Getting Healthier and a Potential Gerber Baby?!

Ella

Well, it has been about 5-6 weeks and our baby girl still has some lingering bronchiolitis. This wait has NOT been fun. She is no longer on her inhaler at daycare but still gets it when she is at home. She seems to have improved quite a bit!  The past two weeks we had a couple rough nights with the coughing being a little more intense but it was expelling the mucus.  We were all a little tired for a couple days.  Sleep has gotten better for everyone, especially with less coughing.  Other than the battle with bronchiolitis, she has been doing very well. She is still a very happy baby! She’s still giving her big toothless grins, blowing spit bubbles, and looking at EVERYTHING. She is getting pretty close to rolling from back to front and tends to get very frustrated that she can’t quite get it. We have started to swaddle her with both of her arms out now since she is so close to rolling over. Julie was swaddling her with one arm out for about a week while Curtis was gone so she could suck her thumb and self soothe. We are temporarily giving up on pacifiers since she still can’t keep it in her mouth on her own.

Modeling her Halloween outfit from Grandpa and Toni

Another shot of her outfit

We entered Ella into the 2013 Gerber Baby Photo Search Contest! We will need EVERYONE'S help to win!! Voting will start on November 4th and go until December 1st.  If Ella were to win the grand prize, she could get $50,000 and be in a national ad! Talk about a college/car fund!! We put her in the Birth+ Milestone Category. 

While we were trying to get a cleaner shot of Ella for the Gerber photo entry, we managed to get these!

The two sailors of the house

Up to no good!

Being cute

Oh, hey!

How to Vote (Per Gerber Rules)
Unfortunately, the voting process takes place via facebook and that will mean some of you will be unable to help us because we know you do not have accounts.  The Gerber Rules State:

During the Voting Period, individuals with a Facebook account will be invited to the Website, must "Like" the page to become a Fan (if you are not already a Fan), allow the "Photo Search 2013" application when prompted to "Get App", and follow the instructions provided to select their favorite Submission submitted during the Submission Period. Limit one (1) vote per Facebook user ID per milestone category per day.

You can search for her name or Julie's OR you can enter her ID# which is: 227440.  The photo gallery can be viewed here.  Once you open the link, click "view gallery" and it will bring you to a page where you can search for a photo.  This is where you will type in Ella's entry ID of 227440 and click search.  Her picture will then show up below the search area!

Ella's Gerber Entry Photo

We know it will be a tough competition but we would really LOVE to give it our all.  Any help would be GREATLY appreciated!!


Julie

Spirit Week/Homecoming is over at school for Julie and things are getting back to normal. We all went to the Homecoming game on the 12th for a little while to enjoy some food for the teachers/staff and watch the game. Okay, maybe to show Ella off a little too! Julie FINALLY got her official desk at work last Friday in the late afternoon! Julie got to move all of her things from her old desk to her BRAND NEW one on Monday morning. It looks beautiful!!  :o)

Looking out towards the front doors/hallway

Looking into the library

You can see a little of Julie's old desk to the left in the second picture.  Now that everything is set up and getting cleaned up, everything is looking really nice!  It definitely makes students and staff stop and pause!

Julie gets another spirit week this week!  Monday is college day so she has to make the big decision on which sweatshirt she will wear...Illinois College or Roosevelt University.  BIG decision here ;)  There will also be a tye die day, tacky tourist day, dress up like a movie character, and the favorite Marlin Pride day!  

Curtis

Curtis is glad to be home with his girls! He got to spend all day Monday with Ella since Julie had to work on Columbus Day. Curtis got a look into the struggles of getting things accomplished when Ella just wants to be held all day. They got to enjoy a PJ day and movie marathons! Ella apparently likes the Hobbit. The next trip for Curtis is to Fallon, NV at the end of the month/beginning of November. This trip will be a little longer than the Key West trip. Fallon is the least fun of the trips because there is a whole lot of nothing. He also cannot drink the water on base because there is arsenic in it. Did we mention the whole lot of nothing?  On Thursday, Curtis will have his board for his Wings qualification.  This is the last step before he gets his Warfare Pin.  He also has an officer board coming up next week.  Other than his two different boards and getting ready for Fallon, there isn't a whole lot going on for him.  Work! Work! Work!  Hi-ho...hi-ho...it's off to work he goes....

