Quilting the Quilt

19 more days till Caleigh's birthday.. and maybe I will finish her Quilt in time to be really a Gift. With Caiden's Quilt I quilted block for block everyone with a diffrent quiltpattern. I wanted to do the same for Caleigh, but than I realized, if I do that, I will probably never gonna finish it. So I did the regular stippling quilting and see.. I'm already half way there..

So hopefully my little girl will soon have her very own quilt, handmade with lots of love from her Mama.

Happy new Year

We wish you all the very best for 2010!! May all your dreams come true and that is gonna be a wonderful year.
So far I started the New Year with firsts..
It was the first new years eve that I spent completly alone, at least for a couple of hours. I woke up in the middle of the night on the 31st feeling sick. I threw up twice, went back to half asleep. So far it was ok, maybe I ate something wrong.. In the Morning when Caleigh woke up, I hardly made it out of bed, my whole body ached, headache, shivers the whole nine yards. I felt exactly like when I had the flu this October. What a nightmare!! All by myself, with two small children and getting the flu... I took some dayquill and waited to feel better... but I didn't. By 10 am I called my dear friend Tina, I know she would be in the Springs tonight, so I was hoping if she could come just for a little bit so I could lay down and get warm (I was freezing like crazy) After 1 I took some Motrim 800 and finally the meds kicked in and I at least could function halfways.
Tina and Matt came at 5 pm and they took the kids to their New Years Eve Party. As soon as they left I dropped on the couch and barley moved an inch until Tina brought the Kids back around 9 pm. I brought the kids to bed and went back to the couch. I was not sure if I should really go to bed.. I mean isn't it sad to go to bed before midnight on New Years Eve. But that was my next First. I did!! I went to bed at 11 pm. Why? Well, why not??? In Colorado it's against the law to do fireworks, so there was nothing to see (later I heard that they had a firework on pikes peak, that I could have seen), nobody to kiss and wish a Happy New Year.. so I went to bed. It was actually not too bad and not as sad as it sounds.. I really needed the sleep anyways.
This morning I felt much better, so thank Goodness it's not the Flu.
We went out for our morning walk and the New Year greeted us with another beautiful Colorado Winter day.
We didn't do a whole lot for the rest of the day, just hanging out. I tried to teach Caiden how to play Memory and Lotto and it worked suprisingly well. He lost intrest after 20 min or so, but when he pays attenion he does really good (we play modifid versions, he is not a genius;-) )
So 2010 started quiet for us.. which is good. One good thing happened already! It's 2010!!! Means my husband is coming home THIS YEAR!!!! Is that cool or what???

Caiden's 2 Year Check up

I know, I know super late.. but oh well, I had other stuff on my mind, plus it always takes them forever to get you in.

Here are the facts

31 lbs "heavy"

36 inches long

14 kg schwer und 92 cm lang.

A robust little Guy, who is really catching up with his speech (finally). He is still delayed compare to other 2 year olds, but he started speaking in two and three word sentences, he expresses feelings and so on. Just today he said: Mama, Kenni Fun (means he told me he had fun at daycare).

He also got his shots (unfortunatly they don't have anything for stubborness or Major-Meltdowns)

His ears are ok, too (I thought there must be something as bad as he listens) so I guess he really grew out of the earinfections.

So we're are all healthy and happy.

Next week is Caleigh's one year check up.. Yes because Caiden was late, I decided to do hers early (or that was the only appointment they had...)

Nachtrag Weihnachtsgeschenke

Hier kommen mal die gesammelten Werke die ich fuer Weihnachten selbst gemacht habe. Allerdings hab ich von ein paar vergessen Bilder zu machen.
Fuer die Kinder einer Freundin hab ich Quillows gemacht. Das sind kleine Decken die eine Kissenplatte auf der Rueckseite haben und die man so falten kann das sie dann ein Kissen sind. Sehr praktisch fuer unterwegs und ganz fix genaeht.

Eine kleine selbstgenaehte Tasche, war ein Panel fuer Giftbags. Ich fand sie ganz suess und der Stoff war 50% reduziert.

Fuer meine Nichte Carly hab ich einen Rucksack genaeht. Sie wollte einen fuer ins Daycare.

