20th letter
Tues. 3/27/07
Holy crap! I know it’s been awhile but I’ve been busy! I barely have time to do this but I wanted to get a letter out. I’m a little stressed because I’m a little worried that I’m not going to get everything done in time before the end of the semester. And we have 2 good friends leaving next week! Sunday we are heading to Tokyo by bullet train! So we will have to say goodbye to them a little earlier, and are missing the last big get together with everyone on Sunday!! That part is a bummer but we are excited to meet Bryan’s parents down there. We will be there until Friday, the 6th. Then they will come back up here with us, and leave on the 14th. Bryan is pretty excited because he has scheduled work off for the entire time. He is looking forward to his vacation. We are excited about being able to see his parents again after 10 months. It will be fun, but I will have to do homework while they are here!
So much has happened since I last wrote. We actually just went down to Tokyo (Yokota Air Base) from the 8th-10th. We rented a van from Outdoor Rec and drove! Bryan needed to take his TBAS test (Test of Basic Aviation Skills) for part of his officer package for pilot. So yes, we drove halfway across Japan and spent a decent amount of money just so he could take it since they don’t have it here!! It was an interesting drive – not bad – and Brock did really well. I think it took just over 9 hours to get there and we stayed at the hotel on base. Bryan took the test the next afternoon and then we drove to a military-sponsored hotel located in more downtown Tokyo. It took us an hour and a half to get there…because Tokyo is HUGE! Someone was just telling me that Tokyo is 800 square miles! We took the subway to TGI Friday’s – much anticipated – and it was expensive and disappointing. And I was so excited to have good American-restaurant food again… Snap. Then the next morning we checked out and drove back. So we didn’t have time to really do anything – but the purpose of the trip was the test – and we knew we were coming back down again to meet his parents. The driving was uneventful except for a few turn-around-we-missed-our-exit-‘s.
We also did the ’10-DAY MASTER CLEANSE’-!!! Typically known as the lemonade diet. HOLY CRUD – honestly one of the hardest things I’ve ever done. I can’t believe we did it! We almost gave up a few times. For those of you that don’t know, it consists of drinking an herbal laxative tea at night, downing 32 oz. of salt water first thing in the morning, and drinking a nasty fresh-squeezed lemon juice, organic grade b pure maple syrup, water, and cayenne pepper mixture all day. I hated every bit and every part of it and was just plain hungry the whole time! I can’t believe we went without food for 10 days. Amazing. I had to plug my nose to drink the salt water (and try not to throw up), plug my nose to drink the day mixture, and plug my nose to drink the tea. Even the smell of the maple syrup and herbal tea made me sick. Bryan didn’t mind the day mixture – he thought it tasted like lemonade (hence the name). He easily handled the tea, too. Anyway, man I was glad when it was over!! I lost 10 pounds and he lost 8. I ordered enough supplies for 20 days for both of us – but we could not do more than the minimum of 10 (a friend here did it for 30 days!). So I was bummed by the money spent on the unused stuff, but I just found out we have a friend who wants to do it and is going to buy it all off me! YAY.
SO, Brock is/was 6 MONTHS OLD today! That’s a big one. We also had his 6-mo appt today. And guess how much he weighed….first, let me remind you that at his 4-mo he was 17 lbs 14 oz. He is now 20 lbs 14 oz. He is 27.5 inches long. Those are both in the 90th percentile. His head is 17.5 in and that’s in the 75th percentile – which is surprising cuz his head looks HUMONGOUS next to the other little kids’. So this kid continues on that upper level growth curve. He is basically in 9-mo-old clothes. He really might be too small for his carrier, but I wanted to wait just a little bit longer before we got a rear-facing car seat. But it’s pretty heavy to carry him around in that carrier! Plus they don’t have the car seat we wanted here right now. The continuous joys of being secluded in a foreign country. So he sits up but gets too excited so he falls to the side or backwards. He loves sitting up though and I looked all over for a playmat that he tried, that was actually like sitting in an inner tube with things hanging overhead. He LOVED that thing – wish they would’ve let me have it… He finally started rolling over consistently a week ago – but he goes from back to belly, and only a few times has gone from belly to back. He also only rolls to his left…weird. I think it was about 3 wks ago that we finally started him on rice cereal. Yeah I started him a little later cuz of this thing on Dr. Phil where pediatricians said it was now recommended to wait until 6 mos instead of starting them on the cereal at 4-6 mos…but I could tell he was ready so we started him. Bryan was really excited to do it. I also kept track a few days really how much formula he was taking in…and he is not eating as much as his weight leads you to believe! He is, on average, actually under the range of ounces they say his age is eating. He has also started screaming for fun again. Oh, AND, he still likes being swaddled! He actually slept pretty decent for a week without it, but then we got a large micro fleece SwaddleMe in the mail and put him back in it; and now it seems like he’s sleeping better than ever! I don’t know what’s up with his hair either – it just sticks straight up! The front has finally started to lay down, as it gets longer. Someone asked me the other day if his hair was ‘staticky’ – I said no it’s always like that no matter what you do (except with a lot of gel)! He still slobbers like crazy, so if he’s sitting upright he needs a bib for sure. He really likes paper and gets pretty upset when you take it away from him! He likes to yank his pacifier out of his mouth to make a popping sound – same with his bottle – it’s pretty silly. Oh and speaking of, for awhile now, for the most part he’ll hold his bottle himself to eat. It makes it REALLY convenient when you’re out and about, especially when you’re eating, yourself! Anyway…he’s fun. And everyone seems to think he looks like Bryan.
I found out I am to be the next Enrichment Leader for church. SNAP. I had a feeling that was going to happen but I was hoping it wouldn’t. Even the Relief Society President told me that she would hate being that – and that it’s too much work! I am currently the food coordinator (yes I think they made that one up, but it actually was more work than I thought it was going to be!) as part of the enrichment committee (besides also being a primary teacher). Like 60% of the branch is moving out within the next couple months!!
Most of the pictures I’m attaching are a little old. The one of Brock in the saucer in a sleeper is from the 20th. The one of Bryan holding him where he’s in the green and white sleeper is from the 14th. Then pictures from Tokyo (views from the highway) and the TGI Fridays there from the 8th-10th. There’s a video from the 12th of Bryan playing with Brock on the changing table. Then a video from the 5th of Brock’s first experience eating from a spoon, and a few pictures of that as well. Then there’s pics from the 3rd where Bryan put a bunch of gel in his hair to keep it from sticking up, and he just ended up slicking it down. On March 1st he sleeps. There’s a video of him on the floor, half out of his green swaddler cuz it’s too short, from Feb. 24th. A video of him wrapped up in his bouncer from Feb. 23rd, and another one in the bouncer from Feb. 22nd. -And a goofy looking picture of him laying on the floor. So I guess I’ll load those 5 videos onto photobucket and send the link to them. For those of you who can handle receiving larger-sized emails I can actually send up to a 45-second video directly thru email but it’s a 10MB email. But you could open it up in your own media viewer and it would be better quality than photobucket.
Oh, by the way – Bryan got a 92 on the test that he went to Tokyo to take. It’s a simulator-like test on a computer with a joystick and pedals. The score takes into account how well he did on the test (TBAS), the amount of flight hours he has (255), and his pilot score on the AFOQT (96). We’ve been working on his officer package and it’s coming together nicely. We are getting towards the end. He has his interview on Friday. Then he’ll take the Letter of Recommendation that we wrote and has since been revised a bit by his supervisors, to the upper-level guy (group commander) to hopefully also agree to and sign his name to. Also a simple prerequisite physical to get done – and that would basically cover it – and we send this baby off the first available day – May 23rd!
So, DENNIS – sorry I missed your calls today. You are funny – it’s a voicemail system, not an answering machine…so I wouldn’t be able to hear you keep talking while you wait for me to pick up.
JENNI – sorry – I know, I was going to send a card with your package, and totally forgot until I already had the box completely wrapped and taped up!
We finally think we have our family pictures all picked out. Tomorrow I will have Tiffany resize them to all the different sizes needed to send them out to everyone. But they aren’t great or anything 'cuz we just aren't photogenic people (!)…so don’t expect much – Bryan and I can’t seem to look normal simultaneously. But we’ll probably mail out some to most of you, and I think I’ll send out an email with all of them. Then you can print off what you want, or none at all, whatever.
There are a few of you that I’m really behind on getting a letter back to – I’m sorry! Hopefully I can get those written before we leave on Sunday.
Well it’s almost 3am. I probably won’t be able to avoid these late nights until this semester is over – can’t wait.
See you later!!
Julie
Bryan
Brock
For all the pictures, here is the link to the slideshow:
http://www.kodakgallery.com/I.jsp?c=2t7pqtrs.bttcv55g&x=0&y=-egrbfv&localeid=en_US
As usual, just click on the link, then click on the picture, and the slideshow starts.
Tuesday, March 27, 2007
Brock's first eating experience!
March 5, 2007 - 5 months, 1 week old
Bryan was so excited to feed him!
Almost 6 months old
3/20/07
I think he is enjoying Baby Einstein here.As I said in the letter, a week from this picture he had his 6 month check-up. At 20 lbs 14 ozs he gained exactly 3 pounds since his 4-mo.! At 27.5 inches long his height and weight are both in the 90th percentile. Even though his head looks absolutely huge, it's still just in the 75th percentile!
Brock's videos
2/22/07 - Brock likes TV!
2/23/07 - Brock hanging out late at night
2/24/07 - Brock, although sick, has a grand time on the floor! (almost 5 mos old)
3/5/07 - Brock's first time eating with a spoon, LIVE! He 'gobbles' his spoon!
3/12/07 - Bryan plays with Brock on the changing table. Brock's yell sounds like a cry!
Family Pictures - from January 22, 2007
Brock is almost 4 months old in these pics
Here is a link to a slideshow with all of the pictures. We've got a lot of bad ones!!
http://www.kodakgallery.com/I.jsp?c=2t7pqtrs.cokeqifo&x=0&y=nskajl&localeid=en_US
Tuesday, February 20, 2007
2/20/07 - 19th Letter
19th letter
Tues. 2/20/07
SO, here we are. Brock will be 5 months old next Monday. At his 4-month doctor’s appointment on Jan. 29th he was almost 18 pounds (17lbs 14ozs) and almost 26 inches. -Still in the 95th percentile for his weight there, and the 75th for height and head size. He moves a lot more now, so it’s getting harder to hold him on your lap to burp him. He likes to sit up and stand, with your help of course. He likes to arch his back and he laughs a lot. He can manage playing in a saucer (you’ll see in some of the pictures), but still gets bored of everything pretty fast. He does actually play with things now. He likes TV the best. He got over his screaming phase. I didn’t even realize that until now – that he hasn’t screamed for a long time! I guess not all of you knew that he did. It was like one day he realized how to scream and then did it all the time, whether he was happy or sad or whatever. It was hilarious but right in your ear sometimes! Actually I think I have some video from Jan. 30th of him screaming a little bit in his swing. But now he loves to gurgle – it’s pretty funny. I’m going to try sending a few videos of him – they aren’t all that exciting – but I thought they’d be interesting cuz it’s just way different than a picture. Plus I had a few requests. He’s officially only eating formula now, which is sort of a bummer. I guess he hasn’t really been nursing for quite some time now. Oh well, his decision. I haven’t started him on rice cereal yet, and am just going to wait until he’s 6 months old. He had the croup for a couple days, which sounded so bad one night that I was getting worried, but now has just progressed into a cold with a cough. Poor kid – maybe he’s always going to be sick like me. Problem is we’re always around the little kids who are always sick, who touch everything. What can ya do. He also drools all over the place now, and sucks on his fingers a lot. For awhile there when you were holding him he’d suck and lick your shoulder to death and your shirt would be SOAKED. He still likes to be wrapped up to sleep, too. And he figured out he can curl his tongue out of his mouth! -You’ll see in the video. We finally put our coffee table in our storage unit because it was just too cluttered with all his stuff in here too!
