amurica....the rest of the story.

hey guys,

i have hijacked mom's computer.

i know you saw posts of how cute i was and how many people i met in america on facebook.

this is what really happened.

my mom and dad, and our friends todd and josh got up really stinkin' early (3 am) to get to the airport in time for our trip to america.

we loaded all of our bags onto the cart (man i love my mom but bless her heart...she over packs) and headed to the ticket counter. i said goodbye to my grandpa and thanked him for the free accommodation the night before. his beard always tickles my face and makes me laugh.

i got to use my passport for the first time. when mom gave the guy all of the passports, he said that dad and i would need visas. we looked over at the other counter and todd had a problem and needed a visa too. it took around 45 minutes for our visas to go through and we had to run through security and jump on our flight leaving our friends behind.

as we got settled into our seats, josh ran up and told us that his dad (todd) didn't get to board. so i got a 16 year old adopted brother all the way to america!

 me and mom. not sure what i was doing with my face.

 

i am going to play and stay awake the whole flight!

 

 i'm going to....

wow, that was a quick flight! we landed in brisbane, australia and knew that uncle andrew, aunt emma and one of her friends were on their way to see us. we were going to step out of the airport just for a minute to see them. until we got to immigration.

i gave them my best smile and flirted it up with the lady at the desk but she was not going to let us into the country. she and her grumpy boss didn't think we had enough time in between planes to get out and get back in through security and customs. i hate to admit but they were right. i wish i had gotten to see my family though. they haven't seen me since i was four weeks old.

 mom exploded our carry-on baggage all over the place to organize everything for the long trip.

i gave josh a hug because he was my new brother for a little while!

as soon as we boarded in brisbane, i was so tired from flirting with all of the stewardesses and female passengers that i fell asleep. when we were allowed to take our seat belts off, they brought me my bed. and i slept.

 13 1/2 hours later and a completely different season...and we were in america!!

i was a little excited.

and a little sweaty.

thus the semi naked workout.

i slept on the plane but mom only had about an hour of sleep so she was super tired. we sat down and all three of us fell asleep. mommy woke up and had almost laid her head on a stranger's shoulder. she made a new friend.

we still had one flight to go and in california, we were going to have to separate from daddy. he was going to denver for a week.

waiting in line for our plane to nashville, we met a guy named Robbie Davidson. He sat down beside us in the crowded airport and began to chat.

mommy told him "with it being l.a., you think i would see someone famous! i don't think i would know them if i saw them!" as she chuckled, he pulled out a cd and said with a smile on his face, "have you ever heard of me?"

my first famous person!!!

he autographed his cd for me and he is really good! he is an up and coming artist but you can check him out on itunes! thanks robbie!

THE REST OF THE STORY...

i will show you in pictures

 my entourage was waiting!

kisses for grammie j

 tired at buffalo wild wings, i was ready to go home but i was so glad to hang out with my saba.

 momma promised matti grey that she would be the first one to hold me the next day. this was a quick shot before her soccer game.

 me, denise, grammie j and my cousin duke hanging out for the first time. the camera was not interesting.

we went to a place called Rick's. It has bbq. Mom is addicted. :) Duke slept on my momma's shoulder but I didn't get jealous. yeah right.

 matti gray wearing her polka dot gumboots that we brought her all the way from new zealand.

 cousin love.

 good effort mom.

that night we went to crossville to stay at my grandparents house.

the next day I got to meet my great grandparents FuFu and Gdad!

 i was sad i would have to leave her. i love her!

 momma...put some clothes on a brotha!

momma's friend bethany came to visit!

with her 2 kids tanner and kinsley ann

 tanner went fishing with a stick. i will learn his ways soon.

 mom sat me in the grass.

 hey look! grass!

 me and my great great uncle john

 my first time in a high chair

 meeting my second cousin brantley for the first time. i liked him!

 my first bible class ever! i was so excited that i couldn't sleep until 11 pm!

 this is sheridan. she rocks.

 mr. clyde. he is the man.

 this is my great grandma mema. she taught my mom how to sew and yard sale like a champ. we had two family parties at my saba and grammie j's house. these are pictures from those. i met a lot of new people!

this is mrs. janice. she babysat my mom and uncle jim.

cousin josh

cousin savvie

peek a boo uncle tony!

cousin keri and her girls!

