This is a massive post of pictures, but I need to get this post done so I can *hopefully* get Norah's birthday post in tomorrow.
Our Christmas was really quiet. No family or close friends to spend it with, so it was just our little family. The week before Christmas I started to get a little sad about it. It was fun though and nice to be able to start some of our own traditions and enjoy how excited our little girls were. On Christmas eve we started off by decorating cookies for Santa. Adeline was very into decorating, while Norah was only interested in eating them!
The day before Christmas Eve we had decorated some of the cookies for our friends and Abe was at work. I think Adeline was a little afraid Abe was going to eat them all, because she wanted to write this note for him! My finger is hiding part of the writing where it says {3} The night of Christmas Eve I made a pretty big dinner for the 4 of us and the girls were really excited about it. I'm glad that it turned out really good, because I slaved in the kitchen for about 6 hours or so that day it seemed! Then we decided to track Santa.... Afterwards the girls opened up their Christmas Jammies sent by nana and grandpa... Eating yummy chocolate cake (from scratch) w/ strawberries and ice cream... Time for bed!! Setting out cookies and milk for Santa and Adeline left a little note for Santa's little helper... Adeline was so excited and kept waking up throughout the night. She finally came into bed with us and got us up at 7am. When her and Abe ran downstairs to see if Santa came, she was yelling in excitement and flew up the stairs into hers and Norah's room to wake Norah up. So fun to watch. Christmas evening a family in our ward has us over for dinner. Here are the girls getting ready to head out!
The day after Christmas the girls and I took Chloe on a little walk. It is so pretty right around our neighborhood. Adeline loved riding her scooter around that she got for Christmas. She will tell you that it is a little wobbly (because it is a "big kid" scooter and she is getting used to it) This week we have just been hanging out at home pretty much everyday. It has been nice to relax and enjoy each other's company. It's pretty fun how much time Abe is able to be at home. We get to spend more time right now as a family then we ever have.... and maybe ever will!! The girls have been great playing with each other and just melt my heart. I feel so blessed to have such sweet, smart and fun little girls.
{Adeline reading to Norah} {Norah in the baby bed after Adeline told her to lay in it} {Adeline in action completely messing up the playroom}
Crazy that Norah is already 2 years old. Wow, the time sure does fly! I can't imagine life without this little girl. She is so entertaining, sweet and hilarious. The last couple weeks she has also pulled out a pretty big independent attitude. I'm pretty sure she is just letting us all know that she is turning 2! I asked her last night, "Who's birthday is it tomorrow?" and Norah said, "MY birthday!". "How old are you turning Norah?".... "I'M TWO!". I also asked her what she wanted and she replied, "CUPCAKES!".
Some things to remember about Norah right now...
-still LOVES babies -loves using her imagination and is always talking to her babies like they are little people -her play buddy is Adeline and they are constantly playing together. Adeline may be trying to boss her around a lot, but Norah can hold her own. -loves chocolate milk -loves singing. Her favorite songs to sing (and she knows just about all the words) are: I love to see the temple, I am a child of god, her ABC's, and twinkle twinkle. There are many others that she sings, but these are her favorite. -She is still sleeping in her pack n play in a room with Adeline. We have attempted to have her sleep in the bottom bunk with no luck so far. I think she will remain in the pack n play for a little while longer after she took off her diaper in the bunk bed the other night and POOPED in the bed. When I went to check on her she said, "mommy, I pooped in my bunk bed!" -She is completely capable of being potty trained right now, but is too independent. Hopefully in the next couple of months she can be 100%. I should have completely taken off with her over a month ago when she was interested, but with the move and all the poop accidents (she was 100% with pee), I just decided to take a break... which is biting me in the butt! -Is always telling us she has a baby in her tummy and it is kicking. Yesterday she told Abe that she wants to "hold mommy's baby" -asks us to tickle her fingers at night sometimes -Is always laughing at herself and Adeline -still has the cutest little raspy voice -still a jabber box and has AMAZING verbal skills
We just love our little Norah and are excited for her to be a BIG sister in the next couple of weeks!
I haven't posted because we really aren't up to much and I haven't found that much motivation to update the blog. I know I will be mad at myself if I get too behind, so I might as well make use my time while Abe is working a 24 hour shift and do something useful.
Last weekend we brought Adeline to a gymnastics class in The Netherlands to try out. It was kind of funny at first because there were SO many kids there and they were all running around doing warm-ups. Of course they were being instructed in dutch, so Adeline had no idea what they were being told. Instead of just watching what the other kids were doing and following along, she was dancing around on the mats. I felt a little embarrassed for her! Finally a nice young dutch instructor pulled Adeline under her wing and helped her out! After warm ups they split all the kids into different groups. Adeline had 3 other girls in her group and they all ended up being American as well and the instructor spoke English to them (thank goodness!). I was so impressed with the instruction and how much actual "gymnastics" they did with the kids. We are definitely signing her up and she loved it! Too bad it is the Holidays and her next class isn't till January 14th!
After her class we went into downtown Sittard, NL to do a little Christmas shopping and went out to lunch at Bagels & Beans. It's known that this place is usually packed with Americans. They had some festivities set up in the town square with ice skating, a little tubing hill, Christmas music, some little rides and of course lots of junk food. The girls begged to go on one of the rides, so of course we caved in!
That night we had our ward Christmas party. The food was SO good. The dutch people in our ward know how to cook! The girls had fun running around with the other kids and dancing while everyone participated in some "sing a long" songs. At the end Santa even paid a visit and gave them more candy. I have been so impressed how brave Norah has been. Maybe a little bit apprehensive, but we have not had to pressure her or anything to sit on Santa's lap. She just knows that he is going to give her a treat!
