Oliver didn't sleep well on Sunday night. I guess he was too excited about opening gifts on Monday morning. Just kidding of course! I thought Nadia and Ian might get up earlier than usual from excitement about unwrapping their gifts as we let them put the wrapped gifts under the tree on Sunday night, but they got up at their usual time on Monday, and what really shocked me was that Ian ate his breakfast (a bagel) at his usual slow pace even though he knew we were opening gifts right after we ate. I was the more impatient one Monday morning as I couldn't wait to see their faces! Nadia had pancakes and scrambled eggs once more on Tuesday morning, and it's really rare that I make a hot breakfast so that was a special treat two days in a row. We did our family gift exchange on Monday morning. It was a little bit difficult for Ian and Nadia to wait for someone to open a gift before it was their turn again, but they did pretty well.
I was snapping pictures with my camera, but I didn't think to take a video. I wish I thought of that more often as it would have been fun to record some of her screams of joy when she opened certain gifts such as her Ariel doll and her Sweetpea doll that came with four dresses to change her clothes. Paul's parents gave me a video camera for Christmas. It was Nadia's musical in August that created that desire to own a video camera and a telephoto lens. My parents gave me a telephoto lens so I got the two gifts I most wanted this year - two things I never had a desire to own prior to having kids, but ones that will come in handy with our kids over the coming years. I am grateful. Ian's favorite gift from Paul and I was definitely his Larrymobile. He wanted it with him 24 hours a day. We allowed him to take the two little figurines (Larry and Archibald) to bed but not the car. His favorite gift from Paul's parents was an alligator flashlight that says tick tock (Peter Pan). Nadia's favorite gift from my parents was a Rapunzel doll. I didn't get anything for Oliver, but other family members got him some toys and clothes. He was oblivious of course!
Tuesday morning we woke up to a White Christmas! I thought the kids would want to play in the snow for a few minutes, but they were so anxious to see both sets of grandparents that they skipped going in the snow. Our goal had been to leave at 9am, but we didn't actually make it out the door until 9:45am. First we drove to Paul's parents house and had our gift exchange with his side of the family and also enjoyed a delicous ham dinner that his mom had prepared. Ian carried each of his presents to a spot right beside Pop Pop, and that's where he opened all of his presents. He got a new pirate costume, trains, helicopters, a truck, etc. Nadia got two castles, a Cinderella doll, etc. She had to look at every single page of her new princess book before she'd open another one of her presents. After spending 4 hours with his family, we loaded up the van and drove to MD. The trip took a bit longer than it should have because we had a long detour trying to get gas near Baltimore. All three kids were asleep at one point. Oliver did a great job on his first trip to Maryland.
Soon after we arrived we gathered around the Christmas tree to exchange gifts with my parents and my sister, Wendy, and her family. Nadia and Rachel gave each other lots of hugs, and they really enjoyed each other's company for the next three days. After the gift exchange we sang "Happy Birthday" to Jesus and ate white birthday cake. Maurice (who lives in Brazil) joined in these festivities via Skype. Wednesday morning my sister's family of 5, my dad, Nadia, and Paul headed out to go bowling. They said Nadia celebrated each and every pin that went down (even though she only got about 25 pins down over the course of the entire game). I stayed back with Grandma, Ian, and Oliver. That evening we went Christmas caroling in my parents' neighborhood and then most of the family watched the first half of "Finding Nemo," which proved to be a mistake as the movie gave Nadia nightmares on Wednesday night and again on Thursday night. Be sure not to say the name "Darla" around Nadia unless you want her to burst into tears. Go figure!
Thursday morning Wendy did a little photo shoot of our kids. It was her Christmas gift to Paul and I. I can't wait to see the pictures! She took individual ones of each child and also some of the three of them together. I will treasure those for sure!!! Thursday afternoon nine of us went ice skating. I was going to stay back so I could nurse Oliver, but Paul wanted me to join in on the ice skating. I enjoyed it, but it was hard for me to accept that Oliver was getting a feeding of only formula as usually the only time that happens is on Wednesday night when I have choir rehearsal. It also happened last Sunday morning during the choir cantata. It was Nadia's second time ice skating and Ian's first time ice skating. She loved it! I skated several times around the rink with four of the five children (all but Susie). The adults were pooped by the end. Wendy sat out since she's due to have another baby girl in early April. Ian wasn't so sure about the ice skating. Thursday night we had pizza for dinner. My mom made a homemade one so Ian could have some without cheese.
