Christmas in England!

So, I bet your wondering... What are Katie and Mike up to?!?  

When usually we would be preparing for some kind of vacation to a warm climate and a big old Holiday party. Now we are enjoying time with our little baby and soaking up all the Christmas cheer in England. For some reason Christmas in England is SO SO SOOOOO much better than in the US. I think it's because all those holiday traditions actually came from here.  Or maybe it's because they don't have Thanksgiving so they have extra time to get in the mood.

Whatever the reason they have things here that we don't have in the states. Like all those things that Christmas Carols talk about... Things like Roasted Chestnuts, Christmas pudding, Mulled Cider and Wine, Figgy pudding, Christmas Goose, Advent calendars a plenty, Partridge and Pears, Victorian dressed carolers, Trucks that drive around at night with Carolers (during the week at that!), and lights and trees only in the market areas.  Don't get me wrong, they are total consumers here. Buying presents and extra markets and the whole 9 yards. But only the American's have lights in the windows (probably because gas is so expensive here). There are parties every night for every group you belong too. And everyone is cheerful, except for the occasional Scrooge.  

So why does it feel different?!? Why does it feel more Christmassy?!? Well I don't know. But I do know that it's nice and that everyone should experience the old style Christmas charm once in their lives.  If you find yourself in a small village singing Christmas carols enjoy each moment of it. Whether that village is a real place or one that you collect and set out on your table for the season.

PS - They say... 

Happy Christmas! 

Merry Christmas to you and yours... May your days be Merry and Bright! 

Lots of love and light from us Rachanow's.

Traveling with a Baby! Aunt Mandy and Uncle Charlie visit!

Sophie, Me, Aunt Mandy and Uncle Charlie in York, UK

Us at some Ruins on the way to the North Sea

So Aunt Mandy and Uncle Charlie came to visit!  We decided to show them around as much as we could with the baby in tow. What a fun adventure!  Our song when the baby was sad was... "We are having a good time, we are having a good time..."

So where did we go and what did we do??? Well.. we hit up the North sea coast and York. York was Sophie's first hotel over night stay. And she really enjoyed it! We did pretty much everything (even breakfast in the morning)! Except when it came to feeding time. Me and Sophie would hit the car or a coffee shop or the York Minster to feed her. For some reason church is really accommodating to breast feeding moms. (see previous blog post for picture).

Charlie & Mandy on the York Minster  tour

Any way, travelling with a baby wasn't as hard as I thought it would be. We ended up driving everywhere since I wanted to always have the van available for feeding time. But really we could have taken the train and been fine.  Of course, we packed the whole kitchen sink. Aunt Mandy and Uncle Charlie only had one bag to the babies 5 or 6. :)  In any case, we really didn't need that much. Sophie was fine as long as she had a clean diaper, a full belly and a warm place to hang out. (the sling works perfectly for a warm spot)

Charlie's Ruins! York

So travelling with a baby is harder on me than on the baby.  She doesn't care where she is as long as she is with us. And that's how we like it!

Thank you to Mandy and Charlie for coming to England and helping us out with the baby! We hope you had a great time and will come back soon!

Adventures in Babysitting.. Oh, wait! I can't give this baby back?

1 month has passed! And here are some things I have learned...

1. Babies are the best! Mike says that this might be the meaning of life. I'm still trying to work that out.
2. Birth is not hard for all people.

Breast feeding at the York Minster

3. Breast feeding is tricky! Ask yourself... Have I ever seen anyone breast feed?  Probably not. Therefore it's hard to get a hold of how it's done and when and where it's okay to do it. Luckily, in this country it is illegal for someone to ask you to stop breast feeding in public. When your baby is hungry go ahead and feed her! For us, breast feeding was tough at first. I thought that it would be natural and normal and that the baby would get it but really it's a learning process for mom and baby. And sometimes it can be really frustrating. But we haven't given up! Our goal is to exclusively breast feed for the first 6 months. After that we can reassess the situation. I personally really like it.  There is nothing like seeing my baby in a drunk milk coma after she has been completely satisfied. We are going to try to have Mike give her a bottle this weekend with breast milk so he can get in on the bonding action. - Also... Mike says... "boobies are for babies not motor boating!" Hilarious!
4. Babies cry.  Sometimes for no reason at all. Maybe it's over stimulation but whatever the cause babies cry and it's okay.

