"Ugly" Photos

This is an old one - but the rest are recent - "HELMAND PROVINCE, Afghanistan (May 11, 2009) - Two CH-53D Sea Stallion helicopters prepare to land in the district of Now Zad, Helmand province, Afghanistan, May 5, 2009. The helicopter crews are assigned to the Marine Heavy Helicopter Squadron 362, part of the aviation combat element of Special Purpose Marine Air Ground Task Force-Afghanistan, recently redeployed from Iraq to Afghanistan. Photo by 1st Lt. Stewart Coles, U.S. Marine Corps"

Update part 2

I had my 32 week appointment yesterday, two hours worth of driving, dropping Abigail at the YMCA waiting room and waiting myself in order to see a nurse practitioner for 5 minutes. It's nice to hear the baby's hearbeat and know that everything is going well but it really makes me wonder why they can't handle these early appointments at the clinic over here on K-bay. I did get the results back from my blood glucose test that they did at my last appointment and my blood sugar levels are fine, so that was good to hear.

Abigail continues to progress with her potty training although she did have an accident when I was renewing her registration for the kiddie programs on base. Fortunately it was my last stop of the morning and I had a spare change of clothes in the car so she didn't have to ride back to the house in those clothes or get her car seat all wet. Last night she got up in the middle of the night and went potty all by herself. She then came and woke me up to help her empty the little potty and get back in her jammies. She's been able to stay dry through the night for a long time so it was reassuring that if she wasn't able to go the whole night that she knew what to do.

There's been a lot in the news about the Marines latest push in Afghanistan and we're pretty sure that the Uglies were involved based on photos that the wives have found:

Fox News Story
Washington Post Photos - check out this photo as well, it's partially cut off but it sure looks like it says HMH-Hawaii on the side, maybe someone with a little more experience in telling the difference between delta's and echo's can say for sure. The difference I always look for is the refueling probe since it's very obvious but you can't see that in this picture.

I received a couple of e-mails from Wil during the night and we have plans to meet on Skype this afternoon so hopefully we'll get some confirmation on what the Uglies have been doing. However, due to the casualties in this offensive, "River City" may be called so he might not be able to get on-line. (River City - restricted communications, often called when there are casualties so that families can be officially notified before hearing it through the grapevine).

Check out Kim's blog for more photos and news stories.

Update

Wil and I were able to connect on Skype again but it will likely be the last time for awhile as he'll be switching to nights soon. He was very tired and the connection wasn't nearly as good as last time, the call got dropped probably half a dozen times, but it was so good to see him.

He's been flying a lot which has limited our communication but he almost has enough hours for his HAC board. The squadron is being kept very busy due in part to the large influx of troops in the area. The weather during the day is very hot but they just got a new AC unit installed in their tent which is working much better than the old one. It gets pretty cold at night though so he's sleeping in his sleeping bag, in full sweats, with a blanket.

We are still hoping and praying that he'll be home for the birth of the baby but it's looking like we'll definitely be cutting it close, especially since logistically coming back from Afghanistan is a little more involved than leaving from Iraq would have been. The advanced party is coming home soon though so we should have a better idea of how many travel days will be required after they return.

And so it begins

Abigail continues to become more articulate and put together more complex sentences, this morning she said, "Mommy, I can't find my shoe!"

I'm guessing I'm going to be hearing that one a lot over the next few years.

3/4 Done with Wil's Deployment

Feeding the ducks at the botanical garden