More pictures...

I realized as I was posting yesterday that I didn't have any pictures of Elijah with Elliana. So now we have some of those...unfortunately for him, she was not really happy about it. Anyway, so here are a few more pictures.

Elijah wants to hold Elliana a lot.

He's a great older brother!

Three cheers for sleeping...hip, hip, hooray!

Find something you're good at and do it!

In Elliana's case, napping!
So Lydia's a little bored, she's hoping this drawer will offer a little excitement.

A few baby pictures

Well, most of these are still from the hospital but they are new. So far Elliana has been a good sleeper. She wakes up to eat, but then goes right back to sleep...I can't ask for much more than that! Anyway, I will hopefully take some more pictures soon and upload those too. Hope you enjoy these.

Merry Christmas!!!

Well, so Christmas is already passed, but some of us spent it in the hospital. So we didn't fully "do" Christmas until the day after until Elliana and I got home. Some one thought that I posted the last blog, but that was Tim. We are really glad to be back home. So the following are just a few Christmas pictures of us opening our presents so the grandparents and great-grandparents can see. We hope everyone had a Merry Christmas!

Sleepers for Elliana

Sudoku...we are going to have to share this!

Watches

Elijah's t-shirt and the girls' jeans

An IQ booster book...are you guys trying to tell us something?

Kids' stockings

Lydia wants to wear the Stockings



Are we smarter than a 5th grader? I'm not so sure!




Lydia's animal boat and Elijah's Buzz Lightyear coloring book




New bags


Cinderella



Mama's French press

Grandma and Elliana

Welcome Elliana Noel

The pregnancy we thought would never end has finally come to an end. On Christmas Eve at 8:05pm Elliana arrived as an extra special Christmas gift. She was the biggest of our children weighing in at 8lb. 13oz. and measuring 21in. Take a look at our newest little girl below (yes, all of that hair is real).

Mom enjoys the fruit of her labor

Lydia welcomes her newest competition...I mean sister

Bright eyed and bushy headed

It's my due date...

And I'll cry if I want to. Alright, so I went to see the doctor today. He said that he felt sure that I would have the baby by the 1st of January. As you all can imagine that did not go over so well. It was a terrible sinking feeling when I realized that I am no where close to being ready. So all I can say is I'm still pregnant. We're going to try the Mexican food trick tonight. (Any excuse to eat Mexican is a good excuse.) I figure it's because I haven't been getting enough Starbucks...ha, ha, ha. Trying to keep a positive attitude.

And still...

NO NEWS! Yes, I know I haven't actually come to my due date, but I think I more look at a due date as a deadline...therefore, I'm feeling like I'm cutting it close! Pat, Tim's mom, has made it. We, especially the kids (!!!!), are excited to have her here. We haven't yet gotten to take her to all the fun places (ie. night market, elephant rides). But we have fed her local Thai bbq and sticky rice. Anyway, there's not much more to say. I hope to have something really important to post soon!

And...

Nothing to report! How sad is that? Pretty sad. The doctor said maybe next week...which would be right at my due date. But these things are never certain. So the waiting continues. The belly gets bigger. You know, the normal stuff. But Tim and I got a date two nights ago. It was a little weird to go to restaurant and not have to tell anyone to sit down, not yell, or sit down (yeah, I know I wrote that twice). We also got to walk around the night market and have wonderful Starbucks! The peppermint mocha is pretty good! The kids got to eat pizza and watch movies. Other than that, there is not much to say. I'll keep you updated!

The news...

