Desperate times call for desperate measures...

AnaLea can now hold her self up against objects. Today, I sat her on the floor in the living room a couple of feet away from the couch. While on the floor playing, I can only assume that she noticed the sippy cup on the couch. My daughter, who dose not scoot, rolled herself over several times until she reached the couch. Then she pulled herself up to the couch and stood there half way up. She isn't quite strong enough to pull herself all the way up yet. So she called for me with her painfully high shrieks. I didn't have the camera at the time, but the position she got herself in was hilarious.It was a combination of the forward split and a squat. It's a good thing babies are naturally flexible! She fell on her bottom before I could get a picture. So I propped her up against the couch to see what she would do. Once she felt secure, she worked herself over to her sippy cup and tried to drink from the cup. It was quite the site. The lil goose isn't quite secure enough in her standing to let go of the couch. So she tried to drink her sippy cup with no hands. What do you do with such a determined girl? I have a feeling that this is only the beginning!

Camri Marie Leeman...

My cousins Courtney and Joe had their baby while their family was up at Hebgan Lake. That would be up by Yellow Stone. We got to hear about the birth by cell phone and pictures sent by cell phone. Isn't technology great! Anyway, Camri Marie was 8lb 8 oz and she was born on June 27Th. Congrats Court and Joe!

I'm out...

Sorry....I am going on vication! I will be back in about a week!

Why cant I have...

The perfect legs! I want those legs!

Sorry about the poor quality picture.

I discovered after I took the pic

that it had AnaLea slobber all over

the lens.

The owner of these legs should be proud!

Love at first sight...

A couple of post ago I mentioned that AnaLea liked what she saw in the mirror, and then started kissing herself. Well now, its pretty much routine! Oh, and her tooth is back. Lets hope it stays this time. To my family that will be spending a long and grueling week with us in Yellow Stone, I would like to apologize ahead of time. But hey, my mom says that once the tooth cuts through the worst is over with. So the Webster Clan might strike some luck!

pics from afghanistan...

Hi-ho, hi-ho it's off to work I go...
The dress I had made for Emily!

Strawberry Days...

I am so proud of my self! I do a lot of things with my friend Becca and we take a lot of the same pictures. However, she is usually the first to post something. So it looks like I copy her all the time! But for some crazy reason, I posted the rodeo before her.

In the pictures with me is my good friend Becca. Pretty much anything extra I do, anything that's fun, I do with her. She is one of my army strong, army buds. We meet in Monterrey California and our husbands are deployed together. It is really nice to have a friend that is going through the exact same thing I am going through.

Yesterday, Becca took me and my daughter to the Rodeo. It was a late birthday gift! We had so much fun! That night Becca introduced me to something new, a local small town favorite, we had strawberries and cream! It was delicious! I can't wait for next year! We promised each other that we would go next year, this time with our husbands, and they will get to try the strawberries and cream.

AnaLea learned some new things at the Rodeo. She would copy the crowd and scream at the top of her lungs when everyone else did and then she would also clap her hands when everyone else did. AnaLea got so excited over the horses and all of the attention she got. There where some nice people there, friends of Becca's, that would hold her for me...I barely know what it's like to not hold a child. So thanks! It was so nice!

On Sunday, AnaLea decided to put her new screaming and clapping skills to good use in church. For the 2 hours that we were there, she was playing cheerleader. She saw this room full of people and wanted to get them cheering and clapping...just like what she saw at the rodeo. After two hours and no response, she started to get MAD. So we went home early. But DANG! My daughter is so freakin cute! ....I did have to take two Tylenol, a Dr. Pepper, and I sent us both to bed. You can only handle so much of her high pitch squeals.

Because we went to the rodeo yesterday she had no nap, we got home from the rodeo at midnight, and up for church at 7:30 am. And of course, she did not take a nap at church. So when we got home from church we were exhausted. To my MUCH need pleasure my daughter slept for four hours straight. That meant I got a four hour nap. I talked to Chris today and I couldn't figure out the last time I napped that long. It was probably some time in my adolescent years. I am lucky to get in 30 minutes when desperate measures are needed. So now I feel great. I haven't felt this good in a while!

Over here in Afghanistan...

I went on a mission, not to long ago, this is where I slept. I am in my uniform because we went on this particular mission.
Me with some Afghanistan soldiers.
We don't have any toys or candy to give the kids, but they love to receive pens!

Oh my gosh....

This is my 100th post! Yay!

Sorry! I don't have any thing profound to say. It's 10:40 p.m. and I have been blogging for almost 2 hours. I think I will celebrate by turning off my computer and going to bed 20 minutes early! Ta! Ta! For now!

e

Two "clowns" of a kind...

