Kentucky

At 19 weeks pregnant, Ryan and I headed home to Kentucky for one last pre-baby visit to see family and friends.  We opted to drive the 16 hours from Colorado rather than flying.  I was a little concerned that the drive would be really difficult, but Ryan did most of the driving and I was able to nap whenever I got too tired.  We also stopped at a hotel en route, so the trip wasn't as taxing as it had been in the past when had driven through the night.

We arrived in Louisville, KY on Saturday afternoon and spent the evening at Ryan's brother's house watching our favorite team (the Louisville Cardinals) win their game in the Final Four.  The next morning, we had a nice breakfast at Ryan's mom's house, then hit the road for our family baby shower in Lexington, KY.  Fortunately for us, both of our families live with in an hour of each other with his family being in Louisville and mine in Lexington and Versailles.

The family shower was held at my parents' house and was just a low key afternoon with some gifts, cupcakes, and conversation.  We opted to have separate family and friend showers so we could make sure that our families got the attention that they deserved and we were able to hang out with everyone.  This is really important to me because I want the family to be as involved in the lives of the triplets as possible.  I picture our kids learning to swim with their cousins in my brother's backyard pool or all of the girl cousins heading to the ballet to see the Nutcracker together at Christmas.  I want them to be excited when they see their grandparents and would like for it to happen often.  As a child, my family was scattered all over and I only got to see them on rare occasions.  I would like for things to be different for our children if at all possible.  After all, no one understands your world quite like family.

The afternoon was lovely.  The weather was beautiful and it was a welcome change from the snow we had left behind in Colorado.  We received some really lovely things for the babies and it was super fun to see how much my nieces and nephew had grown.  I can't wait until I can see them more often.

Exactly 19 weeks at the family shower.

The view from my parents backyard.  Green grass...oh how I've missed you.

After a couple of days at my parents house (including watching our Cardinals win the championship!) we headed back to Louisville for the rest of our journey.  As soon as we returned to Louisville, we met up with our old neighbors and their darling son for a dinner out.  At only 10 months of age, he was so quiet and polite at the restaurant.  It gave us a little glimmer of hope about being able to take our rascals out to a restaurant some day.  We headed back to their house where we saw their son's superhero bedroom and talked with them about the joys of being new parents.  There's nothing quite like someone who is excited to be parents the way they are.

Thursday night was to be our big cocktail shower hosted by our friend Lindsey.  On Thursday morning, we headed to Toast (possibly my favorite Louisville restaurant) for brunch with Ryan's mom, then they dropped me off for a morning of pampering at the salon.  After I finished getting my hair beautified (thank you Nicole at Joseph's Salon--everyone go see her) and the excess hair removed from my face, I sat down to a book and a glass of lemon water and waited for Ryan to pick me up.  Next thing I know I get a frantic phone call saying, "I'm ok.  I've been in a car accident and I'm really pissed off right now.  You need to call my mom to come get you."

Ryan's mom arrived at the salon quickly and we headed over to the scene of the accident.  Apparently, a line of cars was stopped for a bus to load and unload and a person did not see everyone stopped, rear-ended Ryan and pushed him into the back of a pick-up truck.  When a police officer asked her how fast she was going, she replied, "Whatever the speed limit is."  The officer took that as a reasonable answer with no follow-up question required.  Here is a visual of the aftermath:

We spent the afternoon dealing with the mess of the accident and only barely had enough time left to get ready for our shower that evening.

Unfortunately, in my rush to get ready after the car incident, I forgot to take my camera to the shower, so I don't really have pictures to commemorate the evening.  However, it was everything I imagined my baby shower for my family (me, Ryan, and "the trips" as Ryan wants to call them) would be like.  The event was hosted by Lindsey Ransdell at a restaurant in Louisville called Volare.  It was a low key event catered by the restaurant with desserts provided by Tittles Cake Dots, a company in Louisville owned by one of my sorority sisters.  We had both guys and girls present enjoying cocktails, food, and some live jazz music drifting in from the other room.  It felt more like a cocktail hour than a baby shower.  It was so nice just to sit and talk with everyone and to see some friends we hadn't seen in quite a while.  As a surprise, my best friend Jenny drove from Illinois to make the shower.  It's amazing how when you're really close to someone and you see them again for  the first time in a while, it's like everything just picks up where it left off.  Here are a couple of pics I stole off Facebook from the event.

David, Jay, Ryan, and Mando.

Lindsey, myself, and Jenny.

So...that's the basics on our trip back home.  Since then, we've had a couple of uneventful doctor's appointments (thank goodness), but I'll update with some more 3D pics and a long awaited belly pic soon.  To be quite honest, the belly pics don't exactly make me feel glamorous...that's why I've been avoiding them.  But I will suck it up and take one.