The Hals Family World Adventures: Our Next Big Adventure!!!

After visiting six continents and over twenty-five countries together, Daniel and I couldn't be more excited about the adventure we are embarking on next!!! Estimated date of departure is March 13th, 2014!

On June 30th, 2013 we found out that YES! We are having a BABY!!!

Joy! Pure joy! When my mom asked - "so what was your first reaction or your first thought - were you happy? scared? anxious?" My response "My first thought and my continual thought is that I am unbelievably happy and excited!

We've spent years deciding what we value, setting goals ,and whittling down our baby bucket list...

We have always wanted to have a family some day, but it took us a lot of time to determine when exactly that would be! For years we just weren't ready. For a lot of reasons. We wanted to enjoy each other and just each other. We didn't want the responsibility. We knew we were too selfish - and were enjoying that lifestyle. We wanted to travel - and oh did we! We wanted to make sure we were set up financially - first we paid off my student loans, paid off our cars so that we owned both outright, and aggressively paid on our mortgage each month. Our goal was to have a mortgage and basic monthly bills (power, water, etc). Check!

I wanted to have options career wise too. I had always wanted a masters, but was still in the process of figuring out exactly what type of masters I wanted. I finally figured out what areas I was in love with and pitched it to Daniel (I mean...it was going to take a lot of my time and a lot of our $$$), but part of our rationale behind all of this was getting a degree in an area that would allow me to stay in education while having the possibility of having a job other than being a classroom teacher. I LOVE teaching...but I was beginning to realize that being a full-time classroom teacher while having a six week old baby was not the combination I wanted in life. I wanted to be able to work, but I didn't want to have a job that followed me home when I had a two month old. I know lots of people do it and I think they are amazing. But a) I was working at a school that was particularly boundary-less in terms of following me home/causing me to have late hours and b) I had learned that I was the type of teacher (not necessarily a good thing) that had a really hard time not being the almost too passionate teacher who spent hours pouring over my work after school and in the evenings...not something conducive to my future family. So I set my sights on a masters that I was incredibly excited about that would have a wide variety of possible applications for my future career goals, and went to work! Btw - masters? Check!

Travel...oh travel...we have actually taken seventeen different foreign trips together and have absolutely loved and relished our adventures! Amazing, astounding, unbelievable, ...so many of my dreams have come true. The days I have been traveling have been some of the best in my life...and I have had SO MUCH FUN exploring the world with my husband! It has brought us closer and closer together. My travels have helped me grow as a teacher, as a person, and have helped us grow as a couple - being a world traveler has deeply changed and influenced my life. And honestly - I don't know when we will travel next, but I know we will travel again. I cannot wait to take my child/children by the hands and show them the world!

Enjoying ourselves in Florence, Zell am See, an igloo in Switzerland, a glacier in Iceland, Vienna, and an amazing view in Innsbruck, Austria!

Diving the Great Barrier Reef in 2009

Snuggling up to a beautiful tiger at the Australia Zoo in Brisbane, Australia 2009

Snorkeling with stingless jellies in Palau 2010

Smooching in the Sahara in Giza, Egypt 2010

Hiking the Inca Trail and trekking to Machu Picchu 2011

I had secretly thought since we had gotten married that when it was time for a family I would know - I tentatively believed that I would know when I felt like something was missing in our lives. I wasn't sure if that was right...but honestly...that is exactly how I eventually felt. I reached the point where I wanted our world to revolve around more.

What may have sealed our fate...or escalated our timeline a bit...

How can you possibly tell me that this adorableness wouldn't flip the switch to "on" for baby hormones?

...and then there was watching my husband play with our pup. I really cannot begin to count the ways that this melts my heart. Daniel is THE BEST dad to Chance - thoughtful, sweet, incredibly selfless...

I still chuckle when I think about the conversation I had with my best friend Carolyn when I told her the story about how we got Chance...she said "oh my gosh Beth - dogs are gateways to babies!!!"

Oh Carolyn, you were oh. so. right. I remember smugly thinking at the time that you were right - because even then I was absolutely smitten with our pup. I knew I was truly in trouble during the summer of 2011. We had had Chance for four months and I was home for three days between the Greece & Turkey trip and my month long fellowship to China & Taiwan. I was sitting on the couch cradling the pup in my lap, gazing into his eyes thinking...maybe I should just skip China and stay home and snuggle with Chance. ...From that moment on I knew I was "doomed." The baby hormone had officially switched "on."

I mean seriously...how could you not want to spend your time and energy snuggling with this pup and making sure he has a loving, secure happy home!

So when we were finally ready (or as ready as we would ever be) we decided to start our endeavors in the family making business. To me it was a huge deal and getting to that point was a multi-month lead up...but then despite my cautious planning and my attempts at timing and the fact that in my mind we had waited for years to get to this point...nothing happened. In hindsight, I just don't think it was meant to...there are so many things that have happened in the past year that make the timing now so much more perfect. Did things go the way my type A self had planned? Absolutely not. In fact leaving my job was really not part of the plan at all (see this entry for details) but in the end it really seems like relaxing and going with what felt right for us and our long term visions and goals for ourselves and for our future family was what really mattered.

Hindsight is 20-20: The reasons that it was a blessing that we were not insta-pregnant...

- We had time for one more year of travel and we relished it! One of trips was the ultimate, prime jewel baby bucket list adventure - a dive trip to the Galapagos! It was absolutely one of the most magical weeks of our lives!

Ourika Valley, Morocco 2012

Saadian tombs in Marrakech, Morocco

Watching the bustling square in Marrakech at sunset

Parque Guell in Barcelona

Diving at Darwin's Arch on New Year's Eve 2012

Why dive the Galapagos...enough shown. One of the most amazing weeks of our lives!!!

