Arriving in Arizona

(I wrote this blog on Monday the 26th and I'm just now posting it, sorry! There will be another update again soon!)

Well the traveling has gone well and I'm now in Tucson, sweating it out like the rest of 'em here and trying not to complain (too much) about it.

Before moving on, I want to share some pictures we took on Wednesday night. I asked my friend Brett to stop by just so that we could have a few pictures of Nick and I together while I'm pregnant.

(sorry for the blurry pics - there's several others but they didn't make it into my luggage to come to AZ with me)

I'm a lucky girl to have even made it down here right now, the weather in Petersburg last week was probably the worst it's been since I moved up there. The day before I was set to fly out we had super strong winds, one of our two daily flights cancelled completely and the other (which goes to Juneau before you can connect to go anywhere else) was suck there. Everything in Juneau was grounded that entire day. Needless to say, now I was nervous about flying! However, Thursday morning we wake up and it's partially cloudy, no more disastrous winds and everything appears to be running on time. I made it to Seattle just a little early and met Uncle Dave and Aunt Marge at the airport. We headed to their house, had dinner and spent some time catching up. The next morning I checked in on Facebook and see all the posts from Petersburg people about "gale force winds hitting the side of my house" and "the power's out". I got to speak with Nick a little while later, the power was still out and he had about 6% battery left on his phone. Things were blowing past the house, trees were falling down all over the island and major mudslides were happening. Yikes! Nick and his dad had to clear a few trees that had fallen down in his dad's driveway. Luckily at our house there were no major slides or fallen trees but even Nick said it was pretty damn scary. It sounds like the weather has lightened up, Saturday and Sunday were partially sunny and I think the forecast is looking decent. Come to find out today that our satellite is out and poor Nick, sitting up in our house on the side of a mountain all alone doesn't even have a working tv. Good thing Boomer is there to keep him company, but I bet that little dog was pretty scared too.

Getting back to my trip. Friday during the day, Aunt Marge and I went to Edmonds, walked around the little shops there, had lunch, then walked around at the marina and stopped for ice cream. This was the second trip for ice cream in Seattle and I wasn't complaining. That evening we met up with Rachel and had an amazing dinner at a little place downtown and walked to the theatre. This show was a collection of 4 works by a choreographer named Christopher Wheeldon. Mostly it was contemporary ballet, kind of a mix of traditional with modern movement. The evening was very centered around the dancing itself, and very little in the way of story lines. I absolutely loved the ballet and little baby did too! She squiggled and squirmed through most of the performance, doin' her own thing to the music.

Saturday was travel day number 2. Just one 3 hour flight from Seattle to Tucson, but lots of time spent in the Seattle airport. Mom and Dad were at the airport to pick me up and we just headed home. That night Kevin and Tricia came over for dinner along with Uncle Jim and Aunt Barb who were in Tucson visiting Sean who just started school at the U of A. It was a really fun evening and I'm glad I got to spend some time with family right away. Big brother Kevin has already fulfilled his duty and made me cry. Hysterically. Because of laughter. We were lounging around, chatting and playing with my belly a little. Kevin is fascinated/grossed out with the little part of my belly button that sticks out sometimes (I had one woman refer to is as nose. Anyone else heard this?) Well I was showing him how after the baby had moved around, it wasn't sticking out anymore. And then I laughed. A good "belly laugh" were my muscles tightened up and wouldn't you know it that little belly button just jumped out and reached for the sky. This was funny so then I kept laughing and with each laugh it would move in and out again and I was soon crying so hard that mom wasn't sure if it was more tears than laughter. I tell you, those pregnant hormones do take over though, whatever the emotion is, it's going to be 10 times stronger than really necessary.

Sunday was a relaxing day spent getting settled in to my new room (completely redecorated and beautiful). Then it was time for another theatre outing; Mom and I headed downtown for yet another delicious dinner and then a production of West Side Story. Honestly neither of us were particularly blown away with the show, but the dancing was great, and the stop at Dairy Queen on the way home just topped off a great evening.

Today is the day I meet with my first midwife! The appointment is in just a few hours and I'm so excited to get this process started. Since it's a birthing center, there are 4 (I think) midwives there and I will try to meet them all before delivery. I'll also get a tour of their facility learn a little more about how they operate.