23 weeks: headed overseas

How Far Along?  23 weeks

Size of Baby: 

Gender: Little baby GIRL 

Weight Gain: 16 lbs

Maternity Clothes: For sure.  I'm still getting some non-maternity shirts in here and there though!

Nursery: This past week for some reason I decided to spend every night after Charlie went to bed making curtains for our bedroom.  Don't ask me why.  But I actually really like them and the bench I finished building and covering.  But now it's time to focus on the nursery.

Movement: Yep - especially after I have something spicy to eat or drink a pop

Symptoms: Felt pretty good over the course of the week - my back was hurting but that was likely because I spent every night on the floor cutting, ironing and sewing fabric and then standing up on a ladder to hang the curtains.  Why do I insist on doing these things?

Sleep:  Pretty good - Charlie had a few late nights, but I actually enjoyed getting up and holding him.  It was an emotional week.

Cravings: Not too much, but I am really looking forward to watermelon season!

What I Miss: My regular clothes!

Best Moment This Week: I love the feeling of a baby kicking and moving around in my stomach a lot.  Keep it coming little girl!

Panic Moment This Week: Packing my bags for my trip to London and saying goodbye to Charlie.  And then freaking out I was making a bad choice going halfway across the world pregnant.  Just nervous in general about being pregnant.

Looking Forward To:  My trip to London (this picture was taken right before I left) and my return home every MORE!

My sweet boy was NOT too thrilled I was packing up my suitcase and heading out of town.  He's getting a little better with FaceTime, but it's still not the same as snuggling him.  I didn't want to let him go.

London: day 3

Ok, while I didn't do much real "sight seeing" after work today, I did have another wonderful London experience - this time going out with some of my coworkers here in their London office!  

We went to a little pub (that SMELLED like a pub) across the street from the office right after work and then headed through the streets and caught a bus to a little area called Brick Lane.  And boy was that interesting.  Here is a glimpse of the street view...

It was FULL of Indian restaurants and the minute you hit the street, one or two workers from every place was outside tracking you down and bargaining with you to come eat at their restaurant.  They were yelling "50% off your bill" to "2 free rounds of drinks", etc.  It was nuts!  They were very keen on who the actual decision makers in the group were because they stuck to harassing them the most, so luckily I wasn't aware of anything that was going on and I have only eaten real Indian food once in my life years ago in South Carolina, so I just played along.

Two of the folks negotiated a great deal at this one place what seemed to be like a great place and we had our own little table downstairs for 9 (the restaurant spaces are SMALL - in addition to the bathrooms!).  I was SO happy that seasoned Indian food eaters were there because they pretty much ordered for us and picked out some amazing things to try.  

This was the appetizer - I guess similar to chips and salsa with a variety of salsas??  Then we each had a little appetizer and I had a HUGE fried shrimp that was delicious and then I ordered  Chicken Tikka Masala and paired with some rice and nan it was delicious!  It was such a fun night getting to know these folks more and hear some funny stories!!  They are some pretty amazing people!  One of my co-workers from Lenexa is here for the week too and his wife and son tagged along, so it was fun seeing his younger son try Indian food for the first time - he actually had a great attitude!!

Then we headed back on the tube - where I got to experience my first tube outage due to a signal (?), so that was nice to be with someone I knew that rides the tube all the time to tell me it's normal!!  

Whew!  No getting stuck on the tube for me!

We were out late and I'm POOPED!  This staying up late is worth it to chat with my boys, but man, I'm ready to go to sleep after a long few days.  It's finally catching up with me.

Since I don't have that exciting of pictures to share, wanted to put some pictures of the apartment that I'm getting to stay in for the week.  It is amazing and with an excellent view and location to great restaurants, tourists spots, transportation hubs and our office, so a win-win all around.  And even better?  When I got there on Sunday, they informed me that they had just opened last Monday so they were literally brand new!  And it's obvious.  Smells new, feels new, etc.  It's very "green" and Ikea-like, so it has been great to stay in!

Left: view from the door; Right: view of the bedroom

This is the bedroom TV and the separator thing that you can close.  So modern!

Dressing table and the view.  The view gets me every time.

The living room - that I have never used once!

The TV in the living room, kitchen table and then galley kitchen.

The kitchen is pretty cool and even though it's small, they have thought of every space saving thing!  You wouldn't believe by looking at this thing that there is a fridge, freezer, dishwasher, microwave, oven, stovetop AND washer and dryer in here, would you?

See - I told you it was like those mock rooms at Ikea that you walk through that are a 600 sq ft apartment that has it all!

My favorite part?  I haven't taken a picture of.  The bathroom.  Actually I just really love the shower a lot because it's on that hangs from the ceiling and you stand right under.  I love it!!!  I will try to remember to get a shot of it!

