Birthday Trip to Leeds Castle, Canterbury, and Dover!

For Timothy’s birthday, we took a nice day trip to Southern England! It was nice to relax on a coach bus, and listen to our amazing guide. We really enjoyed this trip! Plus, the weather was AMAZING for England! Our first stop, Leeds Castle was breathtakingly beautiful! We got to explore the castle, which was restored by an American who bought it 1926, and the pretty garden with amazing views (for those of you who love golf, they have an amazing course). It is definitely a must see! Then we went to Canterbury Cathedral. It was really neat to visit together. There is so much history and beauty at this cathedral! The architecture and art in this cathedral is very impressive.  Lastly, we went to the coast to view the White Cliffs of Dover! The sky was so clear we could see all the way across the channel, to see FRANCE! It was amazing. We had such a fun day together.

Description of Trip:

“Escape the hustle-bustle of London for a day and travel to the English countryside for a tour of Leeds Castle, Canterbury Cathedral and Dover. Enjoy a private viewing of beautiful Leeds Castle before the doors open to the public, get an exclusive tour inside UNESCO World Heritage–listed Canterbury Cathedral, and admire the symbolic White Cliffs of Dover.”(Viator/Evan Evans Tours)

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Leeds Castle

Leeds Castle

Leeds Castle

Canterbury Cathedral

Dover

Dover

London on our way home

The Mann’s Visit England!

Timothy’s parents visited England for the first time this past month! We had a great time showing them around the St. Albans area, and of course LONDON!

Timothy’s mom arrived first. She was able to go with us to our anatomy ultra sound, where we discovered Peanut was a very healthy (and maybe stubborn) little GIRL! 🙂 Then the site seeing began! We showed her around St. Albans, London, and Hampton Court Palace. Also, one evening Tim took us to the theater to see WICKED. It was a lot of fun.

Then about a week later Timothy’s dad arrived! A really cool part of their trip was that Christopher’s (Timothy’s younger brother) trip to London/Amsterdam overlapped with his parents, so he hung out with us a couple of days! While Timothy’s dad was here, we went to St. Albans, of course, and in London we visited the British National Gallery, the Tower of London, Westminster Abby, and went on a Thames River boat cruise to see all the major sites (Big Bend, Parliament, St. Paul’s, etc.). On their final day in England, Timothy took his dad to Bletchley Park (iconic WWII code breaking location), while Mrs. Mann and I had an afternoon at the spa.

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Buckingham Palace

Big Ben

Wicked!!

Hampton Court

Hampton Court

Hampton Court

What is a trip to England without some Fish & Chips!

London Baby Bump

Tower of London

Tower of London

Tower Bridge

Buckingham Palace

Bump-date!

I’ve been meaning to do this for a while!

My first trimester was a little tough. While I was not as sick as some women, I was extremely tired, and queasy for several weeks. Right around the end of the first trimester (early July), I felt better, and better with each passing week.

When we went to our 12 week ultra sound, we were shocked to find out we were 13 weeks. While one week may not seem like much, it made me more anxious. That was one less week to prepare!! Despite the news we were further along than we thought, it was an amazing experience. Peanut (Baby Mann) was so active! We couldn’t believe it! Seeing Peanut on the screen definitely made it more real!

Boy?

Girl?

My second trimester has been going very smoothly. We have been traveling a lot. This means a lot of walking, which has helped me regain a lot of my energy. I didn’t start showing until around week 18-19, and each week Peanut is getting bigger and bigger. Around 18 weeks I thought I was feeling Peanut move, but I wasn’t sure. Then around week 20, I was definitely feeling Peanut move. While my book says that Timothy shouldn’t feel Peanut move yet, Peanut is pretty strong and every once in a while Timothy feels a really good kick (or punch!). It’s pretty amazing.

At our 20 week anatomy ultra sound, we received really great news. So far, Peanut looks super healthy! All of Peanut’s skeletal structure and organs looks exactly like it should. I will say this was a very interesting appointment. During our first ultrasound Peanut would not stop moving! It was very hard for the technician to measure the baby. This time, we had the opposite problem! Peanut was asleep, on it’s belly. This made it so we could only hear/see the heart beat and a few parts of the skeletal structure that needed to be reviewed. After drinking juice and lots of walking- Peanut finally woke up and turned around. Finally, the technician could do their job! At the very end of the appointment, we found out that Peanut is a…

We are so excited. We are currently at 22 weeks, so only 18 more to go! It’s a little scary, but we are very excited to meet our little girl!

Thank you for all your thoughts, prayers and well wishes!