Our Christmas Weekend

Stephen and I had a LOVELY Christmas weekend!

Again, we celebrated this big holiday as a "Just Us" event. So to make it extra special for us (as this may be the first and last "Just Us" Christmas) we booked a hotel in the German Alps.

We left after opening gifts on Christmas morning - which I must say was a blast and we didn't deserve nearly all that we got! We drove for a couple hours and made a stop in Stuttgart where my uncle lives. We stopped for cookies and tea (and a potty break) and then were back on the road again.

About two hours later we began approaching the city of Garmisch-Partenkirschen. Now, up until this point, I was getting quite concerned. All the snow that all of Germany had gotten has suddenly melted or been washed away and the pastures were green again. We decided to head south-east to the mountains for a White Christmas!

Well, as the sun went down and we climbed in altitude, the sputtering rain that seemed to accompany us all day long began to turn into flakes. Soon, we found ourselves thankful for the guy in front of us, because we were now off the main autobahn and on some smaller mountain highways. The snow was now coming down in full force! It fell in clumps the size of my fist! It was BEAUTIFUL! Our White Christmas had arriveds, just in time.

The city is actually located in a valley, so as soon as we started decending, again, the snow turned to rain - but now we knew, there was snow in them-there mountains.

We arrived at our hotel a little before 6pm. We checked into a very comfortable and spacious room, got freshened up and then had dinner in the hotel restaurant. The food was OK. We probably would have found a better experience elsewhere, but we'd had enough adventure for the day.

After dinner, we went back to the room, donned our swimsuits and went to the pool & spa where we were the only two people in the entire place. It was excellent!! The pool was very warm so I grabed a pool-noodle and floated on the serface for about an hour while stephen paddled around and relaxed as well.

The next morning (or more like later that night), I was awake at 4am. Sadly, this is more common now than I'd like it to be. So in an effort not to wake Stephen, I grabbed my book, my computer and my cross-stitch and headed down to the main hall of the hotel. There I grabbed a chair and settled in for the next 3 hours enjoying the quiet. I could tell that I was making the front-desk guy nervous. He kept checking on me (by "casually" walking by the entrance) and ocasionally asked if I needed anything and if anything was wrong. It was very nice of him to be concerned - customer service like this doen't occur frequently in Germany.

Finally, 7am rolled around, and by now most of the hotel day staff were arriving. I, from that moment on, gained a reputation as the insomniac pregnant lady and all the staff treated me with kid-gloves looking for ways to help. Again, super nice and kind, but a little embarassing.

I gently woke Stephen, because now i was bored out of my mind and famished, and we got dressed and ready for our day of mountain adventure. We enjoyed a beautiful spread of breakfast (a bit better than dinner the night before) and then we were off! As we were visiting with my uncle and his wife, they described their favorite way to make it to the Piste of "Zugspitz" (the hightest point in Germany and our host mountain for the day). So, on his advices, we drove to the "Eibsee" lake and took a cable car from the lake to the summet.

Let me also explain that Dec. 26 is the official start of the high-season for Alps skiing. IT WAS PACKED! And not just with people - equipment and cranky children in snowsuits too. And not just skiiers. Snowboarders and sledders were out in force too. We arrived at the cable-car station at about 10am. After a long line, and a 10 or so minute ride, we arrived at the observation station just before noon. Just in time to catch lunch.

After lunch, we spent some time battling the cold and the wind to capture some georgous photos. All of which can be seen on our flicker page here. It simply was breath taking - now I'm certain it was because of the majestic beauty of the place, but did I mention that it was also cold and windy?

Finally, when my lungs were crystalized and our camera had about 3 trillion shots of the mountains from both the German and Austrian sides, I convinced Stephen (with little effort) that it was time to head back to the hotel to warm up.

We caught another cable car back to the orginating station, jumped in the car, turned everythign on high (including the bun warmers) and went back to the hotel. We arrived just in time for the start of "Tea Hour". Now, I've never been to a hotel (Germany or otherwise) that had a tea time, but we did notice that a great number of guests were from the UK. It was quite enjoyable, hot tea, cookies & torts and some more quite snuggle time w/ our books on a leather couch.

Once we were sufficiently tea-ed, we decided it was time to better explore the pool & spa. We started in the pool, floating, relaxing, warming. Then I was curious about the rest of the spa. We were, again, the only people in the spa! So we took a few minutes to check out the resting room, the steam room and the sauna. Never staying very long in any of them as I am unable to do those things right now. Still, we stayed long enough to throughly thaw ourselves and satisfy our curiosity.

We then, at the recommendation of the hotel, made a dinner reservation at a bavarian restaurant/guesthouse. The food was good, the service was OK but it was BUSY and I don't think one customer in there spoke German (mostly Americans) - that is until we were just about through with our meal and our 6 person table seemed more appropriate for 7 people (the 5 Germans that just walked in the door, and me & Stephen). This, too, is quite common for Germans. If seats are open, and your butt needs one, there's no beef in sharing a table w/ strangers.

