More Jocelyn Pics

Some more!

Dominics Grandma & Grandpa holding Jocelyn.
Here is the little cutie, swaddled tightly.
Dominic likes to play with our eye glasses. He actually has DominicsMom's glasses on! Now if we can only get him to wear sunglasses.

That's it for the night!

Pictures of Dominic and Jocelyn II

Here are some more photos for your enjoyment. Dominic has taken a liking to holding Jocelyn in his lap. DominicsMom closely supervises of course! He seems most interested in her when she is awake.
Here is the little cutie taking a nap.
Here's the other cutie taking a nap!

DominicsDad, in Djibouti

Pictures of Dominic and Jocelyn I

Here are some photos of Dominic and Jocelyn that DominicsMom and DominicsAunt Laurie have shared with me.

The first is Dominic playing in his toy box! I have never seen him do this and I got a real kick out of it!

Here, Dominic is talking to me and pointing at the TV (at Grandma & Grandpa's place). He was saying "Look. Look." He wanted me to watch what he was watching! Sniff Sniff...I'm missing so much!

Here I am, saying good bye to Dominic on my final day. He didn't get it at first, but he really howled when I strapped him into the car and it pulled away without me. Poor DominicsMom, she was crying too...

Here is the little guy saying hello to Jocelyn. What a cutie!

Captions for the Pictures

Ok, I managed to post a bunch of pictures the other evening, but I didn't have the time to write any captions. I was using an MWR computer to post and they only give you 30 minutes because there is a line of people waiting to use the computers. Anyways, here is an explanation for each caption.

The Pictures II from Djibouti post first:

The first is myself and 1stSgt Craig promoting five Marines from PFC to Lance Corporal.

In the second, my XO has just received a couple of packages from home filled with bedding. He is suitably impressed. Actually, he probably has the nicest rack (bed for you non-Marine types!) in the Camp now with the foam mattress cover. I on the other hand wake up with a stiff back every other night.

The third picture is of my office. Looks good! I haven't bothered to change it much from the way my predessor left it. He did a good job arranging it. I did go through the desk drawers and toss out a bunch of stuff however.

From the Pictures post:

The first photo is of myself at the Port of Djibouti as we provided security for an Army ship, somehting that we do regularily.

1stSgt Craig and myself right after the Relief in Place.

Some of my staff and myself at an Embassy party. We were actually at an Embassy member's house. The upper class housing areas are actually rather nice. They all have a very large deck on the roof of the house and the houses are quite large.

And the promotion photo again. I just liked it a lot (actually, I forgot I already posted it...)

Within the next couple of days I'll try to post some photos of Dominic & Jocelyn that DominicsMom sent out. There are also some more from Laurie.

DominicsDad, in Djibouti

Pictures II from Djibouti

Pictures

Dominic & Jocelyn

DominicsMom contributes this story that she sent me:

I taped a little of Dominic laughing at Jocelyn while she was having tummy time...He is sitting/laying on the bed looking right into her face and he is laughing pretty hard. He is completely interested in her as long as her eyes are open. He even wanted to hold her again…of course I was alone, so no pictures. Dominic also has a good gag reflex. He saw Jocelyn with a little spit-up on her face before my mom or I could get to her and Dominic looked and started gagging. Then it happened again. She just had a little bit in the corner of her mouth and when he went up to her, he gagged again. My mom and I were laughing so hard. I wish I could get that on tape!!!

That had me laughing pretty hard, hopefully she can continue sending more stories! When the baby settles into a schedule she will be able send more.

Today we had a good, strong rain in Djibouti. We actually had some pretty good sized puddles on base and everything got washed down. The base really needed it...but soon the sun came out and the humidity increased from 95% to 145%. Temperatures here have not been too bad, hovering in the mid-80's all week. I have to try to run very early or after the sun goes down as I am not ready to run in the mid-day heat. There are always a few brave souls out running at noon, they must have some camel in their blood.

DominicsDad, in Djibouti

Pictures!

It works - sometimes. DJ Internet sucks.

