We're in!

We got all of the keys yesterday and have officially moved in...with 7 suitcases, a double bed, 4 lounge chairs for the pool, 2 small, plastic tables (also for the pool), a stove, a mini-fridge, and a microwave! We are camping out until our sea shipment arrives (hopefully sooner than the 2nd week of July that they are quoting us since that's when we're scheduled to return to the US for 2 weeks!), but our air shipment arrives tomorrow morning! Not that there's a ton of our stuff in it, but it will be so nice to see familiar things and to use our own towels and sheets again! 

Casa doce casa!

(Home sweet home!)

After almost 3 months of negotiating our the contract for our house, we finally got the keys to our house this weekend! We are homeless no more and after 4 weeks of hotel living, we hope next week will be the end of it! We met the owners on Saturday who were surprisingly sweet and lovely after 3 months of sometimes not so nice negotiation discussions -- between lawyers, of course! We have a list of things that still need to be done before we can move out of the hotel and start camping out for the next month before our sea shipment arrives...hopefully at the end of June! Our air shipment arrives on Wednesday and instead of dealing with the 15 days it would take to clear customs, we are just paying the taxes so we can get it (hopefully!) in about 5 business days. Much more economical than paying for (or living through!!) another 15 days in the hotel! 

I will definitely miss having breakfast and our bed made everyday, but I am just itching to get into the kitchen and make dinner! I normally eat really well ("everything in moderation" is my motto!) and especially now since I'm supporting another human life and all, but it has been really difficult since we eat out all the time. I do take my prenatal vitamins everyday and calcium supplements when needed, but the mini-fridge in our hotel room only holds so much fruits and vegetables! The baby is growing ahead of schedule (more on that below!) so I guess I'm doing something right! Oh the mommy guilt! Starting already! :) 

I'm also really looking forward to getting into the house and our new neighborhood ( condominio fechado) and getting into a routine (which is arguably the LAST thing we should do, per our security briefing today at Bond's office...another post on this to come!) and getting to know our new neighbors better. Being an only child, I'm definitely not lonely as a good book has always been more than enough company, "but no man is an island" and I miss having my  girlfriends around. Combine that with the fact that I'm going to be in a house all day with nothing to do but take care of a newborn (thanks to hiring a maid 3x/week...again, another post coming soon!) and email and Skype can only help so much! 

Luckily, I've met a bunch of great women down here so I know they won't let me go crazy, but this weekend I met another gal who I just knew we'd be instant friends when she showed me the scars from her c-section and shared some pretty personal info within an hour of meeting me! Also a midwesterner, it was great to be able to relate to her AND to have her (and her experience!) close by in those early months when the baby's here, I know will be a Godsend! 

So, basically, we are getting closer everyday to getting settled and finding our ground here...and I have a lot more to post about than I thought ::sound of whip cracking::!

As for the baby, she is growing like a weed in there! I am 25 weeks pregnant today, but as of our last ultrasound on Friday, she is measuring where she should be at around 26 weeks! Bond is 6'4" and I'm 5'(almost, so close!)7", so I don't think she'll be a gymnast one day, but I'm already regretting not buying more 3-6 month clothes since I was thinking I could get more when we're home for the holidays in December! Oh well, more shopping when we return in July, I guess! 

I think I mentioned that our ultrasounds (yes, plural...as in we will have 3 more that are already scheduled before our bebe arrives!) are performed by an MD and not a tech! Healthcare here is another thing that is great...if you have private insurance, I should say (again, very grateful!) The MD was lovely and spoke English enough to point out that our baby is developing perfectly, but I had a little breakdown on the table, which she thankfully thought were just tears of joy! There was a lot that she was saying in Portuguese, of course, and Bond was talking to her and responding to her questions, but he wasn't telling me every word, (much less every comma!) of what she was saying, he was just summarizing it and I got really upset, even though nothing was wrong with the baby and that much I knew. (Just another reason to get back to my flashcards and study, study, study!!)

At any rate, I quickly recovered when she switched over to the 3D/4D images on her ultrasound machine! The last time we saw her this way, you could only make out her appendages clearly and if you squinted, you could see her eyes, nose, mouth, etc. But this time, we can tell that she has Bond's nose (thankfully!) and I think my cheeks (poor girl! I still get them pinched every now and again!) and possibly my lips, but they look a little fuller, so she's a lucky girl! :) We can't wait to meet her and I think our sea shipment should arrive just about the time my "nesting" instinct is supposed to kick in, so we have much to look forward to!