Welcome to the World Carter

Intoducing Carter Gideon Maramatanga Matthews

Oh my gosh what a crazy week it has been! I have finally gotten a few minutes to sit down and reflect on the all that has happened and put down Carter's birth story.

To put this all in perspective we need to get a few things straight about this pregnancy. Firstly it was a surprise. So while we were planning another baby we were still a little thrown when those 2 little lines showed up on the test. I had no symptoms, I just happened to see a test in the bathroom and took it just for the fun of it. (I had bought a pack of 100 on ebay when we were trying for Ammon).
The initial scan didn't look promising and I was told to be prepared to miscarry in the next few days. However nothing happened. 2nd scan changed up my dates, 3rd scan changed them again. 4th scan told us we were having a girl.

This pregnancy went nothing like my other three. I had terrible morning sickness and didn't leave the house for over a month. Aarahi did everything while I hibernated on the couch under a blanket in the middle of summer. I didn't put on any weight until around 26 weeks. Also for the last few weeks I was really struggling to actually function. I had to get Aarahi to help me to the bathroom in the middle of the night and wake him up to turn me over. When it came to delivery, I went into labour 4 weeks early.

So onto the day it all went down. On Sunday morning I was feeling off and called the hospital and they told me to come in to see what was going on. My doctor showed up to check me, he said I was probably not in labour but he soon changed his mind when he checked and found I was 4cm. I wasn't in proper labour but would likely be back later that night.

Aarahi and I left the hospital and decided to pretend it wasn't Sunday and went to the shopping centre for lunch and to pick up a few last minute things. I was actually really lovely to have that time together without the kids.

We picked up the kids from my cousins house and then contractions started to become for consistent. I wasn't convinced as I had been having contractions for the last 3 days that always stopped. However these were still going at 8pm so I rang the hospital and they said come when I was ready. They then rang back 20mins later saying my doctor wanted me to come straight away given the history of my previous two labours going from zero to baby in a very short period of time. Yey for hypnobirthing.

Aarahi nipped off to the petrol station to get some bread and milk for the kids breakfast, and I waited my for cousins to arrive and finish packing my bag. Now at this point I thought "I should pack some boys clothes just incase" I had always had a nagging feeling in the back of my mind that this baby was a boy. Anyway I didn't pack anything boyish and felt sorry for the baby that was going to have boy blankets because I hadn't found the girls ones yet.

Once we arrived at the hospital, the doors were locked and we had to wait about 10mins for the people to open them...okay maybe an exaggeration but when you are in labour things seem much worse. They examined me and I was at 5cm. So not bad considering I still wasn't in too much discomfort.

I got in the shower and Aarahi went to have a sleep since I was fine doing in on my own for now. I knew I would need him more awake at the end. A few hours later my doctor came by to visit and I was 7cm and still not in much pain or discomfort. But I was enjoying some happy gas, I love that stuff, it's my favourite part of giving birth.

I knew I wanted an epidural this time and that if I asked for it when I felt I needed it I wouldn't get it in time, so I asked for in now. But since I was doing "so well" that had me hold off a bit longer. I should have pushed harder to get it. I knew in my head I had missed my opportunity. My reasoning for wanting it is that I lose all control in the last 5 minutes and have never been "present" enough to enjoy or appreciate those first few moments of baby being born. I really really wanted that this time.

A hour or so later my waters broke and I asked for my epidural again and they went and organised it for me. It would take 20mins for the anaesthetist to arrive. I knew I didn't have 20mins. I knew this baby was coming and it was going to come fast. I was in denial though. I was in denial when the head was out and I was still saying it wasn't too late.

The anaesthetist did arrive and I remember telling him he was my best friend (high on happy gas) and that if he wanted to chop my legs off that was fine with me. Aarahi went out of the room while I was getting the epidural but was quickly called for because as I suspected as soon as I sat up the baby came out in 2 pushes just like I had told them it would.

They put him up on my chest and I checked to see if he was a girl....nope a boy, and he was the blondest baby I have ever seen.

They quickly took him though as he was as flat as a pancake when he came out. He only had an apgar of 1. It was all very crazy and he was rushed off to special care for breathing treatments. Aarahi went with him.

