Thanksgiving

For the first time in thirteen years, Ryan and I stayed home for Thanksgiving.  Between our France trip, Tessa's school and our surprise pregnancy, travel just wasn't feasible this year.  Thankfully, both sets of grandparents were able to come to our house so we were all together and it was wonderful.  Before school let out for the holiday, Tessa had a project where she disguised a turkey.  Of course, she wanted her turkey to be dressed as a princess and she chose Ariel.  Tessa colored the turkey feathers ocean blue and added some glitter to makes the waves sparkle.  Then she painted seashells for the beach and Ariel's bikini top.  We curled ribbon together for hair and glued on the tail.  Then she spread glue and sprinkled sand all along the bottom to make the beach.  A few stickers of Ariel's friends and she was done.  It turned out so cute and we had fun doing it together.   

Frank and Paula arrived the day before Thanksgiving.  Since I was on call both Tuesday and Thursday that week and was eight months pregnant, everyone helped with the cooking.  I did what I could ahead of time and Paula and my mom did the rest.  Here Tessa is helping to brine the turkey.  It made the turkey so moist!

On Thanksgiving day we started the party around noon and had a great time.  Tessa posed with my mom while everything was cooking. 

 Here's a picture of the boys with Tessa. 

The food was all delicious, I love this delegating thing.  We killed several bottles of champagne and Prosecco and had a grand old time.  After dinner we had coffee and espresso and played games.  I had a double shot of espresso, my treat to myself, and actually stayed awake after 9pm!  Even though I was buzzing on caffeine I was very glad not to be called into the hospital that night.     

 I am so very thankful for my wonderful growing family.  Happy Thanksgiving!

Baby Boy's Shower

The Sunday School girls were nice enough to throw me a baby shower.  I still can't quite believe I am pregnant but my belly is growing by the day.  We snapped a few pictures before heading out to the party.  

Guess who didn't want to be left out.  My sweet Tessa is going to be the best big sister ever!

Here's a picture of most of the girls, a couple came in after we took this shot.  Three of us are pregnant right now and all of us are having boys.  We ate and chatted.  Lots of advice was given plus a few delivery horror stories, with happy endings, were shared. 

I opened lots and lots of presents.  I had gotten rid of almost everything from Tessa's baby days so we are starting over from scratch.  Whenever I would get sad about giving away Tessa's baby things we would joke that if a miracle happened we would buy all new stuff.  Of course I never really expected it to happen!  Thanks to these girls and my mom I now have much of what I needed and don't have to buy quite so many things. 

I can't thank my friend Tobie enough for hosting this party.  She has been great support through this pregnancy.

Thank you, thank you, thank you for all the wonderful gifts!  I'm very excited to get the nursery set up for Baby Boy.  Someday we will actually decide on a name for him. 

Church Pictures

We are updating our church directory and I think our pictures turned out quite nice. 

32 Weeks

Oh, I am really growing now.  I had my first pre-natal massage and it was absolutely fabulous.  Baby boy is putting more strain on my right side than my left causing sciatic pain down my right leg.  Nothing terrible, but when the massage therapist worked out the kinks I felt amazing.  I'm thinking I need several of these third trimester massages.  I still have a nagging cough but otherwise I feel pretty darn good.

Happy Halloween

Happy Halloween!  Our little Sofia was ready to head out trick-or-treating.  We planned to start around six but were a little late getting started because, of course, I wanted pictures.    

My mom left candy out at her house and came over to join the fun with us.  We left a big bowl of candy on the front porch and started making our way around the neighborhood.

Each time we walked back by the house we would refill the bowl.  One of those times, Tessa got so excited about people coming to the house that she wouldn't leave again to go trick-or-treating.  She has just as much fun handing out candy as she does receiving it.  I love that.  By nine we called it quits and turned off the lights, it was a school night after all! 

We had one more chance to wear our costume that weekend when we got together with our SS class for a party.  Tessa and her BFF matched!

Carving Pumpkins

Ryan is finally home from France and Tessa is excited to carve pumpkins.  They made a cute traditional Jack-O-Lantern and put it on the front porch.  We joke that my belly is round like a pumpkin and before I know it, we are painting my belly to match Tessa's pumpkin.  This picture makes me laugh. 

Boo in the Zoo

 

We had a beautiful night for Boo in the Zoo with my parents.  Tessa went as Sofia the First and was absolutely adorable.   

We arrived right as the gates opened and, even though there was a long line, we didn't have to wait long to get into the zoo.  Unlike other years, the animals were still out.  My parents finally got to see the new giraffe and the new elephant. 

 We stopped for pictures on the bear.  What a pretty princess sitting all by herself!

