I'm a seasoned traveller.

I'm packing. And crying a little, but that's only because I'm pregnant and hormonal.

That's right, folks, I'm leaving our 'appy 'ome for a little hiatus in Texas. I'm off tomorrow and will be back in mid-June.

Most of me is excited. Most of me can't wait to see my family and spend the longest amount of concentrated time with them that I've had since I left in 2003. I'm looking forward to spending time in Austin with Sisters One and Three, and throwing an English tea party with Sister Two in her apartment in Denton. I'm looking forward to staying with The Mimi, and watching her taste the stuff I cook that she's never even heard of. I'm looking forward to hanging out with The Terror that is my youngest brother, we've made plans to go swimming (and eat nachos, of course). Speaking of nachos, I'm looking forward to Texan food.

Then there's the part of me that's cringing a little at the prospect of almost two months without Himself. But I'm sure I'll be fine. Fine. Perfectly fine. Peachy, in fact. *sniffle*

On a less pathetic note, this week JB's ears develop to the point that he hears actual noises, rather than just feeling vibrations. I foresee rather a lot of being spoken to at navel-height while I'm stateside... and I *might* have made Himself tell JB good morning and to have a good day before he left for work this morning...

Anyway, I have more packing and sniffling to do, so I'm going to get on with that. The next you hear from me, I'll be stuffing my face stateside. Matter of fact, that might be a good blog feature, "Texan Food Tuesdays" or something. I'll have a think about that.

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Updates all around.

So, we've had our UK baby shower. Saturday just gone we had a houseful of people, same setup as our normal Thanksgiving arrangements, just different food. Rather than mash and mac'n'cheese, I did finger foods and pink desserts. If you need a seriously decadent and delicious lemon bar recipe, let me know, I found one on Pinterest a few weeks ago for Strawberry Lemonade Bars that I used for the party, and they are truly droolworthy. We were gifted a truly random assortment of bits. Some people used the list we registered for, some people went with gifts that meant something to them personally (like a replica of a childhood bunny from one particular friend), and some went with "pamper the mother-to-be" options. Then, of course, there was Darth Bunny. That's right, Darth Bunny. See below. It was a good day. Himself's best mate from childhood came up from Essex with his new wife to stay the weekend, there was at least one representative from every offic...

Thanks.

So, right now I should be baking four pies, a few dozen cookies, a carrot cake, and some dinner rolls. That's before prepping all the meat and veg for tomorrow's yearly Thanksgiving bash at ours. What am I doing instead? I'm watching my daughter throw puzzle pieces around the room and cast her eyes around for the next household item to destroy. And enjoying every second of it. It's not like we had a near-death experience last night, but a trip to A&E was close enough to suit me. She's totally fine, she just slept really fitfully, I realised she was burning up, and then she had a weird little episode where she wouldn't look at Himself or me which prompted me to jump in the shower with her, still in my pj's, trying to get her temp down. When that didn't work, the panicky mother in me had us all in the car on the way to the hospital. They checked her ears and throat (and the tongue depressor made her lose everything she'd eaten in the last ...

Life as we know it.

It's been a crazy couple of months. We found out that New Kid has junk, which Himself is very smug about. I got food poisoning for the second time this pregnancy on Easter Sunday, which lasted for a week instead of the usual few days. That's the fun of my body protecting New Kid instead of focusing on healing itself. By the end (after a night in the ER on IV fluids and anti-nausea meds) I wished he could have gotten a slight case just so he'd feel too bad to keep trying to kick his way out from the inside. Bratface spent that week hanging out with her Nannie (Himself's mum was here for the week, coincidentally) and then spent the next two weeks getting re-accustomed to rules and the world not always revolving around herself. She didn't appreciate the lesson. Himself turned 33 this week. We didn't do presents for him, the man wants for nothing save sleep (and short of resorting to Benadryl, Madam isn't helping with matters), so we made him a cake. I...

Random ramblings from the Texan in London.

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