It’s been quite an exhausting week. A good week, but exhausting. I got to try German convenience food, went to a flea market, went on a mass cleaning spree, and gained almost 5 pounds.
First, German convenience food:
We were looking for something to make for lunch, and Fabian returned from the basement with a box of Mirácoli. Mirácoli is essentially spaghetti in a box. This particular package was even whole grain! A box of Mirácoli includes a package of short spaghetti, and packages of tomato paste, seasonings and some cheese that wants to be parmesan.
Next, the flea market:
When we were at the birth class, the midwife mentioned that there are lots of flea markets (Flohmärkte, plural) where we can find used baby things. The day I visited with Jackie, she mentioned how much she’d love to find one, so I did! Fabian and I met Jackie and her husband at the flea market in Eppelheim on Saturday afternoon.
The flea market was in the gym of a school (or a place that was school-like), and it felt like walking into the biggest garage sale of the century. The whole place was completely chaotic, over crowded, and full of strollers and small children. We walked through the market once just to see what was what, and then we did a second mini-walk through after seeing places to look at a second time.
Fabian and I didn’t buy anything, but Jackie found four onesies for 8€, which was a total steal! (When I was shopping for newborn sized baby clothes with my Schwiegermutter, the onesies ranged from 4-20€. Yikes!) After she had what she came for, we bought snacks and sat outside for a little while to chat.
The flea market was kind of cool, and I imagine we we will go back sometime. It was just totally overwhelming, especially when we don’t know what we really need.
Writing about the flea market made me remember the trip to Baby1 with Fabian the day before we went to the flea market. We had a vague idea of things we needed, and I had a list, so we went to the baby store to find things.
Genius here forgot the list at home, and we were stuck wandering around while trying to remember what was on the list. I knew we needed to look at bassinets (Fabian’s mom wanted to buy it because she is planning on having 16 grandchildren and wanted to have it for all of her kids to use), bedding, an infant bath tub, and a cushion for the diaper table (Wickeltisch).
Poor Fabian was completely overwhelmed. We looked at bedding and found some sheets in green and yellow. Then we looked at the bassinets decided one we thought we liked, realized that it came with the bedding (one had the most atrocious orange bedding, I feel bad for the baby who has to sleep there!), so we put the things we picked out back.
Next stop was the baby bath tubs. I don’t know if German babies are usually gigantic, but all of the baby bath tubs we saw were about 1/3 of the size of a normal bath tub. That’s WAY bigger than I recall infant bath tubs from my childhood in the US! So, we didn’t get an infant bath tub. We’re probably going to use the sink, at least the first few times.
The bath tubs were conveniently located next to the diaper changing tables. Well, we couldn’t get a cushion because we didn’t know the right size. We’ve got a make-shift changing table that Fabian’s dad built when Fabian was a baby and it isn’t a “standard size”. We called his dad to ask about the measurements, and he said he had no idea about the size, and we should wait to buy something until we could measure the table. UGH.
When this shopping trip was all said and done, we walked out of there with three things: a bucket with a lid that will do as an improvised diaper pail, some leaky-boob pads for when I’m breastfeeding, and a waterproof mattress cover.
Best shopping trip ever. Ha.
I started getting the cleaning urges this week. My first project was to clean the bathroom! We share a bathroom with Fabian’s brother, and I don’t think the bathroom has had a really good cleaning since May last year, the first time I came to Heidelberg.
Fabian wouldn’t let me clean the shower and tried to prevent me from doing work that required lots of bending. I was on sink duty. When we were done, the bathroom looked beautiful – all the empty bottles were out of the shower and off the sink, and it smelled nice, and sparkled. All we needed to do was wash the floor, but it had to wait for another day.
I ambushed Fabian after dinner the next day to take the vacuum upstairs (because I’m not allowed to carry it) to vacuum the bathroom floor and the stairs leading up to our room. After the dust bunnies were captured Fabian started mopping the floor, but he really hates mopping and let me do it. (Hooray!)
I’ve been eyeballing the stairs to the second floor (European first floor) as my next cleaning project, but work has gotten in the way and I haven’t been able to do it. Yet. ;)
I had my 36 1/2 week appointment at the doctor today. I was completely SHOCKED to learn that I’ve gained almost 5 pounds! In one week! I am pretty sure (and hopeful) that it is just water weight. At least that would make sense considering how swollen my lower legs and hands have gotten. My wedding ring leaves marks on my finger and is hard to take off when I want to put lotion on my hands, my ankles have been replaced by tennis balls, and my toes look like cocktail sausages.
I’ve definitely been feeling more like a crazy pregnant lady these days. My moods are up and down, I’m crying or crabby for no reason, and my body is just DONE with the pregnancy. Come on little baby, we really want to meet you! Pronto!
This weekend is full of fun activities like shopping to stock up the changing table, I get a manicure and pedicure, AND we get a virtual baby shower! I’m really excited to see my family and friends on Sunday afternoon. :)
And next week? My sister and her husband are coming to visit!!! I can’t say how incredibly excited I am about visiting with my sister and getting to share the tail end of my pregnancy with someone in my family. I’m looking forward to the funny awkward belly rubs and letting her feel it when it’s kicking.
It’s dinner time now, so I must sign off. More later!
First, German convenience food:
We were looking for something to make for lunch, and Fabian returned from the basement with a box of Mirácoli. Mirácoli is essentially spaghetti in a box. This particular package was even whole grain! A box of Mirácoli includes a package of short spaghetti, and packages of tomato paste, seasonings and some cheese that wants to be parmesan.