- I learned a lot about myself. And about what I valued. And about my priorities. And was reminded how much I deeply love my husband.

- Daniel is now WAY more ready than he was a year ago. WAY. A year of mental adjusting was very very good for him.

- Over the past year my car accident injury (rear ended January 2011, herniated discs in my neck...daily pain for years) has become much more manageable! I have seen a lot of doctors and have learned a lot...but in the past year I have weaned off of muscle relaxers and other things and am much more day to day functional and comfortable...and had a lawyer that helped me get my medical bills paid...excellent timing.

- I earned my masters! I am now equipped with a M.Ed. in Educational Technology and Curriculum & Instruction and have dozens and dozens of ideas! I could not be more glad that I wasn't teaching six classes a day while working on grad school through the weekends while braving weeks 6 and 7and 8 and 9 of my pregnancy!

- Timing...the stars seem to be aligning for some major epic changes for the Hals...some of which have not been fully determined yet...but if all the changes occur that I anticipate will occur, it will be pretty crazy and amazing.

- It has made me ever so grateful for what we have now! We are SO excited and happy! I feel incredibly content! :)

Now for the exciting part...figuring out I was pregnant...!!!

I had a hunch that I might be pregnant - I was pretty sure we had timed things right and I knew it had been almost two weeks and that I could soon start testing. There had been three clues that I had made mental note of - that could be things that just happened or could be directly tied to what I desperately hoped to be true. First, I had an incident while I was at the gym (which I now know was three days before I found out). I was swimming laps in the pool (something I do several times a week) and once I had warmed up I decided to pace myself off someone in a nearby lane to push myself. For about five minutes I swam at a more intense pace (but not an "as fast as you can go sprint" by any means) and had to stop because I very suddenly got the most intense "I don't have enough oxygen" kind of headache and was so out of breath I couldn't actually swallow water from my water bottle. It was super bizarre - I pace myself off of people all the time and it usually makes me feel great. I had to take it easy the rest of the work out - and any time my heart rate went up too much the headache would return. Getting out of the pool I felt horrible - weak and sick instead of relaxed and refreshed like I usually do. In the hot showers I was physically shuddering/cold and shaking all of a sudden. It was definitely weird. I remember standing in the shower thinking...if I am pregnant, is this the hormones starting up and kicking in?!? If not, I have no idea what's going on! So...in hindsight - I knew I was pregnant when...

Two other major clues for the week that are far less obvious ones. Even though I was getting lots of sleep at night, I was still really fatigued. I was having a really hard time waking up in the morning - it was like coming out of this really heavy fog and by one o'clock I was tired enough to want to sit down again a few afternoons before I found out. I attributed it to finally relaxing enough that I was figuring out how tired I really am after years and years of pushing myself, but alas there was a different reason! And third clue - I had a few days (around the time of the swimming incident) when I was so thirsty it didn't matter how much water I drank, I still wanted more!

As the two week mark drew closer, I started testing. I started too early, but I was using really cheap tests I had gotten on the internet (the "Wondfo cheapies" as they are often called online) - my friend and neighbor Kim, had recently found out she was pregnant with some of these tests and had graciously given what was left over to me with the warning that the line tends to be pretty faint (these are some lucky tests - this pack has resulted in two different women's positives!) On Saturday I got distracted while it was processing, and when I came back to look at it, well after the five minute mark, I saw the faintest of faintest lines. Hmm. On some pregnancy tests you can actually see a shadowy line where the test strip should be, but on these that has never been the case. It was so light it was hard to see if it had a pink color to it or not... all day long I kept pulling it back out and thinking...hmmm. This is the most official maybe I think I have ever had. I was trying so hard not to get my hopes up! It was not even time to mention it to Daniel yet - I think he would have looked at the strip and been like - yeah right.

Saturday night I slept HORRIBLY! I was so excited to sleep and wake up and test, I couldn't sleep. I was too hot. I was itchy. I was way way too excited. Finally I woke up and it was about 6 am - good enough! I took another one of the cheap tests and it was a little bit darker, but still super super faint. But enough that I decided to try one of the tests that I had in the cabinet that cost more than 25 cents. This one only took three minutes and...it...was...POSITIVE! Clearly, blatantly, obviously, POSITIVE! It was still a fainter than an even match with the control - but there was no doubt! In fact, the line was so solid I decided to go ahead and pull out the "big guns" - I had one digital test I had saved for "the big day" and had planned to only use it when it really and truly was official - I really wanted to see those words. It can take up to three minutes - and after one minute - BAM! I breathlessly stared at it in anticipation - as the timer symbol pulsed on the screen to reveal - PREGNANT! I may or may not have jumped up and down...a lot. :)

Daniel was still solidly asleep and it was my one chance to figure out how to surprise him. When we had started trying a year prior I had decided I really wanted to get to tell him in a unique way - and I had dreamed up the idea of a package. I had put it all together and put it in the closet for "someday" knowing that it would probably happen like this - I would find out and have a tiny window of time to pull it together. So, I excitedly wrote a message in the card I had purchased for him, tucked it into the box with a cute onesie and the positive pregnancy test, and created a fun mailing label that addressed the box to "Papa Hals" (his nickname the students gave him in Italy) and drew a cute stork carrying "Baby Hals" in the return address spot.

I went back into the bedroom - I was on full blown adrenaline by now and in need of a walk, as was our dog, so I threw on some neighborhood walk friendly clothes and was about to head out the door when I noticed Daniel was stirring. Once Daniel stirs the kid is up. So, I ran to get the package and before he was even out of bed said "hey babe, this package came for you..."