Pictures From Aunt Laurie

DominicsAunt Laurie took a lot of pictures when she visited back in February. She showed up a few days early, surprising Deanna at her baby shower. Many thanks to Laurie for sending us the photos that she took with her kick @zz camera. It takes really good pictures! If I could only share them with you (I'm working on it!)

Before I left, we were taking all the old baby gear out of the garage and setting it up for Jocelyn. One of the items was the baby vibrating chair. This particular one had a underwater theme with fish and bubbles. Dominic must have remembered it subconsciously, because he had to try it out. It makes one of the funnier pictures that Laurie took with Dominic sitting in the chair, very obviously not fitting, sucking on his pacifier. She captioned it something like, "Feeling a bit insecure are we?" We sometimes couldn't put the baby in there because Dominic was always in it. One time he crawled in, leaned back and the whole thing rolled over on top of him. We were all very concerned of course, but it was the funniest thing that I saw all day... It does have a large warning label saying for 15 pounds only. Dominic weighs over twice that and the whole frame bends in a pretty crazy way.

Laurie also took some cute pictures of Dominic showing Jocelyn the fish and then him giving her a soft kiss. I'm not sure at what point the older kids begin to pinch the baby behind Mom's back, but hopefully he won't!

More Tales from DJ

The Marines are learning their duties and how to put up with the heat and humidity. The unit we are replacing is pretty happy to be leaving soon as they only have a few more days until their big day. Today we held a small ceremony to herald the change of responsibility between my unit and the one we are replacing. Our Marines are running everything while the other unit's Marines shadow us and make sure we execute our duties correctly.

Our Marines can't wait for them to leave because we want their quarters. Their tents are better than ours as wood partitions separate each bunk, providing some privacy. Each partition also has a locker or desk or some other furniture to make things more livable. I will be getting a CLU, think a small box turned into a spartan apartment, but it has its own head (bathroom), so it is definitely a step up. There are only a limited number of these available and are a hot commodity among the officers and senior enlisted on base. I feel fortunate to get one.

I've managed to give Dominic and DominicsMom a couple of phone calls. Dominic was put on the phone and he was going "Daddy Daddy! Daddy Daddy!" Poor DominicsMom cried the whole while the first time I called. Dominic was excited for a bit, but went back to watching his video. His new favorite is The Lady and the Tramp, a Disney movie with dogs. DominicsMom reports that Jocelyn is doing well, she is eating well and starting to gain weight. She's actually sleeping a decent amount each night, allowing for some sleep. Hopefully I don't jinx it!

I've been having trouble posting photos, hopefully I'll get it fixed soon. Once we finish our turn-over with the other unit and I have the office all too myself, I should be able to make some calls out to folks.

DominicsDad in Djibouti

In Djibouti!

We have finally arrived in Djibouti. We were about 12 hours late arriving because we got stuck in Frankfurt, Germany due to snow and crew rest issues. We landed late morning in Frankfurt and got off while they refueled the plane. The USO had a nice little area for us and served coffee and sold some treats to us. After warming up a bit, some of the Marines headed outside and had a snow ball fight. The rest of us warmed up inside the hanger (it was a decent sized hanger converted into a spartan terminal, but they had chairs and coffee.) Once we got back on the plane, the snow was really coming down and by the time we got to the deicing station, the plane needed to be refueled. While the crew worked that, they ended up running into crew rest limitations, so we returned to the hanger. The USO personnel had left, so we helped ourselves to their coffee maker. We spent 3-4 hours in the hanger, but all was well. I spent the last leg of the flight watching movies when I should have been sleeping, so I was pretty tired by the time we landed.

Once we landed, they checked our bags and we all did the usual seabag drag out to our tents. The tents aren't so bad, but they are pretty plain. I have a whole bunk to myself, but I do have to smell everyone elses feet as we are packed pretty tight. They have to listen to me snoring so I guess we are even.

We spent the next couple of days getting caught up on our rest. We began our turn over on Monday with a series of in-briefs. Today I took an SUV drivers course which had a really fun prac ap driving course.

I'm having trouble posting pictures, I'll try again a little later.

DominicsDad