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)

Has it Been a Month?

18 Weeks Belly



Baby Arm and Leg



Baby Profile


I am amazed that the month of October has passed by. Where did it go???

Well, I was hoping tonight to post the gender of our baby, but according to the doctor, the baby is shy and will reveal its parts when it is good and ready. I was quite frustrated and wanted her to poke at it until it moved into a genital viewing position, but no such luck.

The good news is that the baby is getting very big and actually looks human. Like you can see eyes and a nose and a mouth and feet and little baby hands. It was a bit disconcerting to be carrying around something that looked like a disembodied heart (chicken heart anyone) and then like an alien, so that is reassuring.

I of course forgot my glasses, so it looked like a blurry human to me, but Jan assured me that he saw a beating heart and a stomach as well. The bones show up as bright white - they are starting to harden.

My ´morning´sickness is basically over (despite that one popcorn gorging episode last week) although my sharpened senses do me no good when walking by a man hole connected to the sewage system. I repeatedly tell Jan that somebody has to do something about Freiburg smelling like shit - he does not agree! (By the way Freiburg is lovely and it only smells like shit in some places)

School was delightful for the last two days. I think the Obama high is contagious and somehow has infiltrated even the ranks of the children of Switzerland. At least they all were really excited and wanted to know what I thought about everything. Sometimes it is cool to be an American. I told them that now I would consider moving back to the US. :)

Well the spaghetti for the spaghetti pie is prob cooked so I better go look.

I will attempt to be a more faithful updater!

Home!!

I am home and it is wonderful. I have been really enjoying catching up with my family and doing three of my favorite things: eating, sleeping, and shopping!

Unfortunately I do not have room in my stomach to eat everything I want, but I am doing a pretty good job of packing in the calories. Of course some of them come up again - but hey, that makes more room.

After careful consideration we may have to cancel the scheduled Fajitas and Ritas nacho stop because I think that just may not go over to well on the old stomach.

Yesterday I had quite an adventure buying maternity clothes. I am converted and I think Faith is too. Nice soft stretchy waist bands = heaven. Soft, stretchy materials...so wonderful. They do feel sort of like pajamas - but there is nothing wrong with that.

I felt somewhat like a fraud because I do not have much of an obvious bump - but the amazing thing is when you put on maternity clothes you automatically look 5X larger. Strange phenomenon. It will be wonderful not to have to undo my pants the moment I get home everyday.

Today is the trip to Boston day and I am waiting for my lovely but slow moving sisters to show up so that we can go. And yes - we will be stopping by Bagel World on the way out!

I´m Going to Boston!!!!!!!

Yay!

On Saturday - after watching a very corny German show about a pregnant Brazilian model and her Italian German Searches a Super Star winner husband, I decided to take the plunge and buy a ticket to Boston for my fall break.

This is very exciting because I have not been stateside since Christmas! Too long.

Here are a list of reasons why I am excited to visit my home stomping grounds:

-I was feeling guilty because I told my grandpa I would be there for his 99th birthday party and I thought I couldn´t make it. Now I get to celebrate.

-I want to eat so many things that I cannot eat here - I will be chowing down. The restaurant list: Bertucci´s, Emperors Choice, Fajitas and Ritas, Bear Rock Cafe

The food list: Trader Joe´s everything, in particular French Onion Soup and mini quiches, Mrs. Maughn´s bean dip, lasagna (ok, I could make this here - but this is my mom´s lasagna!), black beans, and maple sugar candy if I can find it!

-Of course to see my wonderful family members, all of whom will be there!!!!

-I get to watch On Demand television endlessly (maybe they will have the whole season of Big Love!!!)

I also plan to go to the mall, go to Barnes and Noble, visit friends, maybe get a haircut, and walk around the lake.

Sounds like heaven to me.

Recovered - Sort of

So my cold was short lived. I did the right thing, took two days off, slept, and Jan made sure that I wore socks the whole time.

But the bad news is that instead of just feeling like I am about to throw up, I am actually throwing up!! Very miserable.

I have a fear that I will throw up at some inopportune time. Like in the train, or in the middle of the crowded train station, or walking down the street. I mean, I am already gagging at these places...

Then I got to thinking about how people would react. It is pretty disgusting to see someone throwing up...

And why do I never see any women randomly throwing up. I mean you would think it would happen.

The mysteries of vomit.

Shaking Hands

So, this year my first cold came two weeks earlier than last year.

A bit of background - I spend my days in schools. First to teach and then to learn. Schools are notorious for being sickness inducing places. So many people! So little hand washing! Such confined quarters! Such horrid air circulation!

I have a suspicion.

In my school, students and teachers shake hands. We shake hands quite often - when I get to a classroom. When the students leave the classroom. I have always found this habit a bit strange - I am not used to shaking hands so much. But if the students want to shake my hand, of course I let them. This is part of our relationship, and in its own way is nice.

However, I am pretty sure that there are many many Germs living on those little student hands. And one of those Germs made its way into my body and is causing a nasty cold.

When I start thinking about where those hands have been, the frequency of supposed hand washing, etc, well, I should not think about this.

P.S.

Thinking about this hand shaking stuff...it is actually quite interesting. Every handshake has a personality. Some are limp wrist-ed, I don´t really mean it hand shakes, some are nice firm confident handshakes, but, shockingly, 1 or 2 having been bone crushing, I am asserting my dominance hand shakes! From my students! My male students! This is not a good sign! Are they doing it on purpose? Is it just an overdone confident handshake? Once I actually had to tug my hand away and yelp because it hurt! Oh, the confusion of what is going on in the brains of adolescent boys. It is a strange and mysterious zone that baffles me every time.