Berrylands

We passed the stop for "Berrylands" last week when we went out to Hampton Court, and couldn't help but take a picture for our little berry.

Today we had our second, and final appointment with Mr. Harrington (I finally looked it up, and he goes by "Mr." Harrington rather than "Dr." Harrington because he is qualified as a surgeon.  The british are nothing if not traditional, and "traditionally" surgeons were not actually doctors, but butchers--comforting thought isn't it, and so they were not referred to by the title Dr.  Of course nowadays all surgeons in the UK are actually MDs, but the tradition is that as soon as they qualify as surgeons they drop the "Dr." and go back to "Mr." or "Ms.", as the case may be.)  We really like Mr. Harrington and will miss him, but this english tradition of not calling him "dr" is just a little hard for me to get used to.

Today Berry is 19w4d, and looking great, although we did not get any new pictures from today's u/s.  (Placenta is up nice and high, which is good, but hiding berribino from good 4d views. Brain looks good.  We saw all 4 chambers of the heart (thanks Bernie and Luke).  Mr. Dr. Harrington saw and pointed out the kidneys, and said they look good . . . I'll take his word for it, the screen looked a little like the graphics on Oregon Trail circa 1984 to my untrained eye.  Berry has started to swallow b/c tummy has liquid in it.  We saw 10 toes, and 10-fingers.  One hand was stretched out, which Mr. Dr. Harrington says this is a good sign as well of a healthy well developing baby.

We had a thorough look at all of Berry today (well not ALL of Berry, not the "naughty bits") and Mr. Dr. Harrington took some measurements.  When we finished the "scan" Dr. Harrington put all the measurements in his computer, and then asked us if we were sure we had our dates right.  Apparently berry's abdominal circumference is 95th percentile, berry's femur length is >95th percentile, literally off the chart.  However, he also said that it's really too early in the pregnancy to say for sure that berry will be a big baby, but that with measurements like this berry will probably be a big baby. :)  I may have kind of jinxed myself . . .

We are very excited that my brother Jim and his wife, Brittanie, had their first baby, our first nephew last week--a 10 lb 5 oz leap baby (born on February 29, 2010), Mason James.  We are very excited to meet Mason in person.  However, back when they first told us they were preggers, before they new Mason was a boy, I had a dream that he was a boy, and that he was a really big baby.  Actually in my dream he was more like the size of a 15-18th month old then a 10 pounder, but still.

Connor was a decent size at birth 8 lbs 4 oz, at only 39 weeks. Our sweet Gracie was only 7 lbs 4 oz., but she was born at 37 weeks.  Perhaps there was a good reason she decided head out a little ahead of schedule.  I've been assuming that berry will not debut until August 1 . . . b/c their is such poetic symmetry in a) me not having a July baby, and b) us adding an August birthday since we have May, June, July and September already.  However, maybe it would be better for everyone involved is berry graced us a little earlier.

For now, the official due date remains July 27, 2012 . . . and as I recently learned, people all over the world are counting down to little berry's debut, but particularly here in London, home of the 2012 Summer Olympics, which in case it isn't obvious, kick off on July 27, 2012.

Hence the new countdown on the blog, while it may appear to be an Olympic countdown, it is actually a countdown to baby berry . . . our little Olympian!!  (Not that there is anything wrong with an Olympic Countdown, I'm a big fan of the Olympics, particularly when I have a new baby to nurse at all hours of the night, the Olympics provide a great backdrop for that!)

For Your Entertainment . . .

While we were waiting to board the Eurostar in Belgium, Connor and Carolina Grace did some little performances for us, and anyone else in the departures lounge who wanted to watch.

Chocolate Land aka Brugge, Belgium

Last month the time finally arrived for us to take our much anticipated Eurostar trip 2012.  We got up bright and early and headed out to St. Pancras International to check in and get through immigration and customs.  I had all our travel documents ready to go in my cute Ness passport wallet. :)

And since we were leaving the UK headed into "europe" they apparently have zero concerns about immigration.  They didn't look at our tickets, they didn't ask where we were going, or how long, they simply stamped our passports, and let us through.  We went on through to the waiting area and hung out until its as our turn to board.

(*I don't know if this is the actual Eurostar that was used in The Davinci Code, but you can see that brass plaque on this engine says, "The Davinici Code."  None of the other engines I saw had that on them.)

Once on the train, we settled in, and had a little breakfast.

A short and relaxing two hours later we arrived in Brussels, and then changed trains to head on out to Brugge.  This time we got to ride on the top deck of a double-decker train. Transportation jackpot!

When we arrived in Brugge, I didn't remember anything about where the train station was in relation to the city center.  I just remembered the central square, and that basically every other shop as you walked around was a chocolate shop . . . you know the important stuff.  However, Ralph went all Jason Borne, used his cleverness and got us our very own map, and navigated us right into the beautiful city center.

and navigated us right into the beautiful cindy center.  (After we got back we watched In Brugge with Ralph Finnes and Colin Ferrel.  Not my favorite movie, Ralph's character is a organized crime boss, and he sends two hit men to Brugge b/c Colin Ferrel's character carried out a hit on a priest and accidentally kills a child.  He sends Colin's character and another hit man to brugge to "hide out," but really he is going to have Colin's character killed.  Ralph think Brugge is like a fairytale, and he wants Colin's character to enjoy the fairytale before he dies. . . . I kind of agree, Brugge is a bit like a fairy tale.  Incredibly picturesque and charming.)

Before we did anything else, Momma needed some non-chocolate lunch (I know, strange right?  this is the primary reason I would guess berry is a boy . . . on the other hand, I definitely still had/have my fair share--at least--of chocolate).  The kids' apple juice came in these bottles, which Connor called, "wine bottle apple juice."

