Life as of late

So I am not much of a blogger haha! I really just can’t keep up. However, I feel like I should do a quick blog about what’s been going on over the last few months.

First of all, I can’t believe I am a mom. I still feel like I am the kid. Yet, I love it. I think being a mom is the best thing ever! It is so fun to watch Landon grow and change. He is the best. Each day I am amazed at what a sweet happy baby I have. He has one of the sweetest personalities. He is such a calm easy-going baby. I also can’t believe I have been married for 3 years. It seems to me that Eric and I just got married yesterday. I was truly blessed with the life I have. I have a husband I love more than anything in the world and the most handsome baby boy I could ever imagine. Life is just so sweet.

I can’t believe how fast time has gone by since I had Landon. It is crazy to see first-hand just how quickly babies grow and learn. Landon is already getting so big. It has been so neat to see all the new things he has learned from that first smile to the first time he rolled over and now sitting up on his own, well sometimes haha. I just can’t believe how quickly babies change. We also got a puppy a couple months ago. I love her. It has been quite the adventure having a baby and a puppy. It’s probably not something I would try again haha, but it has been fun to have the busy hectic life I chose.

So our life has changed not only by having a baby and a new puppy but also in many other ways. I graduated with my bachelor’s degree and Eric only has a ½ credit left before he graduates as well. This means that it is time to get grown up jobs. I am not looking forward to it. However, it is great to finally be able to leave Rexburg behind for a new start. However, for now we are just glad to be back home!

Meeting Baby Landon

Alright, here goes nothing! So the last few weeks of pregnancy were pretty long and slow. I wanted nothing more than to have my sweet little boy out of my body! I was getting huge and tired.

I was having contractions all day long but never regular enough to be in real labor. It was so frustrating. At my 39 week appointment I asked my doctor if I could schedule an induction for my due date. I know I should have been patient but I just didn’t want to wait longer. My doctor was all for an induction I was already 2cm dilated and 80% effaced at this point. He helped me make the appointment and sent me away thinking the baby would probably come a bit earlier than the due date. However, each day went by and I still didn’t go into labor. Finally, Thursday came.

I spent the night stressing and trying to sleep with no real success. I would meet my baby the next day! Eric and I both decided that this feeling is a lot like Christmas when you are a child except way more exciting and a little bit scary. In the morning I called to find out if they had room for me at the hospital. This was super stressful. I was so scared that I got my hopes up for no reason…but they said to come on in at 6:30am! I was so excited. Eric and I got ready and drove in to the hospital.

When we got there and they hooked me up to the machines I was already having contractions every 2-3 minutes. They just weren’t strong enough to bring on full on labor yet. The nurse got the pitocin started to amp up the contractions. Within about 30min the doctor came in to break my water to really speed up the process. This doctor was not my doctor. I had never actually met this one. However, I just wanted the baby out who cares who got the job done haha. It definitely helped that he was super nice though.

The next little bit Eric attempted to do some homework while I watched TV. 

As I watched I was trying to decide how long I should hold out before asking for an epidural. I know they can slow down labor so I wanted to try to make it to the active stage of labor before I requested it. But dang it was starting to hurt. I have no desire to EVER have a baby naturally. If I was in that much pain at 5cm dilated I do not want to experience full dilation EVER NEVER EVER! I gave in and asked at this point this was around 9:30.

The epidural was a little freaky to me. I have watched them be put in place before and its kinda creepy how long the needle is and how deep it goes in. The numbing part was pretty painful. It hurt sorta like the numbing shots they give you when you go to the dentist but it was in my back. Once that was done it was smooth sailing. Within about 15minutes I could not even feel the contractions. It was fabulous! However, the tingly numb leg sensation was a little strange.

The doctor came back in to check on me around noon. At this point I was at a 7 and 100% effaced. He was a bit surprised at how fast I was going for a first time mom which made me happy. At this point I wasn’t really feeling pain so I was starving to death or at least I felt like I was. I am use to eating a ton and I wasn’t allowed anything but ice chips. Oh and of course I was getting ready to see my baby.

