Lena met a new friend today!

Lena met someone very special to me and Ricky today, Chaplain Woodbery! CH Woodbery was my pastor and boss in Germany (I was his secretary for over a year) and he and his wife Carol are so dear to Ricky and me. CH Woodbery was in Tampa on TDY (Temporary Duty) at MacDill and it coincided perfectly with Jessica's visit too, so the 5 of us (me, Lena, Jessica, Kiera, CH Woodbery) got to go out to dinner.

We had a wonderful time catching up and CH Woodbery had a great time holding babies! Thanks CH Woodbery, it was so good to see you. We'll be visiting you guys soon!

I miss my Ricky

I haven't talked to Ricky in over a week because the phone lines are down there due to a sand storm that Ricky says "kicked our butts." He sent me an email this week, but that's about it. Hopefully the phones will be up and running soon and I'll hear from my hubbie.

I have been keeping busy, though. Between papers, reading, school projects AND guests in town. My dear friend, Jessica and her daughter Kiera got here this past Thursday and our dear friend Sara is coming for an overnight visit with her daughter tomorrow! It is going to be a house packed full of ladies! ha! We are having tons of fun and I'll be sure to post photos of the estrogen extravaganza!

Happy Birthday to me!

Today is my 27th birthday! Here is a picture of me at 27. Lena would have been in the picture, but she was already asleep, so Corky and I took a self pic!

Here are the birthday presents! I got 3 pairs of shoes "from" Ricky (I picked them out), and the brown shoes to the left are from my mom! I refuse to buy clothes since I'm still not at my pre-prego weight yet, so until then, I will continue to beef up my shoe collection.

And here are the beautiful flowers Ricky sent me for my birthday. He's the sweetest. I normally love birthdays, but without Ricky who is my husband and my best friend, it's just not as much fun. I look forward to when we can celebrate together again. I did have a good day, though, but I especially miss Ricky on special days like today.

Look who we have here...

I got an email from Ricky today that had a picture in it, so I thought I would share :) Ricky said "I attached a picture of SGM Shoker and myself, he is one of the most professional Iraqis that I have met and worked with."

Ricky said he is doing good and that it is about 120 degrees there every day. Yikes! He lives and works in little tents, but those tents do have air conditioning, thank goodness!

We are over 5 months into the deployment now. If it were a regular 12 month deployment, we would be almost half way there, but since Ricky was one of the lucky ones and got a 15 month deployment (note the sarcasm), we still have 10 to go. Ricky will be changing jobs again in a few months, so that helps to give him a change of scenery and break things up a bit. But, all in all, Ricky is doing well and is enjoying showing off pictures of Lena to anyone who will pay attention. He's so cute! I am so proud of him!

Lena in her Sunday best

I love my church, South Tampa Fellowship. Every Sunday Pastor Craig does a great job of preaching God's word; I always leave with new nugget of truth to stew on for the week. Since Lena has been going to church with me, it has been super fun dressing her up in her church clothes. Here's a peek at what she wore last week :) She's the cutest!

Fun with Lena

One of my favorite things about having a baby is being able to dress them in whatever I want and they get no say in it! Here is an example of me abusing my freedom to dress my daughter in whatever I want. This outfit is courtesy of Lena's Auntie Amy (my sister).

In case you can't read it, it says "I Drink Til I Pass Out" then it has a picture of a baby bottle. HA! Does it get any funnier than this?!!! I don't think so.

Lena is 2 months old today!

Lena is 2 months old! How exciting! Lena is becoming so much fun and does a whole lot more than just sit there. Lena enjoys dancing, playing with her activity mat, batting at dangling toys, looking out the window on car rides, sucking on her fist, staring at the fan, staring at Corky, and watching her mobile spin around. She is really into staring right now, as you can see. Lena is now 22 inches long and she weighs about 9ish pounds (I'll find out exactly how much next week at her Dr. appointment). She is becoming a good sleeper at night and typically only wakes up once during the night, wahoo! One of the notable funny things of this month is that she noticed the TV for the first time. Side note: Lena is a very sensitive baby, she's sensitive to lights, sounds, etc... So, when she noticed the TV for the first time, her eyes got HUGE and she violently shook her head back and forth with a stimulation overload. I thought her head would explode. Now I know...don't ever let her look at the TV unless there is a baby video on. Yikes!

Lena is a lot of fun and I feel like we are getting the hang of this :)