New Directions

I was first prompted to keep a running blog to motivate me to run through the bleak and snowy Maine winter, the second of which I successfully weathered last year, by my coworker, Eric Pendleton (see his blog, www.sonriserunning.blogspot.com, for inspiration). Now that my mileage has seen a significant decrease since this summer, I've decided to keep my friends and family posted on a blog not dedicated to charting my 9-mile jaunts through the backroads of coastal Maine, but on more riveting fare, such as my art projects, musical endeavors, or, should those become too dry and mundane, my pregnancy.

We learned late the night of June 17th, the night before we left for a summer in Alaska, that I was, in fact, pregnant. We kept it to ourselves for about three weeks before letting more people know, after the reality of it started to set in. Rob's daughter, Zoe, my stepdaughter, is delighted with the idea of becoming a sister. I'm due the third week of February; right now the thing inside me is the size of a lemon - a lemon with appendages (a good band name to keep on file: Appendaged Lemon). This is an incredibly exciting time, and, though I know it happens to so many women, still can't quite believe it's happening to me. My doctor reported last week that it's perfect, and that was all I needed to hear. After some really great times spent with my nephew and niece, Jack and Gail (read about them and see the sweetest faces at The House of Jack and Gail - www.michaelandkellieryan.blogspot.com), who live much farther away than I'd like, I was eager to have one of my own...