Dann hab ich noch Stockings und eine Duffelbag genaeht aber vergessen zu fotografieren. Die Duffelbag naehe ich wahrscheinlich nochmal, die hatte ne schoene Groesse fuers Handgepaeck

Jetzt heisst es ran an den "alten" Speck, ich will UFO's aufarbeiten

Weihnachten ist vorbei...

und war gar nicht so schlimm wie ich befuerchtet habe. Meinen alljaehrlichen Moralischen hatte ich am 23.12, das hat dann gereicht und der Rest der Tage war richtig angenehm. Am 25. haben wir morgens das grosse Paket von Grandma und dem Rest der Familie aufgemacht und wurden alle reich und schoen beschenkt

Caiden hat eine Staffelei bekommen, genau das richtige fuer meinen kleinen Kuenstler. \Danach haben wir das Auto mit Sack und Pack und Hund beladen und sind Richtung Denver zu Claudia und Thomas gefahren. Die beiden haben uns nicht nur eingeladen Weihnachten mit ihnen zu feiern, nein als Weihnachtsgeschenk fuer mich gab es einen Tag "frei". Die Kinder sind mit Claudia, Leon, Marie und Vanessa daheim geblieben und Thomas, Annika und ich sind nach Loveland zum Snowboarden/Skifahren gefahren. Es war zwar ziemlich kalt, aber trotzdem total schoen und es hat total viel Spass gemacht. Am Abend haben wir dann spontan beschlossen noch eine Nacht zu bleiben, nach dem Muskelkater den ich heute habe, war das auch ganz gut so ;-).

Annika hat Caleigh mit Twinkle Twinkle in den Schlaf gesungen.

Die zwei Tage waren wunderschoen und sehr erholsam fuer uns alle. Vielen Dank nochmal an euch, Claudia!!

Nun bin ich wieder daheim und alleine.. aber wird schon, die letze Woche im alten Jahr bekommen wir auch noch rum

Frohe Weihnachten

Wir wuenschen allen ein frohes und gesegnetes Weihnachtsfest. Ich hoffe ihr alle hattet einen schoenen Abend und das Christkind (oder Santa Claus) hat euch schoene Geschenke gebracht.
Er war zumindest besonders nett zu Caiden und Caleigh und hat ihnen eine tolle Kinder-Kueche gebracht.

Und es ist Caiden egal dass sie pink ist, er kocht trotzdem wie ein Weltmeister.

Morgen gibts noch mehr Geschenke, gestern kam noch das Paket von Grandma.

Zum Abendessen waren wir bei Simone und Jay und haben ganz traditionell Wuerstchen mit Kartoffelsalat und Nudelsalat gegessen. Der Abend ist nicht ganz so besinnlich augeklungen, Caiden ist vom Barhocker gefallen. Ich dachte schon, das wir dieses Mal wohl in den ER muessen. Aber gluecklicherweise hat der sich "nur" die Lippe aufgeschlagen.

Morgen fahren wir nach Denver und besuchen meine liebe Freundin Claudia und am Samstag gehen wir Skifahren Yay!

Finally

Nach 10,5 Monaten zahnlosem Dasein hat sie es geschafft. Der erste Zahn ist draussen!! Yeah! Allerdings ist es seltsamerweise der linke obere Schneidezahn..

Sie macht halt alles immer ein bisschen anders, als andere!

to make a deployment easier

I got a deployment calendar from ACS. There is all kind o fun stuff in it, and I thought I actually do some things out of it.

this week there are two things on it.

