Popham Beach State Park

On Sabbath, September 15, 2012, Jonathan and I drove the 45 minutes from his parents house in Brunswick to spend the afternoon at Popham Beach State Park. (It's the other sandy beach in the area beside Reid State Park.) We enjoyed wading in the chilly ocean, looking for sand dollars, and during low tide, walking out to the large rock that becomes an island at high tide.

Here are our photos of another beautiful tourist spot in Southern Maine from that afternoon. (Apparently Jonathan took a lot of photos of me. There are a couple of him, too, hidden in the post.)

34 weeks

I reached 34 weeks on Monday. Only six weeks left (ish) until we meet our baby!

Yesterday we finished a four-week childbirth class taught by one of the midwifery students working with our midwife team. The class featured a nice mix of review information that we already knew or had read, as well as new information and ideas that were great to learn. We enjoyed the small class size of only us and one other couple, as well as the teacher and one other student midwife who also joined to listen, learn, and contribute each week. It was also nice that the class took place only once a week and the series was finished in four weeks, although that did mean that each class time was three hours long. Our teacher always brought snacks and encouraged us to bring food to eat during the class, though, so the longer class time wasn't too draining. And about halfway through each class session we always got up and moving by practicing different stretches, exercises, and birthing positions. Although we had originally wanted to take a Bradley birth class, the lack of Bradley teachers in Maine combined with our move at an awkward time during my pregnancy meant that doing that twelve-week course didn't work out for us for this pregnancy. Hopefully we can take the Bradley class next time. All in all, though, we are very happy that this class, sponsored by our midwife team, started just after we moved here, and that there was room for us to join and learn more about this birthing process that we'll be going through shortly.

Moving on, I've been getting by for church clothes by wearing a loose, flowy skirt and a dress top that has always been a bit large for me, but that I've always thought would be perfect for pregnancy as it's loose and drapey from the bust down. It's been working fine since we left Maine because we've been going to different churches each week while traveling and looking around for a new church family here in California. But I did finally buy my first maternity dress sometime during the past two weeks (featured above). I'm not sure if I'll actually wear it to church, but it's cool and super comfortable, perfect for this hot weather.

Speaking of weather, it's getting pretty warm here. The week we arrived in Folsom was the hottest one of the year to that point, but luckily for us, it cooled down again a bit in the following weeks. This week, though, it's going to be getting pretty hot again, and next week looks even hotter. And this is only the beginning of June. Northerners, please don't complain about winters. In my opinion, even the worst of winters are a hundred times better than weather that is too hot. At least in the cold you can always add more clothes, but there's only so much you can take off in the heat... Thank goodness our apartment complex has a pool! (And for the record, I don't really think I'm more sensitive to the heat simply because I'm pregnant. I still don't get nearly as warm as Jonathan does, and when we turn on the A/C in our apartment I'm the first one to mention when it's getting a bit too cool.)

I've been getting a lot of people asking me what my baby is, girl or boy. When I answer that we're not finding out until the baby arrives, I get some pretty interesting reactions. Some people say something like, "Oh, well that's OK," as if consoling me for not knowing. I find that amusing because it is our choice not to find out, so we definitely realize that it's OK that we don't know yet... Other people say something like, "Yep, that's how it always used to be," or "That's how it was for me back when I had my kids." And a few others (mostly midwives/OBs) are excited to hear that we don't know yet. "I love it when it's a surprise! It's so much fun to find out once the baby arrives," is their usual response. Some people ask me how I can stand not knowing, and honestly it hasn't really been something I've been struggling with. I feel this pregnancy has just flown by and I haven't had too much time to spend worrying about if the baby will be a boy or a girl. Of course I've sometimes imagined the baby being one or the other, but it definitely hasn't been a constant, burning thought. I'm still very satisfied with our decision to wait until our baby arrives to find out what we're having.

Another thing a few people have asked us is if we have a name picked out for our baby yet. When asked that question, we always look at each other, laugh, and respond, "Not yet." Like I mentioned in one of our first pregnancy posts, way back in January, Jonathan and I don't really agree on names. We didn't back when we were dating and we still don't. We do have a very small list of names that one likes and the other admits is fine, but hardly any that we both really like. In the past week or so we have tentatively agreed that one boy's name is fairly okay, but for girl's names, we're still pretty far apart in our ideas. Hopefully actually seeing our baby will give us some ideas or bring our thoughts closer together. If not, I have no idea how we'll ever agree on a name for this little one!

And that's about all of the interesting updates I can think of to share with you at 34 weeks. I'm sure they'll be plenty more in another couple weeks!

