Planes, Trains, and Unclogged Drains

Well things just aren't slowing down for us. Two weekends ago we made a trip to Edmonton for Tom and Kaitlin's wedding. Tom is one of Mark's closest mission companions and Mark was asked to be one of his groomsmen. It was an awesome day! The wedding was beautiful and we enjoyed getting to know Tom's family and meeting Kaitlin. They seem like a great couple and we are so excited for them! Being married is so much fun!

Congratulations Kaitlin and Tom! We love you guys!

While we were in Edmonton we stayed the night at Whitney and Christie's, my aunt and uncle. We love them and it was so much fun to spend some time with them. It was a short trip and though we had a lot of fun and we're glad we made it, we were excited to be home and know that another road was not in the near future. Max was pretty awesome with all the traveling we did in the first few weeks of September.

While we were in Edmonton we stopped at Ikea to look for a some shelves. Have I mentioned that our place has no storage?! Because it doesn't. I was excited to find something so that we could actually finish unpacking. This last weekend Mark's family came for a visit so all week we worked on getting our house organized for their visit. I felt like that was a big enough task on it's own but our bishop called me Sunday night and asked me to speak, Max decided that he was going to be grumpy (I think he might have been sick), and our  toilet got plugged. (Or so we thought. After I stayed up one night and tried to plunge it for an hour we finally called our landlord. It ended up that Bruce had to come try to unplug the city drain that was located in our front entry. He was here until 10:30 that night.) We didn't exactly get a lot done that night... or any other day that week. We were still putting things away minutes before the Drews arrived and there are still things that haven't found their place. And I stayed up until one Saturday night trying to finish my talk. 

BUT... this is what we did get done: I went grocery shopping twice, Max and I attended a play date and met some of the woman of Saskatoon and their babies, I made curtains for Max's room and our room, we got some pictures up on the walls and hung up the curtains in the dining room. I did actually finish my talk in time, Mark got called and set apart as the first councilor in the Young Mens presidency and our toilet now flushes like a dream!

At our play date we lined up all the babies (under 1 year old) from youngest to oldest. Max is one of two boys.

Yes we did use a pillow as curtains for the first few weeks.

This is Bruce with his jiggling machine trying to unclog the drain. He put 90ft of coil down there!

Like I mentioned, this last weekend the Drews came for a visit. They got here Friday night and left Sunday after church and we loved having them here! Saturday we got to take them for a walk around our beautiful neighborhood and down by the river. It was a beautiful day!

Mr. Max all bundled up in his stroller.

The South Saskatchewan river.

This is a water park by the river. It shows which rivers make up the South Saskatchewan. When it's actually on they even have it on a slant so that it flows the same way. It's pretty cool.

After Max got to enjoy some snuggles with everyone then we stopped for lunch before Mark took us on a small tour of campus. He was so excited to show everyone the airplane room. It's been given that name by the students because of all the paper airplanes that are stuck in the ceiling. Why are there paper airplanes in the ceiling? The stories say that during World War II many students from the University of Saskatchewan were enlisted into the air-force. Before they left they wrote notes on paper airplanes and threw them into the ceiling in this particular lecture room for good luck. Years later the ceiling needed to be replaced. Within hours of the room being reopened, students were throwing their own airplanes into the ceiling to remember those soldiers. While we were there Colleen just happened to have some scrap paper in her purse that was perfect for making airplanes. After several attempts both Mark and Peter stuck their airplanes in the ceiling. Hopefully it brings us a little good luck.

The Thorvaldson building.

The ceiling of the airplane room.

Mark in the airplane room.

Pointing to their airplanes.

That night we went out to dinner at the Saskatoon Station. We saw it on our way to Costco and thought it looked like a pretty cool place and we were right! Inside it's like a train! And the food was soo good! We definitely want to go back but we'll have to put some money away because it wasn't cheap!

Just outside the restaurant.

We may have been a little under dressed.

These are pictures are pretty bad but it gives you the idea.

The Tiffany lamp they had upstairs.

Thanks for the awesome weekend guys!

Let me fill you in...

Don't worry, I'm still alive. Motherhood hasn't killed me yet.

Things around here have been pretty crazy the past few weeks. Let me fill you in.

Lets go back to the beginning of August. The Annual Moojalsky camping trip! This year we stayed close to home cuz the men had to work and I was a week away from my due date. As usual it was a blast! It was different than most years for me, being in the water and boat less and holding more babies.

Tyler was so brave! That water isn't warm!

These two have so much fun together. It's adorable!

Rye helping Grandma make cake in the dutch oven. It was so good!

Going on a late boat ride with this handsome man:)

Melanie, Alex, Corey and Megan were visiting from Utah so they came out with Grandma and Grandad a couple evenings.

I couldn't stay away from the tube! I went on a couple, more gentle rides.

Grandad and Adobe hanging out in the shade.

Gran and Grandpa were also able to join us one night.

This summer Mark I have been working on Gran and Grandpa's deck so the rest of that week I spent some time trying to finish the deck before the baby came. Well that didn't happen so Mark ended up working on it a lot the week before we left for school while I was packing things. It was a lot of work but I think it looks pretty awesome!

