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Show me the way to go home...
July 1st:
We were up at 4:30 am to prepare for our trip back east.

Huzbend wanted to get in a workout before spending the day on the plane. To allay your fears, there were no cougars spotted on the walk to or from the gym.

Our flight was at 8:45am and we wouldn't get to where we were going until 7pm. Ugh.

I guess that my belly is large enough now to attract attention. The TSA lady at the metal detector waved her hand over my belly wishing my child to, "Beeee Healthy, Beeeee Smart". It was a nice gesture, but kinda creepy at the same time.

Before boarding the plane there was a couple in line behind us that had to lip-smack kiss every five seconds. It was the most annoying thing ever. Here's an example of their conversation,
Dude: "Are you excited about this trip?" KISS, KISS, KISS
Dudette: "Yes, I really am." KISS, KISS, KISS, KISS
Dude: "I can't wait to get there." KISS, KISS, KISS, KISS, KISS, KISS
If they started to call eachother "Shmoopy", I think I would have turned around and bitch slapped them both.

We landed, picked up the rental car and headed straight for Bertucci's. They don't have Bertucci's out here in the NorthWest. I inhaled what will most likely be my last Margherita Pizza. Bummer.

We headed for the old house. It was strange coming back. It was like we were "home", but not quite. All our stuff was there, but it didn't have that same "home" type of feeling. I once again fell in love with our couch and our mattress. For the first time in about a month, I got to sleep an entire night in a BED. Sigh.

I'm tired and I wanna go to bed.....
July 2nd:
We awoke and found that our dish tv had not yet been shut off. That meant that we were able to watch the 1st stage of the Tour De France. At the end of the race, Thor Hushovd was shown lying on the ground well past the finish line apparently injured. It turns out that right as he crossed the line, he was hit in the head with a spectators camera and was gashed in the arm by a big cardboard "#1 Finger". Because his heart rate was elevated from sprinting, the blood was pumping out of his arm in time with his heart beat. Grody.

We headed up to huzbend's parents campground for a get together. We got to visit with mom & dad-in-law, bro & sis-in-law as well as G-Ma & G-Pa. We ate what huzbend would sarcastically say was a highly nutritious meal consisting of hotdogs, cheddar & bacon infused hamburgers, pasta/potato salad and chocolate cake while watching a Mike Tyson Fest on ESPN Classic. It was soooooo good. The food, not the fights.

The day was kinda hot and just a little humid. My feet began to swell a bit, not allowing my feet to fit in to my leather sandals. I guess it was my own fault. For some reason, I decided to stand up more than I should have. That didn't help at all. They wouldn't go back to normal for the rest of our trip...in fact they got worse.

I had a little drink about an hour ago....
July 3rd:
In the morning we got a call from our back east real estate agent. The majority of the inspection results had come in. The buyers were happy with the results and were not asking for anything additional. I was floored. Boy, they must really like our place. The only stipulation was that if the Radon Air results came back over the EPA posted limit of 4.0, we would have the problem fixed by installing a mitigation system. It was great news. We signed the contract and both breathed a sigh of relief. The last inspection done on our house came up with a Radon Air level of 3.5, so we figured that we were good to go. Our house was SOLD!! Okay, well, almost.

We stopped at a FedEx Kinkos. We parked the car and a guy pulled in right next to us leaving about a 6 inch space between us. There was no way me and my belly would be able to fit out of the car.

So, I had to wait in the car. How lame.

And it's gone right to my head.....
July 4th:
Today, we headed down south to visit with my family for a picnic. We arrived at my middle sisters house where we hung out with her, her husband, my parents, my youngest sister along with her boyfriend, and Poppop.

The first thing I heard from them was that I was "not as big as they thought I was gonna be". Hmmmph. I think I'm huge. I guess it's good not to be TOO big, though. But again, I have never weighed this much in my entire life.....happy thoughts, happy thoughts....

The cravings were satisfied yet again with hotdogs, hamburgs, my moms totally awesome potato salad, Mema's cheezy ziti recipe, corn on the cob, as well as cookies, cakes and fruit pizza. I had two helpings of the potato salad. There is nothing like comfort food to make you feel "all better" no matter how big your feet may become.

Over the past couple of days, there were many questions asked about the baby and how I was feeling. I'm not really good at handling all the attention. It feels like I dominate the scene. Sometimes, I just don't know how to answer the questions that I am fielded. There are so many unknowns. I mean, we have a plan in place for what we would like to happen at the birth and afterwards. But who knows, right? I've read all the books and yet I still feel woefully inadequate when it comes to the whole being a mommy thing. Guess that's normal for a first-timer.

Wherever I may roam....
July 5th:
The packers got to our house at about 9am. There were 3 of them.

