This past weekend Kathleen and I got the official word that Jim's unit has been extended in Iraq. They'll be there for an additional 46 days. The news wasn't really a surprise to us -- we've known that an extension was possible, even likely, for a long time now. And we'd heard that it could be anywhere from 45 to 120 days long, so 46 days is really about the best we could hope for. (Not that that stopped us from hoping they wouldn't be extended at all!) It looks like the unit will return home in late September.
The big downside to the extension is that "late September" part. Because we expect the next little Golby to arrive in late August, this extension makes it unlikely that Jim will be here for that baby's big entrance. We're still hoping that Jim will somehow make it here (and I know Jim will try), but it's a bit of a long shot. We know that lots of other Army wives have given birth without their spouses, and I'm particularly inspired by my friends who've done just that. (Way to go, Sarah! Sophie's such a doll!) My family has been great, too, and have generously offered to fly out to be here for however long Kathleen and the baby and I need them. (I'll let you know if you need to start forwarding my mother's mail here!)
On Monday Kathleen and I were asked if we'd be willing to be interviewed by the press about the extension. Having worked for public affairs, I know it can be difficult to drum up people who are willing, so we said yes. We were interviewed, along with three other families, by a variety of news outlets. Most were local television crews, and friends tell us we did, in fact, appear on a couple local news channels. We were also interviewed by a reporter from the Associated Press. Her story appears here, among other places. She also took the photos of Kathleen that we've posted here, which we found on Yahoo! News.
AP Photo/ Carol Cunningham (Photo and original caption here.)
So, there you have it: Kathleen's media debut. Fifteen months old and she's already chipping away at her fifteen minutes of fame!
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