At about 2 the doctor came back in to check on me. I was 10cm dilated and 100% effaced. Meaning we were ready to go basically. However, the nurse that was working with us told me about laboring down which is when they just let you sit there and have the contractions for a bit even though you are ready to go. This allows baby to come down further and causes some decrease in the time spent pushing. It adds a little bit to overall labor time usually but it sounded worth it to me.

At 2:45 the nurse came in and instructed me on how to push and said we were going to get started. By the way this nurse and the doctor were both amazing to work with. It makes a big difference to have people that are so sweet and helpful. Anyways, I began pushing at this point. I HATE pushing haha. It took a lot of work and didn’t feel like I was getting anywhere at all. However, within just a short time the nurse was telling me to hold up because I was going faster than they expected for a first time mom and the doctor was not in yet. Faster than expected?!?! His head was almost halfway out! When the dr did come in he was a little shocked at how fast this was going. He told me to not pushing or move or have another contraction. It was pretty funny. He then got ready in a rush. Within just a short time my baby was laying on my chest. I couldn’t believe it. It felt so surreal. It was over finally and there was this perfect little man that was all mine…well partly Eric’s I suppose but mostly mine haha.

I only had to push for like 20 minutes. In total I was in labor for 7.5hours about. This is really quick for a first time mom. Everything ran so smoothly. Landon was as healthy as could be. He weighed 7lbs 9oz and was 20.5 inches long. He is the cutest baby ever! 

 Someone liked the warmer!

 Landon's first bath :)

We feel so blessed to have had everything work out so perfectly and have our sweet baby healthy and with us finally!

Recap of 2013

This last year was an exciting one for us. Not much happened the first few months we were just both in school. Then in April I was able to finish the nursing program and graduate with my associate’s degree.  In May I was able to pass my NCLEX test and become a RN. In June we found out I was pregnant! This was such exciting news for us. In July once Eric finished his semester we were able to go to Wallace for a family reunion with his family. In August we were able to go to Neah Bay with my family. Then for our two year anniversary we were able to go to Hawaii for a week with Kami and Danny. Next the real adventure started. We left for China the 22^nd of August for Eric’s internship. We spent 4 months teaching English there. Finally we returned home just in time to celebrate the holidays with our families. It has been an eventful one for sure! This next year Eric and I should finish our bachelor’s degrees maybe get a job if we are lucky, and for sure become parents! We feel so blessed that we were able to experience so much over the last year and we are looking forward to many more adventures in 2014!

Christmas

This Christmas was extra special to me. Mostly because we were not supposed to be home for it and we were able to make it back in time. We got to spend two weeks hanging out with family and it was just sooo fun. It was awesome to see everyone. We spent Christmas Eve and Christmas house jumping so that we could visit everyone. It was so special to be able to be back with family after so many crazy adventures away from home.

We got way too much for Christmas we really are spoiled, but just being there home and safe was all we really wanted this year!

Our carefree holiday had to end unfortunately.  We ended it with Eric filling out job applications, an amazing baby shower thrown by my awesome sister in laws,

Ending it all with a long trip back to Rexburg just in time to start our semester at BYUI.

Leaving China!

The day has finally come! After months of living in China the count down till we get to America is finally over. December 20^th was the day of Eric’s final exam for his classes. We planned to grade his exams that night and then give them to a teacher in the morning. We thought it would take us about two hours to grade his tests if we worked together. He got home around 10 pm from the school and we got started. We didn’t finish until about 4 am. Boy did we underestimate how long it would take to grade. We were so exhausted. We both gained a new respect for all of our teachers and all that they do. After that we went to bed but needed to get up pretty early to finish cleaning and packing so that we could leave.

At around 12 we headed to the railway station in Nanjing and left our home of about 4 months. It felt strange to leave and now we would never come back, but I was soooo excited.  We took the train the Shanghai. 

When we arrived we spent a couple hours traveling, eating, and doing some last minute shopping. We had gotten a hotel close to the airport so that in the morning we could relax and sleep in a little before catching our flight home. However, we expected to be able to take a taxi from the subway to the hotel. When we left the subway stations there were not any taxis. Well not any legitimate ones anyways. There were some creepy men with vans that begged us to get in their vans… I refused.