Kendall

sadie

aunt natalie and cousin solomon

hanging out with cousin schaffer.
a week later, we dressed up to pick daddy up at the airport and head back to lawrenceburg!

 a few days into our week and i got to meet melissa and lucy. i have seen them on skype but they are so much more fun in person! they had us over for lunch with all of mommy's teacher friends from her job before she got promoted to being my mommy.

 mrs. sandra. love her!

 lucy took momma's phone and took a picture of her baby in my carseat. :)

 mrs. deanna. i think she likes me.

 everybody.

ms. lester, mommy's principal

 

mrs. krista

 

the nest day we went to sonic (come to thin of it mom went to sonic twelve times) and then we went to the ballpark. my uncle jim was playing ball! they won!

 mrs. sandi

 yay uncle jim's team!

 this is my first bible class with duke. my favorite song is 'brennan pat the bible' and i liked everything that nice lady gave me to chew on!

 joy and danny tice

 ms. jennifer!

 i was a cool dude with my first spiked up hair do.

 miss miranda!!!!

one day, we kinda got locked out. so we played and took pictures while aunt kk went to get the keys.

 picking up chicks.

 i PROMISE! the wheel is supposed to be on my side!

 i like this red chair...a lot.

 chatting with my buddy.

mom has some pictures of me with her best friend allison and her girls but she can't find them so maybe those will come later.

oh my word.

cool old general store with old school toys.

on memorial day, we went to matti grey and duke's grandparents house for a cookout and a swim.

i am smiling...but she will pay for this hat.

mom and uncle jim got snocones...mom has wanted one for ages.

more rick's bbq on the day we left lawrenceburg.

matti grey said she wasn't going to smile...

and she didn't.

we left and headed to nashville to meet my new friend wren. she was two weeks old. these are pictures of me with her daddy gary and her mommy kimberly.

then we went to eat dinner with mom's aunt val and uncle john. cousin johnny and cousin bryan were there too. we stopped at cousin whitney's work to see her because she couldn't come and eat with us.

we made it back to crossville and the next day, i met my mom's friend marley. they have been friends for 25 years! they are ancient.

i couldn't stay awake during my first trip to walmart. i was overwhelmed that you could buy perfume, toothpaste and a treadmill in the same place!

these are some pictures on our last church night.

ms. alison

mrs. brittany

my first trip eating at sam and andy's in knoxville. it was saba's idea.

on our way to the airport! and the rest of our trip!!

mom is crazy and had a million more photos with saba and kaley and other family...but if you are like me in the last picture...these are enough!

thanks america!! see you again soon!

Think missionaries don't matter?

Today I spent my day with people who were won to the gospel and have a chance at salvation because of people who decided to spend time on the mission field.

They are my family and my friends.

I realized today that without someone letterboxing my father-in-law's house all those years ago...my husband might not have had the chance to go to Heaven.

Missionaries matter.

We had planned for a few weeks that Brennan and I would go and visit our dear family friends Wally and Maureen. I have been wanting to learn how to knit and Maureen is an avid knitter and someone that I love to spend time around. They live on the coast in Foxton, which is about a forty minute drive for us.

My mother-in-law Gaye went with us. Her and Maureen have been best friends for ages. They met at the church in Wellington. As we drove to and from Foxton, Gaye recounted the events of their friendship. She said she remembered the joy when Maureen decided to obey the gospel and the fervent prayers that Wally would follow her example. He eventually did and they haven't looked back since. They raised their family in the church and their example is widespread.

As a matter of fact, our preacher is their son.