52 Project

The 52 Project is a photo project to take a portrait of your child(ren) once a week, every week during a calendar year. Obviously we won't be able to do so until our baby arrives, but we plan to join the project in July and continue on with it throughout the rest of the year, and hopefully in coming years as well. (We did discuss starting this in January and just taking baby-related photos until July, but eventually decided that we'd rather just start it when there's actually a baby around to take photos of.)

The 52 Project is hosted by Jodi of Practising Simplicity.

32 weeks

I guess I'm going to go ahead and post a photo every two weeks now instead of once a month. There should be enough change and enough to talk about to warrant a post each fortnight during the third trimester, right?

The photo for week 30 was taken in the hotel room that we were staying in while looking for an apartment, but this week the photo was taken in our new apartment! We're excited to have found a place, and on Sunday Jonathan pretty much single-handedly moved our things into the apartment (with a tiny bit of help from me carrying anything small and light). We are so relieved and happy to have found a place to live and to have our things with us again! Now begins the monumental task of unpacking and finding places for everything. How do we still have so much stuff?! We got rid of tons before we packed up in Maine, but somehow we still have quite a bunch of boxes. Once we have most of the necessary items unpacked, we'll start working on acquiring the basic baby gear. If any of you have suggestions and/or recommendations, definitely let us know. We love advice!

Baby G is still moving and grooving, and of course still enjoys the nighttime hours best to do his or her exercises. I had quite a sore back for the most-of-the-week that we were in our apartment before our things arrived, since the only place we could sit during most of that time was on the floor, and we were sleeping on camping Therm-a-Rest mattresses on the floor, so I am thrilled that we have our bed now. We're just sleeping on the mattress on the floor at the moment, but it's one of our first priorities to set up the bed frame and get up off the floor. We did also buy a kitchen table and chairs midway through last week, so at least we have had some chairs since Wednesday, which was a huge improvement over sitting on the floor all the time. The only other pregnancy symptom I'm feeling right now is a bit of reflux every now and then, mostly when I lie down to go to bed at night. Propping my head up with two flat pillows (instead of my usual one flat pillow) seems to work fairly well to get rid of the reflux. All in all, I still feel pretty good for the vast majority of the time, for which I am extremely thankful!

During the first week of May (the week we first arrived in the Folsom area), we met with a few different midwife teams and it didn't take us long to make a decision about which team to go with for the remainder of our prenatal care and for our birth experience and postpartum care. We felt at ease and very comfortable with the team right from the start and think it will be a great fit for all of us. We had our first appointment with our new midwife team on Wednesday, May 13 and it went well. The day before, Tuesday, May 12, we also started a childbirth class with the same team that is taught by one of the student midwives, and it has been a great experience so far. There is only one other couple in the class, which means we have lots of time for discussion and questions and practicing various things that we're learning. So, all in all the past two weeks have been pretty full and busy, but we've made good progress with finding caregivers here in this area, and starting with appointments and classes. Only 8 weeks (plus or minus) left to go before we meet Baby G in person!

Finally in Folsom!

We made it! We drove into Folsom, CA just after noon on Monday. We stopped in at Intel to drive around their parking lot and check out the large buildings and surplus of parked cars.

Obligatory picture by the Intel sign

Next we started finding some of the housing options we had already picked out to drive by and look at. We spent several hours looking at apartments, then took a break to find a hotel to spend the night, as well as relax in during the hottest afternoon hours (you'll find out why this is important later). Once we settled in, we spent the time looking for some more apartments, and when things started to cool down outside, we headed back out to check them out.

Last night and this morning we contacted the property managers of some of the places we liked, and then went out to tour them. There are a lot of places to look at, but also many things to consider while making the choice of where we want to live for the next year or so. To add to this, we want to choose a place as soon as possible so we can have a few days to get settled before I start work.

And to wrap up this post, here are a few facts about our road trip west.

• We drove through or into seventeen states (some of them new states for me).
• We visited two national parks and one monument (Arches NP, Grand Canyon NP, and Four Corners Monument).
• We visited six different sets of relatives during the past week.
• I saw a buffalo for the first time (in a corral with a bunch of cows).
• Our A/C, which was recharged the week before our trip, died sometime between driving over the Rockies in Colorado and arriving at Arches National Park in Utah. The rest of the drive through Utah, Arizona, and California was less than pleasant. It has also made driving around in CA each day a bit warm as well, though the mornings in Folsom this time of year are actually quite cool, it just heats up in the late afternoon mostly.