Changes, Helping, and the Williams County Fair!

Life in the Midwest has definitely brought change for the Kannel family throughout the past four months! The house we have been renting is a huge blessing to us and it's amazing to think that we moved from a one bedroom apartment to a three bedroom house! Even more amazing...we had so much furniture crammed into that tiny apartment and in our storage units that our new, big house is already overflowing with furniture! Olivia loves to play in the back yard and likes to look for frogs and toads with her daddy.

She also likes to spend time helping us pull weeds and enjoys riding on the lawn mower with Chris. It seems like these are simple, mundane tasks...but when you haven't had to do it in about ten years, it's kind of nice to get back outside and take care of a yard. Things like that are often taken for granted, but we lived in a place for six years that had no yard and no garden...so seeing the fresh green grass out back is quite refreshing every day.

Olivia's "helping" doesn't always end up being so helpful, and in fact, this time it actually gave Chris a little bit more work to do since he could only use one hand!

Yes, she's asleep!

Olivia turned two on August 26 and we had an Olivia the pig birthday party with friends and family. She was very excited about her piggy cake! (I accidentally scraped off one of the nostrils on the top of the fridge...I promise it started with two!)

Chris and I celebrated our 5th wedding anniversary on August 27...my how time flies! We celebrated by going to the drive-in movie....it's been so long since we'd been to a drive in, and it was a lot of fun!

5 year anniversay picture

More changes? After we have the house unpacked and everything seems to have a nice little home....we're planning to move again! We're making a few changes and moving across town in mid-October. So, everything will get packed away again and we'll make a new home some place else!

More, you ask? Baby Kannel #2 is due in March! I'm 16 weeks pregnant, have an expanding waistline, and am feeling great! Olivia likes to poke her finger in my belly button to tickle the baby who is "hiding inside from Olivia!" :)

12 Week Sonogram

Chris is working full time for his dad at the insurance office and is also working on some architectural projects on the side. He is still involved with the church building project in New York where we attended, and was also involved in a major project with the firm he worked for in New York. He traveled back to New York twice in September to attend some very important meetings and make presentations to councils for his projects. And, he's headed back again several times within the next few months!

A side note...check out the new website Chris designed for the family business: http://www.kannelinsurance.com/.

Three generations at Kannel Superior Agency, Inc.

He is also doing some architecture work for a few organizations here in town and is trying his best to get his name out as a local architect. If you know of someone who needs an architect, send him/her our way!

We haven't found a church home yet and we are constantly still searching. We've visited several and have ruled some out. But we just haven't been able to put our finger on the right one yet. We're praying that God lead us to the right decision so that we may grow in Christ and also teach our kids about God and His sacrifice for us. We'll find the right one eventually.

Montpelier hosted the Williams County Fair in September! Because it was right here in town, I decided to buy a weekly pass and we went to the fair almost every day. Olivia really enjoyed walking around, riding in the stroller, seeing the animals, watching the rides, and looking at all the people. It's been a great outing for us all week, either going in the morning before lunch or after nap time....and sometimes both!

This is the goat that wouldn't stop eating her pants! The next time we went to see it, it ate her stroller!

She cried/screamed through the first two laps of the pony ride...but then sat happily and (mostly) enjoyed herself after that.

Olivia is slurping down the last few drops of her daddy's Dairy Producers Chocolate Milkshake...don't miss a drop!

Stay tuned as we prepare to move again, remodel a house, decorate, and make more changes to our lives! It seems never-ending!

A Whirlwind!

The last several months seemed to be a whirlwind for Chris, Olivia, and me. I went back to work three days a week in October, and although I loved my job, it was very hectic! I was working part time but had a full time caseload. Needless to say, when I got home from work in the evenings, I had just enough energy to fix dinner, play with Olivia, and spend a little time with Chris before heading to bed. I then spend one day a week with a mother’s group (Westchester MOPS) and one day a week playing catch up!