It took them 4 hours to pack up ALL of our stuff. It was absolutely incredible. Each person took a floor and just went to town. The guy that packed the kitchen put on his headphones and proceded to wrap and pack each individual plate, bowl, cup, etc.

We were impressed. As everyone knows, packing is the absolute worst. It was just shocking to me that these people had made this their JOB, for cripes sake. They were good. What would have taken us weeks to do they did in one day.

In the middle of the packing frenzy, our back east real estate agent called. The Radon Air results were back and they were NOT good. The level that came back was 9.8!! Can't we catch a break, here? Jeez. So, we decided that we would get a written estimate for the mitigation system to be installed and then credit the buyers at closing. I just can't believe that the level could rise that much in only a few weeks time. But, what are we gonna do? We wanna sell the damn place.

Since all of our possessions were now in boxes, we had to move to a hotel for the night.

At the hotel, there were some ladies that asked me when I was due. This was the first time that someone that I didn't know asked me when I was due. They then barraged me with questions and advice such as: what I was having, that their girlfriend was due in August as well, that I look good for being so far along, that everyone they knew was having a boy, and good luck. I guess the belly now speaks for itself.

The hotel that we stayed at offered the Sleep Number bed as one of their perks. Totally NOT impressed. The bed sucked. I had it set on a really soft setting and I just could not get comfortable. I think it was just, like, one step better than the temp. housing mattress. To tell the truth, I would have picked sleeping on the temp. housing sofa than sleeping on this bed.

By land, or sea, or foam....
July 6th:
We got up bright and early to head to the breakfast buffet and then off to the old house. The movers showed up at about 9am. There was a woman that took an entire inventory of our house and there were three actual movers. It took them 5 hours to pack it all into the truck. According to the moving company, we should see our stuff anywhere from a week to two weeks at our new place.

It was very strange sitting around watching the house empty around us. Soon, there were no chairs left and we just had to park it on the floor for a while.

And then, it was empty. The movers had left and it was just us. Alone. In our old house. It was so quiet. So plain. So sad. There was nothing left to do and it was time to go. As we grabbed the two bags of garbage, I gave huzbend a big hug. I loved our house. When we bought it, I remember thinking, "This is where we are going to have our kids. This is where we are going to have our dog. This is it!". But, things never turn out the way you think they will. Life changes. New opportunities open up. You've got to be ready to try something new, even though it might be a little scary.

Suprisingly, I was okay with leaving. I teared up a bit as I was locked in the hug, but that was it. We filled up the rental car with the garbage and pulled out of the driveway. I remember smiling, thinking to myself, "Now, our new life can really begin. Bye house! Thanks for the memories!"

After stopping at the transfer station (aka town dump), we had nothing left to do. We decided to spend a gift certificate for a local store and then called to see if we could hook up with bro & sis-in-law for some dinner.

Dinner was do-able and we met up with them later that afternoon. Huzbend put on his chefs hat and created a spectacular meal. Bro managed the grill while huzbend concocted his first "relish". Originally, we called it a sauce but I thought that it was quite a bit chunky to be called a sauce. It was made from scratch with veggies that he just picked out on the spur of the moment. I tell you, if he ever had to leave his career as a software engineer, he could always do the chef thing. I'm such a lucky woman. The way to a pregnant womans heart is DEFINITELY though her tummy.


You can always hear me singing this song.....
July 7th:
-BRIIINGGGG, BRIIINGGGG-
-BRIIINGGGG, BRIIINGGGG-
A very tired huzbend answered the obnoxiously loud hotel room phone, "Hello?"
"This is the front desk calling with your wake up call!", a cheerful voice said.
It was 4:30am and we had NOT placed a wake up call. Ugh. Only us.

Our flight today was leaving at about 5pm. We decided to splurge and went to see Pirates of the Caribbean - Dead Mans Chest. I liked the movie, but huzbend wasn't that impressed.

We got to the airport a little early, only to have our flight delayed about 30 minutes due to "fueling issues". My feet, by this point in the week, had tripled in size. The swelling now included my ankles. I can't even describe what they looked like. They were so big, that I was having trouble shoving them into my flip-flops. To add to my misery at the delay, the air conditioning in our section of the airport was not working.

Finally, they fixed the problem and we were on our way. For both flights I was able to sit in an aisle seat. Sooooooo niiiiiiiiice. I could get up and go to the bathroom as many times as I wanted. And let me tell you, it was about once every 30 minutes. I had to hobble down the aisle and it felt like everyone was staring at my feet.

We finally got back into SeaTac at about 11pm.

We close on our house out here on Thursday, the 13th. The temp. housing situation is only going to last one more week. I am now 35 weeks pregnant. Things are looking up. It felt really good to be here. To be home.

Show me the way to go home.