Our Christmas day started bright and early, as Ellen woke at 5:37, but we were looking forward to watching Ellen open her presents.
Santa came!
A ceramic orament Ellen painted at playgroup (with help from Mommy)
Opening presents with Daddy
There was a Peppa Pig theme to most of Ellen's presents. Here she is looking through a Peppa coloring book while wearing her Peppa necklace.
Which one next?
Taking a break from the "boredom" of opening presents (really...) to make a chocolate cake in Ellen's kitchen. Ellen wasn't entirely excited to open her presents, but preferred to play with her "old" toys instead... oh, well.
After getting dressed and having breakfast, we continued to open presents.
Admiring her large Christmas card from Granny and Grandad.
Ellen loved her guitar that sings A-B-Cs from her Uncle Jason and Tia Angela. Thank you to all of our family for sending so many presents from afar.
Our church met at a chapel in a village near Shrewsbury at 10:30 for carols and readings. Friends from church, Marian and Matt Bosch, joined us later in the afternoon for Christmas dinner. Marian baked her grandfather's recipe for Dutch bread, very similar to stollen, but without marizpan; let's just say it was delicious... and gone by the next day. She also made Pavlova for dessert to add a Kiwi (as in New Zealand) element to our meal. For our multi-cultural Christmas dinner we had: baked ham and cranberry sauce, chipolatas, stuffing, roasted potatoes, carrots and parsnips, fruit bread and Pavlova.
Matt and Marian stayed until after 10:00. Although we weren't able to
spend Christmas with our extended family, we enjoyed the day together
and with our church family.
Thanksgiving was rather simple this year. We didn't invite any friends over, though we probably should have, nor did I make a huge meal. However, we had herbed turkey breast, mashed potatoes, green beans and, of course, pumpkin pie... only the third of the season! But hey, we even got out the china for this special occasion. Ellen created a lovely picture with stickers her Gramma and Palon (a.k.a. Grandma and Grandpa Norm) sent with her Halloween card.
Ellen enjoyed her piece of pumpkin pie with whipped cream
A post-meal cuddle with Daddy as we started to watch Peanuts Thanksgiving
We're having another girl! A week ago we went for the gender scan. I had a very strong feeling Baby #2 is a girl... and I was right! At the scan, it looked like the baby was waving to us on the screen, and Ellen waved back. It was their first interaction! (Ok, sort of.) Though it's hard to imagine us having two daughters, we're thrilled and can't wait to meet her in March.
This afternoon we got to see our baby for the third time at the 20-week scan! Doesn't the baby's profile look just like Ellen?! Ok, I realize they're siblings, but it's still amazing. The 20-week scan is when the baby is checked for any abnormalities, such as heart defects, spina bifida or a cleft palate, so it's a rather serious scan and we felt somewhat anxious. Just as the midwife put the wand on my tummy, we got to see the baby's face clear as day for about a second. It was amazing, but he/she quickly moved out of the way and continued to move the whole scan. Since our baby was so mobile, the midwife actually had a difficult time seeing certain parts that she needed to. In fact, she couldn't see the lips (to check for a cleft palate) and the heart, so she asked us to take a walk and wait for her to come get us in the waiting room so she could scan the baby again. Unfortunately, Ellen wasn't cooperating, so Jeff had to take her out to the waiting room. Although the baby flipped around, she still couldn't see the lips too well, but luckily a senior midwife was happy with the pictures the midwife had taken of a close-up of the head. So, after over an hour and a half, the midwife reported that everything looks normal with the baby, as far as she can tell from the scan. What a huge relief. God is good... all the time. We are so grateful for our baby and look forward to finding out whether Ellen will have a baby brother or sister on Friday.
Jeff and I were watching some videos of Ellen when she was 3-4 months old last night, and it occurred to me that I hardly take "every day" videos and pictures of her anymore. So this morning, after a lovely lie-in until 7:30 with a gorgeous 19-month old sleeping between us, I grabbed the camera and took a video of Ellen being Ellen.
It's been almost a month since we returned from Ohio, but when I think back on our trip, I remember the wonderful time we had with our family. In the 2 1/2 weeks we were there, we did so much and made the most of our time there.
We arrived in the late afternoon on Thursday, 12th September. The next day we spent relaxing and swinging!
Grandpa Norm and Grandma pushing Ellen in the front yard.
On Saturday, Jason and Angela joined us for a picnic at Highbanks Park for a picnic. The weather was perfect... sunny and just warm enough. We ate yummy picnic food, played on the play ground, kicked a ball, blew bubbles and went for a walk in the woods.
On Sunday, we spent a few hours at the Sabos' - my friend Pam from freshman year in university, her husband Aaron, and boys Dominic and Ethan.
Ellen explored the giant pirate ship in the back yard that Aaron and the boys built.
Ellen played golf in the front yard.
The Sabos
On Monday, we went to the Columbus Zoo! Ellen loved seeing all of the animals in her books in real life.
An elephant!
Ellen found a tiger (just a wooden one, though)
Driving a safari Jeep
We rode on a choo-choo train!
After the zoo, we ate at Der Dutchman in Plain City, an Amish-style restaurant we went to many times as kids, plus they have a fabulous bakery and gift shop.
The next three days we spent at my grandma and her husband Bob's house. The time Ellen spends with her great grandma is so precious, as she is Ellen's only great grandparent.
A cuddle with Great Grandma
Having a snack on the porch with Daddy after a nap. By the way, the couch they're sitting on is probably my favorite place to take a nap... in the world. It takes me back to the time we spent at my grandma and grandpa's growing up (not in this house) and the naps I'd take while visiting my grandma after exams.
We blew bubbles with two toy pipes that were my dad's when he was a kid.
Going in for a kissy
My grandma loves flowers, gardens and arrangements. It was only natural for her to want to pick flowers with Ellen then create an arrangement.
Ellen's job was to place the cut flowers in the bucket of water.
They then arranged the flowers in the porch.
The finished product!
Playing in the sand at Jackson Park.
Ellen enjoyed rocking back and forth on a rocking chair from my grandpa's childhood.
On Thursday, we said goodbye to my Grandma and Bob and drove an hour to Jason and Angela's south of Cleveland. We were very excited to not only see them, but also see their lovely new house. After a supper of Jason's special spaghetti and meatballs, we bathed Ellen and drove 2 1/2 hours back to Mom and Norm's.
I'm pregnant again! Most family and friends already know this, and I
would have liked to have had written a blog about it before our trip to
Ohio in September, but I didn't get it done. I had a scan at the end of
August believing I was 12 weeks pregnant, but I was, in fact, only just
over 9. So, I had a second scan on Friday at 14 weeks to determine my
due date. Well, I'm due March 29th! As of yesterday, I'm 15 weeks
along.
Now that I'm past the 12 week mark, I'm feeling pretty good. A
few days before we left for Ohio I suddenly felt less tired, had more of
an appetite and felt less sick at the thought of food than at the
beginning of my pregnancy. We found out I was pregnant on August 11th
after a few weeks of not feeling myself and being VERY tired. I was so
relieved to know why I was feeling the way I had been feeling. Despite
my fear of feeling like I'm not going to be able to take care of a baby
and a two-year-old, we are very excited to have another baby. The Lord has already blessed us with an amazing, beautiful daughter; we look forward to meeting our next child and seeing what the Lord has in store for our family.
