Actually Been Busy Lately

After weeks of passing my days with D.J. and Uncle Jesse, Lorelei and Rory, Steve Urkel, and the occasional Sabrina the Teenage Witch, I've actually sort of had a life that brings me into contact with other, 3-D people who can actually respond when I talk to them. (Rather than being irritated when Stephanie, for the umpteenth time, will not listen when I say, "Don't do it! You know Danny's going to find out!")

Last Tuesday, I departed for Texas. Spud very much enjoyed his/her first plane ride despite my fear that s/he would definitely not given the fact that I actually puked for the first pregnant time the morning of my flight. It was the first time since I was little that I actually ate my plane snacks. Anything to keep nausea at 33000 feet at bay. My airline journey was, thankfully, extremely uneventful. Of course, I did cry in the bathroom at SeaTac for a while for the following reasons:

1. I'm an emotional pregnant girl and can't help it
2. I found out I was losing Speck at the airport on June 1st over the phone as I was picking up my mom. I will FOREVER associate the baggage claim area there with my little Speck.
3. The last time I was there, I was sobbing hideously in a desperate clutch with Bethany as she and Dan were saying goodbye to us in the security line at the genesis of their world-traveling new lifestyle. I miss them SO much.

I arrived in TX delighted to see my mom and dad as mom immediately started trying to see if I was showing yet. In clothes, I'm not. HOWEVER, when I first wake up and my stomach is empty I can see my little uterus pooch beginning to show. AND, it's not just my imagination because yesterday, at my appointment with Cindie, she said that I have an anterior uterus which means it's slightly poking forward, and she could feel from the outside that it is starting to pooch out. Thanks to my anterior uterus, we were also able to hear Spud's amazingly little, but strong, heart beating. Brendan was sure to mentally capture the exact beat and proceeded to tap on things at Spud's heartbeat's speed for the rest of the night. Gotta love an excited Dad. He also got compliments from Cindie for being my bathwater-temperature-monitor.

Alright, back to Texas.

The point of the trip, aside from celebrating Thanksgiving with the Meadors for the first time in 7 years, was for me to be a wedding prep assistant for my mom and sister. We made 320 invitations by hand, stuffed, and addressed them in about 12 hours. 10 of the hours were in one day. It was an amazing feat of organization and craftization. I was very impressed. Being with my family was wonderful. I miss them terribly, but circumstances prevent me from hoping that we'll ever live in the same place. Although, Whit and Dustin are planning to move to Portland for seminary in the next couple years. That would be great. I got to witness the aftermath for my parents of a child's departure since Whitney left to go back to school the day before I left. It was so sad! They were practically bereft for the whole day. I usually cry when I leave them; but, especially now that I have the first inklings of what parenthood is like, I know that it's all much worse for the mom and dad. The other great part of the trip was seeing my cousins brand new baby boy. I almost walked out the door with him. He is incredibly adorable and holding a sweet little baby feels like about the most natural, wonderful thing in the world to me. CAN'T WAIT TO GET MY HANDS ON SPUD!!! But, I will wait. No early arrivals, please.

Upon my return, which included a $65 CAB RIDE!, I was blessed immensely by the fact that Brendan had deep cleaned the whole house, left me a nice note and flowers, and had wrapped two Christmas presents for me! He's been so wonderful of late... I think it has something to do with the fact that I'm carrying his child... but also, we've been really nice and lovey to each other thanks, I'm sure, to the fact that God has been answering our prayers and blessing us with a new closeness ever since the rough events of the summer. We went out for dinner that night, and it was SO good to be with him. I missed him more than ever when I was in Texas.

And now, the next 3 weeks will simply be a whirlwind of social, holiday events until the Ribera Juniors return to Texas for Christmas and the wedding.