update

The "charmed" life of living in a hotel for a month is drawing to a close, as we finally have the keys to our house! This is both faaabulous, and terrifying, as the move into our house also signifies my move out of the comfortable neighborhood in the large city of Campinas, into the much smaller, less walking distance town of Jaguariuna. And internet will be nonexistant for me for at least the next two weeks.

As I mentioned before, Jared is a genius and found a way to bring our local voIP (internet-y, like Vonage but cheaper) phone from Atlanta and plugged it our internet connection here in the hotel, and I've been able to have much less culture shock with the morning calls to my mom and chats with my girlfriends. What a blessing! But with 2 weeks to go until baby makes her entrance (although I'm guessing more like 3) I'll have no contact with the outside world. And venturing into town by myself, although fun, is a tad more complicated with the language barrier. I did it yesterday, and I seem to make a scene everywhere I go. People keep trying to talk to me, I tell them I don't speak Portuguese and then I get swarmed with well-meaning types. Yesterday I met the nicest Polish lady at one store and then a hoarde of teenagers that searched a local bazzar for a birthday gift for me to give Jared's 20-something coworker. None of them spoke English, by the way - it was my masterful use of the Portuguese language that ruled out in the end - Eu precisso de.... presente... anniversario... vinte anniversario... mulher???" Although it was confusing, a pretty picture frame was found and even wrapped by nice teen and all is good.

This is a shot of the front of the house:



The house is fun though - and ginormous. The first floor has 2 master bedrooms, 2 regular bedrooms, 2 half bathrooms and 3 full bathrooms - one including a jacuzzi and a waterfall, if you can believe that. Oh, and a dining room and the kitchen. All tile, so when Jared and I speak to each other even in the same room, the reverb is so thick I can't understand what the other is saying. We're going to have to invest in sound proofing for sure! I'm kind of interested in seeing how awesome I sound with my violin in there - it's like singing in the shower!

Jared's job is just as agrivating as any other, but he seems to be coping well. He's busy trying to get us all legal and such, and finding ways to cheer up my days. He found me a doctor that speaks enough English to understand me most of the time and we checkef out another hospital Yesterday that we hear has some of the better anesthesiologists (sp?) in the area. I likes those bits of advice!

A week from today, Grandma Paget flies into Sao Paulo to help with the impending entrance of baby. She'll be here for 3 weeks, and I'm hoping baby DOES show up soon after Mom's arrival, because I sure could use the help. I'm due October 3rd, and the baby has begun to go a tad lower in my belly, but I have an inkling that she'll be a little later than the 3rd. With the move being tomorrow, and her crib being all set up in her new bedroom, we're closer to being ready for her.

Wish us luck.... things are getting close to being quite nuts around here, stay tuned!