We Miss You Daddy!

*The quality of this picture isn't great but it's one of my favorites! :) Enjoy!

Updated Pictures

Lulu was unsure at first. Robbie had to encourage!

Then she got the hang of it!

MMMM!! It's so good. Daddy had fun giving me a bath!

Lulu likes to play in Top's bowls!

Caught ya!

I will update more later in the week!! I hear a baby crying!! :) We love you all and miss you! I will try to post more of our pictures from the island and hopefully we'll get some more this weekend!

Lulu's First Birthday

I can't believe that my baby is already one! How time flies! We had a few people over that we have met while here, nothing too big. We had a cake for Lulu and she got lots of presents. **Note to Gabbie - I promise that we will do another cake when you get here!! Here are a few pictures.

**Blogger won't let me post any more pictures, I'll try again later. Enjoy the above one (excuse my appearance - it's awful!)

Our House

I finally got the blogger to work to add some pictures! Here is our house:

The front outside of our house

Master Bedroom

Master Bedroom

Upstairs Bathroom

Girls Room

Girls Room

Living Room/Dining Room (we still need a table)

Kitchen

Entrance

Prayer Request

Just wanted to give everyone an update. We got the rest of our TMO yesterday. It looks like someone blew a bomb up in our house. They broke the TV Stand, DVD stand, desk, and the bookcase/toy chest from Lauren's room. We got the desk back together but it is damaged. We broke the rest of the feet off the TV stand and it's on the floor but it works. The DVD stand was just chipped so we'll just glue that back on. The bookcase is unsalvagable. I now have to find something to put all of Lauren and Gabbie's toys in since they decided to put us in a tiny ass two bedroom. Oh well! Hopefully by the weekend the house will begin to look like the house. The government will hopefully reimburse us for the damages, we just have to wait for a while.

On top of all the moving and such, poor Lulu has been teething and fighting a very bad cold. Her second tooth finally popped threw and she seems to be better from that. Her cold however, has only gotten worse. Her cough was so bad last night, I thought I was going to have to run to the emergency room. I got up this morning and we took her to the doctor. They heard wheezing on her right side so they took a chest xray. Her right lung was very hazy so they are treating her for pneumonia and allergies. Like her sister and her father, they think that she has bad allergies but they want to rule that out before diagnosing her with asthma. What a great day it has been. She now is on augmentin (amoxcillin), zyrtec, and has to take her breathing treatments again. If she's not showing signs of improving by Friday, then we have to take her back and they are probably going to put her on steroids. Poor little thing, she's been through so much in her 1st year of life.

Please say a prayer for us. We are exhausted, frustrated, and I think all of us are fighting colds. Pray that Lulu gets better, that we get our house straight, and that this place goes from being a nightmare to somewhat of an enjoyment. I wake up everymorning wondering what is going to happen that day. I truly hope that it starts to get better soon. This has definitely been an adventure, although I wouldn't say an enjoyable one.

We love you all lots!

P.S. I know that I keep promising pictures for the blog, by this weekend they will be there since we have our stuff now!

Hello Again - We have landed

Hi Everyone! Hopefully you haven't worried too much about us! We have made it. We have been on a rollercoaster but hopefully, after next Tuesday we will begin to settle down a bit. Lauren did great on the flight! 13 hours is hard for a 10 month old. We spent 15 days in the hotel and finally got moved into our place. We are still waiting to get our furniture but found out today that it should be here on Tuesday. We both got our license! That has been interesting to drive on the other side of the road but I am learning. I promise to post some pictures of the island, our townhouse, and our car this evening. The camera is with Robbie at work. Please email us and catch up! I will try to start updating more often now that we are getting settled!! Love ya!

Updates

Well I hope yall are still reading. I know it's been a while. We have been without internet and traveling some. Here is a run down: The packers came and in 3 days I watched all of my belongings get packed into crates. They are in 3 different places. Two are on the way (one should already be there) and one is in storage until we come back. The cleaners came and cleaned the rental house and we moved into a hotel. We then came to Durham and our staying with my mom and visiting all of our family. We have been back and forth to Jacksonville to see and pick up Gabbie and then we took a quick trip to Georgia! I can't believe that it's down to a few days before we leave. If we haven't seen you, we want to. Call or Email us! I will try to post one more time before we leave.

Georgia

Last weekend we went to Georgia to see our best friends, The Esguerra's. We hadn't seen them since September 2007 when they left for recruiting duty. I told Robbie I wasn't leaving the country for 3 years without seeing them first. So after we drove to Jacksonville to see Gabbie's stepsister's highschool graduation and picked up Gabbie - we drove to Kennesaw, Georgia. It was lots of fun and I am so glad we went. WE ARE REALLY GOING TO MISS YOU GUYS!!!

The Kids

Lauren (the post deployment baby), Gabbie, Mekaylah, Ethan (the deployment baby)

Me & Bev

Robbie & John

The Couple's

Ethan loved to give Lauren hugs!

I don't think Lauren was very happy with her Uncle John

Look how big Ethan is compared to Lauren. He's 18 months and looks like he's 3

Bev & I were worried that the babies wouldn't play well together. They were great!

Awww...I think my girl found her boyfriend. I told you guys...they're destined for each other!

Mekaylah

Lauren watching the big kids play

Ethan

Ethan liked to get right in my face as I took the pictures! Close up!

The kids at the mall!! What a happy group!!

The Pool

While we were at the hotel for Gabbie's Dance Recital, we decided to let Lauren experience the pool for the first time. So we went the Walmart and bought a crab float. I didn't think that she would like it since she disliked the ocean so much. She LOVED it!!

Gabbie's Dance Recital

The last function (and the reason we stayed longer) that we attended in Jacksonville was Gabbie's dance recital. She did a ballet dance and a hip hop dance. She was the best one up there (I know I am biased, but seriously after 14 years of dance - I think I know something...she really was - especially hip hop). We were so proud of her!!!