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| Rachel (who is 13 months younger) and Nadia gave each other MANY hugs |
My sister and her family left after lunch on Friday. They took the train to VA to be with her husband's family in Williamsburg. We went out to Chick-Fil-A for dinner on Friday night. It turns out that Ian can't have their nuggets (whereas McD's don't have any milk or egg in them). After the kids spent some time in the playland, my dad and Paul went home with the kids while my mom and I made a quick trip into Target to shop their Christmas clearance section. We only had 4 stocking holders for the mantle. I was going to buy one more pair, but then we saw some that were much prettier (with picture frames attached) so I splurged and bought 6 of them. Even though those weren't sold in pairs (like the others were), I bought 6 just in case that froze embryo results in me giving birth one last time. It was the first purchase I made with that blastocyst in mind. I think Nadia and Ian are going to love some of the ornaments I bought them for next year (princesses, pirates, etc.).
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| Grandpa lifted Nadia to see the Zamboni |
Saturday morning we left my parents' house to drive to Paul's youngest cousin's wedding south of Harrisburg, but a section of the Interstate was closed, and that delayed our arrival by more than an hour, which meant we missed the wedding. We didn't attempt to go to the church but just kept driving through the snow until we arrived at the Hershey Hotel where the reception was being held. I definitely felt underdressed although the rest of my family was dressed appropriately. I also wished I had packed some make-up. Oh well. During the dinner I was deeply regretting that we brought the kids. I kept thinking Paul should have gone alone, and I should have stayed home with the kids, but then they had fun during the dancing portion of the reception. Nadia enjoyed the kid's meal they served her as well as the chocolate cake, hot chocolate, and the table full of all different kinds of candy. Everyone enjoyed watching Nadia dance. During the slow songs she would do ballet style dancing, and with the other songs she was jumping and running around. People she had never met before were taking pictures and videos of her with their cell phones. She would have danced all night if we had let her! We left at 8pm and got home at 10pm. We managed to transfer all three sleeping kids from the van to their beds very smoothly. I expected Oliver to get me up during the night (as he had done a couple of times in Maryland), but he slept 11 hours straight for the second time ever! I think Oliver deserves a medal for being such a good boy yesterday given we spent 6 hours in the van.
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| Nadia dancing with her Great Aunt Debbie (bride's mother) |
I was supposed to teach Sunday School this morning for the first time in 10 months, but I woke up with pink eye in my right eye. I found someone to substitute for me, and I tried to get a doctor to call in a prescription for me, but I was told I have to wait to be seen tomorrow morning. I wish I had saved my drops from the last bout. I will save them this time! Today was a busy day as Paul shoveled the 6 inches of snow that were covering our driveway, we took the kids out to play in the snow, and I was trying to straighten up the house (which included unpacking suitcases, doing laundry, taking down some Christmas decorations, trying to find places to put new toys, etc.). I didn't finish, but I decided to take the time to write this post anyhow. Nadia and I made a big batch of cookies also. I think the kids would rather see the Christmas stuff stay up here, but I am ready for less clutter. I'm sure next year Ian will call the dvd by the proper name. This month he's called the "Crippled Lamb" the "Purple Lamb." Oops! Well I have lots more pictures to share, but I'll save them for later this week. I hope you and your family had a wonderful Christmas celebrating the birth of Christ and enjoying special moments with your family. I wish my siblings didn't live so far away. I am bummed that we probably won't see my sister or her kids again until next Christmas, but I do get to see her more than my sister who lives in Turkey. My brother will probably come back for a brief visit next summer.
