The Biggest Adventure Yet

Google analytics on this blog stopped working ages ago, and I don't plan to fix it as it's rather freeing to write into the unknown. But, it does mean that I have no concept of how many people are reading and how many of you I know in actual life. I've always tried to strike a balance with this blog, which I aim to make both a correspondence for keeping friends at home in the loop and as a tool for other expats and those thinking of making the move Down Under. I seek to be both honest and maintain some level of privacy for myself and even more so for my Partner-in-Crime.

So, I've puzzled for some time over how and when to share "the news" here. If you know me in life, it won't be news at all, but for the rest who read along, I'm happy to share that our family is going to grow to a Trio-in-Crime come early February.

We made the announcement on Facebook a couple weeks ago with this photo we'd been saving since our last trip to Port Stephens.

I feel like I have to say that I'm not actually ginormously prego, now or in this photo, which was taken months ago.
Just the sun angle and a big scarf.

P-i-C and I are both very excited about this next, very welcome chapter in our adventure together. 

In my mind, I have always been clear about the thesis of this blog: to share my experience of being an American expat in Australia, whether that be cultural differences or just what day-to-day life is like. I don't intend to change the mission of these pages. I have no interest in "mommy blogging," which I mean as no offense to the mom bloggers out there, whose writing I have already found immensely helpful. It's just not what I want to write about here. That said, my life is obviously going to change immeasurably, so this may become an expat blog with a bent in the direction of what it's like to be a new mother in Australia, in a culture I am still learning, and far away from family and my closest friends. 

So far, the biggest cultural adjustments for me have been learning the lingo (crib=cot, stroller=pram, diaper=nappie, pre-natal=ante-natal, baby=bub) and maneuvering the health care system, which is not complicated, just new to us. Since we've decided to go with midwifery care in the public system, it's somewhat different from what I would know to be normal in the States where we'd probably have an OB/GYN and private insurance. So far, I could not be happier with our choices, both of using the public system and enrolling in a midwife clinic, and will be sure to share our full experience when all is said and done. I consider us extremely fortunate to have a lot of great choices in terms of where and how to have the baby.

Finally, one of the coolest things about our baby is that, due to our expat status, he/she (we don't plan to learn the sex ahead of time) is going to carry around three passports: an American one, one from the European country P-i-C hails from, and also an Australian passport (bub is going to be an Australian citizen before we are!). How lucky is this kid? I hope it means we're going to raise a curious world-traveler. This is a definite perk of the expat life.

At this point, there's not much more baby news to share, and I fully expect that this blog is going to return to "regularly scheduled programming" for at least the short term. I'm planning on one more Spring and Summer full of free-wheeling (if a little weighted down and alcohol free) harbourside enjoyment with P-i-C, our friends, and my favorite Sydney places and events. More to come on all of these fronts.