2 Months Old!

11 pounds 7 ounces

24.25 inches

Tigger is still my BFF

Buddled up for a ride.  Love my boots!

Snow Day

Santa got me a snow suit for Christmas because he knew my first one would be white.  Check out my photos!

I can't move my arms!

Mommy, STOP LAUGHING AT ME!

I am fairly certain this is child abuse!

Fun....

My first Snow Angel!

Leyton's Bloopers

Leyton is one cute kid... but sometimes the camera catches her in some 'off' moments.  Here are some of my favorites.

Leyton's First Christmas

Leyton Lee had a bittersweet first Christmas.  Bitter because nothing is completely fun unless Daddy is here, but sweet because she spent time with plenty of family and got lots of goodies.  Naturally Mommy's camera battery spent time on the charger, so I have a few pictures, but not many.  However, plenty of pictures where taken by others, I just have to get them from their camera's to this blog. 
Leyton gave Mommy a wonderful present - she slept for 8.5 hours so that Mommy was refreshed for Christmas day.  She knew she had to charge her batteries for the playing the 'baby hot potato' game all day.  Santa brought her lots of goodies, including but not limited to: a Johnny Jump Up, a snow suit, chew toys, and clothes.  There was also no shortage of gifts from the family.  She got lots of new big girl clothes, which will be appearing in upcoming blogs.  Toys and books were also a hot item this year.

Chatting with Uncle Jeremy

Posing with all my presents!

My pretty Christmas dress - Thanks Grammy!



This hat is a little big...





 Leyton is now a drooler.  If you hold her, you come away with a little wet spot on your shoulder.  She still refuses to take a bottle or a pacifer.  Instead, she prefers her sleeve.  That's right, her sleeve.  She will turn her head and raise her arm up and suck away on her sleeve. She really likes the sleeve of her sleep sack, because it is fuzzy.  Maybe I should cover a bottle in fuzzy cloth... hmmmm.... 

Merry Christmas

First off, Merry Christmas to each and every one of you! I hope you are all enjoying your time with family and friends and eating some good food! I cannot believe it is Christmas once again. The only thing indicating that it is Christmas is the 5 Christmas songs I have playing on repeat on my laptop. Thanks, Michael Buble! Speaking of laptops, the other night when I got home, I was about to finish up a movie that I started and so I opened up my trusty Apple laptop and the keyboard or trackpad did not work. Great!! After a few restarts no change. The screen and everything works great but no keys or pointer. Well, I got into the office the following morning and checked to see if plugging in a mouse and a keyboard would work, and sure enough it does. So I have a temporary fix… I Googled this problem and saw that this is a common problem with Macbooks. I guess I will have to get it looked at when I’m home in Feb. Yes, that is correct. My leave was approved and my ticket was bought. I will be home on 14 Feb and will be home until 5 March (20 days). Shannon, Leyton (I think) and I were all so excited about the news and we are already counting down the days; 51. This week has been pretty fast. We have been pretty light at the office because a few people are out on leave. We have been staying busy. Since this is a 7 days a week job, we all have to come in and do our daily reports and such. We got the weekend patrols done on Friday so people could relax a bit. I am on duty today; I figured there is nothing else to do, so why not put myself on duty. I would be here in the office regardless since there really is nothing to do. We will more then likely eat at the Bangladeshi camp for lunch but because they are Muslim, there will be no fancy feast of any kind. I will probably do my same routine for dinner tonight; easy mac, tuna, and bananas. I might splurge and open up some cookies or something that I have been rationing. We got a few new postings to the team. Our current team leader (from Benin) is being reposted to another team site. We are receiving a team leader from Paraguay. This will be his second posting. We also are receiving a Jordanian major that is also coming here on his second posting. I am pretty sure it is confirmed that I will stay here my entire time. I could honestly choose where I wanted to go, but I want to stay here. It is close to Monrovia, but still far enough away from the craziness. I have all my stuff here and moving it would be a pain in the butt. And luckily I have a US Navy countryman working in the admin shop. She asked what I wanted to do and where I wanted to go, and she said, no problem. So hopefully I’ll stay here in Gbarnga. I will be heading in to Monrovia on Sunday to pick up the new team leader. I think there are a few boxes there that are waiting for me, so maybe ill have things to open. I hope you all have a Merry Christmas. I will be thinking of you all and praying for an enjoyable time with family and friends.

