Engleberts in Missouri [miz-er-ree]

Holy beejeesus this post is late!

We took a flying trip to Georgia over the 4th of July weekend. We went to Ft. Stewart where Eric is stationed to see the kids and hug a grandchild. That was the most important part of the weekend but we also got some bonus stuff tossed in as well.

First, we celebrated Independence Day with a Post full of soldiers.

I was happy to see that the community as well as a large number of corporate sponsors were really focused on showing their appreciation for the sacrifices that these soldiers and their families make all the time.

There was a huge carnival, burger/dog cookout, concert and fireworks - all free for soldiers and their families.

We had a great time - I particularly enjoyed the concert, which was 6 hours of non-stop music including a 2 hour Montgomery Gentry performance. Steph was really excited to see one the groups she idolized in her teen-hood: Boys II Men, although now they are known as Men II Old Men.

Saturday, we were honored to stand up as godparents for our grandson at his baptism.

Operation Iraqi Freedom is to blame for the bunchkin’s delayed baptism. Eric left for Iraq very soon after Alex was born and then was gone for nearly 15 months.

So, Alex is nearly 2 and too big for one of those cute baptism gowns. He was still handsome and adorable. And pretty patient with the whole thing - and just so you know, he didn’t cry when the water was poured over his head like babies usually do. Bonus!

We also spent some time at the Warrior’s Walk - Ft. Stewart’s Iraqi Freedom War Memorial. I had visited it before but unfortunately it has gotten much larger.

One of the memorials that we specifically looked for was Spc. Alex Rosa’s. Alex Rosa was the soldier (and friend) from Eric’s platoon who was killed in Iraq during Eric’s tour.

I remember the day the news was leaked that several soldiers in Eric’s unit had been injured and one had been killed. The waiting to hear the official news was horrible. I remember feeling so relieved that Eric was safe. Spc. Rosa’s family was not so lucky. He had a wife and a newborn daughter who was only a couple of months old. Very sad.

We also took the kids to Savannah for a celebration dinner. I wanted to go to Paula Deen’s restaurant, The Lady and Sons, but apparently it is so popular that you have to get in line at 9:30 AM (!) in order to get reservations for that evening.

We ended up going to a really tasty place. The Moon River Brewing Company is located in the old City Hotel Building, a historic building famous for it’s guests like James Audobon.

It is Savannah’s only brew pub and they make their own micro-brews right there. They offer a sampler that has a 4oz shot of each of the brews they are currently making. Steve and Eric each got the sampler - it came with 9 samples!

They liked almost all of them - there was one that was called Swamp Water something-or-other that neither of them liked. I give them cudos just for trying something with the name Swamp Water at a brewery in Georgia. Georgia has about 460 named swamps - who knows where that water came from!

One of the interesting things about the restaurant was it’s beer can collection. Steve and his brother had a pretty large beer can collection as kids. He remembers it fondly. Steve was pointing out all of the cans that had been in his collection (which was sold a number of years ago) and the brewery’s collection was a pretty close match to his. There was one can in particular that he wanted to check for a certain mark or dent or something just to see if it was his can but I wouldn’t let him climb up on the bar. I’m a spoil-sport like that sometimes.

It was a great trip. There’s a lot more of Savannah that I’d like to see. Maybe next summer we can vacation on Hilton Head and stay for awhile. More pictures on my Flickr site here and here.

Re-entry burns, illness, ice storms, surgeries and good-byes, you name it and we’ve experience it in the last few weeks. Let me start at the beginning…

After my son-in-law Eric went off to the war last year the day after Thanksgiving, Stephanie and the grandbaby came for the Christmas holiday so that they wouldn’t have to be alone. Since Eric was involuntarily extended in Iraq, she decided to come and visit again this year, arriving in time for Thanksgiving and staying until after the New Year.

Now, I read a lot of “mommy” blogs. Sometimes I laugh out loud when they are describing their hectic days with toddlers underfoot. I laugh in a been-there-done-that kind of way because once upon a time I had a crew of littles underfoot all the time. But the truth is those days were looong ago and I only vaguely remember them. Mostly, they have receded into a hazy blur of it-wasn’t-so-bad memories.

But with Alex’s arrival, the not-so-great-memories started coming back to me. It wasn’t an easy transition back into small-little-person-in-the-house world. I’d really forgotten just how exhausting keeping up with them can be. Typically the process of acquiring a toddler-type person involves 9 months of pre-arrival preparation and an additional period of months (14 in this case) of acclimating to their constant demands and needs. When one arrives out of the blue there should be some special methods to protect against the re-entry burns you are sure to acquire.

I was very young the first time I had a small child underfoot on a daily basis. Now I’m not nearly as young as I was then and I can tell you that I would not willingly have another child at this age. Can I get an AMEN!

Still, I’ve enjoyed having my grandson around because along with all the exasperating moments (what are you crying about?!? OMG, you stink! Get out of the cabinets!), there is also the cuddling, the laughing over his antics, and the way I just know from the look in his eyes that I am the best grandma ever and what does he even need his mom for cause she’s just mean and says no way too much.