The sauce was fun to make, just like with American Kraft Mac n’ Cheese! You empty the packet of tomato paste into a pot, then fill the packet up with water to add to the paste. Then, you mix it with the spices, and make it warm. The sauce looked totally disgusting, but at least it was a natural color – not like the beloved florescent fake yellow cheese in a box like I grew up with.
Next, the flea market:
When we were at the birth class, the midwife mentioned that there are lots of flea markets (Flohmärkte, plural) where we can find used baby things. The day I visited with Jackie, she mentioned how much she’d love to find one, so I did! Fabian and I met Jackie and her husband at the flea market in Eppelheim on Saturday afternoon.
The flea market was in the gym of a school (or a place that was school-like), and it felt like walking into the biggest garage sale of the century. The whole place was completely chaotic, over crowded, and full of strollers and small children. We walked through the market once just to see what was what, and then we did a second mini-walk through after seeing places to look at a second time.
Fabian and I didn’t buy anything, but Jackie found four onesies for 8€, which was a total steal! (When I was shopping for newborn sized baby clothes with my Schwiegermutter, the onesies ranged from 4-20€. Yikes!) After she had what she came for, we bought snacks and sat outside for a little while to chat.
The flea market was kind of cool, and I imagine we we will go back sometime. It was just totally overwhelming, especially when we don’t know what we really need.
Writing about the flea market made me remember the trip to Baby1 with Fabian the day before we went to the flea market. We had a vague idea of things we needed, and I had a list, so we went to the baby store to find things.
Genius here forgot the list at home, and we were stuck wandering around while trying to remember what was on the list. I knew we needed to look at bassinets (Fabian’s mom wanted to buy it because she is planning on having 16 grandchildren and wanted to have it for all of her kids to use), bedding, an infant bath tub, and a cushion for the diaper table (Wickeltisch).
Poor Fabian was completely overwhelmed. We looked at bedding and found some sheets in green and yellow. Then we looked at the bassinets decided one we thought we liked, realized that it came with the bedding (one had the most atrocious orange bedding, I feel bad for the baby who has to sleep there!), so we put the things we picked out back.
Next stop was the baby bath tubs. I don’t know if German babies are usually gigantic, but all of the baby bath tubs we saw were about 1/3 of the size of a normal bath tub. That’s WAY bigger than I recall infant bath tubs from my childhood in the US! So, we didn’t get an infant bath tub. We’re probably going to use the sink, at least the first few times.
The bath tubs were conveniently located next to the diaper changing tables. Well, we couldn’t get a cushion because we didn’t know the right size. We’ve got a make-shift changing table that Fabian’s dad built when Fabian was a baby and it isn’t a “standard size”. We called his dad to ask about the measurements, and he said he had no idea about the size, and we should wait to buy something until we could measure the table. UGH.
When this shopping trip was all said and done, we walked out of there with three things: a bucket with a lid that will do as an improvised diaper pail, some leaky-boob pads for when I’m breastfeeding, and a waterproof mattress cover.
Best shopping trip ever. Ha.
I started getting the cleaning urges this week. My first project was to clean the bathroom! We share a bathroom with Fabian’s brother, and I don’t think the bathroom has had a really good cleaning since May last year, the first time I came to Heidelberg.
Fabian wouldn’t let me clean the shower and tried to prevent me from doing work that required lots of bending. I was on sink duty. When we were done, the bathroom looked beautiful – all the empty bottles were out of the shower and off the sink, and it smelled nice, and sparkled. All we needed to do was wash the floor, but it had to wait for another day.
I ambushed Fabian after dinner the next day to take the vacuum upstairs (because I’m not allowed to carry it) to vacuum the bathroom floor and the stairs leading up to our room. After the dust bunnies were captured Fabian started mopping the floor, but he really hates mopping and let me do it. (Hooray!)
I’ve been eyeballing the stairs to the second floor (European first floor) as my next cleaning project, but work has gotten in the way and I haven’t been able to do it. Yet. ;)
I had my 36 1/2 week appointment at the doctor today. I was completely SHOCKED to learn that I’ve gained almost 5 pounds! In one week! I am pretty sure (and hopeful) that it is just water weight. At least that would make sense considering how swollen my lower legs and hands have gotten. My wedding ring leaves marks on my finger and is hard to take off when I want to put lotion on my hands, my ankles have been replaced by tennis balls, and my toes look like cocktail sausages.
I’ve definitely been feeling more like a crazy pregnant lady these days. My moods are up and down, I’m crying or crabby for no reason, and my body is just DONE with the pregnancy. Come on little baby, we really want to meet you! Pronto!
This weekend is full of fun activities like shopping to stock up the changing table, I get a manicure and pedicure, AND we get a virtual baby shower! I’m really excited to see my family and friends on Sunday afternoon. :)
And next week? My sister and her husband are coming to visit!!! I can’t say how incredibly excited I am about visiting with my sister and getting to share the tail end of my pregnancy with someone in my family. I’m looking forward to the funny awkward belly rubs and letting her feel it when it’s kicking.
It’s dinner time now, so I must sign off. More later!
More pictures, please!
ReplyDeletesupporters from Hungary
Boy, now I really wish you were here so you could take your cleaning urges out on my house! :)
ReplyDeleteRemembering baby days of Betty and esp. Kathy, because she was "my" baby... blankets/folded sheets work on the changing table. (Your aunts used the kitchen table or bed; no changing table.) You definitely need a large diaper pail with a tight-fitting lid and spot for a deodorizer. Should have a handle. Little babies go through a diaper every two hours, and more if they get diarrhea. Put something in the sink so the baby isn't directly on the cold surface.
ReplyDelete