Pics From the Steeler Game

Evan has his game face on!!



My Steeler Guys!


Evan after the 1st quarter purge:

Mmm mmm good!

Evan loves him some sweet potaters! As is evidenced by his face! OH...Steeler game countdown...2 DAYS!!

In My Highchair

Our Little Vampire

We noticed Evan has been drooling more than usual lately. He hates wearing a bib, so keeping his clothes dry is nearly impossible. From what I've read, this is a bit odd...his canine teeth are coming in before his front teeth. So, we think he has a bit of vampire in him! We have a full moon tomorrow night, so beware!!

Pulling Up and Almost Cruising

A late night post with a video! Evan's new thing is sticking his tongue out to the side where he has a tooth coming in. Excuse the drool! You can see that he is pulling himself up very well now.

Trying to get caught up on posts...

Please keep looking below for updated posts...trying to get back in the game now that I'm back home!

Kuwait Trip (Saturday) Flying Home

As much as I thought Kuwait was a modern city...here is a pic of the "toilet" in the women's restroom in the airport. Last time I used one of these was when I was in China back in 1989:



Picture of the barracks I stayed in:



View of a soccer stadium leaving Kuwait City:


Another airplane view leaving Kuwait City:


Yet another airplane view leaving Kuwait City:


Airplane view leaving Kuwait City, looks like a resort of some sort:


According to the in flight map, we were over Iraq. Took this pic to show the nothingness of the desert terrain, but there is a road running across the bottom of the picture:


The last pic I took over Iraq...you could see these fires burning from the plane:

Some pics

These are not pictures I took, but pics i found doing a Google search on Camp Buehring and Camp Arifjan. Everywhere I looked there were signs saying "No Photography", so these were posted on the web.


This is an aerial shot of Camp Arifjan



This is a view of the Kuwaiti-Iraqi border up at Camp Buehring



This is a map that outlines all the military base areas in Kuwait. I was at Arifjan (in the south) and Buehring (in the northwest)



The sign coming into camp



A pic from the Camp Buehring airfield (we drove by it)

Travel Day 2 (Monday)

We landed in London around 8:00am local time. I was prepared for the unknown since the American airlines ticket agent in Tucson told me she was unsure if I had to clear customs in Heathrow. The airport was well marked for "transfer" travellers as we were called. The signs eventually led to a narrow corridor in terminal 3.I began to see that I was less and less surrounded by Eurpoeans and more and more by people of Middle Eastern and Indian descent.

Oh, note to travellers through Heathrow...you know that 2 carry-on rule we have here in the US? Ummm...not so there; just 1 carry-on per passenger. I had my backpack and my laptop bag (oops, that was 2). I luckily was able to stuff my laptop into my backpack and jam the rest of the laptop bag in there also. It made me have to rethink my return trip strategy! People were told in the security line that they had to go out, clear customs and check the extra bags they had (ouch) and then come back through the security line! Oh, and Heathrow airport security personnel...definiitely not as nice as US personnel!

After passing through security, my passport and plane ticket were checked and I headed on down the hallway. The hallway led to a big open area where all the ticket counters were for the international flights. I found my Kuwait Airlines line (just one little counter position) and got my boarding pass. Terminal 3 was set up like a lot of the modern airports, lots of little shops and eateries. I saw a cute London t-shirt for Evan that I planned to get on my return back through the airport. I found a spot to watch the BBC news while waiting for my flight. I headed out to gate 33 where it was a little unsettling to see I was the only caucasian, female, non-muslim on the flight! I ran into an Army officer from CENTCOM (Tampa) that I see on our bi-weekly video teleconferences, so we struck up a conversation while waiting to board. He was heading to the conference also, so at least I was not alone on the flight!

I had another window seat, this time I had a British guy sitting next to me. He and some buddies (who were also on the flight), were heading to Kuwait enroute back into Iraq. They all looked like your typical rugby-playing guys...but from my conversation with the one guy, I think they weren't soldiers, but contractors (the guys who do a lot of the personnel security/bodyguard work). Since there were empty rows of seats, the guy beside me moved into a row with one of his buddies (which gave me room to stretch out).

The flight went quickly (I slept a lot of the time). It was dark when we flew into Kuwait City. From above it looked like a typical port city. The onyl odd thing were the methane fires you could see from the oil refineries. The airport was very modern; many western shops like Starbucks, Clair's Boutique, and KFC.

I had to wait in line to get my visa and then clear customs. We next met up with the conference personnel about 10pm to load up into the van to take us to Camp Arifjan. Walking outside the airport you get that blast of warm air. I was expecting it to be hotter, but the conference personnel told us there was an upper-level sandstorm that kept the temps low that day.

