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Don't mess with Texas.

Coming out of arrivals was amusing. I was SICK, turbulence doesn't exactly agree with Jelly Bean. Airplane food either, for that matter, so we were not happy campers. However, my mother was there waiting when I drearily rolled my suitcases through the final set of doors, and she ran down the aisle to hug me and (of course) rub my belly. Monster Brother was there with her, but his attention span for waiting in airports is not huge, so he was lounging on a couch grumpily and refused to greet me until I informed him of the presence of airplane cookies in my bag with his name on them. I got a hug at that point.

Walking out the doors into Texas weather was a bit of a shock, the turbulence on landing had been caused by a weather system moving into the DFW area, and the humidity had me not only feeling like I was swimming through the air, but also had me sporting a giant afro, which let me tell you was VERY attractive. My first real surprise came at the car, though. Monster Bro has a new trick... he went to the passenger side of the car, opened it, waited for me to get in, then gently shut the door after me. Such a gentleman. *snort*

In the few days I've been here, I've cooked dinner and had dinner cooked for me, I've taken lunch to my mom at her school and visited with her teacher cronies, I've eaten an inordinate amount of salad (one of JB's faves), I've tried vegan cheese and vegan sour cream, I've been to the Highlands and the mall and Whole Foods Market, I've been to the grocery store every day, I've bullied the insurance company of the kid who hit my grandmother's car into giving her a replacement faster than they wanted to, and I've hung out with all my siblings at one point or another (even though to see Brother 1 it had to be at his new workplace because if he's at home, he's holed up in his room like a hibernating bear). I've been a busy gal. The Mimi keeps trying to get me to sit down and put my feet up... *grin*

I've had a few preggo moments as well... I've had a funny time of it with the jet lag this time, mostly because I have to get up to pee five times a night, but the first morning I was in town I found myself awake and unable to reclaim sleep at quarter to four in the morning. Gabs was a grumpy girl. Anyway, I always call Himself first thing, I try to make him the first person I talk to every day (speaking of which, just managed to get him on the phone and he's only gone and bought a car, more to follow), and that day I read for a while, got up and made my bed, faffed around with a bowl of cereal and waited for The Mimi to wake up. I was meeting Sister 2 and Other Mother (my stepmother, 2's mom) at half two, just to see them and because 2 had a spare phone I could use while I'm in town. Now, 2 is notoriously late everywhere she goes, and my pregnant brain conveniently forgot this fact and turned up on time. Half an hour later, she's still not there, and me without a phone. Luckily, Texas is ridiculously accommodating and the restaurant where we were meeting let me use their phone to call and find out where she was. She got "caught up" at her mother's office, and in response to this, Preggo Gabs reared her ugly head... "Okay, fair enough, but you know I don't have a phone, and I'm sitting here waiting for you, and I'M TIRED." Yeah. Not a good look.

That, and the other day U2 came on the radio in the truck and I was happily singing along until it hit me that they're Himself's favourite band and I burst into tears. *sigh*

Sister 4 has been hysterically funny about the whole pregnancy thing. She keeps squealing out of nowhere "I can't believe you're going to be a mom!" and she can't keep her hands off my belly (in direct contrast to Sister 2, who ran away when I suggested she feel the top of my uterus... *lol*). She keeps looking at me and saying "you're SO pregnant". She also almost burst into tears when Sister 1 made me sit in her lap and then triumphantly crowed "I held the baby first!!!"... Family. *grin* That said, I'm realising that I'm no longer me. I mean, I'm me, but "me" is now a walking incubator for Jelly Bean, who is MUCH more important than I ever was. When I went for dinner at my aunt's house, her daughter ran to the door and dropped to belly height with a war cry of "BABY!!!"...

All told, it's been a pretty good visit so far. I'm not making serious plans for the time I'm here. There are a few little bits I'm going to do, but mostly I just want to spend some time with family and friends (and eat LOADS, which is coming along nicely). I'm off today to Prairiefest with my college roommate and her fam, her husband is wildly talented and his band is playing, which is not to be missed. Plus, it means I get to hang out with her insanely cool son. Bonus. I'm dragging whichever sisters fancy the outing along with me, and hopefully my mom will make it as well. I'll post on that one tomorrow when I wake up at my usual time of 6AM. Until then, folks.

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