One last thing I have loved - Jimmy was so sweet and stuck all these notes in my bag that as I unpacked 2 of them came out and made me smile!  And he must have stuck on in a pair of under ware because I took those out on day 1 and put them in a drawer and then when I got a clean pair out to put on yesterday, the note fell out and I was beaming!  So it was quite the nice surprise being so far away from them and still getting to see nice little notes and encouragement!

Tomorrow?  A very busy day at work followed by a ride on the London Eye!  I have my ticket purchased so there is no backing out this time!  Cannot wait!

London adventures: day 2

Oh my goodness.   This city.  It's crazy and amazing all at the same time.

Even though today I headed to work for the majority of the day, I still got to see what I felt like was a lot of the city and do some exploring after work too.  It was great!

Highlights from Day 2:

- Apparently the Starbucks lady just has never ever heard the name "Brittany" before.  Today I was "Bunny", yesterday I was "Berny".  I want to go back tomorrow morning just to see what she writes!!

- I successfully made it to the office, but apparently got there far too early because very few people were there yet.  In our Lenexa office, most days if I arrive at 7:30, I'm the last one in the finance department there.  I didn't get there until 7:45 because I wasn't sure, but most people didn't get there until 8:00 or 8:30.  However, I liked the quiet time in the morning because the rest of the day was CRAZY with meeting with folks and requests, etc.  Busy week over here!!

- The busy work day didn't stop people from having great conversations though and getting to know me.  The people were SO nice!  Lots of folks came up and introduced themselves to me, especially if I had emailed them before, and it was nice to get to meet people face to face.

- They were also all very curious as to my nighttime plans.  I wasn't sure - so the sweet office manager that has helped with all my travel plans gave me some ideas!  She suggested going to the London Eye and then I mentioned Buckingham Palace - so we mapped out the route and she gave me a transportation card to get around, which was great.  At the last minute, a colleague suggested I take the ferry versus the tube at rush hour (he even told me I could get a "baby on board" sticker so I could always sit down - ha!  So the ferry it was (minus the baby on board sticker).  It was so cool and very relaxing just getting on a boat, sitting down and enjoying the ride.  They even had a bar on board - so maybe next time I come back I can enjoy in come cocktails!

Left: the boat itself - very cool!  Right: The view of my office building from the river - great view!

Below: on the ferry - very spacious and CLEAN!  I was impressed at how efficient it all was too!

As I was approaching my stop - got to see some pretty cool sites!  Big Ben and a view of the London Eye.  The original plan was to buy a ticket and go ride the eye (they said it's about 30 minute long ride around).  However, after I stood in a long line to buy a ticket, I heard someone mention the line to get on was another 30 minutes...at that point it would likely be dark and I really wanted to see the views of London in the light.  So I made a last minute call - jumped out of line and went off on a walk to Buckingham Palace.  I'm going to buy London Eye tickets online for Wednesday night to ensure it's not dark!

But first, I grabbed a quick selfie with David Beckham!

Just another gorgeous view

Thames River view

London eye

Another picture of me! ha!

 - I made my way through the busy sidewalks of London just amazed at all the sights.  And all the people!  Everyone walking to and from work and some tourists stopping to take pictures.  I kept wondering all the time I was walking how many people just take their walk for granted everyday walking by these AMAZING sites and historical monuments.  I would guess it would become just ordinary, which is crazy that these things ever could!

- I finally passed a telephone booth!  Loved it!

- On my walk to Buckingham Palace, I walk the length (and pretty much all the way around) St. James park.  Which was gorgeous and the flowers sure made it feel like spring had sprung!!!  It was much cooler tonight, but I had a light coat on and I was very comfortable!

- I finally arrived at Buckingham Palace and unfortunately, it's not daylight savings time over here yet (unfortunately for my tourist stuff, however, fortunately because that means I'm just a 5 hour time difference from home versus 6), so it did start to get dark faster than I thought.  I did get some good up close views, but not the best pictures.  It was so cool walking around it and the circle in front of it!

- I really wanted to know who was in this car!  How fun they were driving right into the Palace!!!

- I had my route back to the Tube mapped out already and took a long walk through the Mall - caught a cool glimpse of the London Eye at night too!

A building on the mall

 - Then I made it to a VERY busy part of London called Trafalgar Square that was in full swing!  People were everywhere getting to and from work and the pubs and sites.  It was very fun! I do want to try to make it back there and go tot the National Portrait Gallery because I have heard great things. I did love all the traffic and all the very English buses!!