Mommy-Daughter time
...a time to goof off!

Jumpa-roo...

I need to thank my sister in law, the owner of this jumpa-roo, for loaning it to AnaLea. This provides hours of entertainment and gives mommies sore arms a break!

AnaLea's future dates...

Gentlemen, you are going to have to get

past this guy,with this gun,

to get to his lil Goose!

Keep in mind that Christopher has a couple of medals

for his marksmanship skills.

Today...the day of days....

Today was the day for quite a few firsts.

Is "firsts" even a word?

• Today, our lil goose decided that today was the day that she will stand up all by herself while holding on to the couch. Before today, I would have to assist her to keep her from falling. But today, she just stood there playing with a doll on the couch.


• Today, AnaLea decided that she needs to help mom with everything. I no longer can hold the spoon to feed her with out her grabbing the spoon to pull it in to her mouth. The same goes for the hair brushes and the toe nail polish. But to keep the paint from getting everywhere I gave AnaLea her own bottle to hold, clear coat...yes, it was the clear coat. I am not about to take any risks with that one.


• Today, our lil goose discovered rhythm. We had Disney favorites playing all day long while AnaLea bobbed up and down to the beet of the music. She would SCREAM at me if I turned off the music!
• Today, AnaLea discovered vanity. She has a mirror that is mounted on the wall right above her changing table. When I was done getting her dressed I sat her up and faced her toward the mirror. She looked to the left, looked to the right, and then she giggled...as if she approved. Then she leaned forward and started to plaster her reflection with kisses. Bumping her head on the mirror with each attempt.
• Today is the day, that Sadie, our labor-doodle terrier mix of a mutt, finally accepted AnaLea as a member of her pack. Before today, Sadie would always sit at a watch full distance, trying to determine who is this thing that has disrupted her life. Today, Sadie walked right up to AnaLea, and licked her across her face. Then she sat right next to AnaLea.

Yes, that is sweat....

My room...

Well, I am home now, on my lil fire base in Afghanistan. Emily asked if I would send some pics of my room. So here is a picture of my office and my closet. None of my room....sorry!

Hannah Montana is in the house...

Okay funny boy, you should know by now that you can not pose for any pictures without risking it getting posted on my blog!

Happy Fathers Day to my Father...

Faithful Father
Brian Doerksen

Father, I can’t explain this kind of love
this kind of grace
I know, I still break your heart and yet you run
to welcome me
This is my song of praise to You
For who you are and all that you do
From the moment my life began
You have been faithful
Father, I love the way you hold me close
and say my name
I know, when my life is through
my heart will find it’s home in You
This is our song of praise to You
For who you are and all that you do
From before the world began
You have been faithful
You will be faithful
forever faithful
Father

Happy Fathers Day to my MISTER....

Mister, we miss and love you so much! Words cant explain the loneliness in my heart. I fill lonelier now then before I met you. Because now I know exactly what my heart is missing. And my heart breaks, when I see the lil things that our lil goose does. The things you miss because you love her so much. She has much to be grateful for. Your are protecting the most precious gift you can give her. You are protecting her freedom. I wish you could rap your strong arms around her and just hold her. I would give anything to see that again! Next year is too far away!

The little girl in this poem has a similar name to our lil girl. This poem really hits home for me. Just read it. You will understand!

Father's Day Poem
Anna's Song©

By Anna R. Sanders

Oh, where is my daddy?

I'm sure you must ask.

Does your lonely heart look

For the shadows I cast?

Do you stand at the door

And look to the drive?

Do little hands on the window ask

Will he arrive?

When you sit at the table

And look to my seat,

Do you wonder inside

If we'll ever re-meet?

Does your heart know the voice

Of the man you can't see?

Do your eyes know my picture,

Do you know that it's me?

It's been quite a while now

Almost half your life.

I'm sorry sweet Anna

To cause you this strife.

I hope you'll forgive me

For leaving your side.

I wanted to hold you

Those nights that you've cried.

May I have this next dance?

Are they playing our song?

For I am the daddy

For which your heart longs.

My husbands war movies...

Ok, my previous blog might of scared my husband a bit. He doesn't want me to get rid of his war movies. He has a right to feel that way. And deep down, I feel that way. It scared him enough that I finally got word from him through an email...after countless days of nothing! Maybe I should threaten to through more movies away. No, just kidding Mister.

