While we were busy getting the house ready, the pups were tied to our backyard stairs with a 50 ft. long rope each. Delighted with their newly obtained freedom, they explored every single inch of their parameter. They chased lizards, grasshoppers and showed incredible restraint by not getting into a barking marathon with the annoying Beagle that is staying “on the other side of the fence”. We are only missing a gate for the fence, which we worked on last night, but could not finish do to torrential downpours.

Yesterday, we bought an Ikea queen sofa-bed on Craigslist. Originally this three year-old couch would have cost us $900! But we were able to get it from a very cool couple for $200. We have new sheets, silverware, pillows and some food, today after work we hope to buy some dishes and pans move in by tomorrow!

More to come! Got to go…

The house we toured yesterday is located two houses from the beach. Has two bedrooms, one bathroom, shop space, a big storage room, yard and a large porch. Inside, it is modern yet corky, it has a sunroom to die for, where potentially we could have our office and work looking at the ocean. Outside the house is pink and turquoise and would go lovely with some white bugambillas growing in the lower level. It is pretty amazing we found such an excellent fit, even though it is pretty much one of the only houses available in town. Only downside is that it is a little bit more expensive than what we were hoping for. Yet again, we were not looking for a house with almost direct access to a 15-mile long beach. So, for being so close to the coast, the price is rather low.

Our plan of attack is to apply and see if they accept us. If yes, well we will be moving there this weekend. If not, well just keep looking. Worst case scenario we have to go live by one of the suburbs for a year, which would not that bad… Below some photos of the house.

Our friend Broegy came from WI to visit us, driving our car all the way from Jax’s parents home to Anastasia Island. We have been enjoying his company a lot. Hopefully he gets some sun before returning to the still snowy northern state. This Wednesday we have our first appointment with our midwife, which we are super excited about!

Lots more photos of the city to come… I just have to wait until the weather is a little bit nicer so that we can do a more thorough walking tour.

Yaku and Yana are doing great, well Yaku better than Yana. He just settled in like nothing has happened in his life. Yana on the other hand stands by the door and waits, hoping she’ll be let out to Zuleta’s fields. This morning we took them to the beach and Yaku marched straight into the water. Neither of them are afraid of waves or the ocean, although Yana is a tiny bit more careful with it. They are learning to walk in leashes and are pretty good at it. We are now picking up all their poop in little bags, something neither of us or the dogs are comfortable with, but we will get used to.

We are so at peace here, during our drive up from Miami so many of our worries faded away. It feels like we made the perfect choice for Mila, the pups and us. People in town are so extremely nice!! Everyone we have talked to is amazed by our dogs and are so friendly! We had this weird interaction last night at the supermarket with two people who were telling us how nice the local DMV was. It is apparently so so nice than people go to drink coffee and hang out there.

We will be exploring the downtown tonight and waiting for our good friend Broegy to come down to visit from WI and bring our car. Tomorrow we will drive through every part of the city to see neighborhoods and potential houses. But now it is time to go work some! For the week is yet over and there is a lot happening at Invento Media!

PS: Jax is busy working, so grammar and spelling mistakes will not be proofread until later this evening – so, please bare with me.

Tuesday, we spent dealing with dog-travel related bureaucracy (what we thought was our one last bureaucratic nightmare before leaving) and with my sister and mom. We had an amazing lunch together, followed by a night of packing, pizza eating and chatting with my sister and a lot more packing.  At around 11:00pm, when we were closed to done my mom called to inform us that our flight might be cancelled due to some technical issue that American Airlines was facing. An hour later her news was confirmed. Not only our flight, but another 700 were cancelled. So, after a night of packing and thinking we would get about an hour of sleep, we were able to rest.

So, we now leave tomorrow at 6:30 am. This means we will be leaving my mom’s home at around 2:30 am, to be in the airport by 3:30 am. Below I have included some photos of La Casita before we packed it all up, the awesometacular baby shower and Yaku and Yana happy in their new kennels.

We repeated did this for a couple of days and it worked almost every time! So we decided to put some whale music for her to hear and she has reacted to it every time!! We think that it is probably because whale sounds are such low frequency that the sound travels better through the amniotic fluid. Regardless of the reason, we are delighted to have found a way to communicate with her! Making whales my favorite animals – again.

These past days have been busy. We have been packing, celebrating my dad and Caro’s 10th year anniversary and trying to finish taxes on time! Tomorrow we say goodbye to Zuleta and head to Quito to spend a couple days with my mom and sister before heading out of Ecuador. Saint Augustine here we come! Lots of posts to are on their way!

Below, a clip from Pixar’s “Finding Nemo”, an awesome whale I found online – would love to give someone the credit, but I could not find its source, some photos of my belly, some of the wonderful gifts Mila has received from my mom, sis and grandma and Jax and my long exposure experiment.

We have spent this weekend trying to figure out the logistics of our travels, which is not an easy task. We need to find a temporary furnished home that accepts dogs to stay temporarily while we scout the area for a year-long rental and then move into the new house with nothing else than a bag of clothes and our computers… and figure out from there. That’s the short version, to avoid boring you with all of the logistics.

What we have chosen to do right before Mila’s birth is not an easy task. That said, we’ve weighed many many options carefully and it is without a doubt our best and I don’t think we would have it any other way. The thought of what we have ahead does not scare us, but rather fills our life with the excitement of planning and overcoming difficulties, which as always, bonds us even more. During this whole process, I have felt so fortunate to have the spouse I have, so supportive, understanding and more than anything, having someone who I get along so well with. It feels like as long as we are together, we could take on the world.

While I sit and write these words, Jax is looking at kiteboarding videos and looking for more potential rental solutions. Yesterday, we browsed the local Craigslist for furniture and we were very pleasantly surprised when we found a very active list with more than 100 local postings a day. Our nights have been spent talking and psychologically preparing for Mila, as we play with her in my belly. She now moves constantly and she feels just as active as she looked in the ultrasounds. She also responds to our touch and voices, which has made our love for her become almost infinite even though, we have yet to hold her – which we can hardly wait for.

We have also been in touch with a midwife that we like a lot and although we have yet to meet her face to face, having someone who we know is available for August is such a reassuring check off our list. We have been discussing our birthing plan and I have been re-educating myself on all things birth, which reminds me of how much I love being a woman and how, as soon as we are a little bit more economically stable, I will dedicate myself to empowering other women during childbirth and beyond.

And so, those are some of my thoughts for the day. We will now proceed to enjoy our last two weeks and a half in this amazing country.

Our purpose for this year was not only visiting my family, but also being able to create a sustainable business. We have achieved both these goals and now we move to a historic city in the USA to birth our baby girl, Mila. We will be close to the ocean and it will not be long until we are sailing again, for we both crave it. Great waves will soon surround us and we will be able to improve our surfing. I am so thankful for our life, although not always easy, we are happy with how we’ve keep it unfolding in beautiful ways. Below some photos of our trip down the river.

Today my cousin Nacho came visit with a friend from Colombia, Juana. We have been having a great time with them!

Unfortunately something has had to give as our “all work, all the time” lifestyle combined with the pregnancy – and that thing has been photography/writing. Long story short, we have very few photos from my parents’ trip. Most of the below are from a great weekend trip to Mindo with them and a hike we took with Caye’s family this last weekend.