So we still need to go through the family pictures we took and pick the ones we’re going to develop and ones we’re going to send to everyone, and sizes, etc. So, sorry, we’ll get those out soon. But I recently found out that one of my classes has a deadline for the midterm – and so I’ve got hours and hours of homework to do every day. We’ll squeeze that in somewhere I suppose.
We went snowboarding again on the 3rd with Tiffany and Josh again. This time we went with the Base’s Outdoor Rec. They bus you up and everything for one fee. The resort was called Hachemantai. It was way fun and we got into deep powder that I’ve never done before. So Brock had a babysitter from about 6am to 7pm!!
The Super Bowl was of course on our Monday here – we just slept in and Bryan caught like the last 5 minutes. We were going to go over and have breakfast at Ashley’s but her little baby boy, Cadence, got RSV so we stayed away!
I had a Tupperware party as a favor for a friend and made 5 times the recipe for Naomi’s White Chili! I had a ton leftover but that’s what I like! Then the next day we had everyone over for dinner and did a huge breakfast with breakfast cake (coffee cake), a breakfast casserole that we tried for the first time, and waffles with a strawberry mixture and whip cream on top!! All dang good. And all made by Bryan – he did an awesome job! He’s my favorite husband.
For Valentine’s Day we did a babysitting swap and went out to eat at a place called Ohashi’s. One of the steaks that we got you cook yourself on a heated rock grill that they bring to your table! – so that was interesting. We also tried cheese wrapped in pork, fried, in a citrus sauce. That was….different.
February 10th was Bryan’s 25th birthday and he had to work on that Saturday cuz it was in the middle of the Exercise – 5am-5pm. So that was too bad. But I made him his mom’s White Chili and his mom’s chocolate cake. He got a new golf bag, a joystick for the computer to come (when it comes in!), and an 8-man tent! Since we have no idea what happened to our old tent….but that’s okay cuz this one will be so nice since we’ll be able to stand upright in it and have tons of room! We could fit a pack and play and everything in there for Brock. Plus, since we want a big family, we’ll grow into it! So I was excited about that – WE are excited about that. We’ll go camping this summer. Plus thanks so much to those of you for your generosity! He’s trying to figure out what he wants to get with all of the money.
Bryan’s parents are coming for the first 2 weeks of April. We are going to meet them in Tokyo on April 1st and stay in a 5-star military hotel (for way cheap!) for 5 nights, before coming back up here to Misawa. So we are excited about that and excited to see them! I’m excited to go to the TGI Friday’s!! I’m sure that’s not what they’re coming to do though!
So my hair is growing back but I’m still losing a lot, too. And I’m not sure that it’s growing back as thick as it was. But it’s pretty weird to have a patch of really short hair – like the fuzz of hair that Brock’s got on his head!
I had a dentist appt today – yep – free. Another perk of military service. I also did our taxes last week and we’re getting a substantial amount back! We’re excited about that….and it will all go to student loans. But it’s awesome cuz military members can do it online through H&R Block for free. Plus, Bryan’s “pay” stated on his W-2 is actually less than half of what we actually received because of so many of the entitlements not subject to tax (besides the medical, dental, and the housing and utilities while we’ve been here in Japan, that we get for free)! Hooray for being in the military! We would be drop-dead-poor right now had we not gone this route. Did I mention we like being in the Air Force? What a great decision!
So I’m attaching pictures and you’ll see the ones we took the day Bryan received his Bachelor’s Degree Certificate, of his birthday and our frosting beards, of our chubby baby, of him falling asleep in his swing with his finger in his mouth, etc. But most of them are kind of old, and his personality is progressing fast!
Anyway, I think that’s about it. I have few videos I’ll try sending the link to, tonight, too. The one of him in the swing screaming is from Jan. 30, the one on the changing table is Feb. 11, and the one of him rocking back and forth in Bryan’s arms is from Feb. 15. Try to ignore the retarded mom voice.
Okay, love you all.
Bryan, Julie, and Brock
Here is the slideshow link for all of the pics:
http://www.kodakgallery.com/I.jsp?c=2t7pqtrs.bb6n97yw&x=0&y=bc6h7m&localeid=en_US
Tues. 2/20/07
SO, here we are. Brock will be 5 months old next Monday. At his 4-month doctor’s appointment on Jan. 29th he was almost 18 pounds (17lbs 14ozs) and almost 26 inches. -Still in the 95th percentile for his weight there, and the 75th for height and head size. He moves a lot more now, so it’s getting harder to hold him on your lap to burp him. He likes to sit up and stand, with your help of course. He likes to arch his back and he laughs a lot. He can manage playing in a saucer (you’ll see in some of the pictures), but still gets bored of everything pretty fast. He does actually play with things now. He likes TV the best. He got over his screaming phase. I didn’t even realize that until now – that he hasn’t screamed for a long time! I guess not all of you knew that he did. It was like one day he realized how to scream and then did it all the time, whether he was happy or sad or whatever. It was hilarious but right in your ear sometimes! Actually I think I have some video from Jan. 30th of him screaming a little bit in his swing. But now he loves to gurgle – it’s pretty funny. I’m going to try sending a few videos of him – they aren’t all that exciting – but I thought they’d be interesting cuz it’s just way different than a picture. Plus I had a few requests. He’s officially only eating formula now, which is sort of a bummer. I guess he hasn’t really been nursing for quite some time now. Oh well, his decision. I haven’t started him on rice cereal yet, and am just going to wait until he’s 6 months old. He had the croup for a couple days, which sounded so bad one night that I was getting worried, but now has just progressed into a cold with a cough. Poor kid – maybe he’s always going to be sick like me. Problem is we’re always around the little kids who are always sick, who touch everything. What can ya do. He also drools all over the place now, and sucks on his fingers a lot. For awhile there when you were holding him he’d suck and lick your shoulder to death and your shirt would be SOAKED. He still likes to be wrapped up to sleep, too. And he figured out he can curl his tongue out of his mouth! -You’ll see in the video. We finally put our coffee table in our storage unit because it was just too cluttered with all his stuff in here too!
So we still need to go through the family pictures we took and pick the ones we’re going to develop and ones we’re going to send to everyone, and sizes, etc. So, sorry, we’ll get those out soon. But I recently found out that one of my classes has a deadline for the midterm – and so I’ve got hours and hours of homework to do every day. We’ll squeeze that in somewhere I suppose.
We went snowboarding again on the 3rd with Tiffany and Josh again. This time we went with the Base’s Outdoor Rec. They bus you up and everything for one fee. The resort was called Hachemantai. It was way fun and we got into deep powder that I’ve never done before. So Brock had a babysitter from about 6am to 7pm!!
The Super Bowl was of course on our Monday here – we just slept in and Bryan caught like the last 5 minutes. We were going to go over and have breakfast at Ashley’s but her little baby boy, Cadence, got RSV so we stayed away!
I had a Tupperware party as a favor for a friend and made 5 times the recipe for Naomi’s White Chili! I had a ton leftover but that’s what I like! Then the next day we had everyone over for dinner and did a huge breakfast with breakfast cake (coffee cake), a breakfast casserole that we tried for the first time, and waffles with a strawberry mixture and whip cream on top!! All dang good. And all made by Bryan – he did an awesome job! He’s my favorite husband.
For Valentine’s Day we did a babysitting swap and went out to eat at a place called Ohashi’s. One of the steaks that we got you cook yourself on a heated rock grill that they bring to your table! – so that was interesting. We also tried cheese wrapped in pork, fried, in a citrus sauce. That was….different.
February 10th was Bryan’s 25th birthday and he had to work on that Saturday cuz it was in the middle of the Exercise – 5am-5pm. So that was too bad. But I made him his mom’s White Chili and his mom’s chocolate cake. He got a new golf bag, a joystick for the computer to come (when it comes in!), and an 8-man tent! Since we have no idea what happened to our old tent….but that’s okay cuz this one will be so nice since we’ll be able to stand upright in it and have tons of room! We could fit a pack and play and everything in there for Brock. Plus, since we want a big family, we’ll grow into it! So I was excited about that – WE are excited about that. We’ll go camping this summer. Plus thanks so much to those of you for your generosity! He’s trying to figure out what he wants to get with all of the money.
Bryan’s parents are coming for the first 2 weeks of April. We are going to meet them in Tokyo on April 1st and stay in a 5-star military hotel (for way cheap!) for 5 nights, before coming back up here to Misawa. So we are excited about that and excited to see them! I’m excited to go to the TGI Friday’s!! I’m sure that’s not what they’re coming to do though!
So my hair is growing back but I’m still losing a lot, too. And I’m not sure that it’s growing back as thick as it was. But it’s pretty weird to have a patch of really short hair – like the fuzz of hair that Brock’s got on his head!
I had a dentist appt today – yep – free. Another perk of military service. I also did our taxes last week and we’re getting a substantial amount back! We’re excited about that….and it will all go to student loans. But it’s awesome cuz military members can do it online through H&R Block for free. Plus, Bryan’s “pay” stated on his W-2 is actually less than half of what we actually received because of so many of the entitlements not subject to tax (besides the medical, dental, and the housing and utilities while we’ve been here in Japan, that we get for free)! Hooray for being in the military! We would be drop-dead-poor right now had we not gone this route. Did I mention we like being in the Air Force? What a great decision!
So I’m attaching pictures and you’ll see the ones we took the day Bryan received his Bachelor’s Degree Certificate, of his birthday and our frosting beards, of our chubby baby, of him falling asleep in his swing with his finger in his mouth, etc. But most of them are kind of old, and his personality is progressing fast!
Anyway, I think that’s about it. I have few videos I’ll try sending the link to, tonight, too. The one of him in the swing screaming is from Jan. 30, the one on the changing table is Feb. 11, and the one of him rocking back and forth in Bryan’s arms is from Feb. 15. Try to ignore the retarded mom voice.
Okay, love you all.
Bryan, Julie, and Brock
Here is the slideshow link for all of the pics:
http://www.kodakgallery.com/I.jsp?c=2t7pqtrs.bb6n97yw&x=0&y=bc6h7m&localeid=en_US
Bryan's Bachelor's Degree!
He finished his schooling in December of '06, and finally on Jan. 23rd, 2007, he got the official certificate! Now it's real!Aviation Science
Brock - 4 months
2/1/07
This chunk was almost 18 pounds at his 4-month appt a couple days ago! 17 lbs 14 oz (95th percentile) and 26 inches long (75th percentile). His head is also still in the 75th percentile.