After they finished stitching me all up and I had a shower I went down to see him and he was just fine. Although he didn't look anything like one of our kids. He was pretty bruised up too.

Carter and I spent a blissful 5 days in hospital while Aarahi did an amazing job of holding down the fort at home.

My favourite time of night is hanging out with these two once Auron and Lili have gone to bed. 

Unimpressed by his clothing

Auron is very catious about baby holding, Lili on the other hand has it down to a tee. 

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Market Days and Toilet Training

This week is still a bit of a blur. I was sick one day and spent the whole day in bed. The thing about being a mother however is you never really get to have a sick day or a day off. I still had to get up and make sure kids weren't destroying the kitchen in the process of cooking themselves dinner and I still had nappies to change and bed time routines to follow through on. Lucky for everyone it was only a one day thing and things went back to normal the next day.

Lili my sensitive little child had a hard time this week during school work. We have been learning about Ancient Egypt and mummies. I think I have scared the poor kid for life. We also learnt about paper making and she ended up in tears because of the trees being cut down. It was altogether a pretty traumatic. Lili is very excited about having a new baby. She is quite concerned that the new baby might "beat her up" like Ammon. I think a new baby will be good for Lili. She is a such a good little mother and loves to try mother Ammon however he is not all that in to being bossed around by his sister. A defenceless newborn will be perfect for her to smother with love.

On Saturday we went for a drive to a market out in the bush. It was really really cool. The kids loved it and we loved it too. We were smart and brought our lunch with us to eat in the car before hand otherwise we could have easily spent waaaaaay too much. We did buy several incredibly good sweet treats. Lili purchase a  cute felted bag for church. We have a Little Critter book called "Being Thankful" where Little Critter gets a Thankful Rock to help him remember to be grateful. Lili and Auron saw some pretty little rocks which they purchased from a very eccentric old man selling healing crystals. These are their thankful rocks.

Ammon has been toilet training this week. We have been a bit hit and miss with it as we haven't been as persistent as we probably should have been. At one stage though he threw my phone in the toilet. Auron saved it as quick as he could but it's still a little water damaged but you can only see it if you hold it in a certain light. I swear it is the most indestructible phone. It would even give the old brick Nokia's a run for their money. It's sat at the bottom of the pool for a few hours, visited the mop bucket, and several trips to the toilet.

Definitely Back to Reality

We have had a couple of months to settle back into normal life. We are still not fully unpacked. I still have the majority of my clothes in my suitcase, probably because they just don't fit me any longer! Our candy stash has significantly diminished too.

The kids started back at gymnastics, we bought a new car, our old car got the seal of death a few days later so we now need to buy a second car (bleeding money this year!) We still need to do the landscaping and organise the fencing for our house. I'm just waiting for our neighbours to organise the fences actually because I don't want to do it! I just want someone to put the bill in my mailbox.

We have tried to get organised for the new baby but it's just not happening very well. I had a doctors appointment this week and it looks like I will be induced at 38 weeks as I am growing some kind of sumo wrestler or something. Baby is measuring a month ahead and already close to newborn size. So while I do usually have big babies (over 4kg/9 pounds) the prospect of going full term and having a 5kg+ baby is not ideal. So that really cuts down my time to get organised!

This past Monday was Queen's Birthday weekend here so Aarahi and I packed up the kids and headed into the mountains for a BBQ and walk around Hanging Rock. There was a kangaroo hanging out next to our picnic table who was so friendly that he was happy for all the kids to pet him. He tolerated all the attention from people for a good hour before he bounced off into the bush again.

We have had a school break this past week. Auron just finished his reading curriculum and ready to move up a level. We took only 6 weeks to complete a years work, however a lot of it was review. But the last 3 weeks were pretty intense for both of us and we needed a well deserved break. We will start the next level in a few weeks, until then we be working really hard on our writing skills with some fun lessons I have planned as well as continuing with our normal maths, history, art etc

We planned to do go on dates with each of our kids before the baby comes but our planned time has been cut short so we attempted to do it at the same time. We all went to the same restaurant, at the same time. We asked to be seated at different tables. They seated us at different tables right next to each other???? Anyway we made it work well enough. Aarahi and Lili had a special date and Auron, Ammon and I had a date (well Ammon was more occupied with his food, but we had gone out earlier in the week). Then the kids went off to play and Aarahi and I got to have a date for a good 40 mins. So we were pretty much winning at life. We all walked out well fed and happy.

