Ok... I'm ready now..

So there is a BIG reason why I have not updated the blog.. or anything recently...

The reason is.. our baby arrived 12 days late.

I have heard of lateness however, this was simply unreal.  Groundhog day was every day.  She simply did not want to 'drop' down.. and BELIEVE me, I tried EVERYTHING!  Therefore, I had a date to get induced 10 days after my due date on February 17th at 2pm - we went to Southern General Hospital - about a 15 minute drive from our apartment. New and renovated, the hospital is excellent.  The staff were wonderful, attentive and caring. I cannot say enough about my experience - well, maybe the length of it was just a bit.... LONG.. however, worth the wait.

Here I am on the 'birthing ball' in the hospital after taking my first round of medication... feeling peachy, trying to move things along.. however, the moved.. VERY slowly... at one point I firmly believed nothing was going to happen.

Glamour Shot of me in the hospital TV room before Mom and Dad came by for a visit (Mad Men was even on the TV).  I think a bit after this photo I started to have contractions.. there was a bath across the hall so I simply took a bath and walked around quite a lot because I wanted to get GOING! This evening, I actually had an entire room of 3 beds to myself therefore, Brent stayed with me for the entire evening (which was against the rules but they allowed it) and was wonderful!

After a morphine induced sleep on Friday night, I was given more drugs to get things going on Friday morning... FINALLY! on Friday at around 3pm, I had the approval to go downstairs to the Labour Ward.  Here is an outside shot.  We were in one of the rooms on the bottom floor and stayed there from 3pm Friday to 3am Saturday. On the plus side, the room was brand new and even had an ipod dock to play some music we brought with us.  The midwifes (nurses) were AMAZING! We had one with us from 7:30pm until the baby came at 3am.  She took no breaks, was helpful, attentive, friendly and SOOO wonderful with us.

MacKenzies in the Homeland

MacKenzie's First Night in Scotland at home in our flat... although they rented a cozy spot around the corner.

Matzoh Ball Soup! Imported from USA... made by Mom with love... YUM!

Jane demonstrating Airway Obstruction in our Baby CPR class with Brownie the Teddy Bear.

Brent and Dad take in a basketball game with the local team the Glasgow Rocks!

Are we there yet?  Me walking up and down hills in Kelvingrove Park by our flat - desperately trying to get labor going... 7 days late at this point.

Ready for Takeoff! or Landing?

My parents are headed to the airport in Boston as I write this.. thank goodness the snow has stopped for at least 24 hours for their plane to arrive.  Strangely enough, Glasgow has been winter warm (around 43 degrees) and sunny - weird, right? I absolutely LOVE technology flight tracking as I just checked that the plane they are taking is almost in Boston which will hopefully guarantee a timely take off. Mom and Dad 'MacKenzie' are renting a lovely apartment about 4 blocks away from us for a whole month! I had the opportunity to check it out and I am happy to say it is modern, on the ground floor with a little outdoor area and overall very nice!   We are already scheduled for a tour of Brent's famous Glasgow School of Art on Saturday morning.  I also hope to hit up Jamie Oliver's new restaurant in Glasgow (been waiting for them to visit for this one).  Otherwise, there are tours from the City to St. Andrews, the Highlands, Castles .. and all sorts of neat other things.  I also think my Dad would really enjoy the Museum of Scotland in Edinburgh so, I anticipate a day trip for them as well.

As for me, I finished up work this week. I know it sounds bizarre but, after not working for 3 months, it was wonderful to be occupied this past month and meet new people.  Who knows what the future holds but, I hope to keep that up.  Brent has been spending most days at the studio but, we have managed to head together to go swimming twice a week together for the past few weeks. This has been really nice as the swimming pool has a sauna and whirlpool that he really enjoys (unfortunately, I cannot - oh well).

