Croatia/Bosnia & Hercegovina
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Our Newest Addition There were a lot of reasons that our time in America seemed to fly by -- lots of travel, support-raising, speaking engagements and hitting all our favorite restaurants we miss while we're overseas -- but perhaps what marked our time the most was anxiously awaiting little Ella!
All during the pregnancy and the various check-ups and ultrasounds that LeAnn had here in Croatia, we had always told the doctor that we wanted to be surprised this time and didn't want to know whether the baby was a boy or girl. The doctor always honored that request, but due to her apparent desire to tell us and the fact that people here are usually most excited about having boys, we concluded that we were probably having a boy.
 When LeAnn went to her OB/GYN in America, she forgot to tell him that she didn't want to know the sex of the baby, and upon looking at the ultrasound pictures we had, he just blurted out "so... we're having a boy again, huh?" Needless to say, LeAnn was a little disappointed that he told her, but at the same time, we felt as though it just confirmed our suspicions based on previous interaction with the Croatian doctor.
 Well, as I mentioned, we wanted to be surprised and, in the end, the surprise wasn't spoiled after all! When Ella popped out, first the nurse and then the doctor and I exclaimed, " It's a GIRL!!!" The funniest thing was LeAnn's reaction. She wasn't at all disappointed, but for 2 hours (maybe 2 days) she kept saying, "A girl? We weren't supposed to have a girl." So much for our discussion of boy names!
At that point, we began debating girls' names, to which we had hardly given a moment's thought. The name that immediately topped our list was Ella for one big reason. You see, for about 3 years or so, even before Logan was born, Lydia had been praying for a baby sister whom she always referred to as Ella. After a pretty short discussion, we decided there was no way we could really choose any other name after Lydia had prayed and prayed for "Baby Ella."  She has turned out to be a real sweetheart and, in our unvarnished view, is absolutely beautiful. When I first saw her, I said she looked like Lydia and I think she looks more like her everyday. Holding her is almost confusing sometimes because she looks so much like Lydia. She's done great with her adjustment to life and craziness in the Gregory house and Lydia and Logan are anxious for their new playmate to become more mobile. For now, mom and dad are glad to have her not quite so mobile and sleeping and eating well. Everything else we'll just take as it comes!
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