Kraywinkle Blog

CHRISTMAS 2010

2011-03-13T19:23:00.000-07:00

Christmas morning!! Greta got some great gifts from Santa...but the highlight was definitely THE PRINCESS COLLECTION:)
Christmas with a 3 year old is a blast:)

Opening gifts...

Playing peek-a-boo with Cousin Baby Kendall

Dressing up like a Princess

Playing with her new Mermaid Dora

And spending time with family...

Grandpa Jack with Snow White

And watching sports with Grandpa Jim

DECEMBER 2010

2011-03-12T19:31:00.001-08:00

Karl officially "separated" from the military December 3, 2010. Here are some pictures of Karl's last day in official uniform...

We had fun getting ready for Christmas at our new home with Grandma and Grandpa...

Making a gingerbread house

Greta had a lot of fun, but it was very difficult to not eat ALL the candy and lick the frosting.
The finished product...smoke coming out of the chimney and everything.

We had a fun weekend at the cabin...
Karl and Greta were making silly faces and laughing hysterically:)

Greta and Grandma making gingerbread people:)

Greta LOVES Grandpa's iPad

Greta also loved managing the snowman light

and helping Grandma decorate the tree.

NOVEMBER 2010

2011-03-06T19:10:00.000-08:00

In October, we found out Karl got a date for the FBI academy, so we put our house up for sale and it sold in less than 2 weeks!! We were really lucky in this horrible market, even though we lost big on our first housing investment. We miss our cute house, but I have learned from this experience that home really is where your heart is or whatever all those other cheesy sayings are. Hopefully, I feel the same way when my "home" is several hundred miles away...

We packed up a PODS and moved out in November.

For now, we have a great new home at Grandma Michele and Grandpa Jim's! We are so happy to have their company and support during this transition time and are so grateful for the space that has so easily become our new "home".

Greta is having a blast living with G&G...she has a bigger audience and so much love around her - lucky little girl.

By the way, this picture was taken in Madison while we were cheering on my sister Courtney...an IRONMAN!!!

HALLOWEEN 2010

2011-03-06T18:48:00.000-08:00

Can you guess who Greta was for Halloween?

Yep, Ariel from The Little Mermaid. Greta LOVED her costume (even though it was a little big)

and loves to act out Ariel's singing scenes from the movie:

Here's Greta's first "official" (non-relative) Trick or Treat house!:)

Way to go Greta!!

GRETA TURNS 3!! - SEPTEMBER 2010

2011-03-06T11:41:00.000-08:00

Greta started out 2010 sleeping in a crib and using a nukie (pacifier). All of a sudden, she turned 3, didn't use nukies anymore, moved to a big girl bed and other big girl things...

Wearing high heels!

Big girl bath

Even drying her hair!

And...THE BIG GIRL BED!!

The 3 year old with Grandma Kay and Grandpa Jack

We had a couple family birthday parties for Greta turning 3!

FALL COLORS

2011-03-06T11:03:00.000-08:00

The Fall colors seem to be more beautiful as I get older... am I appreciating them more, or is it really more colorful? We found some awesome colors this year that we couldn't get enough of.

SUMMER 2010

2011-02-13T12:05:00.000-08:00

Ahhhh, summer...
Our activities are pretty predictable in the summer - around the neighborhood (park, creek), around the lakes (Sebastian Joes, bandshell, walking around Harriet), at the cabin, and spending time with family and friends.

Greta got much braver this summer compared to last at our neighborhood park - big girl swings and tornado slides!

Throwing rocks into the creek!

At the cabin...

New landscaping!

Karl even got me in the canoe - as you can see, he made me do all the work! :)

Fourth of July with Dad this year!!! God bless the Troops!!

Greta had a blast in her new pool in the backyard

Lake Harriet - one of our favorite places - for church, for exercise, for fun. We spend a lot of time here during the summer!

And of course, time with family - here is Greta with her youngest cousin, Baby Kendall

We even ended the summer with an outing to the MN State Fair. Greta needed some help warming up to the animals, but she dove right into the Martha's cookies!:) YUM.

APRIL 2010

2011-01-17T12:56:00.000-08:00

So Karl went back to work when we got home from Hawaii. His position with full time JAG was no longer needed after the deployment so he went back to Thomson Reuters as a reference attorney. He had been away from this job for the past 3 years, so it was even more of an adjustment for him going back to work.