5. Which than leads me to... Lack of sleep.  Which I have to say I don't miss much. Half the time I'm staring at this little human thinking what the heck is she dreaming about?  As a mom, I have been missing quite a bit of sleep and sometimes that makes me irritable but it's almost like I couldn't sleep sometimes if I tried. I want to be awake to watch her. I want to be there for every move she makes. So I guess I will catch up on the sleep in 20 years or so...
6. It's my job to worry! I worry about everything. I know she is perfectly healthy but I find myself worrying about how to keep this little human alive. I think that this just comes with the job of being a Mom.  le sigh
7. I must trust my intuition.  My Dad was worried that we were reading too many books and taking too many classes on babies. He told us that we would just know what to do.  Well for me, that wasn't good enough. I needed to take all these classes. But really when it comes down to it intuition rains supreme. Even Mike's intuition rains supreme over everything we learned. I know it's hard to imagine if you don't have kids but it's almost like a transformation that occurs. And then you know exactly what your baby needs and when.
8. Advice is Priceless and Worthless!  If I met a pregnant person right now this is the advice I would give them!  It's so true! Everyone has an opinion on what you should or shouldn't be doing with your baby. But really it comes back to that number 7! Trust yourself and your intuition!

9. Baby awake.  Best moment so far is watching Sophie's eyes light up and a smile cross her face. It happened at exactly 1 month. It was like she was in a fog and then all of a sudden woke up. She knew exactly where she was and who we are. And she was happy! That was the best!
10. Being a Mom is the best job I've had so far! 

Done and Done!

Introducing Sophia! A baby birth story

**Disclaimer - could be graphic. If you are easily offended or have strong feelings on birth then you should probably skip this post.**

From the mom's perspective:  

I have this theory: Pregnancy and birth are a natural and normal process. 

On Tuesday, October 25th at 11:30pm it started! Or at least I think it started. It could have started earlier but I was busy talking to my dad on Skype and fielding "Where is the baby?" messages. Any way, at 11:30pm I decided to join Mike and hit the hay! I had been practicing the Hypno Birthing relaxation CD since about 28 weeks pregnant and this evening was no exception.  The track is about 30 minutes long and typically by the end I would be fast asleep. But this night was different. I got through 30 minutes and was still awake. I thought that was weird. So I hit the bathroom and discovered some blood. Hummm... I thought. That is weird. So I woke Mike up and he reminded me to call the delivery unit at the hospital to see what we should do. (Under the British NHS system you call the hospital and they dispatch the local midwives) So that's what I did! They asked me if I was having contractions and honestly I didn't know. I was having period pains but it wasn't anything terrible. (and I have a low tolerance for pain - just ask my dentist) So the hospital told me to call back when the contractions got closer together.

In the meantime and to my surprise, Mike was setting out all our Home birth items. For some reason he just knew what was going on and I was still thinking we had a long time to go. In any case, he lit candles and put on my relaxation music. He set up my yoga ball, a chair and a blanket. He got our snacks together and lots of different beverages. I was busy trying out the TENS machine. It's a electric pulse machine that people use for back pain or labor pains here in the UK.  So with the bedroom all set up and inviting; Mike and I waited for things to progress.

Wednesday, October 26th at around midnight I knew that birth was on the horizon. The contractions seemed stronger and closer together. Mike was timing them. I would switch positions from standing to laying on the bed to all fours on the floor to sitting on the floor.  I remember my being really cold and then really hot all in the course of a minute. And in between the contractions I would focus on breathing and relaxation using all the yoga techniques and Hypno Birthing techniques that I knew of. Mike kept feeding me and giving me drinks and encouraging the whole process.  My body began to focus on elimination. I found myself in the bathroom every couple of minutes. By the time 3am rolled around I thought it would be a good idea to call the Hospital again. So I called them and asked them to send the midwife out. A couple minutes later the midwife called and we chatted. She said she was an hour away but that she would be here. So in the meantime, I continued to breath and relax and focus on the contractions. Eventually, I started getting the urge to push during the contractions. It was a truly primal feeling that I couldn't control (although I tried). During this time Mike was starting a bath and encouraged me that I was doing great. (I did say to him that I didn't think I could do it and that we should go to the hospital - typical verbiage from a lady in transition) I got in the warm bath and the urge to push was overwhelming. I was worried because I wasn't in labor long and that's when the midwife arrived. She was surprised to see that I was already pushing. She promptly called the 2nd midwife and told her to come asap with all the equipment. I tried to resist the urge to push but Sophia was ready to come. So with 2 contractions she joined us in the warm tub. She was born at 6:23am and Mike got to take the time.

