Eden turned one on December 12. Ben and I made pancakes for breakfast which she gobbled up and then we had a small get together in West Lafayette with cake and presents. Eden loved being the center of attention and totally showed off for her guests. She is much more steady when walking now and cracks up when others mimic the sounds she makes.
As you can see, she was not shy about digging right into her cake! She started with the icing and had quite a bit of that then started in on the cake. She had so much fun that by 3:30 she was sound asleep. I’ve posted several pictures from the day…enjoy!

For those of you that haven’t heard, we all made it back safe and sound to Indianapolis. It took Eden a few days to adjust to the time difference, but she has settled in nicely now. Our next goal is to get her to sleep through the night!

Speaking of goals, Eden has started to walk on her own! Its limited to only a few feet and usually only towards Mommy or Daddy, but its a good start! Check out the video for all the super cute action: http://blip.tv/file/2939818

We’ve made it halfway home! The three of us are now sitting in our hotel in Amsterdam for the next 20 hours or so. We had a slight scare getting checked in because they had to try a few times to add Eden onto Meghan’s ticket. Eventually I think they just brought somebody over that was more competent and she got things done. We also had a scare trying to get into Holland. Apparently Kenyans need a visa to get in…so they wouldn’t let us out of the airport. Luckily theres a few hotels attached to AMS and one had vacancy. (Unfortunately the other room I booked via Priceline.com is non-refundable.)

Eden did very well on the plane. She was cranky for about 10 minutes before her nap, but then settled down and slept for 3 hours! The rest of the time she played with her toys, practiced her standing skills, or showed off for other passengers.

The flight was operated by Kenya Airways. I’ve never flown out of NBO in the morning and so never flown this leg on a KQ plane. The other times I’ve flown on KQ they’ve had amazing service…and this trip was no exception. The food was 100 times better than KLM’s, the attendants were nicer, and the plane was not as crowded. In fact, because the plane was so empty we were able to switch up to the bulkhead seats so Eden had some space to play and a bassinet to sleep in.

I took a quick video of Eden sitting nicely and eating her breakfast on the plane: http://blip.tv/file/2917189.

We flew into NBO this morning without any issues. Our driver picked us up and took us to Mayfield, then to a mall where I met with some new OpenMRS implementers who wanted some “professional” advice. We ate a very non-Kenyan lunch at a little coffee shop, then went for our two o’clock appointment at the embassy. The embassy trip really wasn’t all that exciting, apparently all the hard stuff really was last week. Meghan and I were halfway through security (unpacking liquids, metal, coins, etc) when she asked if we were just picking up a passport. Apparently there is a little window where you give your “passport pickup ticket” and they just give you the visa-stamped passport back! Yep, that easy!

So, in conclusion, we’re coming home! We look forward to seeing you all very soon. We might post an update from our hotel in Amsterdam, but that all depends on how much sleep we’re needing at that point!

Whew! We’re almost there! It’s hard to believe that I am already in my third trimester. Time has gone by so quickly (especially since Eden came home). My belly button is basically flat now and Eden and I can play peek-a-boo around my tummy because I can no longer see her when she’s at my feet. Andy moves a lot and I feel him most often on the right side. He gives little kicks just below my ribs. He moves around a lot when I lay down at night but I am getting used to it. I am not getting used to the feeling of my skin stretching at night. Sometimes I don’t even want to move because my stomach feels like it is stretched to the max. I’m still dancing at Sally Test with the kids but I definitely don’t do the jumping in the bunny hop or the straddle stretch during the cool down any more. The kids laugh at me during the song where we ‘hug your knees’ because I can’t put my knees together to hug them, I have to stick my belly in between them. Eden likes to ‘Pat, pat, Baby Andy’ and to give him kisses which is very cute.

I am meeting with my OB here in Kenya over the weekend to discuss our travel plans and wrap things up before we head home, then I have an appointment on the 4th with my OB in the US. We are hoping that we will get a clearer ultrasound picture and confirm 100% that Andy is a boy.