So I will not physically get rid of my husbands war movies. He emailed me and he does have a point, that is, from his perspective. The perspective of a Soldier, a hero. My mister told me, "sometimes we need to appreciate more what we have through the sacrifices of others." And he, or we (when he is not deployed) do get that from watching those historically accurate movies.

But I am sticking to my guns! As fragile as I am right now, I should not be watching those movies while my husband is playing Soldier in some far away land. I do not need to add any stimulus to my already overly active imagination! I love him so much! The last thing I need to imagine be fore I go to be is my husband reenacting the Mogadishu Run in real time!

The thing I fear most...

I have been out of the blog loop for a while. I haven't really written anything worth reading. I have only been posting pics...treading water while doing it...so Chris can see his little girl. I have been so physically tired lately, the thought of sitting in front of the computer seemed so overwhelming. My hours of sleep are at an all time minimal! I believe it to be stressed induced. However, I didn't think I was that stressed. I just lie in my bed all night long. Usually, I think about nothing. I am just in a numb state of nothing ness. And if I do think about anything its about my husband and our precious daughter.

I am proud to note that I am lined up with TriCare and everything is almost in order to start getting treatment. I only have to get one more referral. Who ever would of thought that I would be so excited to see a therapist. Yikes!

Well, now on to my number one fear! I was blog surfing the other day and ran across an acquaintance that listed the three things she feared most. And one of them, is the thing I fear most. ANALEA & CHRIS. They feel my heart and sole with so much love. I thought my love for Chris was the most amazing thing in the world. But when you introduce AnaLea to that picture, everything is so intensified! AnaLea and Chris are the two things that keep my heart pumping. They are my life's beat. If anything happened to either of them, my life, as I know it, would stop and amount to almost nothing.

Blood, guts, and gore on tv have never bothered me much. Call me desensitised. My favorite movie was Black Hawk Down. But all that has changed. I find that any of the smallest amounts of violence pierces me right to the heart and shakes my sole. Its not the violence and the gore that get me. But its the thought of that violence in my daughters life that gets me. When ever I see someone get shot, or slapped or beaten, or anything that brings about any type of physical or emotional pain has become unshakable. I lie awake in fear for my daughters life. Because I played a part in giving her the gift of life, she will not be able to avoid death. Anything that gives her pain gives me fear. That's hits one of the reasons for my sleep insomnia. I dwell on things too much. I need to figure out a way to get beyond this and enjoy our precious lives!

One step I have taken is to get rid of all the movies that would start such negative thought process. ...Yes, even Black Hawk down...especially, Black Hawk Down. What Soldiers wife needs to see that one any ways. No, the worst is We Were Soldiers.....I will cry like a baby when I see that one. War movies and time period pieces have always been my favorite. Now I will commit to watch movies that I will let my daughter see. Yes, that will mean a lot of Cartoon Network and Baby Einstein. Who knows, maybe Baby Einstein will stimulate some intelligence in me too! Oh,....but I cant and wont forget about the tv series on Life Time: Army Wives....now that movie is very realistic and therapeutic. The laddies in that movie go through the very things I am going through and it is therapeutic to see how their conflicts and trials get resolved.

I am usually not this psychotic when it comes to life and death. I think I only dwell on it so much is because the other half of me is in Afghanistan. They tell me that he is relatively safe. But when he leaves on missions and is gone for days at a time, I don't hear from him. I worry so much. His job is sensitive and he is amongst so many civilians in a world so different from our own. He is fighting a war where the civilian's could very well be the enemy. I don't know how he can be so brave. But I love him even more for it!

I just want to thank my husband and my daughter for the life that they have given me. I am so grateful and feel so helplessly honored to be a part of their lives. I love them so much! I am grateful for the knowledge that they will be a part of me for eternity!

Taco Chicken

I have a army friend who suggested that we start posting recipes on our blog. I think it is an awesome idea. So here you go!

Taco Chicken:

• Pre heat your oven at 400 degrees.
• You will need 1 breast of chicken per person.
• Put chicken breast on top of a pre-sprayed piece of tin foil....you don't want the cheese to stick!
• Sprinkle taco seasoning on top of each chicken breast. Put as much seasoning as you like. I personally like a lot on my chicken.
• Pour salsa on top.
• Sprinkle cheese on top.
• Rap foil around the chicken.
• Put in the oven for approx 30 minutes.
• Serve with sour cream...and wa-la!

Piggy-tales...

So what happens when nothing good is on tv

and Grandma and Mom are board?

Ooo...is this for me....a present?

Mommy, what are these for? What do they do?
Suprise!!!

DAY 2
This side looks good....

And so do these bangs....

Ok, I define CUTE!