Hello Family and Friends,
Happy New Year of the Pig! That’s actually year of the “golden” pig… every 60 years this happens and anyone born during this year will have great luck and fortune. In fact, hospitals have already seen a rise in births because people want their children to be a “year of the golden pig” baby. We had this past week off and it’s been nice just hanging around the house…
Speaking of births and babies… A lot of you already know, but Travis and I are expecting our first baby this June. Obviously, we’re ecstatic but a little anxious too because we know our life is going to totally change but we just can’t imagine how... Yes, we know to sleep when the baby sleeps. And yes, we know to enjoy sleeping-in late now. I can’t tell you how many times people have said that me. : ) I’ll be 23 weeks tomorrow and I feel awesome- almost too good, I’m waiting for total exhaustion and uncomfortable-ness to hit me and I’m sure it will. I had some morning (actually all day) sickness at the beginning but that passed and things are rockin’ along now just fine. I honestly don’t feel that much different and I still can’t believe I’m pregnant. However, I can feel the baby move now and that’s been really cool and has made it more real. At night, when I’m ready to sleep, is when the baby is the most active. My favorite thing to do is lay there and feel it move. It’s pretty surreal knowing that you have a live being in your belly! We had the big ultrasound and everything looks great, which is a relief. We decided not to find out the sex (I know, we’re boring) and we’ll have the baby in China. In fact, we’re staying here the whole summer. The hospital where I’ll have the baby is western style (doctors are all trained somewhere in the west) and the maternity suites are fabulous and they really take good care of you. There have been quite of few women who’ve had babies there that teach at my school and they all were pleased with the care. Quite a few of you have been requesting belly pics- I’m not that big yet, so I’ll wait a little bit and send some soon.
We haven’t really been up to much… We went home for winter break and enjoyed the three weeks back there visiting with friends and family. Travis went on a boy’s only trip with his buddies to Harbin, China at the beginning of February. It’s a town up north that’s very close to the Russian border. It’s known for these really cool ice sculptures. It’s freezing up there, though, and you need to bundle up. They had a blast doing guy things- drinking beer, staying up late, laughing at fart jokes, or whatever they do… you can fill in the blanks. They also went to this snow tiger reserve where they watched the tigers being fed a whole cow. Isn’t that weird? They also ate a hot-pot dinner in an igloo, which looked really fun. There’s a lot of Russian influence in that city, with their food and churches. It’s an interesting little town and a nice weekend trip because it’s only an hour plane ride away. He came back exhausted, in fact he got sick and had to stay home from school one day, but he gained tons of good memories.
Work is going well for both of us. There will be a new counselor next year because one of them will be leaving, so it’ll be nice to get some new energy in my department. I’m taking advantage of some professional development opportunities- a conference on motivational interviewing, one on teenage brain research, and I began taking some online classes through UCLA to get my college counseling certificate. I’ve never taken an online class before but it’s been really good and the information I’ve learned I can take right to my job- which is great. Travis found out that he’ll be able to complete his administration internship at the school. He’ll be working primarily in the middle school, but in addition, have the option to help-out the elementary and high school principals. He’s looking forward to this and the administration has been very supportive as well.
We’re heading off to Thailand again in March for our spring break vacation- also known as a “baby-moon” or some cheesy saying. It’s my last chance to travel before the baby is born and we need to get out of China for a bit, especially since we’re staying the whole summer. There’s also a teacher/counselor conference at the end of the week in Bangkok that we’ll attend. We love it there and can’t wait to see it again…
We hope all is well on your end… As always we love hearing from you even if it’s just to say hello…
Cheers,
Cara and Travis
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