Work was supposed to be a three month commitment while another lady was out on maternity leave. However, things changed and I ended up being there for seven months! Olivia attended day care while I was at work – and this was a great experience for her. She was able to learn to interact with peers, and had the opportunity to learn so much more in this amazing environment. There were 10 kids ranging in age from 15 months to 4 years old. So, while the older kids were learning from a preschool curriculum, Olivia picked up the information like a sponge! She can say her ABC’s, count to 20, and knows her shapes and colors. She also has a variety of songs and signs memorized. She never ceases to amaze us!

Meanwhile, Chris was still working on the new building design for our church family, the Westchester Church of Christ, and I was heavily involved with the moms and kids at our local MOPS group, Westchester MOPS. These two groups/organizations were huge blessings to us and made an everlasting impression on our hearts.

The Lord blessed us with selling our apartment in New York in May, and we moved back to Ohio in June. We’d been working on a selling arrangement since last October, so we when winter ended and spring rolled around, we began to wonder what the Lord truly had in store for our future. But, alas the sale went through and both of our families helped us relocate to Ohio.

We’ve been in Ohio for about 7 weeks, and it’s been quite an adjustment period! The way of life is definitely different, the cost of living is less, the income is different, the pace is slower…but it’s home! It is such a blessing to be making new friends, to have a roof over our heads, to have family nearby, and to be content with our new situation.

An Overwhelming Month!

Wow, where has time gone? I’ve said to myself several times that I would sit down and update my blog, yet it never got done. Here it is, halfway through October and I completely missed September. September was a busy month in the Kannel household. We flew to Ohio to celebrate Chris’ 30th birthday with his family. While we were in the celebrating mood, we also had a late celebration for Olivia’s 1st birthday. It was very nice to get to celebrate those two special occasions with our family. Of course, we couldn’t be in Chris’ hometown during fair week and not visit the famous Williams County Fair….so we took Olivia and strolled around the fair for an afternoon while we were there. (My sister-in-law took this picture - thanks Amy!)

The rest of September was spent making important decisions about our future. The place where I worked before Olivia was born called and asked me to come back and fill in for someone while she is out on maternity leave. This seamed like a good idea on the surface, but there are so many things to take into consideration. I really have enjoyed being at home with Olivia throughout the past 14 months, but I also really liked my job. I wish Olivia had kids to interact with daily, but there aren’t any kids that live nearby and our Mothers of Preschoolers group only gets together about twice a month. So, we thought this might be an opportunity for her to interact with other kids in a day care setting. Plus, as much as I love staying at home with Olivia, I also have been yearning to have more adult interaction during the day. It’s also important for me to keep my professional life active if I plan to run a private practice once we move back to Ohio.

So, after taking all of this into consideration, and after lots of prayer, we decided that it would be a good opportunity for me to take the job offer. However, we decided that doing it part time would be best…not only for me, but for Olivia as well. This way, she will still get to spend time with me during the week days, but she’ll get a chance to interact with others too. Plus, I’m not sure how I would do going back to work full time after being at home with her for 14 months! I’ll start work on October 27 and will work 2 days a week at first. The hope is that I will eventually pick up a third day, allowing us to bring in a little more income, and allowing Olivia to be with kids 3 days a week instead of 2.

The hardest part in this entire decision making process was finding day care for Olivia. I said when I was pregnant with her that I was glad I didn’t have to search for day care because that task just seemed way too daunting…not to mention expensive! Between the Yellow Pages, internet searches, verbal recommendations, and tips from Westchester County’s Child Care Council, I had 40 different providers to look into – that’s right, 40! I was able to cross some of them off the list based upon their location. Some were too far south and some weren’t close to either one of our work places. I called quite a few of them before attempting to visit and the majority of the locations don’t take kids who are under 18 months. That was very frustrating for me to understand, so I’m glad I wasn’t searching for a place for her to stay when she was 3 months old – I’m not sure what I would have found! I visited a lot of places, I can’t even remember how many! It surprised me at the huge differences in places that I found. Some were super clean, some super dirty. Some places were over run with kids and some keeping the numbers small on purpose. All the places were licensed by several different agencies/departments, but it was obvious that the different licenses require different amounts of attention to detail. The rates for each place were slightly different, and unfortunately something we had to take into consideration. We don’t want all of my new paychecks to have to go toward childcare!

