New York

We went to New York this weekend for Heidi's first visit to the big apple. We had some of our favorite donuts and pie, saw some of our favorite people, and visited some of our favorite gardens.  

Heather and Heidi with Uncle Al and Aunt Natty at the Brooklyn Botanical Gardens. 

 Heather and Natty in the Japanese garden.

 Out of control adorable.

 Some cool sticky sculpture thing/dream tree house.

Doing my jumping thing.

It was a fun trip and Heidi did really well. Was able to cope with the different places and new people well. Hopefully she keeps being such a great traveller since we'll be doing plenty more!

Heidi Lucile

I wanted to finally post what happened after Christmas and baby finally came. Having Heidi due Jan 3 did make us anxious during the holidays wondering if she'd be a Christmas Eve baby, or a Christmas baby, or a New Years Eve baby (aka tax break baby), the first baby of the new year (I hear you get tons of free diapers for that one), or just, when you gonna come, baby? baby. Well, she started coming on her due date and got here Jan 4 at 7 lbs. 1 oz. and 19 inches long at 10:46 on a clear and bright Wednesday morning here in Pennsylvania.

Here she is at just a couple minutes old. Seeing Heidi that new was quite the experience. I'd never really thought of life in terms of seconds and minutes, but there she was at 5 seconds old, at 2 minutes old, at 1 hour old. Her life seemed so fragile. It was scary. She cried a bit at first and scanned the room with a "what is this?!" kind of look, but seems to be getting more used to life here. 

Here she is with Grandma Houk who came out and gave her plenty of attention and love and gave us plenty of help holding and rocking her and changing diapers.

This is a bit out of order, but this is us right after the birth; baby snuggling up close to Mom.

Here she is getting some sun and giving a solid (fist bump) on her changing pad.  

 We haven't had much success with pacifiers yet, but we do what we can. 

Grandma Green and Aunts Annie and Tara came to visit and give some love too. 

 Here she is mugging for her passport photo. I can't handle how adorable she is here.

It took Heather quite a few takes to find the right one, but the out takes remind me of a Calvin & Hobbes where Calvin is making all these funny, silly, grotesque faces for his school pictures. She's really hamming it up here.

There are more, and maybe I'll get to some of the fun videos we have, but I did want to get some pictures of our adorable Heidi Lucile.

Christmas is a comin' and our baby is too

Spencer completed grading for all his classes! He enjoyed some papers more than others and preferred seeing his students improve.

At the beginning of the month, we joined the town in the after tree lighting party at the firehouse. Santa was there with presents for the kids-Anne paid him a visit- and they served hot cocoa and cookies.
When we picked out our tree this year at a corner lot, the woman was so helpful and it was daylight so it didn't take us more that 15 minutes from the time we got out of our car to select this one. At home, we decorated it while listening to Christmas music and drinking wassail- out pineapple, apple, orange and cinnamon juice warm drink.
We also enjoyed a night of Gingerbread house decorating. Below- Scott, Nancy and Anne pose with Nancy's creation which sadly fell over on their drive home.
Coralee, Brant, Annie, and Mable pose with their candy creations.
Here we are, back to back-Spencer's idea- holding our contrasting and beautiful candy houses.
I whipped up this cover for our baby's car seat with some fabric I had. The pictures on it are perfect for our Pennsylvania baby. I haven't sewed much in my life and for an evening and a morning project, I felt very accomplished. It was a simple project. I think it will be very useful this Winter.

Thanksgiving Past and Into December

On Friday, December 9th we visited the National Aquarium in Baltimore with the Jonses. When looking at anything through the glass, she always wanted to "see the other animals". They have fantastic exhibits of all sorts of sea life and a great dolphin show. Afterward, Spencer and I enjoyed a much anticipated dinner at the Cheesecake Factory. Thanksgiving Day, Anne got her Uncle Spencer play time. This was probably right before or right after she told me to "get off Spencer's bed". I set the record straight that it was my bed too.
Sister, sister! We were so happy that Natalie and Kristin would come to town for the holiday! It was also good fortune and a great blessing that they weren't swept away on the Susquehanna after Spencer dropped them off to go canoeing earlier in the day. Natalie made a lovely apple pie and Kristin wowed us with her hand whipped cream! We sure loved having them here.
Scott, Nancy, Anne and June, also slaved away to double our feast! Some of the dishes included: pomegranate salad, candied sweet potatoes that Spencer changed our minds about, leek gratin, orange jello salad, blueberry, apple and pumpkin pie. We also had the standards too. The turkey we were cooking seemed done to us, but then the scientists and mother Nancy inspected it and turns out 'parts was underdone'. So we waited and waited some more for the feast to begin. In the end, no one got sick just a little stuffed. Success and leftovers!
Our friends through Scott and Nancy, Alan and Lyanna, came up from Richmond, VA to join the feast. They shared some mighty fine sparkling drinks and some scrumptious chocolate caramel bars. It was so good to have their company. The day after Thanksgiving, the Greens toured Gettysburg, grabbed some custard and played at the Ellsworth's house. We also painted on some tee-shirts using freezer paper stencils. Natalie and Kristin painted birds on theirs and I painted a ship on a shirt for Spencer. He wears it all the time now.

