Sweet Surprise

(Family portrait from miles apart.)

My daddy came for a visit yesterday, sort of. Mommy, ba noi, ong noi & I got to see and speak w/daddy via video conference on base. Although our time was short, I certainly enjoyed our visit. Daddy got to see me crawl/scoot, eat, get my diaper changed and even get a little fussy. Daddy even said that I'm quite active, I think I get that from my mommy as she's always doing something & hardly ever sitting still. Mommy has been sending him little video clips of me moving and what not, but it's not the same as being able to see it in person.

I could tell that mommy was a little sad, although she didn't say anything, as we weren't able to hug or touch daddy. I certainly tried, you'll be able to see it in the following pictures. However, the great news is that we've hit our half way mark and only have 3 months to go (roughly). In 3 months time our family will be inseparable and we'll get to hug, kiss (I'll personally drool) all we like.

Although the conversation wasn't long, mommy wanted to document as much as possible. So, naturally she brought her camera along. She was able to take pictures of all of us w/daddy as well as take some video clips of our conversations.

Well please enjoy the following pictures. We've reached the 1/2 way mark. Please take care.

Daddy, remember that you are my HERO & that I love you very much. I will be waiting here for you to play catch with. I LOVE YOU VERY MUCH!!!

Your Little Big Boy,
Dominic L. L. "Buddy"

( Ba noi, me & Ong noi w/daddy {my hero}.)

(I know who my daddy is. I tried so hard to touch him, but the darn screen got in the way.)

1st Encounter of the 4 Legged Kind

Dominic w/Auntie Gina (the guest of honor)


Hello there family & fellow BLOGER's. Just wanted to share some pics of this weekend. I went to a baby shower for a friend of mine, gosh I know so many who are having babies. Anyhow, at the shower, the host had a dog. Dominic has seen them before, but never from up this close. At first I was nervous, but seeing how gentle the dog, Sandy, was put me at ease. To my delight Dominic didn't fuss either, he was actually quite the curious fellow. Brave to like his daddy. None to worry though, as soon as we came home it was bath time. The dog sure loves to give kisses. Please enjoy the pics. Take care and may God bless you all.
Love ya,
Nyoka

"Hey their pal. I'm cutting teeth too you know."
"Curious creatures, we are."
"Hey you drool too!"

"Okay, but mommy says this is the last time to let you lick my hand."

Two Front Teeth

"Okay, so you can't see teeth here, but don't I look cute? Like my hat?"

All I want for Christmas is my two front teeth. Uh wait, I have my front two teeth & it's not Christmas it's summer time.

As promised, here are a few pics of Dominic's teeth. Sorry that it took a little while, who knew that it would be hard to keep a 6 month old still and snap pictures. Not to mention have his teeth show in them. Well for those w/out children, it's hard. Please enjoy.

Love ya,
Nyoka & Dominic
















"So, you think I'm going to show you my teeth?"















"Okay, you win. But who says I have to like it?"

Day 81...

Well, it has been 81 days since I left California for the country of Iraq. Come, 26 May 2006, I'll be gone for three months. Do you know what that means? that means that my deployment is half done. We dont know when we are expected to rotate back, but I have been hearing sometime this year.

So far, I have enoyed my stay here in Iraq. I have seen things that people can only imagine and dream. I still believe that we're out here for a good cause. and that cause is to make Iraq a safer and a more free nation. Give freedom to the oppressed people of Iraq. Get rid of the terrorist organization in the Middle East as well as around the world. I seen stuff that
newspaper and CNN, MSNBC, and Fox news air.
I have been outside the wire and I have seen
what goes on. It is very scary picture out there.
Driving down the road, you dont know what to expect. If it is going to be a small arms fire or an IED. I have seen vehicles that have been blown up by IED's. Like I said I've seen things that only people can imagine and dream.

The work out here produces results for the military. As a Preventive Medicine Tech, our work impacts a lot. If it was up to me, I would only do missions that helps the troops that are out in the cities, OP's and FOB's. But there is always someone higher thatn me that dont think the way that I think. they're main objective is to make the next rank.

The time out here has come and gone. We're so busy with different missions that there are times that I dont know what day it is. I am also involved in a lot of things around my command. Things that well keep me busy. A lot of my time is spent watching mivies and looking for stuff to decorate our office or room. Something that well make this place more like home.

Well that's pretty much it for now. Thanks for the support back at the home front. I love guys and miss you dearly. I'll e home soon.

Here I am With about 100 rounds of

.50 caliber armor piercing rounds.

Here is me standing in front of a blown up Iraqi Mig 15 at Al Asad.

