The Pie Maker

Jane introduced me to a new (prob. not so new, but new to me) television show while she was visiting, called 'Pushing Daisies.' Although I found both the main characters annoying and way to goody goody and earnest - the show did grow on me. One of the main features of the show is the Pie Hole - where the main character works. Seeing pie after pie inspired me to make my own. I never was big on pies - but they definitely could grow on me. Jan warns me that I have to try to control my sweet tooth, so the pies come very rarely.




Here is the crust with the apple filling. I should have put more apples but I ran out.



A close up.




Finished product.

And yes it was delicious!

I am going to try 'muffin pies' next. Mini pies made in the muffin pan.

In other news I am still pregnant but I am about ready not to be. We are approaching the 35 week mark now. Ok, if I am honest, 34.5 weeks, but who is counting.

Cons of pregnancy
1. Being overly emotional. (yes, it has finally kicked in)
I did start sobbing in a train, and I definitely freaked out the old German women who were sitting across from me. Excessive displays of emotion are so not German.

2. Toating around all of that extra weight.
Most of which is sticking out in front of me in the form of a giant belly and giant, well, other parts.

3. Constantly being out of breath.
Walking up the stairs - asthma attack.

4. Three days of leg pain reminding you - no you shouldn´t run to catch the last train for the next hour or to make it to the library to return the dvds that will cost you 4 euros if you don´t return them.

5. Getting up in general.
I have mastered scooting, and rolling, and performing squats now that I cannot use my stomach muscles for anything.

Pros of pregnancy
1. You get a baby at the end.

Of course the pros grossly out-weight the cons. But that baby can come any time now! I am ready not to be pregnant!

Alien Worm

As I was half asleep on the couch last night - Jan came home and the baby decided to suddenly wriggle in my stomach - startling me and waking me up. It felt exactly like a snake moving under my skin - so freaky. Don´t worry - I usually have more maternal feelings, but baby, stop the slithering motions - better to deliver a nice kick. I think I told Jan something like - there´s an alien worm in my stomach - I am clearly very good at this bonding thing.

Windy Freiburg

Jan has been sucked into the student teaching world, so I have my afternoons at the apartment to myself these days. That means that I get sucked into the Internet - but I also get to try baking.

Tonight I am planning on making brownies for one of my classes after a day of much much much improved behavior. (Yes, I resort to bribery) But unsurprisingly my plans are on hold because they sell no peppermint extract or unsweetened chocolate at the supermarket I stopped by. There are surprisingly few baking supplies available in Germany (no brown sugar, no vanilla extract, no corn syrup, etc) at least at the more local chain stores. I will stop by Migros (giant Swiss store in the middle of the city) in hopes that the Information desk will help me out and I will be able to make these brownies tonight. Because they sound sooooooo good.

I would use creme de menthe but these are for my students - better not to give them alcohol regardless how small the quantitiy is. However valium...

In other news the wind is howling and a cold front is coming. Jane - bring your winter coat. Flurries and sub zero temperataures for the foreseeable future await you. Ok - not as bad as Boston, but you actually have to walk around and wait for trains and be outdoors around here :)

Week 31

This is the baby´s head and foot...the baby performed amazing gymnastics the entire ultrasound.



This is my giant stomach on Feb. 7th. No - there definitely are not twins in there. Just one big baby.

So I am 31 weeks pregnant...

As you can see, the baby has grown quite a bit. It weighs in at 1800 grams or 4 pounds and it has another 9 weeks to go. I am hoping that it decides to come a week or two early...towards the beginning of April. I am not sure if it will happen but I will do my best to encourage it.

I had a fairly rough week of work - the kids are restless and don´t do any better with cold, dark weather than the rest of us. We have two more weeks and then a two week vacation, which is entirely bearable. I plan to try to clean - get ready for the baby, do some painting for the baby´s room and maybe the rest of the apartment, and go walking. I spend a lot of time huffing and puffing these days and I pretend that I get enough exercise by walking everywhere and going up and down the 5 flights of stairs at my school - but it prob. isn´t true.

Then after the vacation just four more weeks (maybe) of teaching for me and I get a loooooooong vacation. It will be very nice and I am glad the I will be able to get to know the baby (and still know that I can go back to work in August).

Other goals include cleaning the apartment - after this blog post in fact I will fold clothes, put them away, and then attack the bathroom. (which needs attacking) We had hired somebody to do basic floor and surface washing for us but she has exams she needs to study for - I think we should rehire! Contrary to the blog name, I am not much of a hausfrau and I am constantly exhausted when I am home - not so conducive to cleaning. I am waiting for the nesting adrenaline surge to kick in though and hopefully I will become a cleaning addict for a week or two.