1. Learn about the deployment location:

The Islamic Republic of Afghanistan is a landlocked country in South-Central Asia. It is variously described as being located within Central Asia, South Asia, or the Middle East. It is bordered by Iran in the west, Pakistan in the south and east, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and Tajikistan in the north, and China in the far northeast.
The geographic entity now known as Afghanistan has a very long history, and has been an ancient focal point of the Silk Road and migration. It is an important geostrategic location, connecting East and West Asia or the Middle East. The land has been a target of various invaders, as well as a source from which local powers invaded neighboring regions to form their own empires. Ahmad Shah Durrani created the Durrani Empire in 1747, which is considered the beginning of modern Afghanistan.[10]
Its capital was shifted later from Kandahar to Kabul and most of its territories ceded to neighboring empires. In the late 19th century, Afghanistan became a buffer state in "The Great Game" played between the British Empire and Russian Empire.[11] On August 19, 1919, following the third Anglo-Afghan war, the country regained independence from the United Kingdom over its foreign affairs.
Since the late 1970s Afghanistan has experienced a continuous state of civil war punctuated by foreign occupations in the forms of the 1979 Soviet invasion and the 2001 U.S.-led invasion that toppled the Taliban government. The United Nations Security Council (UNSC) did not authorize the U.S.-led military campaign in Afghanistan (Operation Enduring Freedom).[12] In late 2001 the United Nations Security Council authorized the creation of an International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) composed of NATO troops. The country is being rebuilt by international support, while dealing with a strong insurgency. In November, 2009, UNICEF described Afghanistan as the most dangerous place in the world for a child to be born.[13]

Afghanistan, offiziell Islamische Republik Afghanistan (Paschtu/Persisch (Dari): ‏افغانستان‎ Afghānestān), ist ein Binnenstaat an der Schnittstelle von Zentralasien und Südasien, der an den Iran, Turkmenistan, Usbekistan, Tadschikistan, die Volksrepublik China und Pakistan grenzt. Drei Viertel des Landes bestehen aus schwer zugänglichen Gebirgsregionen.
In den 1990er-Jahren besiegten von Pakistan aus operierende und von den USA und Saudi-Arabien finanzierte Mudschaheddin die von der Sowjetunion gestützte Regierung. Die Aufteilung der Machtbereiche scheiterte jedoch an Rivalitäten; die fundamentalistisch islamisch ausgerichteten Taliban-Milizen kamen an die Macht und setzten eine radikale Interpretation des Islam und insbesondere die Scharia mit aller Härte durch. Nach den Terroranschlägen am 11. September 2001 in den USA wurde das Taliban-Regime, das Mitgliedern von Terrororganisationen Unterschlupf gewährt hatte, im maßgeblich von den USA geführten Krieg gegen den Terror gestürzt. Das Land ist seit 2004 eine Islamische Republik und verfügt mit Hamid Karzai über einen gewählten Präsidenten, der am 2. November 2009 für eine zweite Amtszeit bestätigt wurde.

80 % der Bevölkerung Afghanistans leben auf dem Land und nur 20 % in den Städten.[5] Größere Städte sind Kabul (als Agglomeration 4,9 Mill. Ew.), Kandahar (339.200 Ew.), Mazar-e-Scharif (239.800 Ew.), Herat (166.600 Ew.), Dschalalabad (158.800 Ew., 2002) und Kunduz (118.000 Ew., 2003).

2. Put a dollar in a jar every day. Use it for a mini-vacation after reunion

Well, I'm actually hoping that when Chris comes back we could do a real vacation. Something with fun, Relaxing, Beach, Sund and ocean.. you know what I meant.. I think for that kind of vacation I need to put 10 $ away each day, but we don't have any plans yet, so I go with one dollar a day and if we can go to the beach, it will be some extra money we can spend there, and if the beach is not happening, than we can go to Estes Park or something like that!

So that's it for this week. I like these kind of ideas!

Day 2

do you know that a deployments gets shitty, if your child steps in Dogpoop the very first day and you don't realize it until he was walking all over the house???

MAJOR CLEANING!!!

and no I will not post every day now..

So far we are doing pretty ok. Caiden of course asked for his Daddy last night and this morning, but for now he is good when I tell him: Daddy is at work!

Well, we are used that Chris is gone for a couple weeks quite often, so for now this is not a very big deal for us. I think we just haven't realized that he is actually really gone for so long, hopefully it will stay like that.

Thank you every one of you for all your support, makes me feel really special and most of all really safe, too. One of my biggest issue was, what am I gonna do if something is happening, like I get sick, the car breaks down, the house is on fire (yes I really do think that;-0) but I know I have great friends here who will never let me down. So that's just great! Thank you!!!

Day 1 Good bye ..

no more words to say....