We had some extra special visitors this past weekend and were very
thankful that they could make the trip. Now don’t get us wrong, all of
our visitors are special and dear to us but when Great Grandma Ella and
baby Ella get to meet for this first time, that is where the ‘extra’
comes in! Aunt Sherry and Grandma H./Ella got to come and visit for the
weekend! Curtis unfortunately missed the visit but it was amazing to
have 4 generations under one roof! And it was also pretty awesome to
have Ella meet one of the women she was named after. How cool would it
be if she could have met Great Great Grandma Grace?! Anyway, Aunt Sherry
had a business trip to Raleigh, NC which is about 4 hours from us at
the Beach and Grandma came with for this special visit. Julie requested
that they go to the Portrait Studio at Oceana
where we got Ella’s newborn pictures done so they could get some 4
generation photos. Well, Russ did a FANTASTIC job again, no surprise
there and had some GREAT ideas. Ella has a few Christmas shots, as do
all of us together. We cannot wait to get the CD and the prints to show
everyone!
Here are a couple previews that they posted on Facebook!
4 Generations
Our Little Thumb Sucker
Ella
Ella is doing a LOT better with her cold! The congestion is very minimal and the coughing has been greatly reduced. It is great to finally have her healthy and not suffering. On Tuesday, she will be doing her follow up with the pediatric surgeon to make sure everything still continues to be fine with her bottom. And on Wednesday, Ella has her 4 month wellness appointment and shots L. After that, she won’t have any doctor appointments until her 6 month wellness and pediatric surgeon follow-up. Knock on wood!! She is enjoying rolling and sleeping on her belly now. The past couple nights she has been passed out and sleeping for 9-10 hours straight. Julie has hated waking her in the morning for daycare and work. Too bad we all can’t stay home and just snuggle with one another! Ella’s daycare pictures came back Thursday and Friday afternoon and they are just BAD. Julie is SO happy that they went and got pictures done last weekend because it would honestly be a waste of money for her daycare pictures. Long story short, they are blurry and overall just look bad. I think Russ at the Portrait Studio spoiled us!
Curtis
Curtis is flying back home tonight! We are so excited to have him coming home! Their flight took off around noon which is 3PM E.S.T. and should be getting in around 9PM or so. The other day it snowed in Fallon…brrrr!! It made it a little troubling for the jets to fly when they were covered in ice. Curtis was able to take a picture of the flight line with snow which looked pretty good.
Fallon, NV
Julie
Julie is good :) EXCITED to go pick up Curtis so this post may be a little short compared to normal. So for now, we say goodnight and have a great weekend! It's time to bring Daddy Spencer home!! :-D
When pictures are available form the studio, we will try and post the information to look at the photos online to share with everyone. :-D
To vote from an iPhone or iPad, you have to login to facebook through Safari and NOT the facebook app. They claim they are fixing this but it has been a week and still no fix. You will have to like the Gerber page first before they allow you to vote. When you click on view gallery, you can either enter Ella and Virginia Beach into the search OR you can enter just her ID which is 227440 and click search. If you need ANY help, please message, email, call, or text Julie and she will walk you through it. We REALLY appreciate all your help in this difficult competition! Unfortunately, they are not incorporating a vote total like they have done in previous years so we will have no idea how we are doing until the very end. Voting ends at midnight (PST) on December 1st so please vote every day if you get the chance!
Ella
Every now and then Ella seems to be over her cough and back to the occasional normal coughing but unfortunately she is still sick and congested :( We have gone to the Dr about 4 times and had another follow up Saturday with a new doctor. Apparently it WAS bronchiolitis and now it is a viral infection. The Dr. is basically blaming daycare and telling Julie that Ella can either be sick now or when she is older. GREAT bedside manner if you ask us...Julie will be asking for a pulmonary specialist to try and get to the bottom of this. The Dr. also said it COULD be acid reflux so she gave us a prescription for stuff to add to her bottle. Now that floored everyone, even the daycare ladies because she doesn't spit up at daycare and when she does at home it is maybe once and that is to welcome Daddy home. But for us, two months and all these follow ups is too long for a sick baby! Her sleeping has gotten a lot better and more “normal” but she still wakes at least once during the night. We are pretty sure that it is her diaper needing to be changed that wakes her more than anything else. Fingers crossed that the different doctor today will be more helpful AND get us set up with a specialist.
The new doctor was AWESOME!! We are not going to give the reflux medicine and we are going to try and not give the inhaler. Since Ella was only congested and not wheezing when we saw the doctor, she put in a referral for an allergist. There is still a chance we could get into a pulmonary specialist but it will have to depend on whether Ella is wheezing at the next appointment. This doctor is very willing to work with us and help rule out other potential factors. We will see her next Saturday morning to see if there has been any progress. She said what we really need is a baby decongestant but it doesn't exist so she told Ella she should invent it and pay for mommy and daddy's trip around the world. Ella smiled at that so here is hoping! ;) This doctor made Julie feel so much better about being concerned and wanting to get to the bottom of it. We may try and switch Ella's primary physician to her in the system when Curtis gets home. It will also let us make appointments on the weekend if we do! Here is to hoping for progress and better results. So far, we are much happier about the course of action.
Her most recent growth stats... at 4 months and 3 days old Ella was
24.5" (59%), 13 lbs., 3 oz. (38%), and her noggin was 16.5" (75%). It
will be interesting to see what her measurements are at the end of the
month when she has her 4 month wellness appointment!