Jan started his student teaching and spent his first week in the school. He likes the other teachers and the students and is having a very positive experience so far. Luckily for him, his school is 5 minutes from our apartment! Not much of a commute, so he has been finished before me most days.

All in all, everything is going well. We are preparing for the birth and look forward to meeting the baby in about 2 months! Wow.

January in Germany

January in Germany (and Switzerland) has been very chilly. Nothing compared to weather in the US, but when you have to walk everywhere and constantly wait for trains, any below freezing temperature is unpleasant. WE also have had a covering of snow on the ground! Just a thin, often slushy layer, but at least it feels AND looks like winter.

The bad news is that I have a sore throat. A VERY sore throat. But otherwise no symptoms. Hopefully it will resolve itself. I am staying in for the rest of today and tomorrow to speed up the healing process. My schedule - which isn´t even that crazy - is enough to keep me on the edge of exhaustion most of the time - so I am evaluating what to do about it. I think after the jet lag is completely gone and I get into more of a rhythm it might be better. On the other hand I have a being inside me stealing my energy stores, so it may get worse.

I went to the doctor yesterday (canceled the appt. for the week before due to severe jet lag / exhaustion). Friday afternoons are for napping! But it was exciting because for the first time I was hooked up to the heart/contraction monitor. One sensor measures the hardness of your stomach and the other attempts to measure the baby´s heart rate. The baby was not cooperating and was more interested in kicking at the sensor, so it was hard to find its heart rate, but it was still really exciting to hear it every now and then.

Other big baby news is that now the doctor says it looks like a boy - but wait - that´s the umbilical cord, so who knows. Very noncommittal doctor. Jan says that he thinks he saw a "sack" but basically we have no idea what gender the baby is. I guess we will find out soon enough - but the suspense is killing me! I think it is prob. worse to want to know and then constantly not be told, then to just wait until the birth to find out.

I will now see the doctor in three weeks and then every other week after that. We are going into the home stretch!

I have developed a huge belly (Mostly due to the delicious American food I ate over Christmas. That´s what I get for feeling like I could eat whatever I wanted for ten days.) and am somewhat in disbelief that it could possibly get any bigger. The doctor basically said, eat more fruits and vegetables, but being in Germany and not in the land of foods I crave but I cannot get most of the time I will not be eating so much. (especially if I stop sneaking Starbucks chai lattes and espresso brownies)

No News!

The bad news is that there is really not any news. No gender identifying happened yesterday, although the lack of certain obvious parts indicate that it probably is a girl. This is exciting - but we are cautioned not to go buy anything pink because the doctor really cannot confirm anything.

We did get to see our not so little baby yesterday. I ate a whole bag of marzipan Kartoffeln before the appointment and the sugar rush worked. The baby was wiggling everywhere. And was not so shy about showing us its bottom - just not really an unrestricted genital view.

To confirm my suspicions that this baby will be LARGE the computer projects a due date of April 7. This does not mean it will come on April 7 - it means the baby is as large as an average size baby would be if it were due on the day. So we are a little over a week ahead of growing schedule.

Now my stomach is very obvious and I am starting to look frumpy no matter what I wear.

I am told that I am looking "puffy" also. Nice.

Here is a picture of me looking frumpy and puffy :) Too early for a face shot.

Thanksgiving and Birthday Week !

So I am a year older and another Thanksgiving fatter.

All in all, it was a nice week. I wanted a quiet Sunday birthday. I am pretty tired these days and need the weekends to recover from the weeks more than usual. So I was settled in for a quiet day when Jan surprised me with visitors - his parents and a few friends came over for the very German birthday tradition of cake eating. To understand why this is a German tradition - the cakes are bought by the birthday celebrant, come from a shop, and resemble fancy pies more than cake. But we had a sour cream cheese version, black forest cake, some yummy mocha flavored cake, and something that was orange which I didn't try.

I also made Funfetti cookies - and managed not to eat the dough! A small miracle.

After the guests left, Jan and I went out for dinner. On the way Jan said he wanted potatoes - I said, no thanks to potatoes.

Somehow we ended up with french fries, a bunch of grilled potatoes, and potato salad. And hummus. A very potatoey dinner.

The most special part of the day was that it snowed! A nice surprise. (last year we only had 1 day of slush in Freiburg) And there were roses blooming - which in fact are still blooming after a week in subzero (celsius) temperatures. Amazing.

Thanksgiving was saved by the fact that last years thanksgiving packet was delayed. (This years finally came today!) I had to work in Basel and work in Freiburg, so I didn´t get home until 7. But Jan and I threw together a feast of homemade pumpkin soup, Daddy´s stuffing, and not so home made corn pudding.

It was delicious!

I have a suspicion that my increased belly size is not only due to the growing baby!

Here is belly shot. (Between week 21 and 22)