The Halloween Gauntlet

5 Halloween parties in less than 36 hours = lot's of fun... and one exhausted Erin. Our Friday started early getting Kohen and Kenna off to school. While Nathan took them I frantically got ready (which means my teeth were brushed and I got concealer under my eyes) fed the baby and got Princess Aly ready for her Halloween party at school. As soon as Nathan got back we were off.
Aly's preschool put on quite the bash with projects, carnival games, a LAME-O "clown", trick-or-treating and prizes. Aly won for best costume in her class, I didn't even know there was a competition...

The picture is Aly with her little friend Lizzy. The girls are quite a bit alike, their birthdays are just a couple of days apart. When they are playing together I regularly can't tell whose voice is whose which is saying something since a Mom knows the sound of her child's voice...usually.
Next we race over to TAS and into Kohen's Halloween festivities. Again lot's of projects and games. I got Kohen's costume on clearance last year. He doesn't know what a Power Ranger is so he was a self proclaimed "Super Hero" and went around kicking the air, tumbling on the floor and whacking unsuspecting passerby's all day. Pretty much his best day ever.
It was almost time to go help Kennedy get her costume on when I realized... I forgot her costume at home in our haste to leave. Crud. I grab the car keys and Aly and leave the babe with Nathan and Kohen and race out to the car and speed home. It wasn't until I pulled up to our house that I realized I had neglected to bring the keys to open the gate to our home. There is no penetrating the fortress without the keys (#@!!*%). I raced back to the school, parked illegally, threw Aly on my hip and ran clear back inside. Got the keys (#@!!*%) and headed home a second time.

Oh yeah, and somewhere in there I take Aly to the bathroom and her shoe ended up in the toilet. Yeah, we both went to flush with our foot and I knocked her little heel off and right into the pot. Perfect. Anyway, I made it to Kennedy's class with a few minutes to spare. She was excited we were there so she could show us her face painting. After her parade we all raced (I keep using the same verb not to annoy but because it's literally what we did all day) home to get ready for a party for adults at our house.
The next several hours were spent neglecting our sugar-high children as we tried to finish the house, food and costumes (I was Facebook and Nathan was one of Taiwans dummy flaggers, one of my favorite things here). I was co-hosting with two other gals and the party turned out awesome. I haven't laughed so hard in a while which was a nice change.
Check out Kenna's hair for the Sat. Ward party. I don't think anyone noticed cuz she wore that tiara but I was really proud of it at any rate.
A picture of my trio of trouble on Saturday. As you can see Aly switched costumes to be a Witch this party. The girl likes to keep it fresh.
Here's a picture of the fam before the kids scattered like cockroaches when the lights turn on. There were so many games to play and treats to try, it was quite the production. You can't really tell in this picture but Ander was Nathan and I's dwarf. He switched all night from being 'Sleepy', to 'Grumpy', to 'Hungry' (the elusive 8th dwarf) and then 'Happy' again. When Kennedy found out I was going to be Snow White the first thing she asked me: "Are you going to wear a wig?" Hmph. The hair's the one thing I got!!

Anyway, there was even a trunk-or-treat at the end and after that we went up the mountain to a neighborhood that has quite a few ex-pats and where some real trick-or-treating goes on. It's only a street or two but it was just enough to let the kids feel like they got an authentic Halloween experience.

Think how exhausted you are from just reading this post... it was insane but really fun.

Trick or Treat Smell My Feet

First of all, many of you were worried when you saw Yoshi's comment that random people were stalking my blog. As much as I like to believe the whole world is interested in my daily dronings, darn it, it just isn't so. Yoshi is an old friend of Nathan's from when Nathan worked for his Uncle and they had a Taiwan Business Partner. Yoshi has secured a spot on my list of favorite people for sharing the place where a can of DP might be found in Taiwan. And thanks to those who were just looking out for us, cyberspace can be scary and don't hesitate to mention to me if you think something creepy is going on. It's good to know you've got our back.

