Christchurch Pettys in August 2013

August was a very exciting month for us Christchurch Pettys as there are now six of us. We were excited to welcome Seth Llewelyn Petty into the world on 8 August 2013.

So this is what the world looks like!

We started the month with Mark and me getting Boostrix shots, which are booster immunisations for tetanus, whooping cough and diphtheria. There is currently an epidemic of whooping cough in New Zealand so grandparents as well as parents are encouraged to be immunised. I figured it wouldn’t do any harm and be our contribution to the dwindling herd immunity.

All is well

Then we had the baby shower on the Saturday at which we had about eighteen people, with fun games and nice presents and food. I was worn out afterwards, so Mark and Jonathan and I went to Robbies for steak for dinner.

The following day we fasted for Mark, as his colitis is playing up, and he needs a lot of pills to keep it under control. Then William and Dominic Lallemant gave Mark a priesthood blessing. I also read up on the internet about it, and Mark now has to eat lots of probiotic yogurt and stop eating preserved meats. The blessing reassured us that he will get better and live a long life.

William got to wear scrubs!

For William’s birthday on Sunday 4th I cooked tacos and apple roly-poly, and we played Balderdash, Creationary and Spaceteam, all of which was fun.

The next day Jessica got called into the hospital as there was protein in her urine and they wanted to test her blood. They decided her blood pressure was too high, with pre-eclampsia (previously known as toxaemia) and kept her there, only letting her home to get clothes. We did some transporting and I washed all the baby clothes. Jessica had planned to do that that week, but got caught out. I also found some woollen singlets at the second-hand store for bargain prices. They also had bags of new booties and hats and mitts for $1 each. Brilliant!

On Wednesday 7th August was William’s graduation ceremony from Youbee with his diploma in digital film-making. He got distinction, and was the only one in the class to do so. We were very proud. Jessica was unable to come, as she was lying around in hospital, trying to keep her blood pressure down until the scheduled caesarean on Friday.

But her blood pressure was just too high, so they decided to operate on Thursday 8 August. Jessica had been going to have a caesarean which was scheduled for 26 August, but they just brought it forward a bit. Seth was born at about 36 and a half weeks gestation, so he was rather little. But gorgeous. He was only 5 pound 6 ounces but has gained weight well since then. He had a bit of trouble feeding because he was tongue-tied, but they snipped it, and he has been guzzling ever since.

Seth and Jessica got to lie in bed.

Jonathan is thrilled to be an uncle, and we took him in to see Seth and he talked to him so sweetly, it was lovely. For Jonathan’s birthday we invited Charlotte (his helper at CPIT) and William and Kate and Nate, a young couple from church. We had cordon bleu schnitzels for dinner. Afterwards we watched “Letters and Numbers”, an Australian game show we had a DVD of, and the bloopers thereof. We were laughing so hard our faces hurt.

Poor Jess stayed quite a while in hospital as they wanted her blood pressure to be under control when she went home. Finally she got out on the 15th August, after a ten day stay. The people were really nice and all, but there’s no place like home.

The new Nana and grandchild

My mother and older brother and sister all have their birthday in August, as well as William, Jonathan and now Seth. Mark and I went out to dinner with my mother, Linda and Des on my mother’s birthday on the 21st. The food was ok, but the venue was nice. It was the least “spanakopita-like” spanakopita I have ever had, and way too floury. Should have gone for the salad.

On the 24th we were busy again. I made sushi and fruit crumble in the morning, then went to an activity followed by potluck for Kuki David, which took up the rest of the day.

Then the next day we went to church in Timaru, which is a bit over two hours each way. It seems to get shorter every time we go there. They always make us so welcome.

Another highlight of the month for me was finishing the materials for our Level 3 NCEA site. There is still more to add, but it is good enough for now. I decided to take the following afternoon off to celebrate, and didn’t really know what to do with myself!

Nicola's first ever Hyacinths

My friend from church, Julie Tovey, has encouraged me to go in a run from Birdlings Flat to Little River, in about six weeks’ time. The run is 11km. So this Saturday I thought I’d see how I was doing, and how much work I’d need to do to get fit enough for that. To my amazement I managed to run 10km in less than 80 minutes, so I feel quite confident I will be fine with 11km on the day. I use an app called Runkeeper, which keeps track of my progress and also can be programmed for interval training. I like it a lot.

Jonathan is doing as well as ever at Jazz School. He has passed his term 3 rudiments assessment weeks early and is now getting ready for the performance assessment. He also does well in improvisation and in aural. He doesn’t actually go to ear-training classes as he has perfect pitch, and just does the assessments. His helper, Charlotte is great. I go with him to “Latin Band”, and have learned about really tricky rhythms.

I liked the different hand sizes

Mark is working as hard as ever in his four jobs – Surveyor at Eliot Sinclairs, administrator for Statistics Learning Centre, stake clerk, and personal trainer for Jonathan.

And that is it for us all

Lots of love
Nicola, Mark, Jonathan, William, Jessica and Seth.

Sorry about last month - Mark thought he had posted it, but hadn't!