Spring is here! And I got a sunburn.

Today was an absolutely gorgeous day. I spent the morning in our room with the windows open while I did some editing and hand sewing. At lunch, Schwiegermutter said she put a lawn chair in the garden for me, and that I should go spend some time outside.

It was absolutely AMAZING!! :) I got a little bit pink. IN MARCH. Crazy world!
First, I watched the neighbor’s chickens.



Then, I read my book for two hours.



The chickens came to me, man they were bold!



After a while, Anton came outside and kept me company.



Fabian came home from the last day of his internship sometime around 3:30p, and we sat outside together for an hour. He even bought orange popsicles for us on his way home. :)

Around 4:30p or so, we went for a short walk and harassed the geese. We didn’t actually do anything to them, but they got super loud and indignant when I got closer to take a picture. These particular geese acted pretty dumb. Birds are so funny!



I just hope that the weather stays gorgeous or gets even better for Sarah and Ted’s visit in three days!
And, I even got to wash the stairs. :)

(This better, Vera? ;-))

Convenience food, flea markets, and cleaning, oh my!

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.

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!

35 weeks + 4 days, but who’s counting?

The other day my Schwiegermutter said that she thinks my belly looks different, and that the baby has started to move lower. At first I wasn’t convinced that anything was different, but then I started thinking about the fact that my heartburn (which had been almost incessant) had been quite a bit better in the last few days. It wasn’t triggered by absolutely everything, and I could actually start sleeping on my side without being propped up for the first time in a month in a half! :D

In other news, I believe I’ve started doing “the waddle”. I’ve gone out with Fabian a few times in the last two weeks, and I’ve noticed that I really can’t walk as fast, and that it’s much more comfortable to walk with my feet farther apart. I saw my reflection when I walked past a shop window yesterday, and I think I look awfully silly. Man alive, I really feel like an 80-year-old woman.

I went to the doctor again today. It was an extra long appointment because I spent a ton of time waiting. I had to give blood twice (once to check my iron and once for final blood tests), and I got to listen to baby’s heartbeat again—it beats so fast and sounds like a horse galloping. :)



It had been a month since I’d had an ultrasound, and I wanted to know how big Baby is. I learned that development is on track for 35-36 weeks, and that the baby weighs 5.5 pounds (2500 g)! I’m not going to lie, I’m pretty happy it’s a relatively tiny baby, and that it probably won’t end up weighing more than 7.5 pounds at birth. Henriette watched the ultrasound with me, and she was so excited! She’s decided that the baby has my hair and my nose. (No actual evidence, but she’s convinced!)

Now, I need to work up some motivation to get the rest of my work done for the day… 

Driving lessons

It’s happening, I must face my arch-nemesis head on. That’s right, Mr. Manual Transmission, you and I have a score to settle.

One of the downsides to living in Grenzhof, a historic farming community of 150-200 people that is now part of Heidelberg, is the absolute lack of transportation connecting the community to the rest of civilization in Heidelberg and Mannheim. Fabian’s parents have cars, and I am welcome to use them, but the trick is that they are both manual-transmission. I learned how to drive in America, the land of the lazy drivers who favor automatic-transmission, and need to get my butt in gear (ha!) to learn how to drive stick.

Saturday, my new friend from the baby class wanted to go to a bakery to hang out, but I had no way to get into Heidelberg because Schwiegermutter was busy entertaining a 9-year-old for the day. Instead, I invited Jackie over to go for a walk in the forest and have tea. She had a car, and was happy to come to visit me for the afternoon.

It was a nice visit, and we had chocolate fondue with my German family and the little girl at 4:00p (which was totally random), but it was quite fun. I felt a little bit funny because it was two of my different worlds colliding together (new English speaking friends that I don’t know very well and my German family), and I wasn’t sure how it would go over. But, everyone had a good time. Fabian's mom and Lilly said we looked cute sitting together with our big bellies.

So, getting back to driving. During dinner that evening, my mother-in-law announced that I must learn how to drive on a manual-transmission car so that I can drive to visit my friend in Heidelberg. Learning to drive stick has been on my radar since I moved to Germany, but I’ve just not been proactive about doing anything about it.