2/6/07 - S-t-r-e-t-c-h! When we unfasten his swaddler his arms shoot up into his stretching. The speed that they fly up there is hilarious!
2/9/07
2/19/07 - Brock and his Dad watching TV!
Videos - Swinging, Screaming Brock!
1/30/07 - (4 months old) PLEASE ignore my retardedness - it's just impossible to talk normal when you're talking to a baby and trying to get them respond! This first one is pretty long so it gets pretty boring, though.
TERRIBLE video quality though! It's hard to really even see his face!
Videos - Brock at 4 1/2 months
2/11/07 - Very long! He likes to play with his tongue!
2/15/07 - He was laughing hysterically, letting himself fall backwards, but of course when I got out the camera he stopped!
Tuesday, January 23, 2007
1/23/07 - 18th Letter
18th letter
Tues. 1/23/07
It’s pretty early in the morning and I haven’t gone to bed yet and I was just about to, but I just can’t knowing I really need to get this written! The last time I wrote was Dec. 29th, so let’s see what’s happened since then.
For New Year’s a bunch of us got together and had treats and watched movies. We pretty much just ragged on the new Superman movie. But it was fun. -Although no one remembered the sparkling cider.
Bryan didn’t get Airman of the Quarter. Apparently some other guy knew all the right answers to their questions. But they told Bryan’s supervisor that Bryan had the best packet. So had he done better in front of the board…..his supervisor said they should have had Bryan go on leave because then you don’t have to go in front of the board and they only go off your packet – too bad – he would have gotten it! Oh well, it was a good experience. And now that I think about it – that’s good to know that they thought Bryan had the best packet – because they see a lot of those – and that means that Bryan had the most things accomplished, and more impressive things that quarter than the rest that went up against him – so if that’s the case all the more reason he should be selected when the board meets for Officer selection – ‘cuz he’ll have a dang nice packet for them to consider!!
Brock will be 4 months old on Saturday! Yes, yes, I’ve always got to update you on his age. You can tell he’s getting older though…he still doesn’t do much, but still. He FINALLY started hitting stuff with his hands, even though I don’t think he quite gets what he’s doing yet. Yeah, he’s a little pokey. We went to a WIC appt on the 10th and he was 17 pounds with his clothes on, and 24 ¾ inches long. So he’s gained almost 2 pounds since his 2 month doctor’s appt, but only grown a quarter of an inch. The WIC nurse was like, ‘well he’s in the 97th percentile for his weight so we’ll need to watch that because we don’t want him to be obese.’ Um….okay. –How exactly do you “watch” that -? Starve him when he’s crying to eat??..... He’ll only nurse that first early feeding of the day, and besides that will ONLY eat from a bottle. Really weird. When he sits on your lap he’ll use his little abs to pull himself forward but can’t quite master not continuing to fall all the way forward. He’s in 3-6 month clothes but I think he’s closer to the 6-month size so I think I’ll be moving on to the 6-12 month ones. He’s a chubs as you’ll see in the pictures. Bryan took a couple where he’s laying side-by-side with Arlie, a girl who’s double his age – they’re about the same size, but he weighs more than she does. He has his 4-month doctor’s appt next Monday so we’ll see what his measurements are then. Brock has been pretty sick for almost 2 weeks now – a bad cold with a bad cough! Poor little guy! Bryan is sick too – which never happens! Brock loves to play with his washcloths and it’s so fun to make him laugh!!
Bryan takes care of Brock at church now because I teach Primary now. I teach the same class he did – Valiant 9! But of course different kids since the kids he taught moved up to Valiant 10 in January. Thank goodness – he had horrible ones. Our friend teaches that class and he just walked out on them on Sunday ‘cuz he couldn’t stand it any longer and said he ‘just wasn’t going to take it that Sunday.’ Anyway, we’re so squished in this church building that I have to meet with my class in the small kitchen! – Since I have the smallest class of 4 kids. It’ll be good – I’ve forgotten so many scripture stories…it’s pretty bad. Bryan said my mom would be horrified. So you remember that Bryan is the Webelos scout leader now? Well the first Thursday of this month he completely forgot to show up!!
We got family pictures taken tonight. It’s hard with a little kid!! Our friend Tiffany sets up a little studio in her home, it’s pretty cool. I think we got a few good ones. Bryan and I are just not very photogenic! And then if he looks good, I don’t, and vice versa. Sheesh. -Then on top of that trying to get a baby to look at the camera and maybe even smile. Not easy stuff. And he was poopy, fussy, fell asleep, hungry – we went through it all while being there!
We had everyone over here for dinner a couple Sundays ago – so many people squished in such a small place! We had fettuccine alfredo w/chicken – 4x the recipe! We had a lot left over but it was still gone within the week cuz I love that stuff. Then on top of that since Martin Luther King Day was the next day and most everyone had it off, we had everyone over again and we fed them all Digornio pizza and played games. It was fun. The 4 guys that aren’t ‘game players’ played football on Xbox 360 so they had their fun too. It’s fun to have everyone over like that, but gets kind of expensive food-wise! I guess everyone takes their turn. But so many of them will be leaving within the next 3 months – sad!
On the 13th we got a babysitter and went snowboarding with another couple –Josh and Tiffany- to Okuynakuyama- yeah, say that one. -About an hour and a half away. It’s not a very big place but pretty decent! Especially when a day ticket costs only $46 for the both of you!! It was fun trying out all of our new stuff – cuz I had picked up a new board as well, so I had a completely new setup – board, bindings, and boots, all for under $290!! Bryan went snowboarding again on the holiday with Josh, before everyone came over for games. His 3rd time. He went to Hakkoda again – they get the most snow – about 2 hours away – and he said he’s never ridden anything like it. He said there was so much powder that it was like riding a wakeboard. We haven’t gotten much snow here in the city. It’s actually pretty weird – we should be getting a lot more. Average snow fall in January is about 39 inches and we only have about 12 so far. The max 24-hour snow they’ve ever gotten is 27 inches and one time they got 117 inches in the month of Jan. alone!
So I know some of you already know this, but I am losing my hair!!! Another side effect of pregnancy and childbirth! So I learned that it happens to most everyone….but not quite like me. I actually have bald spots and attached pictures of it! I pretty much freaked out when I first noticed it, but everyone says it’ll grow back…..so as long as I can continue to hide it by parting my hair, I’ll be okay. But it better come back!!!! It’s pretty freakish and continues to get worse. Not sure if the pictures do it justice. Eeek.
Bryan took his final CDC test over all of his 5 volumes, and got a 90! The highest in all of the shop is an 84! So he earned 3 days that he’ll be able to take off! We celebrated by going to Karinba’s, a Chinese restaurant off base, and it was okay. A lot of people told us it was good so maybe we were expecting too much. On the way there we stopped by a friend’s to drop something off and they made us leave Brock while we went to eat!! The first time we’ve been on a “date” without him (not counting snowboarding)!
The End.
Julie, Bryan, and Brock
Here is the slideshow of pictures - just click on this link, and then click on the picture, and it starts:
http://www.kodakgallery.com/I.jsp?c=2t7pqtrs.39bdgkew&x=0&y=w03zbu&localeid=en_US
Tues. 1/23/07
It’s pretty early in the morning and I haven’t gone to bed yet and I was just about to, but I just can’t knowing I really need to get this written! The last time I wrote was Dec. 29th, so let’s see what’s happened since then.
For New Year’s a bunch of us got together and had treats and watched movies. We pretty much just ragged on the new Superman movie. But it was fun. -Although no one remembered the sparkling cider.
Bryan didn’t get Airman of the Quarter. Apparently some other guy knew all the right answers to their questions. But they told Bryan’s supervisor that Bryan had the best packet. So had he done better in front of the board…..his supervisor said they should have had Bryan go on leave because then you don’t have to go in front of the board and they only go off your packet – too bad – he would have gotten it! Oh well, it was a good experience. And now that I think about it – that’s good to know that they thought Bryan had the best packet – because they see a lot of those – and that means that Bryan had the most things accomplished, and more impressive things that quarter than the rest that went up against him – so if that’s the case all the more reason he should be selected when the board meets for Officer selection – ‘cuz he’ll have a dang nice packet for them to consider!!
Brock will be 4 months old on Saturday! Yes, yes, I’ve always got to update you on his age. You can tell he’s getting older though…he still doesn’t do much, but still. He FINALLY started hitting stuff with his hands, even though I don’t think he quite gets what he’s doing yet. Yeah, he’s a little pokey. We went to a WIC appt on the 10th and he was 17 pounds with his clothes on, and 24 ¾ inches long. So he’s gained almost 2 pounds since his 2 month doctor’s appt, but only grown a quarter of an inch. The WIC nurse was like, ‘well he’s in the 97th percentile for his weight so we’ll need to watch that because we don’t want him to be obese.’ Um….okay. –How exactly do you “watch” that -? Starve him when he’s crying to eat??..... He’ll only nurse that first early feeding of the day, and besides that will ONLY eat from a bottle. Really weird. When he sits on your lap he’ll use his little abs to pull himself forward but can’t quite master not continuing to fall all the way forward. He’s in 3-6 month clothes but I think he’s closer to the 6-month size so I think I’ll be moving on to the 6-12 month ones. He’s a chubs as you’ll see in the pictures. Bryan took a couple where he’s laying side-by-side with Arlie, a girl who’s double his age – they’re about the same size, but he weighs more than she does. He has his 4-month doctor’s appt next Monday so we’ll see what his measurements are then. Brock has been pretty sick for almost 2 weeks now – a bad cold with a bad cough! Poor little guy! Bryan is sick too – which never happens! Brock loves to play with his washcloths and it’s so fun to make him laugh!!
Bryan takes care of Brock at church now because I teach Primary now. I teach the same class he did – Valiant 9! But of course different kids since the kids he taught moved up to Valiant 10 in January. Thank goodness – he had horrible ones. Our friend teaches that class and he just walked out on them on Sunday ‘cuz he couldn’t stand it any longer and said he ‘just wasn’t going to take it that Sunday.’ Anyway, we’re so squished in this church building that I have to meet with my class in the small kitchen! – Since I have the smallest class of 4 kids. It’ll be good – I’ve forgotten so many scripture stories…it’s pretty bad. Bryan said my mom would be horrified. So you remember that Bryan is the Webelos scout leader now? Well the first Thursday of this month he completely forgot to show up!!
We got family pictures taken tonight. It’s hard with a little kid!! Our friend Tiffany sets up a little studio in her home, it’s pretty cool. I think we got a few good ones. Bryan and I are just not very photogenic! And then if he looks good, I don’t, and vice versa. Sheesh. -Then on top of that trying to get a baby to look at the camera and maybe even smile. Not easy stuff. And he was poopy, fussy, fell asleep, hungry – we went through it all while being there!
We had everyone over here for dinner a couple Sundays ago – so many people squished in such a small place! We had fettuccine alfredo w/chicken – 4x the recipe! We had a lot left over but it was still gone within the week cuz I love that stuff. Then on top of that since Martin Luther King Day was the next day and most everyone had it off, we had everyone over again and we fed them all Digornio pizza and played games. It was fun. The 4 guys that aren’t ‘game players’ played football on Xbox 360 so they had their fun too. It’s fun to have everyone over like that, but gets kind of expensive food-wise! I guess everyone takes their turn. But so many of them will be leaving within the next 3 months – sad!
