Ok, the basics...

Ok folks, here we go! Even though anyone who sees this probably has a good idea about the background stuff, here it is anyway (so if you know all of this, I won't be offended if you skip it).

I am a 23 year old Army wife living in Germany. Andrew and I both graduated from Purdue University in May 2003. After a great friendship evolved into a great relationship, we were married May 24th, within a week of our graduation and his commissioning as an officer in the US Army.

We then spent our "honeymoon" driving out to Seattle from Cincinnati (with my mother in law and her best friend in tow), to set up our first home together so he could begin temporary duty at Ft. Lewis. We chose to accept the temporary duty in order to start pay and benifits, since we did not want to waste any time in starting our family together. Gracie (our yellow lab) loved living in Washington, since our apartment was on a 9 acre lake where she could swim 2 or 3 times a day.

We got very lucky and became pregnant in June (most likely on Jody's birthday... little tidbit just for you, Jojo!), and in July I had the joy of dealing with morning sickness while flying down to 800 degree Lawton, Oklahoma, to househunt for our next move coming up in August.

We moved to Lawton in the middle of August, again spending 4 days in the car (oh the joys of pregnancy induced nausea), only this time with my mom and my mother in law driving our 2nd car for us. I had found us a house not far from Ft. Sill that had a fenced yard, so it was perfect for adding Maddie (black lab)to our family over Labor Day weekend. Andrew's OBC (officer basic course) for field artillery began in November.


Andrew's mom came out to help us get ready for the baby (and hopefully be there to help with the house and everything once she was born) on March 6th, late afternoon. The next morning I woke up with contractions and managed to keep from waking Andrew for about an hour. He made the decision to go to the hospital, all the while I was arguing with him that I wasn't really in labor, that Abbie couldn't be born yet because my mom was working that day and couldn't fly out (and with the first grandchild, I really didn't want her to miss being in town for the birth-- and by that I mean in town... I am waaaaaayy too modest to allow anyone but Andrew and the necessary medical staff in the room). We showed up at the hospital around 8:30am(leaving the bags in the car, at my insistance since I believed they were going to tell me I was an idiot and not really in labor) and I was told that I was already a 4 and I was staying-- most likely with a baby by early afternoon. I called my mom and it became really emotional because she was convinced that she would miss the birth of her first grandchild, and I really hated hearing her hurt that way. The good news is, all the nurses working with her told her to go to the airport, and then she was on her way! The doctor showed up and said he would come and break my water around lunch, and then never came back until about 6pm (he says that the nurses told him my mom was flying in, and he was trying to have me wait until she was in town to have Abbie... although I think he just wanted to spend his Sunday at home). My mom made it to the hospital around 6:30pm... she didn't have to wait long to hear the baby's cries from outside the door.
Abigail Emily Lantz was born Sunday, March 7, 2004, 7:03pm at Reynolds Army Community Hospital, weighing in at 7lbs 3oz and measuring a tall 20.5" for being 6 days before her due date. She gave us a scare when her heart rate dropped, but once she was out, she was perfect.


We spent the required 2 days in the hospital and then went back to our little house as a family of 3 (+ 2 grandmas).

This is Abbie's first picture at home, at 2 days old.



When Abbie was 6 weeks old, Andrew graduated from OBC and the movers came and packed up our stuff to be put in storage since the time before it could be sent to Germany was unknown. Andrew was scheduled to join the 2/3 Field Artillery (a division of 1stAD), but at the time of our move they were still in Iraq on a 3 month extention to their original 12 month tour. No one was able to tell us if Andrew would have to go to Iraq and join the unit or if he would be staying in Germany, and Abbie and I were given defferred travel until housing became availible (which we were told was a 3 month wait, and if he deployed it would be 3 months after his return). So along with Abbie and whatever I could pack to hopefully get us to Christmas in the states if need be, we loaded up and went on a 2 week visit of our families in the Midwest and Florida.

I took Andrew to the airport on May 16th and said goodbye for an undetermined amount of time, which luckily enough only turned out to be 3 weeks. Whoever said the wait for housing was long didn't have a clue, because he signed for our apartment 2 days after arriving in Germany. Abbie and I were able to fly out in the beginning of June to be with him. We lived wtih the things we could get on our respective flights and the government (really crappy) furniture, and whatever our families could ship to us of the things we had to leave behind, until the end of August when the boat carrying our belongings finally made it to Germany.

Since last June, we have travelled through Germany on the weekends (when we could) visiting Munich and Cologne, and lots of small towns in between. We went back to the States for Christmas and again for block leave at the end of July this year. Abbie and I also made an impromptu trip back for my Mom's 50th birthday in April, and took a trip to Amsterdam with my Mom and Grandma at the end of April while Andrew was away in the field. He spent 2 months in the field in April-May, and is going back in a little over a week for another 2 months of training (with 1 weekend home around the 6 week mark), and then sometime in January he will be going to Iraq for a 12 month deployment (with hopefully 2 weeks back sometime in the middle). We will most likely be staying in Germany for Christmas this year, trying to spend every last bit of time as a family before he leaves. We have wonderful neighbors (who I will introduce you to in another post), so it is reassuring to our husbands that they will be leaving us with a support system across the hall-- it is like a personality test was required to move into our building. I will be spending some time in the US during the deployment, just unsure of how much yet, as there are a lot of factors that could affect the way I split the time.

Abbie is growing up faster than I am willing to accept; talking and running, showing only the affection and love that can come from a toddler and throwing tantrums. She will be 18 months old next week, and I still have not wrapped my mind around the fact that she is a year old. She and I will have to stick together while Andrew is gone, and I only hope that I can help her understand why he has to leave... and that she will know him when he returns.