Seriously. Just Seriously. Home Birth.

I don't know if I'm brave, strong enough to have a home birth, but this video is SO beautiful and inspiring.  You must read the "3 important things" of backstory by the filmmaker.

We're looking into it and have a meeting scheduled to meet with a highly recommended midwife and doula home birth team the day before my birthday.  My prenatal yoga teacher recommended them and even our current midwife at UCSF had great things to say about them.  We're in the information gathering phase right now and I just need more info before we can decide if it's something I feel comfortable enough to do.  It's sort of silly, but one factor we're concerned about is whether or not our 1930s (?) third floor apartment rental can handle the weight of the pool filled with water in our living room!

But. Seriously.  I'm just so happy to have come across this.  I really love the filmmaker's blog, by the way.  I wish he still kept it up, but that's ok.

Oh, and Devendra. Slays me.

Hello, 3rd Trimester

27.5 weeks

Good Morning from the redwoods!

Last minute, Eric and I decided to rent a cabin in the Santa Cruz Mountains for this wondrous 3-day weekend.  Yesterday we hiked 3.5 miles through redwoods in Big Basin State Park and cooked a homemade chicken pot pie (well, we did cheat with pre-made pie crust) for dinner.

This morning, we enjoyed oj, biscuits, and a cozy fire in the fireplace!  I spent a few hours lesson planning; now we're heading down to Santa Cruz for a trip to Gayle's Bakery and to see the beach.

Many moons ago, I lived here for one year. It was the year before I transferred to Berkeley.  I lived in the redwoods, took art history and Italian classes at Cabrillo Community College, and worked as an Activities Coordinator at Pleasant Care nursing home (still one of the most fun, hilarious jobs I've had!).  I'm so excited to show Eric the sights and share with him pieces of my past.

Udupi Palace, Berkeley

Baby and I are especially loving south Indian delights these days. Udupi Palace and Viks are our favorite places. Fortunately, there's an Udupi Palace in the Mission so we don't always have to make the trek across to east bay when craving chole bhature.

(For my Austin buddies, the closest thing is SWAD.  SWAD is pretty solid, but I will humbly say that the Indian food out here is even more delicious.  No disrespect to my beloved Austin, though!)

No place to hide--25 weeks!

Cha-ya and Lesson Planning

Oh the salty sour of pickled plum sauce.

Point Reyes & 24 weeks

Arch Rock at Point Reyes is one of my all-time favorite hiking spots. Sunday, 2 days before the new year, we drove up the coast so I could finally take Eric here. It was spontaneous and awesome. (Originally, we had planned to go see the Moderninst exhibit at the DeYoung, but it was sold out.). We packed a picnic of goat cheese, roma, basil, and cracked pepper pannini.

We also got in a great workout! I had incorrectly remembered the hike to be about 2 miles each way, but it's actually 4.5 miles each way. The views are so incredible and worth it though, that I kept telling Eric I could do it. And I did!!  I'm just about 6 months along and am really starting to notice faster changes in my body-- like the beginnings of waddling and the difficulties of bending down. Even though this hike has been on the easy side in the past, that wasn't necessarily the case with my new body. I've been struggling with the feeling of "losing control" over my body and fitness in recent weeks so it felt especially great to enjoy this old favorite spot of mine and walk those 9 miles! The smells of wet earth, ocean, and trees were just overwhelming, too. I want to return in a few weeks and bring our friends!