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

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!!!

News worthy!

Hey, everybody. It's been a while mostly because there hasn't been a lot of "news worthy" things going on in our lives. We have arrived safely back at our home. Already gotten to "enjoy" the priviledge of being the center of everyone's attention. And been blessed with warm (translate HOT) weather. But as most of you who know me, I love the hot. So now that we have gotten all of our bags unpacked and the winter clothes put away, I find myself with just a bit of free time to sit down and write.
In regards to the pregnancy, I was blessed that I didn't have any morning sickness on the flight back home...which was really good because Isabella got an ear infection and Lydia didn't think that sleeping was all THAT important. But since we have been back, it's started up. I can't wait to get past this part of the pregnancy. I can never say which is worse, feeling sick or throwing up. In other pregnancy news, I've had my first craving. With Lydia I craved dumplings from the restaurant right around the corner from us. Right now I'm craving I dish from the same restaurant. It's tofu that's been pressed to be thin and flat like a tortilla. You use it to wrap around meat (pork with some kind of gravy) cilantro and thinly sliced leeks. It's so good. It's about all I can think about too! Well, at least it's something I can get!
In more exciting news (yes, I know there is something more exciting than the weird things I want to eat), Lydia is WALKING! We've been saying "any day now" forever it seems. And she finally let go. She's pretty proud of herself too. When she walks she gets a very satisfied look on her face. We plan to get the video camera out soon and get a clip of it. Lydia's fourth tooth has also broken through with two more just starting to push down. She's growing up so fast!
Well, that's about it for now!