And he and and his wife are the ones who introduced me to New Zealand all those years ago.

One of their other sons is a missionary here and spends time fulfilling a Good Samaritan Outreach program in America every year.

Missionaries matter.

After teaching me some basic knitting skills and playing with Brennan, we sat down to a lovely lunch. You can always guarantee two things about a meal at Maureen's...it will be healthy...and it will be good.

As we sat there laughing at stories from Wally, I looked around and felt the greatest wave of thankfulness.

Thankfulness to God for allowing me to have people like this in my life.

These people were won by missionary efforts and now are missionaries in their own life by the example they provide.

I was thankful that we can all be missionaries.

That each role we play is vital to the cause of Christ.

It was a good day.

On a side note, we spent the rest of the afternoon playing with his PAFT (Parents As First Teachers) sponsor and she could not believe how much he has grown. Since this time last month, he has learned to crawl on all fours, pull up on the couch and walk along it.

When you see it everyday, you forget how quickly they are changing!

OUCH CHARLIE!!!

Today was our first trip to playgroup. We have been waiting for a while to go as they have moved different groups around.

I think it will be a good way for me to not only meet other moms, but to reach out and let the know how cool Jesus is. :) Brennan will make some friends along the way too which is cool.

His friend from today was Charlie who is six months old. His mom is from England so I imagine he will talk like the kid in the ouch Charlie video on youtube. If you haven't seen it, look it up...it's hilarious.

Charlie's dad is in the army and has never seen him in person. Charlie's mom is really

sweet, although Charlie was not happy with her for making his footprints in paint (mom activity for the day).

Next to Charlie, Brennan looks four years old.

Don't believe me...

Ok...maybe the camera angle. :)

Next week is Boogie down with Baby.

Get ready Brennan! Momma's gonna boogie!!

Mrs. Mabel's Wishy Washy

I'm going to be honest...I don't like sickness.

I'm done with it myself and Brennan is improving but now...Jared stayed home with something today.

I feel like one of those people who makes up sicknesses so I have something to talk about. I wish they were made up!

Regardless...I will mention it never again! :) [except to say that because of theses sicknesses and no break in the cold/wet weather---I am headed to the laundry mat because I am overrun with sheets and baby clothes!] THEY HAVE DRYERS!!! :) I will get all of my laundry done in one day...hallelujah!

Brennan was such a happy baby this morning that he wanted to try his hand at eating a real banana. He just gnawed on it and even though it looks ginormous, he was safe. I was close and watching, but he loved it! I think he felt like the big man.

I got A LOT done today as far as work that I do for Jared, so around noon I decided to take Brennan on our walk so Jared could nap in peace and quiet. Brennan needed a nap too but Jared coughs up a lung and wakes him up...so it was a win-win.

I wanted to stop by my favorite antique place in the village down the road so I out Brennan in the carrier for our walk. His stroller doesn't fit through the store and he is more likely to grab things.

Not the best idea I have ever had but I accomplished my walk with a 22 pound monkey hanging off my front! and Brennan accomplished a nap to boot!

If you are wondering if there are still good people in the world, there are.On our walk, I dropped my EFTPOS card. It's like a debit card but you seriously can't use it if you don't know the pin so I knew Jared wouldn't be upset about it. I searched all the way home and stopped in several stores to ask if they had seen it. I got a call late this afternoon that it had been turned in at the bank in town. Thank you Lord!

Could you please unsnap his BabyGro?

Today was a great day filled with worship and awesome Bible class kids. One of the little kids Mark always asks me if Brennan is baby Moses. He looks so disappointed when I say no. He is also the same one that sings...'When the devil's in the way...USE THE FORCE!' love that kid.

Grandma came home with us for lunch and went to a matinee screening of Man of Steel with Jared. :) I think she felt quite special going on their date!

Brennan was just so cute this morning, I couldn't help but take a picture. (surprise). He looks like he may take off running at any moment...and he very well might do that.

