I can finally say it!

I’m pregnant! I’ve been keeping it secret since I hadn’t told family yet, but we finished it adequately this weekend. It’s been so hard to think of things to say here, since much of what I’ve been dealing with has related, darn it, to all day or evening nausea. It’s slowed down my medical transcription something fierce, it’s made it harder to work on my websites, it’s just plain been tough.

But I’m very happy to be expecting. This baby is due about March 22, so just a little before Ariel’s third birthday she’ll have a little brother or sister. We’re hoping to potty train Ariel soon so I won’t have to deal with TWO sets of diapers. We’ve moved her into a big girl bed from the crib already so she won’t think of it as hers when the baby needs it.

The nausea is getting better, so I should be back to a more normal schedule soon. I really want to build up my websites so that I only have to do them after the baby is born. I would love to quit medical transcription so that I would have more flexibility in my days and less stress. I just find website deadlines easier to meet; after all, my only solid one is that I have to get my newsletter out every Tuesday.

I finally have time to tell about my vacation. It was great. Now on with business.

Oh, more details than that?

It was a long drive both ways, more than 1000 miles, but well worth the drive. If you haven’t driven through central California along the 5, you aren’t missing anything, but otherwise much of the drive is quite beautiful. Of course, Ariel is too young to enjoy the drive, but that’s how it goes.

We got a later start than we would normally, because Brent had an interview in Irvine, about an hour north of where we live, at 2:30 in the afternoon, for a job he really wants. So we lost several hours of the first day of the vacation to that. Hopefully it will be worth it. But that meant we didn’t get to Sacramento, our first overnight stop, until about 11 at night, which was far from ideal.

The drive from Sacramento to Nehalem, OR, takes about 10-1/2 hours, so it’s not easy. Lots of curvy roads, but stunning scenery as well. We stayed in Nehalem with my grandparents for three full days, visiting the other small towns in the area and generally having fun. Haystack Rock has some half decent tide pools; not as good as the ones in La Jolla in many ways, but some big starfish. You don’t swim there because the rip tides are very strong, not to mention the cold, cold water.

We drove back home along the 101, which is a longer drive, but very beautiful, and it takes you through some Redwood forests. We took two days to get to San Jose to see my dad, then spent the night there before returning home.

And can you believe it, I survived the entire trip without access to a computer! My grandparents don’t have one, so there really wasn’t a choice. Besides, this kind of trip is far too much fun to spoil by staring at a computer screen all day or even just a short time.