So we decided to walk to our hotel. But by this point it was around 9 at night and getting pretty cold. The walk was about 1.5 miles and I was not thrilled. Plus we had all of our luggage with us. In other words it wasn’t a fun walk. First we walked down this main road that didn’t have any sidewalks or street lights so I was beginning to get scared. Then we found a sidewalk and walked down that for a bit. Then there was a smaller street we walked down with very little lighting and some creepy buildings all around us. Some men tried to talk to us which I found even creepier. Then another unmarked taxi car drove by and tried to get us to get in his car with him. He wouldn’t give up and drove beside us for quite awhile. I was seriously freaked at this point and told Eric so. He suggested we pray silently for help to find it soon and while I was praying I saw a hotel sign. Thankfully it was ours. Apparently we just needed to calm down for a second and ask for help. I was so glad we finally found it. When we got in we were exhausted so we just went straight to bed.

We slept in in the morning because our plane didn’t leave till 2pm. We got a free shuttle from our hotel to the airport at 11. Then we went to get our tickets. I felt we had had plenty of adventures already with our trip home, but apparently not. When we went to check in they had a ticket for Eric, but not me! We kinda freaked out for the next ten minutes. Then we calmed down enough to find a phone and call Spencer the guy with China Horizons who we primarily communicated with. He told us to double check with the airport and he would see what he could do.

It dawned on me that maybe the travel agent had just forgotten to change my ticket from the 31^st of December to the 22^nd so I told Eric to check if that is what happened. Sure enough I was scheduled to leave the 31^st. Luckily, there was room on the plane and they were easily able to change my ticket.

From Shanghai we flew to Seoul, Korea. When we landed we of course had to go through security. The line was sooo long. We were waiting in line for quite awhile and we realized there just was no way that we were going to be able to catch our connecting flight before takeoff. Our plane had already been boarding for about ten minutes when Eric started looking for a way to skip the line. Lucky us there was a sign that said the elderly and pregnant can have priority. So Eric drug me to the front of the line and pointed at my belly. The lady looked at me then at our boarding passes and let us jump ahead in line. Thank goodness! Unfortunately we were on the wrong side of the airport we had to jog like half a mile just to get to our boarding gate. We barely made it.

Finally we had a few hours to rest. Our plane ride from Seoul to Seattle was 9.5 hours. We watched like four movies. We were excited to finally really be leaving. When we got to Seattle we had to rush to make it to our last flight from there to Walla Walla, but everything ran smoothly so we made it with a few extra minutes to spare. The last plane ride was sooo short. We were so excited to make it home finally.

When we got in we felt such relief at making it. It felt amazing to be home where we belonged.

Everyday Life

Now that we are almost done with our visit here in China we are in a rhythm with how things go. We understand our schedules and know what to expect from teaching and everything else. It’s amazing that you can get use to something that is so different from your regular life in such a short amount of time. We are both getting antsy and are ready to get home.  Well I have been antsy and ready to get home for about 4 months haha but now it seems more realistic I am extra antsy. I have been counting down days for about 2 months and now the number of days left finally seems to be decreasing.

As the time for being home comes closer and closer we are starting to dream up all the things we will eat when we get there which seems a little silly but when you have been eating the same meals repeatedly for 4 months you are excited for a change. And when you add a pregnancy on top of it you find that food becomes a major focus in life.

Speaking of… my pregnancy is going well. I can’t believe that I am now in my third trimester. Time is such a tricky thing. It goes by slow yet fast at the same time. It seems like we have been in China forever yet it doesn’t feel like it is time for us to be nearing the end of this pregnancy. Our little man is a big mover which I appreciate because I haven’t been to the doctor to see how things are going, but I can tell he is healthy by all the movement as well as the steady growth of my stomach haha.

28 Weeks!!!

So with pregnancy I knew to expect many uncomfortable symptoms. I mean, I have read the lists on what to expect. But the thing is reading about it and experiencing it is so different. Also, they say you could have heartburn, nausea, cramping, fatigue, back pain, and so on, but nothing ever says you will experience it all, constantly  throughout the entire pregnancy. I expected a few of the symptoms here and there but I’ve decided I have been experiencing more than my fair share. It is so unexpected too. One minute she is sitting on the couch watching a movie with a smile on her face, the next she is in the bathroom releasing her cookies. But at least the time is passing and soon enough we will have a cute little one that will make it all worth it. March 6^th couldn’t come soon enough J

Shanghai and Thanksgiving

Over the last few weeks Eric and I haven’t been doing too much. We did take a trip to Shanghai, but it was not just for fun.

