Brian's R&R

I haven't written anything on here in a while. Brian came home on the 11th of May (2 days before my birthday/Mother's Day)... and he had to go back to Iraq on the 27th. He was here two weeks. It wasn't really long enough, but enjoyed having him home.

While he was here, we:
- Went to Heidi's 18-month well-baby check-up together (Heidi only had to get one shot this time and didn't even cry!)
- Bought a new tv
- Picked strawberries in the front yard
- Went to the PX and the commissary
- Bought a weed eater
- Brian cut the grass
- Brian showed me how to use the weed eater (if I want to use it while he's gone)
- Watched a few movies
- Colored with Heidi and her crayons (she calls them "colors" though)
- Went out to eat a couple of times
- Ordered pizza a couple of times
- Ate some popcorn
- Walked
- Went to church
- Went to IKEA
- Bought Heidi a potty chair
- Read books to Heidi
- Brian put up a new antenna for the tv
- Brian put up a gate on our porch to the backyard (from the house across the street)
- And just spent time together

Heidi's vocabulary has grown a lot too since he came to visit. Some of her new words/phrases include:

- Covers (meaning blanket, which she had started using before he got here) - monkey
- chicken (ti-ten)
- ice cream
- cream (has been saying this since before Brian got here, but don't think I have added it to any word lists yet)
- crab
- hippopotamus (was saying "po-mus" before Brian got here)
- shark
- fork (shurk)
- snail (nail)
- nail (like a finger or toe nail)
- popcorn (po-corn)
- egg/s (not sure if I put this on an older list or not, but has been saying this a while)
- tower (she builds towers with blocks)
- yes

My mind is going blank at the moment... so can't think of anything else. She has been saying a lot of new words and phrases though.

We also recently got some new Signing Time dvd's. Just from watching the dvd's recently, she has picked up the signs for:
- crab
- snail
- pizza
- popcorn
- flower
- bird
- baby
- ball
- strawberry
- shoes
- mom
- dad
- I think she was already doing the sign for fish, but if not, she does that one now too

Brian ordered our new tv online. It was cheaper than at Sears. Plus, the shipping was free... and it even has a longer warranty. It is So Nice! It is a 37 inch HGTV with a wide screen. It is the biggest tv that we could fit into the entertainment center that Brian built back when he lived in Enterprise before we got married. He built it at the arts and crafts center on post. Some days after his flight school classes, he would go over to the arts and crafts building and work on it for a couple of hours. It took a long time to build. He didn't even have a plan to help him build it. We had gone to several furniture stores and he had taken some measurements of a few that we had seen that we had liked. Then, he went back to his house and made a picture of what he was wanting it to look like. He has also built some other things, including: a pink dinosaur piggy bank for Heidi's room, a cabinet with a stained glass window, a fish tank top, and a baby crib that will eventually change into a toddler bed/double bed.... all without buying any plans.

Brian's Arrival From Iraq:

Before we went to pick Brian up at the airport, I had been telling Heidi that Daddy was going to be coming home. I am not sure if she really understood what I was telling her, since it had been 7 months since he had been here.

At the airport, she seemed a little leery of him at first when he walked up to us. He kept saying "Hi Heidi... Hello." She just gave him a little bit of a confused look. It kind of looked like she may have been thinking, are you really my dad? We look at pictures and videos of him every day... and talk about him every day... and have been since the day he left on October the 3rd.

After about a minute, Brian opened his black backpack and told Heidi that he had a surprise for her inside. She reached inside and pulled out a little teddy bear that had a blue pull-over with a Scottish flag on it. Brian had stopped over in Scotland and had gotten it for her. She smiled and leaned in for him to give her a kiss. Brian had the biggest smile. It was really nice to have him home. Heidi seemed okay with him after that, but it took a couple of days before he was allowed to get her out of bed. She still wanted Mommy to pick her up and get her out of bed when she woke from a nap or in the morning. After a couple of days, though, she became pretty close to him. She even let him put her to bed once or twice, which he hasn't EVER been able to do.... even before he left for Iraq.

Brian has also gotten me a couple of really cute magnets from Scotland.

Soon after we got home, Heidi went outside to pick some of our Strawberries with her Daddy.

I made a list (above) of some of the things that we did while Brian was here. It would just take too long to describe in detail everything that we did over the two weeks he was here.

One night, we had picked up a pizza to eat and someone from Brian's family had called while we were eating. I think Heidi was sitting between us while we were eating. While Brian was on the phone.. I am not sure... she may have ended up sitting on his lap... but she had already eaten her small piece of pizza (except the crust)... and she picked Brian's piece of pizza up and at most of his piece too! She really liked her pizza.

Another night, I had gotten Heidi ready for bed and she back out into the living room to say goodnight to Daddy and give him a kiss. She saw he was eating popcorn and immediately started saying "po-corn... po-corn." She was also doing the sign for it (which she learned from watching Signing Time). I didn't even practice this sign with her. I had never even made popcorn the whole time Brian had been deployed. She knew what it was though and wanted some! I didn't really know if it was okay for her to have yet, so I bit off parts of some pieces and just gave her the soft, round parts to try. Before I knew it, she had grabbed a few pieces and shoved them into her mouth. She chewed them up okay and seemed fine, so we let her eat a few pieces on her own... and then I took her back to go to bed. The next couple of nights before we put her to bed, she kept asking for popcorn. She just seemed to expect that we would have it. We had run out, so we went to the commissary to get some. That night when she was in the bathtub getting ready for bed, I asked her if she wanted a surprise before she went to bed. She then said "po-corn... po-corn" and gave me the sign for popcorn! She is a smart little girl. We did give her popcorn, and then she finished getting ready for bed.

