Steve enjoys a sandwich on the steps of St. Paul's in London, March 2006.

If your heart was struck with terror this past Christmas realizing that you hadn't heard from Steve and Amanda and you wondered if perhaps they had gone on to a better place ... well, you're right. Really. It has hardwood floors.

It was a mucky encounter with flooding in mid-December that prompted us to pack up and leave our old apartment and old neighborhood and find residence in West Seattle.

Our new place, across the street from Alki Beach.

Moving during the holidays is never a treat, but we were blessed to find a lovely new place in a brick courtyard apartment built in 1926, with all the accompanying charm—chandeliers, faux fireplace, leaded-glass cabinets, and cold storage in the kitchen. The best part is that we're a street-crossing away from Alki Beach, so we feel like we've landed in our own little seaside cottage.

Luna helps us pack our DVD inventory.

Our new floor plan gives us space for a sizable warehouse (formerly a formal dining room), which is a good thing since we've quit cat sitting to concentrate on being full-time eBay sellers. Steve has turned his encyclopedic knowledge of movies into a thriving business of rare and classic DVDs. We still get to be our own bosses but have traded driving around town all day for spending our time at home together in our jammies.

Snoqualmie Falls, 2006

For some reason, our family thinks we chose a bigger place not to make room for inventory but to make room for our baby. Yes, that's right, if you've ever wondered what you get when you combine a Lansingh and a Caldwell, wonder no more as of June! We are officially reproducing. And, despite Amanda's burgeoning belly, we still say babies take up way less space than stacks and stacks of DVD boxes.

We actually had a sad and disappointing spring last year when our first pregnancy ended in miscarriage, but after a long recovery we are now into the third trimester this time around and all is going well.

Amanda, Steve, & baby on Alki Beach, March 2007

The heartbeat always sounds nice and fast at our midwife visits, so we're having either a very athletic child or a very out-of-shape child. You decide which is more likely. We will both vouch that this baby likes to swim, because we feel it moving around all the time (Amanda more than Steve, naturally).

Even though we liked cat sitting, one reason we're enjoying having quit is our more relaxed schedule with time off. Last year we worked nearly every day of the year; we had to hire friends to take over the business when we took a trip in March to visit Amanda's family and enjoy a whirlwind visit to London (our favorite vacation spot, where we love to walk the city, visit bookstores, attend theaters, and eat loads of prawn cocktail crisps).

Snoqualmie Falls, 2006

In May we had a bona fide day off at the exact time that Steve's Franciscan priest friend, Jon St. André, stayed with us, and we were able to tour the city together. Most of our other adventures were half-day affairs, like hiking Snoqualmie Falls and picnicking on Whidbey Island. This year our more relaxed schedule will let us take the time to introduce our youngling to all the sights and sounds of Seattle.

We still love our lives in the city. Amanda continues to take ballet (in a maternity leotard that puts the "span" in spandex), Steve has dabbled more in ceramics, and we go swimming together on the weekends. We remain active in our church, leading a spiritual-growth small group using curriculum that Steve has written, and further deepening friendships with people over coffee and meals. And we've enjoyed spending sunsets walking Alki Beach, which will soon serve as our child's own private sandbox.

Luna finds new places to squeeze herself into.

If you'd like our new mailing address, drop us a line. We're not promising to keep www.SteveandAmanda.com particularly updated, but we're certain to at least flood the baby page with photos come summer, so check in with us to find out the baby's gender (a surprise) and birth weight (oddly, not a surprise: 8 lbs, 11 oz).

Until then, Luna the squeaky cat says "meep," the very swimmy baby says "kick," and we say we wish you God's continued blessings throughout 2007!