Speaking of creepy, it's Halloween time!!! You don't even know how excited my kiddies were to get a little package in the mail full of goodies from Pixie and Papa John. Halloween isn't a holiday really celebrated in Taiwan, though I guess it's gained more popularity over the years from the Westerners influence and their schools celebrating it. I have noticed several stores sportin' a Halloween decoration or two which is fun to see. Those occasional decorations are literally the only sign that fall is here.
The socks especially have been a hit- Kohen even insisted on sleeping with his under his pillow that first night. The children love playing with the fake spiders and bats though Nathan and I recently swiped a couple of the spiders. You see, a ginormous spider dropped from the ceiling with a literal 'thud' the other day and after that traumatic event (traumatic for Nathan, I didn't see it and therefore am taking an extended leave in Denial) I left one of the fake spiders on his computer for him to find -hopefully with a high pitched girlish scream- and thus started the back and forth game of trying to scare each other with fake spiders. I'd say it's a bit like Russian Roulette though because it's only a matter of time before what I think is a fake spider turns out to be a real one...
Last but not least, at 5 weeks Ander is working on holding his head up, smiling and cooing. I strongly discourage all of it and plead with him to stay a newborn just a little while longer. The other night Nathan had the 3 older children laughing because he figured out a way to make Ander break into these big ol grins. What the babe costs in diapers he makes up for in sheer entertainment.

So, according to my standards Ander is huge. Yesterday I had to squeeze him into a 0-3 month Onesie. I'm thinking I'll put one on him for Halloween and he can go as a sausage.

International Food Fair

On Saturday we headed out to the Annual International Food Fair that is held at TAS (Taipei American School). It was raining off and on- mostly on- and the Fair is both inside and outside so we checked things inside first. We tried some sort of Australian dessert that was sponge cake rolled in chocolate syrup and then in coconut. I was doubtful but upon tasting it, convinced. It was really yummy. There were a bunch of countries represented and so it was fun to just browse.
We headed outside on our hunt for food and it was raining pretty good, but we had dressed the kids in raincoats and boots. Funny thing about rain coats, you have to actually wear them for them to work. Just fyi. But we were getting dripped on even under the tents where we ate so it wasn't too much of a stretch for Aly and Kohen to get soaked. At least it was a warm rain and they had fun.
I don't feel like the pictures are going to do Aly and Kohen justice for how soaked they were but Aly was wet through and through, dripping actually. In true Kennedy fashion she managed to only got her jeans a little bit wet when splashing.

In case your wondering the kids chose hot dogs and pizza for their lunch. The hot dogs were real beef which is a treat over here. Nathan had Korean beef and I had Taiwan noodles, very simple and good- as well as some sort of french sandwich in a baguette. I had dreams of finding a Dr. Pepper but no such luck.
They had all sorts of carnivals games set up, we let the children do this fishing one before we left. I think they would have sat their all day catching creatures. I do wish it wouldn't have been raining so much because I feel like there was a lot that we didn't get to see or do but then again there would have been twice as many people which is hard to imagine. No worries cuz there's always next year.

Kennedy's 7th Birthday

Kennedy's 7th Birthday was a great one. She had really been looking forward to showing off her baby brother to her class when we brought in cupcakes for her birthday, that was an easy request to fill. Check!

And yes, I find it ironic that Kennedy is one of the only Western kids in her class and she attends an "American" school. But thats a rant for another day...
Kenna's swimming section for P.E. started on her birthday as well and so her school day pretty much couldn't have been better. She was extremely excited to swim at school.
The one thing Kenna really wanted to do was to go back to Yu Kids Island and so after school that is where we headed. Nathan and I watched the kids play and totally wear themselves out for about an hour. With Nathan's help Aly figured out how to ride the coconuts rather than get pummeled by them. I might have been bitter he ended such a great source of entertainment.
I was making Kennedy's pinata and Nathan, trying to help, set the still damp balloon covered in paper mache' outside to speed the drying process. It wasn't a particularly hot day but apparently hot enough because the balloon inside expanded and literally exploded the whole thing. Thus the scramble started to come up with another pinata. I ended up wrapping a box like a present for the pinata and put it with the rest of her presents. She was surprised because she had seen the mangled pinata and had been bummed out and didn't suspect the camouflaged present pinata.
I could say the obvious, "feels like only yesterday" and "I can't believe she's already 7" but if you are a parent you already know how you feel each year on your child's birthday. Your heart is full and simultaneously heavy. Mostly full though.

Kennedy has many qualities that I admire, not the least of which is her ability to bounce awake at dawn's early light, casting off the remnants of sleep in the blink of her wide awake eyes. Maybe it's my lack of bounce in the morning these days that makes me think of this one.

She is also very thoughtful. A quick example: a girl in her class has a severe peanut allergy (Asia would be a scary place to have one I have to say) and so this little girl can't eat treats brought in so Kennedy wrote her a note and gave her a sheet of stickers instead.