The Holidays...
We hope you are all doing well!  We should be coming home for Christmas Break and can't wait to see everyone that we possibly can.  The plan is to start in Northern Illinois the first half and then head downstate.  Julie gets done with school December 20th and Curtis has to work the 21st so we hope to be back sometime after that until about January 1st.  Julie has to be back on the 2nd :(  But consider this a partial warning that we are all coming back!!  We'd like to see everyone that we possibly can but we know it may be difficult.  We still aren't sure if we are driving or flying but we will get there one way or another!!

3 Months Old!!

Ella

Cheese!

Nom, nom, nom!

Our happy little girl is now 3 months old!  She's is growing so much and we can't believe how time is flying. She is now about 12 lbs., 6 oz. and 24" long!  That is about 1 pound and 1 inch from last month. Go baby, go!  Last Wednesday Julie had to take Ella to the clinic after she picked her up from daycare because it looked like she had pink eye.  Ugh! First bronchiolitis and now this?! So, an unexpected Thursday off for Julie and Ella and turned out that she did NOT have pink eye. Her puffy and pink eye with discharge was a result of the bronchiolitis she is still trying to tackle.  The doctor said the nasal cavity was probably blocked and all the mucus she had found a new way out. :( Ella got eye drops for 1 week to be safe which meant she couldn't go back to daycare at the normal time in the morning because of the 24 hour rule with new medicine. We dodged a bullet there! Neither of us had had pink eye and we'd rather not start now! Apparently bronchiolitis takes 4-6 weeks for recovery...hurry up!  On a positive note, Ella's extra coughing is forcing the mucus out now. We are really hoping that we are reaching the end of this for her sake. She still gets her inhaler and saline nasal drops which seem to help but we'd love to only have to give her the vitamin D and not "torture" her.  Either Ella is continuing through a growth spurt or she's really trying to kick the bronchiolitis because this past weekend she slept past noon on BOTH days. She never does that!  Julie took full advantage and got some chores done around the house. Despite the extra coughing and mucus stuck in the throat, we have a happy and smiley baby!  Monday night Ella created a new personal record for sleep...13.5 hours straight.  WOW!! 

Ella has been learning how to blow spit bubbles. Her favorite lady at daycare, Miss Luci, was back on Monday and Ella was making her bubbles for her and being a little goof. Every time Miss Luci went to wipe her mouth Ella would stop her bubbles. When Miss Luci said she looked like a bubble factory, she would start blowing some more. Ella was smiling and you could tell she thought it was a game. Julie got to see it when she picked her up. We were sooo happy to see Miss Luci again!!

"Woah!  Look what I'm doing!"

Besides spit bubbles, Ella is playing with her monkey taggie toy more while in her car seat and she recognizes it more and will purposefully grab it. We take monkey everywhere we go in the car now. We need to figure out a name for monkey soon and I think it's a boy. Our little Houdini is figuring out how to wiggle her one arm out during the night from her swaddle pod and is sucking her thumb. She has gone two nights now with one arm out of the swaddle. It seems to help her since she is doing some self soothing now but we are still hoping we can get her to keep a pacifier in her mouth at some point. She will take one but you have to help her keep it in her mouth. She doesn't get much help keeping it in at daycare so the thumb may be the way to go until she gets older. We aren't too worried at the moment. Hopefully we can get to both arms out of the swaddle where she won't wake herself up because one arm looses control. One step at a time! It's amazing to see the difference when she is swaddled versus unswaddled; she sure likes to be cozy ;). As you can kind of tell from our little stories, Ella recognizes familiar people and will smile at them. She will usually have a smile for the ladies at daycare when she gets there in the morning. 

Monday will be a fun day for Ella because she gets to spend the whole day with Daddy!  Daycare is closed for Columbus Day but Julie still has school and Curtis will have Monday off since they will have just gotten back from Key West. What a lucky little girl! She gets daddy all to herself!  And lucky Daddy because he will get to spend the day with her while mommy works. 