April was so exciting for us with the birth of our niece, Kendall Jule Totman. Erika and Brian are such great parents, and Kendall is absolutely precious! Greta was pretty excited to have a cousin on the Kraywinkle side:)

FEBRUARY/MARCH 2010

2011-01-13T12:32:00.000-08:00

We knew we would go on a big trip when Karl came back from Iraq, and it didn't take us long to figure out we should go to HAWAII!! We asked Karl's parents to come with us and we had such a great time! Hawaii is absolutely beautiful. Greta was a super traveler and it was such a great trip to enjoy all together. Here are a few highlights:

Greta was a superstar on the plane rides!! It certainly helped to have 4 adults to take turns entertaining her:) She even slept pretty well on the planes. At the airport in Hawaii when we arrived, a lady from the plane came over to give Greta the lei she received since she was such a good girl!! It couldn't have gone any better - so lucky!

We spent a few days in Honolulu at the military resort, Hale Koa, on Waikiki Beach. It was a great place to stay, especially after such a long year of military service. It just felt kind of special to stay there among other servicemembers. We did some sightseeing on the beach, we drove up to the North shore of Oahu to see some really big waves, we visited the Dole plantation, and we spent part of 2 days at the Pearl Harbor Memorial.

The second part of the trip was in MAUI. We stayed in Wailea on the west side of the island and stayed at a beautiful condo called Wailea Ekahi. Our condo complex was right on the beach and we could see whales from our lanai (without binoculars!) It was awesome!

We had a tsunami threat when we were there that really sounded like the real thing, but ended up to be just some powerful tidal action. It didn't spoil our fun, but it did spoil one of our beach days since we were in our condo watching the news to figure out if we were safe to stay where we were or if we needed to evacuate. At one point, a fire truck came through our condo complex announcing that they recommended for us to go to higher ground. And although it was kind of confusing since we had already decided we were safe to stay, it certainly added to the excitement. We filled the tub with water in case we were without water for a period of time and watched the news for the countdown to the tsunami arrival. We were relieved that it ended up to be nothing more than an exciting story and Jack and Karl bought the popular Tsunami Survivor tshirt to reward our vigilence:)

Our original Luau night was postponed because of the tsunami - we were so glad that we had another chance to see this can't miss Hawaii experience!! Greta even had a good time. She was a little scared of the fire dancers and loud drum noises, but she LOVED the girl dancers and was super impressed by the dancer that hung by a long cloth from a tree brance and did all kinds of cool moves! It was a great night!

Thanks to Grandma Kay and Grandpa Jack, Karl and I got some time away for our own adventures without a 2 year old. We went scuba diving and ziplining!! We had a blast!

We heard that watching the sun rise on the top of Mount Haleakala was a must-do on Maui, so we woke up around 3AM so we wouldn't miss it. We were fairly well prepared for how cold it would be so we brought as much warm stuff as we could find and headed out. It was beautiful and amazing how fast the sun rises once it peeked up over the clouds. We had heard the view is actually better when there are clouds as they act as a canvas for the sun. It was breathtaking! Such a cool experience to sit around with such a big group of people at the top of the highest point on the island to see the sunrise.

We also had lots of lazy time on the beach and by the pool. Our condo complex was right on the beach (Keawakapu Beach).

This was our beach cabana - found it online and it was worth every penny!

One of the highlights of the trip was driving the Road to Hana. It is a super curvy road with so many hairpin turns, right on the coast of the North shore on Maui. You could spend days seeing the sights along this road. Hikes, waterfalls, breathtaking views of the ocean, black sand beaches from volcanic rocks. We had a great guide book called Maui Revealed which was written by a couple of pilots that live in Hawaii and have a unique point of view for the highlights of the islands. We followed many of the sightseeing tips and they never disappointed!!

This waterfall was the reward of a tricky hike through a bamboo forest. It was one of my highlights of the Road to Hana - felt like a real adventure trying to navigate through this thick forest. We ran into many others with the same guidebook that we had, but not everyone was successful in finding the waterfall. We had it all to ourselves for a little while, and we scaled a steep drop while holding onto some tree roots to get down to be right underneath the waterfall.

This is probably my favorite scenery picture from the whole trip. This waterfall is called "The Three Bears". It is definitely my favorite waterfall.

Our little traveler!! Such a trooper!

This was another really cool waterfall. The picture doesn't really capture how HUGE this waterfall is. You can imagine how it felt to peek over the edge here though on our hike. Another cool find thanks to our guidebook:)

Greta and Daddy had a great time playing on this black sand beach. The black sand is formed from lava rocks that has been crushed by the powerful waves into sand. It was so cool and the waves crashing into this little beach were incredibly powerful. The signs warned of the undertoe current of the waves going back into the ocean.

This is an example of the power of the waves that were headed into the black sand beach but crashed into the rock instead - they were HUGE!

This is the kind of sunset that we enjoyed almost every night in Hawaii...you can't get much better than this beautiful place. Ahhh Hawaii....ALOHA.