Sunday, after lunch, Fabian's mom announced that she wanted ice cream for dessert, and that I was going to drive to the ice cream shop in Eppelheim to get some. Um…. Eeek! I wasn’t excited about driving (or rather stalling a zillion times) in front of everyone. I can stall when I’m by myself or with Fabian and not get too flustered, but I didn’t want a huge audience. She earnestly assured me that it was much less stressful to learn from a woman than from a man.

It turned out that just Fabian, his mom, and me were going to get ice cream, and we took orders to bring ice back for everyone else. Much to my dismay, before I could sit in the passenger seat, I got re-directed to the drivers seat. I stalled the first time I tried to start, then did relatively okay until I got mixed directions about where to turn and stalled just behind the rail crossing gate as a tram was approaching. I was SO glad I could wait and collect my spaz while the tram passed before I had to try starting again! The rest of the drive was fine with a few stalls when I was leaving the ice cream shop, but overall, not too bad. Not too bad at all.

Later in the evening, Fabian and I went to the swimming pool (yes, I wore my bikini baring my big 8-month belly) and he made me drive home. After spending 10-minutes getting out of the parking lot, I had to face real traffic. The drive from Schwetzingen had a lot more traffic than the drive to and from Eppelheim, and I was terrified of having to stop at red lights and stalling and pissing off the drivers behind me. Fortunately, all the lights were green!! :D The only time I stalled after getting out of the parking lot was when I was parking and didn’t clutch hard enough.

It was an incredibly frustrating, yet rewarding day. Overall, a positive experience. I think my next opportunity to practice will be driving to the doctor on Thursday morning. I’m interested to see how badly parallel parking will be… 

But, you hear that Mr. Manual Transmission?! I will defeat you!!!! The prospect of having a real social life and not being stuck in Grenzhof all the time is just too tempting to let you beat me. Again.

Baby clothes are such a pain to sew.

First, you pin the pattern to the fabric.

Then, you get schooled by your second mom reminding you to leave extra space on the edges.

Then, you pin like a mad woman poking yourself many times.

The jacket gets a fleece lining and pockets!

The finished product (complete with AWESOME pants)!!

Three days of work, but I think it was well worth it! :)

So close…

It’s really hitting me that I’m going to be a MOM in five weeks! It’s been one heck of an adventure being pregnant in Germany, and I think the most challenging part is coming up.
Birth.

Last weekend, Fabian and I went to an English-language birth class. I learned a lot, and I feel a lot less uncertain about what to expect. The only things I know 100% now are that 1) labor is going to be a complete bitch, and 2) it will be over before I know it and I’ll have a new friend. I am also pleased because I met some other English-speaking expectant mothers. We traded contact information, and I’m hoping it’s the start of a baby-network in Heidelberg/Mannheim.

We went to see the hospital (Krankenhaus) yesterday, and I sat through the 45-minute presentation (in German) understanding maybe a third of what was said. Then, we toured the labor ward. It’s a very nice hospital, and looks very home-y and un-hospital-y. There are bath tubs (one for pain relief and aiding contractions, and one for a water birth), big yoga ball things, lots of space to walk around, and a “family room” with a big bed where we can stay during and after the birth. Overall, it is very alternative compared to how I picture most US hospital labor rooms. The hospital has a nice feel to it, and I think it will be a good experience. It’s also cool that midwives instead of doctors are the ones who are in charge of the birth (unless there are complications).

At this particular hospital, they recommend staying there for three nights after the birth in the family room (for a mere 48€/night!). The logic is that in the first three days after birth, your midwife and the pediatrician monitor the baby, and perform the first health checks. If I don’t stay at the hospital, I have to look for a midwife who will come to my house to do the checks. It’s a good idea, and it makes sense that to stay and have the extra support and time to recover, but part of me just doesn’t want to stay. I am just frustrated that everything still feels so far beyond my control. Fabian told me I can’t decide now, and that I have to see how things feel in the moment. He’s right, but it doesn’t make me any less frustrated.

Well, I am off for a morning of crafts and sewing. This week I started making a jacket (Jacke) for the baby. It’s red and yellow, with buttons shaped like chickens! :) Today, my mother-in-law (Schwiegermutter), sister-in-law (Schwägerin), and I are going to Schwiegermutters friend's house to continue making baby-things. Today, I hope to finish the jacket and make a baby Schlafsak, which is a blanket that the baby can wear for sleeping. It’s sort of like a baby sleeping bag.

Bis später!