On Saturday we took Natalie and Kristin to catch their buses in Philly and stopped for a cheesesteak lunch on our way. Its too bad their wasn't enough time for us all to go to the Fonthill Castle museum- I loved it! Spencer had been there before and enjoyed it his second time through as well.

Plus Ultra=More beyond was the builder/visionaries motto. He also made tiles like the one above which were throughout this fascinating 40+ room cement 'Castle for the New World'.

Oh, and here I am at 35 weeks pregnant:

A New Piece: Mother Earth's Children

Mother Earth's Children: The Frolics of the Fruits and Vegetables by Elizabeth Gordon has incredibly darling illustrations by M. T. Ross. My mom had a worn and torn old copy of this book that is apparently out of copyright so it can be downloaded from a library's website. I remember always delighting in the sweet drawings. I think it would be great to print some of the illustrations on fabric for a baby blanket. There are a couple that I would like to display in our baby's corner nursery- corner of our room. My mom helped me decide on a couple that would make good paintings when she was here visiting. This is one that I painted to hang on the wall last week. Her name is Caraway. It was fun to do my best at getting the scale, and proportions right. I was very pleased with how it turned out and it didn't take too long either. Not that I don't have a lot of time on my hands on days when I don't go tutoring.

Aunt Gwen's Funeral

I was surprised when my uncle, Reese Abel, and cousin, Emily, called me to ask if I would sing, "For Good," at Aunt Gwen's funeral in two days. I was even more surprised by their getting me there- from Pennsylvania to Utah and back. I was so grateful that I could be there to celebrate her life with family. The talks were wonderful and the flowers beautiful like Gwen's love.
My mom, brother, Uncle Reese and me at the lunch after the funeral on Thursday October 20, 2011. Me, cousins- Lindsey Hardy, who sang with me, Amber and Adam Abel, Gwen's son.
My cousin Emily Chapman, Gwen's daughter and I.

Mom & Dad Green took me on a short drive to see what we could of the fading fall colors. We then took a tour of the Museum of Art at BYU, stopped by Annie's house, and Diana and I took a short walk in the lovely sunshine. It was a delightful morning.
Dad and I posed for a profile shot to show off our matching bellies when we were at my cousin Nathan's wedding reception!

Coming home to Spencer was very welcome after five days of third trimester traveling!

Lady Baby!

On September 20th, we made a second trip to the ultrasound tech. After trying to wiggle and shift-they tipped me back pretty far in the chair at one point- to prompt our baby to change positions, they were able to see that our baby is a GIRL baby! They still had trouble getting some finer pictures of the spine and umbilical chord/placenta connection. She was one pound, 11 ounces and the doctor said that is average for 25 weeks.

So, now that we know that baby is a girl-or seriously suspect it, we are looking forward to meeting her. We know a lot of other people are too. I feel here punching around in there every now and then and think about how she might be developing in there. Some nights I will have difficulty sleeping soundly. I often find myself thinking of names for her. I do this thinking I will help me fall asleep, but it doesn't do the trick like counting sheep. Thinking of names is like imagining a p

erson.

Spencer and I keep a list of baby names we like

or are considering in our email. When we hold her in our arms, we are hoping it will be easier to pick a name our baby.

Last Saturday, before the General Relief Society Meeting, Spencer and I ventured to Strite's Orchard. We sat on some crates and tried our hands at water color landscapes.

I have been getting lots of baby stuff and great deals at consignment sales, thrift stores and garage sales. I am trying to be discerning. This dresser here caught my eye at a thrift store and I was very pleased that it was still for sale when 20% off Monday rolled around. It will make a perfect changing table!