The Schmidgalls

Christmas is so fun with an almost-two year old!  She has the hang of opening presents but doesn’t yet drive us bonkers, asking for them!

My mom and sister were in town for Christmas (Poppy had to work at home - boooo!).  We spent many happy days shopping, baking, eating, and playing!  On Christmas Eve we went to service and then had dinner and Aunt Lora’s (Joel’s sister).  Joel’s family tradition is to open stockings Christmas Eve and mine is Christmas morning - so we did a little of both!

Santa-Mimmy had baby furniture waiting under the tree! Ella was in heaven!

Snow White needed to sit in the high chair for a little snack!

We had to let Mimmy and Auntie Amy fly home to Poppy after gifts.  We miss them already!

We spent Christmas Day at Uncle Robb’s (Joel’s brother) and the cousins we are spoiled by Grandma Schmidgall!

“Ooooh, a farm!”

Hugs from Parker

Summer LOVED this coat from Grandma.  She looks so cute!

Summy Joy and her mama

Joel’s prized gift?  Grilz!

All the boys were hooked up!  We got some good lookin’ fellas in our family, yo!  (Note the matching long underwear from Grandma.  They were intended for our upcoming ski trip but she underestimated how much they would resemble…ninja wear!)

Ellie’s cousins got a trampoline!  They are so sweet to always include her!

High jump from Parker!

I lined up all of Ellie’s gifts for a photo.  She is clearly one loved little girl!

At her playschool Christmas party, Ella and her classmates had a special visitor!  Joel dressed up like Santa and came to deliver candy canes! Ella was the only one scared of Santa!  She wouldn’t get on his lap until he whispered, “Ellie, it’s Daddy!”

Since then, she has been very confused about Santa!  She calls him “Santa-Daddy” - which is actually pretty close to the truth, I suppose.

Mommy liked this Santa too! (Wow, pregs!)

My mom, sister, and I took Ellie to see Santa at the mall and when it wasn’t Daddy, it was very hard for her to understand!  He was a wonderful Santa and sang her some songs so we could at least get this photo.  Doesn’t she look thrilled?

Christmas puts me in the mood for matching outfits!  I have mentioned this previously but my cousins and I had matching holiday dresses for Christmas every year.  I can’t wait to have another baby to start the matching tradition!  Aunt Karen and Mimmy better be ready to sew! How fun are these first years with my cousins?

Christmas 1978 (Rachel and I were under a year, Sarah almost three)

Christmas 1979 (Nina - one year, Rachel - almost two years, Sarah, almost four)  We each expressed our own sock flair!

Christmas 1980 (Rachel - almost three, Nina - two years, Sarah - almost five)

Christmas 1981 - Looks like plaid was a hit!

How about…knickers!  Christmas 1982 or so?

This is so fun, lets do matching outfits for Easter this year too!

Yes, the angel dresses!  Christmas 1985 or so?

Okay, now brace yourself for the awkward years!  (Sorry Rachel and Sarah!)

This has to be Christmas 1987 because my sister, Amy, joins us!  Oh yes, puffy paint madness! (Poor Chris had to survive us girls!)

These puffy paint sweatshirts could actually be…dresses!  I know…add blue tights and ruffle socks as a finishing touch!

I am guessing Rachel and I were in 5th grade - 1988?  Apparently Sarah was too cool for iron-on decals!

Christmas 1993 (freshman in high school) and silk shirts from Uncle Steve and Aunt Troy!

As we got older, we finally felt freedom to try individualized outfits…but how about matching bangs???  Christmas 1994?

Gotta have matching hairstyles! Christmas 1995

Okay, fine - we will do matching pajamas!! Christmas 2005 (Yes, I was married already - so what?!)

Somewhere in high school, we decided we were officially adults and dressy outfits would be just fine.  However, this one photo from college is with our Grandma - we dressed her like a Christmas fairy!  We lost GG just after Christmas this last year so this is my cheers to her memory.  She is the one the that truly gave our family a love for Christmas and always pulled our family together during the holidays.  We have been missing her like crazy.  (Amy and I love you Samboo and Chili!  What are we wearing this year?)

Christmas 2007 -The cousins with GG last year.

