Indiana Visit!!!

My flights to Indiana were both delayed and I ended up arriving about an hour late on May 2nd. I felt bad because Mom and Dad were already waiting in the Evansville airport before my plane even left Detroit!!! It was so great to get to the airport and see them!!!! Phillip’s parents met me there too! I was so happy to see everyone! The 5 of us went to O’Charleys for dinner…I love that place! Mom and Dad thought sure I’d fall asleep on the drive to Tell City, but I was way too excited to see them and talk to them! By the time I went to bed that night, I had been awake for 24 hours! I actually adjusted pretty well to the time difference though and woke up early each morning!

Mom and I went to Evansville on the 4th. I had an ultrasound appointment! We weren’t able to get an ultrasound appt in England before I went home. We were disappointed because Phillip wasn’t able to be there for it! But I called him on the phone and he heard the ultrasound tech announce at the exact same time we did, “It’s a GIRL!” It was so exciting to finally hear that news!!! (I was already 23 and a half weeks…a lot of couples find out around week 16!!!) Phillip and I both thought it was a girl! Hearing it made everything so much more real! The ultrasound tech said everything looked great! Mom and I had so much fun watching Baby Girl during the ultrasound. She kept moving her little arms above her head. She also opened and closed her mouth several times…that was so neat to see!!! We were both fascinated! Baby’s heartbeat was 148! I love hearing the heartbeat! Baby Girl weighed 1 pound, 4 ounces! Hard to believe they can figure that out! The tech also said Baby Girl’s heart looked gorgeous! What great news! Mom and I spent the rest of the day shopping. It was even more fun to look at baby things and baby clothes since we knew we could look for cute little GIRL things!

Julie, Seth, Aunt Laura, and Uncle Gene visited us on the 6th! It was great to spend time with them! We ate dinner at the Chinese buffet in TC…I love that place! I also saw Brian K. there! I was so excited to see him too! What a good evening!

My days in Tell City flew by! Mom and I visited Grandpa in the nursing home several times. I’m glad I got to spend some time with him! Mom and Dad are having a sun room added on to their house, so there were workers there a lot! It was fun to watch their progress!

Aunt Theresa, Uncle Gary, Jennifer, and Katie Ann arrived on the 13th!!! I was so happy to see them!!!! Uncle Gene came over too! Mom and I made dinner that day and we took everything to the nursing home so we could all eat with Grandpa there. That was nice! The next day was my baby shower! Sara (my sister) and Kristy (Phillip’s sister) hosted the shower for me! Tina did games and Katie Ann helped her with them! It was a wonderful day! Phillip and I are so lucky to have such amazing family and friends!!! We are truly blessed!!! We have already decided that Baby Girl is going to be one lucky little girl! We got so many amazing gifts and cute clothes for her! She is certainly going to be loved by a LOT of people!!! Thank you all!!!!! (It was really fun seeing all of the pink too…hehehe!)

That evening, Mom, Dad, Aunt Theresa, Uncle Gary, Jennifer, Katie Ann, and I took dinner to the nursing home so we could all eat with Grandpa again. I think he was really glad we did that both nights! He enjoyed seeing all of us!

Mom and I enjoyed going through all of the baby gifts Sunday! We sorted through and made piles of what to take to England and what to leave home for when we return from England. Some gifts were easy to decide because they were bigger sizes or were meant for when Baby is a little older. Others were really hard! I think we figured it all out though and I was actually able to put more in my suitcases than expected! We washed all of the clothes so I wouldn’t have to do it later in England! Baby Girl is all set! That evening, Tina and her parents came over and we played Shanghai! We love that card game! It was great to hang out with Tina!!!!!

The next few days went way too fast! Mom and I finished packing all of Baby Girl’s things and my new maternity clothes. (I had to buy maternity clothes for warmer weather while I was there…I only had stuff for cold weather!) I still had some extra room in my suitcases, so I bought some extra food! I stocked up on hamburger helper lasagna…we love that stuff! England doesn’t sell anything like that! I also got a couple of boxes of mac and cheese (hard to find in England and crazy expensive if you do find it), cheesy potatoes, and pop tarts!

I certainly enjoyed my time with my parents! We played several games of Shanghai and I enjoyed lots of Mom’s home cooked meals!!! Aunt Betty and Curt gave us lots of asparagus from their garden…they know I love asparagus! They also gave us some fresh strawberries!!!!! Then Dad’s strawberries started to ripen too, and he brought home a bunch a few days later. I absolutely loved eating tons of fresh strawberries. They just might be my favorite food ever!!!! (And I love a lot of foods, so that says a lot!) Mom and I even made a strawberry pie! Delicious!!!

Wednesday (18th) was Phillip’s 31st birthday!!!! I felt really bad that I wasn’t there to celebrate with him! The other AUC students that are at Wexham Park Hospital celebrated with him though! They all ordered pizza and even made him a chocolate (with Cadbury sprinkles) birthday cake! Awesome!

Mom, Dad, and I had to get up early Thursday morning (19th) to head to the airport! We stopped at Donut Bank on the way. I wanted to get something to surprise Phillip. He LOVES their cookies! So I brought 5 of them back for him. (Almost all of them got broken, but he was still super excited to get them!!!)

Cheryl met us at the airport to say goodbye to me too! That was sweet! I had a really hard time saying goodbye to Mom and Dad…harder even than usual! It will be 7 months before I see them again! That is the longest that I’ve ever gone without seeing them and I hate the idea of it!!!! I just hope these next 7 months go fast! I will certainly be ready for them to meet Baby Girl when we finally arrive home in December!!!!

My flights were just fine, but I didn’t exactly enjoy the 9 hour layover in Detroit. Baby Girl apparently didn’t know what to think of our 9 hour layover either because I’ve never felt her so active before! (Yes I realize that’s probably because I’m usually more active…with sitting around most of the day, I probably felt her more!) Anyway, she was kicking like crazy all day long! It was pretty funny! I arrived at London Heathrow Airport around 10am (4am TC time). I waited in line forever to get through customs, but then got my luggage quickly at least! I called a cab and was soon on my way home! Phillip met me outside our apartment!! It was great to see him!!!!!!!! He carried all of my luggage in for me! I was exhausted after being up for over 24 hours! I took a nap that afternoon while Phillip went back to work at the hospital. Then we spent the evening together! I was so anxious to show him our new baby things. He loved them all too!!! We had fun organizing the little closet in the extra bedroom to store all of Baby Girl’s new things! (I realized I never posted this in the blog - we found out a few weeks ago that our apartment complex will let us stay in our flat once Baby is born!!!! They originally said no kids allowed, so we were thrilled that they changed their minds! It will be so much easier now that we know we don't have to move somewhere else! Plus, we love our location here, right on the hospital grounds! Good news for sure!) Let the countdown begin…14 weeks till our due date!