Here is a sign that caught my attention. It's

Ron Burgundy in Iraq.

Mother's Day

The earliest Mother's Day celebrations can be traced back to the spring celebrations of ancient Greece in honor of Rhea, the Mother of the Gods. During the 1600's, England celebrated a day called "Mothering Sunday". Celebrated on the 4th Sunday of lent (the 40 day period leading up to Easter).

In the United States, Mother's Day was first suggested in 1872 by Julia Ward Howe (who wrote the words to the Battle hymn of the Republic) as a day dedicated to peace. Ms. Howe would hold organized Mother's Day meetings in Boston, Mass ever year. To make a long story short, today Mother's Day is celebrated on the 2nd Sunday in May. Honoring all mothers of the past, present & future.

This was my first official Mother's Day & I couldn't have asked for anything better. To all the mother's out there, I hope your day was a great as mine. Love you all very much.



Love,
Nyoka (1st time mom)

P.S. Thank you sweetheart for our beautiful baby boy. He has brought a tremendous amount of joy to our lives.

Who Turned Out The Lights

Most of you may not know, but I now work at the SMART clinic (Sports Medicine & Rehab Team) @ the SOI (School of Infantry). It's still on base, but I mainly see marines w/sports related injuries (obviously). Well any how, on my last day of work at the P.T. department one of my patients wanted to give our little one a present. Two adorable outfits of which one came w/a pair of sunglasses, his first. Naturally we wanted to see what they looked like on him and well, we'll let you see for yourself. Take care and may God bless.

Love ya'll,
Nyoka

"I just called to say....Uh, where are you?"

"Where did you go? Did someone turn out the lights?"

1/2 A Year Old

Well just like yesterday it seems like Dominic was just coming into this world. I blinked for a second & now he's 6 months old. Oh, okay he's 6 months & 3 days today to be exact, but whose counting!?!

In case anyone was interested, Dominic had his 6 month check on last Friday, May 5th. Yeap that was Cinco de Mayo, for all of those who blinked & missed it. Well here's our young lads stats for 6 months.

26 1/2 inches tall; 16lbs & 7ozs (almost 8); head measures 17.72 inches. He receive 3 more vaccinations which he absolutely dreaded, but took it like a champ once it was all over. Don't you feel like you're just setting them up when you take them in to the doctors. I felt the same way w/Aron & Christian. His next check up is @ 9 months of age.

That about does it for now. Oh, I guess you'd like to see a picture of our 1/2 a year old baby. Oh all right, as if there isn't enough pictures already, but just one.

Love ya'll & God bless.

"The shots didn't hurt as bad as I let on. Just wanted to have mommy hug me & hold me tight. :-)"

Special Delivery

"Oh boy, here I go."

Daddy,
Mommy was sending you a few packages & I thought it would be nice if I'd send you one of my own, but to include myself & nothing else. Mommy caught me in my attempts & foiled the plan. Thanks mom! Mommy told me soon we can laugh & play together. So for the moment I can't come, but I do hope that these pictures will do. I soooooo loved taking the pictures. I love you, daddy. Please take care, be safe and hurry home.
Your son,
Dominic Loc Luciano Duong
"Buddy"

I was trying to be sneaking & close the box,

but opps, suddenly mommy showed up. Man she's sneaky, sneaky.

However, she did let me play in the box for a little longer. Oh, what fun.

Kid's 1st Fair

Most of you may not know, but April is the month of the Military Child. It's almost like cancer awareness month, but instead it's about kids. Well a friend of mine from work & I both took our baby's. Naturally I took Dominic, but Glenda brought along her grandson Caleb. It was interesting seeing how the two of them reacted to each other. What fun!

My man focus was to get Dominic's photo taken and finger printed for the just in case. Okay, so he'll only be 6 months on Thursday, but they are never to young. We say firemen and fire trucks, dogs & other animals & lots of goodies for them to have and do. So much was there for us to do. We had a great time, but I will let the pictures say for themselves.

"Hey mom, I think I've seen this in a movie."

Glenda, Caleb, Nyoka & Dominic

"Am I old enough for football yet?"

Day @ the Park

Look out park, here we come. Okay so it was just to the park down the street, but we had a blast. I want to say it's my first visit, but it's actually my second. My first trip was to Balboa Park in San Diego just across the street from the Naval Medical Center. Mommy forgot the camera that day, so I have to wait for her friend to send a copies of her pictures.



The day started off w/a trip to church where I got restless. I was tired, but didn't want to go to sleep. This lead to my first trip to the nursery where I flirted w/another baby slightly younger than me. My first flirting encounter, yipee. Mommy says that I take after my daddy.



