Baby on Board!

Yep, you read that correctly folks - Scott and I are with child.

You know what this means, right?  We will finally have someone small to hoist up the mast, clean the bilge, and get into all those nooks and crannies that big people like us just can't get into without looking freakish.  This is good, this is real good.

All kidding aside, this is not a joke.  I'm about 13 weeks pregnant and we couldn't be happier.  Scott's already bought the baby a few nautical-themed baby books (and started reading them to my stomach) and we're running through baby names like they are going out of style.  In addition, I am one of those "lucky" pregnant women who seems to have skated through the first trimester without a single pregnancy symptom (morning sickness what?!) and I feel like a million bucks.  Hip, hip, hooray!

So what does this mean for Windtraveler?

Well - there are a few things.   First of all, we will be staying in Grenada a lot longer than we had planned (Scott has work here up until January).  While we were originally thinking of having the baby  in Grenada - we have changed our tune and are going to deliver him/her stateside (I recently got health insurance so we are covered).  There are a number of reasons for this decision - but it was mainly nailed home when I had a rather unpleasant experience with the doctor down here (there are not many choices, unfortunately) and was strongly advised, by a nurse, to give birth in the states if possible.   So we will head back to the US of A in early 2012, have the little monkey in March, and we will stay in Chicago until September when we can resume our beloved cruising lifestyle... with a 6 month old.  Other than that hiatus, we have no plans to stop cruising.  In fact, it's been our dream to raise our family on a boat from day one.  We are both working now and making money, so our cruising kitty is being replenished and we are cruising in the "black" so to speak.

When we return to Rasmus (which will either be in Grenada or Trinidad, we are undecided), we plan to continue island hopping here in the Caribbean, and eventually continue southbound through the Panama Canal.  From there (depending on how the little peanut does on the boat) we'll either cross the Pacific or we'll head over to Baja, Mexico (I have a blind love affair with Baja; never been but the wannabe surfer in me continues to draw me to it) or maybe we'll hit up the San Blas Islands? Who knows?  We're going to play it by ear and fly by the seat of our pants, it's worked so well for us thus far.  We don't commit to things like "plans" very well anyway.  We'll just wait and see how the chips fall.  As long as we're moving, we're happy.

For all of you who are concerned and/or worried about boats and babies together, please don't be.  We've met LOTS of boats with babies on them and, to be honest, boat kids are nothing short of amazing.  My friend, Alicia, of s/v Sarabande (who had her absolutely adorable baby boy in St. Thomas about 9 months ago) had this awesome advice for me:

"Don't listen to the anti-boat-baby flack!  All a baby really needs (for the first 6 months anyway) are two loving parents and a pair of boobs.  It's ridiculous what people have been conned into thinking they 'need' to be good parents!"

So. Very. True.  I love it.  Alicia rocks, and so does her little boy (okay, and her husband Brian is pretty cool too.)

So, SURPRISE!  That's our big news.  It's been hard to keep this from you all for so long!  We are so excited, and hope you are too.  This little peanut is going to be coming in to one heck of a life!

Stick with us, kids, things are about to get real interesting around here!

Love,
Brittany & Scott