JANUARY 2010

2011-01-12T11:47:00.000-08:00

Catch up time! We didn't blog at all in 2010, so here's a month-by-month summary of what we were up to.
Karl came home in January. Greta and I got to go to the airport to greet him off the plane! Needless to say, it was a great day! Greta didn't miss a beat with her daddy - she fell right back into the honeymoon they were on during Karl's R & R leave. We all had such a great time just being a family again. It was a long year...we had a lot to catch up on with each other.

August?!! Lots to catch up on!

2009-12-15T11:21:00.000-08:00

GRETA TURNED 2 (Sept 23) and DADDY CAME HOME FOR LEAVE!!! (October)

Karl came home for 15 days for R&R/Leave at the end of October. We were expecting him at the beginning of Oct, so we held off on all birthday celebrations until Karl came home and it was definitely worth the extra wait to have Karl celebrate such a special time with us.

Birthday cake and her Daddy = happy little girl

Presents are pretty good too.

A moment Karl had waited for for 9 months!!

We had such a great time during Karl's Leave!! I had the whole 2 weeks off work which was wonderful. We spent time with family and some friends, and time just the 3 of us to do what families do TOGETHER. Here are some pics of some time in our FENCED-in backyard:) Greta had a blast as you can see:

It was so much fun to see Karl and Greta together again. For a 2 year old, it is absolutely amazing the connection that they had after so much time apart. Greta didn't need any kind of warming up period and Karl slid right back into "Daddy world" like he had never left, which is amazing considering the completely different world that he had become so familiar with in Iraq.

We even got to spend Halloween together with Karl's family before Karl had to head back the next day.

Greta strutted around in her puppy costume for many weeks before Halloween as well as after! She often falls to the floor into puppy position and changes her expression to let us know that she is a puppy.

Of course it was hard to say goodbye again, although sadly, it did feel rather familiar, but at that time, it was such a good feeling to have conquered so much. It felt like we were standing on the highest peak and at least we could finally see what we had left to finish.

FOURTH OF JULY!!! (At Camp Cox)

This year's 4th had a deeper meaning for us of course. We did our usual thing with my family at the cabin which was so much fun...except that Karl wasn't with us. I think it will be extra special next year when we are able to celebrate this holiday in particular all together!!

The annual boat parade on Lake Hubert.

This is not our boat, but we loved the HUGE flag!

THIS is out boat, which holds 3 "Miss Lake Huberts" (no, we do not enter our children into Child Beauty Contests or anything like that, we just made a big sign and covered them in plastic jewels:))

Greta had a great time swimming! (Insider note: Greta is a "Miss Lake Hubert"-in training!)

She also loved playing in the boat and helping Mom drive

When we got home, we discovered Greta's first sliver!!

She was a tough little girl and we got it out without any tears!!

HIGHCHAIR PHOTO SHOOT

AT THE ZOO (Sometime this summer)

Greta and I went to the zoo with Aunt Lindsey this summer! Greta liked everything but the animals...very scary.

For a city girl, she sure loved this tractor!

And this tractor pulled trolley ride was great too

Sleeping tigers...yep, scary.

Moose talking back to the observers, definitely scary

This picture was zoomed in A LOT, but we were close enough for little G:)

Even the BRAND new (4 days old) piggies were too scary.

Greta wanted absolutely nothing to do with the aquarium - but this rock was great!

Half Way There

2009-08-17T10:55:00.000-07:00

We have made it to the unofficial half-way point of Karl’s deployment. Six months in, six more to go – hopefully no more than that. A couple months ago, I was almost dreading the “half-way” because I couldn’t imagine doing what we’ve just done AGAIN…not that I want to do this for 6 more months, but I seem to have found a better attitude between then and now. I definitely still have my “cup half empty” moments, but overall, I feel encouraged, proud, and extremely grateful to my family and friends! Karl is working extremely hard and definitely making us proud – not like the “Good Job” proud, but the kind of proud that changes us forever. I am in awe of Karl’s work ethic everyday (no weekends people!), his sense of duty to our country, his focus, and his service and commitment to his fellow soldier. Greta has no idea what kind of daddy she has, but she does know who her daddy is and she STILL gets really excited when she sees his picture and then proceeds to slop kisses all over the picture! It’s adorable. She loves her daddy. I was kind of worried that she wouldn’t remember him after awhile…I guess I didn’t have to worry about that. I know we still have 6 months to go, but there’s just no way she’s going to forget him now. It sure will be interesting to see her reaction when she sees him again!
We are hoping to see Karl in a few weeks actually – he is supposed to come home for “leave” sometime in October!! We have 2 weeks, which could never be long enough, but it will be AWESOME!! Hopefully it will rejuvenate us all to push us to the end of this thing!
I can’t thank my family, Karl’s family, and friends enough!! They have made this thing SO much easier on me than it could have been!! I am forever grateful! For all the dinners that people have hosted us for, the packages you have sent to Karl, my AMAZING lawn team, my gardener/landscape artist/potty training partner, my painter/project manager/neighborhood mediator, the random and very sneaky house cleanings, the time watching Greta for me, the playdates, the Bachelorette nights, the phone calls, the emails/texts, people just listening to me, my fellow military spouses, the adult time with friends and family so I can stop thinking of ways to outsmart my toddler for a period of timeJ, the time at the cabin with my parents and family, and every thought, prayer and offer of support that we have received!
A friend of my mom’s has put countless hours into a quilt that we put together for Karl – she hasn’t even met Karl and she has given us such an amazing gift!
I know there are so many ways that people are supporting us that we don’t even know about – thank you everyone!! We are so blessed and God has given us so much to be thankful for during this tough time.
I hope Greta will someday not only realize what her daddy is doing right now, but also will know how special this time has been for me with her. She tests me every day and I don’t have a perfect score, but she is such a special little girl and finds a way to light up every day. She is my angel.
Six months down, six to go…

