Paul-Talia-Sydney

2009-05-03T23:09:00.000-07:00

It is already May! I am sorry to have abandoned our blog for so long.

Sydney is now 25 inches and long and a little over 13 pounds! She is six months old. She is doing wonderful. She eats babyfood, sits up with assistance, moves around on the floor, waves bye-bye and says ba-ba. She has the most beautiful smile and loves to talk. Back in January she got her ears pierced. The whole process went really well. I'm sure she will be sprouting teeth and crawling around in no time. She has been to the Colorado River several times, the Laughlin River Run, Zion National Park and a few other really cool places. These days you can find her hanging out in a baby pool in our front yard, in her jumpy toy, walker or moving around on the floor with her toys. She is a sweaty baby and is most comfortable in a diaper. Sydney is most fond of her little cousin Kollin, who is two years old. ( Besides her mommy! ) He gives her toys, kisses and talks to her. She has an ear to ear smile whenever he is around!

Back in March Paul came to Kingman for two weeks. We had a great time together as a family. We had a planned trip to Utah where we stayed at a bed and breakfast. While we were in Utah we checked out some art galleries, walked Zion National Park and ate some amazing food.We spent the following week in Kingman visting with both families. We went hiking and bolwing. The two weeks were great but shortly lived. Sydney became very attached to Paul. I'm sure they will have no problems falling in love upon his return!

Paul is doing well in Iraq. He has recently been stationed at a new base. I will try and get him to write a blog on what is going on over in his world as long as he is not too busy! God Bless everyone :)

SCRATCH THAT

2009-02-13T23:51:00.000-08:00

As soon as I get comfortable with the idea of moving and after I have finally found something positive about it, I get hit with something else! I am actually going to move back to Speicher instead of going to Mosul. The address is:

SPC Roberts, Paul D.
361 PSYOP TPD 1275
COB Speicher
APO, AE 09393

I am supposed to come home on leave on the 15th but I will not find final verification on that for a few days. I should be coming home for 14 days but again that is not verified yet. I love you all and thank you for your continuing prayers for me. God hears them and I feel them. God bless you all! I hope to see some familiar faces soon!

Time to move.....AGAIN

2009-01-27T05:21:00.000-08:00

Well life changes a lot over here in Iraq. It is very stressful but I will survive. I will be moving too Mosul in about 2 weeks. Mosul is in the Ninewah province. This provincial name is scattered all throughout the bible. It was a very wicked city in ancient times. You may also remember the story of Jonah and the whale. This story is from the Ninewah province as well. Well Life has been good. Thanks for all the love and packages that you all have been sending me! Everything means so much to me! Especially pictures! They are awesome to remind me of home. As far as I know I am still scheduled to go home in about 47 days! I guess we will find out sooon enough. Well as life is crazy busy I do not have much time to blog a ton on here so I must be going. Just know that I love you all. God be with you. I will talk to you all soon.

Sydney Seven weeks Old.

2008-12-21T15:43:00.000-08:00

I would have to agree with Paul in saying that the month of December has flown by. Christmas is only four days away!

Sydney is getting big. She is still a petite baby but a long baby. Her attitude along with her height is also constantly changing. She is talking and smiling whenever she is happy. She can already say ah, oh and goo :) She still unfortunately has the Princess and the Pea syndrome. She seems very touch sensitive. The lacy, fancy dresses(socks, diaper covers, hats etc.) are not her cup of tea! As well as, of course, a wet diaper. Although it can seem overwhelming at times, I am extremely blessed to have such a healthy little girl. I am also so grateful for the family and friends that love her. My mom is so much help with Sydney. She takes her for a few hours in the mornings so I can get some sleep! Sydney has recently been introduced to a bottle, to give her mommy a little freedom! Sydney has taken her bottle, with great ease, from Grandma several times. I am proud to say we, mother and daughter, have accomplished so much together.

Although Paul is not here for Sydneys first Christmas he will not miss out on much. Sydney will have her first "Real" big girl Christmas next year! We wish everyone a Merry Christmas and a Very Happy New Year!

Christmas!

2008-12-20T11:28:00.000-08:00

Well Christmas has really snuck up on me this year. I cannot believe we are already so close to it. It seems as yesterday I was deployed. I have explained this before as it relates a lot to my past; it seems as though the days are soooo long but the weeks and months fly by so fast. I just want to put my head down at night, but it seems as though I wake up a month later. I hope when I get home I can cherish the long hours that I have with my family instead of wanting to be asleep. We have stayed really busy here in Kirkuk. Life is good and comfortable and everything has been fine. Thank you to everyone for sending me love in the form of packages! I got three from the wife, two from my parents, two from myself, one from Aunt Jaylene and PeePaw (and precious) and two from my old Wells Fargo branch. All these packages have been great and will definitely make this holiday season a bit better for me!

