Family Matters

I just got an email from my dad in response to a 20 week baby bump photo I sent to the family - since they all live far away and haven't seen me once during my pregnancy, I send these every other weekend. They're not the pics I post on here... usually on Sundays I dress in something cute and have Mr. I take a picture of me in the dining room. So in reply my dad wrote down everyone's responses to the latest photo, and the one from my 6 year old sister made me die laughing: "Wow Ibis, your boobs are so big!" HA! She is the funniest kid. The other day I called to say happy birthday to my other sister, and the 6 year old answered the phone, and greeted me by saying, "Hiiiiiiii! So, I heard you got pregnant!"

When I first moved here and was first missing my family, it made me really sad to think about experiencing my first pregnancy (well, full term pregnancy) and first baby so far from my family. I guess since planning our whole wedding without them around, I've gotten used to living through some milestones at a distance like this. I wish they were here, or I were there, but this is the trade off that Mr. Ibis and I accepted when we decided to move somewhere where we could actually make a living, buy a home, and start a family. I try to bring them closer by sending lots of photos, and the video of the ultrasound and whatever else I can.

We are hoping - well, I am hoping, Mr. I is bound and determined - to take a "Baby Tour" back East next summer with Miles. We want to stop in Connecticut so he can meet his Great-Grandma and some other friends and family who live nearby, hopefully also go through New York unless we can get the NY people to come to CT, a quick stop in Boston to catch our old friends, and then on to my hometown in Massachusetts to see my family and some friends I still have there too. It's a crazy trip, but we figure if we plan really well, we can do it. We have so few chances to travel back there and so many people we want to meet Miles while he's still a baby. We are usually spontaneous, laid back travelers when we do travel, but we figure with a baby on board and all those people to see, we're going to have to be super organized about it.

And that doesn't even count all the West Coast people we want to see. But that may have to wait another year.

My mom was here last spring, and though she doesn't know it (and I wouldn't point it out because ewww) we actually conceived Miles during her visit! Thanks Mom for staying in a hotel, haha. My dad and fam want to come out here sometime this fall so they can see me in person while I'm with child, but I'm not sure if they're going to be able to get the scratch together - traveling with four to six people (depending on how many siblings come along) is no easy feat. I imagine my mom will want to come back sometime after the baby is born, but I don't know exactly when that will be.