The night before Brian left, we ordered pizza and had popcorn for dessert. I think mainly because Brian wanted to see Heidi enjoy her pizza and popcorn again before he left.

I think Brian thought it was funny how she said "covers" a lot. If someone was sitting on the couch, sometimes she would bring a blanket over to cover that person up and say "covers." I guess she calls blankets "covers" because when I put her into bed, I usually say "Okay Heidi, if you lay down I will cover you up" or "I'm going to put your covers on you now." She does sat "blanket" too, but just usually calls them covers. I think she was saying that before Brian got here. Brian seemed to think it was pretty funny.

Dropping Brian off at the airport was really sad. His flight was flying out at 10:30am on Sunday May 27th. When Brian told Heidi, "Okay, I have to go now Heidi, bye-bye..." I picked her up and she put her head on me and got upset... she started crying. She knew bye-bye meant that he was going away again. We stayed and watched him go through the security checkpoint and left when we couldn't see him anymore. On the way out of the airport, Heidi saw that I had some tears and said "hurt" and did the sign for hurt. I guess she was wondering if I was hurt. She gave me a Big Hug. I am usually the one asking her for a hug... but she just hugged me on her own that time. Then, we went home for a few minutes and then to church at 11am.

Brian's time at home went by too quickly! It seems like he was hardly here. I talked to him online today. I think it was about 3 or 4am his time. He was having problems sleeping. They are 9 hours ahead of us, so he is probably still trying to adjust to the time change.

Now, it is Saturday (almost a week later). Heidi has asked where Daddy is several times this past week. A few times, she has even gotten upset and started crying when I tell her that he had to go away. I usually tell her that he will be back, though, because I don't want her to think he is gone permanently... but that he will just be gone a long time. I know that she probably doesn't understand that part of it though. She just knows that he isn't here.

One day, we were playing with some wooden blocks. She built a tower of about 4 blocks and said "Heidi's tower." Then, she handed me another block and said "Mommy's" ... handed me another and said "Daddy's" and then handed me another and said "Mommy's" and then she may have added a couple more to Daddy's tower. Anyway, we had made a tower for Heidi, Mommy, and Daddy. She does things like this sometimes... I guess to show that she is still thinking about him.

Sometimes in the morning if Heidi wakes up before I want to get out of bed, I just put her in bed with me until I am ready to wake up (especially if she wake up at 6am or so). The first couple of mornings after Brian left, Heidi pointed to Brian's side of the bed and said "Daddy's."

A few nights after he left, Heidi was in the bathtub getting ready for bed. She asked me where Daddy was again, saying "Daddy" and doing a sign to ask where. She got a little upset and started crying again this time.

A couple of days ago, we got a surprise in the mail. While Brian was waiting in the Dallas airport for his next flight that would take him on to Kuwait, he had spent some time in the USO. He had made a dvd of himself in the USO reading room reading 3 books to Heidi. He read a cute little book about a bunny rabbit and his friends, a book about an imaginitive little bear, and a Barbie book. We already had the bear book, but the USO sent us the dvd of Brian reading and the two other books. Brian picked the books out. The bunny book was really cute and he knows that Heidi LOVES Barbie. The FedEx truck had gotten here JUST in time too! It was right before Heidi's nap time. I put the dvd in for us to watch, and at the end, Brian said goodnight to Heidi and gave her kisses. Then, Heidi went to take her nap. When I first turned the dvd on, Heidi saw Brian and said "Daddy" and pointed to him. She put her head down and started crying!!! It was kind of sad. I picked her up and put her on my lap and hugged her. At the end, she said "Bye-bye Daddy." I guess she knew it was time for her nap.

Oh, the USO also (along with Disney) put together a kids fun night here on post last Friday night. Heidi and I went and everyone who walked in got 2 free Disney dvd's. We didn't get to choose them. I was really wanting Mary Poppins. I had seen a couple of people with that one. They said that they couldn't let anyone choose because there was a long line and they were just trying to get people in. We ended up with Pocahontas and Freaky Friday (the newer one with Lindsay Lohan). I was glad we got Pocahontas, and we already had the older version of Freaky Friday (with Jodie Foster), so I think we got some pretty good ones.

Today, we went to IKEA in Round Rock again with Rael (a friend of mine). She had never been and wanted to go. It was nice to get out today. It was so hot today though! I didn't get much while I was there today. I got Heidi a cheap, plastic piggy bank that she picked up while we were walking around. She kind of attached herself to it. She kept looking at it and saying "pig" and smiling. A lady walked by and saw Heidi's big smile while she was hugging her pig and the lady laughed. It was really cute the way she looked up at me after she hugged her pig... and she just had the biggest smile, so I got it for her. It is late, so I am going to bed for now.