Remember to wear green and may the Irish luck be with you!

Click photo to see Chance in his greenery last St. Patrick's Day 2004

~ Family Update ~
(Click on photos for larger image)
Joe has been gone for 2 weeks on a field training exercise 6 hours away from here!
On his way to Vilseck, the humvee he was riding in broke down on the autobahn! It was
his first time away from home except for his deployment to Iraq. What's ironic is that
it's the same exercise that I used to participate back in 2000 as a 1st Lieutenant.
I don't miss those days at all! Those were some long and cold days! Vilseck is freezing
and muddy at this time of year. Poor Joe has 2 more days to endure! While he's been
out in the field, I've had to experience life as a "single mom" and got an eye opener as
to what I would be dealing with when Joe is deployed this fall. Chance ended up with the
stomach virus again, but this time it was worse. I'll spare you the gross details but I'll
never see the color green or cottage cheese the same again! One day, he had diarrhea
at least 10 times and vomitted twice within a single day! But he kept on drinking pedialyte
and stayed hydrated. It was the most frustrating time as a mommy for me! Kudos to
those single parents who handle it every day!

Now that he's better, Chance, is walking 85% of the time! It's a very cute waddle!
We've had to make some major adjustments and place things higher from his reach.
He loves to feed himself and likes anything crunchy such as goldfish, graham crackers,
and cheerios. His back molars have broken the surface and you'll find him gnawing
his own fingers to relieve the discomfort from teething. Each day he finds a new item
to take around the apartment with him. One day it'll be his bib, the next a burb cloth
or Joe's smelly sock from the laundry basket. He'll even climb the stairs with the item
and have a temper tantrum when I try to take it away from him! He's learned to climb
back downstairs on his own by holding on to the railings. He loves to roll around and
do flutter kicks on his back! I kid you not! He has strong abs and thighs for a 14 month
old! I can't count the number of times he has switched TV channels and ejected videos.
He also loves to dump things out...such as cereal boxes and tissue boxes. Arghhhhhhh!!!!
There are times when I do a doubletake when Chance makes a face that reminds
both Joe and me of my dad! How uncanny is that!

Our stateside trip is set! Ten days at my parent's and ten days at my in-laws! We leave
on April 23 and return May 15. It's going to be a hectic but fun visit. Chance should
be walking 100% or possibly running by then. We're curious to see how he will fare on
the plane...now that he's more alert and active. I read about another couple who took turns
during their entire flight walking their son through the aisle. Yikes! I've also updated
Our Family Index and organized our homepages by year. I think it's a lot easier to read!
I've also received questions from friends about how to build these homepages for their
own family. I'm in the process of putting together a simple webpage with the resources
that I use and any helpful information to make it easier for you! You'll be surprised
at the amount of stuff out there that's free!