On the 13th we got a babysitter and went snowboarding with another couple –Josh and Tiffany- to Okuynakuyama- yeah, say that one. -About an hour and a half away. It’s not a very big place but pretty decent! Especially when a day ticket costs only $46 for the both of you!! It was fun trying out all of our new stuff – cuz I had picked up a new board as well, so I had a completely new setup – board, bindings, and boots, all for under $290!! Bryan went snowboarding again on the holiday with Josh, before everyone came over for games. His 3rd time. He went to Hakkoda again – they get the most snow – about 2 hours away – and he said he’s never ridden anything like it. He said there was so much powder that it was like riding a wakeboard. We haven’t gotten much snow here in the city. It’s actually pretty weird – we should be getting a lot more. Average snow fall in January is about 39 inches and we only have about 12 so far. The max 24-hour snow they’ve ever gotten is 27 inches and one time they got 117 inches in the month of Jan. alone!
So I know some of you already know this, but I am losing my hair!!! Another side effect of pregnancy and childbirth! So I learned that it happens to most everyone….but not quite like me. I actually have bald spots and attached pictures of it! I pretty much freaked out when I first noticed it, but everyone says it’ll grow back…..so as long as I can continue to hide it by parting my hair, I’ll be okay. But it better come back!!!! It’s pretty freakish and continues to get worse. Not sure if the pictures do it justice. Eeek.
Bryan took his final CDC test over all of his 5 volumes, and got a 90! The highest in all of the shop is an 84! So he earned 3 days that he’ll be able to take off! We celebrated by going to Karinba’s, a Chinese restaurant off base, and it was okay. A lot of people told us it was good so maybe we were expecting too much. On the way there we stopped by a friend’s to drop something off and they made us leave Brock while we went to eat!! The first time we’ve been on a “date” without him (not counting snowboarding)!
The End.
Julie, Bryan, and Brock
Here is the slideshow of pictures - just click on this link, and then click on the picture, and it starts:
http://www.kodakgallery.com/I.jsp?c=2t7pqtrs.39bdgkew&x=0&y=w03zbu&localeid=en_US
Brock!
1/4/07
1/9/07 - Brock and Arlie - she's double his age (Tiffany Roundy's girl)
Brock is 3 1/2 months old and, as I said in the letter, is 17 lbs with clothes on!! - The 97th percentile. He is 24 3/4 inches long. What a chunk!!
1/16/07 - His hair does NOT lay down flat!
1/16/07
Okuynakuyama Ski Resort (in Japan!)
1/13/07
Yeah...we got separated on the lift somehow so Bryan took this lovely picture...
Friday, December 29, 2006
12/29/06 - 17th Letter
17th letter
Fri. 12/29/06
I guess it’s actually almost Saturday. I can’t sleep and so after lying in bed for an hour I was thinking I was wasting time! So I thought, of the list of things I need to do, this was something I could do in the middle of the night.
Really, I sure haven’t done much through these holidays. It’s been SO awesome to have Bryan home so much (as if he’s not home a lot already). He helps with Brock so much that I start feeling guilty that I’m not doing enough. He’s so great, I just couldn’t ask for more! (Or much more anyway… haha just kidding).
So after getting a few congratulations for finishing my Bachelor’s degree, I realized what I made it sound like in my last letter. No I am not done with my degree; I still have 25 credits left. I was just celebrating that the semester was over and that I was done with that certain class. Sorry about the confusion. It’s only Bryan that’s done. Wish I was too. I’m taking 2 classes this next semester but after that there are no more online classes that I can take with UVSC to finish my Accounting degree. So it might have to wait a bit.
Bryan met with the board to compete for the Squadron-level Airman of the Quarter on Thursday. He thinks that it went well and had his uniform and appearance right in check. Although of the 4 questions he was asked, he got 1 right, answered 1 wrong, and just told them he didn’t know the other 2. Sheesh eh? But he feels that he was straightforward – they say even if you give the wrong answer if you are confident it’s not that bad. And that if you don’t know the answer to just say you don’t instead of trying to stumble through something you make up. Later on Bryan’s supervisor was talking to one of the people on the board and she told him that Bryan had exceptional speaking skills, so that’s a nice compliment. I’m not sure when we find out who was selected.
We went to his squadron Christmas party and I suppose it was okay, but too long. They gave a raffle ticket to each person at the door, and we were so excited when they called one of our numbers to draw a number for one of the gifts or money tree. What a bummer when Bryan came back with an envelope containing only a dollar!!! Sheesh. But half the time they were trying to get us to drink – so that part wasn’t all too great.
For Enrichment we went caroling and delivered cookies to Japanese church members. But of the 4 families we had selected only one was home, so we ended up doing it to just some random Japanese homes. It was hilarious! You should have seen some of the looks on their faces. 2 of the men looked downright scared! One lady looked really grateful but was trying to ask us something about the cookies, but of course we couldn’t understand. They understand “Merry Christmas” so we sang ‘We Wish You a Merry Christmas.” I’m not sure they knew what to do with this plate of cookies that some foreign strangers gave them.
So Christmas Eve we got together with a group of friends and had a nice dinner –it was fun! We attempted to cook turkey for the first time (yeah yeah you can make fun all you want). Um….I think we know what to do better next time. And they were only turkey loaves. This was our first Christmas away from at least some sort of family. Kind of sad, but what can you do. Jobs just take family in different directions I guess. My parents just moved into their new house a week before Christmas – I want to see it so bad! My whole family is in Texas except for us and my sister on a mission. I don’t think I’ll ever think plane tickets are expensive again once we’re back in the U.S. Quite a new perspective here.
So one of the reasons I was so excited for Christmas was because I got a new snowboard for Bryan and I was dying to give it to him. He’s been riding a board that I bought off someone for myself, back in high school. And I gave him a snowboard backpack. He gave me a Nintendo GameCube that he bought off a guy from work (cuz I love Nintendo) – ‘course that was before we knew what John and Naomi were giving us! And he gave me snowboard goggles that let in 80% of the light ‘cuz I can’t stand those amber lenses!! (And of course I got that expensive hair job earlier). We got great gifts from family – VERY much appreciated. We had a good Christmas – we stayed in the whole day and played MarioKart DoubleDash and had a nice ham, potato, and corn dinner - - complete with a shrimp cocktail appetizer (had to at least incorporate some of the 7-course traditional Bergquist Christmas Eve dinner!). Bryan makes excellent mashed potatoes. When I asked him how he knew how to make them he said he saw it on the O.C.!! (A television show). So funny. The shrimp wasn’t so great…we bought it at a Japanese grocery store…it was really fishy.
And then the next day I turned 25! I’m so old now! HA- My dad just turned 53 today! Now that’s old. Bryan gave me the Zelda collection set (my favorite game), and we got an awesome deal on black K2 snowboard boots and bindings from a Japanese sports store. I am SO excited about that. I’ve been riding with boots too big ever since I started this sport. Hopefully we can try out all our new stuff next Saturday. Can’t just pick up and go when you’ve got a kid!! Bryan cooked me an excellent breakfast of puff-oven pancakes and that night we went to Angelo’s – the Japanese’s best effort at Italian food. It was good…definitely not the American way that’s for sure…but we won’t be ordering cheesecake there again.
I’ve discovered that Japanese diapers are awesome. They work so much better for Brock (meaning less clothes cleaning for me!) than anything I’ve had a chance to try on base. They have these little lines down the front so you can see if he peed and how much! It’s cool! I’m hooked…so I don’t know what I’m going to do when we leave here!
Brock is such a great kid. He’s officially 3 months old as of Wednesday. It’s so fun being a mom- I think I can do this another 5 times! But yeah…he continues to grow…
So – the pictures I’m attaching - - Brock sits on Bryan’s lap while he plays (pic from 2 wks ago) – Brock’s jeans are a little tight…I had to unbutton the top button – me eating a little Christmas breakfast – Brock sleeps while we open presents – a few other Christmas pictures – and a couple that Bryan took of Brock today. He’s our favorite kid!
Well I suppose this letter’s boring enough so it can end. I think our upstairs neighbors must have gotten a nice stereo or something because I can hear their bumpin’ music and it’s 1am.
We miss everyone! Hope you all had a great Christmas!!
Love,
Julie – Bryan – Brock
Here is the slideshow link for the pics:
http://www.kodakgallery.com/I.jsp?c=2t7pqtrs.23nk1pg8&x=0&y=-i5u3bm&localeid=en_US
Fri. 12/29/06
I guess it’s actually almost Saturday. I can’t sleep and so after lying in bed for an hour I was thinking I was wasting time! So I thought, of the list of things I need to do, this was something I could do in the middle of the night.
Really, I sure haven’t done much through these holidays. It’s been SO awesome to have Bryan home so much (as if he’s not home a lot already). He helps with Brock so much that I start feeling guilty that I’m not doing enough. He’s so great, I just couldn’t ask for more! (Or much more anyway… haha just kidding).
So after getting a few congratulations for finishing my Bachelor’s degree, I realized what I made it sound like in my last letter. No I am not done with my degree; I still have 25 credits left. I was just celebrating that the semester was over and that I was done with that certain class. Sorry about the confusion. It’s only Bryan that’s done. Wish I was too. I’m taking 2 classes this next semester but after that there are no more online classes that I can take with UVSC to finish my Accounting degree. So it might have to wait a bit.
Bryan met with the board to compete for the Squadron-level Airman of the Quarter on Thursday. He thinks that it went well and had his uniform and appearance right in check. Although of the 4 questions he was asked, he got 1 right, answered 1 wrong, and just told them he didn’t know the other 2. Sheesh eh? But he feels that he was straightforward – they say even if you give the wrong answer if you are confident it’s not that bad. And that if you don’t know the answer to just say you don’t instead of trying to stumble through something you make up. Later on Bryan’s supervisor was talking to one of the people on the board and she told him that Bryan had exceptional speaking skills, so that’s a nice compliment. I’m not sure when we find out who was selected.
We went to his squadron Christmas party and I suppose it was okay, but too long. They gave a raffle ticket to each person at the door, and we were so excited when they called one of our numbers to draw a number for one of the gifts or money tree. What a bummer when Bryan came back with an envelope containing only a dollar!!! Sheesh. But half the time they were trying to get us to drink – so that part wasn’t all too great.
For Enrichment we went caroling and delivered cookies to Japanese church members. But of the 4 families we had selected only one was home, so we ended up doing it to just some random Japanese homes. It was hilarious! You should have seen some of the looks on their faces. 2 of the men looked downright scared! One lady looked really grateful but was trying to ask us something about the cookies, but of course we couldn’t understand. They understand “Merry Christmas” so we sang ‘We Wish You a Merry Christmas.” I’m not sure they knew what to do with this plate of cookies that some foreign strangers gave them.
So Christmas Eve we got together with a group of friends and had a nice dinner –it was fun! We attempted to cook turkey for the first time (yeah yeah you can make fun all you want). Um….I think we know what to do better next time. And they were only turkey loaves. This was our first Christmas away from at least some sort of family. Kind of sad, but what can you do. Jobs just take family in different directions I guess. My parents just moved into their new house a week before Christmas – I want to see it so bad! My whole family is in Texas except for us and my sister on a mission. I don’t think I’ll ever think plane tickets are expensive again once we’re back in the U.S. Quite a new perspective here.
