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Day 76-March 16th, 2012

Whitney has an almost unnatural amount of attraction to balloons.

Whenever they are around we hear her going after them at all hours of the day.

She will jump up to grab the string then carry them around.

Keighan loves balloons too....and the cats.

This balloon came with a clip on the bottom of it.

I clipped it to his shirt and he thought it was fantastic.

He would crawl around and it would go with him.

Then it got Whitney's attention and she was right with him which he thought was even more fabulous!

Day 77-March 17th, 2012

Pratt loves Landon.

When Landon was younger and taking naps Pratt would 

sprint to hid bedroom door when he heard it open. 

Then he'd run to the couch and wait for Landon to sit down and curl up with him.

Now there are mornings I hear Pratt meowing incessantly outside

his bedroom early in the mornings to wake him up.

This afternoons Landon was lying on the floor watching TV,

Pratt came right up and curled up with him. 

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Day 72: March 12th, 2012

Keighan loves water. Sometimes I think he spends the entire day waiting for bath time. Even after he gets out he'll try to climb in with his big brothers. So it didn't come as a surprise when he was in my bedroom and noticed there was water in the shower (one of us had just gotten out), so in he went to play!

All of my boys are little fish and I don't think he will be any different!

I think a water table will certainly be in our near future for outside play.

Day 73: March 13th, 2012

Tuesday Katie and Henry came over to drop something off. It turned into a mini play date. Henry and Keighan are a whopping 6 days apart. We were with them in Milton and Corpus for flight school and now obviously in Mobile together as well!

We really need to get these boys together more often!

Day 74: March 14th, 2012

Spring is certainly here! In some places you could call it summer weather. Yesterday I got Keighan a swing for the play set. He loved it! He also got a kick out of having his brothers on both sides of him. 

And just so you don't forget...I do have 2 other kids.

I know they aren't pictured as often it seems,

but Keighan is a bit more cooperative with the camera and I'm with him a lot more

(no school for him!)

Landon is a left footed kicker,

good thing he's playing soccer now to perfect his football kick later on hehe

Not sure how Logan still manages to cram himself in his car!

Day 75: March 15th, 2012

Today a group of Coast Guard wives were getting together at Mellow Mushroom over in Daphne. So L2 and K and I took advantage of an empty schedule in the morning and went over. 

Lunch date for Libby and Keighan!

She is 5 days older than him

(May 2011 was a baby boom here...especially that week!)

Poor K, he was tired. On the way over he fell asleep in the van for about 10 minutes. 

You get together about 15 women and 10 kids....well, lunch just isn't a quick function! 

We were there easily 2 1/2 hours. 

The time we left is the time K is usually ready for his 2nd nap of the day. 

He couldn't hold on any longer and fell asleep in the high chair!

My insides were secretly dancing,

that's just something that my kids don't do!

I'm still in amazement

(and a little sad he was that tired to konk out like that!)

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Day 71-March 11, 2012

Today was just what we needed...a nice and lazy day. I'm a little impressed with myself that I actually took a shower and got real clothes on! The kids on the other hand....they stayed in PJs, had baths, then back into PJs!

Tonight Dan was at his soccer game,

the boys were on the floor together just having a great time.

L1 and L2 just love getting K to play with them.

All 3 of them were just smiling and giggling.

It was infectious. 

Someday they will realize they are all each other's best friends!

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It's not entirely my fault that it has been almost a week since I updated.

On Monday the Internet service went out. Great, just what we needed...ugh! They told me it was the modem to take it to the local office and exchange it. So I wasted an hour doing that. Yes, wasted. Got home....still no dice. So they had to set up an appointment for a tech to come out. Earliest possible wasn't until Wednesday evening. So I went out and got a keyboard for my iPad and reactivated the 3G plan so I could get to the 8 million emails I had from CG spouses. Turns out it was my neighbor's fault! They put in an extra section of their driveway and managed to cut our cable line. So that's my excuse for Mon-Tues. Wed-Thurs was just crazy with the memorial service stuff. Fri Logan was sick. Here it is Saturday already!

Day 65-Monday March 5th

Really, I had other things I needed to be doing on Monday morning.

But Logan had a field trip to the Partridge Plantation.

 He needed me too.

The kids had been such troopers with us both being so busy for a while.

