Christmas, Baby Showers, and Family Fun

After three weeks I think I have finally recovered from our two week trip to the US!   Traveling that far at the end of the second trimester was certainly exhausting and it didn't help that I came down with a sinus/respiratory infection from the second I got on the plane and couldn't make it go away until I got back to Singapore.  I just wish I had felt better so I could have fully enjoyed all the exciting stuff we had planned for our trip.

We spent the first week of our trip in Atlanta with Derek's parents.  We shopped for the baby, celebrated Christmas, had a family photo shoot, and ended it with a baby shower.  I regret that I didn't take more pictures but I was really under the weather and kept forgetting.

Christmas will never be the same!

Baby shower!  Matches our nursery theme: purple, teal, and gray. 

Thanks to Janet, Pat, Roxanne, Judy, and Raelene for throwing a great shower!

We rushed out of Atlanta after the baby shower because I had another one the next day in Aiken with my family.  We were certainly spoiled by our friends and family over this trip!

Beth, Katie, Brett, and Layne also did a wonderful job! Thanks ladies!

As always, my mom did an amazing job on the cake!  It was cute and delicious!  Chocolate with Nutella buttercream!

After the shower we headed up to North Carolina with my family to spend the New Year together in the mountains.  We were just outside of Asheville so we had to make a trip over to the Biltmore.  Derek had never been and I have always wanted to do the candlelight tour.  It was gorgeous but of course they don't allow pictures.

To finish off the trip, we headed back to Atlanta to meet the movers to pack our air shipment.  We packed an entire nursery including furniture, bedding, and clothes into a 5'x5'x5' container.  I did a lot of planning and strategic shopping which paid off because despite Derek's skepticism, it all fit!  The shipment has since arrived and I will do a nursery reveal soon.

The following day we had to head back to Singapore and with all the winter storms, the trip was far from uneventful.  We were supposed to fly through Newark and found out two days in advance that our flight from Atlanta to Newark was canceled.  I got us rebooked on a flight through Dulles instead and that seemed to be promising until our flight from Dulles was delayed two hours and we missed our connection in Tokyo.  We then had to collect our bags, clear customs, and take a bus to the other Tokyo airport to catch a partner flight the airline had rebooked us on.  Thirty-six hours later, we finally landed in Singapore.  Having to do all that sick, pregnant, and sitting in coach was about as awful of a trip as I have ever had.  I'm hoping our baby doesn't make me regret this statement during our two planned trips home next year.

Despite the drawbacks, we really did have a wonderful time and were so thankful we could make the trip to spend Christmas at home this year.  Hoping all of you had a wonderful Christmas, too!