On the way home mommy wanted to get the Sunday paper, only for the coupons really. Oh okay the comics too, who doesn't enjoy a good laugh every now & then, okay so every Sunday, don't tell her I told you her secret. Well anyways, that lead to Albertson's. Then mommy realized she had to go look for something for daddy & we ended up at Wal-mart. It was here that I tried my first french fry. Boy it sure was tasty.



After we got home, mommy & I had lunch and then I decided that I wanted to go to the park, so mommy took me. We had fun. Daddy, when you come home, you will take me too, won't you. Jedi mind trick dad, but I'm sure you're better at it than me. Hope you enjoyed the pictures.


Fallbrook Community Park (4/30/06)

First Soccer Experience

Well sort of, at least outside the womb anyway. Before birth, Tam played on the hosptial's soccer team. Whenever I'd go to practice or to a game Dominic was always active. Our friend Heath even said we're going to have a soccer player on our hands. Today we went to Justin's soccer game. Justin is my friend Felicia's son. He certainly looked like he was enjoying playing the game. Dominic was looking around a lot. There was more than one game going on at a time so he was trying to take in all the action.

It was windy so we were a little bit more bundled than usual.

Oh great news!!! Dominic is cutting his first set of teeth (the bottom front two). He's taking it like a trooper w/a very mild temperature. He hasn't cried other than the usual I'm hungry or tired. Our little boy is growing up. As soon as they pop into view I will snap some pictures and post them. But right now you can barely see them, especially before he covers them up w/his tongue. For some reason whenever we try to see he thinks he's going to eat something.

Love ya'll take care and may God bless.

Ladies night out

Well Friday night some of the ladies from church had a Ladies Night Out. Okay so we only went to dinner, but we did go out. The choice location was Chili's in Temecula. Had a good time.

At first I wasn't going to go. I got off work late and wanted to spend time w/Dominic. However, my mother-in-law basically told me to go and have fun. She all but kicked me out of the house. All in all, it was a great time to socialize w/other people in the community.

Enjoy the picture.

Happy Easter

Easter 2006, Palmdale, Ca.

Well, Happy Easter everyone. To start off our easter, we woke up @ 0745 (that's morning time for you civilian's) & opened the package that Tam sent for Dominic. Dominic received his first train set, Thomas the Engine train set. We will wait for Tam to come home, so that father & son can put it together, as well as have the first play time on it. Gosh, what a great video that will make.

At 0950, Dominic & I went to Easter service at church today. He usually falls asleep, but was so spun up at all the people and the wonderful music, that he was in awe. He was able to coo along w/the choir & see all the beautiful Easter Lilies that adorned the front of the church.

After Church we came home and he received his 1st Easter basket from mommy & daddy. He's to young for chocolate and candies, so we placed educational toys in it for him. So he received to more books for his Little Touch Leap Frog Pad; a CD of children's Christian songs; a little baby ducky w/hair that sticks up like his; & lastly a dog that teaches him body parts (i.e. hands, feet, etc.).

Now no Easter wouldn't be complete w/out a picture w/the Easter bunny. Now when we were in Palmdale last weekend, Linh & I went to the mall and had Dominic's picture taken w/the Bunny. Nope, he didn't cry, but the 6 month old girl in line behind us did. However, I thought it would be more appropriate to show the picture w/this entry. Please enjoy. May God bless us all this Easter. Keeping those in harms way in our hearts and prayers. Happy Easter.

All these for little ole' me?

Dominic's Easter goodies.

Oh boy, can't wait for daddy to play w/me.

Love ya'll,
Nyoka & Dominic

P.S. I LOVE YOU, DADDY!

First of Many

Were you talking to me?

Just a little something to share. Our baby boy loves the outdoors. Thursday, 13 Apr 06, was is first outdoor experience. Okay, so he's been outside before, but mainly to the store, church and friends/relatives house. This time he was actually able to "soak up the sun" alittle. Okay, so I put a blanket on the grass, but even I get read prickly marks (from the grass that is). Hope you enjoy the pictures.

Hum, the adventures begin.

Hurry up mom, take the picture already.

Our little ray of sunshine!

Weekend @ Pdale

Greetings & Salutations everyone. I am so excited about this coming Sunday as it's Easter Sunday. But most of all it's Dominic's first. However, let's start with last weekend.

We went to Palmdale to visit Brad, Karen, Matt & the gang, what a blast. Everyone is doing well. At first I was scared to drive to Linh & Jan's, I really hate the traffic in L.A. I did take off work early though to try and beat the congestion. Luckily too, made it at the right time. Tam's usually the driver every where we go, that's another reason why I was a little nervous. But with Tam's father's directions I was safe. Good thing to. The way that I wanted to take was packed, bumper to bumper.