The trip to Arifjan took about an hour and we were hoping to just buzz right through the security checkpoint which is manned by contracted security personnel (both US and Kuwaiti personnel). The US security guard asked to see everyone's ID cards. Of course, my card he pointed to and said that my Army Contractor ID was not a valid ID to get on post (ack)!! Our driver (who was an Army officer) showed the guard all the paperwork I (and about 5 other guys) had filled out to approve our post access. The guard said that the policy had changed since our paperwork was approved and that contractor ID cards were not valid. The running joke in the van of about 20 other conference attendees was that I would be spending the week in guard shack! Um, yeah, not funny!

The guard's superior officer arrived on the scene (about 30 minutes had gone by and we were all waiting). It took a while longer and some phone calls, but we were all finally allowed to pass. The van had to go through a vehicle inspection (which took about another 30 minutes). We made it to the barracks around midnight (so this post is bleeding over into Tuesday).

We got "checked in" to the barracks (got a bunk and locker assigned and our Army-issue linens). Oh how I've missed that green wool Army blanket!! The open bay had about 50 bunks and of course women were sleeping already; so we had to fumble around in the dark until our eyes adjusted to find our bunks (I was #74, a bottom thank goodness). In the women's bay, we were fortunate to not have too many women bunking down so we all had bottom bunks. The guys on the other hand, were stacked on the bottom and top bunks (yuck). It was freezing in the bay so I had to sleep with layers of clothes on. We had to be up and at the conference by 8:00am, so not much sleep tonight!

Travel Day 1 (Sunday)

A long day of travel ahead: Tucson - Chicago - London - Kuwait City. About 17.5 hours in the air; total travel time about 23 hours wuth all the layovers. The flight to Chicago was uneventful aside from the tight connection I had. It seems people on the flight felt as if they had all the time in the world to get off the plane. I had to scoot by a guy who was taking his good old time getting his carry-ons which made him a little angry. But people, if you don't have a connection, then sit down and let us get by! Luckily, my next gate was close-by, but for those of you who have travelled through O'Hare, you know what a nightmare it can be to get to your next gate.

After the "quick" 3.5 hour flight to Chicago, I settled in for the long haul to London (8 hours). I lucked out with a seat by the window. The gentleman beside me was enroute to Kenya where he was going to do volunteer construction work for a Catholic charity. He was an older guy (probably in his early 70's), but very fit.

Kuwait, that's near Hawaii, right?

Yes, that is a question I was asked by someone the other day when I told them I was going to Kuwait this upcoming week. So much for geography being taught in school anymore. If only I was going somewhere near Hawaii! Looking at the 10-day forecast, it's going to be....come on, guess...HOT!! Highs in the 110's with 0% chance of rain. Sounds like lovely vacation weather!

I am unsure of my internet connectivity while there, but I will try to blog if I can.

Trip to Phoenix again

Evan had his post-op appointment with Dr. Argueso today up at the Mesa clinic. We got there about an hour early which we thought would be perfect timing to give Evan lunch. We were surprised when they called us back right away...love that! The Physician's Assistant who we met on his operation day check him out first. She was concerned about some "skin adhesion" issues that she saw. Not to be too graphic, but Evan's foreskin is trying to adhere back, soooo, we have to put this steroid cream on him 2x a day for the next 3 weeks to help soften the skin. Then...we have to go back to the MEsa clinic and they will put some numbing cream on him and peel the skin back. Ouchies!! They say it will be a bit uncomfortable (great, for the 3 hour ride home)!

Check up with the pulmonologist

Today Evan had a check-up with the pulmonologist. This is that twice a year (or so) appointment he'll have probably for the next year or two. Figures that Evan had a little cold, cough and fever over the past weekend! We didn't want the doc to hear him all congested and wheezy, but alas (Murphy's Law I guess).

The doc wasn't overly concerned with his wheezing and congestion, but more with his lack of weight gain. Evan still is right around (or below) the 16 pound mark. He's now starting to really fall off the height/weight chart, even when it's adjusted for his prematurity. He looks like a perfectly proportioned 5 month old who can crawl and almost walk! He suggested we see a nutritionist; not sure if there is one down here in Sierra Vista, but he could refer us to one in Tucson.

We did get a stop-order on his home oxygen. So now we can return the tanks to Apria. They've been collecting dust since about January! Since he's been wheezy, we're giving him the albuterol treatments again.

**Weight Check:
- 16 lbs.
- 27 inches