A Note From Ernie

I got my first email from Ernie yesterday. Well, it was to the whole family. He arrived in Iraq a week and a half ago. Just thought I would share it with everyone:

Hey everyone....

Just writing an email out to everyone to let you all know I'm safe and well. I don't have kim's address so if you could pass this on (and to anyone else I missed), and dad read this to mom.

We've been kept pretty busy. It's about midnight over here and we just got off of work. We do 24hrs on... 24hrs off. We've finally been doing runs out into the cities. Talk about a culture shock!! It's so different out here. It's so messy!! There is trash everywhere. (Tell Grandpa he could make a killing off of recycling all the cans over here!!) People drive on either side of the road, even if it's the wrong way. It's crazy, but at the same time sad... Kids always run up to you asking for stuff. And every so often we'll throw some food out the window. Most of the kids don't have shoes or hardly any clothes. But at the same time there are so many people that look happy that we are here. They wave at you and want to come up to you and shake your hand and tell you thank you for being here. It's crazy. On base it's very Americanized. We have the best chow hall (cafeteria) ever!! You can eat what ever you want, how ever much and almost whenever. You don't do your laundry here, people do it for you. And all of our rooms come with AC and beds. We also have these bargain stores on base, that are ran by locals. You can get almost anything for like a buck. New dvd's that haven't even been in the theater yet for $1.50 and Red Bulls for like 35 cents. it's pretty cool.

My dad said people have been wanting to send me stuff... I'll give out my address in about a week. We don't move into our permanent places till this Sunday when the existing unit leaves. I don't need a lot... but there are a few things I could really use. I'll let everyone know later.

Well I gotta go. I'll write everyone again when I can. Take care and pass this on to whom ever.

Love ya.

-The Third

Here's a photo from when he was at 29 Palms down South. I imagine him looking much like this in Iraq. He did get to come home before he left, and it really helped to see him again. Mostly because a lot that he told me about his job and what they were doing made me less scared for him. He should be pretty safe while he's there. And in general, the troops aren't suffering as many casualties. So that makes me feel a bit better too.
It still seems like forever until I'll see him again. Heck, it already feels like he's been gone forever. He did call me yesterday too, to talk mostly about bills. But he just sounded so tired. Granted, it was 1am there and he just came off of a 24 hr shift, but still, I hope he doesn't get too worn out.

Hello Out There

I know its been way too long since a post. But I will get on it this week. I have my doctor appt. tomorrow - and I am well overdue on a photo. Plus we just got back from 2 weeks in Tahoe, and I have some great stories from that. And I still haven't posted pics of the new backyard. So look forward to all of those things....

He's rounding third...he's headed home!!!!

So, this past Sunday, we went to the A's game, a normal occurrence for our family. We still have our 20-game season ticket package. This game though, we went with my Uncle John and Aunt Jodie's family, my godfather (he has 2 tickets of his own in our package), and my godmother. Uncle John and Jodie have Xavier who is only 1 month younger than Ethan, and Ethan calls him his friend.

We took the boys to play up at the Stomper Zone during the game. The boys got to get a free tattoo, do batting practice, jump in a bouncy house, and do "speed" pitch. After doing all that, they got a "free" Stomper baseball hat. (Stomper is the A's mascot.) Pretty cool, but mostly just fun for the boys.

After each Sunday home game, kids 14 and under get to run the bases. They line up after the game and get to go on the field and run around the bases real fast before they get scooted off the field. A whole lot of fun for a 3 year old who goes to 20 games a year. They even get to give Stomper a high-five at third base.

Greg is in the black muscle shirt, and Ethan is in the white muscle shirt (there's a lot of people in some of the pictures.)

Good Manners From A 3yr. Old

So Greg and I have always taught and encouraged Ethan to say "May I..." when he wants something. His normal reaction is just to say "Give me..." though lots of times he does use "May I..." especially when he is not with us, so we are very proud.
So last night, Greg was slightly sitting on Ethan's stuffed dog. Ethan told him "Get off my dog", and kind of in a rude tone. So Greg said to Ethan, "Ethan, that's not how you talk to people." So Ethan responded with "May you get off my dog." It was too funny. Greg and I could not stop laughing. He totally said it with attitude like "Fine, there, I said it politely" which made it even funnier.
OK, maybe you had to be there for it to be funny, but I just had to share.

The County Fair

It was a packed weekend - but a lot of fun, especially for Ethan. I'll have to get a few of these postings out instead of doing it all in one post. Only downside to this weekend - unbearable heat. It was just bad, and being prego made it that much worse.

On Friday we went to the Alameda County Fair. Yes, we are crazy. It was only 102 degrees there. At least that's what I heard. I didn't doubt it.

It was well worth it though. Ethan had a BLAST. That kid is crazy, just like his father. We bought him a ride wristband, so he could go on as many rides as he wanted to. But of course, he wouldn't ride any rides until he did the pony ride. The pony ride of course didn't use the wristbands and was an additional $6 for like 5 minutes. The kid loves horses - what were we to do?

After that, he did start going on rides in the "kid's park," you know rides for kids between 36 in and 54 in. At first he went on the little, slow rides where its a car that just goes in a circle on a big track. Whoop-ti-doo. Then, he decided to go on this crazy boat that just kept spinning, pretty fast. And he would tell Greg, "This ride makes my tummy hurt. I love it. Its spectacular." I put a video of it on here cause I was just amazed he even did it. The other ride he wanted to go on was the little rollercoaster. And from then on it was the spinning boat and the rollercoaster, back and forth. No more kiddie rides for him. I was totally shocked he did that, but he was just LOVING it.