Talia recently sent me some videos of our little angel, and I know this is cliche but she is already getting sooo big! I have been running like crazy still. I hope in the end I am building up mileage slow enough. Sometimes I get a little over ambitious with my goals! This week I ran a total of 45 miles! This morning I ran a half marathon -13 miles! Ahhhhh

I love my new Garmin Forerunner 405 with Heart Monitor watch that was a little present to myself out here. It is definitely a God send in the form of training for running. Probably the best technological tool out there right now! \

Excercising feels so good and puts me in such a good mood! I hope everyone out there reading this can gain some desire to have a healthier life style. I have found you do not have to follow a crazy diet or regiment, but you definitely have to put your heart in it and work hard.

To anyone else reading this , read your scriptures and pray! Nothing will give you more daily power to do anything you want than these simple steps. It is proven! I love you all. Take Care. We will talk to you soon!

Tis the Season

2008-12-08T06:26:00.000-08:00

We are in the midst of the holiday season and I am stuck in Iraq. I am glad to be serving my country and I am so very thankful that God has blessed me so much in my life. I feel so thankful for everyone's prayers for me. I can truly feel them. Yet, even with all these good feelings it is not the best feeling to be away from family and alone on these wonderful holidays. Thanksgiving dinner was great here in Kirkuk. They spoiled us rotten with food. I "repented" with a lot of working out the next day!

They say it takes 28 days to establish a routine or a good habit and really lock it in. Today was the 29th day of my workout routine. I am running 20-30 miles a week and do upper body and core workouts 3 times a week each. My body is feeling in much better shape but I still have a lot of weight to lose and a lot of work to do. I am hoping to run the Las Vegas Marathon. I invite any friends or family to join me for this event. It will be in the beginning of next December so everyone has a full year to train! I am currently 203 lbs (still a big boy) but I deployed weighing 240 lbs so I already have lost 37 lbs!

Right now it looks as though I may be home for mid-tour leave just in time to join my beautiful wife to celebrate our wedding anniversary. Many men forget the date of their anniversary. I just can't seeing that I am married to such a wonderful woman, I got to do it twice on the same date, and it was one of the best days of my life BOTH TIMES! (The best has to be Oct. 31st 2008!)

It feels weird to be a dad since I am not able to spend time with my child. Yet I still feel a responsibility even though I am so far away. It is a curious thing, but I like it.

Well before this gets to long, I just want everyone to know I will be thinking about them this holiday season, but I hope all of us can turn our hearts to the real celebration of Christmas. I hope everyone can turn their hearts to Jesus Christ, and his wonderful sacrifice he made for this world. I testify that Christ lives again, that he overcame death, and he is waiting for us all on the other side. Through prayer, repentance, and good old hard work, we can once again see our big brother and truly give him thanks for the wonderful gift he has given us!

In the spirit of Christmas I hope we are also thinking of those less fortunate than all of us who have our health, our wealth, and all of our posessions. I hope we can give and make this season a season of charity and love!

I will try not to wait so long until my next post on this blog. I love you all. God be with you til we meet again.

Sydney:5 Weeks Old!

2008-12-04T09:59:00.000-08:00

Sydney is five weeks old now! She was in the hospital for four days and then was released to go home. Her Meningitis is gone and everything should be fine! As long as she doesn't get sick before her next vaccines(two months) we should not have to worry about Meningitis hopefully ever again :).

She is now 8 1/2 pounds and 20 1/2 inches. She smiles all the time! She is also begining to talk, with the cutest little voice. Thanksgiving went well and we were sure to get plenty of pictures. Sydney is so much fun. She has had her thrid "Real" bath, in her baby bathtub, and was full of smiles. The first bath was not a pleasent experience for her. There was a lott of hair pulling and screaming! I'm so happy she enjoys them now!

She is beautiful and still looks just like Paul! He must be such a proud dad :).

Sydney Update. Week Three.

2008-11-22T17:13:00.000-08:00

Sydney wasn't herself Friday November 21st. Starting at about 1 AM, that morning, she began acting very irritable. I thought she was just being her fussy night owl self. At about 10 AM, we got up to start our day. She did feel very warm and her temperature read at about 100.9 every time I slide the thermometer across her tiny forehead. Well being a first time mommy I decided to try to wait it out and see where it took us. At about 9 PM I started getting very worried. She was not her normal, happy self. We took her into the Kingman ER and got her in right away.
She is only three weeks old with a fever over 100.5, she is extremely irritable, and has diarrhea. They told my mom and I that Sydney would need a spinal tap to rule out serious illnesses associated with high fever in infants. She would also need chest x-rays, an IV for fluids, blood drawn, and a urine sample. My heart hurt. However, it did feel good to cry. I did leave the room and she had all her little tests. Now all we had to do was wait to rule out the scary spinal test results.
The doctor came in maybe an hour later to tell us her fluid was clear, which is a great sign that nothing serious is going on. A few minutes later he came back and sat down. I would rather doctors stand up for the rest of my life. Sydney, they concluded, had meningitis. Meningitis is a scary word as it is a scary illness. My little baby couldn't be sick! She is only 21 days old! Please God, let me be sick instead.
It is Saturday now, November 22ND, and her temperature is about 99. She looks so much better. The results still are not final but as of right now it seems as though she has a less serious viral meningitis infection. I can't sleep. All I can do is think of her.

