What a whirlwind this life can be, right?
One day you look at the calendar and you have 4 months until your due date and the next thing you know the 6-week countdown is beginning. How is it that this pregnancy has flown by? Just yesterday I was anxiously awaiting Nic's arrival home so I could surprise him with the news! Up until this past week, where the reeeally uncomfortable stage has begun and I am alternating between self-proclaimed bed rest and guilt inspired outings with Hudson because I feel terrible for keeping him cooped up with me, I have been SO good about not having a preference of when this little girl arrives. I feel like so many of my issues in labor with Hudson stemmed from all the stress I put on myself to have him by a certain day- with a wedding looming in the near future and family all arriving with the expectation of seeing their new grand baby. This time around there is NO timeline, no event she needs to be evacuated by, NO family's visits or airline return tickets giving me a "need to push by" date. And it feels great. The only pressure there is this time is the intense pressure in my belly and on my hips.. Haha. That may be a little bit of an incentive to try to get her moving along but all in all, I don't care when this baby girl makes her grand entrance earth side. (Just not too soon, of course- she needs all the oven time she can get!) She can come at 37 weeks or 41 weeks or anywhere in between. Ultimately it isn't up to me anyhow- the Lord has her perfect birthday already chosen.
We have been traveling a lot recently and that has kept us super busy! Hudson has become quite the travel pro, he sat down in Nic's lap on one of our flights and immediately started insisting we put the seatbelt on him. And then he pulled the tray table down and started rolling his cars all over it. It was too cute. All this travel has been exhausting! And it's not even over yet. We are still to travel to OKC and Colorado for a couple weeks.
Back in April, Hudson and I ventured to Tucson, AZ for my very best friend in the whole wide world's baby shower for her and her hubby's baby boy! It was only meant to be a weekend trip and after our ridiculous day of travel to get there, complete with delayed planes and missed connections, Southwest allowed us to transfer our ticket to fly home another day. We wound up getting to stay just over a week! It was SO much fun and a much needed visit with my bestie. We took some cute photos of our prego bellies, hung out with her hubby, answered questions they had about having a baby, went to the zoo, ate lots of good foods, did a lot of our usual hanging out and I am just so so thankful for getting to see her. We didn't skip a single beat- it was like we were never apart :)
We went to Boston mid-May for an impromptu visit to see our Grandma and Grandpa Gleason! They were up visiting our Uncle Chris and Auntie Ishtar and their kiddos and we could not pass up the opportunity that they were merely 4 hours away, rather than clear on the other side of the country in Orange County. That was a nice and quick little trip, we cashed in on some of Nic's stored up Marriott rewards and stayed at a really nice hotel in the area. We got to be a part of one of their busy weekends, involving soccer games, birthday party and a farewell dinner for someone in their church- then Sunday we did brunch with the grandparents and headed back home.
The very following Friday we flew to Las Vegas to meet the Hansen family for a bit of a reunion! We got to see Nic's parents and all of his siblings as well as some of Nic's family from New Zealand- they were all in the U.S. to visit {and shop! ;D} and ventured to Vegas to celebrate Auntie Anna's 40th birthday. There was a little bit of sight seeing, shopping and walking the strip but we spent the majority of our time with Nic's parents at their hotel- it was off the strip and had an amazing pool set up. Hudson warmed up to it by the 2nd day :) While the Vegas "scene" isn't really our thing, I mean- honestly- who would be more out of place than a young family with a toddler, and another on the way?- we still really enjoyed our visit. Our first morning at the hotel we made the mistake of calling in a room service order for some breakfast.. It was just ridiculous. We ordered the cheapest things on the menu and then Nic knew I wanted coffee so he ordered a cup for me. Apparently you can't just order one cup of coffee when you're staying at a hotel on the strip. So they gave us their reasonably priced $13 pot of coffee.. Ha. It was so ridiculous. After all the different fees and such the breakfast cost us $60. Just for the 3 of us! Haha! After that we decided to keep our early morning family breakfast business with Denny's. :) Nic left eeeaaaarrly Monday morning to fly to OKC for his usual monthly trips and Hudson and I stayed back to drive home with Tash, Renee and Dad. It was a nice little road trip and when we got there Hudson got to see his new best friend, Ryan. He learned a few of the family members names but hearing him as for Ryan was just about one of the cutest things I've ever heard. "Maaa, where Ryan?!"
