We didn't forget!! :)

Trying to redeem ourselves from taking forever on the last update!  It isn't much but it's a start to get back on track! :o)

Ella
Ella has a little cold that started up and we are blaming the weather since it goes from warm to cold and can't make up its mind.  She is  back to the sniffles, runny nose, and cough :(  Hopefully it won't stick around too long and will be gone before we know it.  It turns out she has bronchiolitis again...ugh!  Can't this little girl catch a break?  At least we know her lungs are clear and it isn't pneumonia.  We did 24 hours of aggressive inhaler use and trying to suction as much as possible and it seems to be helping.  She has been coughing less and not as much mucous but some improvement is better than none!  Her 6 month wellness appointment, even though she will be close to 7 months, will be next weekend.  She is still working on teething but nothing is coming out for the poor little girl.  She has tried peaches and likes them but they may not like her very much!  Ella is really enjoying her Uncle Jim's company and has started blowing raspberries again (all the time) thank you Uncle Jim.  Haha! 

Becoming a MESSY eater

You wouldn't think she was sick

The Spencer Girls and Uncle Jim

Sister nap time

Julie
Julie went to the doctor on Sunday and got her heel and wrist checked out because she is  apparently getting old and falling apart.  She MAY have fasciitis in her heel and carpal tunnel in her wrist.  She has been given a referral for a hand surgeon and a podiatrist.  The problem will now be scheduling an appointment since it will be in Portsmouth and probably won't have anything to work around her school schedule but fingers crossed!  In the mean time, stretching the calf and a wrist brace...joy!  Julie did meet her goal of 50,000 steps this week and hopes to do that at least 3 more times.  She found an app where you can pick a fit goal and if you reach it 4 out of 5 weeks, you can enter in a raffle to win a prize.  She picked the Starbucks raffle ;)  But really, it is helpful motivation to get her up and moving and so far it may be paying off!  She has almost reached week 2 of 50,000 steps too!

Julie had no school Monday, Wednesday, OR Thursday.  Monday was for MLK but Wednesday and Thursday were snow days which led to a 2 hour delay on Friday.  It was kind of strange only having 2 work days this past week.  We got maybe 2 inches of snow and of course, everything shuts down.

Curtis
Curtis is apparently in a mustache growing competition while they are on the boat.  He is well aware that the stache is attempts to grow will not be staying on when he gets back :-p  If there is a picture of his attempt, it will be posted on here, don't you worry!  Most of you are aware that he is unable to grow facial hair so it could be interesting.  If there are pictures of some of the others guys, we will try and post those too, especially the winner!  Other than the mustache growing contest, things are going well on the ship, nothing too exciting, just keeping very busy.  

Long overdue....a post, not a baby!

It's been a few weeks, maybe more (oops!), since our last update, sorry!  We didn't forgot about everyone.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!  MERRY CHRISTMAS!! HAPPY NEW YEAR!!

Christmas Break

We got to go back home for Christmas break and see lots of family. We flew into Midway on December 22nd and Julie's dad picked us up and Ella got to meet a lot of family for the first time...Uncle Jason, Great Aunt Lynne and Linda, and cousins Ethan and Elizabeth. She had her first plane ride and did a great job.  She even got a pair of Delta wings for her scrapbook from the awesome ladies on the flight!  Ella then got to take her first train ride to Macomb from Chicago! Again, a GREAT traveler.  The one conductor gave us a seat ticket with the date and stamped it for her scrapbook. She met even more family for the first time...Aunt Terri, Uncle Mike, and cousins Shania and Shane. We traveled more and went to Pleasant Plains so Ella could see Jerry and Diane again and this time meet Angie and Kenzie! Ella was a great traveler and we are VERY thankful for that ;) She was spoiled by EVERYONE! We had to fly back to Norfolk from St. Louis on New Years Eve. We were so glad that we could see so many people and sad that there were so many more we wished we could have seen. We would like to thank everyone again for the great times and all that they did for us and especially Ella to make her first Christmas a great memory and story. Our favorite Christmas present was being able to come back home to visit.

Firsts Over Break..
Plane ride, meeting Santa, meeting family members for first time, trying bananas, train ride, Christmas, seeing dogs, laughing, and legit cold weather.