Here's a couple pics in Shanghai, this is basically all we saw while we were there that was worth taking pictures of.

We went so that we could get our souvenirs and Christmas shopping done. It was a lot of shopping over a two day period. That’s all we really had time for while we were in Shanghai.

The thing about shopping here is that it takes a lot more time. You have to first do all the normal stuff like decide what to buy which of course takes time. Here it takes a little extra time because you can’t seem too interested in anything or they will attack and begin trying to convince you that you need to buy everything in their shop. After you have decided that you do in fact want something you have to decide what price you are willing to pay for it. After this you can approach the person selling the items and start haggling prices. Typically here in China they start way higher than the item is worth and drag out the process of haggling forever. The only way to cut the time you spend down a little is to walk away. At this point they will start to give you a better deal.

Overall I think we did really well. I don’t think we were really ripped off that much. Eric is pretty tough on them. This is because I’ m a cheapskate… I basically told him what I wanted and let him take over from there. Haggling isn’t one of my favorite things to do.  But it was worth it because we didn’t spend way too much and were able to get a lot of neat stuff.

The week after we went shopping Eric and I both got some pretty nasty colds. I got it first and was able to take off one day of work to get better, but that wasn’t enough so Eric decided he could teach my classes for me the next day. Unfortunately that led to a very long day for Eric and it just so happened that the cold decided to attack him too.  So he had a pretty miserable day teaching three classes while fighting off cold symptoms and a fever. One thing that makes this particularly tough is that on campus there is no heat. They do not even have heaters in any of the classrooms and the one in the teachers’ lounge is broken. So Eric was freezing to death all day. I would have made a horrible pioneer.

I felt so bad when he came home because he had taken my classes for me and I was getting better and he was way worse off than me. Luckily this was on Thursday which is our Friday so we got a weekend to get better after this.

That week was also Thanksgiving so we were a little miserable and didn’t eat yummy food the day of. But our branch here in Nanjing had a big Thanksgiving dinner on Saturday. We got better in time to go and enjoy some food. This was way exciting because they actually cooked American style foods. We had turkey, mashed potatoes and gravy, and stuffing. We even had pumpkin cake and pies for dessert. We thoroughly enjoyed all of it because it had been so long since we have had such yummy food. 

After Thanksgiving we really haven’t done much at all. But we did have some exciting news. So the plan was to come home on December 31^st. We had reconciled ourselves to this. Me less so than Eric haha. The problem was they expected us to work on Christmas day. We weren’t too pleased about this so we asked if there was any way we could either get Christmas off or at least combine classes so that we only had to teach in the morning for two hours. They thought it through for a few days and then said that I could give my final the week before Christmas and be done teaching before Christmas. But Eric would need to give his exam the week of Christmas. However, they would be able to have a supervisor sit in with his students on Christmas day so that he did not have to come in on Christmas or the Monday and Tuesday before Christmas. We were happy about this of course but when you give a mouse a cookie….  We started to put together an idea. If he didn’t need to be in class those days why would we even need to be in China??? So we asked if there would be anyway for us to go home but they at first said no. Eric would need to come in after Christmas to pick up his exams and grade them.  We were pretty disappointed but at least we had Christmas off.

However, they were figuring out the schedule and decided that Eric’s class could take their finals the Friday before Christmas. With this change Eric could grade the exams and give them back by Saturday the 21^st and we could head home the next day. We were so excited. We immediately called China Horizons and asked if they could change our plane tickets for us for the 22^nd of December instead. They got back to us after an excruciatingly long two days later and let us know that they were able to find us seats coming home on December 22! We were really excited. Now we will be able to come home for Christmas and spend about two weeks at home with our families before we have to go back to Rexburg.

This may not seem like a huge deal but to me it was. I did not want to spend Christmas here in China and was so excited to find out I wouldn’t have to!