(On the rollercoaster)

The reason we went Friday was because the free concert was the Doodlebops. If you don't know who they are, which I'm sure many don't, they are these three people who play this musicians on Disney Channel Saturday mornings. Ethan loves to watch them, and he knows most of their songs. Its one of those shows you actually don't mind if your kid watches it. Annoying as hell for us parents, but kids love it. So we waited in line for like an hour and a half in the 102 heat, but did get some really good seats really close. Greg bought Ethan a Doodlebop guitar before the concert started. Once Ethan saw the Doodlebops, he stood their for the first 20 minutes with his mouth open in total awe. It was just way too cute. Then he spent the last 30 minutes totally rocking out on his guitar and dancing his cute, little, butt dance. It was well worth the wait. Again, he just LOVED it.

I'm sure we'll head back to the fair soon. Cause of the heat, we didn't really eat all of that good fair food - so we have to go back just so we can do that.

Busy Week

It has been a busy weekend, and its going to be a very busy week.

This weekend, our driveway (the back half) was finally cemented, and it looks great. I just love that we have this much more usable space now. The contractor is kind of difficult to work with, and he started before 7:30 on Sat. and Sun., but he does do great work, and for cheap.

While that was being done, we had to keep our eye on Dakota. He's doing a lot better. He's acting a lot more normal, starting to eat regularly, and sleep on his normal schedule, so I'm glad about that. But his wounds are starting to scab up and so it drives him crazy. It just itches like crazy. And because of that, we've locked him in the house. If he goes outside, he'll rub up against the deck fencing, and tear off the scabs. He did that Thursday night, and Friday morning, he opened the wound so much it was starting to bleed a lot. Unfortunately there isn't anything we can give him to make him feel better. If he lets me, I put a cold wet washcloth on the wound, and he seems to like that a bit.

On Sat, Greg worked on the yard. We're having artificial grass being put in this week, so he tore out two of the trees we had in the yard 'cause we HATE them. They are ugly and every summer attract wasps. He also had to re-route a sprinkler head. I went through all of Ethan's baby clothes to get ready for the new baby. I forgot how many of Ethan's outfits I loved - and I can't wait to use them again. It was a good thing I did that too. We had saved stuff that was stained, and a lot of sizes were mixed together. So now, everything is ready to be pulled down and used as the baby grows.

Sunday, Greg worked on the yard more, and then we did a lot in the house. We're having new windows put in half of the house today, and so we had to remove the window coverings, and move a lot of furniture around so the windows could be replaced. It was so tiring.

Today, we get the windows put in. Wed and Thur. the artificial grass goes in!!! I'm so excited about that. In addition to all that, on Tues. I get to baby-sit Xavier and Isaiah for half the day. Then I baby-sit Xavier and Nathaniel on Wed. And then on Friday I'm taking Ethan to Fairyland in Oakland (love that place.) On Sunday, we are having Father's Day here, so Greg and I plan on going to a nursery on Saturday to get two new trees to replace the ones he tore out.

A very busy week for sure!!!

Little Fish catches a little fish

So we went camping this past weekend with my family, and Ethan caught his first fish - EVER!! He has a "kid's" pole, where all he has to do is hold a button to cast it out, so it makes it real easy for him. He could cast it about half the time he tried, and I was impressed with that. We took the kids fishing at the "bass pond." Its a little pond that gets stocked with bluegill and bass, and so its real easy to catch in. You cast the pole out, and within 3 seconds, you get a bite. You don't catch on every bite, but watching the bobber move is real exciting for the kids. The bluegill are real small, we just throw them back in the water once we catch them. But its just so exciting for the kids to see the fish.













We did go camping with most of my family. So that consisted of 16 adults, 6 kids (4 of them 3yrs or younger), and 5 dogs. Yes - 5 dogs. It wasn't as hectic as I thought it was going to be. Ethan, Xavier, and Isaiah LOVED to be in the water. Those kids are hilarious. And they play so well together. It was just hard to get them to come out. And being that we were right next to the water, it was hard to stay away



Unfortunately, Dakota got hurt while we were there, though we're not exactly sure how. I gave him a bath Tuesday, but noticed that his throat area was still all dirty. So I went to clean it again on Wednesday, and noticed it was bright red and had what looked like dried green puss on it.
So I took him to the vet, who shaved his throat and all around his collar area to see what it might be. She said he got burned. She thought at first it looked like a chemical burn, but on the top of his neck, that area looked more like a rope burn. Poor guy, its just so exposed and raw, I can tell it hurts. She gave me an antibiotic and a topical spray. However, he's having a bad reaction to the antibiotic. He literally sat up all night, panting like he was hyperventilating. He didn't actually lay down till 3am, and I think then he didn't even really sleep. This morning, he's been acting the same, so I called my vet. She told me not to give him the antibiotic anymore and to keep an eye on it. She's afraid its already infected, and just doesn't want it to get any worse.
I feel so bad for him. I hate that pets can't talk, cause unfortunately, you wait till the last minute, when the situation is worse, to get them care. Its not like a sick kid who can tell you that something doesn't feel right, so you catch it before it gets bad. And he just has such a sad look in his eyes. And being pregnant and hormonal, it just made me cry last night - though I just cry everyday, so what's new?