 This is such a cute and fun Halloween activity.  I'm so glad we were able to go this year. 

28 Weeks

Baby and I are growing!  Mostly I continue to feel great.  It's hard to tell if I am tired because I am starting my third trimester or if I am still getting over jet lag.  My indigestion is getting worse and I am still trying to adjust my diet to figure out what works.  I also have a nagging cough/cold that just won't go away.  But really these are just little things.  I'm not having any new cravings but I am having crazy dreams, the details of which I can't remember right now.  Things are moving along nicely.  When Ryan gets home from France we will get a 4d ultrasound to get another peek at this baby.         

Back to Paris

We took the train back to Paris to meet up with an old friend, Minoo.  We checked in to our hotel and then headed out for lunch and shopping.  We went to the top floor of the beautiful and crowded Galleries Lafayette.  Located just behind the opulent Opera Garnier, the view was great.  But the crowds were not.  Not only was it a weekend but it there was a huge sale going on too.  We abandoned the idea of shopping and just ate lunch and took the chance to get to know Minoo's girlfriend Karina.  Minoo was one of our groomsmen but we don't get to see him much since he has been living in London for years now.  

We took the hop on bus tour again and hopped off for more pictures at the Eiffel Tower. 

Tessa took this picture of the four of us.  The perspective makes me laugh. 

Ryan, looking very European with his sweater tied around his shoulders. 

While walking around the touristy parts of Paris, we couldn't resist buying colorful berets.  We found a nearby café for dinner and settled in for a long French meal.  After a few bottles of wine the berets came out and we had a fashion show.  I love how happy these two look together! 

 Our little French famille!

The next day it was time for Tessa and me to travel home.  We were sad to be leaving without Daddy.  Just to keep things interesting, there was an unattended baggage scare at Charles de Gaulle airport.  This seems to happen a lot and the way security deals with it is to blow up the abandoned bag.  I'm not making this up, Ryan has seen it happen twice now.  They cover the bag with a steel cage thing and then BOOM!  Much like how they blow up human stuff in Monsters Inc.  So our taxi driver dropped us off one terminal early to avoid the subsequent traffic.  We checked in, repacked one suitcase that was - surprise - over the weight limit and headed for security.  I had a surprise burst of tears as we said good-bye to Ryan and then we were off to the gate.  A little last minute shopping helped my end of vacation blues and before I knew it we were boarding for the long flight home.  Thankfully, we both slept a couple of hours and entertained ourselves with movies for the rest of the trip home.  Once we landed in Atlanta I had to smile at the friendly airport workers "Welcome home Baby!" and "Honey let me get that for you!" comments.  I truly love France and the French but there is nothing like a warm Southern welcome.  We caught our connecting flight to Greenville and happily crashed in our own beds that night.  It truly was a Bon Voyage!  



Puy de Dome

One of the girls I used to work with moved to Clermont-Ferrand a couple of years ago because her husband also works for Michelin.  Tessa and I took the chance to meet up with Leigh and she proved to be a great tour guide.  One day she took us up the nearby volcano, Puy de Dome.  We drove to the base and took the train up to the top.  We had gorgeous weather and were able to see for miles around from the top of the mountain.  Leigh is a fantastic photographer and she captured some great shots of Tessa. 

Isn't Leigh cute in her French red scarf?  While exploring, Tessa picked wildflowers and then insisted we all wear them in our hair. 

I absolutely love this shot.  This is how we look most of the time, Tessa posing and me taking a picture. 

Behind us you can see how the chain of volcanoes extends, with us standing on the tallest one.  Leigh has hiked much of this area and pointed out interesting landmarks.  This is one of the few fences on the top of the mountain.  It's pretty much a free for all which is a little nerve wracking with a very mobile child and a mom who has a healthy fear of heights.  But at some moments, it felt like that scene from "The Sound of Music" where Julie Andrews is twirling and singing and just enjoying the mountains.   

We watched people parachute right off the side of the mountain which was pretty incredible.  They laid out their chutes and arranged all the strings just so before strapping in.  Then they would just run and leap into thin air.  Sometimes the wind currents carried them up and away and other times they would float down to the valley below.  It was great to watch but this is not on my bucket list to do. 

That evening, we met up with Leigh and Bruce for dinner at the only Mexican restaurant in town.  Just in case you are wondering, French-Mexican food is really good.  Ryan and Bruce talked about work and Leigh and I laughed over Tessa's antics.  We were able to spend another afternoon with Leigh at her apartment.  We talked about people back at the hospital and how it really was to live in France.  It's great to have an insider's view of how life is as an ex-pat just in case I ever find myself in that position.