Brainerd Urgent Care

2009-07-31T12:09:00.000-07:00

On July 24, we were at my parents's cabin and went for a boat ride. Greta usually does well in the boat, but she does not like a lot of wind, and it was windy. So Greta started crying and we thought it was because I was driving too fast with the wind, so we slowed down. Greta didn't stop crying and seemed really tired, so we eventually made it back to the cabin after a bumpy boat ride for lunch and naptime. She even fell asleep on Grandma's lap in the boat. When we got back to the cabin, we were going to lie in the hammock for a little bit as she had started crying again and just wouldn't stop. I took her life jacket off which she was not happy about. She didn't want to lie in the hammock so we went inside and eventually figured out that Greta wasn't using her left arm at all. She was holding it very still at her side and just wouldn't move it. If we touched her arm, she would cry and kind of pull away. Something was obviously wrong. We ended up at the Brainerd Urgent Care. They were so nice there and we got in right away. Greta had Nursemaid's Elbow (a dislocated elbow where the ligament flips over on the wrong side of the bone). They said it kind of feels like hitting your funny bone. They did a little maneuver to correct it - she turned Greta's hand over so her palm faces up and then bent her elbow up. Greta cried for a second and shot the nurse practitioner a look to let her know she didn't appreciate the whole thing, but Greta was quickly a lot better, stopped crying and started using her left arm more and more. It was great!
We got back to the cabin and Greta went down for a very late nap. When she woke up, she wouldn't really use her left arm again and didn't like it if we touched it. We gave Greta a shot of Baby Tylenol and then did the little maneuver on her again. Again, pretty instantly, she was healed!! We even went for another boat ride the next day and Greta loved it:)

Total Target Meltdown

2009-07-16T19:42:00.000-07:00

Greta and I needed to go to Target after work today. Greta is usually just fine at Target, as long as I am armed with crackers and Nuk. Today, I even had some water. I was set for sure. Um, NO. TOTAL MELTDOWN! Greta has really gotten the hang of saying "No", so she said it almost the entire time from picking out our last item to getting into the car and then all the way home! She took a small break in the checkout line because she was entertained by standing in the cart and trying to clasp the seatbelt together. Otherwise, "No, no, no, no, no, no..." You get the idea. She didn't want to do ANYTHING - didn't want to sit in the seat in the cart, didn't want to walk next to me, didn't want to have me hold her, didn't want me to take away the thing she had that we had to PAY for when it came time to swipe it at checkout, didn't want to stop playing with the seatbelt while standing in the cart so I could put the groceries in the cart to go home, didn't want her NUK!, didn't want to get in the car. The checkout chick didn't even make eye contact with me let alone say anything to me and that was when Greta was entertained in the cart! On top of it all, she started hitting me when we were trying to leave so I sat her little wailing butt down on Target's floor for a "time-out"...the problem was she didn't even want to come home with me. I started to walk away and she would say "Mommy!" and start crawling (I don't know why she decided to crawl at this point) toward me, but as soon as I acknowledged her, she would sit back down and wave at me while saying "Bye-bye". Nice.
I had one other time in Target when Greta was a tiny baby when she wouldn't stop crying and somebody told me that "she must be hungry". I didn't get any wonderful advice like that this time, but this was worse. Her cry was actually cute back then and I think most people felt bad for me. This time, I could just feel everyone's eyes on us, and the assumptions that were most likely drawn from our scene. I felt awful. I was mad at Greta for doing this of course, but I also felt bad that she was so upset and out of line. I felt helpless and alone and embarrassed. I FELT like a bad mom.
I know there will be MANY more incidents that are probably MUCH worse than this, but this first taste of it was awful. Oh well, chalk it up to experience and move on. Hopefully I've learned something for next time.