So we went on his field trip and had a blast. 

(ok fine, I was working during the lunch part...some stuff just couldn't wait)

He is still talking about getting to ride a pony!

Day 66-Tuesday, March 6th

Tuesday morning I didn't have anything on the schedule.

I loaded up L2 and K and headed to the mall.

I needed to find something to wear to the memorial service on Thursday.

Brought the double stroller (which hasn't been used since L2 was about 12/13 months old),

settled L2 in with a movie on the iPad, and got K out.

Then I saw he was having a masto flare up.

No idea from what...it might not have been a single trigger.

There is an analogy called "the cup runneth over."

Basically a lot of little things over 72 hours can build up causing a reaction,

it doesn't have to be one single thing and those things as individuals may be tolerated fine.

Perhaps it was the strawberries in his yogurt, something at the farm the day before, friction from being in the Ergo, the warmer temps, pollen...there is just no telling.

Thankfully after a dose of Benadryl he was feeling much better and the blister went down.

Unfortunately his other mastocytoma has flared up a few times this week.

Tuesday night we had another Family Night.
This time it was accompanied by a candlelight vigil as well.
The woman who taught my Family CISM course a few months ago sat with us for it,
this is her handing Landon a candle to hold.

Day 67-Wednesday, March 7th

Wednesday afternoon we did a walk through at the florist to see 

how the progress on the arrangements was going. 

We had just ordered them on Monday afternoon so it was a lot to be done in a short amount of time.

Thankfully they were looking wonderfully! 

The next day they even showed up early to deliver them,

everyone was very happy with how they turned out and the service!

Day 68-Thursday, March 8th

CG-6535 memorial service day.

It was a long and emotional day for everyone.

Dan was up around 4 and out of the house shortly after 430.

I was up a little after 5 and just before 7 our first ever babysitter arrived,

I left right after Landon got on the bus at 715.

I took this pic after the service,

uploaded it on Facebook with some other pics that I took.

A friend of mine tagged the woman in it.

It is Admiral Papp (the USCG Commandant) with Danielle and Ty Nichols.

I had no idea at the time, just thought it was a great shot

(and a little annoyed with the woman in gray walking into my frame at the last second).

Danielle's husband was on CG-6505 in Hawaii in 2008,

from what I am told she now tries to attend these services for support of the families. 

I think that is so awesome!

Ty was just 2 or 3 months old when he lost his Daddy.

Shortly after we got home from the service Dan's phone started going crazy.

The 4th, and final, crewmember had been found and was enroute back to sector.

We loaded up and got down there just in time to join a crowd of Coasties that had gathered,

along with his family,

to see him taken away in an ambulance

It was such a relief to have Drew found and brought back. 

Day 69-Friday, March 9th

Friday was a day I thought I'd be sitting around doing nothing

(well, other than things that were in desperate need of doing...like laundry).

Turns out L2 got sick so I was his nurse for the day.

I guess K was pretty exhausted too.

Early in the morning we were sitting on the floor.

Suddenly he lunged for my sweatshirt on the floor and curled up with it.

L2 moved one of his stuffed animals closer. 

It wasn't a long nap but it sure was cute!

Turns out that L2 had strep throat, ugh! 

Day 70-Saturday, March 10th

 Little stinker!

I left him alone in the room for not even a minute.

Returned to find him just having a blast emptying the tissues from the box one at a time. 

As soon as he saw me he just started smiling and laughing,

he has an infectious laugh...I couldn't help but laugh too!

Good thing he's so cute.

64/366

Today we had a little get together on base to assemble the ribbons. I thought 20, maybe 25, at the most 30 people would show up.

We ended up with 75-80 people there! Even an admiral who is in town and his wife, a few chaplains, the family CISM team (critical incident stress management), and all sorts of people! It was absolutely amazing and so wonderful to see and be apart of! Everything was done within an hour and a half, people just sat around for a while chatting and having a good time. I am not sure of the exact number of ribbons that were made, around 3,000 though.

I can tell you that we had 3 cakes, a set of cupcakes, 2 arrangements of flowers and balloons, muffins, cookies, drinks, a meal for my family to take home, and multiple birthday cards...even one that was made into origami. Little did I know word got around that yesterday was my birthday! It certainly took me by surprise when these things started coming in. I think my face was 5 shades of red when someone flicked the lights then in came a friend with a cake and lit candles while the entire room sang "Happy Birthday" to me! Certainly a birthday that I will never forget.