Last night/ this morning he started crying and pulling at his ears and that continued this afternoon so we decided to take him in to the doctor since he had been so sick in the last week.

The good thing about NZ is there are doctors that stay open until 10 pm!

When we got to the doctor, he was nice young Englishman that was friendly to Jared and me. He asked me where I was from, how we met and what we did. 

He asked me why we brought Brennan in and I told him several different things. As he was examining him, he told me several different ways to hold him so he could check his ears and then he tickled Brennan's belly and said, 

'Could you please unsnap his baby grow?'. 

I always like to do things without having someone repeat themselves (no comments from you dad...) but I think the confused look on our faces was proof we had no clue what a baby grow was. 'Oh I am sorry,' he said, 'I thought I was in England for a minute. Could you unsnap his vest?'

crickets.

onesie. he meant onesie.

i felt really, really dumb.

the only way we figured it out is because he lifted Brennan's shirt, pointed to his onesie underneath and said...' Can you take that off?'

Apparently, BabyGro is the brand name for a onesie in the UK.

An American, a Kiwi and a Brit...it was all sorts of international confusion.

In the end, Brennan doesn't have an ear infection but has a few blisters on the back of his throat. No antibiotics (they don't give those out much here) but some paracetamol (similar to motrin) and keep an eye on him. Apparently there is a pretty bad virus going around here that has hospitalized several people, so he was glad it was not that.

After his diagnosis, I figured that he knew a lot about us from the questions he asked at the beginning, so we should ask about him. After finding out that he worked for the NHS in London and is a surgeon, we talked to him for a little bit about the church. He said he was raised old school Catholic and when he became and adult, he decided he wasn't religious. We still invited him along to church to and told him we would be looking forward to seeing him.

I really had a hard time when I first moved here asking people to church. I didn't want to seem weird and make people uncomfortable BUT then I realized...

I would rather be known as the weird girl that goes around town making people uncomfortable by inviting everyone she meets to learn about Jesus! I don't want people looking at me on judgement day and saying...'WAIT! You were my only chance but you didn't want to make me uncomfortable?' Doesn't seem like that would make much sense when it really comes down to it!

Ok...this really wasn't going to be long. The baby is in bed and I have got to get there myself!

Enjoy the Lord's day!

duck...duck...hockey

This morning, I got up and knew it was going to be a good day! I had more energy than i have had in a few days and I am excited to go to worship and teach bible class tomorrow!
I let Jared sleep in (or so I thought). He was watching a movie on his computer when I went to tell him breakfast was ready. We had some lovely brown bananas so I thought I would make some banana bread for morning tea.

Weird that i make stuff for morning tea. Think of it as a kind of second breakfast. lol.

We got bundled up and decided to take our walk to the Esplanade. It is probably a mile and a half from our house. I think it is one of my favorite places in Palmy.

Brennan fell asleep on the way and through the rose gardens where they camellias are in bloom but was awake enough to see the ducks at the duck pond and hear all of their quacking. When we went into the Esplanade, there was a bunch of kids about 7 or 8 playing field hockey.

It was neat to think that in a few years, that may be where we are spending our saturday mornings watching Brennan run around that field. Although, Jared says he will more than likely play rugby. :)

Jared took Brennan to the grocery store so I could do a quick clean of the house without having to stop. Isn't he fantastic? I may or may not have used to vacuum as an air guitar during Bohemian Rhapsody...

VITAMEATAVEGAMIN

Luckily, I don't need Vitameatavegamin to get to feeling better but I do think a little VITAMIN D would help! Brennan needs vitamin D too so after 2 days of being home bound...today we decided that against ALL odds, we would take a walk. As we were strolling out the end of the driveway, it began to sprinkle. I guess I am getting accustomed to living in New Zealand because I charged ahead with no umbrella or stroller cover, knowing that it wouldn't last long enough to need it.

