Doggie Heaven is....

Lots of yard in which to play fetch....

and all the sticks a doggie heart could desire.

Culture Shock

It really is a different world out here on the East Coast. I was prepared for some of the changes: different accents (yes, the people here on South Central PA do indeed have accents whether they like to admit it or not), scenery changes, THUNDERSTORMS (if you ever see thunder and lightning in San Diego it's most likely the end of the world).

There are other things, however, that have taken me quite by surprise. They are as follows.

1. country music. I didn't realize the lack of country music in San Diego until I came here and realized that as I search for radio stations, country music stations account for just about every other one.

2. old people. They're everywhere. I guess San Diego just isn't much of a retirement community because darn if it doesn't shock me every time I walk into a grocery store and realize I'm surrounded by SENIOR CITIZENS.

3. people who are physically unable to pronounce my last name. I married a Puerto Rican with a very common, very simple Hispanic last name. In the last 2 days I've heard this last name pronounced three different ways, none of which were even remotely reminiscent of the correct pronunciation.

4. friendly people. One of the first few nights I was in town, my mom and I took my dogs for a walk. Without fail, everyone who drove or passed by waved hello. With every passing person I asked my mom, "do you know that person?" to which she always responded, "nope."

5. Bugs. I was very upset and unsettled during the x-country drive when I received my very first bug bite in who knows how long. We were at a rest stop in Colorado, and I immediately knew that this was one change I was not looking forward to.

I'm very happy to be here with my parents, but there are those times when I feel like I am experiencing quite a culture shock. This makes me think of Michael and how strange the transition must be for him when he comes back from deployment.

So many things to say... yet so hard to figure out where to begin... or what to write.

As of tomorrow, I will be 30 weeks pregnant. I'm finally kissing the weeks of the 20's goodbye. It's exciting to me. Just another step toward what I've been waiting for all this time... meeting baby.

And the latest? (though, admittedly, I am actually pretty much terrified to put this in writing or even tell anyone for fear that it will change... AGAIN) it seems as though Mike has a replacement. There's a name. Written in as his replacement, and supposedly he's going to be heading back to the states sometime in November.

I'm too scared to get my hopes up... but it's so exciting. He might actually be here... for good. I might not actually be doing the single parenting thing. It all sounds almost too good to be true.

Right now, though, I'm just taking things a day at a time. Pregnancy at this point is pretty uncomfortable, and I can only expect it to get more so. I have trouble keeping up with my 57-year-old mom and 63 year-old-dad on our evening walks with the dogs. It's quite interesting, and I sometimes have trouble believing that I will ever be back to my old self.

My stomach squirms around on a regular basis these days. It's actually the baby doing the squirming, but I'm not sure I've fully processed the whole baby thing yet, so for now I'm captivated to watch the movement of my belly. Even when I can't feel the movements sometimes, I can see them. Pretty neat. I do hope that Michael arrives back at least a few days before the baby is born so that he can experience this with me.

Overall, I'm really looking forward to fall and all that it will bring to my life.

I have arrived

*whew. I am exhausted! 5 days on the road and a day of frustrating phone calls to insurance and doctor's offices will do that to you, I suppose.

The trip was... perfect. I really cannot complain for even one moment. Though we drove through several major cities, we never hit traffic even once. The weather was lovely. We easily found affordable hotels that accepted my 2 dogs every night, and we arrived in one piece. What more could we have asked for?

Our journey went like this: California - Nevada - Arizona - Utah - Colorado - Kansas - Missouri - Illinois - Indiana - Ohio - West Virginia - Pennsylvania - West Virginia - Maryland - Pennsylvania

The last leg of the trip (everything that follows Ohio) doesn't seem to make much sense, but according to my bro-in-law who is Ohio-born-and-raised this is the best route back to my hometown from Ohio taking into account the roads you go on and all of that lovely stuff.

Overall, Colorado is by far the most scenic/beautiful state, though my dad might beg to differ and say that West Virginia is. I told him that's why he lives out here on the East Coast. Kansas was the most BORING state as far as scenery... the wind was crazy there though which kept driving interesting because you certainly needed to keep both hands on the wheel at all times. We saw several major cities, as I already mentioned, and had we not had 2 dogs and a pregnant woman in the car it would have been quite interesting to make some stops to take in the country a bit more.

And when we arrived here to PA? My sister and my nephews were standing in the yard with my mom waiting to greet me. What a lovely surprise! Actually, I had texted her earlier in the day saying we would be arriving in approx. 4 hours, so I expected her to be there waiting for us. I certainly didn't think she'd go ahead and actually do it, so that was quite awesome.

Now the dogs and I are settling into our new home, and it's not too shabby. In fact, the dogs are in green grass heaven. They don't make yards out West like they do here in Pennsylvania, that's for sure!

Today was a trying day, however. My insurance finally processed my enrollment to the East Coast from the West Coast and assigned me a primary care manager. I thought the hard part was over..... until I spoke with my new dr's office and realized they were less than cooperative.

The way my insurance works is that I get assigned a primary care manager and all of my other care needs to be referred through them. So, in order to get into an OB I first need to see my new primary care doctor who must refer me to my OB. The problem was, the primary care office didn't want to fit me in for another month.... after which I would still need to wait for the appointment that I actually need which is the appt. with the OB. After tears.... and stress.... and multiple phone calls... I finally spoke with the office manager who got me an appointment sooner and gave me the information for the OB they would be referring me to so that I could go ahead and make my appointment with them so as not to delay my care any further. *geesh. So it's finally all taken care of and OK, but I certainly had some stress there inbetween.

My insurance is great in that they pay for EVERYTHING. My insurance is not so great in that you are forced to jump through a couple of extra loops that other insurance providers don't require you to jump through.

But... it all seems to be working out now, so I suppose I shouldn't be complaining.

All in all... I'm happy to b here safe and sound with a baby who moves and kicks regularly, 2 dogs who should win some kind of award for easily adapting to major life changes, and parents who will do anything for me.