their vehicle with an improvised explosive device Aug. 2 in Qole Gerdsar, Afghanistan.

Killed were:

Capt. Ronald G. Luce Jr., 27, of Fayetteville, N.C.;

Sgt. 1^st Class Alejandro Granado, 42, of Fairfax, Va.; and

Sgt. 1^st Class Severin W. Summers III, 43, of Bentonia, Miss.

All three soldiers were members of the Mississippi Army National Guard, and assigned to the 2^nd Battalion, 20^th Special Forces Group (Airborne), Jackson, Miss.

For more information media may contact the U.S. Army Special Operations Command public affairs office at (910) 432-6005; after hours (910) 689-6187, or visit http://news.soc.mil .

The Clarion Ledger Reports the following:

The Mississippi National Guard has confirmed the weekend deaths of two soldiers who were serving in Afghanistan.

Sgt. First Class Severin W. Summers, 43, of Bentonia and Sgt. First Class Alejandro Granado, 42, of Longview, Texas, were killed by an improvised explosive device Sunday in Qole Gerdsar, Afghanistan.

Both were assigned to the Mississippi Army National Guard's 2nd Battalion, 20th Special Forces Group based in Jackson.

"We once again are painfully reminded of the high cost of freedom," Maj. Gen. William L. Freeman Jr., adjutant general of Mississippi, said in a news release. "Severin and Alejandro were two of the best soldiers in the Mississippi Army National Guard and will be greatly missed."

Funeral arrangements have not been announced for either.

An Alabama Army National Guardsman attached to the battalion, Capt. Ron Luce, also died in the incident, according to the news release.

"The deaths of these brave soldiers are a great loss for the state and nation," Gov. Haley Barbour said in the release."Our thoughts and prayers go out to their families and friends."

THAT SMILE

I miss so much. He sure knows how to brighten up my day. He has finally found some internet that is fast enough to use a web cam and to be able to see us as well. What a way to start my weekend.

MICHAEL AND RONALD

THAT'S MY BOY...

SURE CAN MAKE ME SMILE.

I KNEW IT WAS BOUND TO HAPPEN

I missed a call from Michael. Don't ask me how, but I did and I just can't seem to stop beating myself up over it. At least he was able to get Kristy. We had not heard from him in several days. He's been very busy and not enough time to get online. At least I will have the voice message that I can listen to over and over and over again.

FINALLY

He has finally made it to his destination in the Sand after spending a month in Kuwait. He's feeling great he says. He is trying to track down a package that had arrived before he did. He located one yesterday, but still searching for the other one. He received the first package that Kristy and I packed up for him, but not the one that his Grandmother sent.

He was able to call and talk to Kristy for just a few minutes yesterday afternoon, just long enough to tell her that he had made it safely and ask her to call me to let me know as well.

He's not sure just what he will be doing, but knows that it will be in 12 hour shifts. This deployment is so different from the first one. No cameras, no cell phones and all internet is monitored very closely. So, I know very little about what he will be doing, which might be for the better.

Not sure just how much access he will have to a phone or yahoo instant messenger.

Will keep everyone posted and thanks for all the calls checking on him while he was sick.

HEARING HIS VOICE

Oh my gosh. Nothing sweeter than hearing his voice. He sounded great. We got to talk for almost 30 minutes. The connection was not too bad for being thousands of miles away. He is stuck in Kuwait for several more days until the sand storms subside.

I don't recall this many sand storms during his first deployment. It seems like they are having them daily now.

I'm thinking that I can now rest/sleep a little better since I was able to talk to him.

He was released from isolation today and says he is feeling much better. He's ready to get to his FOB and the others from his unit.

24 days is way too long to go without talking to him. If he only knew how good it was to hear his voice.

Now I just need to get the family back into reading the blog so that I don't have to repeat everything so many times.