Weekend in Asheville

I feel like so much has happened since our last posting.....

First, we officially entered the beginning of our second trimester last Wednesday when we hit week 14. We were excited and felt a sigh of relief. That sigh ended up being a little premature. We had a brief scare that took us to the emergency room at 3 am on Thursday, but after being checked out in the ER and then later that day by a sonographer and my OB, we were reassured that everything looked OK. I repeat--everything is OK. We were still a little worried, but became less so when my doc gave me the 'all clear' to travel by plane to Asheville. I was instructed to take it easy--nothing too strenuous and no carrying heavy luggage. (No carrying anything over 15 pounds, actually, so that knocks out two of my cats!) It's a good thing she said I could go because I think I would've gone off the deep end (no sleep, scared, etc.) if I wouldn't have been able to go see Anna and her beautiful new baby, a trip that had been planned for months.

So, I flew to Asheville Friday and was met at the airport by Anna and tiny Mary Hudson. How beautiful she is! We had a lot of fun together, not doing a ton of stuff, but a lot of hanging out. It was fabulous! I hadn't seen Anna in just over two years and there was some catching up to do! She and her husband, Sam, were fantastic hosts and their house was great, situated in an older Asheville neighborhood that was super quiet and where all the houses had nice, big yards. I got to spend great quality time with Ms. Donnie, too, who is Anna's mom and lives conveniently close by. She mothered me while I was there, feeding me and urging me to put my feet up. She's so great! And, it was wonderful to see how in love she is with her granddaughter. Speaking of whom, Mary Hudson is just gorgeous and spends most of her time like any 2 1/2 week old--eating, sleeping, dirtying diapers, and just looking cute. Anna and Sam are doing a terrific job and, in my humble opinion, will be outstanding parents.

Sunday, we had visitors! Emily, Dave, and Lily drove down to Asheville to spend the day. Emily is a friend from Wofford, Dave her husband, and Lily their 16 week old daughter. It was neat to see Lily and Mary Hudson side by side--the three months separating them seems HUGE in the way of growth and development. Anyways, the boys went off to play golf and it gave us gals a chance to catch up and gab (always fun!). We then went on an expedition to a pumpkin patch/orchard where there was 'slim pickins'. We spent most of our time taking pictures of each other and the babies. I learned that a lot of work goes into the weekly block pictures of the babes. (For those of you who don't know what I'm talking about, weekly block pictures are taken weekly-duh!-of a baby through his first year of life with letter/number blocks somewhere in the photo to denote which week it is. These pics will be posted on a blog and will be put into an album at the end of the baby's first year so that growth can be seen from week to week. I'm going to use this method once our baby is born and I stole this idea from Anna whole stole it from Susan but lent it to Emily and you get the picture now...)

All in all, it was a great visit to Asheville. I loved meeting Mary Hudson and Lily (and Dave for about the fourth time!) and reconnecting with Emily and getting to know Sam a little better and being lovingly mothered by Donnie. And, of course, the best was being with Anna, who, even in her sleep-deprived state, is just this incredible positive force of nature. I am so lucky to call her one of my best friends! Thank you ALL for a wonderful weekend!

Oh, and I'm not sure if any of you caught the reference to a baby in "his" first year of life above, but one of the positives that came out of our little scare last week was that the sonographer said she wasn't completely sure and would be more sure at our next ultrasound, but she thought she saw that tell-tale extra appendage! Please keep your fingers crossed for us and for our little peanut!<