We stayed the night there and then went to the airport that next morning to head north for my brother's wedding. We landed in McKinleyville, walked onto the tarmac (teeeeny NorCal airport) and were greeted by my brother Matt, whom we haven't seen since Hudson was 2 weeks old! It was just AWESOME. I miss my family so so much. We stayed at Matt and Bri's house the first couple of nights and then switched to a shared hotel with Kevin and Meryl once they arrived, we also shared a rental car with them. They tried to give us a Fiesta to drive and after just trying to fit the luggage in the back we knew we were going to need to get a bigger vehicle. Ha. It would have been pretty interesting to see how we all fit in the back seat with Hudson's big ol' carseat- and my big ol' belly! We had a few busy days of more family arriving, random outings and hang outs, wedding prep, etc. Even learned about "squatching" from our Uncle Bob! After Nic arrived Friday, Meryl and I were a little.. bitter, you could say.. about being left to fend for ourselves for an entire day while our husbands joined in on Bachelor Party activities but we eventually got over it :) We had an enjoyable day together and wound up getting to meet my mom and some other ladies for lunch, took Hudson to the park, annnnd not much else. Nic surprised me Saturday morning and got me in for a prenatal massage at the spa that my sister Bri works for! It was amazing. The wedding was lovely, Hudson got to be the ring bearer (even though the day of the rehearsal didn't seem so promising) he stole the show with running and "sliding into home" at the end of the aisle. I am still waiting to find out if anyone got a video of that.. I haven't tracked one down yet but I know there's gotta at least be one.. He is growing up to be such a show off... Gees, I wonder where he gets that from?? ;)
We were meant to fly out Monday morning but upon arriving to the airport came to find that there was a delay, and with that delay we would miss our connection and not wind up making it home to NYC until the eaaaarly hours of the next morning. Trying to do that with a toddler was the last thing we wanted to do so United offered to rebook us for the following morning at no extra charge! We got to meet up with my family for a "lumberjack style" breakfast, where they bring plate after plate, bowl after bowl FULL of things like eggs, sausages, french toast, biscuits and gravy, OJ and coffee- and they just keep feeding you until you can eat no more. All at the low cost of $11 per person. Or something like that. It was awesome and delicious and I loved it. I think everyone loved it. I mean, come on, who doesn't love breakfast?! (Especially when it doesn't cost $60 and leave you still a little bit hungry. Haha!) Kev and Meryl left in the afternoon and the rest of us stayed at Matt and Bri's for some relaxing time.. and a board game, of course. Because that's what Mullaney's do. :) Matt took us to the airport the very next morning (at 4am, mind you- he is a saint) and we had a really good day of travel. The flight from SanFran to NYC was nearly 6 hours and Hudson was a rockstar. Only a few little mad moments but beyond that was great!
Since being home the madness has not stopped or even slowed, really- we have had lots going on, doctor's appointments, friends over for dinners, outings around the city, a baby shower thrown for us by our wonderful friends and most recently I've been stuck in bed with some pretty rough symptoms- some pregnancy related- some not. We're meant to leave for OKC tomorrow and I am growing a little worried that my doctor won't clear me for travel. But as Nic reminds me on a regular basis- everything ALWAYS works out. No matter what the outcome, trust that it what the Lord intended.
I think that should just about catch ya up on what's been going on with my lovely little family. I'll try to check in a couple more times before baby girl arrives.
Cheers, y'all. Much love.
