I'm Back!

• I don't know where to begin. With more than a month since my last post and so much adventure and change to chronicle, I think I could blog for days and still not have filled in all the gaps. So let's start with the obvious. Jacob, dogs, and I are safe and sound in California. The picture to the left is our new abode, a charming little mother-in-law cottage we are renting. California prices are a lot to swallow. We are paying double our previous mortgage in rent for half the space. Wow, welcome to the west coast. The trade off is the sheer beauty of the area. I walk the dogs every day (because there is no longer an acre of yard for them to chase around in!) amongst eclectic homes landscaped with teaming tangles of bright flowers, with huge green grassy hills always rising just on the horizon.I don't know where to begin. With more than a month since my last post and so much adventure and change to chronicle, I think I could blog for days and still not have filled in the gaps. So let's start with the obvious. Jacob, dogs, and I are safe and sound in California. The picture to the left is our new abode, a charming little mother-in-law cottage we are renting. California prices are a lot to swallow. We are paying double our previous mortgage in rent for half the space. You CAN NOT buy a decent 2 bedroom here for under $650,000. Wow, welcome to the west coast. The trade off is the sheer beauty of the area. I walk the dogs every day (because there is no longer an acre of yard for them to chase around in!) amongst eclectic homes landscaped with teaming tangles of bright flowers, with huge green grassy hills always rising just on the horizon. Our new place is spacious and comfortable, our land lady is fantastic, and things are just good.
  
  I’ll continue with the obvious. My husband is a civilian. He is handling the transition with grace and humor. His new employment offers him boundless room for personal expression. He is taking full advantage of it by growing a beard and he swears he will have a pony-tail before his next haircut. We’ll see about the pony-tail. Today he went to work wearing a black tee-shirt and jeans, and it’s only Wednesday. Who knows what he’ll wear Friday for dress down day! Last Friday it was kaki shorts! The good news is he loves his job so far. He looks forward to going in each day, and stays late. Not to mention I can’t get him off his lap-top when he is home! Right now he’s doing problem solving on a very techy level with a lot of independence. He is stimulated and engaged. Thank God, because those of us who know him realize a bored Jacob is a destructive Jacob. He has started working out on his lunch hour and hasn’t smoked a cigarette in nearly three weeks! It’s amazing what a little change of atmosphere can do!
  
  And as for me? Well, in keeping with the obvious, I am still pregnant. Thursday will make 30 weeks. I thought I was big at five months, I had no idea what big was…and it baffles me that I have 10+/- more weeks to grow. I’m sorry I have no new pictures yet, but they will be forthcoming. Pregnancy continues to be a cake walk for me, I am healthy as a horse. I love being pregnant, it is as though I was built to make babies… and I guess indeed I was.
  
  I seem to have discovered a zeal for natural child birthing. What started as a curiosity has burst in to a full blown passion after reading Gentle Birth Choices, Birthing From Within, some of Ina May Gaskin’s work ( I can’t find Spiritual Midwifery in stores!), and tons of other books. I feel charged and ready to try to bring our baby into the world here at home with the aid of our WONDERFUL and experienced midwife, Judy. I am blessed to have an open minded and logically thinking husband who not only supports me, but agrees with my preference. It is very empowering. I am sure many of you will have questions and concerns regarding home birth. Tomorrow or the next day I will give some more details on how we reached our decision, and our plans, but if you have any specific questions I would LOVE to discuss them! It’s just about my favorite topic. I apologized to Jacob the other day because all I talk about is babies and birth. He is so cool, he told me he didn’t mind at all, after all it’s “the nearest alligator.” We are both just so excited about going from two to three. The baby is getting so strong, and is so active. If we curl up at night with my belly pressed against his back, both Jacob and I fall asleep to the sensations of our son swimming around inside me. We are blessed.
  
  Well, that’s a start. I’ll be back tomorrow!