Sophia and I hung out in the tub for a while until the 2nd midwife arrived. Sophia was perfect! During that time I tried to deliver the after birth but the position I was in just wasn't allowing that to happen. So when the 2nd midwife arrived they stood me up and gravity delivered the afterbirth. Then we walked over to the bedroom to get more light. There they accessed Sophia and I and determined that we were both fine! I had a labia tear so they advised to go to the hospital to have that stitched up. They also allowed Mike to cut the cord at that time. We ended up having a long time of skin to skin contact with both Mike and I and the cord was done pulsating before we cut the cord.

After all that we headed to the hospital where they stitched me up. Had it been a perineum tear they would have done it at our house but since there are so many nerves where the labia is they recommended local numbing.  So they stitched me up and took a look over Sophia to make sure she was okay. She was totally fine! Then we went home.

Looking back I was very vocal during contractions. I was able to tell Mike how I was feeling and what my thoughts were. This is why the midwife was so surprised when she came to our house to find me pushing. That meant that when I talked to her I was going through transition. I practiced Active labor and yoga techniques during contractions and practiced Hypno Birthing relaxation techniques during the down times. This allowed me to focus on resting, rather than pain. And the most important piece of this birth was Mike. He was the best birth companion I could ever ask for. He was calm, encouraging, smiling, force feeding me and just over all an amazing companion. Without his support I would have been scared but seeing his calm face told me that everything was okay.

Sophia Llewellyn Rachanow

Born: October 26th, 2011 at 6:23am

Weighed 7 lbs 8 oz

Born into our family at Home without intervention

Proving that birth (in most cases) is a natural and normal process.  

Due for what?

cute picture of Brian

So today is the day! dun dun dun... Due date! The doctors say that the baby should be here by today! Or should she... turns out in all the classes, reading, researching and everything; a due date isn't a real good judge of when the baby should be here. In fact, a baby can be born 2 weeks before or 2 weeks after this so called Due date. And some times the due date is completely wrong. So then, why do people get so hung up on it?  I think it's public pressure.

I personally haven't had a lot of public pressure. I think because everyone that knows us knows that we will do what we want. We try to stay off the grid (as Mike likes to point out - which makes me think of the Matrix). So I haven't heard a lot of this pressure but the things I have heard are: "Oh, you must be ready to pop!" (nopers!) or "You must be so uncomfortable." (double nopers!)  To me it feels like people just don't know what to say. And of course my degree takes over my head and I start analyzing why people do this...

Here are my rules to talking to a pregnant person:
1. Don't assume that you know how she feels. Cause you don't. We know each woman and baby are different.  So assuming will certainly make an Ass-out of-U and most likely embarrass Me (or the person your speaking with).
2. Don't assume you know her fears or plans or anything! You only know yourself and your fears, plans or anythings. So again don't assume.
3. Be supportive! No matter what this woman is about to go through a life altering experience. Support is needed.
4. Positive language! Even if you don't think pregnant women are particularly beautiful, women need to know that they are beautiful. Emotions, hormones and all those chemicals in her body are running like crazy. You don't want to make her cry.  So positive language is a key ingredient!

5. Save the horror stories!!!!  Everyone has got one or knows someone who has one. But save it till after she has the baby. Positive stories share away!!!

So if now your thinking... 'Well crap! What am I supposed to say now?' I would recommend and have loved when people simply ask me how I'm feeling.  It's simple, to the point. It shows they care. And it's easy to respond to.-------------And the answer is: Good!

---In the coming 11 to 14 days we will be welcoming Baby Rachanow into the world. We have lots of plans but plans are meant to be broken (as I learn with every yoga lesson plan I make). When she arrives I will be writing her birth story and I will let you know all those things you've been wondering about. We may need to compromise on our birth plan but no matter what our ultimate goal is to get her here so she can get on with her life. More fun info to follow----

Fall English Lesson

I bet you thought you knew English. You are so wrong! It feels like we are learning this language all over again and one encounter at a time. 