These are pictures form our walk this afternoon.

 mom...where are ya?

 all snuggled in his handmade blanket from Aunty Allison.

At the end of our street is the Manawatu River. We made it there right as the sun was shining its last rays of the day. Remember it is winter here...and even though the trees are bare, the grass is still green! 

 those are houses on top of the cliff.

 Sunset behind the golf course that goes along the river.

I took for granted the ability to get out of the house and breathe the air!

Thank you Lord for your beautiful creation!

quakes and queasiness

This morning around 3 a.m. Jared awoke to the screams of a 7 month old and a yelp from a 28 year old.

Brennan woke up hungry and as I was trying to pick him up and get a bottle fixed, I got sick.

Luckily, Jared to the rescue. Fixing Brennan a bottle and letting me rest. He didn't have to be into work today until 11 so he got to sleep in a bit to make up for the middle of the night craziness. I officially have whatever he had. He seems to feel a bit better so maybe it won't last long for either of us.

Around 2 o'clock Grandma and Grandad came over so that they could check on us but also for Grandad to say goodbye. He leaves tomorrow for a four week mission trip in the Solomon Islands.

As we were discussing details of his trip, he stopped mid-sentence. I was little concerned by his face.

He said...'do you feel that? we are having an earthquake.'

As slight as it was, it went on for some time and those things make me nervous!

It's hard to explain but even if the whole house isn't shaking dramatically, it creates and uneasy unsteady feeling. We really trust the earth to stay solid beneath our feet!

Speaking of scary moments, I'd like to share my worst mom of the year experience that happened a few weeks back.

Jared was not well and I had to run to town. We had several places around the Square to go so I had put Brennan in his stroller. He fell asleep and I thought that I might grab a turkish doner kebabs for our lunch.

SOOO GOOD.

When they were ready, I reached for the bag momentarily letting go of the stroller.

Brennan sailed out the door and headed straight for the street!

Luckily, an older English gentleman caught him at the edge of the sidewalk.

He gave me a disapproving look and I sheepishly said thank you before scurrying my way to the car.

So by giving Brennan extra sick boy cuddles, does that make up for the fact that I sent him careening into traffic for turkish food? :)

pack it in there kids!

Today was a nice day although it wasn't sunny long enough to hang the clothes out. I am sure that veteran kiwis would hang their laundry out on a day like today but I figure if it has to end up by the fire to dry...I might as well skip a step!

Brennan and I spent the morning packing Jared for his presentation in Wellington.

Or should that read...Brennan spent the morning packing himself for Jared's trip to Wellington. Ha!

Jared was asked to do a presentation on the WAND that he uses for anesthesia. His dental practice has a pain free guarantee for the first visit, so if we are to have ANY food or shelter...he needs to be good at it and he is! I am proud of him for being asked to speak at this big event. 

What cracks me up about the course is that it describes it as a hands on session to practice techniques and EXPERIENCE a pain free injection! No thanks!

Brennan was snuggled in his stroller to help me clean out the cars and go for a little bit of an excursion to begin working on a top secret project. He is such a happy kid. 

When he woke up from his afternoon nap, he was quite sick and may have a stomach bug that has been circulating. He seems better but has been asleep since 5:30 (two and a half hours). Here's hoping he sleeps it off!

Today is Uncle Roody's birthday.

Last time we saw him, was Christmas so it was six months ago to the day! Happy Birthday!

Come see us soon or you will receive gross pictures of dirty diapers! (Brennan said that...not me)

Oh wait...that's just the warm up?!

Days like today are why I love my life...nothing big and spectacular to write about but too many blessings to choose from.

Mondays are usually our days to recuperate from the weekend. I get extra laundry done and Brennan gets a much needed return to schedule. I think he is one awesome kid to just go with the flow the way he does.

Today, I was going to try a spin class. They won't let you try without committing to a 6 month fee...of $300. Naw thanks, I am still enslaved to Freed. I guess I'll just do the insanity workout at home.

haha...insanity is right! who in their right mind would subject themselves to that?!
they were all like 'glistening' and stuff and I felt like a walrus with asthma.

oh wait...that's just the warm up? I'm in trouble!

