Update

We have booked a trip up to Portland, OR in October to go take a look around! Matt managed to wrangle two days off (ah, the joys of working for a small company) and we're going up on Oct. 20th for 4 days. I'm really looking forward to having a car and being able to drive around the greater area to take a look. Right now we're focusing our research in southern WA, in Clark County. Right now I'm thinking that we'll show Matt around the downtown area on Thursday (he's particularly looking forward to visiting Powell's!), then spend Friday - Sunday driving around. I'm trying to decide how to do this without making the process too overwhelming - I think we'll need to take good notes as we do this, otherwise everything will probably be a blur. I'm also hoping like mad that it won't be pouring the whole time!

Another big decision we need to make is regarding just what we're looking for up there... I hope we can have some sort of handle on that before we go up there as I think that will make things easier, but things are always bound to change! I think no matter what we'll go for something with an existing home, but it is a matter of whether we look for something with just a large yard (say on .4 acres or more) and in or very near one of the towns/cities in the area or if we go further out and look at something with at least 1.5-2 acres or more. Both environments have their appeal to me - both allow space for kids to play and for us to have a big garden and at least some fruit trees... but having more space just gives a bit more freedom to put up outbuildings and such, as well as possibly have some goats or whatever if we decide to do so. But being further out also means a lot more dependence on our car in order to do anything off the property, and a lot more travel to do errands, visit other people, etc. So... I don't know. I was leaning towards smaller & closer in, but over the weekend I switched again to larger & further out. Matt just watches the mental whole process with amusement, I think. As he said over the weekend, "Nothing's final until we buy something". I think he's a little tired of the see-sawing, but I'm sure that after almost 5 years of marriage he's entirely used to it.

On another note, we visited Ardenwood Historic Farm on Saturday, which was fantastic. We all enjoyed roaming around, seeing the animals and all the different fields and gardens they have going there. We participated in a very interesting, informative, and informal presentation on working with wool and learned all about how to get from sheep to sweater. She demonstrated a drop spindle, a spinning wheel, and a small table loom, as well as how to comb out the fleece to get something you could work with. Emma also really enjoyed the animal feeding, and carefully placed her handful of hay into the appropriate bin rather than just throwing it over the side of the enclosure. They have all sorts of demonstrations and classes going on all the time, and we'll definitely have to go back. It's really neat that they managed to keep this and turn it into a park, even in such an urbanized area.

Also over the weekend I started having a few Braxton-Hicks contractions, which really took me by surprise. I hardly had any with Emma, and none this early. They feel rather odd, and so different from real contractions. It is nice to know the difference though - I think I would be a lot more concerned if this was my first pregnancy! I miss how much energy I used to have... I'm not sure how much of it is because not doing stuff begets more not doing stuff and how much of it is just not having as much energy because of being pregnant. And it isn't like this is going to get any better any time soon... even after the baby is born I'll still be more tired than I was before pregnancy for a at least a couple months, if not more. It is funny though, even with this I still find myself thinking a lot about the next pregnancy and a third child - and not as in "if" but as in "when". *grin*