I had a midwife appointment today and I am happy to say that the wee one is on her way down the birth canal. I know everyone is different but, I went from people saying my bump was 'small' to now saying that the baby will be late because I am carrying too high. The midwife told me to forget all of that because you cannot tell the baby's position just by looking at someone and I was really happy to hear that she is working in there to 'hopefully' be right on time.

No photos for today as I just ordered a new digital camera - which ofcourse is late because of problems with the Royal Mail (typical) but, I will leave you with another of Brent's choices of his favorite preggy pics.  This one is of a preggy Jerry Hall - however, we heard it was just sold at Sotherby's as she wanted to erase memories of Mick.  Regardless, it's a great painting. :-)

None of me.. but some of Brent's faves...

January has been a BUSY month in our household.  I have been working a lot! This is really good because it keeps my mind busy.  We are relatively prepared for baby so its nice to meet new people, get out and do some fun work.. oh, and get paid for it.  I took 2 marketing freelance gigs, one at a chain of vegetarian cafes - they make the BEST bread in a ridiculous number of varieties - and another at a new yoga center opened by a popular teacher.  The center offers yoga, pilates, cooking classes in a nice kitchen, and loads of other things.  I have been working at the yoga center 3 days a week helping them get started.  The people are really nice and welcoming.  And.. believe it or not, I am in the process of taking a job offer post baby.  All the networking has really paid off so fingers crossed things will be sorted for a smooth transition in the late spring.

Brent is back in full school mode. He is getting in as much studio time as possible before.. duh duh duh... P-day (parent day).. or as we like to call it... THUNDERCATS GO!!!! (reference to the film Juno) - which actually is 'Thundercats Ho'.. no matter, a technicality.

I promise to post a photo soon! but in the meantime, I will post periodically some of Brent's favorite works of pregnant art.

In comparison, here is me in Brent's bathrobe.. the tummy is similar... was taken last month in a snowstorm.. note snow out the window.. this was the weather for most of December.

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year Everyone!
We have been staying in Glasgow throughout the holiday season. What started as a holidays of snow and ice has now turned into mild weather.  Brent and I had a small Christmas Tree in our apartment which we decorated with some special decorations I brought from home. I even brought our stockings too!
We have a lovely fireplace in our place also that made everything feel really cozy.  Christmas is not 'everywhere' in Glasgow. As in, our little section of Glasgow does not really decorate and the decorations go up early-mid December rather than after Halloween. St. George's Square downtown has outdoor shopping, ice skating and lights that are very festive.  We also had planned a trip to Edinburgh to see their famous Christmas Market however, the day we chose to go was a major snowstorm (as was much of December) so our plans needed to be canceled. On that note, I have spent a lot of time indoors because the walks have been very icy.

We woke Christmas day to see Santa had arrived for Brent and myself (how did he know we moved?) - Santa brought Brent a new jacket (waterproof of course) and Santa brought me a nice new purse (cute, over the shoulder and small - as I need to now learn not to take my life with me every time I walk out the door - for purposes of simplifying my life).  Santa, friends and family have been bringing the baby presents all December.  We have a crib, changing table, walker, high chair, pack and play, feeding pillow, tons of baby grows and loads of clothes.  We spent the holidays making a closet for the baby's things and putting our furniture together.  Feeling physically if not mentally prepared at this point.
We headed to a local church service Christmas morning that was modern and..... interesting.
From there we strolled across the park for a toasty drink at a local pub and a game of Christmas pool before heading to lunch.

We had a lovely, fancy lunch.  I tried Scottish broth (which is like a vegetable soup).  Brent had a nice piece of steak and I turkey with all the trimmings (the stuffing was amazing!).  We opened Christmas crackers (learn about a Christmas cracker here) and wore the traditional paper crown hats (learn about that here).
From here, we went home with our bellies full, watched movies, watched the Queen's Christmas speech (view here if you missed it - she did this strange focus on sport) skyped with family and relaxed.

