LONG Overdue....

Hi everyone! We promise we have not forgotten about you! After Curtis got back from his last boat trip in June, we have been trying to spend as much time together as a family as possible.  Curtis' 1st real deployment is coming up at the end of August for about 10 months.

Ella
Well, our little girl is now 1 year old!  We had her party on July 6th and almost had to cancel it the morning of! Ella woke up with a high fever and you could tell she just did not feel well.  It turned out that she had another ear infection :( She managed to perk up a little when she got a taste of her cake.

Overall, she has been doing very well! She is still army crawling to get around and will pull herself up to walk around while holding on to things. Ella currently has no interest in walking on her own. Every now and then she will stand on her own for a second or two but once you try and take your hands away, she either squats or plops down. She MIGHT be a trouble maker as she gets older ;) At the moment, she still only has 2 bottom teeth. She has been working on the top ones for months now and nothing to really show for it; they will come eventually. Both Ella's doctor, at her 12 month check up, and her daycare teacher think she is right on track with the exception of walking. We also found out that she will not have to go back to her pediatric surgeon doctor until next year unless she has potty training issues. Since Ella is not walking, she is still in the infant room at daycare.  As soon as she starts to walk, they will start to transition her to the pre-tot room. We LOVE all of her teachers but we know she needs to go to the next room at some point.

10 Months Old

11 Months Old

1 Year Old!!

Happy Birthday!!

Cake!!

Ella is definitely a little water baby! She LOVES bathtime still and really enjoys the pool and the beach.

Julie
Julie started her medical transcription program around Memorial Day weekend and completed the first semester with an A. She started her second semester at the beginning of July and has been doing pretty well for the most part. Along with family time, school has been keeping her pretty busy.  It has been a challenging program but not out of control. At the moment, Julie is in an ophthalmology section and will move onto otorhinolaryngology next. All of the sections have been rather fascinating and insightful. The second semester is expected to be finished by the end of September. One trouble Julie has had is with some of the dialects and accents.

School starts back up on August 25th with a week of meetings, prep, and no students. The students will be back to school on September 2nd. It is still strange to start so late out here and after Labor Day. Julie will be back in the library again as the assistant and is excited for what the new school year will bring.

Curtis
Curtis has been working on his officer packets for both the Intelligence and Medical programs. He just had his board for the Intelligence Program on Thursday and it seemed to go well. If Curtis is accepted into the Medical Program, he will go to school at Old Dominion University (ODU) and be enrolled in the School of Nursing. Fingers crossed for both programs as they would both be a GREAT opportunity.

As we mentioned, Curtis will deploy at the end of August and will be expected to be gone for 10 months. We cannot give any specific details due to security purposes but what we can tell you during deployment, we will.  Curtis will have access to email and will be able to receive packages and mail while he is gone. If you would like to send him anything or email him, please let us know and we can get you the information.