2 weeks till Baby Mowry (July 9th)

The week of July 9th, just 2 weeks before Katie's due date, Charlie had a training for work to go to in Boston so Charlie's mom, Leslie, came to keep Katie company and just in case she went into labor early.  Leslie flew in on Monday evening and the three of us went to dinner at our favorite barbeque place in Mahwah, NJ called The Mason Jar.  After dinner, Charlie drove to Boston so that he would be there for the training that started Tuesday morning.

Katie went into work on Tuesday but started having quite a bit of pregnancy discomfort so she came home early.  Katie was suppose to work up till July 20th, but it was proving to be too uncomfortable to sit at work and her doctor agreed that she could start maternity leave a week early to relax.  Luckily we haven't had nearly the hot weather as the mid-west this summer, but even still her biggest complaint are the swollen feet.  Leslie decided that to help us out that she would cook several meals that we could freeze and later warm up when the Baby is taking up all of our time and energy.  Leslie is quite a good cook and seems to enjoy it, so we picked out 4 meals - Asian Flank Steak with vegetables, Chicken with Spinach Casserole, Ravioli Lasagna and Baked Ziti with Italian Sausage.  Aside from keeping busy in the kitchen, it was very nice to have Leslie here to keep Katie company and calm while waiting on the baby.

While he was there, he did get to do a little bit of sightseeing.  Not much - but dinner with some past and future co-workers was a good thing, for sure.  Dinner Tuesday was part of the program (at the hotel), but Charlie did get to go out for drinks around Faneuil Hall, which we'd been when we went there a few months back.  Not too many drinks!  There was potential for him to drive home at any moment - he was on call!  The second night, a group went to Tia's on the waterfront, also near the hotel we stayed at in March.  After dinner, they all walked to Mike's Pastries, but the next door cigar bar, Stanza dei Sigari, caught the eyes of some of the men.  So Charlie chose to have his "it's a boy" cigar instead of a canoli!

He also stopped at Eagle's Deli, which was another restaurant featured on Man vs. Food - they're known for their specialty burgers.  Charlie got the spicy one with jalapenos, buffalo sauce.  Charlie tried to convince Katie he was doing the 5 pound burger challenge, but she wasn't buying it!

We were all relieved when Charlie got home safely from Boston on Thursday and didn't miss the birth of our son.