Other than everything that happened last Saturday, we haven't done anything. Abe worked his first 24 hour shift on Monday and he is now working another one. His schedule will end up being a good thing because he will be able to be home a lot and we can hopefully make some little trips here and there in between shifts. I just need to get more comfortable being in a new place by myself at night. It doesn't help that our house seems big and I feel like I hear noises all night long! We are getting very close to having the entire house unpacked. We just need to buy a couple other pieces of furniture, hang the rest of the stuff on our walls and get the guest room put together. Once I feel like our house is "together", I will post some pictures. I also need to get out of the house and post some pictures of the neighborhood and little town. I really like our area.
Adeline has been able to go to her new preschool (German Kindergarten) one time this week and one time last week for a short time. She doesn't officially start until the beginning of January. She really did not want to go both times and had some anxiety since they don't speak "Boston" there (sometimes she refers to it as English, sometimes Boston :) She was really happy when we picked her up yesterday though and had a good time. It helps that her teacher speaks a tiny bit of English to help her feel comfortable.
I also had another doctors appointment this week. The baby's abdomen is still a little small, but not as small and appears to be growing. So the doctor is not worried at all right now. I feel HUGE and bribe Adeline and Norah to pick things up for me because it is to the point where it is just uncomfortable. I swear this baby is an acrobat and my stomach never looks normal anymore due to it's crazy movements and positions. It will be interesting to see if this baby is going to follow int he girls footsteps and also be late. If it is early and my mom isn't here yet, there are at least a couple of families in the ward willing to help. If it ends up being a girl like I think... It is set. If it is a boy, I am going to have to order a bunch of stuff online while I am still in the hospital. I set up the room and put all the girly bedding on and such. I probably should at least get one neutral blanket just in case!
I really am grateful to have the opportunity to live here. While I am driving around and look at the beautiful German countryside, I feel very lucky to experience all the different things that we are experiencing. It's also crazy how resilient kids are and how they adapt so easily. I'm glad they can experience the culture here. I have been a little bit down this week as we have been approaching Christmas. I am missing my family. Oh how I wish we could spend time with our families and let the kids play with their cousins. We have spent a handful of Christmas's away from family, but we have had close friends to spend it with. I am longing for that right now. I am comfortable here and am getting used to all the weird adjustments, but I am still not adjusted. Unfortunately since I am going to be having a baby soon, my adjustment period is going to be a lot longer. The one friend that I have met and love (that is home for the holidays) will be moving in the Spring. I need to put myself out there a little more and meet people.
Since it has been rainy almost everyday and we have been stuck inside, Adeline has been playing the Wii a lot. She LOVES the dance game for kids and is hilarious to watch!
Visited with my German OB today and got blood work, a stress test and yet another ultrasound. The blood work and the stress test looked fine. In my ultrasound, the babies head measured over 35 weeks, while the abdomen was barely 32 weeks... so almost 3 weeks behind. Norah's abdomen also measured small (and head big), but I don't feel like her abdomen was that off? Anyway, the doctor is concerned about it and wants me to come back in a week for another ultrasound/stress test. I am very worried they are going to want to induce me early!! Hopefully the growth will look more normal next week and I won't have to stress out about this!
Last week we went to the tree lighting ceremony on base. The actual tree lighting was kind of lame, but afterwards they served everyone a chili dinner, there was cookie decorating, Christmas music and Santa Claus/Mrs. Santa Claus pictures with the kids. Hopefully they will email me the picture soon so I can post it! The kids really enjoyed it and it was nice not to have to make dinner!
{toys from Santa}
Yesterday we headed to Monschau, Germany to hit up our first real Christmas market. Everyone has been telling us to visit Monschau. I wish I got better pictures of the actual town, but it is so neat! It is nestled down in a little valley surrounded by mountains. The streets are pretty little and narrow, so it was pretty busy. I didn't get to go in all the shops like I wanted to. It was too hard with the stroller and really whiny kids. Actually, Norah didn't whine at all, but Adeline wouldn't quit. Apparently her gloves and boots were too cold. We learned our lesson on that one! It would be way easier to visit the Christmas markets without kids! {drooling over the yummy mushrooms I was about to buy} {Eating my delicious mushrooms with garlic sauce (and ham, onions and who knows what else)} {Abe eating his huge brat that he has been dreaming about. We have heard there are bigger at other Christmas markets... we shall see!} These next two pictures sum up their moods for the night.... Norah, happy. Adeline, angry.
Yesterday our little street started lining up with cars and tons of people were walking down our block. It was really weird because we live in a little quiet neighborhood out in the farming country. At first I thought our neighbors were having a party until it started getting really busy. We all dressed warm and walked about a block and a half to a mini neighborhood Christmas market. It was behind someone's house and it almost seemed like we were invading a private Christmas party at first. There was a little train that was giving the kids rides down the street, lots of alcohol of course, hot chocolate, food, music, Christmas trees for sale and a handful of vendors. We just got some hot chocolate and walked around for a bit and then went back home. At 12:30am we could still hear the music loud outside. Who knows when the party ever ended!
When we got home from our little "walk", Adeline was dying to decorate our Christmas tree. Yes, we just got it up two weeks late. Better late than never! Adeline was very serious and into decorating it, while Norah did not care at all. She just dance around with her baby and was being funny. Every year Abe's mom sends a little nativity set to us and the kids love them! They were able to open the new one last night and enjoyed playing with it!