So one of the reasons I was so excited for Christmas was because I got a new snowboard for Bryan and I was dying to give it to him. He’s been riding a board that I bought off someone for myself, back in high school. And I gave him a snowboard backpack. He gave me a Nintendo GameCube that he bought off a guy from work (cuz I love Nintendo) – ‘course that was before we knew what John and Naomi were giving us! And he gave me snowboard goggles that let in 80% of the light ‘cuz I can’t stand those amber lenses!! (And of course I got that expensive hair job earlier). We got great gifts from family – VERY much appreciated. We had a good Christmas – we stayed in the whole day and played MarioKart DoubleDash and had a nice ham, potato, and corn dinner - - complete with a shrimp cocktail appetizer (had to at least incorporate some of the 7-course traditional Bergquist Christmas Eve dinner!). Bryan makes excellent mashed potatoes. When I asked him how he knew how to make them he said he saw it on the O.C.!! (A television show). So funny. The shrimp wasn’t so great…we bought it at a Japanese grocery store…it was really fishy.
And then the next day I turned 25! I’m so old now! HA- My dad just turned 53 today! Now that’s old. Bryan gave me the Zelda collection set (my favorite game), and we got an awesome deal on black K2 snowboard boots and bindings from a Japanese sports store. I am SO excited about that. I’ve been riding with boots too big ever since I started this sport. Hopefully we can try out all our new stuff next Saturday. Can’t just pick up and go when you’ve got a kid!! Bryan cooked me an excellent breakfast of puff-oven pancakes and that night we went to Angelo’s – the Japanese’s best effort at Italian food. It was good…definitely not the American way that’s for sure…but we won’t be ordering cheesecake there again.
I’ve discovered that Japanese diapers are awesome. They work so much better for Brock (meaning less clothes cleaning for me!) than anything I’ve had a chance to try on base. They have these little lines down the front so you can see if he peed and how much! It’s cool! I’m hooked…so I don’t know what I’m going to do when we leave here!
Brock is such a great kid. He’s officially 3 months old as of Wednesday. It’s so fun being a mom- I think I can do this another 5 times! But yeah…he continues to grow…
So – the pictures I’m attaching - - Brock sits on Bryan’s lap while he plays (pic from 2 wks ago) – Brock’s jeans are a little tight…I had to unbutton the top button – me eating a little Christmas breakfast – Brock sleeps while we open presents – a few other Christmas pictures – and a couple that Bryan took of Brock today. He’s our favorite kid!
Well I suppose this letter’s boring enough so it can end. I think our upstairs neighbors must have gotten a nice stereo or something because I can hear their bumpin’ music and it’s 1am.
We miss everyone! Hope you all had a great Christmas!!
Love,
Julie – Bryan – Brock
Here is the slideshow link for the pics:
http://www.kodakgallery.com/I.jsp?c=2t7pqtrs.23nk1pg8&x=0&y=-i5u3bm&localeid=en_US
Christmas Day!
2 days away from being 3 months old! - Wow!You can see all the hair loss!
Our little tree!
A very weird face Bryan's pulling there...
Thursday, December 14, 2006
12/14/06 - 16th Letter
16th letter
Thurs. 12/14/06
So we found out Bryan’s AFOQT scores the day after I wrote the last letter to everyone. They are good scores…but…not as good as we had hoped they would be I guess. There is not an overall score, it’s divided up into 5 scores and they were 96/88/95/91/76. Yeah, that last one was for “Quantitative” and surprisingly low! Bryan was hoping his absolute lowest score would not be below the 80’s, but was really hoping that they would all be in the 90’s. The first score is for “Pilot,” so that’s good that that’s his highest one. The second one is for “Navigator,” and he was hoping that that one at least, would also be in the 90’s. Those are the 2 he was worried most about, I guess you could say. But he has joined this online officer forum and sees other candidates and other selects (people who have been chosen by the board) and he thinks his scores put him roughly in the top 10% of everyone, from what he’s seen (everyone posts their scores and stats and all that). So they are pretty good compared to a lot of other people. I guess I should tell you that the scores aren’t straight percentages out of a 100. They are scores based upon everyone else who takes the test – for example, he did better than 96% of the people on the “Pilot” portions of the test. So that’s how it works.
He also is being nominated for Airman of the Quarter. Meaning, out of his flight (over 50 guys), he is having a package (all that he’s accomplished this last quarter) put forward to have him considered against everyone in his squadron. Hopefully he gets it! That would be such an awesome thing to be able to put in his Officer packet.
And he is officially done with the semester…meaning done with all his requirements for a Bachelor’s degree!! It’s so exciting! I think it will be more official once we actually get the certificate in the mail in about 8 weeks. He was laughing at me because he was done and I still had tons of homework, saying that he wasn’t going to have to say that for a long time! (He will most likely get his Master’s Degree down the road). Yesterday I took my Final and so I am done too – HALLELUJAH!!! His job is awesome. They let him take a much extended lunch so that he could come home and watch Brock while I drove down to main base to take this test. It’s so awesome that we can do that, unless he’s extremely busy. But anyways, we TOTALLY need to have a huge celebration for him! It’s such an accomplishment! Oh yes, and he ended his degree well – he got a 4.0 this semester. His ending GPA will be a 3.8 I think. Awesome, eh? He is the first in his family, and my family, to get a baccalaureates degree. My husband’s awesome.
He went snowboarding last Saturday with 2 guys from work (his supervisor/trainer and his Supervisor - ? -), and had fun. He tried to convince me to go…but sheesh I’m not anywhere near in shape and I was afraid I’d get tired too fast to keep up with them. Besides, leaving such a little babes all day with someone….? We’ll actually probably go the week after Christmas. He went to a kind of “back woods” ‘resort.’ So this next time we’ll go to a different one because I’m not really up to that. They’re not exactly like American ski resorts here…good ‘ol Brighton…we miss America! But it’s kind of cool – you pay 4900 Yen (about $45) for 5 runs (these are long runs – they snowboarded for 5 hours and he only used 4 runs) – and they take you up in a gondola like at Snowbird…ALL the way up a big mountain – and they punch your card each run. If you don’t use all of them, you can use them the next time you come. That’s nice because in the states sometimes you pay for an all day pass but get tired before the day’s through and feel like you wasted a little money. -But it was 2-hr drive for them to get there – so they’re not exactly real close. We’ve gotten a little snow on the ground here – just enough for Bryan to shovel a little bit. But we’ve got MUCH more to come!
Update on Brock. He turned 11-weeks old yesterday. Just over 2 weeks ago, on December 5th, he had his 2-month appointment (he was more like 2 mos. 1 wk). And…guess how much he weighed. My little chunk was 15 pounds 1 ounce - ! And 24 ½ inches long. Let me remind you that when he was born he was 7 pounds 14 ounces, and 19 ½ inches long. Yes. He is in the 95th percentile for height and weight. He is in the 75th percentile for his head size. He is a heavy dude. I am glad that he’s growing his hair back. It grows kind of fast – but it’s thin – so unless you’re close I guess he still looks kind of bald. Sunday night, the 10th, I think I can officially say that he slept through the night! He was asleep in his room at 11pm, and woke up at 7:45am. …pretty sure that’s what it was anyway… I think it had been about 10 hours since he had last eaten!! He did another 7-8 hour chunk of time the next night. Yet I couldn’t fully enjoy it because I was doing homework. I was up ‘til 6am one of those mornings. Man I’m glad the semester’s over! My house was a mess until that test was done. So we’ll see how consistent Brock will be with his nights. Man I LOVE that kid to death!!! – He’s so great!
I can’t believe Christmas is so close! I can’t believe I’ll be 25! We finally were able to pick up a Christmas tree on Monday. A little one for $25. So now it finally feels like Christmas in our house. It’s so nice! I’m so excited! Our first Christmas with a family of 3! Last year Bryan was in Basic Training, so it was just me, his mom, and his dad last year!
I am sick again. Sucks.
Bryan gets a week off for Christmas! These are days that don’t count against his regular leave – it’s awesome! He gets next Thursday and Friday off, then Monday (Christmas), Tues., Wed.; goes to work Thurs. the 28th, then has Friday off in conjunction with the New Year’s holiday the following Monday. We are enjoying being in the Air Force…! The 28th he has to go before a board for this Airman of the Quarter nomination, so it works out well that he has to go to work that day anyway.
We just found out that they are moving him from being a Sunday school teacher to working with the Boy Scouts – Webelos. So that’s cool.
With the pictures I attached – you’ll see Brock’s ‘cool’ overalls, him watching Bryan play Playstation, his little hand poking out of his Swaddler (what we put him in for his long sleeping times – not during the day), and amongst other things, the socks I put on his hands to keep them warm (Bryan thinks it’s unnecessary but his hands get cold!).
Um, well, I think that’s it for this time. We love you guys!
Merry Christmas!
Love,
Julie, Bryan, and Brock
Here are the pictures I was talking about, in slideshow, though most of them are posted below, anyway. (Click on the link, then the picture, and the slideshow starts - you don't need to sign in or anything).
http://www.kodakgallery.com/I.jsp?c=2t7pqtrs.bs1rx2jc&x=0&y=-o61bbq&localeid=en_US
Thurs. 12/14/06
So we found out Bryan’s AFOQT scores the day after I wrote the last letter to everyone. They are good scores…but…not as good as we had hoped they would be I guess. There is not an overall score, it’s divided up into 5 scores and they were 96/88/95/91/76. Yeah, that last one was for “Quantitative” and surprisingly low! Bryan was hoping his absolute lowest score would not be below the 80’s, but was really hoping that they would all be in the 90’s. The first score is for “Pilot,” so that’s good that that’s his highest one. The second one is for “Navigator,” and he was hoping that that one at least, would also be in the 90’s. Those are the 2 he was worried most about, I guess you could say. But he has joined this online officer forum and sees other candidates and other selects (people who have been chosen by the board) and he thinks his scores put him roughly in the top 10% of everyone, from what he’s seen (everyone posts their scores and stats and all that). So they are pretty good compared to a lot of other people. I guess I should tell you that the scores aren’t straight percentages out of a 100. They are scores based upon everyone else who takes the test – for example, he did better than 96% of the people on the “Pilot” portions of the test. So that’s how it works.
He also is being nominated for Airman of the Quarter. Meaning, out of his flight (over 50 guys), he is having a package (all that he’s accomplished this last quarter) put forward to have him considered against everyone in his squadron. Hopefully he gets it! That would be such an awesome thing to be able to put in his Officer packet.
And he is officially done with the semester…meaning done with all his requirements for a Bachelor’s degree!! It’s so exciting! I think it will be more official once we actually get the certificate in the mail in about 8 weeks. He was laughing at me because he was done and I still had tons of homework, saying that he wasn’t going to have to say that for a long time! (He will most likely get his Master’s Degree down the road). Yesterday I took my Final and so I am done too – HALLELUJAH!!! His job is awesome. They let him take a much extended lunch so that he could come home and watch Brock while I drove down to main base to take this test. It’s so awesome that we can do that, unless he’s extremely busy. But anyways, we TOTALLY need to have a huge celebration for him! It’s such an accomplishment! Oh yes, and he ended his degree well – he got a 4.0 this semester. His ending GPA will be a 3.8 I think. Awesome, eh? He is the first in his family, and my family, to get a baccalaureates degree. My husband’s awesome.
