INDEPENDENCE, Ky.
- When Lance Cpl. Casey Craddock steps off the USS Shreveport in April, he'll hold his son for the first time.
The marine was in Italy when Brendan entered the world two days after Christmas. As if it were scripted for a commercial, the Covington native listened to some of Brendan's first screams in the hospital over the telephone.
''He was screaming and Casey heard him and started to cry and then I started to cry,'' said Cheri Craddock, 20, Cpl. Craddock's wife, who is staying with her parents in Independence. ''That one week of phone bills were $400.''
Since then, Cpl. Craddock, 19, was shipped to the Persian Gulf as the U.S. military built up forces in the region.
Mrs. Craddock keeps her husband updated through letters she writes every other day, weekly phone calls and videotapes. She sends packages that have included photos of Brendan in his camouflage shorts and T-shirt, a bib that says ''I love my Daddy,'' and booties. Through videotapes, the marine has witnessed his son's first bath, feedings and playtime. Off the coast of Kuwait, he writes letters to Cheri and Brendan telling them how much he wishes he could be there for them.
Communication helps the time pass, but it's not the same as being able to hold and kiss his wife and son.
Thanks to Saddam Hussein and the tension between the United States and Iraq, Cpl. Craddock will have to wait an extra 11 days to see Brendan's blue eyes, fine reddish baby hair and bright smile. His unit, originally to return March 25, won't be back until April 6.
Until then, Cheri will continue writing and documenting. Every morning, she'll take a big red marker and cross off another day on a calendar she made on a piece of white poster board after he left in October.
She'll make a sheet saying, ''Welcome home, Daddy,'' to hang from the chain-link fences her husband will walk through when he arrives back to North Carolina's Camp LeJeune Marine Corps Base. ''I can't wait to see his face when he sees his son,'' said Mrs. Craddock as she smiled at Brendan. ''I live for that day.''