Marcelle picked up Lili and Auron to go to church in our old ward today. They miss it terribly, especially Lili. That meant we only had Ammon until dinner time. It was so quiet, we enjoyed it for a while but both decided to was a little boring. We wondered what on earth we did when we only had one child?? We were happy to have the big kids back home.

The very friendly kangaroo...or wallaby I don't know how you tell the difference

San Diego and Heading Home

San Diego and Going Home

Now it's my turn to get sick. I knew when I woke up in the morning that I wasn't feeling too great but hoped it would subside. We made the 3 ½ hour trip to San Diego and I slept most of the way. I was really excited to visit the Mormon Battalion Museum but by the time we got there I was barely able to walk so Aarahi took the kids and I stayed in the car and tried to sleep. The kids loved it, and got to mine for gold. I REALLY wish I wasn't sick because there was so much we wanted to do, however we headed straight for the hotel where I promptly vomited as soon as we walked in the door. It was a rough night.

The next morning I was feeling better and feeling very grateful since we were flying home later that night. We spent the morning shopping at another huge book store and spending the rest of our cash on American candy.

Auron had seen a really neat place he wanted to visit where they made cookie and ice cream sandwiches. Everyone loved them and we all thanked Auron for telling us about such an awesome place. Auron always finds really awesome places for us to visit. He see's them on YouTube then writes them down for us to look at. 

Late afternoon we got back in the car and headed towards LA. We stopped off at the Los Angeles Temple to kill some time. It looks like the NZ temple only wider. There was a couple there doing engagement photos....it looked a little more than G rated lol we tooted at them as we drove past. 

Our last meal in America was revolting. So revolting that we couldn’t even eat it.

When we dropped off the rental car they were so efficient it was so quick that I wasn't prepared to say goodbye to our car. It's so lame how attached you can get to something in such a short amount of time. But they just took it away before I could even come to terms with what was happening! Our holiday was finally over.

We had some bag reorganising to do at the airport as one of our bags was close to 40kg over the limit. The flight home was long and uncomfortable. The kids did well but it still wasn't fun. Ammon accidentally wiped the itunes library on the ipad just before take off and he could no longer watch his beloved PJ Masks. We were so happy to finally get back to our pig sty of a house. For the next few days we recovered from jet lag. Often waking up at 3-4am. The next week had us trying to unpack which we still haven't fully completed. Time to face reality again!  

So what is next?

It was an incredible adventure and I am so grateful that I got to do it with my favourite people. It was not cheap, it was a lot of planning and stress especially buying and building a house at the same time. It is not easy taking 3 kids on a big overseas holiday especially while pregnant but oh my goodness it was worth it a million times over! I am so thankful and blessed that we are able to amazing things like this and to take our kids along on our adventures. We know most people wont get to experience many of these things in their life time and we don't take these experiences for granted.

So where to now? Right now we are getting ready to welcome our new baby in a couple of weeks. (should start getting a bit more organised!)  We are trying to decide on where to go next year, we are tossing up between Vanuatu, Fiji and Samoa or somewhere more local. We are planning to be home in New Zealand for Christmas next year or around then anyway.  After that we have big plans for Queensland, Vietnam, Thailand, Singapore and Bali in 2019.

Now that we have our own house and have finished baby making we are ready to take on something new so who knows where that will take us in the next 5 years. There is a whole wide world we want to explore and we are ready and waiting to take it on....as well as doing all the normal things like paying the mortgage and cooking dinner etc

Brownie, cookie dough icecream, dipped in M &M's

Choc chip cookie, monster icecream, dipped in M & M's

ARIZONA - Grand Canyon

We drove from Moab to Page Arizona. By the time we got there it was close to 10pm and we still hadn't eaten dinner. Aarahi went out in search of something and came back with some interesting looking Mexican as that was all he could find open nearby. The hotel did however have a delicious breakfast the next morning.

We took a quick hike in the morning to see Horseshoe Bend which was on Aarahi's bucket list. It was quite impressive. Lili walked the trail in bare feet for some reason I can't quite remember. Then it was onwards to the Grand Canyon.

