We made it.  It is now 3:45 am and Edward has just gotten me up with a dirty diaper.  We are both wide awake now, given that it is now 9:45 in England, I think we both had a serious sleep in.  Well we did all go to bed between 11:00 PM and 1:00 Am, after 12 hours of flying.  Overall I Edward and I don’t feel too bad, although, I am keep not letting him use any musical instruments right now. :}

The trip was pretty non-eventfull.  It was very sad leaving Gillian’s parents.  They have spent almost as much time with Benjamin as I have.  It was wonderfull to have them avalible to help Gillian and the boys over the last 5 months.  They have made the whole Afghanistan thing so much easier. 

THANK YOU VERY MUCH!!!!!

Gillian and the other boys are still asleep and I am becoming the base for some sort of block tower.  Dads are always usefull.  Thank you all for a wonderfull reception at the airport, and at home.  There were a number of people to include my parents that meet us at the airport and then, after getting all the strollers, baggage, and carry ons, we made a quick drive home.

The house was in imaculate condition and there were a lot of premade meals in the fridge and freezer, and some presents and cards to great us at the front door.  Thank you all for the wonderfull homecoming.  Gillian and I will be settling in with the boys over the next few days.  My Mom is here to help while we all recover from the flight and time change.

We thank everyone who is dieing to see us for your pacience and not coming to visit us right away.  We just want the boys to get settled back in.

We will see you all soon.

Ok the new little man is killing me.  I am really getting short on sleep.  It was my turn to take care of him last night and I went to bed at 9:30 after finally getting Edward in bed.  Then I had to get up at 2 AM to change him and hand him to Gillian to feed.  Then over the next 30 minutes I had to keep giving him his pacifier before he finally went back to sleep.  Then AGAIN I had to get up at 6 Am to change his diaper, then he went to sleep again until about 8 Am when Gillian fed him again.  Man life is rough in the Thies household.

 Gillian and I have decided that we want a couple of quiet days to get the family back in time and get all of us used to the fact that we are home.  Given this, we invite everyone who would like to, to meet us at the Portland airport.  It is flight NW595 from Miniapolis arriving at 703 PM.  We will spend plenty of time there for everyone to hold Philip, and see all of us.  Then once we get home we request no visitors.  My Mom is coming over to help us for the first few days to get adjusted, then starting over the weekend we will be inviting people over to spend some time with the whole family. 

I will be doing an Afghan experience slide show sometime in the next 1-2 months as well.  I will keep everyone posted on that date when we have it figured out. 

Thank you all for your patience and understanding as we get readjusted to home.

Note that I am back to using thumbnails agian.  The blog site now has it as an option again.

We finally got all three of them at one time and everyone smiling and happy.  Edward likes to “hug” (hold) Philip and we decided to quickly get a couple of pictures while no one was crying or throwing a tantrum.

Notice the streaker; Benjamin is always taking his shirt off.  I think he is trying to impress the girls with his six pack

Ok, as requested by many people, more of babies, and Gillian, and less of Pat.   Gillian and Philip are both doing well, with Philip’s poor head healling up very well.  You can hardly see any marks on it at all.  I love that neonates heal so well.  Gillian is also improving and may try to walk into town today.  Her energy level is much better now, and she is getting a lot more sleep even with the new little one.  I think she is accually getting more sleep than I am even with feedings.  Philip likes to sleep on my chest, so as you might guess I dont sleep as well.  We have an appointment with the US Embassy to get his birth registered and get his passport.  Every thing is headed the right way to get home at 1903 hours on the 31st of October.

I finally did it, sorry that they ended up like the Pathfinder.  They have changed the web site format for pictures and this was the best I could do.  Just save them to your computer and then look at them.  That should be a lot easier to see.  Gillian and Philip got back to Grandpa’s house yesterday for a wonderfull welcome home.  There were balloons and banners around the house.  Gillian was glad to get out of the hospital for some better sleep, as she was in a room with 5 other mothers and babies.  Of course that whole idea failed.  We each got about 3 hours of sleep.  I am not going to let the little man sleep today.  Everytime he closes his eyes I am going to poke him.  This is not retribution, just keep him awake so he sleeps at night.  He does seem to be eating well, but nobody gets pictures of that.  I will try to get some of the newer pictures of him up latter today.  The camera is up in the bed room and I do not want to disturb Gillian or Philip.  I am currently up with Edward and Benjamin.  They both got up at 530-6.  I am going to get a nap to day even if I have to go on a “Run” and sleep on a park bench.    PS. Happy Birthday Gillian – 30th.

Philip was born at 0131 on 18 Oct.  He was 22 inches long, weighed 9.2 lbs, and head of 37 cm.  It was a bit of a hard delivery for Gillian.  She pushed untill she could not do any more, then the doctor used suction and then forcepts and finally the little guy entered the world.  His head was pretty beat up, but he should be good in 1-2 days.  Gillian and Philip will be in the hospital 1-3 days, we dont know for sure when they are coming out.

Overall both of them are doing well.

I was up all night so tough luck on pictures right now.  I will be putting several on tomorrow.

Thanks for all of your prayers.

Off to the hospital. Keep praying. 

Stay tuned

Yep I did it, I made her do some jogging on the way into town yesterday.  As we crossed a street I told her a car was coming and we needed to run.  She did manage to run across the street, but still no baby.  I will be working on tricking her into a longer run today when we go into town.  I will have to pick a wider street this time.

We are already getting visitors who have come to see the baby, but so far they have left dissapointed.  Gillian’s bother and family are coming today so hopefully that excitement helps get things going.  By the end of the week her whole family will be here to see the baby.  I am just hoping they will.  It is getting closer to a double birthday on Gillian’s birthday.