Adding to it's appeal for me, Brugge is "covered" in chocolate!  Every other shop is a chocolate shop filled with delicious chocolate truffles and candies, and beautiful sculpted chocolates,

like these penguins and ducks and fruit candies . . . so cute!

Or . . . these chocolate breasts (and bottoms) . . . so european!

Connor's hand placement in this picture is so hilariously inappropriate, and I honestly think it is unintentional, but it's still funny!

Before we were done in Brugge we also decided to take a little boat cruise tour around the canals.

It was a lovely day in Brugge, but time to head back to Brussels.  At the train station we found a movie poster for a movie Gracie and Ralph both really wanted to see.  Too bad we didn't have enough time.

And, at the train station in Brussels, we found another cool poster that Ralph had previously read about online.  Sadly/Fortunately, we'd already used up all our Euro's on dinner and didn't actually try the Jedi Burger, or the Dark Burger, but we did snap this pick.

Then, it was back to the Eurostar terminal to check-in, and get back through British customs, which is a bit tighter than "European" customs, before boarding our Eurostar for the quick and easy trip back "home" to London.

Dinosaurs at the Natural History Museum

One of the fabulous things about London is that there is always something to do, and some of those things are even free, like the Natural History Museum. We've already made two visits this year.

Last time we were in London the Natural History Museum spawned Connor's love (and fear) of volcanoes and earthquakes.  His love/interest usually wins out over his fear, and our first visit this year was no exception, both Con and Gracie couldn't wait to see the volcano and earthquake exhibits.  However, our first visit was the first monday of mid-term break for school kids here, and the whole museum was frighteningly crowded.  We still had a really nice morning at the museum, and it was free!  The only thing we didn't get to see that the kids wanted to see was the Dinosaur exhibit.  It had a Disney style line snaking around that said something about the wait from "this point" being more than one hour.  No thank you.

A week or so later, after mid-term break was over, we headed out to queue up outside the museum about 10 minutes before it opened so we could be some of the first people in and see the dinosaurs. (Connor specifically requested that we NOT see the earthquake area again.) Our strategy worked perfectly and we got some great time with the dinosaurs.

After the dinosaurs we went back to see some of the mammals that we rushed through last time.

The Ness, in Inverness

We planned our trip to Inverness just because we really enjoyed Inverness on our last visit, but didn't really get to spend too much time in Inverness.  Having already done a highlands tour, we didn't have anything we really wanted to do in Inverness, except enjoy Inverness and the Glen Mhor.

We basically got lucky with the Glen Mhor last year after doing some searching and calling, they were the first place were I found a family room.  When we finally made it up to Inverness in 2010, around 8:00, possibly later, exhausted from a long, L-O-N-G day of train travel and touring around Edinbrugh, our family room was like a little slice of heaven.  It's not actually in the main building pictured above, but it is right next door, and just like this building, the front room faces right onto the River Ness.  It had a sitting room with sofa bed, a bedroom with a king sized bed, and a HUGE bathroom, and room services, including delivery of a couple of Strongbows, we were smitten.   When we finally decided we were going to make the LONG train journey up to Inverness again this trip, we were really looking forward to just enjoying the Glen Mhor and going with the flow, rather than having to get up early to catch our highlands tour, and then get up early to catch a train.  When I made our reservation I actually called to ask for the exact same room.

Because of our night train, we got into Inverness around 3:00 (even with our stop in Edinburgh).  We got settled in and cleaned up, had a short walk on the river and then went to dinner at the restaurant at the Glen Mhor, which was EXCELLENT!!!  EXCELLENT!!!  Then turned in relatively early.

The next morning we got up with no real plan and headed out into Inverness.  We toyed with the idea of doing another Loch Ness cruise, particularly since the kids wanted to hunt for Nessie, but they were satisfied by searching in the Ness river, and the boat cruise was the exact same one we did the year before.  So instead we just meandered around Inverness and it's shops.

We tried to get the kids cute Scottish hats, but once we got the pictures they wanted the hats off.

Then, we hit a Melissa Jackpot--Ness.  Ness is a clothing and accessory store (not specifically based in Inverness) that as ralph put it, is like my brain threw-up.  Not that I am talented and creative enough to have designed all these adorable things, but if I were that talented and creative these are EXACTLY the kinds of things I would design--plaid of every imaginable bright cute color. :)  Loved the store so much I took these pictures of it.

I had to really restrain myself from buying one of everything, but my sweet husband, knowing that I probably wouldn't have another opportunity to shop at Ness for a really long time, encouraged me to get a couple of items.  So, I got a new hat, and a passport & travel wallet that I can fit all of our passports and travel documents into, and that makes me wonderfully happy!!

My only regret about Ness is that I didn't get another else when I had the chance.  Apparently no one in London even carries any Ness items.  humph!

After Ness, we let the kiddos ride this little ride, had some lunch and headed back to the Glen Mhor.

On our walk back, we saw this beautiful rainbow!!

Then we went out for dinner, and I snapped a few more pictures of Inverness.

We left the next morning as the snow rolled in.  A perfect finish to a wonderful relaxing family filled visit!    We couldn't have asked for more!

Next time we go to Inverness we have two items on our to do list:  1) visit the Cathedral, and 2) go Ice Sports Inverness and try curling.  I wish I had thought of that sooner, I would have fit it in to this trip . . . but then I might not have found Ness, and that would have made me very very sad, even though the distance between me and Ness also makes me sad.  What's that they say, "tis better to have loved and lost, . . . "