We have started to do some cloth diapering on the weekends to ease our
way in. Our favorite of the two styles we got, prefolds and pocket,
have been the pocket. One downside we have is that it is a little more
difficult to tell when she is wet. It is only the beginning though and
we will see what happens.
The first Halloween has come and gone! We were able to give the ladies
at daycare a good laugh with a onesie that Julie bought for Ella. And
Ella was also able to show off her outfit from Grandpa and Toni again.
"Don't scare me! I poop easily..."
Grandpa and Toni's Halloween Outfit
We were at a friend's house for a Chili Cook Off/Pre-Halloween fun and we got to dress Ella in her pink camo outfit from Aunt Sherry and Uncle Ed! It is still a little big but when wearing her cloth diapers, it works!
Oh, Hey!
We're just hanging out
Ella was a minion for Halloween! We modified the outfit a little and
had to make some pieces ourselves but not too bad for her first costume
;) Curtis was Gru and Julie was Margo, the oldest of the 3 girls from
Despicable Me.
Ella the Minion
Trick Or Treating
We went to the NEX for trick-or-treating since it had the best time, 5-7PM. Daycare and the neighborhood were starting later in the evening and we wanted to try and keep Ella on her bedtime routine if possible. We were joined by Cammi and Orion at the NEX...Orion was Link from Zelda and Cammi was a panda! We can’t wait to get a costume for next year, especially since she will be walking and probably be more comfortable with hats! She has no problem with headbands or hoods on her sweatshirts but she moves her head so much while she is looking around that hats just don’t work. We think she takes after Julie is loving hoodies ;)
Daycare continues to go well and the ladies wish Ella could give the other kiddos a lesson on how to slow down with their bottles and how to not cry. Apparently, when all the other children are crying, Ella will look around and just kind of give the “I’m tired of you guys” look, let out one “war cry” and be done. The ladies say she really lives up to the 4th of July baby aspect! We are still very thankful for the ladies we have at daycare and love to hear the stories when she gets picked up. It doesn’t hurt to have a baby that they wish all the others would act like!
Four months old on November 4th! Look at me grow!!
All Smiles
Getting reading to cough :(
Ella started to roll over on Saturday, November 2nd! Check out the two different videos! :) The first one is the 3rd roll she did on Saturday. The second video is a couple days later and is a little bit longer. She's getting big! Where did the time go?!
Julie
Julie has been working and trying to get this whole doctor nonsense figured out. It has been a bit stressful, especially when a pediatrician and pharmacist make you feel like crap for FOLLOWING DIRECTIONS THE DOCTOR GAVE....UGH! ANYWAY...trying to move on and let goes of the stress. Julie is thankful for great friends and the ladies at daycare that have been giving her tips and advice with how to get to the bottom of this situation.
On the weekends Julie has been unpacking a few more things that we have yet to unpack from the move...oops? We realized that we all distract one another because we just want to spend time with one another. While that is a good thing, it also slows down our productivity around the house! It has been helpful that Ella has been sleeping late into the morning, with the help of her swing, so Julie can try and get some more things done that are difficult to do during the week. Cleaning is one of them!
Guess who is coming to visit!! Ella's Great Aunt and Great Grandma!! That's right ladies and gentlemen, Aunt Sherry and Grandma H, a.k.a. Grandma Ella (Julie's side) are coming to visit November 16th and 17th! Aunt Sherry has business in North Carolina and lucky for us, it isn't that far of a drive!! Curtis is sad that he will miss it but very excited that Julie and Ella will get some time with them. AND it will be the first time they get to see Ella! Julie set up a photo session with the photographer that did Ella's newborn photos so they can get a 4 generation photo! It will be the closest they can come to a generational picture and it will be great to have a picture of Ella with Great Grandma Ella :o) We also just love the photographer and his work! SO excited! Julie is TRYING to get the house in some order before they arrive but isn't expecting it to be perfect. Yeay for family visits!
Curtis
Curtis is working on updating his Officer package to be resubmitted in January. He had another Officer Board on October 31 at the Navy and Marine Corp Intelligence Training Center. The interview went well and we're going to keep our fingers crossed that he gets picked up this time! Later that same day Curtis stood the board for his Wings and we are happy to say that he passed with flying colors. He is now EAWS qualified and will be pinned in the next month or two! Curtis then left for Fallon, Nevada on November 1st. This trip will be a little longer than Key West and more boring for Curtis. It will also be quite a bit colder, especially at night. The internet should be better in Fallon and allow for better Skype and Facetime opportunities. We will take it all one day at a time! It has been chilly and uneventful for Curtis, as expected. Nothing too exciting to report but Curtis is looking forward to getting back home to his girls!
Other News
We will be coming home for Christmas! The earliest that we would be able to leave the Beach would be late afternoon/early evening on Saturday, December 21st. We still don't know if we are driving or flying. We have to be back in the Beach for Julie to be at work on January 2nd. The plan at the moment is to start up North in Lake Zurich area and then head down South to Beardstown/P Hill.
More Pictures
Here are some pictures of Ella and Orion just hanging out and conspiring...they were talking back and forth with one another.
Tummy Time
Shhh...
...don't tell them our plan
Ella was "petting" the kitty yesterday but really she was grabbing her ear. Thankfully we have a cat that is able to put up with this and hopefully they will continue to be the best of friends! Even though the cat was getting irritated, she didn't run off! Whoo! As Curtis called it...sister fighting ;)
Sister Snuggles
"Petting" the kitty
Okay...grabbing the ear
Until next time! :) We hope you are all doing well and can't wait to share more with you soon!!