- Then I started getting hungry.  yes, I still only have my American Express, so the first few places that looked cool that I stepped into didn't take it - so I walked right back out.  But lucky for me that happened because I found this delicious Mexican place with food inspired from Mexico City called Lupita and it was DELICIOUS!!  Even better, they had free wi-fi AND a sticker that they took American Express right on the front door!  My kind of place!

- My food was delicious!  I got this appetizer with guacamole, queso and some other sauce and fresh corn chips and it was delicious (luckily I was able to restrain myself and only eat the top portion of chips that were covered!) and then I got their shrimp tacos which were AMAZING!!  Highly recommend them.  It was also my first time eating at a restaurant alone and it was pretty cool.  I couldn't actually get the wifi to work, so I spent time going over the map, the tube map and just people watching out the window!  Sometimes, you need some alone/quiet time!

- then it was finally time for me venture home and I was off to get on the tube for the first time!  I was so excited (and don't worry, Jimmy - even though it was dark the streets were FULL of people and I was safe, I promise!)

The tube was VERY clean!

 - I did make a rookie mistake and turned the wrong way getting out of my tube stop - which just led me in a little longer route back to my apartment.  However, I have to say, the "long" way view, wasn't too bad at all getting an up close view of the Tower Bridge.  I'll take it!!

Now my goal is to attempt to lay down and wait until I can FaceTime with my men when they get home from work/school (6:00 their time, 11:00 my time!).  Luckily, Charlie was a bit more interactive on FaceTime last night before I went to bed, so hoping he will be again tonight too and I'll get some laughs out of him!!!

PS - my favorite English thing today was that I overheard these two people at work talking about something and when they got it resolved, one yelled, "cheers, mate" to the other.  Um, that's amazing.  I find myself talking like them in my head, but know it just sounds like rubbish if I actually said it out loud.  Or typed it....

Oh and don't worry - even though Jimmy didn't send me any pictures of Charlie today (just FaceTimed for a while like night), his school sent me TWO!  Poor guy - they said he was a bit "off" today when Jimmy picked him up and he said - well, his mom is in Europe and they said, yep that would do it!  Don't worry sweet boy, I'll be home soon!!

Concentrating on his lego tower!

Apparently he was getting a little sleepy during lunch time :)  So cute!

London: trip over and day 1

Since I will have time in the evenings on my 6 day long adventure overseas (aka I will not be going out to the pubs late every night due to little miss!) - I am going to try to blog about interesting stuff that happens as the days roll by.  

This will be the longest post of them all because this is really my one true "tourist" day!!  I left Kansas City to head to Chicago about 12:20 and then left from Chicago to London at 6:05 - arrived about 6:30AM London time.  It was really strange because I felt like I essentially got Saturday "stolen" from me with the time change.  I still can't quite wrap my head around it!

Things to note about the trip over:

• I thought it would be hard to say goodbye to Jimmy and Charlie but it was a LOT harder than I thought.  What's crazy is not only have I not been away from my little man for that long ever in his life, Jimmy and I haven't been apart for 6 days in probably over 5 years (before we were engaged and did long distance).  Walking away from our car at the airport, I was crying because Charlie started crying and you know, I'm emotional.  Then there were kids Charlie's age EVERYWHERE.  I swear they flocked to me.  So when I got off the plane, I was a mess.  Huge mess.   Crying in the car silently on the way to my apartment.  Get a grip.  I kept thinking to myself "what if I never quit Deloitte and I traveled every week for work?!?!".  I was very happy with the decision 23 year old Brittany made.
• Once I got there, I was tired (only 3.5 hours of sleep on the 6 hour flight) and even though everyone advised just pushing through the day, I knew I couldn't and I would have been in a bad mood since Charlie and Jimmy were still asleep, so I went to sleep and it felt SO good.  I woke up to them face timing me after Charlie had a rough night.  Poor thing.  He didn't seem to be phased by the fact that my face was on the screen - so we'll see how this goes.
• I felt much better after talking to them and knew I needed to get on with my day and take advantage - so that's what I did.

First stop: Lunch then Tower of London.

• My apartment is RIGHT next to the Tower of London and the Tower Bridge.  
• You would think lunch would have been the easy part of this.  Well, I'm a moron and didn't get any pounds before I left because I figured everyone would take my American Express.  Wrongo.  After what felt like walking around FOREVER and asking every vendor if they took that card (even KFC and Subway!), I just took my $15 cash and converted it to about 8 pounds.  And since I had already got my ticket to the Tower of London, I took advantage of the fish and chip special I saw at this one place for only 5 pounds.  Of course, the drink was extra, so now I only have 1 pound and change left.  Jimmy has been a doll in helping me talk to Amex and our bank - but in the mean time, I've stuck to places with Amex to make it easy!  (but it was good!)

