Surrogacy update: All of my 2nd trimester blood tests came back normal. On January 3rd I'll be 28 weeks and finally in the third trimester! My midwife said the baby and I were showing signs of stress so she suggested that I stay in Montana until 36 weeks so I don't have to stress about leaving my family for so long. She thinks the hair loss is stress related. That puts me at 36 weeks on February 28th. We are hoping all 4 of us can go to CO together at that point. Mark is waiting to see if he can work remotely for that time. If not, I'll go with the kids and he will join us a week or 2 later. This makes me feel so much better than splitting us up for 6-12 weeks - depending on when this little guy decides to arrive. The dads are planning to arrive in CO around 37 weeks so they can be there for the birth. I continue to feel about the same as last month, I'm ready to give birth and get back to feeling great.
House update: We have been talking to builders all fall. We still keep an eye out for homes for sale in the Valley incase the right house comes up so we can buy instead of build. Unfortunately, everything we have made offers on downtown end up getting a cash offer within 24 hours of being listed. We actually have another offer in on a downtown house right now that we are waiting to hear. They had showings non-stop all day on the day it was listed so I doubt we will get it. This time we offered over asking price and we are probably way under what the other offers will be. We continue to plan to build while making these offers since they haven't been working out. We are looking outside of downtown now since we can't compete with cash offers and Bozeman is supposed to continue to grow rapidly so we need to get in soon! We are hoping to be in our own home within the next year. I haven't even unpacked any of our family photos, art or books. Our rental is pretty bare bones right now but after unpacking and decorating several homes in the past few years I'm not willing to do it again until it's our long term home. We have a couple of lots in mind at this point. We are hoping they don't sell before we find a builder. One lot that we really want is about 7 blocks from the downtown neighborhoods we wanted so we could still bike downtown. We want to build a house close to passive house standards which has been challenging to find a builder who has done a home like this in this area. As soon as the holidays are over we will be setting up more meetings until we find the right fit. We also have very different taste than a lot of the new construction in town. We are minimalists, we want low maintenance, easy to clean materials inside and out. We like a more modern industrial feel and a lot of what we see is very traditional. Click on the link below to learn about passive house:
Buying ski gear for Ella - snowboard gear for Gordon. We couldn't find a snowboard small enough for Gordon so we will rent one this season to make sure he likes it first. He wants to snowboard like daddy ; ) Mark is planning to teach me to snowboard this spring or next winter depending on when the surrobaby arrives. We didn't think it was a good idea for me to learn while pregnant with someone else's baby!
Christmas morning
4 person inflatable raft for floating rivers and lakes next summer - Mark will get his drift boat that he has been dreaming about for 20 years someday. For now this seemed more practical while the kids are small.
Ella's new mountain bike
...and cycling gloves
More weapons for Gordon
New bike helmet
I was SO impressed by the holiday program that Cottonwood Montessori put on, I can't say enough good things about this school. It truly is everything we have been searching for since Ella was born. It only goes until 5th grade so we are thinking of homeschooling again at that point unless the kids have other plans.
Ella was an elf in the play, "A Christmas Story"
Mark took Ella skiing for the first time! She loved it and has been hoping for snow so they can have a powder day. She used the pole the first couple of runs so Mark could hold onto it and then she was good to go. She was out for over 6 hours on her first day. Cottonwood Montessori is taking the kids to Bridger a couple of times this winter during the school day, oh what fun it is to grow up in a ski town!
On her second time out she did the lower mountain. It was a lot colder out so she only lasted about 4 hours. We are planning to take Gordon snowboarding in the New Year.
Ginger bread house building at the Emerson Art Center
Candy canes from Santa
Christmas Stroll in downtown Bozeman
We see a lot of elk on the way to Ella's school
Snowy backyard
Cottonwood holiday program rehearsal - break time
Celebrating Ella's birthday at school - it was the cutest birthday celebration. They all said something they wish for her on her birthday, she "walked around the sun" 7 times and they sang to her.
Time to brag about our birthday girl!! Ella has changed so much this past year. She has made so many friends since moving and gets along with everyone. At parent teacher conferences her teachers told us that she plays with everyone and is an extremely empathetic child. Whenever someone is left out she invites them to play. She is the "mother" at school, always helping out and comforting. I love it that this is the stuff they talk about at her school conference, it's our kind of school. Her art teacher has told us multiple times that she is so impressed by Ella's love of learning, she said she doesn't see that often anymore and it really shows that we didn't push academics too early. She didn't have a desire to learn to read until recently, we didn't push it before and now that she wants to learn it she is picking it up quickly.
Ella did her first BMX bike race this fall and loved it. She's looking forward to mountain biking with mom this Spring(we will probably be on the same level!) and doing more BMX races. She's hoping to master her skiing skills this season so she can get a full mountain pass next season. I'm sure Mark & Ella will be at the highest peak and Gordon and I will still be on snowflake. She learned to swim this year also. Art is still her passion. She choose to go to a 6 hour art camp on one of her days off of school over break.
Ella slept over at her friend's house for the first time. We have known her friend's parents for over a decade so we felt pretty comfortable sending her over there ; ) I was still up worrying about her in the middle of the night. She did great and had so much fun. I worried for nothing like usual.
With all that being said, she still fights with Gordon and bosses him around 95% of the time and drives us crazy...but we are happy that she does this at home and nowhere else ; ) She is a perfectionist and very serious most of the time, she will even yell at us when we are being silly and say things like, "I don't want anyone to laugh right now" or "dad, I don't like it when you act silly." We are trying to get her to loosen up and not be such a rule follower ; )
Toothless birthday girl
Ella's Picasso inspired sculptures from art camp
Spending Christmas Eve in Big Sky at Melissa's house - same mountains above and below just a couple of hours apart
Opening presents at Aunt Melissa's
Jeff, Gordon, Ella & Nana all in bed together
Nerf, minecraft & Zoomer
Videos:
Gordon at the library coffee shop with mom while Mark and Ella ski.
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