It was much sunnier today which allowed Brennan to help me mow the yard. He gave me direction from his stroller quite nicely. Hopefully the weather is as good tomorrow.

It was confirmed yesterday that I will be speaking at the Ladies Challenge here in Palmy in October. I feel honored and excited to be able to do that!

For a day of cleaning, mowing and changing dirty diapers...it was a good day full of blessings and playing with Brennan!

The picture at the bottom is from our skype date with Aunty Emma last night. I love it!

Gonna party like it's my birfday! June 22, 2013

We have a lot happening this year which is quite exciting! Family visits, a one year birthday, anniversaries, holidays, etc. SO for my birthday, I decided that I wanted to do a short blog every day for the next year.

You read that right.

365 days.

I want to be able next year on my birthday to look at how my life is changing, how I am growing  in my Christian walk and how absolutely positively blessed I am! 

I have a post that I have been working on about our trip to America but have a few more pictures to gather before I post it up.

Having said that...here is DAY ONE of my 365 challenge.

(Remember these will usually be posted on New Zealand time)

For my birthday, Jared made me breakfast in bed. It wasn't easy to eat eggs and bacon with cheese scones and have a seven month old crawling over you...but it definitely made it more fun!

Before we left for Wellington, Brennan gave me some yummy cocoa and vanilla lotion and they both gave me the sweetest card signed with hand prints!

What did Jared get me you may ask? Well...we drove it to Wellington!

We headed south for our friends baby shower. Elsa and Keith are a couple that live and work in Porirua and are very involved with the congregation there. She is due in a few weeks with a little miss named Olivia.

Hanging out with all the ladies and playing baby shower games wasn't too much for Brennan and he quickly learned that flirting would get him far!

After the baby shower, we went to eat at a fabulous chinese restaurant with Keith and Elsa as well as our friends Lance and Kristen. They are missionaries with the Porirua church of Christ, and let me tell you...they are good! It is amazing to see how that church has grown!

 

All of us!

 

 Lance, Kristen and Brennan

We topped off the evening with chocolate cake and tiramisu to celebrate my birthday, Kristen's birthday (June 7), baby Olivia and the one year anniversary of Lance and Kristen's arrival in New Zealand.

This day, along with thoughtful posts, messages, calls and gifts from my friend all over the world...I think it has been one of the best birthdays of my life!

Be Mine

Roses are red.

Bacon is red.

Poems are hard.

Bacon.

This is the short little love text that I sent to start Valentine's day off on the right foot. :)

I was excited about Valentine's Day because we had no plans. We had already eaten our chocolate from my parents as soon as it arrived last week and I was expecting no gift since he covered every occasion for the next twenty years by buying me a new car! (I say that, he doesn't).

Brennan and I had both been feeling pretty stink and as I type this, I haven't slept much in 3 days because he coughs and it wakes him up and then he can't breathe well enough to sleep solidly. I knew I was going to make dinner as usual, but hadn't gotten around to being very festive.

I decided to get it together and make it super fun. Brennan and I made a card for Jared. I thought it would be fun to trace his hand as his signature on the card...he's three months old...near impossible to do on your own, but I did it! :)

I put on Jared's favorite dress for me to wear and put Brennan in a tie. He was so cute, I couldn't wait until Jared saw him!

 Jared came home to a dinner of baked dill salmon, green beans and carrots. We have been trying to do lots of veggies and lots of meat. Steak more than once a month? I can do that! We sat and chatted for a while after dinner and then decided to go for a walk. Jared wanted to be held accountable for exercising until we go to the States in May. He agreed that if he didn't exercise for 30 minutes every day, then I get to go home for Christmas. Needless to say, I try not to remind him too often that he needs to go but I do want him to accomplish his goal. Consider me his blackmailer. :)

We headed down to the lagoon to watch the ducks. When we got there, there was a group playing water polo in kayaks. It looked like so much fun!!

