Here We Are

The third trimester has taken place in Qatar. It has been nice how the pregnancy was broken down into chunks: 3 months pregnant and working in Qatar, 3 months home having fun in the states, 3 months pregnant and back at work in Qatar. Then I will have about 3 months off at home, and a bit more than 3 months of work to return to. Nice little unintentional pattern of threes. 34 Weeks in the desert Most of the third trimester involved a busy school and work life. However, we did get one fun trip in. We took a weekend trip to Jordan, which was more fun than I anticipated. At 30 weeks, I had to obtain a doctor's note for the airline, but in the end, no one ever asked for it. We did a lot of driving (about 14 hours I believe) in Jordan, but saw some incredible sights and travelled with a hilarious group that provided lots of laughs. We spent a day at a fancy hotel spa overlooking the Dead Sea so it turned out to be both a relaxing and adventurous trip. Had to get a shot in the l...

Sarah finds out in Texas! The timing of everything worked out well because we hit the 12 week, through-the-first-trimester point, the week we flew back to the states. We figured it would be much more fun to tell all of our family and friends in person, than to face time them. With the news that the cyst had shrunk, we felt much more confident about telling everyone.  My summer posts tell those stories, about the announcements and reactions.  Mary meets the bump :) Spending the second trimester mostly at home turned out to be wonderful, since that is when I had the most energy and felt my best. It was also good timing for shopping, since we usually do that at home, and my belly was starting to make its appearance. I was able to stock up on most of the clothing and gear I would need for the rest of pregnancy. We did a lot of research and bought a car seat, a stroller, and Maggie gave us a super nice breast pump. Everything is much cheaper and more available in the state...

Before I deliver this baby, which could be any day now, I want to recap the journey of the last nine months. Mostly for my memory, but also to provide a tad bit of insight to people living in Doha who may be frantically searching for information on hospitals, like I was. I'll get to that in the following post. Jake flipped it over and read it Let's start back at the beginning of this year, 2016. Jake and I had talked about having our first child while living in Doha for a couple of reasons. Like many other people, we knew that it would mostly be paid for, that it was safe, and so many other expats here seem to think it is a pretty great place to have kids. On top of that, we knew we were approaching 30, and approaching our debt free date, which was our first priority in coming here. We had, and still have, no idea what the healthcare will be like wherever we end up next, so it seemed a pretty reasonable time to get started. Even though for years we've been wondering ...

Some friends of ours from work organized a trip to Jordan for the weekend, and invited us. After a quick calculation of the number of weeks I'd be, and some research into the airline policy, we realized we could go on our last trip without a baby! Like I said, our friends organized the whole thing so it was totally hassle free. We went with a great group: laid back, nice people, lots of laughs. Couldn't have asked for a better weekend! Even though it meant landing at 12:30 am on a Sunday and getting up for work at 4:30! Totally worth it. 30 weeks at Petra 92 year old man who still lives in the caves Our desert ride- Danieal & Jake So much fun with this crew- Keiron & Erin 30 weeks at Wadi Rum Spa day above the Dead Sea Spoiled- Dead Sea views Climbing around at Wadi Rum

We took a little baby moon to the Maldives during our September vacation, and turns out it is just as lovely as I'd hoped! Jake snorkeling Swimming off our bungalow Whale shark!  25 weeks Lounging on our own island! Love this guy Lazy days The colors were stunning! One of the places we stayed Sea plane out was pretty incredible

In hopes of catching up before baby comes, my posts are about to get significantly shorter. Sorry Northwest. It doesn't mean you are any less loved... With mom at the airport At the end of July, we flew to Seattle, excited and eager to tell/"show" my family our big news. At that point only Destiny and Lacey knew. My mom picked us up at the airport and despite what I thought, she didn't notice! In her defense, she was pretty overtaken with excitement at us being there, giving hugs, and snapping photos. Jake asked her if she noticed anything...and I lightly pressed my hand on the bump, making it pretty obvious. Her reaction was pretty great, and Jake managed to capture it on video.  Telling Dan the news She drove us straight to the Ostrander Family Barn and it was 2AM, but Daniel was still up. Jake threw on his favorite summer purchase, a XXXL t-shirt from Target that said, "DAD BOD," in huge letters across it. Dan was totally surprised too, wh...