suelfam: January 2008

Hello Everyone,

The time has finally come for us to announce to you that our beautiful daughter, Pippi Lois, has come into the world! She was born on Monday morning at 10:33am, weighing 6lbs. 6oz's, and 19.48 inches long! She is a happy, healthy, beautiful little girl!

Sarah is fine, but had a more rough time of it. Forceps had to be used and she had a 3rd degree tear. For those who don't know what that is...it isn't pretty and she had to have many stitches after the birth. But, apart for walking a little like John Wayne...she is absolutely fine. They are both still in the hospital because they want to make sure Sarah's hemoglobin levels have stabilized. All signs point to a quick recovery and she should be home by Friday at the latest, but we are hopeful that she will be home tomorrow.

I know you want to see pics, so I have posted some on our blog. www.suelfam.blogspot.com

She is beautiful...well, they both are!

Love,

From a very happy Suelfam!

Hi there folks,

Just wanted to update you on happenings since our last email…here’s the scoop:

In the run up to Christmas we were busy, as was everyone, but we did have a little time for ourselves. Because the time is drawing very near where quick weekend get-away’s will be a thing of the past, Sarah and I decided to make a run for it. So, we rented a bed and breakfast in a little place you may have heard of called…”Sherwood Forest!” That’s right…the weekend before Christmas Sarah and I gallivanted off to the home of everyone’s favorite outlaw: Robin Hood! It was a great time…we went into Nottingham as well.

My favorite part of the whole story was when we called to make our reservation at the B&B. When the person answered on the other line they said something like… “Brown’s Old Orchard B&B, in the heart of Sherwood…Robin speaking.” I was like…stop, hold the phone…your name is Robin! Are you Robin Hood?!?! This is crazy!...but I didn’t say that, of course…

Soon after our return from that trip was Christmas…and what a great Christmas it was. Now, this was our first Christmas in England. If you remember, the first year we lived here we went to Paris on Christmas Eve. Last year we flew home. So that makes this Christmas our first official Christmas to be spent entirely in England. We had Christmas with our friends Claire and Jez…Claire’s brother Keith and Jez’s parents Dick and Jan were also there. Great times! One of the best parts of the day was exchanging gifts with each other and opening the presents one at a time. One at a time! Tedious, but enjoyable. I’ve never encountered so much reserve in a Christmas…it’s usually rip it open as fast as you can at my house.

The next thing we had to look forward to was our friend Heather coming to visit! She came just in time to usher in the New Year and this year we did it in style…we went to London to see the fireworks! It was a lot of fun and for all of you stateside…follow this link to find out about what New Year’s Eve looks like in London…the fireworks cost 100,000 pounds a minute (I’m not kidding), and with the celebration timing in at just over 10 minutes…we’re talking 1 million pounds…what a waste…but it looked great! So, here’s the link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v4tqsQktE2w

Oh yeah…I almost fogot…the next morning we got up and went to the London New Years Day Parade…what a hoot!

During Heather’s visit we also went to a local village for the day, did some shopping, and went on a country walk…which was a lot of fun…AND we went to the local Pantomime (a Christmas tradition here). Our Panto this year was “Snow White.” Lots of laughs!

Now we are just waiting for the arrival of our first child. The due date is January 28th, but Sarah wishes the baby would come sooner. She’s doing great, even though she’s not sleeping all that well anymore…too uncomfortable! She’s got one more week of work left to endure, and will thankful for a rest after that! We are so very excited and nervous at the same time. For all of you who have offered us advice, thanks so much…we really appreciate it. Now, it’s just down to waiting. We look forward to sharing the good news about our son or daughter with you on our next email!

We hope you have all had a great Holiday Season and maybe we’ll be seeing you in the new year!

Jason & Sarah

Pics: 1. Jason and Sarah at a Christmas Party. 2. Us in front of the Merry Oak in Sherwood Forest. 3. Jason in front of Robin Hood statue. 4. New Years Eve! 5. Sarah and Heather during the New Years Day Parade.