Greetings from across the pond

Thursday, May 12, 2011

You're in the home stretch! After nine months of growth and development, your baby is ready to be born, or nearly so. At week 39, your baby is fully developed and anywhere from 17-23 inches long and weighs 6-10 pounds. Your baby is adding neural connections and growing hair and still gaining weight. Researchers have theorized that when babies are ready to be born, they send a chemical signal of androgens to the placenta, which increases the production of estrogen and leads to labor. If so, it's proof of the old saying that "only a baby knows when it's ready to be born."

Okay... so needless to say, I'm over it. I've crept into this strange phase of denial. It's a similar feeling I had right before the 12 week scan. I had convinced myself that there was no baby inside, and was just in a foul mood for having to go through with the scan. I don't know if this is some strange defense mechanism of mine, but it's not so pleasant. It's slightly different now, I see my belly, I feel the baby moving inside, so I realize it's in there; however, I feel like the day will never come when I get to meet the little one. Kinda like in middle school, when I was certain I would die before I got my first kiss... I couldn't possibly imagine it EVER happening. And of course, it did, and that's a whole different traumatic story... :)

So, project divert my mind continues: I've done everything I could possibly think of to prepare for this babe... all the shopping, all the organizing, I've given our garden a complete spring/summer make-over, now, I literally just wait... and wait... and unfortunately, patience is not a virtue of mine.

38 Weeks

Saturday, April 30, 2011

Ashley in London Towne!!!!

April 19th-28th went by like a whirlwind. I can't believe that it has come and gone already. My bff Ashley came to see me in all my preggers glory, oh, and do a bit of sightseeing too! We had an absolute blast! Here are some highlights from her time in the UK.

Wednesday, April 20th: Ash & I headed up town for some sightseeing.

The tall building under construction is called 'The Shard' and when it's completed, it will be the tallest building in Europe. The egg shaped building to the left is City Hall. And of course, the Thames River.

Tower Bridge

View of the City from Tower Bridge. Modern buildings juxtaposed with the ancient Tower of London. The building in the center that looks like a space ship is known as 'The Gherkin' (or pickel)... I think it looks more like a space ship, and Ashley thought it resembled a Faberge egg.

Tower of London

Thursday, April 21st: We were off to Windsor Castle!

When we first arrived the Union Jack flag was flying, which means the Queen is not there.

However, a couple minutes later, they raised Her Majesty's flag! She arrived while Ash & I were there, AND, we found out it was her 85th birthday! So, basically, we celebrated the Queen's birthday with her, at her house... don't worry about it!

One of my favorite English traditions: Cream tea and scones. Although Ashley & I didn't stop there... we got the works... Yummy!

Friday, April 22nd: Neil was off work, so he chaffered Ash & I up town for some more sights.

Our first stop: Primrose Hill. It is literally a park with a big hill in the middle that overlooks the City. Everyone takes picnics and makes a day of it. You can't beat this spot on a sunny day! (Ashley lucked out, it was glorious and sunny almost everyday while she was here! 80F!!!)

Regent's Park

Cool sculpture in town

Big Ben, Houses of Parliament and the London Eye (ferris wheel) in the background

St. Paul's Cathedral

View of St. Paul's from the Millennium Bridge

The gates of Buckingham Palace

Touristy, yes, but we had to do it! Abbey Road crossing from the Beatles album!

Sunday, April 24th: Easter service at Westminster Abbey and lunch at Babylon roof top gardens, off High Street Kensington. The service was chilling. Being in that environment on such a special occasion was indescribable. Not to mention the fact that we were there just a few days before the Royal Wedding!! Neil dropped us off about an hour and a bit before the service was to start, and we got prime time seats!

Entertaining our guest :)

Tuesday, April 26th: Ash & I headed up town again to see Phantom of the Opera! Neither of us had ever seen the show performed on stage, and it was incredible! The music and singing was beautiful. Afterwards, we met up with Kathleen for dinner in SOHO.

Me & Bump on the Tube

Her Majesty's Royal Theatre on Haymarket, Piccadilly

Where we saw Phantom of the Opera

Ash & Kathleen at the site of one of Mozart's houses

It is now the back stage door for the Jersey Boys show

Wednesday, April 27th: Ashley's last day.... a day for SHOPPING!! We hit up Carnaby Street, with all it's cute boutiques, Oxford Street, TOPSHOP (a must), and then last but not least, the infamous Harrods.

Harrod's

Thursday, April 14, 2011

Portsmouth & Isle of Wight

This is officially my first week, of 39 :), on maternity leave.

I am loving my hubby's occupation at the moment. He was assigned several jobs on the Isle of Wight this Tuesday, and I thought, I have nothing else to do... might as well tag along! Fantastic!! We got an early start (6:30AM) YIKESY... but I didn't mind because we were off to another adventure! The Isle of Wight is a small island off the South coast of England. We drove down to Portsmouth, which is a major dockyard and base for the Royal Navy, and got a ferry across the English Channel to the Isle of Wight.