Lullabyes and Dr Seuss

2009-06-20T17:40:00.000-07:00

We recently got 4 Dr Seuss books, "Green Eggs and Ham", "The Cat in the Hat", "If I Ran the Zoo", and "One Fish..." Greta LOVES these books!! She usually struggles to sit still through an entire book, but she is so enthralled by Dr Seuss...we sometimes even read the same book again after we finish the first time in the same sitting:)
This is our bedtime routine lately: We read a Dr Seuss book, then Greta makes song requests and Mommy sings:) - Greta requests either "Up Abo-" (Up Above the...) for Twinkle Twinkle or "Mer Mer Mer" (Merrily, Merrily...) for Row Row Row Your Boat. Sometimes Mommy will just keep singing the same song and either Greta will smile if she approves or she'll interrupt the song with the other song request/demand:)
It doesn't take long for the requests/demands to fade and someone's eyes start to droop. Then we sing "Goodnight Jesus" or "Jesus Loves Me" and Greta lies down in her crib. She gets a little upset when Mommy starts to leave the room until her CD of lullabyes starts. Thank God for lullabyes!!:)

Seattle with Daddy

2009-05-14T18:53:00.000-07:00

I'm finally getting this post up that I've been meaning to do for so long. We had such a great time in Seattle with Karl! Hard to come back of course and settle back in. Karl is settling in as well. It is definitely harder to settle in in Iraq than it is to settle in back home. We all of course look forward to when we can settle in TOGETHER!:) 3 months down, 9 to go. We are making progress - 1/4 of the way through!

So in Seattle, I was basically the 3rd wheel on the honeymoon of Daddy and Greta:) They are so cute together and Greta is definitely still a Daddy's girl:) She was SO excited to see him, it was an amazing moment to watch - I'm sure Karl will tell you about the actual experience himself sometime.

Before we get to Seattle pics, here are some pre-deployment pics and a couple others:

First, a pic with Daddy...more of these to come:)

Now, a day in the life of Greta:

Princess Greta wakes from her slumber and waits for her servant (Mommy) to change her diaper.

In the morning, we like to play in the living room. Dolly and Greta are good buddies:)

I had to take this picture because when I (Becky) was about this age, I have a picture just like this because my family moved. Thought it was fun to have a very similar picture of my daughter now:)

Time to go Mom!

Dinner time - Get the bath ready!

BATH TIME!!

I love my Daddy!

Story time with Daddy... SO SEEEPY:)

Nigh Nigh Sweetheart

Oh, by the way, this is my Easter outfit:

SEATTLE

(April 14 - April 20)

We got into Seattle and Karl picked us up from the airport. We had 4 days together before Karl had to head back to Ft Lewis the evening of April 18. We went to the aquarium, Pike Place Market, ate lunch at the top of the Space Needle, swam in the pool at Embassy Suites in Belleview, found a neighborhood park, smelled the flowers and watched the "wa-woo" in the hotel. Our favorite coffee house was Tully's. Seattle is a beautiful city!! We had SO much fun just BEING TOGETHER!

After Karl left, Greta and I still had to hang around in Seattle until Monday, the 20th because we originally booked our flight to work around an event that ended up getting cancelled and Karl's pass ended up starting a little earlier and ending a little earlier as well. Luckily, my friend Kiki happened to be starting a travel PT job near Seattle and she was able to drive up to hang out with Greta and I on Sunday. We went to University of Washington which has an awesome view and is right on Lake Washington.

At the aquarium

Greta does a great fish face...but the real thing was apparently a little scary

These are felt pieces in the shape of fish and other aquatic life - she had a great time with this...or maybe it was just Daddy. I think Daddy was having a pretty good time too:)

She warmed up and we even got a couple "Oh WOW"s :)

Daddy and Greta - a romantic moment by the fountain

Daddy and Greta by the Space Needle

Daddy and Greta at the top of the Space Needle

A close-up of Daddy and Greta in the Space Needle

Daddy and Greta on the Pier

Oh yeah, Mom's here too...

Anyway, back to DADDY AND GRETA!!! This is my (Becky) FAVORITE PICTURE!!:)

THE PIKE PLACE MARKET

THE SPACE NEEDLE

And the view from the top

For anyone interested, this is the Real World Seattle house at Pier 70 :)

The Kraywinkles - can't wait to be together again!!

Until then, Mommy and Greta (and Nuk) wait for Daddy to come home. We are so proud of you Karl!!

96-Hour Pass & Preparing to Go

2009-04-22T18:33:00.000-07:00

Hello once again from lovely Fort Lewis!

I'm posting my last entry before heading overseas. The weather here at Fort Lewis has been remarkably nice as of late and it has stopped raining long enough for us to be able to enjoy the spring.

