Expecting the Sixth

We are pleased to announce the expected arrival in mid-July of our sixth child. We are all quite excited, the children especially. Bryna, in particular, is thrilled to become a 'big sister' Gaynor traditionally has relatively easy pregnancies and this one is about as well as could be expected for the sixth.

It has been an introduction faster than we would have liked to the US medical system. Gaynor spent some time researching the procedures and attitudes of local hospitals and, unfortunately, found them not in-line with her own. Mostly, they take an 'I am in charge and you are merely the patient' approach, including insisting on monitors, drips and bed confinement. In addition, the two local hospitals only have a limited number of beds where they allow 'rooming in', where the baby stays with the mother. Hospitals further afield are more, in our view at least, enlightened but given the unpredictability of arrival time we'd rather not be attempting to get to one an hour away (and longer if the traffic is heavy). She's therefore engaged a local mid-wife, a profession seemingly not as widespread here in the US as in Australia or Europe. She'll be doing most of Gaynor's antenatal care as well as being there for the actual delivery, which we plan to be a home birth.

Given the results of a recent ultrasound examination, we have a much greater suspicion of the gender of this one than with any of the others -- the first definitive sign being at their birth. It's always been a deliberate choice on our part -- what can I say? We like to have some surprises in our life -- but this time Gaynor peeked and he wasn't being, shall we say, discreet.

Thanks Giving

Ok... I know Thanksgiving was a while ago, but it was fun so I'm going to write about it.
So as you might or might not know we went to San Jose for Thanksgiving which is not far from San Fransisco (about 50 miles or 1 hr). So there is a reason we went there and the reason is a couple of friends we knew from Germany live there. So the drive up there was long about 6 hours. So we get there at 2 am, some might think that is a bit early but really we are morning people. So after waking up our friends and get inside we settle down for another good 5 hours sleep before Ari wakes us all up we had a nice cooked breakfast and it is now Thanksgiving day. We hanged around for a couple of hours before we got too hungry and set off for her sister (his sister in law). They had a semi manchen on a hill not too far away. As you could think their house was big and there were a lot of people visiting from all around the states. They conveniently had a lot of food. We waited around playing pool and other various games while the food finished being prepared. Eating the food was even better than watching it being prepared. The food was good, there was a traditional turkey and a lot more. We played a bit more and nibbled on some food while we waited for the dessert. Finally the desert came there were various desserts such as pecan pie and ice cream. After that we left before the washing up. The next day we went to San Fransisco with our friends and there we met more friends we knew from Australia. We walked across the Golden Gate Bridge. We walked around and found a nice place for lunch. After eating lunch we went to this famous street called : DUNNO We ended up not going all the way up because there was such a long line. After that we split up Dad and I went to the car show and the others wen t o see the fortune cookie factory. The car show was great lots of great cars. And really I don't know much about what went on at the factory. The ones that went to the cookie factory didn't take that long. So went home directly after that. Dad and I stayed at the auto show till about 8pm. We got some take-away on the way home and got home about 8.30. On Saturday we went to big basin Red Wood National Park.
It wasn't that far away. The trees there were really big and wide. We walked a trail there and went home to finish packing before we leave that evening. We ended up leaving at about 6 pm. And
so we drove and drove and drove, till we got home. And that was the trip to San Jose