Announcing: Oliver Alton Sprague

Born Tuesday, April 13 at home in Bristol, England at 9:40PM, BST

7 lb. 1 oz.

We are very proud to announce the birth of our son, Oliver Alton, who arrived very swiftly at home and was delivered by his Daddy!

Terra started having very mild and sporadic contractions on the evening on the 12^th, which stopped late night.  They started again around 2pm on the 13^th while sister Anoush was at nursery.  By 6pm they had regulated to about 5 minutes apart, and increased in intensity, but we managed to enjoy a nice family dinner together.  We put Anoush to bed just before 9pm and called the hospital to start the process of notifying the midwife unit.  Immediately after the call, Terra’s waters broke and just a few minutes thereafter the on-call midwife called to say she was on her way.  It became quickly evident, however, that our baby was arriving at a fast pace, and the midwife was unlikely to make it in time.  Jason called for an ambulance, and, with the guidance of the emergency operator over the phone, and four quick pushes from Mommy, he delivered Oliver at 9:40!  The EMT arrived just minutes after, followed promptly by two midwives who were surprised to see that baby had already arrived!

Terra and Oliver are both very healthy and feeling well!  He’s been a very good eater and sleeper and the past two nights has only woken up twice during the night.

Anoush adores her little brother and is learning to call him Ollie, which will be his nickname.  She wakes up each morning and says ‘hi baby’!  She loves to hold him and show us where his nose, ears, eyes, fingers and toes are.  So far, she’s shown few signs of jealousy and we’re pleased that the transition has been rather smooth thus far.

We now look forward to some upcoming visits from family in the weeks and months ahead.  We are unsure when our first trip home to the US will be.  It will take some time to get Oliver’s passport, and it’s unlikely that we’ll make it home before autumn.

In the meantime, keep looking here and on Facebook for more pictures, videos and updates.

Merry Christmas!

Christmas Greetings from Armenia!  We are spending the holidays in Armenia, where December 25^th is just another day, as Christmas will be celebrated here on January 6 based on the Armenian Apostolic calendar.  Whenever or whatever you celebrate, may this be a special holiday season for you and your family!

Sprague Family Update

It’s been quite some time since we’ve posted anything here on our website, and while many of you have been keeping up with us via Facebook, others of you have been completely left in the dark.  Here’s a quick update on the Sprague family.  Both of us have completed our masters degrees (Terra’s an MEd and Jason’s an MBA), graduating from their universities with high honors and are still living in Bristol, England.

Jason is working as a management consultant for Happold Consulting based out of their Bath office.  He travels two or three days a week to client sites in Manchester, London and Birmingham and the balance of the time works in the Bath office or from home.  He helps clients to plan and implement change processes in their businesses.  He’s also staying busy helping in a volunteer capacity as a trustee for Changes Bristol, a non-profit charity that offers talking therapy for people with mental health problems.

Terra is working on a contract basis at the University of Bristol’s Graduate School of Education doing some report editing, researching and writing on a variety of projects.  Most notably, she’s helping to write and manage the production process of an upcoming book about educational priorities in small states of the commonwealth, which is due to complete by Easter.  She’s still on the hunt for funding to start her PhD next autumn, researching cultural impacts of recent education reforms in small states, Armenia in particular.

Anoush is growing leaps and bounds in both physical and cognitive senses.  She’s a 20 month old cuddly chatter box who is quickly learning the art of wielding her free will.  Here favourite phrases now are “happy day” and “you okay?”  She loves to help Mom with laundry and sweeping the floor.  She is very good at entertaining herself and loves playing with her dolls and stuffed animals, coloring and is still a big fan of reading and going to the library.

We have some big family changes on the horizon as well.  If you haven’t heard, we’re expecting a baby mid April.  Tera is 22 weeks pregnant and feeling well with a returned sense of energy and enjoying the second trimester.  Given the circumstances of Anoush’s birth, she’ll have a late-pregnancy scan around 37 weeks to be sure this baby doesn’t prefer the breech presentation, and provided a normal presentation, will be allowed a home birth with the midwifes.  Given our growing family situation, we’re also moving into a larger apartment after the first of the year.  We are still in Bristol and will actually be moving just five minutes up the road from our current place.  If you’d like our new address, let us know and we’ll gladly send it to you via email.

A Trip Home

On October 1, Anoush and I traveled from Bristol to my hometown to spend a few months with family. We’ve had a wonderful time full of great experiences including: Katrien’s second birthday party, Aunt Connie’s wedding, Aunt Wendy’s induction ceremony, a visit to see Great Grandpa Sellers, home football games, raking leaves, Halloween, and just spending evenings with cousins, aunts and grandparents. Anoush has quickly adjusted to being in a household full of hustle and bustle and now seems to enjoy being in the middle of it all.

I’ve been substitute teaching a few days a week and have enjoyed teaching not only elementary, middle and high school classes but also gym! Anoush enjoys her days with Aunt Kim and her cousins, Katrien and Kiera.

There are two sets of pictures, and more to come (I need to get more from my sister’s camera and will put those up soon to include our trip to see Grandpa Sellers). Just click on the photos tab at the top of this page and open the top two galleries to view the pictures.

Keep your eyes out for more to come.