He went snowboarding last Saturday with 2 guys from work (his supervisor/trainer and his Supervisor - ? -), and had fun. He tried to convince me to go…but sheesh I’m not anywhere near in shape and I was afraid I’d get tired too fast to keep up with them. Besides, leaving such a little babes all day with someone….? We’ll actually probably go the week after Christmas. He went to a kind of “back woods” ‘resort.’ So this next time we’ll go to a different one because I’m not really up to that. They’re not exactly like American ski resorts here…good ‘ol Brighton…we miss America! But it’s kind of cool – you pay 4900 Yen (about $45) for 5 runs (these are long runs – they snowboarded for 5 hours and he only used 4 runs) – and they take you up in a gondola like at Snowbird…ALL the way up a big mountain – and they punch your card each run. If you don’t use all of them, you can use them the next time you come. That’s nice because in the states sometimes you pay for an all day pass but get tired before the day’s through and feel like you wasted a little money. -But it was 2-hr drive for them to get there – so they’re not exactly real close. We’ve gotten a little snow on the ground here – just enough for Bryan to shovel a little bit. But we’ve got MUCH more to come!
Update on Brock. He turned 11-weeks old yesterday. Just over 2 weeks ago, on December 5th, he had his 2-month appointment (he was more like 2 mos. 1 wk). And…guess how much he weighed. My little chunk was 15 pounds 1 ounce - ! And 24 ½ inches long. Let me remind you that when he was born he was 7 pounds 14 ounces, and 19 ½ inches long. Yes. He is in the 95th percentile for height and weight. He is in the 75th percentile for his head size. He is a heavy dude. I am glad that he’s growing his hair back. It grows kind of fast – but it’s thin – so unless you’re close I guess he still looks kind of bald. Sunday night, the 10th, I think I can officially say that he slept through the night! He was asleep in his room at 11pm, and woke up at 7:45am. …pretty sure that’s what it was anyway… I think it had been about 10 hours since he had last eaten!! He did another 7-8 hour chunk of time the next night. Yet I couldn’t fully enjoy it because I was doing homework. I was up ‘til 6am one of those mornings. Man I’m glad the semester’s over! My house was a mess until that test was done. So we’ll see how consistent Brock will be with his nights. Man I LOVE that kid to death!!! – He’s so great!
I can’t believe Christmas is so close! I can’t believe I’ll be 25! We finally were able to pick up a Christmas tree on Monday. A little one for $25. So now it finally feels like Christmas in our house. It’s so nice! I’m so excited! Our first Christmas with a family of 3! Last year Bryan was in Basic Training, so it was just me, his mom, and his dad last year!
I am sick again. Sucks.
Bryan gets a week off for Christmas! These are days that don’t count against his regular leave – it’s awesome! He gets next Thursday and Friday off, then Monday (Christmas), Tues., Wed.; goes to work Thurs. the 28th, then has Friday off in conjunction with the New Year’s holiday the following Monday. We are enjoying being in the Air Force…! The 28th he has to go before a board for this Airman of the Quarter nomination, so it works out well that he has to go to work that day anyway.
We just found out that they are moving him from being a Sunday school teacher to working with the Boy Scouts – Webelos. So that’s cool.
With the pictures I attached – you’ll see Brock’s ‘cool’ overalls, him watching Bryan play Playstation, his little hand poking out of his Swaddler (what we put him in for his long sleeping times – not during the day), and amongst other things, the socks I put on his hands to keep them warm (Bryan thinks it’s unnecessary but his hands get cold!).
Um, well, I think that’s it for this time. We love you guys!
Merry Christmas!
Love,
Julie, Bryan, and Brock
Here are the pictures I was talking about, in slideshow, though most of them are posted below, anyway. (Click on the link, then the picture, and the slideshow starts - you don't need to sign in or anything).
http://www.kodakgallery.com/I.jsp?c=2t7pqtrs.bs1rx2jc&x=0&y=-o61bbq&localeid=en_US
2 - 2.5 Months Old
At his 2-month appt Brock was 15 lbs 1 oz!!! - That's the 95th percentile.He was 24 1/2 inches long, which is also the 95th percentile. His head size is in the 75th percentile. (Reminder - he was 7 lbs 14 oz and 19 1/2 inches at birth - so he has really put the weight on!!!)!
Watching his Dad play PlayStation! Such a bonding experience...
The Swaddler is AWESOME! Recommended for all! Sleeps so well in this and then you don't have to keep wrapping them up when the blanket (the alternative) gets loose!
Bryan hated when I put socks on his hands...but they were cold!
Wednesday, November 29, 2006
11/29/06 - 15th Letter
15th letter
Wed. 11/29/06
The irony (maybe not the best word to describe it?) of me being up right now…it’s only 11pm, we put Brock down at 8:30, he got fussy just a bit ago, I held him for a bit, he went back to sleep. So shouldn’t I be in bed? He kept me up til 3am last night, and 5am the night before (maybe I should be saying morning). So of course I’ve been tired. But now of course, I can’t sleep.
I’m not sure how I always seem to end up writing these letters on Wednesdays…it’s definitely not planned that way, it just happens. I’m not sure how our little babes got on such a weird sleeping schedule these last couple days. Good thing I didn’t have to be anywhere in the mornings. He’s pretty good about eating, sleeping, eating, sleeping, into the afternoon. So we sleep half our day away it seems. Can you believe this kid is 2 months old??! Yep, Monday was the 27th. I guess since he was born on a Wednesday, that makes him 9 weeks old today. He got his 2-month-old shots (immunizations) today. Bryan took him to get them while I was taking my test on main base. I like that they’re free….I like how all of this medical stuff has been free….with 2 surgeries and all his antibiotics when he was born, that has been really nice!! We were meant to be in the Air Force when we had our first kid!
For the most part Bryan is back on his regular work schedule. Thank goodness. They were saying at work that when they have days with nothing to do, that they’ll take off and go snowboarding!! How nice for Bryan eh? Yeah. It has not snowed here yet. It’s always in the forecast…but it never comes. But it’s in the 40’s so it definitely should be soon. I’ve been sick the last couple weeks. We keep our room pretty cold and we didn’t have our comforter out yet, and I’d wake up cold in the middle of the night, so it was my own dang fault. But anyway, Bryan is going to sign up to be a snowboarding instructor – it actually costs $100, but you can go up every Saturday after he takes the class in January (a 5-day class on the slopes), teach for 2 hours, then have the other 6 hrs to do what you want. If you weren’t an instructor and you just went up with the rec center group, this is something that usually costs $375 and $25/month, so it’s a pretty good deal. It first caught his eye as a leadership position that he’d be able to add to his resume for his officer packet. I told him it would also be one of his Christmas presents!
Thanksgiving was fun. We went to Liz and Justin’s house with a bunch of other people. Mostly it was the people we eat dinner with almost every Sunday. So no turkey buying for us – we just provided the vegetable dish – Bryan cut up and arranged the veggies and he did an excellent job! The Sunday before Thanksgiving we had over 20 people at our house for dinner. Naomi we made your White Chili – it was most excellent as always. I multiplied the recipe by 5. We ended up having probably about a 2-recipe-amount left over but we had no problem eating it over the week. I actually made it again tonight. We love it. But we don’t have the beans in a can so I have to soak beans for it!
Bryan got our car working the Friday before Thanksgiving. Work gave him time to work on it during the day so that was really nice. Otherwise with him getting home at 5 at that time, it was already dark…making it a little more difficult and time consuming for sure. He ended up having to exchange the alternator he bought, and with the next one in, it worked. So had we gotten a good one the FIRST time, we would have had a car working much sooner. Sheesh. So he got it working minutes before it was time to take the borrowed car back. Perfect.
It is now actually Thursday, because I had to go feed my crying kid, and then he was fighting going back to bed. He hasn’t whined for a bit now, so maybe he finally fell asleep. The difference tonight compared to the last 2 is that when I go in there I can tell he’s tired; the other nights his eyes were wide open, wide awake….just not good signs when you’re wanting to go to bed. Because it’s not like he was happy just laying there awake…
Bryan took the AFOQT, like I was talking about in the last letters, and feels he did decent on it. He was expecting to be able to use a calculator and he couldn’t, though. I suspected he wasn’t going to be able to but he thought I was silly for thinking he should figure out some of the math problems without having to use a calculator. Oh well. Now we play the waiting game to get his scores back. It can take anywhere from 3-6 weeks they say. Tomorrow will be 2 weeks. Bryan checks the website several times a day. After he gets those back he will work out the details of getting down to the base near Tokyo to take the pilot TBAS test.
When my mom was here she cut my hair to hit right at my shoulders. I haven’t had her cut my hair for years because….well, you know, certain things you want done to your hair can’t just be done by anyone. So I’m not sure what we were thinking. It was a work in progress the whole last week she was here. But I went and got it straightened at a Japanese hair salon – apparently this isn’t just any straightening, but the one that people tell me costs $400 in the states? So it was expensive – not that expensive, but enough – but worth it!! My hair dries (on its own) so much nicer and it looks much healthier and makes everything much faster. It was my early Christmas present. Ever since my friend here told me she got it done and I saw her before and afters, I’ve wanted to do it. That was back in the summer months – it would have been nice to do it then what with the humidity. Anyways….who cares about my hair huh?
My scarred stomach is finally becoming just that - - scarred – without all the other crap. Hooray!
I think that Brock is growing more hair on top of his head – he’s got some fuzz up there. So maybe he won’t go bald on top after all. It’s so funny when he laughs, I love it! Bryan said my Christmas present should be me and Brock going home. I was like, yeah right, not without you! It’s not even possible – too expensive, too late in the game to schedule that amount of leave so that he could come, and we don’t have Brock’s passport yet. Wishful thinking. …So I stepped on the scale with Brock…and it looks like he might weigh about 15 pounds!! And that was a week ago I think. Next Tuesday he has his 2-month appt so we will get a precise measurement there. That will be interesting to see…but he’s still in 0-3 month clothes.
So we are SO excited, Bryan especially of course, because he really has only a week left of class work to be done…then THAT’S IT!!! The Bachelor’s Degree complete! Sooo awesome. We are proud if you can’t tell. We need to have a major celebration for that one. I’m just excited for this one class that I’m taking to be done. International Business – I don’t think I’ve ever spent this much time on a class! The other one I was registered for got completely neglected – I just couldn’t find time to do that one as well. So I will have to retake it – I was going to next semester but Bryan says I shouldn’t…. after that class there’s maybe one more class I can take online from UVSC for my degree. So the remaining 25 credits I will either have to take somewhere else and then transfer them into UVSC, or they’ll just have to wait until we’re back in Utah at some point in the future. Hmm, but actually I think there’s a requirement that a certain amount of your last credits have to be from UVSC to graduate from there. And I’m certainly not going to transfer it all somewhere else when I have that many – unless there’s some miracle and I find somewhere that they all transfer straight across and I don’t lose anything. Actually, I’m not sure if that’s even possible either…cuz you have to have a certain amount of credits from the college in the first place to get a degree from them…so I’m just rambling now. Bryan’s mom asked, so I just thought I’d explain the situation.