A friend of mine shared this poem with me and it really hit home. I wanted to share it with you all:

Christmas, Oh Christmas.

Must you be so cruel?

The time of joy, the time of cheer,

The season of good Yule.

It seems so sad for me to know,

There will be no holly or mistletoe.

The smell of cedars so crisp and clear,

Will be but a vision to me this year.

A tiny girl so sweet to me,

Will be enjoying her first Christmas Tree.

With bulbs so shiny and lights so bright,

Oh! To see her face on Christmas night.

Or to see the joy in her mother’s eyes.

When on Christmas morning, she hears her cry.

Mommy, Mommy come and see.

What Santa Claus has brought to me.

But Christmas, as you can easily see.

These visions will at least be with me.

Although I may not be there to take part.

I will be there in mind and heart.

Shannon and Leyton – I love and miss you very much. Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas from Gbarnga, Liberia!! We didnt get any snow this year...

I visited the Gbarnga Prison this past week. It was a lot better then what I have heard and what I expected. This is our new team mate, Maj Mwale, from Zambia.

Gbarnga Prison- home to 96 inmates (4 females). 10 are serving their sentencing and 86 are awaiting trial.

This is their recreation area. They get one hour for rec time, and only one meal a day.

We also stopped by the County Superintendent's Office. This is looking out of building to downtown Gbarnga.

Roads are still sketchy in some places. "The Gauntlet" is not as bad as it looks.

Two Months Old!

Miss Leyton turned two months old on Wednesday, the 22nd.  To celebrate, we went to the doctor for her check-up and shots.  She is getting so big!  11 pounds, 7 ounces and 24 1/4 inches - both of which are at the 50th percentile for her age.  She was very brave for her 3 shots and only cried for about a minute (then Mommy fed her, which fixes all kinds of hurt). 
Tuesday she went to see Santa!  She sat on his lap and told him what she wanted for Christmas - for her Daddy to come home.  Unfortunately, Santa knows that Daddy is still needed in Africa, BUT he did clear his leave for February, so Ryan can come home for almost 3 weeks on Valentine's Day!  51 days to go! Thanks Santa!

They managed to snap the picture JUST before she started crying

8 years

Eight years ago today, I had the honor of reciting the Oath of office to my wonderful sister Sonya, stating, “I, Ryan G. Campoamor, do solemnly swear to support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same. That I take this obligation freely without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion and that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office of which I am about to enter, So help me God.” That was by memory…. I had to memorize it for the commissioning ceremony and it is something I will NEVER forget. I took the oath to become an Officer in the United States Navy because I wanted to defend this great nation, I wanted to help people, and I wanted to fulfill my dream of flying. I would have never imagined I would be where I am today, in Africa, living in the bush. But this is all part of God's plan and in the big scheme of things im doing what I signed up for; defending our Nation’s freedom. I am still very happy with my decision to join the military and wouldnt change anything. It has allowed me to do things I would have never thought I would have been able to do. I am grateful for the continued opportunity to serve the people of the United States.

Another week is just about in the books. I think this is about the half-way point of this deployment. 4 months down, 4.5 or so to go.

The two Ivory Coast Presidents are still not playing nice despite the international community’s threats. Liberia is absorbing a good amount of refugees at the border. The President who lost in the election ordered all UN personnel out of I.C. but the UN HQ in NY said they will stay put. It is a game of cat and mouse between each party... shutting down all communications, food, medical supplies, etc. They have evacuated all UN personnel to Gambia except for the mission essential people. Nothing has changed for the mission here in Liberia. We are still operating as normal. They have positioned a few more battalions at the borders to help manage the refugees and deter any violence that spills over from IC. The scary thing is that next year (Oct 2011) Liberia’s Presidential elections will take place. Not only are they unprepared for it, but with the election history of all the western African nations, expect the unexpected.