I know sometimes parents worry when their children move away from home.

Who will be there for them, who will take care of them if needed, etc.

Our Coast Guard family is just amazing.

I don't know why I continued to be surprised by them,

by know you'd think I'd know not to put anything past them!

I am so lucky for the CG family here in Mobile. 

Tomorrow I have another busy day ahead of me. I've been asked why I do this. It's a volunteer position. Tonight was an example of why. These people are my family and I would do whatever possible for them! They are there for me, I will always be there for them. 

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Day 62

The days of the past week or so have really just turned into a blur. Trying to distinguish what happened on one day or another is becoming more difficult. Friday though I didn't step foot on base, which was nice. Keighan had his 9 month well check (still my gentle giant, off the chart in height and 50% in weight). Landon had a program at school to celebrate Dr. Seuss' birthday. I was just able to do my work from home and most of it in the evening.

This is Landon performing at school.

They sang some songs, dressed all crazy, and had a great time!

Day 63

March 3rd...happy birthday to me! Certainly didn't feel like a birthday for much of the day! The boys had their soccer jamboree in the morning, which we froze at! As soon as we got home I went out again to buy supplies to make at least 3,000 ribbons for people to pin on at the 6535 memorial service. Shortly after I got to my first stop (around 10:45am), I got a call from the CO's wife. Next thing I know she was there too and we were running all over town for supplies and picked up another Coast Guard wife to bring along too. Went back to their house where we were joined by another and around 5pm sat down to begin cutting these ribbons. The plan is to assemble them all on Sunday with a large group of spouses on base. By the time we were finishing buying the supplies we began to get a little slap happy. Add in cutting loads of orange and blue ribbons with the good company we had....wow, I haven't laughed so much in a long time! At one point I got a call from someone about the flowers for the service and he wanted to know how much wine we had drank, um...not a drop of alcohol was consumed! If you put all the ribbon we cut end to end, it was enough to be the length of five football fields! We cut them into 6" strips. Oy, it was an undertaking and I'm glad I had help! As we were beginning to see a light at the end of the tunnel (around 9pm), Capt Maine came home. He then left again and brought us all back some dinner. Little did I know he and his daughter had also picked up something else while they were out. After we finished the cutting we ate, then as I was packing up my things to head home they walked out with a cookie cake on fire with all the candles. So while I wasn't able to spend the day with my family, I spent it with a great part of my extended family...my Coast Guard family. 

There is another pic out there with the candles lit and me standing behind it.

I haven't seen it yet...not sure if I'm brave enough to look at it,

I know I was looking pretty rough at that point!

61/366

Somehow in the midst of yet another crazy and long day, I thought about grabbing my camera to take some pictures. I had a specific one in mind.

Today I was again on base for hours. About 12 total actually. On my way in this morning I noticed the front gate had been decorated with flowers, flags, posters, etc. The road just inside the gate was lined with small American flags in the ground. Late this afternoon I ran home to get Landon off the bus and pick the other boys up from my friend's house. We were home maybe 45 minutes before I had to load them up and go back to ATC to set up for the family debriefing. I got my camera then to take a pic of the gate.

At the corner of Schillinger and Tanner Williams (Tanner Williams is the road the base is off of), I noticed a local restaurant had their flag lowered to half-mast, so I grabbed that shot. Then as I was waiting to pull into base I took the one of the front gate. Both I just took a single shot of, they aren't great...but that's not what matters here.

What has been so amazing is the continuing outpouring of support since the news broke. Support from all sorts of places...the local community, the Coast Guard community both here and everywhere, people just wanting to help in any way possibly. It's nice to see so many people helping out and wanting to help out.

I didn't know it when I took these, found out tonight when I got home and someone tagged me in a Facebook post. Dan was quoted on a local news station in a story about the community support http://www.fox10tv.com/dpp/news/local_news/mobile_county/community-reacts-to-uscg-search

I hope this post somewhat makes sense. I'm exhausted and too tired to read it over at this point. The brain is mush and the eyes are burning. If the hubs ever gets home then I'll get some sleep. 

As of now, three of the four crewmembers have been recovered.