She is a great big sister, always willing to read stories to her siblings- and a daughter that a mom and dad couldn't be more proud to have. Happy 7th Birthday Kennedy Jolee!

Workin On some "Blue Steel" Of Our Own

Children's Modeling is big business in Asia. They especially love the Westerners. We had some previous knowledge about this biz from some of Nathan's cousins who modeled overseas when they were little and their experience had been quite positive. I thought we'd eventually look into it when we moved here but I was in no hurry. The second week we were in Taiwan a friend from Church here forwarded an email from an agent desperately looking for a certain height of child for a photo shoot. Long story short that's how we kind of fell into trying out catalog modeling in Taiwan.

I took Aly to the shoot which was really kind of cool, it was a legit photo shoot (meaning the set was set up like what I'd seen that one time I watched ANTM) and they would show me pictures on the computer after they took them and they did a good job getting shots out of a 3 year old.

I am not sure how much of this Aly will do at her age. She really loved it but I don't know if she consistently would so we will play it by ear. Kennedy on the other hand is the perfect age. She was beyond excited when she got her first job, could hardly sleep the night before. We won't get her catalog until spring but Nathan was able to take some pics without the flash for me.

First you go to hair and make-up. I don't know if you can tell but Kenna is so excited ^she is biting her cheeks to keep from smiling.
Nathan said they were almost done with her hair before the message came through that they would be wearing wigs. The photo shoot was for a Betty Boop line and so these wigs are supposed to look like Betty Boop? Okay, maybe Betty Boop after a wild night of partying...

(Rachel, do I even need to say what these wigs remind us of? Hit the deck!)
This line was super heavy on the accessories which was fun for Kennedy, and I personally thought the shoes were all really cute.
Kennedy loved spending the day with Nathan and getting her hair and make-up done like a princess just to take pictures. They told Nathan she did awesome (parent-pride-o-meter shoots off charts) and would tell her to just keep doing what she was doing as they had to help the other little girls with poses and stuff. I am sure it's all the pics she's been forced to take for her blog obsessed mom that has improved her posing abilities. Not that every pic on my blog isn't 100% candid *blush*.

She and this little girl had a great time together, Nathan taught them how to play Paper, Scissors, Rock and they would play this during any down time.
When they got home it was clear Kenna had taken up permanent residence on cloud 9. It was only a little while later that we got a call asking if she could come back in, apparently one of the little girls didn't fit all of her outfits and now they were frantically trying to get the shoot done. So Nathan and Kenna hopped back in the car and went back to do a bit more. Nathan said it was just Kenna and they were throwing outfits on and off of her as fast as they could. They were really grateful that Kenna came back. Our friend whose kids have done tons of this (many ex-pats have at least tried it) said she'd never heard of someone getting called to come back in so I guess they really must've been in a pinch.
The big hub for modeling is Japan, you get paid a lot more there to do this. But Kennedy made nearly $200 U.S. for the shoot which will largely go into her college fund. I think I'd be fine with Kennedy doing a shoot every once in a while as long as she finds it as fun as she did this time.

As far as Aly goes, we just got her catalog- it is so professional. This Monnalisa line is a really high end Italian brand, the clothes were very cute and well made. The catalog is really nice, the pages are made of thick card stock. We couldn't scan them without ruining the binding so we took pictures of the pictures, but still, you get the idea.

Therapy

What? like we didn't all know my children would end up in therapy. Granted, 3 is a little younger than I had anticipated but Aly had her first Speech Therapy session last night and it went really well. Except for the part when the therapist told me that not only does Aly need to slow down when she speaks, but it would really help her if her parents slowed down too. Apparentlyshethinkswetalkreallyfastandneedtoslowdown. Idon'tseewhatshe'stalkingabout. Her issues aren't that bad but Aly's been asking us lately to help her to pronounce things properly so we figured it was a good time to get a little professional help. Hopefully she will improve quickly.

Secondly, I think Aly's face looks good with bangs. However her bangs never lay nicely because she has some wild cowlicks up front and that coupled with her curl doesn't bode well for obedient bangs. So for now we are going to try growing them out. I think I am starting to get used to it...we'll see. Thoughts???