I went to the Guinea/Liberia border yesterday to check out the current security situation. I think we drove up a little too loudly because when we arrived at the border crossing point, we awoke the border officers that were there ‘guarding’ the border. Excellent work, guys!! We had a nice chat with them and everything appeared to be normal. We went with a platoon of Pakistani troops. I think I get stranger looks from the Pakistani’s then I do from the Africans. I want to know what is going through their heads at times…

Still no plans for Christmas. I’m pretty sure ill be here in Gbarnga. It seems as if the town I live in, Sgt. Kollie Town (SKT), is bustling with people. The kids are out of school and every time we pass through there is constant excitement. I guess most families and friends get together to celebrate Christmas, just as we do back home. There was a nice party here last weekend at the base. There was a local band that played great music and they had good Bangladeshi food. It was a good time.

Merry Christmas to each and everyone of you. May God continue to bless you all.

This was Clayton and I interviewing an owner of a small motorbike parts store in Gbarnga.

Just another day in downtown Liberia.

Clayton and I buying plantains. Yum!

Ryan eating plantains!

People are now starting to harvest their rice. They have no machines or anything to help harvest their large fields of rice so they must walk through their fields with a knife and cut off the tops by hand.

Liberian Rice + one grasshopper = dinner for two.

More ants on the road.

This was on the way to the Gbaota border crossing point on the Guinea border. We had to rearrange a bunch of these planks on this bridge because it was pretty sketchy. These are the two Pakistani land cruisers that they rode in.

Here is the welcoming sign reminding guests of the "rules of laws"

The Immigration "office" at Gbaota. These are the two officers that 'guard' the border.

Group photo: (left to right) Immigration officer from Gbarnga, Librarian Nat'l Police (LNP) officer from Gbarnga, the two trusty border officials of Gbaota, a Pakistani 2nd LT (platoon commander of the security force that accompanied us), Clayton, and myself. We normally pick up an immigration officer, LNP officer, DEA officer and an interpreter for our trips to the border for them to get a pulse of what is going on. These guys were the only two that could make it from Gbarnga.

This is the entrance into Liberia from Guinea. There is a 1.5 km long path that leads to a river where they must cross a makeshift bridge. The river is the boundary.

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas.... well, maybe not

Well, I figured I should post something soon. Shannon is really showing me up these past few days and putting stuff up more frequently then I am. I guess it is an indication of who has more free time on their hands. I don't really have much but I'll give it a shot.

Christmas is a little over a week away and I still cant believe it. The only way to tell that Christmas is upon us is the occasional sighting of paint on the trunk of some trees. Apparently this is a way Liberians decorate for Christmas... and let me tell you, it is everywhere! The weather keeps getting warmer and warmer each day which means the nights become even more uncomfortable. I might break down and purchase an A/C in Monrovia one of these days. Apparently, Jan and Feb are the worst. Speaking of Monrovia, I made a trip into town this past Monday and Tuesday for my medal parade. All of the officers receive a UN medal for participating in UN mission... now dont start thinking I did something heroic or anything because basically if you have a pulse, you receive a medal... They have medal parades three times a year, so they put me in this one. It was held in Monrovia at the Chinese Transport camp so the Team Leader and I drove in for two days and one night. The Chinese have a large area available for these type of events which is perfect for a Medal Parade. The Special Representative to the Secretary General (SRSG) was there. She is in charge of the entire UN mission in Liberia. All the top brass from this mission were in attendance to watch; Force Commander (2 star General from Pakistan), the Deputy Force Commander (1 star General from Ghana), the Sector Alpha Commander (1 star General from Nigeria) and a few Colonels from various other positions and units. There was about 40 of us that received medals so it went fairly quick. The best part of the entire event was the Nigerian band. They had an 8-10 person band that played some sort of music.. I still haven't figured it out. Also, thankfully, they were placed right behind all the awardees, so we heard their splendor first and at a high volume. I literally think this was the first time some of these guys played their respective instruments. It sounded absolutely horrible. No one was on key, no one played notes at the same time... it was a mess. I dont have a good ear for music or tones, but this was terrible. The SRSG went down the lined and placed the medals on all the officers and after around 30 min, it was all over. We all then went to the Officers club at the Chinese Transport Camp and ate some refreshments. They had a fantastic spread of chicken, pizza, pigs-n-a-blanket, spring rolls, and some other weird things that I didnt try. It was a good time and it got me back to the city for a night.