After visiting with us for a couple of weeks, Steph headed down to her inlaws house to visit for a few days. I was looking forward to a couple of days where the house would be quiet from 8 to 3 each day. Instead, we got a bad storm. With the bad storm came a power outage that lasted for several days. And with the power outage came neighbors and children whose power was also out. Several days of living like Robinson Caruso (no lights, no phones, no motor cars, not a single luxury - ok we had phones and cars but no heat or tv) is much more trying than a toddler. The Mr Heater/Cooker we bought about 20 years ago saved our lives once again but cooking for a bunch of people on a single propane burner isn’t much fun. The kids have been out of school for a week now and if they weren’t going back today, I think they’d start fearing for their lives. Headlines might read “Mother trapped in house with children all day everyday for over a week snaps!”

Our propane, water and canned food supplies have been replenished in anticipation of a huge snow storm that was due to arrive this weekend. We did get some snow and ice but nothing too terrible. Winter’s only just started though so there’s still plenty of opportunity for Mother Nature to give us the smack down.

While Steph was visiting the inlaws, she found out that Eric had gotten ill and was medevaced from Iraq to Germany. He spent a week in the hospital at Landstuhl (Map).

Fever, rash, flu-like symptoms, gallbladder and liver problems which gave him a lovely Big Bird yellow color has the doctors thinking he has Hepatitis A. Eric got a series of immunizations for Hepatitis before getting deployed but apparently the shots don’t provide protection for about 5% of people who get them. We still don’t know for sure thats what he’s got - his symptoms are subsiding (the rash is going away and he’s a much lighter shade of yellow now) - hopefully he will get a diagnosis this morning.

The Army shipped him home on Friday and he is at Ft. Stewart now. No idea whether he will have to go back after he recuperates. His unit was due home in March/April so *fingers crossed* hopefully not. You can probably guess that Steph threw her stuff in the car, shouted “See Ya!” and hightailed it back to Georgia as quickly as she could. A husband home for Christmas beats the parents any day.

In addition to all of that excitement we had some tense days waiting to hear what was going on with my dad’s health. He’s had some heart problems, had some tests done and was scheduled for an angioplasty on Friday. The doc thought they would have to put in a stent or something but after running the little camera up into my dad’s heart decided not to. About 30% of my dad’s heart isn’t working - apparently he’s had a couple of heart attacks that were mild enough that he didn’t recognize them as heart attacks but severe enough that they did damage to the heart. They could do some other type of invasive procedure but the risks just outweigh the benefits. So, dad will be on a medicine regimen and will have to take things much easier. I’m sure he’s heart-broken (pun intentional) about not being able to mow the grass in that Florida heat anymore.

With all the goings on I’ve gotten zero Christmas shopping done, our cards haven’t been mailed and the tree is still not up. But hey, it’s still 8 days til Christmas. We’ve pulled off a doozy of a holiday in less time than that before!

I’m off to the mall - later!

Say thanks to a veteran today. Say a prayer for a soldier today.

Thanks to all the veterans in our family. Eric, we’re thinking of you often and praying for your safety always.

Eric should be home any time now. He’s due in for his R&R this morning. Steph is going to pick him up at the airport in Savannah. I wonder what Alex’s reaction to his daddy will be? He hasn’t seen him since he was a couple months old.

They call it R&R - Rest and Relaxation. I’m thinking Eric’s going to get precious little of that over the next couple of weeks. With a wife, small child, family & friends all eager to see him, talk to him, and do things with him, R&R will be in short supply. Steph will probably be exhausted by the time Eric heads back to Iraq too. She was so excited yesterday that I doubt she was able to get any sleep last night. I don’t think she’s planning to waste a minute of Eric’s leave with mundane things like sleeping and resting.

I am happy Eric’s coming home too - for a lot of different reasons. I’m glad he’s safe, I’m happy Steph & Alex will get to spend some time with him,  and it means his tour is nearly over. But mostly I am happy because now Alex can get a haircut. The child is nearly a year old and has never had a haircut. Steph’s been waiting for Eric to take him. All I can say is Thank God Alex Can Get A Haircut Now! because he’s starting to look like a distant relative of Cousin It.

You’d make these faces too if your hair was this annoyingly long!

Cut my hair!!!

Steph received word via the wife network yesterday that a mortar attack had killed one soldier and wounded 2 others from Eric’s unit. It’s been quite tense waiting to hear more details. Thankfully, this evening she was able to confirm that Eric was not one of the soldiers injured or killed. Another family was not so lucky.

Specialist Alexander Rosa was killed when an explosion occurred near his vehicle while on a mission in Diyala Province. Sadly, he had a wife and a very small baby. She’s been notified and the other wives in the 293rd’s Family Readiness Group will be providing her with support until her family can arrive to help her out.

Two other soldiers were also wounded. One was the commander, who was treated for injuries and returned to duty today. The other was treated for injuries which will take several months to heal. He will be returning to Ft. Stewart to recuperate.

This weekend has been a bad one for the 3rd ID as a whole. A total of 5 soldiers from Ft. Stewart have been killed so far this weekend.

Please keep Eric in your thoughts and prayers.