Before heading overseas, all Soldiers were given a 96-hour pass to enjoy themselves. Becky and Greta were able to make it out here for my pass, and we had a great time in Seattle. I'm very pleased to report that Greta immediately recognized her daddy after over two months of my absence. I was touched how eager she was to jump into my arms--truly a moment I'll always remember.

As we go forward to begin our mission, please remember the 34th Infantry Division and the people of Iraq in your prayers. Proudly Serving, CPT KDK

HOOAH from Fort Lewis!

2009-03-17T15:52:00.000-07:00

Spending time at the range...

Karl preparing to test out his Close Combat Optics -- a high-speed laser scope.

Mount Rainier...

The 34th Infantry Division JAG Team.

Greetings and salutations from Fort Lewis. Today we're having "Red Bull Day" -- our first day off in over a month. Training has been pretty non-stop. We've been conducting coordinated staff training exercises while working on all of our theater-specific preparation. Our active duty trainers seem impressed by us. Despite their praise, I think we can work out some of the "kinks" and really do a great job. We all feel pretty overwhelmed at times, but we're learning fast... I'm confident that, by the time we leave here, we will be well poised to make a great contribution to the mission and make you all proud.

Thanks for keeping Becky, Greta, my fellow Soldiers and me in your prayers. We love you. CPT KDK

Sick Little Girl- Saturday, February 28

2009-03-07T18:43:00.000-08:00

This is old news by now, but it has taken me awhile to transfer the pictures I took on my phone to my computer.

Anyway, last week on Saturday, Feb 28, we ended up at Children's Hospital ER for a little visit. I worked that day so Greta was at my parents's house. When I got home to pick her up, they were telling me how Greta had a little chills episode around lunch time-just kind of shivering a little like she was cold. She didn't really sleep much for her nap and just seemed like she had a cold, which we knew she did. She was a little warm when I picked her up, but when we got back to our house, she was much warmer. I took her temperature which was 103.4-definitely her highest fever ever. I called into the after-hours nurse line and they finally called me back an hour later. Other than her high temp, Greta seemed to be breathing a little faster and her little heart seemed to be fast. Greta just snuggled with me. She was sleepy, but never really fell asleep. Just mellow and definitely acting like she didn't feel well. Greta wouldn't let me take her pulse, and I just thought she was breathing a little faster because she was congested and breathing through her Nuk. So I wasn't incredibly nervous or anything, I just wanted them to call me back so I could give her Tylenol for her fever and put her to bed, which is what I thought they were going to tell me to do. The nurse asked me some questions about Greta and helped me take her respiratory rate which ended up being 52 breaths/min, which she said was too high for resting and we should bring her to Children's ER. My parents came with us to the ER, which was really nice and very helpful! Greta was NOT a fan of any of the testing-they couldn't even hear her breath sounds since she cried through the whole thing whenever someone (strangers) were touching or even looking at her:( Poor little girl. They did a chest xray-I went with her and held her little arms above her head-very quick and painless of course, but still not a happy little girl. She was okay in between tests, just not during them:)

We had to wait a long time-at least an hour for the results and our ticket home! We found out she had pneumonia! Poor little girl! Meanwhile, Grandma and Grandpa were great entertainers and Greta was playing and laughing:) They had given her some Tylenol earlier and she was cooling down quite a bit and obviously feeling better as you can see in the pics:) We got our prescription for antibiotics and finally got to go home at about 1130PM.

We stayed home on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday since her fever hung on for awhile and she was still a little more needy than usual-more snuggle time and 1 on 1 attention:) She slept pretty well, including a 3 hour 40 minute nap one day! She is doing great now-just a runny nose and a cough. Happy and back to her old self:)

--KARL UPDATE--

Karl is doing fine. He definitely wanted to be there for his little girl during this whole ordeal-hard to hear your daughter has pneumonia when you can't do anything about it (even though pneumonia is pretty harmless).

They (Karl and all the others) are working very long hours and are working very hard with only 1 half day "off" so far in 3 wks. We get to talk quite often (almost everyday) on the phone and send texts every so often as well. So that has been great since I expected less frequent communication. He won't be taking his cell phone overseas, so hopefully we'll be able to rely on the internet a little more. The internet at Fort Lewis has been disappointing and inconvenient. Karl is always saying how great the people he is with there are and feels like they are doing some really good training.

Mail (the old fashioned way) has already become an important and exciting event, so let me know if anyone needs his Washington address (yes, that was a hint, but also, I'm not going to post his address, so you need to email me if you want it). I'll get the Iraq address to you when we get that.

Karl is planning on posting a blog on here sometime hopefully soon as well.

