Well folks, it's been an eventful year, with the past 6 months playing host to some major developments. So what did I do with my summer vacation from the blog? A lot.
1. Brian and I traveled! In the 3.5 years we'd been married, we'd been on one big trip together. I grew up traveling, and Brian has a perpetual travel itch, so it's something that we both would really like to do more of but have never been in much of a position to make happen. Until this year! We took two international trips this summer, and Brian has a third lined up for later this year. There's something so... cool ... about having a new stamp in the passport. We went to Israel with a group from church (and Brian stayed for another 2 weeks to do some backpacking and general man-venturing). It was life-changing, and totally awesome, and I will maybe share some snippets from that at some point. Our other international trip was to Costa Rica for the destination wedding of a friend of ours. Israel was awesome, but it was definitely NOT a vacation. Costa Rica was allllll vacation, and it was glorious. We'd like to go back, and for more than 3 days. We'll need the money to start rolling in for that to happen. Which brings me to the next thing I did on my summer vacation....
2. I overhauled my freelance business! With a new website, some legit government registrations, and even official swanky contracts, Ashley Daoust Editorial Services is better than ever. Well, or at least better than it was last year. Wahoo! If you need a freelance editor, copywriter, proofreader, transcriptionist, ESL translator, or grantwriter, I'd suggest you check out my professional site and see if you think we might be a good match. And I'm working up some literature for a new service I'm offering. More on that as it develops. And speaking of developing (I am on a segue roll here!)....
3. I grew a human! Well, sorta, because it's not done yet. We found out in late April that I'm having a baby! I spent part of April, all of May, most of June, and a good portion of July feeling decidedly not-good, so my productivity went waaaaay down as I restricted myself to doing only those things that were absolutely necessary for survival and sanity. I am sending up daily (and sometimes hourly) prayers that this baby will arrive BEFORE Christmas Eve. (I am also hoarding old wives' info on things to do get your baby to come out. Also: two different acupuncturists' numbers are stored in my phone...they both have great track records with their acupuncture inductions.) The due date is Dec. 22, and if I hear one more person say "well that was poor planning" I might have to go on a third trimester pregnant lady rampage. But threats of rampaging aside, we are so excited and maybe a little nervous about the little guy or gal. I'm now far enough along that I go see the doctor every two weeks, and the baby is head-down which means that I get regular kicks to the ribs and innards, while my bladder experiences near-constant pressure. The good news is that it's actually kind of cool, and not a pain in the butt (or diaphragm, as it were). Ah, the miracle of life. And I think the office pools for gender and arrival date are getting started soon, so let me know if you want in on that. I'll be honest, I am not one of those women who thrives on being pregnant. Expecting a baby is awesome... dealing with the physical aspect of it is not so awesome. If I could just stop bumping into things (and spraining things, and tearing nails off, and hitting my funny bone, and feeling barfy at the sight and smell of chicken) I'd be really down with the whole glowing-pregnancy bit. But being pregnant is no joke... it really does a number on you. I don't even recognize my own body, most days. At least my face hasn't swollen up (yet)... so there's that.
So there you have it! Any questions?
yay baby daoust :-)
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