After much consideration and several visits, we finally picked a place that we feel extremely comfortable with. It’s close to Chris’ work, so I’ll drop her off in the mornings and he’ll pick her up in the evenings. The staff members are super nice, caring, and devoted to helping the kids grow and learn. There are only 10 kids at this place, with 5 staff members around to help. The kids range from 14 months to 4 years old, so Olivia will have the chance to interact with kids of different ages. The lady who runs this day care out of her basement is very supportive and we are very happy with our choice. The price is somewhat depressing though. We’re paying 5 times what my brother is paying for daycare in Ohio! But, there aren’t any other options for us out here! Some of the mother in my MOPS group volunteered to watch her for a discounted rate, but they all live 35 minutes away – which means driving 35 minutes in the morning to pick her up, 35 minutes back to work, and doing the same after work. That’s just too much! Plus, someone at church offered to watch her as well, but her house is not close to either one of our offices, plus we feel Olivia is just too fast and too active for the lady to keep up with her! So, daycare it is!

Meanwhile, our apartment listing expired and we haven’t decided what to do about that. We’ve been praying so much for God to lead us in the direction that he sees fit. We have done our best to put our futures in God’s hands, letting go of the control ourselves. It’s easier to say but harder to actually believe that what God wants is what we want. Please pray for continued guidance for us…that we may follow the path laid out for us, regardless of our own plans for our future.

As we wait patiently for directions, we watch time pass by. Olivia turned 1, Chris turned 30, my grandma just turned 90, and Chris’ grandma is celebrating her 81st birthday today. Time will continue to pass, Olivia will start daycare and I’ll go back to work. Hopefully God will help us understand, and if it’s in His will, we’ll be able to move back to Ohio shortly after the New Year.

I’ll do my best not to get overwhelmed with what lies ahead, that way you can stay up to date on what’s happening in our lives!

Being Creative

Lately, when we've wanted to send cards to family or friends, we've decided to get a little creative. Chris has been drawing and painting in his spare time a lot, so he decided that he wanted to try creating his own cards. He has been doing this since the beginning of May and has really enjoyed his creations. We've even been brainstorming together about possible fronts of cards that he can create to submit to greeting card companies.

He recently put together a portfolio of several of his designs to submit to a company, and now we're waiting to hear back. So, if you get a card in the mail from us, chances are that Chris made it himself - just look for his initials with the year hidden somewhere in the drawing.

This is one he made for me for our anniversary. I said to him a few months ago, "you are always creating things for everyone else, but you've never made anything for me!" So, he surprised me on our anniversary with this card!

And, as an added bonus, here is a picture of Olivia at the park yesterday!

Four Years and Counting!

Yesterday was our 4th Anniversary. It doesn’t seem like four whole years ago that we were gathered in my in-law’s back yard with all of our family and friends celebrating our new life together. The past year, especially, has flown by extremely fast.

We are so blessed to have this time together and we pray that God will grant us many more anniversaries to come.

We don’t have a lot of people around us who can babysit, so we celebrated as a family last evening. Thinking about it ahead of time, we were kind of happy to celebrate it with all three of us. Olivia is a huge part of our life now and she helped make this past year together extremely happy. Of course, there was also frustration, tiredness, and down times…but all-in-all, since our last anniversary in the hospital, Olivia has blessed us in so many ways. It was nice to go out to dinner with the three of us, celebrate her birthday and our anniversary, have her sit patiently in the high chair, eat her own kids’ meal, and only throw minimal amounts of food on the floor! So, we celebrated together not only because we had to, but because we wanted to!

May God grant us the love, patience, and understanding to get through many more years together. I love you, Christopher!