Did you know in England they call:
Diapers = Nappies
Vegetables or Veggie = Veg
Strollers = Push chair
Mutt (as in dog) = Mongrel
Crazy = Daft
Bacon = Rashers
Chips = Crisps
Fries = Chips
Trash = Rubbish
Trash can = Bin

The conversion rate right now is 1.6 pounds to the $1 US.  It is starting to get dark at 6pm. They don't go Trick or Treating here because of superstition.  So I hear. There are a bunch of Harvest type festivals though. They still do ghost tours too. Ghost tours are big tourist business here. Lots of people have died in England so I guess you can cash in with the tourists.  Which brings me to another fact, tourist season is in the summer so there are cheaper rates now if you come here.

English people do not like Pumpkins! They don't understand why Americans like pumpkins. They will carve them but they don't eat them! On a medium pumpkin here we paid 3pounds which equals $4.80 US. It was outrageous!

Here's a good picture of Brian enjoying the Fall. Mike keeps trying to tell him that he isn't going to be an only child in like a week but I don't think he understands. He's a good dog though.

Home birth or not to Home birth?

So... It's been a while since I last updated our blog and a lot has happened since my last post. Here's a list of all the fun things we have been doing this month:

Mike and Pat at the British Museum

1. Mike's Dad (Pat) came to visit for 2 weeks. We went to London, the North Sea, a Brewery tour, and countless other places that were awesome. We also made it through with only 2 of the 3 of us getting a stomach bug. Woo Hoo!!!
2. Brian the Dog took a plane from Baltimore, Maryland all the way to London, England. Our dog has been to more places then some people I know. He is now living with us in England and loving the yard. It took us 6 months to properly get him here with all the red tape that the UK has.  Luckily, to bring him back will be a piece of cake compared to that.

Katie and Brian at the North Sea

3. Katie is wrapping up teaching yoga this week. Last class is on Friday until after the baby comes. 37 weeks exactly!

***DISCLAIMER - IF YOU ARE PASSIONATE ABOUT BIRTH THIS MAY UPSET YOU - REMEMBER ITS OUR BLOG AND YOU DON'T HAVE TO READ PAST THIS POINT***

4. And finally.... looks like we will be looking very seriously into having a Home birth to welcome our little G into our family. We've decided against the US system (not that there is anything wrong with it) but the base midwifes said that they wouldn't be able to accommodate us in some simple things during birth (ie. changing positions, nutrition, calming music and lighting - things that we see as basic needs for birth).  Since our pregnancy has been normal and non-exciting across the board we feel that there is no need for intervention right off the bat. (we don't live our lives thinking.. What if?!?! - If we did we probably wouldn't be living in England)  So the British system offered some alternatives that suited us better. But with everything we will need to compromise.

Our first choice is Home birth. Today we had a sonogram to determine if this was possible and luckily IT IS!!! The baby is head down and laying toward the left which means she won't have to turn and make labor longer for mom. Her weight is normal and all her measurements are coming up Rainbows. With home birth we will use everything we learned through Hypnobirthing and yoga to deliver the baby into a calm and stress less house hold. We would rent a birthing pool ( 80% of home births in the UK are done in a pool) and we are prepared to have Mike be the birthing companion (he is the companion no matter what anyway). The midwives (2) will come to us and help us through the entire process in the comfort of our own home. The compromise - If someone else goes into labor at home before me then we will have to go to the hospital. So the we have to pack our bags anyway and find a sitter for Brian. - If something happens we will be transferred to the local hospital.

Our second choice is The Rosie Hospital. I love the name of this hospital! It's in Cambridge and just sounds strong to me. At this British hospital we will be cared for by midwives rather than OB's. They have 2 separate floors - one for high risk (OB care) and one for regular (Midwives).  If you are low risk you will always be seen by a Midwife (I think because OB's are expensive and the health care here is free to the public). And they will help you through birth. The Hospital has pools for birthing (total plus!!!) and they are used to letting the mom's do what they need to do to have the baby. So eating, drinking, soft lighting, music, birth balls, stools and beds are all included.  They also have the drugs, if you need them. The compromise - Your partner (Mike) can only stay with you as long as your in active labor. You do not get your own room after having the baby (they do let you stay with your baby as long as you need for bonding) but if you stay over night and your not in active labor then your partner will have to go home and come back the next day. Luckily, if you do not get an epidural and you and baby are fine they usually discharge you the same day. (Because they have local midwives that come to your house to check on you and baby).

