We're in Miami!

I knew I had arrived in Florida the second the stewardess opened the plane doors;This HOT, HUMID, MUGGY air flooded the plane. As it wrapped around me, I could almost hear the song...Welcome to Miami, Bienvenidos a MIAMI...even though I was in Ft. Lauderdale.



I scanned the area as I walked out of the terminal for any familiar faces for what seemed like forever . Right in front of me I saw my Dad, Mom, and Snoopy waiting, as if they had never left the airport when they dropped me off a couple weeks ago when I was going to Austin. It was so nice to be back...it felt like home already and I hadn't even left the airport.



We went straight home, after a little snack, I went to the beauty salon. I was in dire need of work. My hands and feet looked worse than when I was working the fields in Panama. I didn't understand how that could be!!??!?! My hair needed a lot of work too. It had been about 6 months since it had seen/visited any salon. I came out a new woman from Beauty Secret with a couple new friends too who were intrigued with the story of how I found out I was pregnant.



When I came home, my mom and I went to the other ABUELOS house to visit. Just as my parents were dying to see my stomach and how much it had grown, I thought that Peter's parents were just as curious. The visit was a little longer than all of our curfew's but Abuela Veronica got to feel the baby move for the first time.



Wednesday was spent working on Baby Shower arrangements and Checking out Babies R us IN PERSON for the first time. That place is mesmerizing. The next thing is always cuter than the previous and some are downright uselessly adorable! One thing all things have in common is: IT IS ALL EXPENSIVE. It's almost like Michael's' and Pearls, you can easily find yourself spending HUNDREDS of dollars in minutes.



Wednesday evening I spent with a family whose kids I taught swim lessons to last summer. Telling Maria the story of everything that went down in the last couple months, I relived lots of memories and emotions. My eyes watered and I felt my throat tightening as I retold the 1st Gyno visit appointment, where I found out everything. The story brought her to tears as well. During and after dinner, she told me that she loved being a mother and that it was the best and most vulnerable feeling ever. When I left, I texted Peter and told him how excited I was to see how our LItTlE PeRsOn would be....



Before leaving the Key I made one last stop at Angela's new apartment with "sandpaper" wallpaper. She showed me around the place and they we talked a little while her butter drunken tilapia finished baking in the oven. When she served Andrew and herself that heart attack of a meal, I said my good-byes and headed home.



Thursday was a day of appointments and shopping. It started with an early Gyno visit. When I first got to Miami, I had visited with Dr. Nikitin in South Miami. Since I now have a new doctor in Austin, I needed to get my final check up with him, get some results from tests, and gather my complete medical file to take to my new doctor. I found out that you are actually pregnant for 1o months! It is a cultural myth that women are pregnant for 9 months. It is actually 9 moon cycles, which a moon cycle is longer than a calendar month. I am officially 25 weeks, which means 6 months--a week short of being in the 3rd trimester where my baby will enter VIABLE FETUS status.



Target and Michael's sucked us in for a couple hours after Sushi Maki lunch. With Baby shower games, gifts, and decorations on our mind, we walked around in circles. Finally we broke free and rushed over to the Dentist, the second appointment of the day. The appointment was short and quick but the "Weren't you in the Peace Corps?" and "When did you find out?" questions kept me there a little longer. Party City awaited me and my mother for some finally decorations.



FINALLY, we made it home! Exhausted, I tried to read for a little in the backyard with Snoopy. Manuela and I walked to Blockbuster with snoopy to rent a movie, Ghost of Girlfriend's Past (which was great!). Angela came by too and together we watched it. Unfortunately we ate all the popcorn in the previews so we were left with our tears and buggers the rest of the movie. There were times where we would look around and see the one next to us sobbing more than the other!

Today, Friday-- I have one doctor's appointment to get out of the way...work on finishing touches of the Baby Shower, and try and meet up with Marin, a friend from Peace Corps Panama who took her first vacation this week and is visiting her parents here in Miami! Then I have to get ready: Finally Peter arrives in Miami!