As I mentioned before Ander thinks he is a thumb sucker. Luckily he struggles with coordination and often can't get his thumb in his mouth. He settles for his wrist or his fist no problem. In fact I just realized the little bruise I saw on his wrist for the second time and had been racking my brain trying to figure out when he might have been hurt- well it's actually a bruise from him sucking on his own arm. Anyway, I had been taking advantage of his weak and uncoordinated newborn muscles and when I see him trying to get his thumb in his mouth I shove his pacifier in there and smugly congratulate myself on the save. But now as you can see his skills are suddenly improving and I have discovered him with his thumb plugged in his mouth after having settled himself down several times now. It might be my imagination but I swear he is wearing that same smug look I had been before. Touche'.
I apologize in advance to post about children's artwork that perhaps only a parent could love, but Kohen's is just so consistently entertaining. I had to add this Jack-o-lantern he made at school. It makes me really happy, I think it's the teeth. Anyway, it's important to note that this wasn't a class project but something he came up with during his free time. Love it.
Kennedy had the quote of the week this week when we were putting up some Halloween decorations. I pulled out this small skeleton and Kennedy says excitedly, "Oh look at this little skeleton! It must be an Elf skeleton."

Poor Mr.Peeps

Belly Button Birthday

I'm always so glad when the ugly, stinky cord finally comes off and you can actually bathe your baby. Can I get an Amen! ??? I mean really, when they have a blowout sometimes a pansy little sponge bath just doesn't do the trick. This is Ander's first official bath and as you can see he was pretty chill about it, didn't cry until the very end when he was probably getting a little cold. And can we all look at my big, chubby, double chinned little boy and be proud of me please*?!

(*Author understands that in no way could her baby really be considered 'chubby' but as far as her babies go, this is pretty impressive.)

The other night we went to dinner at the best place Carrie showed me on our scooter tour around TianMu. It is called Sababa and it is all open air and this was such a beautiful, warm evening (my sweater is trying to make a liar out of me but I actually only have a few shirts that fit the chest 'er-eea' so I make do) and there was a nice cool breeze blowing through the restaurant, it was so fun. If you come to visit we will have to go here for sure, the ambiance alone is worth it. It's Mideastern Food, freshly made pitas that are to die for- and I'm not even a pita fan generally. They have other dishes too but so far we're lovin the pitas. And as ^ this picture just did to me, I am still having those Holy Smokes moments where I realize I am actually a mother of 4. Umm, who authorized this?

Getting Out A Bit

On Wednesday I over did it a bit but at least I enjoyed myself in the process! I went with two other girls to the Fabric Market and we took public transportation to get there so it took us a while to actually reach our destination. The Fabric Market is inside a big ol dirty building and there are different floors jam packed with row after row after row of hodge podge fabrics. I had a lot of fun looking at all of the different fabrics and the prices were pretty good too. I just got a couple of things for the projects that the kids are making each other for Christmas.

What will probably always stick out in my mind from this trip however, is the little adventure Ander and I took to the restroom when he blew out his diaper. By now I've dealt with many a blowout in Motherhood but this one has to be at the top of the Most Impressive Blowouts list. Seriously. There was literally nothing in the diaper, it was all in the leg of his outfit. In the grungiest bathroom ever there was only a slanting stainless steel slab coming out of the wall for me to change him on. With one hand I tried to clean off the slab with a disinfectant wipe while precariously holding a very soiled child with the other. All of the clean up had to be done with one hand as well since the slab was slanted and I couldn't let go of Ander. The whole scene was so absurd it was kind of amusing. Kind of. Anyway, I think I've learned you can never be too prepared here, BYOE (Bring Your Own Everything) seems to apply most places we go.

Our trip was cut short because I had to get to Mutual and by the end of the night I was absolutely exhausted and knew I had probably attempted too much. It is stressful going places and coordinating feedings etc. with a new babe, I had kind of forgotten all of that.

Yesterday I got my first ride on a scooter with Carrie- try not to panic Mom and Dad. She is the Bishop's wife and she is the coolest. Mother of 6 and Taiwan resident for 15 years- she knows her stuff. She reminds Nathan and I of a mix between Rosie and Tara which is fun. She took me on a 'drive about' to show me around TianMu and show me the Import stores, Dr.'s offices, good places to eat, where to get your hair cut, etc. We had an awesome time- plus I now understand why everyone drives scooters here. It's not even funny how convenient they are. Parking is a nightmare anywhere you go... that is unless you've got a scooter- then you can literally park anywhere, sidewalk, street, pretty much wherever. You get to go to the front of the line at red lights which is nice and the streets are so incredibly narrow for cars but we zipped in and out of them with no problem. It was glorious and I'm thinking I need one just to run errands. Don't start worrying yet though, riding with an experienced scooter driver and driving myself are two very different things. It was a really fun 3 hours and I feel like I know TianMu so much better now.

