White Elephant with Homegroup

A few Saturday's ago, Trevor and I hosted our first annual Homegroup White Elephant party. We are so thankful for our homegroup. It is so nice to connect with spiritually likeminded people at least once a week. Most of the group is from America, but we did let a few Canadians in. We had lots of fun gifts exchanged at the event, but I believe I came away with the best one. I got a bag of Honey Nut Cheerios!! This is pretty special to receive in China. Anyway, here are some photos of the event. I posted many photos of people but also the food tables. I love decorating, and decorating for parties is even more fun, and Trevor likes to help too!

Let The Countdown's Begin

There are a couple of things to countdown these days. I usually loathe countdowns, Trevor knows this about me and frequently starts countdowns just to make me crazy. I am okay with starting countdowns where there are only 5-6 days to countdown, but when people start at 25, I just want to run away and hide. I guess that number is just way too big for me to get excited about. The things I am counting down range in numbers, and most of them are actually in the double digits, sometimes I make exceptions. Here is goes:

-4 days until Jackson is two months old!
-5 days until we see family in America!
-15 days until we see family in Canada!

-20 pounds until I am back to my normal weight! (It might be better to start that countdown a little later...oh well....it's reality)

-25 days until I turn 31

-27 days until I start training for a race.

The End

I'll Be Home for Christmas and Maybe More

Bryan and David hanging out on a long tail on the seas of Thailand. The Bergmans fighting jetlag.

Trevor and skinny me by our wimpy tree.

Yes, for the first time in seven years, I will be home on Christmas Day. Trevor and I did make it back for New Year's a few years back, but this is the first time I will actually be home on the big day in a long time. It will be super great because my entire immediate family will get to hang out the weekend before Christmas. We are even more excited about that than being home at Christmas.

The last two Christmas's have been spent with different sections of the Bergman family, which was so special. They traveled over here and allowed us to take them on an adventure. We would not have traded it for anything, but it's our turn now to visit them. We will also be squeezing a trip to Canada in during the Christmas holiday. Jackson is already a world traveler. He has his two passports and is ready for a long journey around the planet.

The maybe more part refers to the fact that Trevor and I did not resign our contracts. This pretty much means we will be leaving China. There are jobs that match our qualifications in Hong Kong, Dubai, and many other locations, but we are feeling like North America is the next continent for us. This was a super tough decision. WE LOVE ASIA!!!! It's amazing, and there is no other place like. We love our lives here, I won't even tell you why, or you might think we are crazy for leaving it :) All that said, our families are not here, and we would like to be closer to them for now. We will see where we end up, could be Longview, Texas, could be Vancouver, BC. We know that the Lord is in control of this super big leap of faith.

I'll end or begin with a few pictures from the last two Christmas holidays.

Reflections on Motherhood before Jackson Started Smiling

I can so remember lots of people talking about how you can never "be ready" for your first child. I also remember thinking that Trevor and I were ready. We had been married five years, we were both in our 30s, we had both finished our masters degrees, bought our first house, ect. We were not ready. It is true, no matter how ready we seemed to be, it was all an illusion. Jackson has rocked our world, turned it inside out and back. I say that with love. He is for sure the biggest blessing Trevor and I could ever imagine, but wow parenting is not easy. Here are some adjustments that I was not prepared for:
Always eating later than planned.
Usually eating cold food.
Washing my hands 1000 times a day.
Sore wrists.
The loads of laundry tripling from all the spit up on everything.
Always hearing the cry of a baby, whether it is happening or not.
Catching myslef feeding my pillow in the middle of the night.
Getting ready for the day in five stages, spread out over three hours.
hmm, that is enough for now.
There are also wonderful adjustments that have taken place.
Trevor and I are learning to serve each other in a new way
There is a cute little guy in the house that gives us constant entertainment with his expressions.
We talk to our families even more.
Trevor and I have had huge shfits in our feelinds about life and raising kids.
We are smiling and laughing more than ever.

It is not all that bad, but let me be honest and say that this has been the biggest challenge ever in my life. Jackson is still quite needy and does not really offer anything to us yet, but this week he has started smiling just slightly, and I know that as those developmental elements begin to be common I will really feel more of the positive feelings of motherhood. Do you know what I mean?

Some Jackson Updates

Jackson is one month and one day old.