We had contemplated skipping the Grand Canyon because we were tired and just felt like getting to our next hotel for a rest but we are glad we soldiered on.

The Grand Canyon was one of those places that you just stand in awe of the reality that place like this exist. It truly was GRAND. We didn't wander too far from the visitors centre and spent most of our time sitting on some rocks with the kids completing things for their last Junior Ranger badge. Ammon loved climbing the rocks and everyone was in love with the adorable little squirrels that were running around all over the place. They were very friendly and came close enough to touch if you were game enough.

The kids got the chance to touch and play with a bit of snow that was still covering part of the park. That was a win for them. Lili and Auron are quite keen to learn to snowboard so we have that planned for next winter.

We saw some huge moose on the way back to the car too. It was exciting to see all the different animals. I suppose it would be like people coming to Australia and seeing Kangaroo's, when we see them almost daily around us.

We carried on our road trip to Sedona. I think this is where all the crazy healthy people go! We went to get smoothies one morning and they cost $15!!!!!! for a single cup! The whole place screamed new age healthfood etc even Mc Donalds was green??? However it was a beautiful place. We didn't do as much as we planed here as we were tired but we did swim in the pool a bit and ate good food.

Next up we visited with the Sister Missionary who taught my Mum the gospel almost 30 years ago.It was such a blessing to see her after all these year and I am so thankful for her influence. I have no photos which is unfortunate. We stayed with her family and the kids had a blast riding ponies and just being kids. They also had their first smores, that was another thing to tick of their lists. I am thankful that we sat down before we left and wrote out wish lists of things to do and eat. It was such a thrill for us as parents to see them check things of their little lists.

Auron has a penpal who lives in Arizona who he was lucky enough to meet up with. It was so cute to see them together and playing. They bought the kids little easter baskets which were a huge hit. They are still playing with them everyday now! The kids got a good 2 hours of playing in before we had to say goodbye.

We headed off to our last Arizona night in Yuma before finally making our way back to California towards San Diego!

Horseshoe Bend

Lili and Auron with Auron's Penpal. 

Oh Chick Fil A how we loved you!

SNOW

MOAB

It was another early start for us as we farewelled my parents and sibling and went our separate ways. We had a 4 hour drive ahead of us. We stopped halfway at a dinosaur museum which was interesting enough to hold both our attention and the kids. They had a lovely little dinosaur play area too which let the kids burn off some energy.
Our next stop was Canyonlands National Park. We were in awe at every turn. It's amazing that places like this actually exist. I hope we never lose those memories because the photos can never do it justice. We did a small hike and the kids completes their Junior Ranger booklets to earn another badge. The hike was a little terrifying once we got to the end, not a place for a mother of 3 little ones!
We checked into our hotel and took a short...30sec ride down the road to dinner. I had the BEST Italian food I have ever had and the kids we happy with the authentic wood fired pizzas.
The next morning we had subway for breakfast and used paypass to pay for something for the VERY FIRST TIME. I did it without even thinking and the girl at the counter was like "whaaaaat how did you do that?!"
Next up was Arches National Park. We stopped at the visitors centre to fill up our water bottles and the kids water bladders in their backpack then slowly drove to the start of our hike. I was apprehensive about this hike to say the least. It was called Delicate Arch and it has been on my bucket list for years but most of the reviews said it was too difficult for kids and to only take older kids etc. It was a 5km round trip with a significant uphill component. So here we were with 3 kids aged 2, 4 and 6 and I was 24 weeks pregnant. Also we are NOT an athletic family haha sounds like a recipe for disaster. However WE DID IT! and by did it I mean Lili and Auron walk the entire way with out complaining carrying their ow bags and I didn't die. Aarahi and I were so incredibly proud of them, they were AMAZING. People kept commenting as we passed them on the trail at how well they were doing and giving them lots of encouragement. And the view at the end? AMAZING! It took us around 2 1/2 hours to walk there and about 1 hour back. The way there was pretty much all up hill.
We stopped and a few other neat spots on the way back to the visitors centre where the kids received another Junior Ranger badge.
We rewarded ourselves with some yummy homemade icecream at a diner (eating at a diner was also on my list of things to do)
Now we leave Utah behind and make our way to Arizona.