Well, there is none. I have 9 days to my due date. But no baby yet. I promise to keep this as updated as much as possible. We are just passing time here. One of our friends has offered to babysit for us, so tomorrow, the kids get pizza and we are going out to dinner. We are really looking forward to a little time out. And we may do some last minute Christmas shopping. The nice thing about being in a country where Christmas is not a "local" holiday, shopping is just as easy before Thanksgiving as on Christmas Eve!
Isabella has only a couple days more before she starts Christmas break. Elijah is confused because we say it is Christmas time but he can't open his Christmas presents. And Lydia is talking more and more each day. Lately she's been trying to say Elliana, which has turned into "Lana." And "sawasdeekah" (which is Thai for hello and goodbye), which turns into "wah wah kah." Here in Thailand, the kids have rediscovered hot dogs (thank you Dairy Queen!) and cold cuts (yep, they didn't know what lunch meat was).
One last funny story: in the mall across the street from our apartment, there is a Warner Bros. store. I'm not sure that Lydia has ever seen Tweety Bird, but there is a big Tweety statue in the display window. As we walked by it the other day, Lydia saw it and said "quack, quack, quack, quack, quack."

Ultrasounds are SO COOL!!!

Yes, the hospital here got a new 4D ultrasound machine and so the doctor said I "needed" one. Either he's really changed his approach or he wanted to use the fun new toy! Either way, I am really excited about them. They seem really clear to me. All of these are face shots. Enjoy! I sure did.

Her hand is kind of blocking the left side of her face.

A nice side view.

We had a hard time getting her to roll over. I think she's a little shy.

Oh, and Merry Christmas!!!

Sunny, beautiful Thailand!

We have finally made it to the last stage of the pregnancy journey: I'm in Thailand! After 2 days of no internet, we are finally fully set up. I've had my first check-up, and everything is fine. I also had an ultrasound. I am going to try to post pictures of those soon...it was 4D!!! Very cool. Well, after a long day out, I need to try to get some school done with Isabella. Hopefully I will have those pictures up soon...

Happy Thanksgiving!

Yes, I know I said that I would post soon. This is as soon as it got! So first of all Happy Thanksgiving. It's over here, but I know you guys are still finishing up. I hope that everyone had a great Thanksgiving. I am thankful to know that my turkey will be a little easier to buy next year, ha ha! I am also thankful that I have less than a month before Elliana is due. I am thankful for the great kids that I have and that they have all been healthy. I am very, very thankful to have Tim as a husband! And I am thankful that I will be in Thailand in 3 days! Anyway...

This was taken the day after Thanksgiving.

Isabella has lost another tooth. We tease her about losing all of her teeth at once. She has really enjoyed having a couple of days off from school for Thanksgiving. And she is really excited about going to Thailand. She reads like crazy. But she most enjoys math and science, this she inherited from her Daddy!

Nice new gap in her mouth!

Isabella's favorite book this year is Little Pear.

Elijah is loving his preschool work. He follows me around the house in the mornings asking if we can do his school yet--even on the weekends. Sometimes he will cry on Saturday nights saying that I forgot to do his school. He is starting to grow up really fast. We realized recently that he was just a little older than Lydia is now when we moved over here. It is amazing! He is now learning his letters and sounds, and can spell his name and recognize numbers 1-19 (20 seems to be the problem number for him).

Elijah's favorite book is a fairy tale book.

The boy loves his "heroes!"

Lydia is talking more and more. About half Chinese, half English. We have found though that she is shy of strangers and won't talk in front of a bunch of people. She is probably NOT excited about going to Thailand as Ayi won't be going with us. I am concerned that the three months we are there she will forget her Chinese. She is also into EVERYTHING. She likes to climb up the cart we have our microwave on and hang from it (when the door opens, she has an abrupt landing). She likes to go in the bathroom and get her tooth brush (or anyone's actually!). And most of all, she loves the cell phones!

She's our brown-eyed girl!

She loves to pose for pictures...except she HATES to sit still!

Busy with not much to show for it!

Well, I am well-aware that it has been nearly a month since my last post. We have been very busy over the last month though. We've had some friends move into town, and so we have been helping them get set up. Along with that Tim's had a birthday, and although I did make him a cake, no picture was posted as it was the ugliest cake ever made. It was a German chocolate cake, which does not NEED to be pretty, but I like pretty cakes none the less. Other than that most of our busyness has been in daily activities, in other words, not very exciting.