Jackson weighs 10.56 pounds

Jackson smiles in his sleep, and also rolls his eyes in the back of his head.

Jackson loves the sounds of the exhaust fan in the kitchen, mommy's hair dryer, the shower, and mommy and daddy's voices.

Jackson goes to bed at 8:00 pm, wakes up at 2:00 am, lays right back down and sleeps until 5-6 am (mommy and daddy could not be prouder)

Jackson has been sleeping in his own room for two weeks.

Jackson loves to swing, and go for evening walks around our courtyard.

Jackson loves milk.

Jackson has started to use his eyes to connect the audio with the visual.

Jackson can turn 180 degrees when laid on his tummy with not clothes or diaper on.

Jackson, Jackson Jackson, we love him sooo much!!!

On Our Own

This post is dedicated to my wonderful parents who sacrificed a great deal to be here with us during this huge transition. They were such wonderful helpers, and offered lots of needed advice. My mom was here for a total of five weeks, and dad was here for two. It was indeed a very sad day when they left, but they do have lives. Trevor and I got to experience what parenthood was like without them and it was a very different reality. I will not go into the details, but now it has been about two and a half weeks since they left, and we are starting to get the hang of this. Thanks mom and dad, you're the greatest!!!!

Jackson's Birth Story

Dr. Catherine Cheung and the Bergmans

It has been three weeks since Jackson joined us on the outside, and I can't say every single moment been blissful, but we are still in most ways speechless at how cool being a parent is. Trevor and I are so proud of him and who he is already. It was wonderful having my parents here to share in this experience with us as well. So on with the story.





If you refer to my second or third post, I go on and on about why we chose to deliver in Hong Kong as opposed to China. One of the main reasons we went with Hong Kong was to have a fair shot at a natural delivery. Things sure did change. I knew that having a baby overseas would be more stressful than having it in my own country, but I did underestimate the stress that would come with not only having a baby overseas, but then leaving that country for another one two hours down the road. Delivering Jackson in Hong Kong was for sure the right choice, but everything besides the delivery was less than desirable, and made me second guess our decision. To make a long, dramatic story short and blunt, I elected to have a C-section at 39 weeks.





It turned out to be soo wonderful. I am sure that delivering naturally would have been the ultimate experience as a woman, but I could not handle all the balls I was juggling while in Hong Kong. My doctor was fine with it, and she was wonderful. I checked into the hospital the night of the 23rd. They checked Jackons heart beat, did a few other things, and then I actually left and spent that night back in our hotel. The next morning I showed up at the hospital at 7. By 8 I was being prepped for surgery, Trevor got to be with me the entire time. At 9 I was given a spinal, and at 9:26 Jackson was born. The hospital was wonderful, the nurses were awesome, and I cannot say enough good things about my doctor. I felt sooo taken care of, and Trevor and my mom were such great supports. After Jackson was delivered, they took him a few feet away, and did all the normal things that they do, I got to watch as they sewed me back together, and Trevor was taking lots of pictures. An hour later I was back in my room bonding with Jackson. We Skyped all of our family and they got to see him on the webcams.





I had a semi private room and according to the hospital this meant that I could only have Jackson when he needed to be fed. I was a little nervous about how this would work out, but I was pleasantly surprised. They let him stay with me as much as I could possibly want, and I could request that he be taken away if I needed to rest. I didn't rest very much at all actually, I was way too excited for that. Jackson started breast feeding right away. I was producing tons of colostrum, and he seemed satisfied. I was up and out of the bed on my own 24 hours after Jackson was born. I felt pain, but I could still function.



Jackson and I were able to be discharged on Sunday morning. He was not jaundice, and I was good to go, so we were off. My milk came in on Day 4 and he has been feeding and gaining weight consistently now for three weeks. I feel very blessed to breast feed him, it is such a special gift.



So, that is pretty much how the story goes.

What a CUTIE!!

Week 2 With Little Jackson

Cuddling with Mamaw

First Photos with Mommy (with open eyes)

In Daddy's arms

Burping on Mamaw

Morning Concert with Papaw

mommy time and daddy time

Jackson's Birth Photos

Jackson Trevor Bergman was born in Hong Kong at 9:26 am, October 24, weighing 8.9 pounds, and we are in total adoration of every ounce of him.