FAQ Baby On Board

I can't thank each and every one of you enough for the sweet words and well wishes on the impending wee member of our crew. It was very heart warming to read all of your thoughtful comments and it truly made my day!

It certainly brings up some questions from those who don't know us well and even those who do... so here's my best attempt to cover some bases:

* Yes, we'll stay living on the boat. This has been our life since 1998, we can't imagine living any other way.

                                                        (one year old Zach staging his first mutiny)

* No we won't be building an addition to the boat, nor will we buy a bigger boat. This boat has PLENTY of space. We just need to do some major reshuffling and reorganizing and rehtinking of how we use our space.

* No, this doesn't change our plans to go cruising again (traveling by boat full time) in a couple of years. The only thing dictating our cruising timeline is finances, not family size.

                       (Just 3 days old, first day home aboard the boat. Man was it ever clean and organized back then!)

* No, we didn't save a thing from when Zach was little. One little onsie is it (the outfit he came home in, seen above). There is no space for that kind of storage aboard and we don't keep any land based storage space. So in that sense we're starting over, but we also know that babies don't need anything more than a loving family, mama's milk, and loads of dipes... the rest is just icing. 

* I don't plan on a home/ boat birth. But I am not 100% ruling it out either. My friend Laureen is a rockstar and she birthed her third at home aboard her boat. With Zach I had a c/s because he was transverse. So although I have never been in labor, my gut feeling is I will want more space to labor and birth this baby. And the only thing less private than a hospital is a marina in the high season. So a VBAC with a midwife off the boat is the plan as of now.

* No, I didn't realize I was pregnant when I climbed down that cliff in Hawaii. But I sure started to feel like it on the way up.  :)

* How do you handle a baby on a boat? I guess my answer to that is, how do you do it in a house? Babies are raised a million different ways all over the world. I've never known any different as far as parenting goes, but to me a house seems endlessly more challenging. Stairs to fall down, furniture to tip over, and all that space to get lost in. We only have 3 steps from the main salon down to the hulls. All of the furniture is built in. And on board a boat, the little ones can't get away from you -- literally. You hear/ see/ smell/ feel everything. For me, a kid falling down a flight of stairs is a much scarier prospect that falling in the water. Truly, every walk of life has its risks, there is no "safe" place to raise a kid. Again, a loving, attentive family is all that matters.

... ok and a life jacket.

* The blog name. Yeah. That is probably something I should change huh? I mean I know the baby isn't going to know or care, but it seems weird to keep it Zach Aboard. I think I am going to need some help on this front though. Any ideas? I am OPEN to suggestions! I think maybe I should make a full blown contest out of re-naming the blog. Heck, we need baby names, and a boat name (the boat came with the name Majestic and we've never been fond of it), so why not?! I will have to think of an appropriate prize for naming the blog (or baby or boat!)

And if anyone has any other questions, always feel free to ask at any time. Truly, thank you once again for the well wishes!