Ft Lewis pics

2009-02-24T18:05:00.000-08:00

Here are some pics of Karl's trip to Ft Lewis and his surroundings there on base:

Meeting at the Rosemount armory to check in for departure

Bus ride to airport escorted by state highway patrol!

Arriving at the airport on the tarmac to board their Northwest 747

Moving in and issuing equipment

The Barracks (sleeping quarters)

Karl's bed-not exactly a sleep number bed

A meeting area with a flood light--Karl said the moisture in the air helped create this cool effect

Reminds me of Band of Brothers

Formation before PT (Physical Training)

Their transportation? Um, where's the Hummer? This looks more like a cattle truck!

One squared away soldier with Mt Rainier in the background

Dummy Account

2009-02-22T20:37:00.000-08:00

I have set up an account for everyone to use if you want to make comments on this page and would rather not enter in your own information.
Email: kraywinklefamilyandfriends@yahoo.com
Password: kraywinkle2009

Let me know if you have any problems-hopefully this works for those that want to use it!
Stay tuned...more updates coming soon!

GAH-kah

2009-02-03T15:22:00.000-08:00

Greta now refers to herself as GAH-kah. The 2nd syllable almost sounds like a "g" rather than a "k", but there is definitely a "K" sound in there. She repeats her name when we say it and sometimes she points to herself in the mirror and says "GAH-kah".

A New Word

2009-01-08T11:42:00.000-08:00

HAPPY NEW YEAR!! Hope everyone had a great holiday season.
Greta has a new word - Wa-woo, which means water. We think it is such a great word that we are looking into having the English language officially change it.

Iraq Update

2008-12-22T17:37:00.000-08:00

For those that don’t know, Karl is deploying with the 34th Infantry Division. He is in JAG for the military and will be performing duties as an administrative law attorney and trial counsel.
Just wanted to post a little update on Karl’s status with the information that we have. Karl will be leaving for Ft Lewis, WA the second week in February ’09. He will be at Ft Lewis for 2 months and then head off to Iraq in April. Greta and I will be able to go out to Seattle to see Karl for a few days before he leaves. As of now, we are hoping that Karl will get a R&R break somewhere in the middle of their time in Iraq (approx 10 months for a total 1 year deployment), however this is not for sure at this point.
While the coming year will certainly be difficult for us, we are confident this deployment will be a worthy sacrifice. We are so proud of Karl and honored to join him in this service to our country. We are blessed with a great amount of support as we move forward, and we really appreciate all the questions, well wishes and offers of help.
Both Karl and I (and Greta) will do our best to post updates on a regular basis. We wish you a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Baby Mozart

2008-12-15T19:17:00.001-08:00

Oh, did you have a request?

Of course I can play that!

I love to tickle the ivories!

Now I'm going to play this song.

It may look like a difficult piece, but it is pretty easy for me.

BRAVO!

Bully at KinderCare

2008-12-12T13:06:00.001-08:00

That's right. Our little sweetheart, the same little girl in this picture, is the resident bully in the Mobile Infant room at Kinder Care! Biting, hair pulling, and PUSHING!!! We frequently get "incident reports" of these behaviors -one day Greta got 7 in the same day! Terrible. Hair pulling and pushing only happened one time each, but biting was basically an everyday occurrence until we started BITING BACK. I couldn't believe that I was biting my child back, but it really has seemed to work...please don't report us to Social Services.

My Halloween Costume

2008-12-12T12:56:00.000-08:00

This is a little late, my here is my Halloween costume!

First Last

2008-09-23T19:08:00.000-07:00

This was our last boat ride of the season this past weekend. (Grandma and Grandpa were on the boat too.) My first last boat ride. I love riding in the boat and my mom is an excellent driver. By the way, I've decided NOT to sell her anymore...she's alright.

I didn't like those shots at all, but we actually had a really fun day on my birthday. I got to see lots of people - grandparents, aunts, cousins, and my mom gave me LOTS of kisses all day long:) I really miss my daddy, but he's coming home soon! And then we'll REALLY have some fun and start celebrating!!:)

On my first birthday, I have lots of tricks that I can do, but sometimes I get them confused. I can do the hand motions to Pat-a-Cake, point to my nose, clap, wave, blow kisses, give kisses, do SO BIG...I'm working on walking, but it is too scary without anything to hold onto. I like to make noise, bang things, laugh, fake cough for attention, push buttons, open/close doors/cupboards/drawers, dance, move furniture, and watch/play with other kids (especially my cousins). Here are some pictures of me playing my drums.

Mommy For Sale

2008-09-23T18:40:00.000-07:00

Mean mom for sale. She scheduled a doctor's appointment with SHOTS on my FIRST BIRTHDAY!!!! What kind of way is that to remember the greatest day ever?! All the happiness and joy that I've provided this year and this is how we celebrate? I'll show her.