Fun fact - In the UK, women get 6 Months (not weeks) paid maternity leave!

So the pros and cons are on the table. We've planned everything out but plans are meant to be broken. Right now we are living in the moment and staying positive.  Living by our mantra - Do what you want!

Details to follow....

Virtual Baby Shower!

On September 10th my Mom, Sharon, Mandy, Sue and Anjel threw us a virtual baby shower. Your probably thinking what is that?!? I was as well. I wasn't sure exactly how it would work out but with Mike and David's powers combined they made the virtual connection from the UK to Maryland. And then my Dad joined in from New York. 

It was crazy! Who knew that technology could bring us into this new age where we can have parties right over the computer screen. Or in our case the TV screen! In case your interested in something similar we used Skype group chat at first but was having a hard time keeping the connection good so we switched to Google Plus Hang out! Remember there are a ton of free sites to do video chat and now you can keep in touch with people that you never thought was possible.

Love technology! 

Shakespeare country!

Shakespeare's grave

Did you know: That there are some that believe that Shakespeare didn't write all those great plays that we all learned about in school? People like Mark Twain, etc believe that Shakespeare was a businessman and that he just took the credit of another's work. And if that is true, then everything we learned in school about him was a lie! Dun dun dun....  

On the way to the theatre

Never the less... Shakespeare country is just beautiful! Included in our journey is Stratford-upon-Avon. This is where Shakespeare was born, lived (moved to London), then came back to retire and die. We also hit the Cotswolds. A part of English countryside with some cute and sleepy towns.  All this about 2 hours from our house in Ely.

Tourism is a #1 money maker in England. And the Shakespeare countryside doesn't disappoint with tourist prices and lots to see and do. You can go to all the 5 places where Shakespeare and his family lived. But it's extra to see his grave in the church. We even went to the theatre to see a Shakespeare play and we had to get the tickets 3 months out. But it's all worth it! 

Ghost cat!

Further south (like 15 minutes away) is the Cotswolds! This area is a rich and beautiful secluded countryside. Lots of little towns that were once famous because of the wool trade. The sheep are still there but the business has dried up a bit. We ran into a couple other tourists in Stow-on-the-Wold that were following the same tour book that we follow. (BTW - if I didn't recommend it before, the Rick Steves' Europe guide books are awesome!) We also had an encounter of the haunted kind at Chipping Camden. 

Chipping Camden Cemetery - where ghost cat lives

As we approached the church (complete with cemetery) I read a story in the book about this cat that used to great parishioners before service. Well that cat passed away in 1980 and they buried him by the door of the church. We were touring the church just as service started so we scooted out into the cemetery to look around and what did we find. A weird cemetery cat! Hanging out and very friendly. A decedent, maybe. A ghost, more likely. =) 

Poland - one of my Motherlands...

All good stories start with... I have this friend...

RK! Look closely into his sunglasses!

The K family!

But really we do have this friend... let's call him... RK.  Mike's known him for ever! And I guess that means that I've known him for over 10 years or so. Anyway, he is from Poland and for over 10 years we have been hearing these crazy stories about when he used to live in Poland. So we decided it would be fun to go see if these stories were real. And turns out they Are!!!

Gdasnk main street

Church in Gdansk

RK is from a place in Poland that is a lot like Maryland. There is beach, hills, woods and city all in a very close distance. We went to Sopot, Gdasnk and Gdynia. All three areas are real close to each other and full of fun and fascination! Our home base was Sopot because that was in between the other 2 cities. Sopot was a fun little touristy (Polish touristy - not American touristy) town right on the Baltic Sea. We did a lot of eating and lounging around in Sopot (perfect for this 31 week pregnant gal). Then we took a train to Gdansk for a glimpse of the large 'end of the season' market. Lots of history in Gdansk and again lots of touristy things to do.  RK says that Gdansk was started in the 900's AD. They have a huge church that appeared to be constructed out of brick in the 1300's.  The inside was really interesting because the walls were white. We've never been in a church where the walls were so white! I think that was a byproduct of communism since people didn't have the money to paint.  But I don't know for sure.  