 Brennan was clearly thrilled.

Enjoying my valentines at sunset. (Pardon the wind blown look)

After walking home, we settled in to catch up on Walking Dead. I don't want Brennan to hear those scary noises so once he was asleep, we plugged in our headphones. I had one side in my ear and Jared had one side in his. Every time I would jump at something scary and almost wake Brennan up. We may have to come up with a new plan for that.

I have enjoyed this Valentine's Day more than any other. Not because of gifts, not because of chocolates (didn't even have one!) but because I got to spend it with my boys.

Hope you had a good one too!

My Boy.

The room is dimly lit.

And it's just us.

My arms are full and so is my heart,

His breathing slows and I know he is asleep.

I kiss his head and drink in his baby smell.

His eyes are tightly shut, but as he smiles, so do they.

The shouting of the dishes and the threats of the unfolded laundry try to drown out this moment.

This moment with me and my boy.

I think about my life five years ago.

How I would sit and think about where I was and find something lacking.

That feeling seems so foreign to me now.

I talk to him in his sleep.

I talk to him about his day.

I talk to him about his daddy.

I talk to him about his Father.

I tell him about the difference he has already made in my life.

3 months this week? It seems impossible.

But I know to savor this moment, because no matter when it ends, it will be too soon.

I pray for his sleep.

I pray for his waking hours, for his growth and for his knowledge that he is loved.

I pray for his future wife.

Mostly, I pray that God's presence will be strong in his life and that He will be a best friend to him.

I understand the begging place.

 I thank God for my boy.

For the breath he breathes and for the cry that he cries.

I thank God for the love he has from family and friends

even though he has never physically met many of them.

I thank God for my parents.

They never let me know how hard it is to see your heart walk outside your body.

They gave me confidence to trust in God.

They never let me feel unloved. Not for a second.

I spend a lot of time talking to God about my little boys daddy.

How thankful I am, how undeserving I feel

how blessed I am to be his wife.

I am overcome with joy.

A tear rolls down my face and falls onto his.

I don't wipe it off.

I want it to soak in.

I want him to soak in every ounce of blessedness that I feel.

I pray I never forget this feeling.

This moment.

Right now.

a birth story...minus the grossness

I realized today that I haven't blogged in two months.

Guess who is two months old today? haha.

That's right!

If you haven't heard, our son was born on November 23, 2012 at 4:41 pm.

He weighed in at 10.4 pounds and was 21.5 inches long

His name is Brennan Franklin John Kyle. and he is amazing.

We had an interesting time getting him here. We went in at 42 weeks and were induced at 7:30 in the morning on November 22. My family was getting ready to celebrate Thanksgiving but I was having a baby so my mind wasn't homesick on that particular day.

After having contractions all day I got into the tub about 8 pm. When I got out at 9 pm, it hit me like a truck.

OUCHIE MAMMA.

I was having such bad contractions that I knew when the time came I would not have enough energy to push this baby out. I had been using the nitrous oxide but it made me dizzy and sick and I kept thinking my voice got really low and it made me laugh. I proposed to a tootsie roll pop at one point. it was madness. Finally around 4 am I requested an epidural.

Around 5 a.m. the guy came and after answering inappropriate questions about how many butts he saw in a day (yes...i asked him) he gave me the epidural. It was great. They broke my water and found out that Brennan had already passed meconium. That can cause distress but he gave us no reason for concern at that point.

Around 11 a.m. I started to feel twinges of pain on my left side and by 12 the epidural had completely worn off on my left side. I was again using nitrous oxide but it almost seemed to intensify the pain.

Midwives here have to take breaks every twelve hours by law so my midwife had gone home to sleep after being at the hospital through the morning. We were aided by a younger midwife named Avon who would take over my care until Karen (my midwife) returned. Avon was lovely and very competent and made me feel like I was in good hands.

