Why move to Europe?

There are so many reasons why we wanted to move out of the country and bring you along.

First, we wanted to give you the opportunity to experience how other people live their lives in other countries. In the US, I have noticed that the trend seems to be leaning towards more of an Island-type of living. What I mean by "Island" living is that families seem to be much more interested in their own family in their own house than they are in the well being of their neighbors, friends and strangers. They live as if their home is an island and they don't much care about what happens anywhere else except their little island.

I began to find this unsettling and I have always wanted you to have the compassion and selflessness that I wish for every person I meet. Your Dad and I decided that the best way to expose you to different cultures was to travel. So, that's what lead us to this decision.

Most of our friends and family have said that we are crazy for wanting to take a baby out of the comfort of our own home and travel the world with her. This might be true, but we both happily accept our craziness :)

Another reason why we wanted to take you on an adventure was because people told us we couldn't. Ever since the moment I found out I was pregnant with you, I had been told every reason under the sun that my goals and aspirations for your pregnancy, birth and upbringing were unattainable. What those people didn't know is that whenever I am told that I cannot do something, it makes me want to do it even more.

I DID have a natural, out-of-hospital birth. I did breastfeed, co-sleep, wear you in a sling, use cloth diapers and manage to not fill my house with unnecessary baby items and products. We didn't need to go out and buy the biggest SUV we could find, in order to have a "safe" car for our baby to ride in. We managed to get the majority of your clothes and toys as hand-me-downs from friends. Adding you to our lives was more of an evolution than a life-changing event. Once I was told that it was impossible to move to another country and travel with a baby, I knew it was something that I had to prove was wrong, and I did.

So, we sold most everything we own, packed everything else up in to a storage space, and left on April 10th, 2010 for Europe. I hope you have enjoyed the trip so far. Here are some of the places that you have visited in the last month:

New York City, New York
Ponte Delgada, Azores, Portugal
Lisbon, Portugal
Cadiz, Spain
Malga, Spain
Venice, Italy
Munich, Germany
Neustadt am Rubenburg, Germany