From the Baltic Sea looking at Gdynia

After Gdasnk we hit Gdynia. Only about 15 minutes up the road from Sopot. Gdynia was were RK grew up. It has a lot of the charm of the Baltimore city inner harbor (except blue water).  They have a port, an aquarium, tons of shopping and restaurants and an over all fun attitude. 

Gdasnk tourture

Things that we found interesting and challenging in Poland = language and culture! The language sounded like nothing I've ever heard before. Yeah, we've heard RK speak Polish before but it's different when everyone around you is speaking it.  For me picking up French or German is way easier. And the culture... oh the culture! So in England everyone stands in lines (que's) in Poland it's a mass free for all (even if your pregnant or have a baby with you)! Getting on and off the plane was the worst! Mike thinks it's because the average age in Poland is younger than in the states. I don't know what it's from.  All I know is that based on all the places we've been so far this was the first time that we've ever been to a place were there was once communism. And you can definitely see it in the architecture with most things being built with concrete (even light poles). Sky rise apartment complexes that are usually considered 'projects' in the states are great housing in Poland.  It's amazing and fascinating and very Eastern European!

Gdansk Wall Art

Left over Cold War tunnels in Gdynia

PS - The best "Polish" story we have is that while eating at a restaurant Mike tried to put salt on his salad. He couldn't understand why it didn't taste right and it turns out that there was sugar in the salt container.  We all had a real good laugh about that! 

Hi Grandma! It's Katie...

On August 7th my last living Grandparent passed away. Amelia Sofie Llewellyn (originally her last name was Sledzianowski). I had been to all of my Grandparents funerals. Although I was too young to go to the viewing of my Mom's mom. I remember each event and the importance of passing to the next life and how everyone felt around me.  This event was no exception. So let me start with what I know...

My Grandma was a super strong lady. She was the youngest of her siblings. She ate cupcakes and cookies while she was growing up and she loved it! She worked in an electronics factory during WWII but didn't really care for it. She married at 21 and had 2 boys (my Dad and my Godfather).  She watched in agony as her husband suffered and died from Emphysema. Then she joined her sister, Beanie, at the senior center for yoga and meals and shopping extravaganzas.  And after living a full full life she quickly passed away at 82.

Every time I called her I would scream in the phone: "Hi Grandma, It's Katie..."  It was hilarious to both of us. And that's how we would start our conversations which usually consisted of how everyone was doing and the latest greatest gossip. She taught me many things... One of the main ones was not to Need material objects as she attempted to break me of my satin when I was a kid. Probably not the best time to teach a kid that lesson but still a very valuable one and one that I will remember always. I know there was a lot more to my Grandma then I'm writing but these are the only things I can think of right now.

I realize that death is a huge fear for mankind and that it is really hard for people to let go. I know I will face this challenge in the future (and I'm scared of that). But for my Grandma I'm not completely sad.  I know that she is in a better place and that her death is not the end of her journey. I'm sad that I won't get to call her or visit her but I know that in the long scheme of things that life is short and there is much much more in store for her in the future, maybe not in this world... but somewhere.

So Grandma... I love you... And I'll see you sooner than later, I'm sure... So in the meantime... Be good, cause your bad!

Bath, England! oh, and Avebury...

Bath, UK

If your coming to England, Bath is one of your main stops on your tour.  It's about an hour outside of London via train to the west.  Situated in a neat area of farm land and rolling hills, Bath is a great example of Georgian architecture with some Victorian flair!  Not to mention the Roman Baths, hence the name.  There is a lot to see and do in Bath but Mike and I found it to be more of a crazy tourist town then any other we had been to. In the summer you can expect lots of crowds and lines (or as they say here que).

Actual Roman Bath 57AD

The story of how Bath was founded is a tricky one. Some say that a man with leprosy was cast out of his village. He took his sick pigs away from the village and saw that they were rolling in hot watery mud and all of a sudden the pigs were cured. So the man jumped in the mud and rolled around and all of a sudden he was cured of leprosy. He then went back to his village and they made him king.  This is a little off the wall... So what we do know is that Bath is situated on 3 natural fault lines that create hot springs. The Romans found these hot springs and thought it was a gift from the Gods.  So they made Bath houses around the springs and showed the locals how to get clean.

