Hello From 30,000 Feet

Hello there from 30,000 feet. Our airplane has free wi-fi so I thought I would try to stay up to speed a bit on the old blog. Trying to have better blogging habits to see if there is any chance of keeping the world informed of the goings on of Oliver when he arrives. Well, we shall see. Right now we are flying to California to visit with family and friends and have a baby shower out there. It has been so strange to be away from so many people that are so important to me through pregnancy. I just had to come out, I couldn't imagine just showing up this Christmas with some magical baby that came from nowhere. This whole pregnancy thing has been such an event in my life, I just had to come and share it with my grandparents and oldest friends.

I have hit 30 weeks today so now we slide down hill toward really getting Oliver here. He is busy in there, constantly moving around, getting the hiccups and so on. The last couple of weeks have been challenging for me with new back pains. Mostly bad sciatic pain which has been so not fun. I have a whole lot of new sympathy for people living with chronic back pain. It is so cruel to have every step be painful.

Well, I was going to add photos to this post from my baby shower in Celo but I already attached them all once on this flight and had a really great post all finished and then lost the whole thing so I will wait until I land and have some time soon to add these photos. I will add just a couple though of Gabriel putting Oliver's crib together and some baby knitting that has been going on. Finally the little man is getting some knit wear!

Ice cream at Mapple View

We are very lucky here in Chapel Hill to have a local creamery just outside of town. At almost all of our grocery stores here, both chain and local, you can find milk and other dairy products in glass bottles for sale from the Maple View Creamery. In the summer they also open an ice cream store in town as well as having a wonderful ice cream store with a wide porch and rocking chairs on their farm land just 5-10 minutes outside of town. My good friend Noelle moved from Chapel Hill to the mountains just about a year ago. I taught her daughter Leia for two years. When she was passing through town a few weeks ago we had to hit the old favorite for some ice cream on a hot day. Fun to share with Carolyn and Addie too. This actually fell on Gabriel's 31st birthday and so he took a little time away from his studying to join us.

Blackberry picking with Addie and Carolyn

Another thing that kept me busy for a couple of weeks recently was a visit from my family. My sister had been to see us in Chapel Hill last summer but my dad and Carolyn have never been to Chapel Hill! Hard to believe now that we have been there 3 years. Anyway, we had lots of full days and here are some snippets from our adventures. We spent a few days in Chapel Hill and also came up to Celo for about a week. Here is blackberry picking at Busy Bee farm in Pittsboro.

WIth These Hands Booth

I have been super busy lately but have lots to report. About a month ago I was busy getting my business ready to have a booth at the Lavender Festival on my in-law's farm in Western NC. Lot's of label making, price choosing, banner ordering, getting set up to accept credit cards and on and on. The festival was a big success and I was really happy with the response to the products. It was fun to tell the women's stories and to talk about Tanzania the whole weekend. Here are photos of the booth and also some fun shots of the rubber stamping madness to get the first run product labels produced.