I had a follow up sonogram last week and baby #2 is looking good! I had to follow up on a few minor issues and everything checked out.  My mom and sister were in town to go with me this time and they almost convinced the technician to tell them the gender!  Ahhh!

I am now 28 weeks along and starting the third trimester.  And, according to babycenter, our baby should weigh a little over two pounds - or the same as a Chinese cabbage.  Uh, okay…

We have been so busy with holiday parties and events.  As of this afternoon, we are officially finished!  Now, we will celebrate Jesus and family…and get some rest!

At our church Christmas party, Ellie got to meet Rudolph!  She kept calling him “Rud” and loved him plenty…as long as he kept a healthy distance!  A candy cane did coax her in though!

Violet and Ella enjoyed the cookie decorating table the best! Aunt Amanda kept trying to teach Ella that M&Ms are supposed to go ON the cookie!

Ella is talking up a storm lately.  I find myself praying that the Lord would please, please freeze time right now!  Already, words that she used to say a bit wrong but in her oh-so-adorable way are all of a sudden coming out properly!  I realized I have to document these more quickly!

She used to pronounce her name “Eh-ya” (my little Spanish speaker!).  Now she found her “L” - and she even attempts her last name!  “El-la Migall”

“gak” (juice) - now joooose

“la-lo-la-lo” (balloon) - now Ba-loooon

One of her favorite foods is applesauce but she drops the “s”, declaring she wants “apple-auce!”

She says so many things that crack us up!  Last night, we were in the car and I put a Christmas CD in to play instead of her regular kids songs.  She got very upset and started saying “Ella sa-yed, Ella say-ed!” (Ella’s sad!  Ella’s sad!), with her hands over her face for dramatic effect.

Ellie speaks many languages!  Thanks to her best bud, Giovanny, who speaks Spanish and English both, she often shouts “Ciao!” as we are leaving.  She also tells me “Nine, Mommy, nine!” after a day at playschool because her friend Simona speaks German at home.  It took us a while to figure that one out!

Thanks to her passion for Snow White, she is obsessed with diamonds!  The Seven Dwarfs dig, dig, dig for diamonds, you know!  She will see diamonds all over the place.  Even our Christmas tree lights look like “di-nahs” (diamonds)!  I keep telling her to ask her Daddy to get her di-nahs for Christmas!

We are often asking Ella to stop banging her sippy cup on the tray of her high chair.  The other day “White” (Snow White) was eating lunch with her.  She started banging the plastic Snow White on her tray and when I said “Ella, no, no.” she picked up the doll and said “White, no bank-in (banging)!”   Usually when I correct her at something she says “O-bey!”  She sure knows that word!

Whenever something is adorable to her, she exclaims “Oh! Cute!”  She will play with her baby doll and say “Oh, baby…cute!”

Joel has a box of figurines from when he was a kid - Spider Man, Aqua Man, etc.  Ellie LOVES to play with them and recently I heard her shouting “Pay! Pay ‘Man!”  I turned to see her pushing Spider Man’s hands together, making him pray!  She was telling Spider Man to pray!

All of the kids at church call me Miss Nina.  Well, the other day I asked Ella my name.  She shouted “Miss Nee-na!”  Then I asked her Daddy’s name.  “Dole!”  One smart kid!

Our all-time favorite thing is that whenever we are in the car and a song ends on the CD and another one starts, she shouts “Deet-do!” (Thank you)!  She thinks we change it for her.  We happily reply - “You’re welcome!”

I hope these make you laugh too!

So we had an AWESOME time in New York City for Thanksgiving! There were a few mishaps but nothing to kill the weekend. On our way to Philly to pick up my sister, Amy, we left Ella’s beloved Snow White doll at a restaurant! I had a major hormonal-pregnant-woman moment and started crying like a baby when we realized it an hour down the road. Snow White was my doll as a kid and, plus, Ella LOVES this thing. It is like a plastic piggy bank but she hugs it like a puppy and takes it to bed each nap-time. Joel was patient with me and we were able to make arrangements to pick up “White” on our way home a few days later. Whew!

We also tried to take an open gallon of milk to NY for Ella - only to have it spill in the back of our car, over our coats and belongings! Washing machines aren’t exactly a staple in NYC.