Avebury rock circle

I would say Bath is worth about a day of proper sightseeing.  But with side trips you can make it a little longer. Near bath is Stonehenge, The Cotswolds, Stratford upon Avon, Avebury, etc. It's right in the middle of a bunch of tourist destinations.  We happened upon Avebury because it was covered under our National Trust membership and boy did we luck out!

Avebury

Avebury is a prehistoric rock formation that is way larger than Stonehenge. It is more massive and much older. About 1300 years older than Stonehenge.  And it's an open space so unlike Stonehenge you can walk right up to the rocks and touch them. Pagans still get married here and believe that there is all kinds of powers in the area.  There were also talks of lay lines or as Christians would know them as the St. Michael and St. Mary lines. I think they are energy lines that run straight through England and pass right over the Avebury site and Stonehenge.  In any case, it was really neat and a must see for anyone that feels like seeing a pile of rocks (as Mike would say) and some sheep.

York, England!

York! Where the ghosts live. 

Well we didn't see any but apparently if there are ghosts this is where they hang out. 

Any way, back in the day York was one of the largest northern most cities in England.  For a brief moment Parliament was here, mainly when they were trying to get that William Wallace character under control in Scotland.  Yup!  That's right!  William Wallace was real! I think he would have dug Mel Gibson playing him in "Braveheart".  What happened to WW, you ask??? Well eventually he was captured and taken down to the Tower of London and killed. That seems to be a reoccurring theme in this country.  But I guess you have to have some sort of theme.

Guy Fawkes Inn

So York... The place where Guy Fawkes was born and did some schooling.  Who is Guy Fawkes?  I didn't know this either.  Well he is the guy that tried to blow up Parliament and the King.  The best Hollywood movie to describe his situation is "V for Vendetta".  It's funny how some of the good movies are all based off real history. In the movie he succeeds but in real life he didn't.  And he like everyone else was killed.  Today they have bonfire day where the King celebrated not being blown up.

Roman Ruins and Coffins

Inside York Minster

So back to York... York was the Northern most outpost for the Romans.  There was a great Roman fort built and Constantine came and was proclaimed emperor in York. And then he began to spread Christianity from York.  Pretty big deal stuff!  After the Romans decided to pull out of York (because they were spread too thin and Rome was toppling) the Vikings came along.  They hung out there for a while and called York, Jorvik.  Then the Normans invaded and rebuilt the city.  In Medieval times York was England's second city and Henry VIII used the York Minster as his Anglican Church's northern capital. In the Industrial age, York was a railway hub and today it thrives on tourism. So from 71AD to now it hasn't done too shabby as a city.

The Shambles - that guy on the left might be a ghost

But back to the ghosts... Is York haunted? Well we don't really know. It sure does have a lot of history and I guess there is the potential of left over people that were tragically killed (I mean this is England).  But what we do know is that ghost certainly sell!  And if your city is thriving from ghost stories then by all means sell away.  Cause those tourists will flock to it!

All in all York is a not to be missed tourist destination if your coming to England. Lots of beautiful buildings, great history and really nice people! So go there!

Confession of a Pregnant Yogi

This week marks my 29th week of pregnancy.  I've been interested in & studying pregnancy and yoga for some time now but suddenly I'm amazed at how much you never really know until you experience it for yourself.  Before becoming pregnant I had a consistent daily asana (postures) practice.  I was getting into the Ashtanga primary series and was interested in advanced postures. 

After becoming pregnant I became very ill. Typical in the first trimester; I had a hard time practicing, concentrating, balancing and all around dealing with the emotions of no longer being able to practice an intense asana practice.  It's funny because in all the classes I teach I'm very much an advocate of doing your practice as it is at that moment. But for some reason I have a hard time practicing what I preached.  And to confuse even more as my pregnancy went on I felt better and came back to my asana practice.  

Now entering my 3rd trimester,  I had to take a step back and take an inventory of what I truly believe is pregnancy and yoga.   And this is what I know:  To me... Yoga is... and will always be... "the process of tolerating the consequences of being myself".  Being myself in this moment; while being strong and flexible and aware of what's right for me and my baby.  The body awareness to know what I can and can't do physically.  And the ability to let my ego fly free as I tend to my NEW practice of personal tolerance. 

