Our Third Move

Since coming to Bristol, we have lived in a couple different apartments. Our first apartment was but a room with a kitchen. It was alright considering we found it on three days notice having come to England with almost no planning. We lived in that apartment which was the old dining room of a 200 year old house for more than two years. Anoush was born in that room and we completed two masters degrees in that room. 24 Elmdale Road will always be special to us.

Upon learning Tera was pregnant with Flip, we began to seek a larger flat that we could afford. Rent and property in general is expensive in England. Tera found 39 Whiteladies Road and we took it because of its cost and location. However, we were a bit hasty and did not think about the details because of the pressure of finding a bigger place before Flip was born. The flat was sufficient but being a basement flat it was damp and dark. The biggest problem was that the front door of the building and the stairwell was over our bedroom and the top floor tenant enjoyed jumping on every step as she came down to leave for work. However, Tera gave birth to Flip, in fantastic fashion, in that apartment. He learned to crawl and Anoush moved out of a crib and into a big girl’s bed. It served its purpose and was a reasonable step up for us but the dust and mold caused us troubles and we looked for months for a new flat.

A couple of weekends ago we moved to a new apartment. It was a tremendous find as it is priced much lower than most because it is an old council flat (think mixed public housing). It is located in Priors Hill,  a 1960s concrete, purpose built apartment block with only 15 apartments. Unlike victorian age properties, this property has closets; four in fact. Also, on the ground floor, there is a large storage cage for the stroller and other stuff we do not want upstairs. On top of having a window in every room (again, a rarity in England), a double oven and we have a dishwasher. It saves us hours each week not having to handwash dishes. The flat is furnished, has a balcony and is set over two floors.

Our new neighbourhood, Kingsdown, is fantastic. It is a huge change from Whiteladies road as it is quite and picturesque and does not have the drunk people screaming outside on a nightly basis. We are a five minute walk from Bristol’s cultural quarter, Stokes Croft but only a ten minute walk for Tera to get to her university building. Our car club has four vehicles in the area so we can use a car on a moment’s notice. The only drawback is we have a half mile walk to a grocery store but we have our groceries delivered so this is only an issue when we run short on milk.

We are quite pleased to be here. Bristol is a lovely place to live. Of course, we miss WNY and Gavar very much but this is a nice way station to what ever will come in the future.

Our address is:
Flat 15
Priors Hill
Fremantle Road
Bristol
BS6 5SZ
England

We would love to have visitors and look forward to receiving family and friends in the near future.

New Family Photos

This past weekend, we had a few pictures taken of us. Anoush and Oliver are changing so quickly. They both did really well and you can see Tera enjoyed herself. If you would like an original size, do let me know and I’ll send you one.

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Plans for JuneSixteen.com

This is our section of the internet although Terra and I own another eleven domains for other ‘places’ on the Internet. I’ve been inspired by our friends Brett and Laura Holt to improve the website. Of course, this takes time and since Oliver’s birth I have been feeling incredibly time poor. Terra just looks at me and smirks because no matter how much I think I have to do she continues to work circles around me as she still wakes to feed Oliver in the middle of the night and does the vast majority of our household duties.

I hope to improve the website. I need to find a way to quickly post pictures from our mobile phones to this website as we do with FaceBook. I would like to find a way to have a post on this website automatically post itself to FaceBook and other social feeds to keep people appraised on what is happening with us.

In addition to improving the usability and look of the site, I hope to improve the articles. We are busy with life and I should write a quick update. Those will be coming. Instead of long 500 word articles or more, I am going to shoot for 100 word paragraphs. Simple, short and quick. I would like to focus more on the kids and capturing their changes. Both of them are changing at a rate that boggles my mind.

If there is something you would like us to post about, do share it in the comments or send an email. As everyone we love is spread out all over the world, to bring you all a bit closer, it is time to share more with you.

Facebook Photos Updated – Again

I’ve imported the latest photos from Facebook on the Facebook page. There are pictures from the summer events as well as random posts.

Click the FaceBook Photos at the top. Future plans will see these photos integrated with the other albums.

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.

Շնորհաւոր Նոր Տարի – Happy New Year

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Tera, Anoush and I wish you a very happy, healthy and successful 2010! Although it is not possible to have all those who are important to us in the same place at the same time to ring in the New Year, know you are with us in spirit.

Tonight, we celebrate 2010 with Roza and Tatevik. Roza has made a tremendous feast of ham, crepes (blinchiq), chicken, salads, fruits and six types of deserts including my favorite Gavar Paklava (22 layers of thin dough with walnuts and honey). We hope in the year ahead we will be able to share a similar joy with you.

Happy New Year!

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!