And finally we have this little guy. Overall he has been a great eater/sleeper and we've only had a few mornings where I've woken up feeling like a zombie. Something unique to Ander is his burps. I know, weird but seriously he has man burps. It is so strange to hear such a loud thing coming out of such a little guy. His siblings think it's fantastic and laugh their heads off when they hear him- right before they commence badgering me for who gets to hold him first. Between the children, Nathan and I it's a wonder he ever gets to lay down without being held. He doesn't seem to mind though.

We are looking forward to General Conference this weekend, they do it a week later because of the time difference. To watch it live we would have watched late Sunday night and Monday morning so they shift it to the following weekend and all of Taiwan will watch it together. Should be nice.

Rejecting Tradition

When it comes to post-partum there are a lot of Chinese traditions that go on. One is no cold anything- only warm water or tea to drink, warm food and clothes etc. It is traditional for the women to have one month of rest and usually their moms come to help take care of other responsibilities. They are not to wash their hair for 1 month, and they have special soups every day for 30 days as well. They are very serious about all of these things. Consequently I have been told all about them by many an Asian for instance when I was talking to a worker who came by, I was freshly showered though still sporting damp hair and bare feet, busted!

There is a really nice Taiwan guy who oversaw the workers who moved us in and then referred us to the carpenter who made us a bed (we brought our mattresses and figured we'd buy a frame here, however there are none that will fit our mattresses. They generally don't use box springs here, just a mattress so we were kind of stuck till this carpenter came along and whipped out a nice bed frame for us, turned out great).

Anyway, the nice guy came with when the carpenter delivered the bed and when he saw that Ander had been born he whipped out a traditional Red Envelope and insisted on giving our little babe his first hong bao- a sign of congratulations and good luck with the color red being to ward off evil spirits. He gave him 600 NT (about $20) but the 6 is important as they consider it a very lucky number. He insisted on giving it to Ander himself which was cute. (notice the Red Envelope in the pic above)

You may notice the pink seat Ander is in. Our dear friends gave it to us (they have two girls, hence the color) and though I planned on putting a blanket over the pink, after the way he rocked all that pink in the hospital I figured it wouldn't hurt for him to do it at home. He's always pretty content in the seat so I figure the pink ain't botherin him.
Now this second picture I feel super grossed out and equally guilty about. Our original realtor who we love and have become friends with here spent time and money to prepare some traditional soup for me. Blessedly she didn't make the other kind which has pig kidney in it, she figured that might be too much for my sensitive-to-all-things-Chinese palate. She figured right. However, this soup which is made with no water but some sort of alcohol as it's base (she says the alcohol cooks out, but I'm thinking, no wonder these Asian babies are so nice and sleepy their first month!) and then aged ginger, and boney chicken giblets and a few other things I couldn't understand. It was SO kind of her to make this for me, it is to help the mothers body heal and help with your milk supply (but so does water, I can't help but think) and it was just plain thoughtful. In spite of her generosity I could not bring myself to even try it. I know! I'm terrible right? I just couldn't do it! It smelled so strong and gross... I feel seriously guilty but I just couldn't do it. I'm not Chinese so they can't make me...right?

ZZZZZZZZZZZ...

You know what's not fair? That a week of pregnancy is not equal to a week in the life of a newborn. The former goes excruciatingly slow and the latter insanely fast. It is a sad reality. I've been doing my best to appreciate every moment with this sweet little guy, it's too hard to get them here to not ignore everything else for a little while and just snug. It's not been too hard as Ander has been sleeping like a champ as you can see.


Nathan found this big killer whale on clearance at a store called Carrefour (think Walmart meets a gas station or the dollar store). The kids have been loving it and I thought it was great too until the next morning when something big outside caught my eye and scared the crud outta me before I realized it was just Shamu floating harmlessly in the pool. The things I waste adrenaline on...
The children have been in the middle of the action since the moment we brought Ander home. No lie, when I nursed him the first time Kennedy's nose was about 4 inches away. First diaper change had all of the kids involved because it happened to be quite noisy and they all needed to see what was going on. They 'call' who gets to hold him first like my siblings and I used to call 'shot gun' so I think it's fair to say Ander has been welcomed into our home with open arms. Grateful doesn't begin to cover how I feel about having him here, but it's a good start.

