Iraq Again...

So I thought I should update everyone. Brian is going to be heading back to Iraq. booooo! hissssss!!!!! He will get to come back to Edmond for about 4 months and will be assigned to the ROTC department at UCO until he heads back up the Yellow Brick Road to Ft Riley, KS. UCO has been very wonderful in allowing Brian to come back for the 4 month time slot. It will be so nice to have him here in Edmond with us. He will have to go for a 60 day train up for the MITT assignment that he will be doing in Iraq. Basically if I understand it correctly he will be in command of a 12 man team that will live with and train the Iraqi Military and Police. This will all take place after he graduates his course at Ft Leavenworth. He is going to graduate Command Staff and General College in December. It's been a very busy year for him up there. Not only has he been doing that school, but has been earning his Masters at the same time. It sounds like all he has been doing is reading and then more reading! That is when he isn't making the 5 1/2 hour drive home on the weekends to see the girls and me. He has been a champ at making that drive. I think the girls could call him at any point of the drive and ask him how much longer (which they do) and he could nail the time within 5 minutes...and to think that I used to complain about the 90 mile that we made constantly between Ft Sill and Edmond when we were stationed down there!

It's kind of crazy to think that Kara was 1 1/2, Brooke 4, and Lauren 9 when he left to go to Ft Leavenworth. The girls will be 4, 7, and 12 when we all live together again. I guess that is the reality of the military for ya though. But I do have to say that it has been a very rewarding experience and that we have truly enjoyed it. We have made some of the most amazing friends...they are more like family. This deployment will be so different than our other 2. I was living in Germany for Bosnia and was working without children...Lauren was the result of R&R! The first Iraq deployment had us living on Ft Sill. Lauren was 4 and Brooke was just a few months old when Brian left. It was a crazy experience for me with leading the Family Readiness Group. Our street was basically an entire street of single moms. I think there were maybe 2, possibly 3 men living on our street once the war kicked off. It was a crazy time period, but the friendships that were formed are still extremely strong even though we are all spread out at various duty assignments around the world now. This deployment will be different because the girls and I will not be surrounded by others that are going through the same thing. My neighbors and I traded off babysitting with one another almost daily and thought nothing about it. The kids were all in the same boat and that was very reassuring for them. Thankfully we have family close that is always ready to help out. That makes such an amazing difference. I don't know what I'd do without the babysitting help of my parents. After having my knee surgery and having physical therapy 3 times a week I couldn't have done it without them. This time will definitely be so much different, but I am trying to keep a very positive attitude up around the girls so that they can have less stress worry. We actually have had it easy compared to many of our friends. We know some that are on their 3rd or 4th tour over there....without a complaint. I am so proud of Brian and his call to serve. It truly takes a special person.

What a Night

I think we should have permanent name bracelets for all of the local emergency rooms. Once again last night we had to stop by and check on the staff at Edmond Medical Center....

I was cooking chicken spaghetti and of course Brooke wanted to help. She loves to cook! So she had her barstool over to the side of the stove. Kara was just busy being 2 walking around saying "eat eat" knowing that dinner was almost done. As I was draining the pasta I heard the barstool scoot across the floor. This is an extremely annoying sound. If you have ever called our house there is a 99% chance that you have heard it. Anywho I thought it was Brooke moving it, but it wasn't. Kara had decided to check out the flashing red light on the cook top. It's a smooth surface, so the burner area flashes when it is hot but has been turned off. Most would view this as a danger sign and stay away....but not 2 year olds! Kara decided to touch it and see what it was. OUCH! Dinner was of course put on hold and I spent the next little while running cold water over her hand. At first I didn't think it was really that bad. Quite some time had passed and she was still just crying and shaking her hand so I decided to take her to the ER.

Brooke was having a sleepover at my parent's house so I helped her get her things together. We loaded up the van and headed to the er. My Mom was planning to meet me in the parking lot and take Brooke home with her. When I shut my door I heard a horrible scream and looked down. Brooke had grabbed just inside my door to brace herself as she was stepping down from her door. Another OUCH!!!!! I had to open my door for her to get her hand out. It was completely shut. Her hand looked horrible so I took the ice pack that Kara had and gave it to Brooke. Kara had been crying hysterically with her burn, but immediately stopped when Brooke started. I think Lauren just wanted to steer clear of all of us! No actually Lauren was extremely helpful and scooped Kara up as soon as she realized Brooke was hurt too. So we went in and I checked both girls in to be seen.

Kara has second degree burns on all of her fingers except her pinky. Brooke had an xray of her finger and it was just bruised. Huge, swollen and purple, yes, but thankfully just bruised. I would have felt horrible if Brooke ended up with a broken finger because we took Kara to the ER for burns! What an evening!