Huge 500000000m drop right behind us.

Can you see us?! We needed proof that we actually made it

Almost half way up

We learnt about Cairns on our hikes. They are little towers made with rocks that help you know which way to go. Lili loved to make her own.

Balanced Rock

Ammon was happy to be finally free somewhere where I didn't think he might fall to certain death

Finally MADE it. Lili is slightly terrified. 

Hard work but so proud of ourselves!

SALT LAKE CITY

We arrived in Salt Lake around 2pm and went straight to Temple Square to pick up our tickets to General Conference. It was an ordeal let me tell you. We wont go into it any further than that. The rain didn't help matters.
We had a special dinner reservation for Auron's birthday up at the Roof Restaurant which is at the top of the Joseph Smith Memorial Building and looks out right over the Salt Lake Temple. It was a buffet dinner (Auron's favourite kind of restaurant) however it was a pretty fancy buffet. Lili was quite taken with the lobster mac n cheese. That will not likely ever make  the menu at home! AUron got a bit spoilt with the waitress setting up his place with sparkles and a special ice-cream cake and candles. They had beautiful live piano music playing, it was a really amazing experience. Although it is quite expensive we would highly recommend you go if you ever get the chance. It was just magical, even with 3 little kids.
When we finally got back to the AirBnB we were staying at Auron FINALLY got to have his big present he had been waiting months and months for, MINECRAFT. He spent the next few hours playing while Lili and Ammon caught up on youtube after not having internet for the past couple of weeks. Aarahi and I enjoyed the hot tub on a freezing cold night.
Being able to go to General Conference was such a blessing and we are so thankful that we have been able to attend twice now and hope to go again one day. We have no photos of actually being there since our phones were flat and we couldn't take big cameras.
The rest of our time in Salt Lake was spent catching up with family and friends.
Next we are off to Moab which was hands down our favourite place we visited. We wish we could have stayed there so much longer but we will be back without a doubt.

Last time we visited Bethany and I were still pregnant with Lili and Samantha now they are almost FIVE

ST GEORGE, ZION, MANTI

Today we woke up early and got ready to leave. Just as we we walking out the door Auron threw up everywhere. After 30 minutes of cleaning him up and trying not to leave vomit covered towels in the room (although it's Las Vegas, I am sure they have had worse left behind) we we on our way again. We made it to the elevator before Auron vomited again, this time he aimed with uncanny precision into rubbish bin with the tiniest hole ever.

The drive to St George took about 3ish hours I think. Auron continued to vomit but by the time we got to the St George temple around lunch time he was coming right. The cause of his sickness I am guess was drinking lots of the gross water at the park the day before. We had all been drinking bottled water but Auron had been refilling his bottle at the refill station. I tasted that water it was foul.

The temple was just a beautiful as I had imagined. It was so nice to just walk around the grounds and enjoy the peace and tranquility.

The hotel we stayed at had the most uncomfortable beds I have ever slept in. I am not sure if it was the beds or the HORRIBLE noisy, crinkling sheets which drove me insane.

Zion National Park was on the agenda for the following day. This place was so beautiful. Red rock canyons are not something we we have anywhere we have ever visited. The kids earned their first Jnr Ranger badge. They had a workbook to complete which involved doing a set of activities and attending a presentation. The presentation of the badge was all very official which was right up Auron's ally. I wish they had more things like that here for the kids to do.

We left the park at around 3pm to head to Manti. The drive was LONG. It had been a beautifully warm day in the park but on our drive to Manti we we surrounded by snowy roads and snow covered mountains. The kids were amazed, but we enjoyed the snow from the warmth of the car. We arrived into Manti around 9pm to the glorious sight of the Manti temple up on the hill.

We stayed in the "forrest" in Manti. Auron was freaked out. Obviously this kid has grown up in the city. The next day he woke up at as big SIX year old. Happy Birthday Auron. While Mum and the others went to the temple we went and got the most incredible milkshakes. I had banana and it had actual banana in it not just flavouring. I'm still day dreaming about it now. We met up with everyone to take photos at the temple before driving through to Salt Lake. 

Auron was still not up to photo taking yet

Photos can not do this place justice!

Manti Temple