Leading Up To...

Let me just disclaim now that I'm going to tell the whole story in detail, mainly because we are half a world away and there are lot's of grandparents, aunties and friends who would be getting the scoop in person if only that were possible. I am going to include more than I normally ever would both in writing and a pic or two because in this situation it is the easiest way. Every good story must have a disclaimer right?

Saturday night I was feeling pretty down and wondering how I could possibly go to church and face everyones pity filled looks and condolences/advice on how to kick start things. I was determined to go but not looking forward to it. Then at 12:30am Kohen comes up the stairs in the middle of an attack of the Croup. If I hadn't had an inhaler we would have been heading to the hospital as he was turning red and his lips were blue. After the episode and everything settled back down it hit me- someone had to stay home with our sick son, I selflessly volunteered.

Sunday I spent snuggled up with Kohen watching a movie. I thought the pic was cute, proof we are being influenced in Asia where everyone wears masks all of the time when sick. He showed up with his favorite stuffed seal wearing a mask made from his pirate eye patch. Clever boy. Sunday ended as labor-less as every other day.

Monday morning I woke with a start at 6 am to my water breaking. YES!!!!!!!! I was SO happy, proof positive I wasn't going to be pregnant forever! I jumped in the shower, humming to myself and cheery as could be. It wasn't long before I realized that though my water had broken there weren't any contractions suddenly happening... We took our time (6 hours) getting things gathered and kids ready -school was off Monday and Tuesday so we arranged a babysitter and dropped them off on our way to the hospital. That's where the weirdness began.

We arrived at what would be likened to what we call Triage in the states. Through hand gestures and simple English we tried to explain that the Dr. had told us to come in cuz my water had broken. Watching Nathan try to gesture 'water breaking'? priceless. The biggest difference was when they went to do a pelvic exam they whip out the Iodine and use it liberally. I experienced more Iodine on Monday than I have in my entire life, they were very generous with it each time. I was at 3cm, 30% effaced and the baby was a -3 station. Nothing impressive. No surprises.

We were shown to the one and only Labor and Delivery room and they left us alone to change. We both freaked out at first thinking the red on the chest of the gown was blood but thankfully it was just some symbol. Then we were just looking around and busting up in a kind of laugh or cry type of deal, at what a crazy situation we were in. Who woulda thought we'd be in a grimey Asian hospital having a baby?! If you dare you can enlarge the pics. PS.- I was still wearing shorts with the shot of me in the gown so I'm not quite as indecent as I may appear. No excuse for the pasty legs though.
Next the nurses came in ready to give me an IV with fluids, a shave and an enigma. I smiled and pointed to each thing and said "No. No. And No." They had the hardest time figuring out why I only wanted the IV line put in with a lock- I think it truly blew their mind that I wasn't getting an Epidural. They were nice about it all though.

Eventually Nathan went out and asked the nurses if we could go walk now as contractions weren't happening and the Dr. had already told me we could- there was a bit of an uproar from them with the best line being, "No! She's at a 3, the baby might come out!" Nathan insisted they call Dr.E and of course he confirmed it was fine. Then Nathan pushed his luck by joking that we wouldn't go too far, "just to the 101" -the skyscraper about a 20 min. drive away. There were shouts of "NO!" and "That's too far!" before he could explain to them he was joking.
So we went walking and I'd have contractions but I could walk and talk through them and when I stopped walking they nearly stopped as well. At 3pm Anna, the Doula showed up and we went walking laps again and this is when active labor finally started. It was weird though, they were never that consistent of contractions. Some would be extremely strong and I'd have to stop and breathe through, then the next one wouldn't be quite so bad. I was convinced I wasn't getting anywhere. When we stopped for a potty break Anna realized she had forgotten to tell us it is pretty much B.Y.O.E.- Bring Your Own Everything. You get a little TP and that's it. No paper towels for drying hands, no tissue, no disposable underwear etc. So she ran down to the little outdoor market that sells all the stuff that you'd need at the hospital and stocked up.

When she returned I was checked and making progress so we walked some more and by the time we went back to the room it wasn't long at all before I started transitioning and before I knew it there was the usual flurry of nurses (I always wonder, why the flurry? It's not like it's a surprise what we are there to do) and everyone was preparing for Ander's arrival.