End of May - Abigail at 4 months

Well, it is the end of May. Abigail is growing, Madi and Andrew are involved in their activities, and school is about to end for all of us by June 8th. Things are busy, but things are going well.

Abigail is now interested in her toys, books and chewing on her hands...She also now giggles which is fun. Here are some pics from the month.






Madison turned 11 last week. She had her first sleep over with 5 friends. It was a good time. They did tye dye shirts (Thanks Amy N.) She also started her softball season. She is a great 11 year old - hard to believe she is that old though...



Andrew is having a good spring as well. He enjoys shooting basketball ( 2 hours a day) and watching the NBA playoffs with Daddy. He did play soccer this spring and had fun with it. I was able to get a few pics...



Hope all is well with you and your families. Enjoy your beginning of summer. Please keep in touch and if visiting the battlefield is in your plans, please let us know! Until next time....

Abigail at 3 Months

Well, another month has gone by....Abigail is growing and becoming more active. She is smiling, almost laughing, and able to sit in her seat. We are looking forward to rolling soon. Here are some pics.



Soccer and Softball have begun for the other kids and things are busy as always. I attended a redeployment conference in Hershey PA and brought my family the first night. We got our picture by the Hershey Bear...


In mid April I was able to complete my 3rd Cherry Blossom 10 miler in a row. I was not able to prepare as I normally would....it hurt a little (the picture shows some wear), but I ran 1:22.00...not too shabby.


For the Bucknell followers, I was able to visit with two of my friends from BU at Hoss's. They were in town as part of the History Relay from Gettysburg to Washington DC. There were 2 Bucknell teams represented. It was good to see Colleen and Eileen...


I hope this finds you all well...please keep me posted on your lives as well...until next time....

Abigail at 2 Months

Well, Abigail is now two months old. Things are busy but pretty much back to normal. I just figured I would share some pictures and a video of Madi and I trying to get Abigail to smile. Hope this finds you all well...

Update on 1 month old Abigail

Hello All...hope this post finds you well. I have made the final transition back to school and I am finishing up my second week. Things have been going pretty well...it is amazing how many changes small changes we make every year that I don't notice normally. The rest of the family is doing well and we are back in our routine pretty well. Abigail is doing well and is now 4 weeks old...she is doing well. She is doing the normal baby things that are tiring to Mom and Dad but show that she is developing and growing. Below are a few updated pictures....Enjoy!

Update from Home

Greetings all. Well, Abigail is now one week old and our family is settling in. It has been a busy week taking care of all the initial appointments and the normal activities of Madi and Andrew. Abigail has been pretty good, though she hasn't disappointed with multiple feedings during the night which is tiring - it is amazing how quickly you forget. Either that or it is that I was 8.5 younger last time :)

I am preparing to head back to school in a week or so. It has been nice to be home and be able to concentrate on getting tasks done, helping out with Abigail, and get back into the schedules of Madi and Andrew. It is time to get back to normal though.

Part of the more unpleasant but necessary part is to get all my doctoring done post deployment. I went to a new doctor, and by the time I left from my initial appointment, he said in a joking manner "man, you got alot of problems". I have been diagnosed with a dust induced asthma that has brought on a continual cough and some chest congestion. I am on medicine for it and the Dr says it should clear up over the next few months. I also had to go to an ENT for my ear that gave me trouble during the deployment. They orginally thought I had a ruptured ear drum due to a long bout with an ear infection over there. Turns out it is a layer of scarring from the infection that has no effect on my hearing, so that was good. I also had to go and have my big toe numbed and fixed. The new Dr is also looking at putting me on different age 40+ medicines for cholesterol and some other things based on the results of a blood test I had taken. All this has made me feel very old...then I return home to a new born - wild.

Here are some updated pictures of Abigail. A picture of her dressed, the traditional first bath picture and a picture with her siblings.




We have had many visitors and many people express their congratulations and express relief that I was able to make it home in time. So many people have been there for Rebekah and my family throughout my time away..it is truly humbling and a great feeling that so many people truly care about us here in our community. We are trying to keep up with all the phone calls and updates and look forward with connecting with everyone in the next few weeks and months as we get back to "normal".

Please keep the group of fine men and woman still in Afghanistan in your thoughts and prayers. My friend Maj Todd Graham has started a blog of his own if you are interested in following along:

http://toddsdeploymentadventures.blogspot.com/

Thanks again for following along and reaching out to me and my family. I look forward and am hopeful that I can maintain contact with you...so please keep in touch. Until next time...

Abigail Has Arrived !!

Abigail Hope Hirneisen was born at 0425 on 29 Jan 2010. She and Rebekah are doing great. After two weeks of contractions and doctors visits, we went in at 4 pm on the 28th to begin the process. The original plan was to begin induction, but Rebekah was already beginning. She moved through the labor fairly quickly after midnight and delivered without complications - praise God. She was 6lbs 13oz and 21 inches long and a beautiful baby. As you can tell from the story, we haven't slept so I will make an official post once I get some sleep. Here are some initial pictures....Enjoy.

Home

I am adjusting to being home. It has been surprisingly difficult. I just feel kind of out of it. When I came home, my wife had yellow ribbons placed up and down the road we live on and ordered a banner for our house...which was very thoughtful. Below is a picture of me and the kids by the sign.


I have begun to reintegrate in to restaurant food. I have eaten at McDonald's, Subway, Quizno's and ate left over Tommy's Pizza (a local Gettysburg pizza place). My stomach has felt a little strange but not too bad. My wife was picking on me because I drove really slow out of the lake where we live and took a while to get up to speed. That is what you get when you drive 20 Km/hr (16 mph) for so long. I also keep hitting the windshield wipers instead of the turn signal on the car. The strange thing is that I did the same thing in the cars in Kandahar when the steering wheel was on the other side...

While in Kandahar, I had four American flags flown on military air missions. The pilots stowed the flag in the cockpit during his mission. The pilot then would print up a certificate with the date, mission, pilot etc to accompany the flag. I took the flags to the frame shop and had them framed. I presented a framed flag to my daughter's 4/5 grade classroom teacher Mrs Donna Kluck who had the class follow the blog and was very supportive of my daughter Madi.



My wife has done a great job getting the kids in to a routine that I am working back in to. The great job that she did with everything while I was away is very evident. Rebekah has been very uncomfortable and has had many contractions that have subsided...so close but no labor yet. She is still working her business and working out this week in the hope that the baby will quickly arive now that I have made it home. I have been accompanying her to her gym this week which has been good. I will hopefully have a baby post next week.

As always, thanks for following along. I will keep you posted on the progress of the baby. Until next time...