Christmas Day in our crowns

Turkey with the trimmings and a Christmas Cracker

 Following Christmas is boxing day! Another national holiday... more movies and relaxing... actually we were quite productive getting our apartment baby ready.  We also were invited to our friend's house for a yummy roast the eve of Boxing Day.

Otherwise, the week has been slow. People take their holidays seriously. Especially Christmas and New Year holiday. Since Christmas and Boxing Day fell on a weekend everyone had off the following Monday and Tuesday. On the holidays, EVERYTHING is closed except for a few pubs.
New Year's Eve and Day brought mild weather - thank goodness!

We went to a New Year's Eve party at a friend of Brent's from the Art School. We could walk to her place and had a fun night of singing, chatting and dancing.  New Year's Eve is also our engagement anniversary (only 2 years ago at the top of the Empire State Building) so we had even more to celebrate.

Happy New Year!

I get my boogie on with some revelers at the NYE bash.

Friends taking a 'break' from dancing

You know you're in Glasgow when... there is an actual MTV Video Music Award for Franz Ferdinand 'Take Me Out' leisurely sitting on a shelf of a flat you are visiting. Yes, it's real!

New Year's Day we went for a nice walk along the river by our house (there is a wonderful path along the river, under bridges and amongst trees - very popular for people walking their dogs, runners and bikers) and a tasty relaxing pub lunch (I had mac and cheese which was delish! and Brent had some fish and chips).  Today and tomorrow are spillover holidays (again as New Years fell on the weekend).  Most everything is closed until Wednesday.  On Wednesday Brent goes back to school (part 2 of his 3 semesters this year) and I can go to the swimming pool again (hurray! hope I can still fit into my suit). I also am pleased to say I got another working gig setting up a very popular yoga teacher with her new studio which features a variety of yoga classes, pilates and even a kitchen/cooking space for healthy cooking classes.  Should be fun, I'm excited to do some work, get paid for it, meet new people and take some 'Baby and Me Yoga' when the time comes.

Happy New Year Everyone! ... change is in the air for us in Glasgow. We would have NEVER EVER expected to be where we are today a year ago and can't even imagine where our lives will be in another year but, in the end we're so lucky, happy and thankful for everything.

It's Official

Brent and I brought the winter weather across the Atlantic with us.

"December 2010 is "almost certain" to be the coldest since records began in 1910, according to the Met Office." Read more here... 

Happy Winter Everyone! *Brent and I are currently experiencing the shortest days of the year.. about 5 ish hours of daylight.

To keep on the snowy theme, here's some of my favorite snowy shots of a ski trip up to New Hampshire last winter.

This is the view from our backyard.. nice, eah?

Walking our dog Trudy down our muddy road.. she is easy to find in the snow.

and here's a little movie of us sking last winter.. can't wait to put the baby on skis!

Enjoy the winter weather everyone!

Christmas in London

We just returned from a wonderful trip to London. London is about 4 and a half hours from Glasgow via speed train. The trip is pretty awesome. You zip through mountains, farms - with loads of sheep and countryside. The trip down was slightly rough (as the baby did not particularly enjoy the ride) however, the trip back was smooth sailing. Although there was snow in London, all of it has melted by now which meant we could do some walking.  This was a welcome relief because I was practically stuck in the house with the ice and snow in Glasgow.
While in London we had a very full agenda. My good friend Rodolfo was in town from Valencia and my very good friends Claire and Elena just had babies last month so we did some baby visiting. We stayed with my good friend Clare who was ridiculously hospitable - she recently got her driving license and I did some GPS navigating as we went for a few drives throughout town. Brent and I visited a few art galleries, Christmas lights on Oxford Street, browsed Harrods and overall just had the absolute best time just hanging around the city.
Here are some highlights:
Brent enjoys a brew on Brick Lane (which for every time I visit, changes more and more!)

My friend Rodolfo and I who used to live in London and now lives in Spain.  Rodolfo is from Italy and my mom even met him when we did a trip to Italy 2 years ago.

Here's a little video of us on the bus.