Report from Daycare

2008-09-04T19:13:00.000-07:00

Today when Karl picked Greta up from daycare, after a long weekend at the cabin with lots of attention, daycare informed Karl that Greta had an "emotional" day... Specifically, she would not allow the daycare people to converse or attend to other kids when she was on their lap. She would get very upset. There is supposed to be a 4:1 ratio kids to adults in Greta's daycare room...Greta ended up in the assistant director's room with a convenient 1:1 ratio which apparently suited Greta much better.

QUESTION #1
This behavior is a result of:
A) Getting spoiled
B) Being extra special
C) Parent-directed syle of parenting
D) Getting spoiled
E) All of the above

Uh-Oh

2008-08-28T15:39:00.000-07:00

This morning when we were getting ready, Greta repeated "Uh-Oh". She says "Oh"....pause....pause......"Oh". She did it several more times as Karl couldn't get enough of it:) Her first word other than "Dada" and "Mama"! Definitely blog worthy.

Touch of Broken

2008-08-21T12:14:00.000-07:00

We have had a stroke of bad luck this week. Our week started off great when Karl got home earlier than expected as his case settled before the hearing. Greta and Karl had their honeymoon time where Greta is ALL about her Daddy and NOBODY else really when he comes home. Karl obviously LOVES that!! It is pretty cute. She laughs even when his jokes aren't funny, she always smiles big when he comes into the room, and just generally acts like they are the only 2 people on Earth...except for mealtime when Mom is acceptable. Thanks.
I tried to be a good wife and mowed the lawn while Karl and Greta were on their honeymoon. The mower broke. We ended up getting a new motor for free due to a technician error when we already had it worked on a few weeks ago (they forgot to fill it back up with oil since they had drained the oil to work on it).
Shortly after this, we realized that the AC was not working and it was quickly becoming very warm in our house. We had to wait the whole weekend and then until Tuesday for them to come look at it. They had from 12-2:00 on Tuesday to come...they came at 4:15 and had lost our phone number even though I called them at 2:30 to see where they were. We ended up needing to replace the AC. They couldn't replace it on Tues since it was too late in the day...hmmm. They came the next AM...they were late.
Meanwhile, Greta needed to be picked up from daycare on Monday with a temp of 101.6 and her fever continued through Tuesday and Wednesday. (No AC until Wednesday afternoon-poor girl). I left work on Monday. We tried daycare again on Wednesday (temp was okay in AM), Karl left work on Wednesday. We tried to take her back to daycare on Thurs since her temp was even lower than Wed AM...they sent us home until her temp has been normal for 24 hours. Kicked out of daycare. Sad. Greta is fine now by the way.
THEN, Tues night, when we were trying to survive one last night without AC, hanging out in the basement talking about how we really should've priced out a new AC unit, the TV broke. Done. Need a new TV.
We've even had a few lightbulbs burn out this week AND one of Greta's FAVORITE toys ran out of batteries!!!! Tragic.

We are looking up now as we have a fun weekend planned and Greta seems healthy now so we can go. We are going to Fargo/Moorhead to see Ann, Nick (Greta's godparents) and Kaleb, and Tony and Kara (getting married in October!). Should be fun.

blogger in training

2008-07-25T19:21:00.000-07:00

Greta FINALLY woke up. Very dirty diaper.

On Tuesday, Greta had her nine-month doctor's appointment -- she turned ten-months on Wednesday. The doc said that she's healthy, despite her extraordinarily long naps, so we're very thankful.

I (KDK) am leaving for Charlottesville, VA, on Sunday afternoon for training at The Judge Advocate General Legal Center and School (TJAGLCS). For those of you who are interested, TJAGLCS is located right on the campus of the University of Virginia, next to the law school. The course is on Operational Law. I will be traveling with several other soldiers from our JAG Section who will also be attending the course. Should be a good time.

As my mother indicated in her comment, I plan on heading up to Gettysburg if I get some extra time while I'm out east. Many of you already know that I take great interest in the American Civil War. Given the heroism of the First Minnesota Volunteer Infantry Regiment during the Battle of Gettysburg, I feel drawn there. Their sacrifice fills me with great pride -- I wish more people knew their story.

Upon my return from Virginia, I immediately head up to Camp Ripley for a week of pre-mobilization training. No rest for the weary...

I will make best efforts to check the blog as often as I can while I'm gone. We hope to be using this blog while I'm in Iraq so I can stay plugged in -- this should be good practice. KDK

2008-07-24T19:14:00.000-07:00

Sand castle architect - hard at work at Camp Cox beach.

First Blog

2008-07-20T10:29:00.000-07:00

Greta is taking a nap right now. Check back later for further updates:)