Linh & I went shopping at the mall and a little last minute Easter shopping to complete Dominic's first Easter basket. Never fear, I will take pictures and post them on Sunday. Take care all and enjoy.

They want me to play w/what?

Hey there you are.

Are you talking to me? (Brad w/Dominic)

Karen w/precious Baby D!

Day 40...

It has been 40 days since I left the states. It is not too bad. Work here keeps me busy, and there is a lot of down time. Here i get to do a lot of cool stuff. If I was back in the states, the things that I do here, I could not do back home. I get to drive around in a HMMV, carry a 9mm around with me, and a lot of other cools things. I have taken a lot of cool pictures within the camp and outside of camp. I wont be ale to upload all the pictures here. I'll do it when I return. There are days here that we don't do anything. It is due to the fact that all the work is done. However, we do get a lot of request to do other work. I don't mind doing extra work, it keeps me busy and time goes by faster.

Time has gone by pretty quick here. The week flies by pretty quick. I mean it is already Friday. I have been here 1 month 12 days. Come 26 April, I'll be here 2 months. That means that I will only have 4 months left to go.

Well I'll close for now. Here are a few picutres of me here in the Middle East.

Here is Mark and I at Camp Taqqadum Iraq.

We were both in transition to our final distination.

I work with Mark back at Camp Pendleton

Here's me posing with a M240G.

The MA did a little class on diassemble and assemble of the weapon.

Here is me driving the tactical vechile, HMMV.

Lets Go Back To The Good Old Days...

This one is a good one. Got this e-mail message from Nyoka. When I read it, I had remembered everything that I did when I was a KId. I remembered all my good friends and all the crazy things that we did when we were growing up. Back then it was so safe to stay out late at night and not have to worry about a drive by, did not have to worry about strangers. We did not have to worry about all the things that is going on today. Sometimes I wish that I could just close my eyes and go back to the "Good Old Days."

This is something that you have to read.

Close your eyes....and go back....

Before the Internet or the MAC
Before semi automatics and crack
Before SEGA or Super Nintendo...

Way back.......

I'm talkin' bout hide and go seek at dusk.
Red light, Green light.
Playing kickball &dodge ball until your porch light came on.
Mother May I?
Red Rover
Hula Hoops
Running through the sprinkler

Wait......

Watchin' Saturday morning cartoons
Catchin' lightning bugs in a jar
Christmas morning.......
Your first day of school
Bedtime prayers and goodnight kisses

Climbing trees
Getting an ice cream off the ice cream truck
A million mosquito bites and sticky fingers
Jumpin down the steps
Jumpin on the bed.
Pillow fights .

Runnin till you were out of breath
Laughing so hard that your stomach hurt
Being tired from playin'....
Your first crush......
Rainy days at school meant playing "Heads up 7Up" in the classroom.

Remember that?
I'm not finished yet....

Kool-aid was the drink of summer
Toting your friends on your handle bars
Class field trips
When nearly everyone's mom was at home when the kids got there.
When a quarter seemed like a fair allowance, and another quarter a miracle.
When any parent could discipline any kid, or feed him or use him to carry groceries, and nobody thought a thing of it.
When being sent to the principal's office was nothing compared to the fate that awaited a misbehaving student at home.

Basically, we were in fear for our lives but it wasn't because of drive by shootings, drugs, gangs, etc. Our parents and grandparents were a much bigger threat! And some of us are still afraid of em!!!
(If we're lucky enough to still have em around)

I want to go back to the time when............
Decisions were made by going "eeny-meeny-miney-mo"
Mistakes were corrected by simply exclaiming, "do over!"
"Race issue" meant arguing about who ran the fastest.
Money issues were handled by whoever was the banker in "Monopoly"
Catching fireflies could happily occupy an entire evening.

It wasn't odd to have two or three "best" friends.
Being old, referred to anyone over 20.
The worst thing you could catch from the opposite sex was cooties.

Nobody was prettier than Mom.
Scrapes and bruises were kissed and made better.
It was a big deal to finally be tall enough to ride the "big
people" rides at the amusement park.
Getting a foot of snow was a dream come true.
Abilities were discovered because of a "double-dog-dare"
Spinning around, getting dizzy and falling down was cause for giggles.

The worst embarrassment was being picked last for a team.
Water balloons were the ultimate ultimate weapon.
Older siblings were the worst tormentors, but also the fiercest protectors.

If you can remember most or all of these, then you have LIVED!!!!
Pass this on to anyone who may need a break from their "grown up" life...

I DOUBLE DOG DARE YOU