Pregnancy doesn't mean that I can just sit around and wait for a baby to be born. It doesn't mean that I can stop all physical activity or eat what ever I want. Pregnancy is a preparation for a mind, body and soul transformation.  And therefore, work still has to be done.  

I admit this because I know I'm not the only yogi to have felt or will feel this way.  And I'm here to tell you that it is okay.  Remembering that the physical practice comes and goes along your path is a hard one but with patience and practice all things are possible.  Even if it means that you might not bind Marichyasana D for a while. 

Baby update! 28 weeks!!!

So the baby is 28 weeks today! Yeah, baby!  She is getting big and very pushy.  We had our 28 week check up today and everything is normal.  I know sometimes that's weird to hear because we always hear of pregnancy horror stories (I've stopped watching all pregnancy dramas on tv) but so far she is normal and I'm normal and everything is normal.  Even after eating a ton of chocolate in Belgium I still passed my glucose test with flying colors and my blood pressure continues to be great. Woo hoo for me and baby! 

We are continuing to be super active. We bike ride, go swimming, practice yoga (of course) and do tons and tons of walking.  I am starting to notice that some things are getting weird. My belly is getting bigger and depending on the day bending over can be difficult. But we are continuing our lives and living everyday as much as we can.

So now we are thinking Birth.  Where to bring the baby into the world? We interviewed the base hospital and their midwifes participate in Active Labor Management so I think we may actually try to use the UK system where they prefer natural labor methods (they even have birthing pools) rather than ALM.  Mike and I are preparing for the baby by participating in Hypnobirthing classes which is a lot like yoga birthing. It mainly promotes breathing and relaxation. So it looks like we will try to do it naturally.  If special circumstances arise of course they will have OB back ups. Which is great but I think when in Rome (or the UK) do as the Romans do.... =)  So the interviews will continue... in between all the traveling of course... and eventually we will have a new member of our traveling team! 

Belgium

Back in 2009 when we went on our Honeymoon 28 day backpacking adventure through Europe we stopped at a place called Brugge in Belgium.  Our Rick Steve's guidebook told us that 1 day is adequate for this town so we did just that.  The problem was I was sick the whole day and it happened to be Monday. On Monday everything is closed! (very common throughout Europe)  So Mike always said we will just go back and see all the things that we missed. So we did! 2 years later we stayed in the same hotel on the canal and we saw everything that Brugge has to offer.

Bike riding on the canals

Brugge is featured in a Colin Farrell movie, "In Bruges".  It's a sleepy town near the coast of Belgium and about 30 minutes away from Brussels.  It's a place that was forgotten for a bit and because of that still has a lot of it's small European town charm. It's also called Venice of the North for all it's canals.

Madonna and Child by Michelangelo 

climbing the bell tower

So how do you get there you might ask?!?!  Well Mike and I drove 2.5 hours through the UK to the very bottom of England. Gas is really expensive here but our Panda gets something like 60 miles to the gallon. Unheard of gas mileage in the states. We took our car on a Ferry from England to France. Only a 25 mile trip but by boat took 1.5 hours and costs about the same as the Cape May ferry in Jersey.  Once across you drive back on the right! (woo hoo - for me. I love driving on the right!) Then we drove from France to Belgium which is only about an 1.2 hour drive.  Once in town we ditched the car at the train station parking garage for 1.5 Euro and rode our bikes the rest of the way.

Chocolates
 So what is there to see and do in Brugge?!?!?  Well lots of stuff: Biking the canals, visiting the bell tower, visiting the only Michelangelo sculpture to leave Italy in his lifetime, visit Jesus's Holy blood relic, visit the Chocolate museum, visit the local brewery, visit several art museums, take a canal boat ride, visit the flea market and the square and don't forget to eat the Frites, Moules and Chocolates. 

Frites

Moules - aka Mussels

So we finally got to see everything that we needed to see. And then we drove back to France and took the ferry back to England and drove home. All in one weekend - Done and done! If you ever have the opportunity to go to Belgium I highly recommend it, not only for the amazing selection of Beer with high alcohol by volume but to see an authentic European town that has older architecture than anything there is in the US.