29 Weeks and Curtis' Good News

Week 29, baby is the size of an acorn squash...

Starting to get a little cramped but baby will triple in weight between now and delivery.  She is growing white fat deposits under her skin and her energy is surging because of it.  

 

This Saturday we will be taking our first class at the hospital...Childbirth Prep.  We will be learning the process of labor, breathing/relaxation techniques, pain management options, tips for coaches, making a birth plan and more.  It will be an early morning and a long day but we think we are ready to tackle it.  Hopefully it will be a little better than health class in middle school ;)

We have been VERY fortunate with beautiful weather this past week from the mid 70s to upper 80s with lots of sunshine!  It has especially been good for Julie to get the extra sun.  :o)  We are hopefully going to continue with the nice weather next week.  We hope that friends and family will soon be able to enjoy in this nicer weather.

 

Béla Update

Some of you have heard from the facebook world that Béla was a little under the weather and sneezing a LOT.  We are used to a sneeze every now and then from her but it started to increase out of no where and we got a little concerned.  Crazy, right?  A cat that sneezes...  Anyway, Julie took her to the vet last week and they believe she just has Spring allergies here in Virginia.  Since we were not out here this time last year and she sounded good internally (along with a few other details we will spare you) she just got a week of antihistamines to take to dry up her little nose.  We decided to start keeping track of Béla's sneezes while we were home on Sunday and we counted 31.  Monday was back to work for Julie so counting was only before and after work but that was up to 37!  Yikes!  Thankfully we started to see a decrease on Tuesday and started to have a more normal kitty Wednesday!  Apparently the pollen is VERY high out here (luckily neither of us have allergies) and you can actually see it coated on your car after work!  Julie also found out from a co-worker that another kitty seems to get allergies when they come to visit the area.  For those that were asking for updates, thank you, we appreciate you checking in on our first baby girl!  We never would have thought we'd have to worry about her and allergies but we are guessing she may prefer Illinois at this point in her life! 

Curtis' Good News!

 You may remember from last week that Curtis was getting ready to stand a board for his Plane Captain qualification...

"Next week Curtis will stand a board for his Plane Captain (PC) qualification.  A board is when you stand in front of a group of officers and senior enlisted personnel and answer questions about what it means to be a plane captain.  After doing this, and passing, Curtis will be able to launch and recover jets without supervision and will be considered a qualified PC! "

Curtis had his board Wednesday afternoon and PASSED!  That same afternoon they had an awards quarters to give out a variety of awards that people have earned in the past few months.  Curtis ALSO received a letter of appreciation for his community service work he did in Pensacola, FL (last April).  He was supposed to have gotten this over the summer but better late than never!  He was also recognized in front of everyone for being the only one to go to PC Board today!  CONGRATULATIONS CURTIS!

Next week he will stand another board for his Officer Candidate School application.  Everything is starting to come together and we couldn't be happier!

Julie's Update

We recently learned of a program where Julie can get tuition assistance for schooling(online or classroom) for being a military spouse.  She is looking into an alternative career path that may help get employment with future moves.  While education is still the main focus, it will be good to have an additional route.  Some possibilities may even offer an at home work option if she would like.  This is all in the beginning stages but we know she qualifies and the next step is some research and figuring out a goal & plan!  At the moment she is leaning towards two main categories: Health & Human Services and Business, Finance & Administration.  These are both big categories and again, just the beginning stages of planning.  It looks like a great opportunity that is too good not to look into!  

If you look at the edges of the puddle, you can see a yellow substance. That's the pollen after it rained today. Kind of strange and yet a little disgusting!
Happy Spring!!