3 years since our wedding

On the 30th December Deric and I celebrate our third year wedding anniversary. We got to thinking about how much we have done since we met each other five years ago….. Also to try understand why we are both so tired!!!! So please indulge me while I list what has happened in our lives in the past five years. It will explain why I have been saying that I want to stay in one place this year, no holidays, no crazy excitement.

We have had……
• 3 deployments – Iraq, Afghanistan, Columbia (Deric)
• 1 wedding – Johannesburg, South Africa
• 1 marriage – Las Vegas, USA
• Had 3 jobs – London (Producer) North Carolina (Sponsorship) and Dance teacher (Jo)
• Moved to 4 countries – England, Germany, USA, South Africa (Jo)
• Completed 1 BA Degree (Jo)
• Started a masters (Deric)
• Lived in 2 states – NC, KS
• Had 2 kids
• Had 78 weeks of pregnancy
• 1 cat

• Holidays in USA
o New York
o Las Vegas x2
o Virginia x7
o Maryland x2
o Miami x2
o North Carolina
o South Carolina
Key West

• Holidays in Europe:
o England
o Ireland
o Spain
o Scotland
o Greece (and islands)
o Italy
o Denmark
o Germany
o Austria

• Holidays in South Africa:
o Johannesburg
o Cape town
o Jefferies bay
o Pilansburg x2
o Sun city
o Tsitsikama forest

• Bought 1 house
• Rented same house out 3 years later
And....met so many wonderful friends!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

And now getting ready to move again in the next 6 months ..... We still no idea where we are going!
One thing for sure, it's not going to be a boring life!!!!!

Kai and Dev's First Interview

Photo Sharing - Video Sharing - Photo Printing

It sure is Christmas time!

Deric came home early today and we all played in the snow - I think 'ninni' was having the best time of all.....



















Then on Saturday we went to a Chrismas concert and to see Santa











We have just been chilling and keeping Devin out of the cold!!! He is growing so much and has already changed. He is still a dream and hardly makes a sound! Loving that... nights are on and off, he is now eating every hour so my time is pretty much occupied for most of the day!

We are really excited for Christmas... I am crazy about this time of the year.

Devin's First Week!

Well hello everyone, I am back – well sort of, things have changed here in the Holbrook house hold. Who would have ever thought that a new baby would change so much in our lives.

What I must say for all those friends of ours who are having their second – RELAX! It is so much easier than I could have imagined. Now granted I have not yet attacked a few questions about having 2.

1) How do I do grocery shopping and still have space in the cart for food?
2) How do I clean the house when Devin needs to be held?
3) How do I make dinner with a 2 year old and a newborn around me?
4) What I do when I need a shower?

These are just a few of the questions I have. I am sure I am with thousands of woman who are starter off #2 moms. Then I bet there are a couple more thousand moms who have 2 or more kids laughing at how they figured this all out.

But apart from that, this little man is amazing. He is very calm and just chills out and eats most of the day. He is a dream! I have decided never to have a 3rd, I don’t think I could get this lucky again! He has not figured out day and night yet – and at the moment he is sleeping all day and at times in a crib. But at night he wants to eat every hour and will not sleep in the crib! That’s the worst of it and it will be over soon. Thank god my mom is here to help me through this, by morning I have had no sleep and I can just hand him to her so I can get some catch up.

I saw Deric updated the blog when Devin was born, but he forgot a very important part of the ‘birth story’.

On our way to the hospital we were pulled over by a policeman for speeding. I could not believe it. It felt like something in a movie. We then started to tell the policeman (who was very nice by the way) that I was in labour and we were on our way to the hospital……… now how many times do people use this one to get out of a ticket? He looked at us like ??????? Well It’s not like your having contractions all the time when having a baby, most of the time you look pretty normal. So I showed him a book I had with me with all my contraction times in it. I might have thrown in a small, almost fake contraction to prove my point – but that’s still up in the air whether I was faking it or not!!!!! He then got that we weren’t playing and let us go. I sat in silence and in shock that this happened to us! Oh, after I told Deric to slow down!

Kailey is great, she loves the baby and the extra attention she is getting, also by having ‘Nini’ (granny) here. She feels like a real big girl and has the job of handing me the baby’s diapers when changing. She takes this very seriously. She always runs through in the morning looking for the baby and gives him a big kiss. The rest of the day she tries to hold him and kiss him. Today I caught her reading to him. Too cute!

Deric’s class has been feeding us this past week – We are so grateful to everyone who has made sure we are well fed and trust me, we are eating well!! This is the biggest gift you can get when you have a baby, the last thing on your mind is what’s for dinner, cooking, cleaning up and shopping! Thank you to everyone – I promise to pay it forward!

In other news – today I found out that I am officially a legal alien in the USA. I have been on probation for the past 3 years, and now I can apply for my passport! This is such a relief! We did not even have to go in for an interview , which my immigration lawyer says only happens to 10% of all applicants.
Phewwwwwww is all I have to say!

Also to finish my lucky one week birthday – Deric entered me in a competition at the Clarins counter in Macys this weekend, and I won a hamper!
My neighbor said I should go to the shop tonight and get a lottery card!

The latest Devin and Family Photos

Happy Birthday Devin Clive Holbrook!!!

The day has finally arrived. Joanne gave birth to Devin Clive Holbrook at 5:38am CST on December 1st, 2008.


The bouncing baby boy weighed in at 8lbs, 1oz and was 20.1 inches long. Both Devin and Joanne are in excellent health. They are both eating, pooping, and resting well (all three are very important for both mommy and baby). The labor was actually very easy and pleasant for all of us. We checked into the hospital at 12:01 am CST after about 3 good hours of regular labor at home. They admitted Jo at 5cm and 75%, let her go through a 2 more hours of contractions, gave her the epidural at 6cm, which then allowed us both to sleep for nearly 1.5 hours, we woke up and she was 10cm dilated and ready to push. Two practice pushes and one real push later.... Devin popped out!!! Yes... that's a grand total of three pushes for kid #2!!! Joanne was very excited about that. By 6:00am CST, Devin was poked and prodded, wrapped up and in Joanne's arms. Too easy!!


That's the story for now. Here are a few pictures to tide everyone over for a day or two. Thanks to everyone for all your prayers and good lucks.... They worked well!!