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| Adam (who will be 6 in February) and Nadia playing Dominoes |
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| Aunt Wendy, Susie (age 8), and Oliver (4 months) |
Oliver didn't sleep well on Sunday night. I guess he was too excited about opening gifts on Monday morning. Just kidding of course! I thought Nadia and Ian might get up earlier than usual from excitement about unwrapping their gifts as we let them put the wrapped gifts under the tree on Sunday night, but they got up at their usual time on Monday, and what really shocked me was that Ian ate his breakfast (a bagel) at his usual slow pace even though he knew we were opening gifts right after we ate. I was the more impatient one Monday morning as I couldn't wait to see their faces! Nadia had pancakes and scrambled eggs once more on Tuesday morning, and it's really rare that I make a hot breakfast so that was a special treat two days in a row. We did our family gift exchange on Monday morning. It was a little bit difficult for Ian and Nadia to wait for someone to open a gift before it was their turn again, but they did pretty well. 
I was snapping pictures with my camera, but I didn't think to take a video. I wish I thought of that more often as it would have been fun to record some of her screams of joy when she opened certain gifts such as her Ariel doll and her Sweetpea doll that came with four dresses to change her clothes. Paul's parents gave me a video camera for Christmas. It was Nadia's musical in August that created that desire to own a video camera and a telephoto lens. My parents gave me a telephoto lens so I got the two gifts I most wanted this year - two things I never had a desire to own prior to having kids, but ones that will come in handy with our kids over the coming years. I am grateful. Ian's favorite gift from Paul and I was definitely his Larrymobile. He wanted it with him 24 hours a day. We allowed him to take the two little figurines (Larry and Archibald) to bed but not the car. His favorite gift from Paul's parents was an alligator flashlight that says tick tock (Peter Pan). Nadia's favorite gift from my parents was a Rapunzel doll. I didn't get anything for Oliver, but other family members got him some toys and clothes. He was oblivious of course!
Tuesday morning we woke up to a White Christmas! I thought the kids would want to play in the snow for a few minutes, but they were so anxious to see both sets of grandparents that they skipped going in the snow. Our goal had been to leave at 9am, but we didn't actually make it out the door until 9:45am. First we drove to Paul's parents house and had our gift exchange with his side of the family and also enjoyed a delicous ham dinner that his mom had prepared. Ian carried each of his presents to a spot right beside Pop Pop, and that's where he opened all of his presents. He got a new pirate costume, trains, helicopters, a truck, etc. Nadia got two castles, a Cinderella doll, etc. She had to look at every single page of her new princess book before she'd open another one of her presents. After spending 4 hours with his family, we loaded up the van and drove to MD. The trip took a bit longer than it should have because we had a long detour trying to get gas near Baltimore. All three kids were asleep at one point. Oliver did a great job on his first trip to Maryland.
Soon after we arrived we gathered around the Christmas tree to exchange gifts with my parents and my sister, Wendy, and her family. Nadia and Rachel gave each other lots of hugs, and they really enjoyed each other's company for the next three days. After the gift exchange we sang "Happy Birthday" to Jesus and ate white birthday cake. Maurice (who lives in Brazil) joined in these festivities via Skype. Wednesday morning my sister's family of 5, my dad, Nadia, and Paul headed out to go bowling. They said Nadia celebrated each and every pin that went down (even though she only got about 25 pins down over the course of the entire game). I stayed back with Grandma, Ian, and Oliver. That evening we went Christmas caroling in my parents' neighborhood and then most of the family watched the first half of "Finding Nemo," which proved to be a mistake as the movie gave Nadia nightmares on Wednesday night and again on Thursday night. Be sure not to say the name "Darla" around Nadia unless you want her to burst into tears. Go figure!
Thursday morning Wendy did a little photo shoot of our kids. It was her Christmas gift to Paul and I. I can't wait to see the pictures! She took individual ones of each child and also some of the three of them together. I will treasure those for sure!!! Thursday afternoon nine of us went ice skating. I was going to stay back so I could nurse Oliver, but Paul wanted me to join in on the ice skating. I enjoyed it, but it was hard for me to accept that Oliver was getting a feeding of only formula as usually the only time that happens is on Wednesday night when I have choir rehearsal. It also happened last Sunday morning during the choir cantata. It was Nadia's second time ice skating and Ian's first time ice skating. She loved it! I skated several times around the rink with four of the five children (all but Susie). The adults were pooped by the end. Wendy sat out since she's due to have another baby girl in early April. Ian wasn't so sure about the ice skating. Thursday night we had pizza for dinner. My mom made a homemade one so Ian could have some without cheese.
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