Ella

Since we last updated, Ella has had her 4 month and 6 month shots and did great with both sets. She started eating purees after Thanksgiving. We have a short video of her first food attempt (will try and upload that for next post) and wasn't too messy!  Her favorite is sweet potatoes and her least favorite is pears. She has also tried green beans, carrots, bananas, peaches, and apples. We went back and did oatmeal cereal with her so she could have something extra at daycare. Her favorite is sweet potatoes, no doubt.  It was also the first she had. She has started to giggle and it comes with a great big smile!  We love bringing on her giggles. She is also sitting up with assistance and her stability is getting better each day. When she is on her tummy, she can push up with straight arms. For a couple months, she has been showing multiple signs of teething but there is nothing to show for it :( 

When Béla comes around. Ella is all hands on deck!  She loves watching the kitty and tries to talk with her and pet her. Every now and then she will get a chance to pet the kitty and Béla will tolerate it as long as her fur isn't being gripped too hard!  They're buddies and they don't even realize it. 

Ella had her big pediatric surgeon appointment on January 9th.  The doctor took her into the operating room and did some stimulation of the sphincter muscles to make sure everything was working properly, which it was!  She was under anesthesia but the procedure itself was only about 15 minutes long and non invasive. Waiting for her to wake up was amusing because she acted like she wanted to sleep the day away!  In the end, we got the results we were expecting and this means that she will not need any surgery which we are VERY excited about!  The ending diagnosis is that her anus is just in an abnormal location... "Ectopic anus." This doesn't really mean anything other than being careful with cleaning.  We both got to be at the appointment which helped but it was also VERY early in the morning since they schedule the children by age and Ella was the youngest on the books. 

Ella will have her 6 month wellness appointment on February 1st so it will be interesting to see how much she's grown. She is still a little peanut!! She can fit in some of her 3 month outfits still and her 6 month ones are still a little big. Overall, she is healthy and happy!  And now she gets to hang out with her Uncle Jim while he visits and stays with us for a while!

Unfortunately, she did NOT win the Gerber photo contest :( thank you to everyone that helped us try!!  Here are the winners of each category...

Julie

Julie has been crafting away at school for the library which has been fun. She made two wreaths for their doors, Star Wars snowflakes, and a sparkleball for December.  The wreaths are probably the favorite and got the most attention. They were also the easiest of the 3 projects! She also helped design the new library website and helps maintain it. Check it out if you get a chance!  They are starting a Kindle book club in the library as well which will start next semester and Julie and her co-worker/head librarian are probably the most excited ;). The first book will be Legend by Marie Lu. Julie got a Fitbit Zip last weekend to help her try and be more active since she sits so much at work. She found out quite a few co workers have one too!  Now it is a small competition to try and beat each other out with how many steps they take. The Fitbit measures your steps and estimates your burned calories and syncs via wifi with an app. Julie has been competitive with herself and trying to improve her daily steps.  She is also counting her calories again to try and be proactive. She is within 3 pounds of her Pre-Ella weight! On the down side, she is falling apart with random aches and pains, haha. Before we left for our trip back to IL, Julie was sick with a fever which wasn't going down with Morton but eventually did...the plane ride would have been horrible if it hadn't! Found out that she has TMJ and that the aches and pains she had weren't related to the fever but were a result of the TMJ. A cold plus TMJ can make for an interesting experience apparently. It took awhile for the cold to disappear but it didn't ruin our trip home which was very fortunate. If you have a fitbit device and want some friendly competition...let Julie know!

Curtis

Curtis has officially earned his Enlisted Aviation Warfare Specialist pin!

He left for San Diego on Tuesday and the Carl Vinson just pulled out of port Thursday morning. They will be gone for about a month.  Since our last post, Curtis went to a week long school and kicked butt on his final test...the ONLY 100%!  He also became the Day Check Supervisor and was Plane Captain of the Month for September.  Julie thinks he deserved Plane Captain of the Year but she obviously doesn't get a vote in that matter.

Pictures

Here are some more pictures from the photo shoot in November...

and some pictures from our trip home over Christmas...

We will try to be better now that the holidays have passed.