July, 2007 (a little late for a holiday update, eh?)

Hello, again. It’s been another amazing year… and a half! Sorry, the job search, finding and moving into our new home, selling a house, and growing a new baby have kept us BUSY!

Ellie is still a monkey… I mean… a joy, always keeping us on our toes. Since the last update (8 months ago), she’s a whole new person (just turned 18 months). We now have conversations. She knows a couple hundred English and some Arabic words and speaks in 2 to 3 word sentences (“thank you, Mommy”; “more blueberries please”; “sandal shoes on”). She counts to 20 (well… 1, 2, 3, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 13, 16, 18, 19, 20) and counts to 3 in Arabic and French. She’s pretty good with a fork and spoon (occasionally eats a meal without making a mess – sure makes life easier). We know most animals (octopus is my favorite) and noises (skunk says “Pee-eww”). Playing outside is second only to reading. She prefers the older kids’ playground. Their ladders and slides are more fun. She learned to swing on a big kid swing since ours doesn’t have the baby one. You can read about the whole year on her Baby Blog (we’ll update that someday).

We did a lot of traveling, seeing family and friends from all over the world. Elanor met Eyad’s Amo Elias, Amo Daniel and the rest of the family in Orlando (see pictures).

We didn’t make it to the Rose Family Reunion this year but made it in ’06. Ellie wasn’t quite mobile at 5 months but enjoyed playing next to her cousins.

The Moores are staying warm up in Michigan. Alex, Matt, Robbie and Katie visited us in St. Louis and we visited them up North. Katie is an expert baby-feeder and refers to Elanor as “My girl”.

We also got to see the Trotters a couple times. Evelyn is about 9 months old. Marianne, Greg, Alden and Rowan take good care of the little one.

The Kettenis clan is growing! Lia, Niels and Kiefer were joined by Zachary this spring. Elanor has become fast friends with Kiefer (too bad they’re moving).

Uncle Michael and Aunt Lynda got married in August. YAY! Eyad was co-Best Man with Eric, Mike’s big bro. Ellie loved meeting the Fleegler/Gaylord clan and got to meet Uncle Elliot and Aunt Laura, too.

Eyad got to travel to Los Angeles and Japan as part of his fellowship (lots of fun but he missed his girls). While in Japan, he placed an Ema at a Shinto shrine (a prayer for a baby brother or sister for Elanor). Next time he’s there he’ll have to say thanks!

Much of our travel was job search related. Eyad was lucky to find a great fit at Children’s Hospital of Iowa in Iowa City. It’s a great group of people in a family-friendly city. We’re finally all here. Emily and Elanor moved in late May. Eyad joined in late June. Elanor LOVES our new house, especially the backyard, swing set, her new twin mattress, and nearby park with slides and HUGE sandbox.

Ellie’s Birthday / Christmas, 2006: Everybody made it except for Aunt Heather who was snowed into Colorado. With Heather on the web cam, we broke the new baby news to the whole family. THAT WAS FUN! Elanor really enjoyed her cake and ice cream- smelling, tasting, squeezing, smushing, smearing, splashing… She even got some presents that were more interesting then their packaging. You should see the Teddy Bear Grandma Lanoue made for her (about 5 times her size!).

Of course, the big news is that we’ll soon have a whole new Blog for a NEW BABY!! Elanor will be a big sister soon. Li’l Sib is due on July 10^th (that’s just 8 days)!

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