There are some of you that I need to write back to personally – I will get to it! It’s a lot of writing. Really everything is in these letters…mostly anyway. You can see all of how we’re doing, just not in a personalized-to-you manner.
But anyway, it’s late, time for me to go to bed, while Brock is sleeping. I will send some pictures of Brock first, though.
But love you all! Can you believe Friday is December!!! I’m going to be 25! What an oldie!
Love, Us
Julie Bryan Brock
Here is a slideshow of a few pictures - again, just click on the link, then the picture, and the slideshow starts:
http://www.kodakgallery.com/I.jsp?c=2t7pqtrs.4stpldzs&x=0&y=-kbvmqa&localeid=en_US
Wed. 11/29/06
The irony (maybe not the best word to describe it?) of me being up right now…it’s only 11pm, we put Brock down at 8:30, he got fussy just a bit ago, I held him for a bit, he went back to sleep. So shouldn’t I be in bed? He kept me up til 3am last night, and 5am the night before (maybe I should be saying morning). So of course I’ve been tired. But now of course, I can’t sleep.
I’m not sure how I always seem to end up writing these letters on Wednesdays…it’s definitely not planned that way, it just happens. I’m not sure how our little babes got on such a weird sleeping schedule these last couple days. Good thing I didn’t have to be anywhere in the mornings. He’s pretty good about eating, sleeping, eating, sleeping, into the afternoon. So we sleep half our day away it seems. Can you believe this kid is 2 months old??! Yep, Monday was the 27th. I guess since he was born on a Wednesday, that makes him 9 weeks old today. He got his 2-month-old shots (immunizations) today. Bryan took him to get them while I was taking my test on main base. I like that they’re free….I like how all of this medical stuff has been free….with 2 surgeries and all his antibiotics when he was born, that has been really nice!! We were meant to be in the Air Force when we had our first kid!
For the most part Bryan is back on his regular work schedule. Thank goodness. They were saying at work that when they have days with nothing to do, that they’ll take off and go snowboarding!! How nice for Bryan eh? Yeah. It has not snowed here yet. It’s always in the forecast…but it never comes. But it’s in the 40’s so it definitely should be soon. I’ve been sick the last couple weeks. We keep our room pretty cold and we didn’t have our comforter out yet, and I’d wake up cold in the middle of the night, so it was my own dang fault. But anyway, Bryan is going to sign up to be a snowboarding instructor – it actually costs $100, but you can go up every Saturday after he takes the class in January (a 5-day class on the slopes), teach for 2 hours, then have the other 6 hrs to do what you want. If you weren’t an instructor and you just went up with the rec center group, this is something that usually costs $375 and $25/month, so it’s a pretty good deal. It first caught his eye as a leadership position that he’d be able to add to his resume for his officer packet. I told him it would also be one of his Christmas presents!
Thanksgiving was fun. We went to Liz and Justin’s house with a bunch of other people. Mostly it was the people we eat dinner with almost every Sunday. So no turkey buying for us – we just provided the vegetable dish – Bryan cut up and arranged the veggies and he did an excellent job! The Sunday before Thanksgiving we had over 20 people at our house for dinner. Naomi we made your White Chili – it was most excellent as always. I multiplied the recipe by 5. We ended up having probably about a 2-recipe-amount left over but we had no problem eating it over the week. I actually made it again tonight. We love it. But we don’t have the beans in a can so I have to soak beans for it!
Bryan got our car working the Friday before Thanksgiving. Work gave him time to work on it during the day so that was really nice. Otherwise with him getting home at 5 at that time, it was already dark…making it a little more difficult and time consuming for sure. He ended up having to exchange the alternator he bought, and with the next one in, it worked. So had we gotten a good one the FIRST time, we would have had a car working much sooner. Sheesh. So he got it working minutes before it was time to take the borrowed car back. Perfect.
It is now actually Thursday, because I had to go feed my crying kid, and then he was fighting going back to bed. He hasn’t whined for a bit now, so maybe he finally fell asleep. The difference tonight compared to the last 2 is that when I go in there I can tell he’s tired; the other nights his eyes were wide open, wide awake….just not good signs when you’re wanting to go to bed. Because it’s not like he was happy just laying there awake…
Bryan took the AFOQT, like I was talking about in the last letters, and feels he did decent on it. He was expecting to be able to use a calculator and he couldn’t, though. I suspected he wasn’t going to be able to but he thought I was silly for thinking he should figure out some of the math problems without having to use a calculator. Oh well. Now we play the waiting game to get his scores back. It can take anywhere from 3-6 weeks they say. Tomorrow will be 2 weeks. Bryan checks the website several times a day. After he gets those back he will work out the details of getting down to the base near Tokyo to take the pilot TBAS test.
When my mom was here she cut my hair to hit right at my shoulders. I haven’t had her cut my hair for years because….well, you know, certain things you want done to your hair can’t just be done by anyone. So I’m not sure what we were thinking. It was a work in progress the whole last week she was here. But I went and got it straightened at a Japanese hair salon – apparently this isn’t just any straightening, but the one that people tell me costs $400 in the states? So it was expensive – not that expensive, but enough – but worth it!! My hair dries (on its own) so much nicer and it looks much healthier and makes everything much faster. It was my early Christmas present. Ever since my friend here told me she got it done and I saw her before and afters, I’ve wanted to do it. That was back in the summer months – it would have been nice to do it then what with the humidity. Anyways….who cares about my hair huh?
My scarred stomach is finally becoming just that - - scarred – without all the other crap. Hooray!
I think that Brock is growing more hair on top of his head – he’s got some fuzz up there. So maybe he won’t go bald on top after all. It’s so funny when he laughs, I love it! Bryan said my Christmas present should be me and Brock going home. I was like, yeah right, not without you! It’s not even possible – too expensive, too late in the game to schedule that amount of leave so that he could come, and we don’t have Brock’s passport yet. Wishful thinking. …So I stepped on the scale with Brock…and it looks like he might weigh about 15 pounds!! And that was a week ago I think. Next Tuesday he has his 2-month appt so we will get a precise measurement there. That will be interesting to see…but he’s still in 0-3 month clothes.
So we are SO excited, Bryan especially of course, because he really has only a week left of class work to be done…then THAT’S IT!!! The Bachelor’s Degree complete! Sooo awesome. We are proud if you can’t tell. We need to have a major celebration for that one. I’m just excited for this one class that I’m taking to be done. International Business – I don’t think I’ve ever spent this much time on a class! The other one I was registered for got completely neglected – I just couldn’t find time to do that one as well. So I will have to retake it – I was going to next semester but Bryan says I shouldn’t…. after that class there’s maybe one more class I can take online from UVSC for my degree. So the remaining 25 credits I will either have to take somewhere else and then transfer them into UVSC, or they’ll just have to wait until we’re back in Utah at some point in the future. Hmm, but actually I think there’s a requirement that a certain amount of your last credits have to be from UVSC to graduate from there. And I’m certainly not going to transfer it all somewhere else when I have that many – unless there’s some miracle and I find somewhere that they all transfer straight across and I don’t lose anything. Actually, I’m not sure if that’s even possible either…cuz you have to have a certain amount of credits from the college in the first place to get a degree from them…so I’m just rambling now. Bryan’s mom asked, so I just thought I’d explain the situation.
There are some of you that I need to write back to personally – I will get to it! It’s a lot of writing. Really everything is in these letters…mostly anyway. You can see all of how we’re doing, just not in a personalized-to-you manner.
But anyway, it’s late, time for me to go to bed, while Brock is sleeping. I will send some pictures of Brock first, though.
But love you all! Can you believe Friday is December!!! I’m going to be 25! What an oldie!
Love, Us
Julie Bryan Brock
Here is a slideshow of a few pictures - again, just click on the link, then the picture, and the slideshow starts:
http://www.kodakgallery.com/I.jsp?c=2t7pqtrs.4stpldzs&x=0&y=-kbvmqa&localeid=en_US
2 months old
Don't be frightened!! Ha ha. That is how Brock's pudgy face looks when Bryan is holding him up in the air horizontally - his chubs just hang down! Bryan thinks Brock's face is hilarious when he does that to him - like, 'hmm, I don't know what's happening but there's nothing I can do about it.'
Wednesday, November 15, 2006
11/15/06 - 14th Letter
14th letter
Wed. 11/15/06
So we are pretty much frustrated out of our minds with the Education Center here. These are the people that are the stepping stones to get Bryan commissioned as an Officer. They don’t know what they’re talking about, and try to turn it around and make it look like WE don’t know what we’re talking about. Either that or the guy we’ve been dealing with the last couple days is COMPLETELY scatterbrained. We know everything we need to do; we just need them for a few things that we can’t do ourselves….like getting them to administer the Officer Qualifying Test….SHEESH. So, we wanted to submit an officer packet in December for the board that meets in January, but that’s not going to happen due mainly to our crappy education center here and their lack of knowledge. So looks like we will be submitting a packet in May/June, for the board that meets in July. This means sometime around August 10th of next year we’ll find out if he was selected or not. We are disappointed in this turn of events…but perhaps it was meant to be. It will give him a chance to put together a more effective packet, and to get a more worthwhile Letter of Recommendation. Plus, he has to go down to Tokyo (Yokota AB) to take a TBAS test that pilot applicants have to take. We had to find out that one on our own…had we known earlier…people here don’t even KNOW what this TBAS is (the people who SHOULD know)…they act like they know, but only after we tell them what it is. I’m so extremely frustrated and I can no longer talk to this guy about any of it, Bryan will have to, because I gave this guy my piece. I couldn’t help it. I couldn’t let him make us (me) look like an idiot when he was the idiot. Ugh!!
Alright, I guess I’ve got to let it go even though I’m bugged to death. Tomorrow morning Bryan finally gets to take the test he’s been trying to schedule since August. The Air Force Officer Qualifying Test. A huge deal as it will TOTALLY affect his whole future with the Air Force – his life-long dream of flying for them. This last week he has been doing extra studying for that, finishing his huge 20-page paper, and working on his CDC’s (upgrade training for work) – all with a much longer work schedule. Isn’t he amazing? I think so. That’s why I married him.
Brock is 7 weeks old today which of course as you know, I think is crazy. He is getting chubbier and balder. Soon I suppose he will look like an old man. He has quite the thigh roll. Man, rolls make it hard to wash him! Bryan does an excellent job at washing our babes – I cannot do it! It just makes me frustrated. Brock averages 4-5 hours from each feeding time. And I am learning his little ways. I will send pictures of a bunch of different face “poses.” On one of the last ones I tried to cover some of his chubs (neck and cheek chubs) with my hand… It is really easy to get him to smile. His favorite things to do are to eat, be held, poop, pee, sleep, and grunt.