She called for the anesthetist to come and 'top up' my epidural. This happened 4 times throughout the day giving an end result of 5 epidurals. None of them touched the pain on my left side but overly numbed my feet and right side. Couldn't move a thing and my legs were hilariously floppy.

After checking my progress at 3 pm they discovered I was at a 9. YAY!!! So close. I was gearing up for this dude epidural or not and I got a huge boost of confidence that we were so close. I knew that I could do it.

I was encouraged to try and sleep but the contractions at this point were preventative of course.

I texted my dad and let him know that I was at 9. They were going to let me go one more hour and hopefully get to a ten and then start pushing an hour after that. I sent the message 'We should start pushing around 5'.

30 minutes later, I heard something funny on the monitor. Avon looked up and said 'hmm.' with a concerned face I wasn't fond of. She reached up to push the emergency button and in a flash the room was flooded with doctors trying to get Brennan's heart rate up. It had dropped from 130s to 74 and was continuing to do so with every contraction. They stabilized it and all went back to normal.

That is the first time I met Daisy Chan. She was in school at Otago with Jared if I am not mistaken and was quite the fireball. She was going to tell you what you needed to hear in the way that you needed to hear it. They weren't too concerned about him until it happened again. Again the doctors come flooding into the room trying to get his heart rate back up.

They mentioned that if it continued to happen, an emergency c section may be a possibility. They wanted to get me prepped just in case so they started that process. They had to remove my red toe polish that I had made Jared paint before we came. They were in such a rush to do it that my toes ended up covered in a red film and looked insanely terrible. I promise though that I wasn't concerned about that at the moment.

We were continuing to progress and so they felt that everything would continue as normal. During one particularly painful contraction, I turned on my side and I heard something from the monitor that scared me to death...i heard nothing.

For over 33 hours I had heard a little heartbeat coming over the monitor and now it was completely gone. Again the doctors rush in. They attached an internal monitor to his scalp to make sure that his heart was in fact beating but there was no doubt about it, he was in distress. Dr. Daisy wanted to make sure and performed a distress test on blood taken from his scalp. When she showed the results to her superior, he said to get the baby out now.

It was at this point that I got emotional. I thought they were going to do the c section with the epidural that wasn't working and terrified doesn't quite explain what I was.

After it was explained to me that I would receive something stronger and that Jared would be able to come in...I was ready.

They wheeled me down the hallway. So many people were running with me I felt like a celeb. I answered a few questions and Jared went off to get suited up.

They asked me to move myself onto the gurney so that I could get the spinal block for the c section. I kind of laughed because I hadn't been able to move my legs for hours. The team then lifted me onto the other table (insert thoughts of beached whale being moved back to the sea here) and sat me up. They told me to swing my legs to the side of the table to which I chuckled and gave them time to remember that I had 5 doses of epidural drugs that all sunk to my legs. They swung them around for me a sat me up. One of the nurses turned away and I started to fall forward off the table. So from that point I had a team of three holding me in position.

First they took out my epidural line, (which had already been moved 5 times and I would definitely feel those later) and then they attempted two spinal blocks. The first would not go in and after they placed the second and laid me back down, Dr. Chan scratched my stomach and asked me if i could feel it. I could.

Next thing I know there is a mask being placed over my face.

General Anesthesia c section which means that Jared wasn't allowed in and neither of us saw our son be born.

Instead of pushing at five...we had a baby by five.

Three hours later I woke up in the recovery room. After asking the nurses if my baby was okay, I asked if I had been given a bonus tummy tuck. No luck.

After a while, I was ready to go to the room. I was wheeled in backwards and saw the look on Jared's face. 'He's beautiful' were the first words he said. 'His head is so symmetrical' were the second words he said.

I held him. I knew he was mine. I thanked God. and I fell asleep.

If you made it through this post, good on ya. Better and more interesting ones to come soon! I'm back!!