Brian and I are currently somewhere over Illinois, coming back on our last leg from our trip to Italy…sans Ellie! It was a thoroughly brave adventure for us. In theory when planning the trip we knew it was a healthy thing to do, both for Ellie and us. As the trip date arrived though, we started to get really sad at the prospect of being so far away from her for so long.

The things that made the trip a little easier are two-fold:
1. Tutu and Grandy stayed at our house the whole time and played with her non-stop. She had such a great time and was so happy. We actually wondered a bit if she even noticed we were gone!
2. FaceTime! Brian had his phone on, but turned data off and when we got wifi we were able to FaceTime my mom and talk to them and Ellie for a bit. It was so awesome to see her and hear her say non-stop “mommy” and “daddy.” It made us miss her even more, but I think it made her feel good to connect with us and know we we’re just somewhere else.

Before the trip for a couple of weeks I was talking to Ellie about what a vacation is and that mommy and daddy were going to go on a vacation and she was going to hang out with Tutu and Grandy while we were gone. I know communication is not 100% confirmed at this point in her life, but I truly think it helped quite a bit.

We’ll see how she feels when we get back and that will be the real measure of success. Last time when we went away for three days she seemed a little upset when we got back. Hopefully this time she’s not too mad at us.

Likely needless to say, our adult vacation in Italy was truly wonderful and relaxing. We didn’t plan anything out really, just kind of played it by ear. We spent the bulk of our time in Cortona, a small town in Tuscany, just outside of Perugia. It was a beautiful town with quite a few restaurants and shops. We did a fair amount of walking/hiking up the hills, which felt really good. It also felt a little breath-taking (literally), which made sense when I read my What To Expect update; it was all about how baby is squishing my lungs now and I’m likely to experience a shortness of breath. Si, de accordo.

I haven’t been around that much cigarette smoke since frequenting Belltown Billiards when I was 22. I haven’t eaten that much gelato since we were in Italy last time and I haven’t had that much tomatoes, mozzarella and pasta in a long time either! Honestly though, out of the whole trip, the most regrettable meals were definitely the ones we had on the airplane ride back! I look forward to getting home and focusing back on fruits and veggies for the rest of the pregnancy.

Here’s a pick of #2 at 30 weeks with the beautiful Cortona valley in the background: