First Post -- Welcome, Mexico Trip, Halloween, Pregnancy Update, George's Travels

I have been wanting to make a website for some time that has a blog and current photos etc. of our lives. This would be the place for family & friends to check in and see how we're doing from time to time, see what we're doing, and even leave messages. But, alas, we have yet to make such a website. So I thought I'd make a quick blog on blogger to fill the gap in the meantime. I'll let you know if that website ever materializes. In the meantime, welcome to the new blog, come back often to see how we're doing, and feel free to leave us comments! Also, if you have an RSS reader or Firefox, you can subscribe to this blog.

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Our Trip to Mexico

Click here to view album!

Well, I finally got our photos edited for our trip to Playa Del Carmen, Mexico. This was the first time to Mexico for both of us. We went on a really quick trip (September 30-October 2 -- essentially one full day and two travel days) for our "honey-versary." It was a bit of a frantic trip, being so short and packing so much into such a short time. But I'm really glad we did it. PDC has some things going for it, but I think if I had to do it all over again, I might choose somewhere like Tulum, or somewhere where we could have gotten a bit more flavor, and some more serious ruins. Still, Playa was awesome. And you can read/see all about it in our online photos. Click on the above photo to go to the slideshow. The travelogue is in the comments of each picture.

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Halloween 2006


We attended our good friend Toni's annual Halloween costume extravaganza on October 27th. I have to say I would have enjoyed it more if I wasn't pregnant. It's a weird thing watching everyone else get tipsy, and then have to stay sober yourself when you're just not used to that. Beyond that, I was previously so sick with morning sickness, that I hadn't been on my feet for more than half an hour in a couple months, so standing and chit-chatting was out of the question, and sadly, so was dancing. I was feeling pretty crummy, so we ended up leaving early. The irony of it... my costume was a "party animal" and I was anything but. George was athlete's foot. You should have seen all the screwed up faces trying to figure those two out! :) P.S. my costume had a tail, though you can't see it in the picture.

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Pregnancy Updates

Many of you know already that I (Elisabeth) am preggers. So let's get all of the questions out of the way... I am nearly halfway through the pregnancy, I am due in April. We probably won't find out the sex of the baby because we are doing a midwife/homebirth thing and ultrasounds aren't standard procedure, so it's unlikely we'll get anymore of them done (I had one at 5 weeks to make sure it wasn't ectopic.) Homebirth, yep that's right I am doing a homebirth. Nope, I don't plan on necessarily being submerged in water for the birth, but if it so happens that baby pops out while I am using a bath for pain management, then so be it. Yes I did say homebirth, that means no access to an epidural even if I wanted one, so I don't want to hear any more people telling me to not be a hero and just get the epidural. (BTW I think getting the epidural is akin to getting totally high during the pregnancy, and most of you would never dream of that, so I still don't get how the epidural is ok, but getting high isn't.)

We have a big hospital really close by, so no panicking about things going wrong. Women have been doing it this way for millenia, I will be just fine. And no, I am not afraid of the pain. Any other questions? Ah yes, I am beginning to show. But how much I show depends greatly on what I am wearing and the day. Some days I seem to show more than others. Sorry if this all sounds defensive, but, as I am sure all of you parents out there know, when you announce you are pregnant you get a barrage of a gazillion questions (many of which are surprisingly personal) and you can feel on the defensive a lot.

George and I are very excited. We've heard baby's heartbeat now twice on midwife visits. Also, I feel the baby moving, tickling me, and even kicking me, and I have felt it since an unheard of early 12 weeks! (actually it was just before 12 weeks). But George hasn't felt anything yet. I had terrible morning sickness which I am mostly past (aside from the odd spell of it). I haven't had any cravings. We don't have names picked out. We aren't decorating a baby room (we're going to try co-sleeping so baby will be in our room, plus we are hoping to move soon after baby is born, so it makes no sense to decorate just yet).

I think that's enough baby info for all for a while... but now I will leave you with some pics of a pregnant me...

Click here to view album!

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George is Away for Two Months!
I am all alone in the world. Or the house anyway. George has gone to stay with his family in Miami for a couple months to be with his dad, who is ill. I will probably join him for a couple weeks for Christmas, but until then, I am loooooonely. Ok, it's been less than 24 hours. But saying goodbye for 2 months is really different than saying goodbye for a day or even a week. It was pretty sad! Anyway, I am missing my hubby very much right now, and I am trying to devise lots of wonderful things to fill my time so I won't fall into a horrible depression while he's gone. (Go shopping, check, Eat fabulous dinner, check, play around with photos all day, check, start new blog, check...)


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