Time is going by quickly now. I’m 23 weeks + 4 days, and I only have a week until I begin my hospital sentencing next Monday. One strange thing about this experience is when people ask me “when are you due?” It’s odd to be reminded that I’m actually due on Halloween (that’s October 31 in case you forgot), however on July 15th, I will go live in the hospital for the remainder of this pregnancy, however long that lasts. I always just say “it’s complicated.”

So far, the babies are still doing mostly fine. In their ultrasound last week, both of their femurs were measuring about a week short. This could be nothing, or it could be the beginning of some growth issues. We just have to wait and see… SO LET’S BE CALM ABOUT THAT.

I also got a tour of the unit where I will be living. I get this question a lot: “what will your room be like?” Well, here’s a big surprise for you! It looks just like a hospital room. I get my own, which is great, but beyond that, it’s a hospital room. With a bed. And sterile lights. And one of those uncomfortable-looking couch thingies. And a bathroom. I will definitely give ya’ll a tour once I move in!

Meanwhile, we bought a Toyota Sienna minivan, and we used it to get in one last camping trip over the 4th of July. In a string of seemingly reckless financial decisions, we recently bought 20 acres of land in Chelan, and we plan to build a vacation house on it. (I guess you can think of it as a side-hustle with benefits. We will hopefully break even by renting it out on Airbnb etc, and we can use it a little bit ourselves, too.) Over the long weekend, we went to camp on our land to get a better feel for it. Now I feel like we made a great decision because camping and #vanlife-ing with this gaggle + 2 more is just not gonna work. A 4-bedroom house on 20 acres of land sounds just perfect! 😀

Anyway, back to the minivan. Here it is, offroading!

The purchase of the minivan makes this whole thing feel very real, and it brought on another bout of anxiety. “What if all this goes terribly wrong, and I’m left with a minivan as a reminder?” I’m slowly coming to terms with that.

Anyway, on our camping trip, which included two mountain passes, dirt roads, and a little bit of offroading, we put the new minivan through its paces. Here’s a little review:

Pros:

• We went with the Sienna because it has AWD, and it’s the only minivan with AWD. It won purely because of that.
• Finally, I have a car with an audio system that just works automagically with my phone. My old car was just a bit too old to be on the easy-to-use music train — it required plugging my phone into the glove box in order to listen to music, and it couldn’t do Spotify or Pandora very well. But now I have bluetooth audio!
• USB ports for days and some regular ol’ plugs too!
• Fits two large dogs easily. They fit in the way-back with all the seats up no problem. For this trip, we folded down the 3rd row seats and just stacked up a bunch of gear so the dogs couldn’t come to the front.

• Sun shades! Sam loves these
• Toddlers love to push the button that opens and closes the doors. Sam spent a good portion of our camping trip playing in the van.
• The turn signal has a nice sound to it.
• It has more pickup than I’d expect for a minivan. I was sad about making the transition from an Audi to a minivan, but it’s actually not so bad.
• If you use the actual key (not the fob), you can lock the door and keep the van running. This is a good way to not kill your dogs from overheating in the summer. The Sienna is also smart enough to not let someone else drive away if there’s no key in it.
• Cushy ride. It really does feel like driving a couch down the highway.

Cons:

• Hard to park! I am still getting used to this, but it is definitely hard to park, especially in downtown Seattle where parking spots seem to be made for tiny cars only (which is strange given that most people here don’t drive tiny cars)
• Roof dents somewhat easily. I knew better from a childhood of going to drive-in movies, but when we were camping on our new land, I just had to climb on the roof to get a better view. Pop! Now there’s a nice dent on the front from my knee.
• The leather seats are light gray… which is not great for children and dogs. It’s already dirty.
• Sun shades aren’t powered, which means your toddler will probably demand that the shade be opened or closed while you’re driving down the highway.

So, all in all, it’s not so bad! It was definitely the right decision for us, compared to some faux-minivan SUV situation.