Kirkuk

2008-11-19T06:24:00.000-08:00

Well I finally made it to Kirkuk! Right now we have an awesome set up here. I have my own Chu (living area) with a desk, multiple lockers, a bookshelf, and tons of other cool things. It is not the biggest thing in the world but most soldiers share these things so having one to myself is AWESOME! I also finally got my m-9 pistol so I dont have to lug around my M4 Rifle anymore. We have an amazing workspace that almost got stolen from us. Thank goodness it didnt. We have a TV with 2 couches, 3 laptops for official work, two regrigerators, a freezer, and a ton of comfy chairs! Our place is extremely hooked up. Right now we have 17 Vehicles for 2 of us!!!! We hopefully will be turning those in eventually but I just find that pretty funny.

It feels so great to finally have a home and be able to spread my things all out and get organized. I think I am going to enjoy my time here for the most part. The gym, px, and chow hall are all pretty close. 9 Months in this place will fly by (at least I am trying to think so!) It is hard being without my two precious angels, but I know they are both in good hands.

My address if anyone is interested in sending me some love is:

SPC Roberts, Paul D
18th Engr. Co.
361st PSYOP Co.
FOB Warrior
APO AE 09338

Letters, packages, anything is much appreciated! Or if you just want to shoot me an email (easier and just as nice as a letter) my unclassified email is paul.daniel.roberts@us.army.mil

It is pretty cool having a seperate email for the secret network the military uses. Makes me feel special anyway! :)

I love you all and think of me on Thanksgiving (Its my b-day! the big 23!)

Sydney is Growing Up!

2008-11-16T20:49:00.000-08:00

I'm happy to say being a new mommy is amazing, difficult, demanding and extremely rewarding. Sydney weighed in at 7 lbs. 7 oz. when she was born, and is now up to 8 lbs. She is now two weeks old and her personality grows bigger and bigger each day! Although her sleeping pattern is completely up and down and different from the last 24 hours, she is already predictable for the most part.
She Does Not want to be left in a dirty diaper for a second longer than it took her to make it dirty! She Loves her binkie, which I give her constantly to avoid her thumb. Boy does she love trying to sneak her thumb in her mouth. Her feeding schedule is also very random. Her very loud cry means basically,"It is time to eat!", no matter if she ate three hours ago or 30 minutes ago. She is already lifting her neck and head for almost full minutes when she looks over my shoulder. I can tell this will go by too fast.
The second week seems almost like a walk in the park compared to the first! I am nursing and it was probably one of the hardest things I have ever accomplished (so far). The first week was definitely a test of strength. Between zero sleep, aching pain and sore SORE breasts I thought I might literally break down. I learned extremely quickly that being a mommy demands patience and selflessness. I can already see a change in her eyes, in her little body, in her face. I wish I could stare at her forever. Most days I do stare at her forever. Is it bad that I want her to stay my little baby forever? Before I jump ahead of myself, or herself, I need to say that this is Love. Sydney is a Love I have never felt before and it is truly surreal. It will never go away and I look forward to all of the little things that will build up day by day, month by month, and year by year that will only make it That much stronger!

I JUST GOT HERE@!

2008-11-12T01:48:00.000-08:00

Welcome to Paul, Talia, and Sydney's blog where we hope to keep all our family and friends informed on what is going on in our lives. Check back weekly and we will try to keep things updated almost like our own little journals. (You just wont get the mushy, deep, dark secret stuff!)

All of you know I am currently depoyed to Iraq. While in Kuwait I got sent on emergencly leave to see my beautiful baby be born! Sydney Lee Roberts came out amazingly healthy and beautiful. She is a miracle in both of our lives! Talia and Sydney bonded almost right away and Talia is already an amazing mother. Ill let Talia tell you the rest about the baby...

Once I got back from emergency leave I came to Tikrit in Iraq just to find out that I was acually moving to Kirkuk. I have mixed emotions about the move but anyone who knows me, knows I always try to have a positive attitude about it. Being PSYOP has its advantages wherever we go. RIght now we are housed in this amazing house with 3 bedrooms, a day room, with a large front and backyard. The roof is huge and is completely liveable space as well. This place is well bigger than my house in the States and that is why I am sad to leave it. It will be nice to go out on my own in Kirkuk though. I will only be going with one other Sergeant from my unit. We will most likely still have good living conditions and a really nice workspace. We will have our own interpreters and I will doing a lot more PSYOP relevant work instead of being stuck at headquarters running oddjobs and being a gopher. This is what excites me. I will actually be doing a lot of work. It is nice to be able to do what you were trained in. Unfortunately this is not always the case while deployed.

My spirits are high. I have good books to read in my down time, I am reading the scriptures daily. The chow halls in Iraq are amazing, but I am not indulging as much as I would like to. I am trying to slim down quite a bit so I am really watching what I am eating! Well I will cut off on this for now but I love you all and hope you will check in often to see what is going on with us!