We all (Dougâ€™s family) are anxiously waiting for Greg and Teresaâ€™s baby. We were at Ron and Michelleâ€™s last night, and we all sat on the edge of the chairs, jumping at the slightest sound of a phoneâ€™s ring tone. Hopefully, it comes soon for her. Come out into the world, little one- there is a whole family just waiting to love you. But, for now, we wait.

Wednesday 11/1- And the rumor is that they had a girl this morning. Now, another wait- permission to come visit the new little girl.

Wednesday evening- Isabella Rose is a beautiful little baby, sleeping peacefully bundled up tight in her daddy’s arms.

The answer to the common question

â€œSo, how is married life?â€ That is the common question right now.

Now, I have asked this question in the past, when I was still single. I honestly wanted to know what it was like to be married, especially in the first few weeks of a marriage, and how it differs from being single or dating, and to get an idea how the answer changes over time.

I have also observed several married people (either married for a short amount of time, or for many many years) ask the question. I interpret the question differently than the single personâ€™s question. â€œRemind me of what it was like to be freshly married, help me see how much I have learned, how much things have changed or stayed the same, how does your married differ from my own, or is it similar to mine.â€

Short answer-

Doug and I have gone on a honeymoon/vacation, and have gone back to work.

Long answer-

No one ever mentioned that there is a huge amount of analytical planning logistics involved in all of that. It might seem obvious, after thinking about it, but the romantic side of me, when dreaming about the first few days and nights of a honeymoon, didnâ€™t think of the logistics of moving bags from one place to another, having to be on time, traveling through airports, transportation in other cities/countries, etc. I only thought of the relaxation and the fun and the dreamy Hollywood romance kind of stuff. But, we told ourselves, we also planned a wedding. Next time we go on vacation, we will know better, and will have the vacation planned better.

We learned a little about communicating and working as a team to get something done, and to help the other person in areas they are not the best at. For example, I have trouble lifting heavy bags- Doug helped me with that.

We had a wonderful time traveling throughout Australia, and we will have to share pictures and the stories of adventure, once we get that all organized.

And to answer the â€œIs your marriage like mine?â€ Well, if you know either of us very well, you know there is an on-going whip cream battle that recently extended into chocolate pudding too. So, if you end up in the kitchen laughing so hard you can barely breathe, chocolate pudding on glasses, in hair, on faces, on shirts, on floor, on counters with a cat licking up the spots she can reach, then yes, ours is like yours. We are still trying to figure out the morning routine better, but I do like having breakfast with him. And, he scraped the ice and snow off my car this morning too. We have the normal bills to pay, and he picked up groceries the other day. After the chocolate pudding laughter fit, we watched â€œFinding Nemoâ€ to see the coral on the reef again. We are taking time this week to relax and get our feet under us, before we start visiting people again.

So my question in return is this- â€œIs this is what married life is like, with its ups and downs, learning curves, helping each other out, discovery, laughter and adventure?â€

Or maybe I am over analyzing, as usual, and it was either a simple question, or there was an underlying question, not mentioned above. So, the answer to both of those isâ€¦ â€œGreat!â€

The Land Down Under

Hello All!

As we sit here on the morning of our third day here in Oz, life is great. In about 30 minutes we are headed back to the airport to hop a flight out to Uluru (Ayers Rock) for a short visit out there.

We have been in Sydney since we arrived at 6:30am Tuesday Morning. I’m not sure what happened to Monday, although we were up for a little over 50ish hours since we left the states.

Sydney is BEAUTIFUL!!!! In our wanderings, we have seen most of the sites in Sydney Proper. (Sydney has 3 million people, in a landsize about the size of Denver). There are also 600 Suburbs in the Metro Area. The Bridge was nice, the Opera house is way cool (its actually 3 different buildings – woah!) and we have walked all over the place. The harbours are way cool and have about everysingle thing you could think of.

The architecture is great. most of the city is over 200 years old, with a lot of refurbished buildings mixed in, and skyscrapers in about 4 different areas around Sydney.

Anyways, I need to get going, to take a shower. Its a little before 7am here, so I am outta here!