Bella is over a 1/3 of the way done with her school year. It seems to be going by very quickly. She really enjoys it. She has almost finished reading the Beginner's Bible. She has conquered simple addition and subtraction, for the most part. She is really enjoying learning about the Ancient Egyptians.

Elijah also is cruising through his pre-school year. He is enjoying his school even more than Isabella did when she went through it. I am constantly amazed at the differences between our children. Bella was good at somethings but not as good at other things, and it seems that Elijah is her opposite. He is very good at some of the things she struggled with. It is a constant reminder to me that my children are not factory produced to be just alike!

Lydia also is learning at a break-neck pace. Over the last few months since I started up school with the other two, Lydia has been going down stairs to play with the other Ayi's (aunties) and children. She is the first of our kids to speak Chinese. She is talking more and more each day it seems...half English, half Chinese! It's really cute, I have to admit!!!

Well, we are off tonight to a friend's house. I'll try to post some pictures soon.

Haircuts

Note: Just as I am about to write this blog, I go to check out one of my friend's blog while I am waiting to be signed in. Turns out her baby, Georgia, just got her first haircut too!

Lydia's hair has gotten very long in the front and in the back. In the front it was hanging down in her eyes. Yesterday, in a desperate attempt to help her look like her hair was fixed and not just shaggy, I pulled it up...four times in a hair band and two or three times in a clip. Out of great frustration then this morning, much to Tim's disappointment, I decided to give her bangs. Anyway, it didn't turn out great (mostly because she was shaking her head the whole time) but hopefully it will get her through the awkward stage! Below are the Before and Afters! It may be a little hard to tell the difference, since we always pushed her hair out of her face before we took pictures. Enjoy!

Before

After

Funny day

On October 1st, the new month started with, unfortunately, no cooler weather! We keep hoping every morning that we will wake up to much more comfortable temperatures...but none so far. The kids will finish their first nine weeks this Friday. We are pretty excited to get to print out Isabella's first report card. Anyway, here are a few pictures of the kids to start the month out!

Isabella lost her second tooth. She is very proud of her gap.

Even superheros need a nap!

Elijah, while playing in his Superman, costume sat down for a bit and promptly feel asleep!

The girl just loves to have her picture taken!!!

Correction

I realized from the comments made on the birthday cakes that there was a slight miss understanding. I appreciate all the encouraging comments about my "skills" as a cake decorator, BUT I cannot take credit for all the cakes that were pictured. I did make the Batman cake. But the girls cakes were made by a good friend, Robin Capps, while we were in the States. And she is a FABULOUS cake decorator. That girl has skill! Anyway, I didn't want to take credit for her beautiful work. October is Tim's birthday, and so I will be tackling a new cake. He really likes German chocolte, so I will be attempting one from scratch (including buying the coconut, cracking it open, and shredding it myself). It's a little intimidating, but I like trying new things...even though the carrot muffins didn't turn out so well :(.
Well, starting tomorrow is a national holiday here...which means the kids around town were in school Saturday and Sunday. In other exciting news, our small import store sold avocados this week. There is guacamole in our very near future!!! That should be a national holiday! Hope everyone has a great end of September!

Birthday Cakes

Well, the weeks are slowly ticking by. I don't have much to say, but we are celebrating the fact that I have only 12 weeks left (only 8 and a couple of days here) until the baby's here!!! But anyway, as we have just had Elijah's birthday cake, I thought I would go ahead and post pictures of all the birthday cakes from the year (since I forgot to do that).

Batman...

Princesses...

And butterflies!

Man of Steel

Elijah for his birthday got a Superman costume...wow! did he like that! He runs around the house now singing the Superman theme song. So here are the pictures (sorry, they're a little blurry) of him as the Man of Steel...move over Tom Welling!On top of all that cuteness, Isabella did the funniest thing tonight. Swimming season is almost over here. Tonight, we went to McD's to eat. When we got back to our complex, we went through the big gate which goes right past the swimming pool. As we passed, a man wearing a swim cap and a speedo came toward the pool. Isabella hollered out, so I looked down. She was covering her eyes and said, "I hate seeing people naked!"
Have a great weekend everyone!