In Poland

Yep. Poland. In January.
Landing was a little rough, as it was into the middle of a blizzard (and not the yummy treat from DQ). Still, we got here okay. I'm here to showcase the international relations between the US and Polish militaries. It's a PR trip, but they're paying me to be here, so I can't complain. The city of Warsaw is actually quite lovely, and it has a lot of historical sites; from the occupations of the Germans in WWII and the Red Army after that. I'll be here for a few days, and then I'll go home and get back to my routine.

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So it's a new year, and not much has gone on so far. Every day I go to work, come home, relieve Vanessa for a few hours so she can take a baby break, eat dinner, put Aurora down for a nap until she wakes up hungry, tak her to mommy for feeding time, walk and talk to her until she gets tired, put her down for another (hopefully longer) nap, TRY to get a nap myself, and then when 2am rolls around, I take our daughter up to bed and do my best to catch at least 4 hours of sleep before repeating it all over again.
I know it seems like I'm complaining, but I am actually really enjoying being a Dad. The worst part of my day is leaving the house to go to work, knowing I won't get to see my family for at least 8 hours. The moment I step inside and hear my daughter crying, is really a good sound to me, because it means I get to be Daddy again.

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Vanessa is finally out of the Army - retired at 10 years! So now she can be herself with no one telling her what she has to do. It's going to be different for her - she's already started cleaning and selling a lot of things just to keep busy. I guess it's hard to go for ten years with there always being something you have to do, to a sudden freedom to not do anyhting unless you feel like it. So she feels like filling her time with getting rid of a lot of stuff from her past - physical stuff, not mental or emotional.

Aurora is growing fast. She's already at least one pound and several inches larger than she was last month. I've been looking back at her pictures (proud daddy is a picture taking freak) and it's neat to see the minute (my-noot) changes she has already undergone. I am thinking about getting one of those photo aging software bundles to see what she might look like as a teenager - to know just how big of a shotgun I'm going to have to buy.

Well, it's getting to be dinner time. Have to go out with everyone (they actually scheduled dinnertime) on this trip. Tomorrow starts the awesome job of shooting the US/Polish relations.


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ULI
MADLY

It's a new decade!

Happy New Year!

It has been a stellar year for me, I must say.

I've gotten to go to a lot of neat places, and see and do so many wonderful things.

I got to spend a whole year with my wife (minus some work trips).

We welcomed new family members, especially our daughter!

I have some fond memories from this year. Some sad ones, too, but moslty fond ones.

Below are some things that happened this year.

Places I Went:

- Kansas

- Honduras

- Indiana

- Spain

- Bulgaria (x2)

- Moldova

- France (Paris)

- Czech Republic (Prague)

- Croatia

- Greece

- Egypt

- Uganda

Year's Events:

- Returning from deployment (okay, so it was late Dec. 2008, but I'm counting it!)

- Honduras missionary work

- Cabin Trip '09

- We're Pregnant!

- Reverse R.H.P.S.

- Worst hospital conditions (Moldova), medical airlift & emergency surgery

- Going to Africa

- No more smoking

- I's a GIRL!!!

- R.I.P. Aunt Flo

- Thanksgiving with the Dempseys & Christmas with my Mom (both in Germany)

- Happy New Year!

We rang in the new yaer at home. Aurorapartied a little too hard!

May 2010 bring you all half the headaches and twice the blessings as 2009.

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ULI

MADLY