Things in Gbarnga are still peachy. I recently have found a few treats that I will start to buy more routinely. On a trip last week to the border, I stopped by this place where people were selling a bunch of food on the side of the road. They were selling plantains that were slightly toasted on a small grill. I was hesitant to buy one because I had no idea how clean it was and if they used a utensil of some kind or if they just used their fingers to peel it and put it on the grill. I said, what the heck, and bought me a plantain. It was probably one of the best decisons I have ever made... It was so delicious and only 20 LD (~$0.25). I plan on getting them more often... One of my team mates also bought a kilo of fresh cocoa seeds from a local while on patrol. He ground them up and made us some hot cocoa... It was absolutely delicious!!

The Ivory Coast situation is still the same..... Last night, many protesters were killed and armies/rebels are still trying to gain position in the capital. Both parties are still claiming victory while the international communities (AU, EU, ECOWAS, etc) are only talking to the opposition party and declaring him the winner. They are shutting IC out of all proceedings and cutting off their funding until they get it figured out. Just like the Nigerian Band, the IC situation is a soup sandwich.

Here are some recent pictures:

This was the area where the Medal Parade took place. I didnt have any team members or friends as spectators so I had to take all the photos post parade. The stage on the left is where all the staff and SRSG sat.

This is where all the awardees stood. The Chinese camp is pretty nice; very large and spacious. Now even though it is called a "parade" there was no parading. We just stood there and received our medal. Yeah!

This is the Officer's Club where we all piled into after the parade and ate our faces off. Also, ladies and gentlemen, I would like you to introduce you to the Nigerian Band members. (The dudes on the right). I think they were talking about how incredible their performance was...

Here it is, folks... my UNMIL medal. Probably the highlight of my career.

I went on another Aerial Recon patrol on Wednesday with the Ukrainian unit.

Here we are, loading up into the Mi-24. The guy on the right is the Ukrainian air crew and the guy on the left is the Team Leader from Team 9 - Ganta.

So far, this has been the only indication that Christmas is near. Obviously painted tree trunks screams Christmas!

More Christmas Baby

Leyton finally took a bottle with no problems yesterday!  I am very excited because now I can leave her for longer periods of time.  She has a new person to play with and adore her - Auntie Brittany from Memphis is in town until Sunday.  They hit it off right away.

Ho Ho Ho!

Shaking presents

Mommy let me open some gifts already

Merry Christmas from the Campoamor's!

Poppy and BB spoil me

I love bath time!

Visit from Gramma and Grampa Campoamor

Leyton is getting even more spoiled.  Her Gramma and Grampa Campoamor came to visit for a few days.  She really enjoyed the visit.  With all the attention, she took long naps and slept great at night.  She also endured several photo shoots.  Her are some of her best shots:

Entertaining my fans on my Play Gym

Thank You Auntie Hillary for my Princess outfit -I will admit that is adorable (FYI: Auntie Shannon is buying your children drums and paint!)

My Little Angel

DANCIN'

Look what Santa left under the tree!

Hugs for Everyone!

I have Mommy's blue eyes

I've busted out of my clothes!

Gramma Campoamor

Storytime with Grampa Campoamor