Before

After

Before

After

Before

After

Mark and I worked on the deck for a couple hours Thursday after Mark got off work. Around 1:00am that night I started having light contractions every 5-10 minutes. They didn't really hurt but I was so concerned about timing them that it kept me up most of the night. At 7:00am I woke up to wet sheets and thought my water had broke so Mark and I showered and got ready and headed into Lethbridge. I was having contractions that were a little bit stronger but still not consistent. We got to the hospital, they told me I was 3cm dilated but my water hadn't broke so I should go walk around, go get lunch and then come back. So that's what we did. We came 2 hours later, They hooked me up to all the monitors and checked me, this time I was 4cm dilated. They monitored me for a couple minutes and then unhooked everything but told me to wait because my doctor was there delivering another baby and she might come see me. While I was waiting for Dr. Kahn the contractions got a lot more painful, eventually a nurse came in and said that my doctor had gone back to the clinic but that I should go home because my contractions weren't strong enough or consistent enough. At this point I was in a lot of pain and was so frustrated that we were being sent home again! I asked at what point I was supposed to come back?! She didn't give me an answer. I even mentioned that we were from Cardston and she suggested we go walk around the mall!!! I honestly was ready to hit her. How could she not see that I was in a lot of pain and walking around the mall was a very stupid suggestion?! So we left. We walked out of the hospital, stopping every time I had a contraction, tears running down my face from the pain and frustration. I needed something to help me deal with the pain so Mark drove us to his grandparents place. They weren't home but knew we were in town so they left it open for us and we walked in and went straight to the shower. I was in there for maybe 3 minutes when I felt the urge to push and not really sure what it was I waited until the next contraction and I felt it again. I told Mark. He was like a deer caught in the headlights, not sure what to do so I asked for a blessing which I think calmed us both a little bit. It was then that Mark's Uncle Dave knocks on the bathroom door asking who's in there. Of course being the nice guy that Dave is he offered to help when he found out what was going on. 

Dave: "Can I help? can I help her into the bedroom? Can I get you anything?....Should I leave?"

Mark: "Yes Dave, you should leave."

Dave: "OK, good luck! We're praying for ya!"

It made both Mark and I smile. Thanks Dave! Shortly after that Nannie and Boppa got home and as we're rushing out the door Boppa's asking if he can make us a sandwich:) We get back to the hospital and go straight up to labour and delivery. I tell them I need to push and one of the nurses tells me it's probably just because the baby dropped! They had seen me only 30 minutes before so I guess I can't blame her but hearing that, I thought I was going to die. I was thinking, "I'm only 4cm and it hurts this bad??!!" So I asked for something for the pain. They checked me right away and sure enough I was fully dilated. They're telling me not to push as one nurse is calling Dr. Kahn, another one is grabbing a wheel chair and another one is running ahead making sure the delivery room is ready. I'm not even in a hospital gown at this point and they're wheeling me into the delivery room. My water still hasn't broke so I start pushing trying to break my water which was brutal! It's impossible to do (it seems that way anyway) and it drained me. I honestly felt like I didn't have enough strength to push him out. Finally Dr. Kahn showed up, broke my water(one of the best feeling ever) and a few contractions later he was out. They put him on my chest and right away I noticed his big eyes, dark hair and pronounced chin. After they took him away Dr. Kahn told me I had a 3rd degree tear and she'd have to sew me up. Then I started hemorrhaging. They started poking me with a bunch of needles and massaging my uterus, which was so painful! But they seemed to get it under control pretty quick.

So there's all the gory details. It definitely didn't go the way I thought it would but I'm glad that everything ended up the way it did. We love Max.

In the hospital we had lots of visitors which was fun. 

Grampa Hub meeting Max for the first time.

Grandma was a little shocked at all his hair.

When we first brought him home to Nana's house.

Max with his cousins. They love him.

With Dad after his bath.

Jodi's homecoming.

Hanging out with his cousins.

After a bath.

Max with his Great Grandparents.

4 generations

Family photo on Max's blessing day.

After bouncing around from Mark's parents house and my parents house for the month of August we finally got to pack up and come out to Saskatoon. We loaded up the horse trailer on Friday and parked it at the Drew's. On Monday Sept. 3 we took my mom's van with a bunch of stuff and headed to Saskatoon. We camped in our place until Friday night when my parent's and Mikhail got here with the horse trailer and all our stuff . My Dad and Mikhail went home after church on Sunday and my mom stayed till Monday morning to help me unpack and get a little organized.

Mark's first day back to school.

It was Stake Conference this weekend in Saskatoon and when we found that out we new that the mission president and his wife would probably be there. Since Saskatoon is in Braden's mission we (mostly my mom) were excited to meet them. My Dad and Mikhail actually weren't planning on staying for church so they hadn't brought any Sunday clothes so at 10:00 Saturday night they made a trip to WalMart.

On his 1 month birthday Max got to go on a run with Grandma.

We are officially moved in to our cute little basement suite and we love it! Even though I still haven't found a place for everything... It feels like home and we are excited to start a new adventure here.