We continue to get her room put together more and more.  Her clothes are getting ready to explode out of the closet!  She has been given so many cute outfits from friends and family and we are VERY thankful!

Coming in the door to Ella's room

Ella's Door

Star mobile above the changing station

"Mommy, don't let the kitty eat me!"

Julie

Julie and Ella are doing really well while Curtis is in Key West but will be VERY happy to have him back home. The unexpected day off allowed Julie to be productive. She got her first ever flu vaccine by getting the flu mist. She wasn't thrilled to be getting it but knew it was in Ella's best interest. Curtis has to get one annually so he doesn't get a choice. It wasn't bad but it went down the throat and made it a little sore. There weren't any side effects until Sunday morning when Julie woke congested but it wasn't terrible. That thing does make you a little fuzzy at first, wow!  

School is going well still. This week is homecoming week and Julie gets to participate in the dress up days. Monday was jersey day and she got to wear her Braves jersey :) It was a big debate between that and her Peyton Manning one. Baseball seems to be a safer topic out here than football, especially because he high school's alumni is EJ Manuel on the Buffalo Bulls. Tuesday is mix match day but Julie isn't planning on that one. She might get twitchy at not matching ;) Wednesday is wear pink for breast cancer awareness, colorful socks on Thursday and Marlin Pride on Friday!  We plan on going to the homecoming game on Saturday for a little bit with Ella to get some food at the faculty tent, watch some football and of course, show Ella off ;). Hopefully it will be a good day and we can be there for a good chunk of time. We will let Ella lead the day's events though. She is the new boss after all. 

Julie has been keeping busy with little chores for the next day and the usual stuff around the house. The first trip with Curtis away wasn't as bad as Julie was anticipating which was a nice surprise. Yes, it has been difficult but it has been manageable. Julie went for a few walks with Ella, Cammi, and Orion (Ella's boyfriend). That was enjoyable and some good exercise, especially when you have a 12 pound baby strapped to your front!  Julie's co-worker lent her a baby bjorn carrier and Julie and Ella both seem to love it! We like our carrier but right now this one seems to be just what we needed for comfort! Julie also got a moby wrap from a friend but at the time with Ella's coughing and congestion, Ella wasn't too thrilled with it. Maybe when Ella is done with her breathing issues she may enjoy it a little more. 

Curtis

Well, Curtis is still in Key West and should be returning soon! Yeay! We are all excited for that; we have all missed one another. Béla was taking it pretty hard and meowing at the guest bedroom door thinking Curtis was in the room hiding from her. I think she will be meowing non stop when he gets home! Béla has been a good kitty and snuggled with Julie every night to keep her company for Curtis. She even has been going into Ella's room with Julie to keep an eye on the two of them.  No Hemingway House visits for Curtis this time around but he did get to check out a new restaurant. It has been pretty hot and humid down there and he has not been enjoying that too much.  Curtis continues to get closer to getting his wings; he has a couple more signatures he needs to get and a test that he will need to take and then he should be all set! With his testing abilities, he will probably rock the test. One cool thing that he saw was a BIG lizard on the side of the road while they were heading to dinner one night.  Curtis is very anxious to get back go his girls and enjoy the cooler weather that just started to come in. 

Pictures

We have some more pictures to share! This is probably one of the best parts! Less reading and more pictures? ;)

Oh, hi!

Looking like a fashion diva on Monday

Playing tough.  "Don't mess with me and my buddy!"

Condolences

We hate to share bad news but we like to help keep everyone informed and let others know they are in our thoughts. Last week Dorothy Spencer passed away. For those that knew Norma and Ron Spencer, Curtis' grandparents, Dorothy was married to Ward, one of Ron's brothers. We are keeping the Bowling  and Ackerman families in our thoughts and hearts as they go through this difficult time. Julie is very glad she got the chance to meet Dorothy at least once while visiting Hank and Marilyn. While we don't always get to see the extended family because we are all spread out, the few memories we have take up a big part of our hearts.