August 27, 2005 - Our Wedding Day - At the Reception

August 27, 2006 - On a Paddle Boat at Montauk, Long Island

August 27, 2007 - At the Eifel Tower in Paris, France

August 27, 2008 - Montefeiore Hospital in the Bronx, NY

August 27, 2008 - Home Sweet Home in Tuckahoe, NY

Happy 1st Birthday, Olivia!

The Birthday Girl!

Olivia is officially a one-year-old now! It doesn’t seem like that long ago that we brought her home from the hospital. She has changed so much and has completely developed her own personality.

The day we brought her home from the hospital...

One Year Old

We are so blessed to have her in our lives. Here are some pictures from her birthday celebrations.

Our pathetic attempt at a homemade birthday cake

Birthday Party at Church - attempting to eat cake

She begged for a fork instead of using her hands.

After finally sticking her hand in, she was amazed by the feeling of the sticky icing.

Making a mess...

Yummy!

Playing with her first birthday gift...musical maracas!

Opening a gift from Great Granny

Tearing paper off puzzles from Grandma Carol & Papaw Ray

Playing with her new Fridge Phonics

(Daddy spelled her name New York style)

Opening a gift from a lady at church

Playing with her gift from Mommy & Daddy

Eating cake again on her birthday - a little messier than she was at church

Notice the left piggy tail - she got icing in her hair and it made the piggy tail stand straight out!

She loved squeezing the icing in between her fingers over and over again!

This is the fastest we've ever seen her eat!

Happy 1st Birthday, Olivia Grace!

She's Accomplished A Lot!

Wow! It’s been over two months since I posted on here. In that time period we’ve had some ups and downs, traveled to see family and friends several times, and watched Olivia grow and develop immensely!

Olivia is pulling herself up on anything she can possibly find. She is growing taller too because she can now reach shelves that were once safely out of her reach! She stands up in the middle of the floor without holding on to anything and we can tell she desperately wants to walk, she just hasn’t figured that out quite yet. She pulls herself along objects and she does well walking if she’s holding on to our hands. She even feels comfortable doing it while holding on with one hand…I’m sure she’ll be walking before we know it! She likes to climb on things like sewing boxes, cardboard boxes…pretty much anything that represents a step. She also climbs inside of her exersaucer and sits there to play with toys.

Her hair is getting longer so I either put it in a ponytail, piggy tails, or a barrette every day. It’s really long on top and won’t stay out of her eyes. In the back, she still has a mess of little curls that are quite unruly and hard to put into a ponytail.

She loves feeding herself from a fork too. We put the food on the fork, give it to her, and she puts it in her mouth. She does really well with it and only flings food on the floor if she’s getting full.

It’s hard to believe that she will be one year old tomorrow. My, my how time flies! I promise I’ll post pictures on Thursday of her with her birthday celebration.

While we were traveling with family, Olivia experienced many new ‘firsts.’ She played on a big trampoline, met extended family members, went for a wagon ride, played in the sprinkler, climbed up one step, stood by herself, cruised along a coffee table (walking), went tubing, rode a jet ski, went down a water slide, slept on a houseboat, learned how to blow a kiss, and stayed the weekend alone with her Grandma Carol. She is such an easy-going baby and really enjoyed spending time with her cousins, aunts & uncles, and grandparents.

Here are some updated pictures……
(you can also look at more pictures at my Picasa site: http://picasaweb.google.com/cincychelle)

Chris' cousin, Diana took this picture - then several people took turns editing the colors.

This is Olivia playing in the sprinkler in Ohio.


My sister-in-law, Amy, took this great picture of Olivia when we visited them in Tennessee.


Olivia is doing 'so big' after finally making a mess in her early birthday cake.

She belongs in Hollywood!

She loved swimming in the lake - this was a very happy week for her!

This is her first day with a ponytail, and she just happened to be standing on her own as well.

This doesn't look like a very good picture - but she is blowing me a kiss!

I just thought this was a cute picture!

This is Olivia's first water slide ride into the lake....Daddy tries to 'pass' her to Grandpa, but Olivia goes flying through the air instead. Surprisingly, she didn't scream or throw a fit!