Ten years of marriage,

Can it really be?

Are we possibly old enough

for such a milestone?

Dear Belén, It has been truly amazing to watch you take in the English language and gradually start to use it yourself.  There are some words you know so well you do not need to pay attention as you use them and you even ignore your parents as they try to ask you, “Belén, do [...]

So far Belén digs both of the new additions but we have a ways to go before she will be using the toilet for “real” toilet business.  Right now she likes to take her pants and diaper off, sit there for awhile producing nothing, then wipe with toilet paper, drop toilet paper into the white [...]

The first time I saw a picture of Angkor Wat on my Google desktop, years ago, I knew I had to visit. When we were planning a trip to southeast Asia during the last few months we were living in China, I volunteered to figure out the trip itinerary and immediately added Angkor Wat to the agenda.

It did not disappoint as we saw the most incredible temples and experienced very beautiful people. Cambodia was a captivating place. We hired a tour guide named David who was very knowledgeable about the area and the history and really helped us appreciate all we were seeing. We had only intended to hire him for one day, but he was so great, we hired him for a second.

The temple below, Ta Prohm, you may recognize from Tomb Raider fame.

I don’t know if it’s the relaxing strumming of the guitar or the peaceful feeling of being out on the water with the wind pushing you forward, but I am really excited for him to do it. And I hope I get to take it out for a spin as well!

Whenever I tell people Andy and I work at the same place, the common response is, “Oh, I could never work in the same company as my spouse.”  While we have had our close quarters, mostly when we were living abroad in much smaller work environments, we generally sit in completely different buildings and rarely [...]

We are really jonesing for spring here in the Hoobing household and have walked over the park the last three evenings only to find out each time it was colder than we were anticipating.  Now when I pick up Belén from school and we pass the park on the way home she starts repeating, “Gooooo [...]

And all of a sudden, the end is in view! For some reason, 34 weeks seems to me like I am quite suddenly almost done with this pregnancy thing. Not that this could have possibly happened suddenly…this incredibly gradual, LONG process of baby cooking. But for SO long it felt like I had SO long to go and then now, I am looking at less than six weeks. Since my 34thweek started Saturday, I am technically only 34.5 weeks which makes it even sooner.

Five and a half weeks to mentally prepare myself for child birth.

Five and a half weeks to wrap up everything at work.

Five and a half weeks to make sure every last thing Miss Eloise is going to need has been purchased.

Five and a half weeks to dust off and re-sterilize the bottles and breast pump shields.

Five and a half weeks to finish my nesting rampage.

Five and a half weeks to buy and populate a baby book.

Five and a half weeks to make a birthing playlist.

Five and a half weeks to do everything else I wanted to do before we have the baby (plant a garden, clean the fireplace, straighten the cupboards in the kitchen.)

Five and a half weeks to mentally prepare for having TWO kids one of which will be sucking and crying and sleeping constantly for awhile.

Five and a half weeks to get as caught up on sleep as we are going to be for a LONG damn time.

Five and a half weeks of water, milk or non-alcoholic beer as beverage choices.

Five and a half weeks to learn how to relax enough to give birth naturally, without drugs.

Five and a half weeks of pregnancy.

Period.

Forever.

I can’t believe it.

Please note this is a “TMI” post so read at your own risk. As long-time readers know, I have to discuss poop from time to time to remain a loyal member of the Hoobing family, although as I think about it, Hoobing’s we haven’t had a good poop conversation in awhile, at least one I have been a part of. When’s the next holiday? We need to add that to the agenda of our Easter conversation.

I have been thinking about and missing travel a lot lately. Being 34 weeks pregnant and having a baby moving inside of ma belly is still at the forefront of my mind, yet somehow, I have been able to put that aside for a few moments to recall all of the wonderful places in the world we have already visited as well as those we have yet to see.

Strangely enough, the two thought processes baby and travel wove together late this afternoon when I headed into the bathroom for a pre-meeting moment of reckoning. The urgency of the visit could only mean one thing, which was quickly validated…THE RHEA.