We are moved into our house, and I am LOVING it. It is still in various stages of disarray and confusion, but it has carpet, a bathtub (no shower yet), a fully operational kitchen, an air conditioner (just a window one--we aren't that ritzy yet), and a toilet! What more can a girl ask for. Not a whole lot, except it would be nice to have blinds, windows without holes in them, a bathroom sink, a shower, walls without holes in them, light switches that work, washer and dryer hook ups, ceilings without holes in them, and a closet. But I can be patient, I'm just thrilled to not be a hobo anymore and to start unpacking (which I enjoy SO much more than packing).

All in all, life is really good. I just look at our house and I feel like I have been the recipient of a miracle. Not only a miracle that we could actually afford to buy a house (Some time really soon I intend to blog about all the AMAZING first time home buyer programs I found out about), but that we actually got the house to a livable standard in the short time we had. God sent so many angels to help us and I am so grateful for their help.

I just have to keep reminding myself that blessings are only blessings if they bring you closer to God. I have a roof over my head (which I just happen to own-- how crazy is that!), I have a husband who loves me and who is committed to providing for me and my baby, and I have the gospel of Jesus Christ. There really is nothing more that a girl needs.

If you have had a baby in the last three years click here to participated in the the MOST AWESOME SURVEY EVER!

It is called The Transparency in Maternity Care Project and is sponsored by the Coalition for Improving Maternity Services (CIMS). The purpose is to provide women with "accurate, objective data in order to make fully informed choices about birth settings and providers", and to give practitioners and hospital administrators the data they need to evaluate whether they are delivering quality care. When it is finished the hope is that a woman could look up her doctor/hospital and read reviews on the care provided, see c-section rates, and intervention rates, etc... Women would be able to find doctors/midwives that matched their ideology and needs.

I am SO excited that this is FINALLY getting done. It was my dream as a public health graduate to do something like this. I've heard rumors that there are efforts to do this sort of thing for ALL types of medicine. So that say you needed a knee replacement, you could look up the hospital/doctor and see their success rate, compare prices, methods, etc... How AWESOME would that be. It would be one step towards changing health care in America-- but I won't get started on that one!

So PLEASE if you've had a baby recently take the time to participate in the survey. Your voice will make a difference. I've heard that there has been a HUGE response to this survey-- in fact I think the server crashed once because so many people were trying to get on. I think this just goes to show that women WANT to have have their voices heard, and that they are eager to see CHANGE!

I've been hoboing it for the last week with Asher, and man... it is hard to be homeless with a baby. It has been an amazingly crazy week.

It started with our move, which went REALLY well thanks to wonderful family and helpful Elders Quorums. But I've decided that I own WAY too much stuff. My friend mentioned that humans are like goldfish, whatever size "bowl" you put them in they grow to fill it. When Jon and I moved from our one bedroom Provo apartment we only had a U-HAUL trailer and a suburban. This time we barely fit in a 17 ft U-HAUL and truck! Uggg. There is something really humbling and overwhelming about seeing everything you own in the world sitting out on the front lawn, and then trying to stuff it into a truck.

After the move, Jon went back to Valmy, Nevada for the whole week to work on the pilot water treatment plant they are setting up out there. (Just for your info, Valmy is the middle of nowhere northern Nevada, by Winnemucca and Battle Mountain-- in case that means anything to you). I went up to Logan to work on the house, but since our house is in various stages of demolition, I stayed at a friend's house. They are living in SLC for the summer. Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday I tried to paint the house with a baby strapped on my back. It worked fairly well, but I am SO grateful for my cousin who came and helped me for two days. By Thursday night I was BURNT out and I had to call Jon and complain and cry for awhile. In classic guy manner he tried to fix the problem, but I told him that all I wanted was for him to tell me "I love you, I'm proud of you, and MAN YOU ARE ONE HOT SUPER MAMA FOR PAINTING THE HOUSE WHILE TAKING CARE OF A BABY ALL BY YOURSELF!" Yep, I'm glad he's home and I'm glad his work had pity on me and isn't making him go back to Nevada for another week!

Okay, enough of my sob story. Now the exciting part. Asher says "Mama" and Jon and I both swear that he knows it means me. He's been babbling "dada" and "ma ma ma" for awhile now, but the other night Jon went to put him in his crib before I'd fed him for the night, and as soon as Asher saw me he started crying "Ma ma ma ma" and reaching for me! I think he knows that is me. So we are officially counting that as his first word. I'm not sure if he knows "da da" yet. I really want his next word to be "kisses" but that might be too hard:)

Other exciting Asher news. A few days ago during his bath, I was SO surprised to see Asher lean way forward, grab the side of the tub and pull himself up! I think he was really suprised too because then he almost dive bombed it over the edge! He hasn't done it again, but he is trying SO hard to move, crawl and stand up. I sure hope we get this house cleaned up before he can start moving all over.

I might be really sporadic in my blogging the next couple of weeks because life is going to be B-U-S-Y. This week Jon is here (yippee) and we are going to finish painting (in shalla-- Arabic for "God Willing) and then go up to Idaho for my little baby brother's wedding! Only a few more weeks of hobo heaven... or hell... depending on the day :)

We are moving tomorrow. It is going to be REALLY hard for me to leave. I knew when we moved in a little over a year ago that we wouldn't be here for very long, but I didn't expect my heart to get so attached to people and to places. It has never been so hard for me to say goodbye before. I guess it is because I've made friends with several of the old ladies in our ward and I know that when I say goodbye, it is goodbye for good. That is hard.

It is also going to be hard to leave this apartment, not only because we have great neighbors and friends, but because this is the house where Asher was born. One of my friends who also had a home birth wrote a post entitled "A Baby Was Born Here" and I think she really summed up how I feel about this apartment. It really is a sacred place to me, and sometimes when I am sitting in my front room I get flashbacks (good ones) to me lying in the birth pool staring at the Christmas tree with Jon stroking my hair, me making a figure 8 pacing pattern in the hallway while holding my belly, me sitting on the toilet in my fleece PJs, and me squatting against the bed posts with Jon and the midwife squeezing my hips. Mostly I remember the sacred and peaceful feeling our home had for days after Asher was born, and how I felt like a queen.

I believe that the place where a baby is born does become sacred, because for a few moments the bridge between heaven and earth is WIDE open and life begins. That doesn't happen ANYWHERE else on earth except in the places where babies are born. It is going to be hard to leave this place behind. But I guess I can console myself by realizing that someday I'll be able to bring Asher back and show him where he was born. I could even put my foot on the exact spot.

I hope several more babies will be born at our new house in Logan-- if so maybe I'll have to get a sign to put on my door that says "A Baby Was Born Here". It'd be a good conversation starter :)