On Monday I had my 2-week follow up with Dr. Blake concerning my gallbladder surgery. He said that I heal well and all looks fairly good (he didn’t get to see it when it was bad – it itched so very badly all around the 4 surgery sites that I thought I was going to lose my mind – it finally let up and tons of my skin died and peeled off). He said that I might have some pigment change around some of the sites – great. He looked at my c-section scar too – I told him that it is sore here and there and has a few bumps in it. I told him I cannot pull on it to look at it because that hurts. So he looked at it and pulled on it. Later that day I realized I was bleeding on the scar. After a few band-aids I realized the bleeding wasn’t stopping…and I touched it and it felt like a hole! Tuesday I had my 6-week OB appt and I showed them this. The doctor was alarmed but after pushing a Q-tip into the hole to see if it went all the way through (OUCH!!!), she found that it didn’t. So she put some stuff on it to burn it, to help it to heal (OW! OW! OW!!). Man do I wish all could be back to normal on my stomach! Ploka.
Monday morning before my doctor’s appt I took another one of my tests with the proctor here. Bryan was too busy and so Brock had his first babysitter experience!! I had asked Melissa the night before at the potluck if I could bring him in the morning while I took the test. She was great and took him for over 2 hours – what a lifesaver! It sure was hard to be out of the door by 7:30am though!!
Bryan had to get a ride to work so I could take our borrowed car. Yes – our car isn’t working. It completely died the morning Bryan was picking me up from the hospital the morning after my surgery. He had to have it jumped the night before when he was leaving the hospital, then again when he was leaving to come get me, but the car died on the way. Some kind soul picked up Bryan and brought him back home and a guy Bryan works with came over (cuz at this point most of the people we know are at church!) and they went and got a tow rope to bring the car back home. It could not be jumped – it was completely dead. Bryan figured out it was the alternator and after putting that $150 thing in, it kept blowing a fuse when he tried to start the car. Last night Bryan’s supervisor came over and they worked into the evening…and they actually fried 2 sets of jumper cables. They figured somehow the polarity in the alternator must be reversed. So this is where we stand here. So yeah, Bryan has been working on the car this last week, on TOP of everything else he’s been doing. Like I said, amazing. So right now we are driving the work buddy’s car (this is the guy that’s actually his trainer) that helped tow the car back, because he left for the states for a couple of weeks. But now he’s coming back on Sunday…and we still don’t have a car that works. I guess we were just glad it worked long enough to get me to my gallbladder ultrasound, and to the ER when I thought I was going to die.
There was quite the earthquake here last week. It felt like someone was shaking my bed as hard as they could and even went on for a bit. I even got worried. But not worried enough to actually get out of bed of course. It was like the one that happened when my mom was here that scared her pretty bad – it shook the sliding glass doors, and shook the couch she was sitting on…it was funny when she jumped. But this one was even worse. Bryan was already at work, and he didn’t even feel it! It seems like they never feel them there.
Well, I think that’s it for now….yes I can’t think of anything else…
How about some of you that I haven’t heard from in a while let me know how you’re doing….JASON.
Love you all,
The little Blumenkrantz Family (the Japan appendage)
For all the pics, click on the link and then click on the picture to view the slideshow: http://www.kodakgallery.com/I.jsp?c=2t7pqtrs.4ql0x9u0&x=0&y=-10d5ds&localeid=en_US. There are a lot of "repetitive" pictures - but you know how it is - the grandparents want to see them - so for the rest of you - you can skim! Bryan's dad is always asking for more pictures so I try to do so. The one where Brock's face is being squished together while I'm holding him - I realized it looks like those could be my arms - they're not, they're Bryan's! (I don't have nasty man arms). I also realized from these pictures - I need some sun - sheesh! We can't quite figure out why pictures distort the color of Brock's hair - it doesn't make sense. ...and the camera adds 10 pounds on Brock... haha. Ever so often he likes to look at his nose - hence some of the crossed eyes in the pictures - not so attractive! And then the ones saying goodbye to my mom at the misawa city airport - sad! And it's funny how when Brock is sitting how his head sinks down and really makes him look huge! Oh well - a fat baby is a healthy baby I hear! Love him to death!
**There is also one in there towards the end of a new baby bundled in a blue blanket - that is Ashley Castleberry's boy, Cadence, born Nov. 1st.
And here is the slideshow of Brock's faces: http://www.kodakgallery.com/I.jsp?c=2t7pqtrs.8o4rm7ew&x=0&y=u0h4xq&localeid=en_US. He's a chunk!!
Wed. 11/15/06
So we are pretty much frustrated out of our minds with the Education Center here. These are the people that are the stepping stones to get Bryan commissioned as an Officer. They don’t know what they’re talking about, and try to turn it around and make it look like WE don’t know what we’re talking about. Either that or the guy we’ve been dealing with the last couple days is COMPLETELY scatterbrained. We know everything we need to do; we just need them for a few things that we can’t do ourselves….like getting them to administer the Officer Qualifying Test….SHEESH. So, we wanted to submit an officer packet in December for the board that meets in January, but that’s not going to happen due mainly to our crappy education center here and their lack of knowledge. So looks like we will be submitting a packet in May/June, for the board that meets in July. This means sometime around August 10th of next year we’ll find out if he was selected or not. We are disappointed in this turn of events…but perhaps it was meant to be. It will give him a chance to put together a more effective packet, and to get a more worthwhile Letter of Recommendation. Plus, he has to go down to Tokyo (Yokota AB) to take a TBAS test that pilot applicants have to take. We had to find out that one on our own…had we known earlier…people here don’t even KNOW what this TBAS is (the people who SHOULD know)…they act like they know, but only after we tell them what it is. I’m so extremely frustrated and I can no longer talk to this guy about any of it, Bryan will have to, because I gave this guy my piece. I couldn’t help it. I couldn’t let him make us (me) look like an idiot when he was the idiot. Ugh!!
Alright, I guess I’ve got to let it go even though I’m bugged to death. Tomorrow morning Bryan finally gets to take the test he’s been trying to schedule since August. The Air Force Officer Qualifying Test. A huge deal as it will TOTALLY affect his whole future with the Air Force – his life-long dream of flying for them. This last week he has been doing extra studying for that, finishing his huge 20-page paper, and working on his CDC’s (upgrade training for work) – all with a much longer work schedule. Isn’t he amazing? I think so. That’s why I married him.
Brock is 7 weeks old today which of course as you know, I think is crazy. He is getting chubbier and balder. Soon I suppose he will look like an old man. He has quite the thigh roll. Man, rolls make it hard to wash him! Bryan does an excellent job at washing our babes – I cannot do it! It just makes me frustrated. Brock averages 4-5 hours from each feeding time. And I am learning his little ways. I will send pictures of a bunch of different face “poses.” On one of the last ones I tried to cover some of his chubs (neck and cheek chubs) with my hand… It is really easy to get him to smile. His favorite things to do are to eat, be held, poop, pee, sleep, and grunt.
On Monday I had my 2-week follow up with Dr. Blake concerning my gallbladder surgery. He said that I heal well and all looks fairly good (he didn’t get to see it when it was bad – it itched so very badly all around the 4 surgery sites that I thought I was going to lose my mind – it finally let up and tons of my skin died and peeled off). He said that I might have some pigment change around some of the sites – great. He looked at my c-section scar too – I told him that it is sore here and there and has a few bumps in it. I told him I cannot pull on it to look at it because that hurts. So he looked at it and pulled on it. Later that day I realized I was bleeding on the scar. After a few band-aids I realized the bleeding wasn’t stopping…and I touched it and it felt like a hole! Tuesday I had my 6-week OB appt and I showed them this. The doctor was alarmed but after pushing a Q-tip into the hole to see if it went all the way through (OUCH!!!), she found that it didn’t. So she put some stuff on it to burn it, to help it to heal (OW! OW! OW!!). Man do I wish all could be back to normal on my stomach! Ploka.
Monday morning before my doctor’s appt I took another one of my tests with the proctor here. Bryan was too busy and so Brock had his first babysitter experience!! I had asked Melissa the night before at the potluck if I could bring him in the morning while I took the test. She was great and took him for over 2 hours – what a lifesaver! It sure was hard to be out of the door by 7:30am though!!
Bryan had to get a ride to work so I could take our borrowed car. Yes – our car isn’t working. It completely died the morning Bryan was picking me up from the hospital the morning after my surgery. He had to have it jumped the night before when he was leaving the hospital, then again when he was leaving to come get me, but the car died on the way. Some kind soul picked up Bryan and brought him back home and a guy Bryan works with came over (cuz at this point most of the people we know are at church!) and they went and got a tow rope to bring the car back home. It could not be jumped – it was completely dead. Bryan figured out it was the alternator and after putting that $150 thing in, it kept blowing a fuse when he tried to start the car. Last night Bryan’s supervisor came over and they worked into the evening…and they actually fried 2 sets of jumper cables. They figured somehow the polarity in the alternator must be reversed. So this is where we stand here. So yeah, Bryan has been working on the car this last week, on TOP of everything else he’s been doing. Like I said, amazing. So right now we are driving the work buddy’s car (this is the guy that’s actually his trainer) that helped tow the car back, because he left for the states for a couple of weeks. But now he’s coming back on Sunday…and we still don’t have a car that works. I guess we were just glad it worked long enough to get me to my gallbladder ultrasound, and to the ER when I thought I was going to die.
There was quite the earthquake here last week. It felt like someone was shaking my bed as hard as they could and even went on for a bit. I even got worried. But not worried enough to actually get out of bed of course. It was like the one that happened when my mom was here that scared her pretty bad – it shook the sliding glass doors, and shook the couch she was sitting on…it was funny when she jumped. But this one was even worse. Bryan was already at work, and he didn’t even feel it! It seems like they never feel them there.
Well, I think that’s it for now….yes I can’t think of anything else…
How about some of you that I haven’t heard from in a while let me know how you’re doing….JASON.
Love you all,
The little Blumenkrantz Family (the Japan appendage)
For all the pics, click on the link and then click on the picture to view the slideshow: http://www.kodakgallery.com/I.jsp?c=2t7pqtrs.4ql0x9u0&x=0&y=-10d5ds&localeid=en_US. There are a lot of "repetitive" pictures - but you know how it is - the grandparents want to see them - so for the rest of you - you can skim! Bryan's dad is always asking for more pictures so I try to do so. The one where Brock's face is being squished together while I'm holding him - I realized it looks like those could be my arms - they're not, they're Bryan's! (I don't have nasty man arms). I also realized from these pictures - I need some sun - sheesh! We can't quite figure out why pictures distort the color of Brock's hair - it doesn't make sense. ...and the camera adds 10 pounds on Brock... haha. Ever so often he likes to look at his nose - hence some of the crossed eyes in the pictures - not so attractive! And then the ones saying goodbye to my mom at the misawa city airport - sad! And it's funny how when Brock is sitting how his head sinks down and really makes him look huge! Oh well - a fat baby is a healthy baby I hear! Love him to death!
**There is also one in there towards the end of a new baby bundled in a blue blanket - that is Ashley Castleberry's boy, Cadence, born Nov. 1st.
And here is the slideshow of Brock's faces: http://www.kodakgallery.com/I.jsp?c=2t7pqtrs.8o4rm7ew&x=0&y=u0h4xq&localeid=en_US. He's a chunk!!
He's getting fatter...
10/29/06 - 1 month old
Losing that hair!
10/30/06 - Oh no! Saying goodbye...
11/3/06
11/6/06
Brock's faces
11/14/06 - 7 weeks old
What a chunk!!
His face/head looks very 'displaced' in these pictures...
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