And then, totally ignoring the fact that it was Mommy’s childhood dream to see the Macy’s Day parade live, Ella woke up Thanksgiving morning with a fever! Sorry sweetie…into your coat you go. Dora and O’Donald are waiting for us!

We arrived Wednesday afternoon all excited to take Ella to Lion King, only to find out tickets were $140 a person - and we had to buy a ticket for Ella too! So, we took Ella to Toys R Us instead and let the life-size Geoffrey freak her out.

After playing with all the toys, we ventured out into Times Square. We were staying just three blocks away in our friends’ apartment! We met this couple on our final pre-kids getaway cruise when I was pregnant with Ella. They were going on another cruise and let us stay in their apartment - for free! It was the best location!

Elmo was hanging around Times Square and, though she was cautious around him, she talked about him for the rest of the night!

We took the subway to meet our friends, Erin and Jason LeBar. (I can’t believe we didn’t get a photo with them! Erin was my roommate in DC when Joel and I started dating!) The subway was packed but Ella insisted on holding the germy bar like everyone else! Ick!

We went to this awesome restaurant on the Upper West Side. Amy and I shared this pot pie and when they brought it to the table, Ellie started singing Happy Birthday! She thought it was a cake!

Erin and Jason lived just around the corner from the street where they blow up the balloons for the parade. We braved the crowds to check it out! There were people pressing against us on every side to walk past the balloons. I was so nervous about losing Ella I told Joel I wanted to write my phone number on her arm with marker!

It was there on 77th street that Ellie’s love for “Ol Donald” (Ronald McDonald - who she thinks is Old McDonald) began.

Thanksgiving morning, Joel was up and on the streets to save our spots at the first sign of daylight! Amy and I hauled our little sicky down there a bit later and tried to keep her as warm as possible.

Who is more excited?

Oh yeah, she was lovin’ it!

After a long nap, we ventured out for a traditional Thanksgiving dinner and a stroll down 5th Avenue. Ella really liked the Christmas windows at Lord & Taylor.

Joel’s birthday was the day after Thanksgiving and we did lots of shopping in China Town and Greenwich Village.

While waiting for the girls to negotiate prices in China Town, Daddy bought Ellie a dolly. The little baby doll talked on a cell phone for goodness sakes…but it kept her plenty entertained. Here she is with Dolly on the subway.

For Joel’s birthday, we tried a restaurant in Hell’s Kitchen for dinner and Auntie Amy stayed with Ellie while Joel and I went to a comedy show and got NY cheesecake to celebrate. Thanks sis!

Basically, it was an awesome trip…a dream come true for me. It did not exactly feel like Thanksgiving but I crossed the Macy’s Day parade off my life goal list! Thanks, family, for being troopers through the cold and chaos! And Happy Birthday babe! (Look, you can see baby peeking out of my coat!  Gotta love the bell shape - geesh!)

(And no making fun of the lame glow-yellow hat. I went with our warmest option!)

We have plenty to post about our amazing Thanksgiving in New York City! But, until then, I had to share this story about our little girl during the midst of sickness.

As background, I should mention that Ellie is talking ALL the time! She jabbers…and actually makes sense now! One thing we are working on is polite responses. When I ask her questions or ask her to do something, she often replies, “No.” Instead of making a big deal (”Don’t say no to Mommy!”), I just simply ask her to say, “No thank you.” She hasn’t totally picked it up but I am sticking with it.

Unfortunately, Ella got sick when we were in New York. The poor thing had a fever and everything icky! We thought she was on the upswing once we got home Saturday but in the middle of the night last night, she woke up VERY upset! She was pulling at her ear and telling me her ear hurt. She seemed to be in so much agony that I was certain it was her first ear infection.

We were able to get her into the doctor first thing and when the doctor tried to listen to her chest, she freaked. She was crying and jerking…and then the cutest thing! She started yelling “No thank you! NO THANK YOU!” Joel and I almost started cracking up! She chose that moment to use her manners!

Funny thing is - she doesn’t have an ear infection. So, who knows what the drama was in the night but she is her happy self again. Also, the doctor told us she was VERY impressed with her verbal skills for her age. So, yay for that! And a Snow White sticker to end the visit turned the whole experience around.