New York City - Pregnant and Cold!

This last week I went up to New York to both check on our apartment and to see friends, as I figured that this may be the last trip up for a while because I just entered my 3rd trimester. Although I did feel productive and got tons of friend time and was able to meet with our realtor to get our apartment on the market for sale, I definitely felt the extra 20 pounds I've put on slowing me down. It was interesting to experience NYC pregnant and big because it is such a fast moving city with so much climbing of stairs, running to catch trains, and climbing over snow piles (at least during this winter season). I had to keep reminding myself to take care but that is hard to do when you can hear the train coming and have to chose between racing up stairs to catch it or facing 20 minutes waiting in the cold for the next one. I compromised and carefully ran up stairs to catch trains.

My friend Stephanie, who used to live in NYC and now lives in Atlanta, came up with me to stay in my apartment while I was there and so catching up with her and having the company was great! The days were each filled with slots of time allotted to different friends. I went out to Long Island twice to visit friends who have moved out there to begin families and so I also got plenty of baby time. I also got plenty of sober bar time filled with lots of glasses of water which was also a new experience for me. I guess I had forgotten how going to bars is the main social activity for friends in NYC. Here are some shots of a few good friends of mine out on a Friday night.





Another main event to the week was a little baby shower that my friend Amie organized for me. We went to a wine bar and celebrated the upcoming arrival of Baby Wancier. It was so nice to be surrounded by good friends who got me and the baby the cutest little outfits and toys. These were some of the first "baby things" to have in my possession. I did have a moment of reality hitting me, as I toted around onesies and rattles, that soon enough a real live baby will be wearing these onesies and playing with these rattles! It was great fun though and at least this baby will be dressed to impress!







And to finish off the week, I managed to get our apartment (with great help from my friend Stephanie) into tip top shape for pictures and showing. Apartment 3A is officially on the market and we're crossing our fingers we get some good offers quickly so the process doesn't drag out too long.

Long Journey Home

After a hectic last week in Accra trying to visit with friends and take care of last minute details before returning to the States for what will be close to 6 months to have our baby, I have finally made it home to Athens. Sadly in the plans to come home included a trip to Florida where my grandma Josie had just past away last Thursday. She suffered from Alzheimer's and finally the disease took its toll and she took her last breaths. I had hoped to make it down there in time to get to say goodbye but she passed away before I arrived but fortunately she was surrounded by her adoring family...my mom, aunt and uncle, my brother and his wife and their child (the first great grandchild), Gus. Bringing some comfort to me, after having to miss my grandfather's memorial service a few months back, was at least making it down to Florida for her service this Tuesday. But, it turned out this was not in the cards for me and the nasty weather took over any control I thought I had over the situation. Although I arrived perfectly on time to Atlanta from Accra, my flight to Florida was canceled after heavy snow and ice hit the Atlanta area the night before. Tons of passengers were stranded in the airport including me. Luckily, my parents, who were already in Florida, had thought ahead and advised me to make a reservation in an airport hotel just in case...and this proved to be a lifesaver. I made my way to the hotel where I sat for two days cooped up (actually two different hotels) waiting for the weather to improve along with the roads. It was very frustrating to be so close to being home but have no way to get there, but I surrendered to the situation, decided to enjoy buffet meal after buffet meal at the hotel, and kept busy reading, knitting, and watching T.V as the hours passed. Finally on Wednesday, the shuttle service that runs between Athens and Atlanta was back running and I arrived back home to an empty house, as now my parents were stuck in Florida still trying to get back home after also experiencing canceled flights. Not the homecoming I was anticipating but nonetheless, it was very nice to be back in the comforts of home.

Of course during this journey I have slowly become more familiar with the idea that this is not a short visit home that will just end with return to normalcy back in Ghana. But instead, it is a 6 month adventure that will include preparing for motherhood and giving birth and will end in a return to what is sure to be a completely different existence back in Ghana with all new challenges and things to learn. It's all very exciting and it will be great fun to share all of this with my parents. But sadly, Alan will be far far away in Ghana through most of the next 3 months. We'll keep him updated on the baby progress through email and skype though and I'm leaving him responsible for the finishing up the baby room prep...we'll see what it looks like when we return! I'm sure time will go quickly...perhaps even too quickly and before we know it, baby Wancier will be here and baby training will begin!

Wine Tasting for One

One of the disadvantages of touring the Cape Town area while pregnant is that I haven't been able to enjoy the wine country and tastings which is one of the major activities to take part around Cape Town. However, the landscape of the wineries is really breathtaking so I at least got to enjoy that while Alan became an official taster.







We went to a few wineries in Stellenbosch and Franschhoek - two nearby areas outside of Cape Town. Both have small towns to explore with boutiques, craft shops, and restaurants. Stellenbosch is the more famous town and unimpressive to the naked eye. Franschhoek, on the other hand, is much smaller and a quaint little town, worth a day's visit. Alan tells me one of the major differences between this wine country and Napa Valley is that many of the South African wineries have gourmet restaurants attached to them whereas Napa Valley wineries are there just for the wine. We went to one of these winery/restaurant combo; it was good but not outstanding, although Alan had Zebra for dinner and has added to his list of game meats consumed.

The next day we explored a famous winery (internationally known) called Spier which we figured would be busy but we had no idea it would be the Disney World of wineries. It was a maze of venues for eating, drinking, and picnicing, with a hotel, amphitheater and conference center. We had to park 10 minutes away from the wine tasting because there were so many people and cars. It makes you wonder how good the wine can be if the business caters to the accdiental tourist instead of just wine. Needless to say, Alan did a quick tasting and we were out of there.