We love having visitors

Despite being 1 week overdue, it has been a good week.  Michael's mother, Deb flew into Connecticut on Wednesday (the 28th) so we have been getting out and showing her the area.  This helps the time pass more quickly since we can't travel very far from home.

Prior to Deb's arrival, we were able to finish a little home decorating.  We had been intending to hang 2 of Michael's guitars for a while now, and just got around to it.  I think they look beautiful.

We took it pretty easy on Wednesday after Deb's arrival due to her red-eye flight.  We did enjoy a lovely dinner at Miyas Sushi, one of my favorites in town!  The wind made the evening grow quite cold so we were very bundled up and didn't do much walking around downtown.  We found out there was a Yale hockey game so we went straight to the arena after dinner.  It was my first time ever watching a hockey game.  They are so fast paced and intense!

Yale ended up beating the Russians 6-4.  It was like watching the Mighty Ducks 4, pretty intense/physical game.


Thursday we hopped on the Yale shuttle and headed to explore the beautiful architecture of Yale's campus.  The next 2 pictures are Yale's Divinity School, where students study the history of western theology.

Beautiful set of buildings!

Next we headed to the Sterling Library--Yale's main library.  The architecture inside and out is breathtaking.

The library-try to notice the intricate-detailed carvings.

The library-try to notice the intricacies of the pillars.

We came home and had a small lunch, then took a brief nap before getting ready to head out for dinner.  We headed to Pepe's pizza, a New Haven classic.  For dessert, we walked down the street to a place called Libby's Italian Pastry Shop where we had some renowned canolli's.

Friday we woke up and went for a hike to the tallest point in the area-East Rock State Park.  We weren't exactly sure where the trail was, so we hiked around for a while until we reached the top.  This monument has been under restoration since we moved here, but all the scaffolding had finally been removed and it looked great!

After exploring East Rock Park, we headed to Lighthouse Point Park so Deb could see the ocean.   The weather was quite lovely (high 40's, and no wind) so it was nice to walk around the beach.

5 days overdue-Lighthouse Point Park

Michael and I walking down the pier at Lighthouse Point Park

We ended up locking the keys in the car, so we walked around some more while we waiting for AAA to arrive.  Once back in the car, we headed home for a bit before heading out for a night on the town.  We ate dinner at the USS Chowder Pot 3 and had some outstanding seafood.  Thanks to some of Deb's kids, she had a lovely gift certificate from Christmas.  I can't remember the last time I felt that full!!!--Not even after Thanksgiving!  After dinner we raced to catch Sherlock Holmes 2 in the theatre.  Deb hadn't seen the first Sherlock Holmes, so I'm not sure if she enjoyed it...but Michael and I sure did!

Saturday (New Year's Eve) morning I woke up at 6am and couldn't fall back to sleep.  Not wanting to disturb Michael and Deb, I hung out quietly for a few hours emailing, reading, etc.  Around 8:30am, Michael left to go play soccer with some friends and I was ready for a nap!  When Michael returned, we all had a lovely brunch of hash browns, eggs, and bacon!  Michael and Deb then went and walked around the Business school while I got ready for the day.

Later that day we went for a drive through some of the narrow, forested roads surrounding New Haven. We ended up at Sleeping Giant State Park (which is near Quinnipiac University).  We started hiking up the trail, but bumped into a someone that Michael knew and ended up chatting for a bit as it grew dark. We ended up just hiking back down the trail.

This is a lake that we passed on our drive to Sleeping Giant State Park.

Hiking at Sleeping Giant State Park

As for our wild and crazy new years eve plans, since we had hoped to be in the hospital competing for the title of "first baby of the year", we hadn't made any killer new years eve plans.  However, it ended up being a lovely night.  We had dinner with some friends/neighbors then the 5 of us (Deb, Michael, Todd, Becca and I) headed off for a rousing evening of bowling.  Little did I know that bowling could be so dangerous...This sign showed on our monitor before our game began.

Todd and Becca Pope just after midnight at the bowling alley.

I also didn't know/anticipate that Deb was actually good at bowling.  She and Michael battled for 1st place in both games that we played, and ended up winning one game a piece.  I always feel particularly bad at bowling, but in my 9 + months, I felt particularly uncoordinated.

Despite feeling tired and a little weary from the 30 extra pounds I have been carrying, we had a great evening.  My energy levels have definitely dropped this past week.  I feel as though the baby may have "dropped" but it's hard to tell.  I go back to the doctor on Tuesday for an ultrasound where they will check to make sure the placenta is still in good shape and has not begun to deteriorate.  They will also monitor the baby's heartbeat for about an hour to listen for any distress. If everything still looks okay, they will likely let me go for a few more days on my own and try to induce me by the end of the week.  I keep praying that the baby will come on his/her own though.

On a different note, Michael got the notification in the middle of the night that his abuelita (Argentine grandmother) had passed away.  She was a sweet and beautiful lady and will be missed by all.  The funeral will be in California later this week.  I like to think that our baby was waiting to be born until they could cross paths briefly and get the chance to meet and embrace.  At least that's the image in my head: Michael grandmother embracing our unborn child and smiling sweetly.

Now we are really hoping that the baby will be born sooner than later so that Michael can fly to California for the funeral on Saturday.  We'll keep you all posted.

Hugs.