Here's where the billion pictures start.  Just skip if you don't care.  But it was really neat.  LOTS of history and cool stories to go along with all the buildings and architecture. 

Outside the tower looking in

Here was a cute place I would have loved to sit down and have a drink!

Outside the Tower still

Heading in!

I hopped onto a guided tour to get some good info on everything - very helpful!

This was the Traitor's Gate and one picture of the side of the White Tower (which I eventually went into see)

Picture of the Tower Bridge from inside the grounds of the Tower of London

I loved these little houses - they are actually lived in by the folks that work at the Tower of London.  So cool.  I was obsessed with the awesome teal doors!  (But how weird that your front door opens to a billion tourists!)

I eventually left the tour and went to explore all the buildings on my own.  This one was the inside of the Beauchamp Tower and a picture the carvings prisoners that stayed their over the years engraved in the walls.  

I then made my way to the Crown Jewel exhibit - but there wasn't photography allowed.  they were SO cool and beautiful.  Lots of pictures of the current Queen and the past monarchy and what they wore for jewels.  

Then - I headed inside of the White Tower, which they said is the oldest mass tourist attraction in the world and has transformed over the years.  Lots of stuff in there about battles, armor and history about the Tower.  I have to say - this is where my legs and feet first started to hurt.  I took a few breaks to watch some of the videos they were showing.  

The million staircases up and down was one of the main reasons!  What I was astonished at was how many KIDS were there!  I kept thinking what we'd do with Charlie if he was there and there is no way he could walk all this but no way you could get a stroller around.  I would have totally used the Ergo baby (well Jimmy would have on his back), but there wasn't one person using that!  I was amazed because I thought they were all brave parents!!

 Then it was a brief tour of "Torture at the Tower" and to the Bloody Tower exhibits - which talked all about how the prisoners (however, not very many) were tortured or executed.  And a mystery of the death/murder of two young princes in those walls.  Just crazy to walk through and think of all the HISTORY there!

Another Tower Bridge pic from my walk around the wall (which was neat but LONG!).  Just so you know, you cannot turn around once you start on those things!

After all the scenery pictures, I was watching folks take pictures with the Beefeaters.  I don't think they were too pleased, but they did.  I tapped this lovely gentleman on the shoulder to ask him for a picture and he was NOT happy about it.  He said he would take a picture as long as I didn't touch him.  Who knew!?!?  I mean it's not like I put my arm around the guy!

So I was pooped.  Seriously after walking through all the exhibits that the amazing Tower of London had to offer.  But the sun was still shining and I knew I couldn't go back and jump in bed.  So I headed to starbucks (who yes, they take Amex) for a smoothie refuel.  They couldn't understand my name, so she wrote this.  I just thought it was hilarious because Jimmy calls me Berney (inside joke) and that's what it looks like.  

I decided to take a LONG walk to St. Paul's Cathedral and also walk by my office on the way there.  Which is amazingly close to my apartment, so I was happy it was easy to find.  St. Paul's Cathedral on the other hand?  When I got there, I thought I was going to faint.  Luckily, all kinds of people just sit on the steps and chill because I did just that and needed a break!

But it was beautiful outside and in - but you couldn't take pictures inside.  However, I was in shock that they had a beautiful cherry blossom tree in bloom already!  In the US, they usually don't bloom until mid-April (on our anniversary) so I had to snap a picture!

The door walking into the cathedral.  Pretty neat.

The view from the stairs.  It was quite a pretty square to sit and people watch!

This picture is random - but I went into the sushi place to see what they had (I didn't end up getting any because it was only 4PM and what they had as options I can have while pregnant, I didn't want), but it was awesome!  Just like Sakura that Jimmy and I love at home.  I told him when he comes here with me, this is a must!

 Then, a picture of my shirtless boy enjoying his lunch with dad.  I think what I missed the most was feeling somewhat cut off from the world since my work phone over here is a different number and I'm self-conscious about using to many minutes or texts or data.  So I'm trying to stick to FaceTime and only using data on wi-fi, which is fine, but just less constant communication with the family!  So I appreciated the pictures that were coming in of my sweet boy!!

Last but not least, one more picture of the Tower bridge, but at night from my apartment.  Um, yes, it's beautiful!

It's off to work tomorrow to meet all my London office friends; I'm excited to get to meet them in person vs video conference.  I have a full week of work planned until Thursday (I travel home Friday), but am looking forward to hopefully getting a little more exploring in because I want to check out Buckingham Palace!  Maybe I'll catch a glimpse of Kate and George on a walk!!?

(BTW - these kids and their accents here are so sweet, it just kills me!!)  

Cheerio!