This did make Stephen a bit uncomfortable, but we didn't have to bare it very long as we were now finished with our meal. We paid our bill, and then went for a stroll in the chilly night air. I had every intention of making it to the end of the street we were visiting (a pedestrian zone with small boutiques selling things like porceline, tea/coffee and other delightfull small things) but as we approched the parking garage where we were parked, I decided that I had again, had enough cold air and that I was ready to head back to the hotel.

The next morning, we had breakfast agian, packed up the room and headed home. We again, met up with my uncle and his wife for lunch in Stuttgart and arrived home on Sunday at dinner time.

Stephen and I had a LOVELY Christmas weekend!

An Uneventful Check-Up & the Thanksgiving Update

We had our 28 week check up today...yup, 7 months! Can you believe it? 7 months have already gone by, just 3 more to go (God willing). Check back early next week for the 7 month baby bump photos.

We didn't get to see much today. It was partly because the ultrasound machine was acting fuzzy and also partly becaus Peanut was wiggly and shy! We were hoping to get a greater than 80% confirmation of his supposed gender, but NO, he just wouldn't show us. Also, we didn't get to see too many new details because he kept squirming around.

When we first started the ultrasound, his head was pointed at 11 o'clock (assuming that you are looking at me standing). Less than 2 minutes in, he has scooted around so his head was at 5 o'clock. And again, just a few min. later (and when the doc finally gave up trying to get him to cooperate) his head was at 3 o'clock.

With all the movement, the doctor had me laying in a couple of positions and kept saying "unbelievable". So, it seems that she was suprised by what a squirmer we have...I'm not quite as suprised. I have the joy of feeling him day in and day out and knew that he was a wiggler...I just didn't know it was so "unbelivable."

We did get some new ultrasound photos to take home, but they're fuzzy and grainy. They don't show much at all. So I'll spare you the task of having to look at them. They'd just be more confusing anyhow. He is now weighing in at over 2 lbs!

We did get a chance to see some clear pictures of his heart and it's beautiful and strong. In an effort to get him to cooperate w/ the scan, the doctor would turn on the doppler (the tool that lets you heat the baby's heart beat). That was excellent to be able to hear so much of his heart beat this time. Our doc doesn't much like to use the doppler because the waves are so strong and can agitate the baby (or the baby's heart rhythm when the fetus is very young). But that was what she was going for today! We got some agitiation all right...just no cooperation to go along with it.

On an unrelated note, Stephen and I enjoyed a very chill Thanksgiving. This year, we didn't go anywhere and we didn't have any guests to entertain. It was just the 2 of us. So instead of going through all the work of preparing the TG meal, we decided to dine at the DFAC (that's army speak for "Dining Facility" otherwise known as the cafeteria).

It was AWESOME!! They served 5 different types of meat and all the sides plus some! No cooking, no cleaning and all for just $7. It was an excellent meal and I'm very glad we decided to do it that way. Stephen's sad that there weren't any leftovers, but it seems like he got over that quickly. Most years, I throw away more leftovers than we eat.

The only thing we would have changed is to have done it with a couple of friends. Since it was just the two of us, conversation was a little slow. Thankfully, for Stephen, CNN was playing just behind me so at least he could catch up on the news. :)

The Christmas tree is up, the house is decorated and we are well on our way to Christmas (notice the fire burning in the "fireplace" aka TV). Almost all the shopping is complete and we've made some plans for our actual Christmas Day festivities. We've decided to go to the mountains!!

For more photos of tree decorating, go here.

We booked a hotel in the German Alps and are hoping for a little snow to go along w/ our storybook hotel. The excellent part is that this hotel is a spa hotel and all their spa services are included in your stay! Sadly, they don't offer massage - which was a total focal point for me as I am unable to use saunas, hot tubs or steam rooms right now. Well watch out indoor pool! Cuz I'm coming for ya!

It's a Boy!

Stephen and I have just returned from our 24 week check up and the doc has given us the news to expect a little boy (with 80% confidence)! Mr. Peanut was positioned with his bottom down in my pelvis so it was hard for her to get a real good look at the evidence – but, she was able to catch a few glimpses and from those glimpses she felt 80% sure that it was a boy. Using my mommy intuition, I’d be happy to call that 90-95% sure. So we celebrated by buying our first pacifier.

Pacifier? Why a pacifier? – well, because all the nuks we have access to, seem to come in 2 color options – white and blue or white and pink. So, we went blue. The doctor specifically said “I wouldn’t go out and buy all boy things yet” so we will wait another 4 weeks for a chance to take another peek. In the end, 100% certainty is only attained after birth. So things could still go either way…but like I said, using mommy intuition, I’m fairly certain that Stephen Jr. (NO THAT IS NOT THE NAME WE’VE CHOSEN) is on his way.

View new ultrasounds here on Flickr

The Volvo Experience

Wow! What a great time!

We've just come back from picking up our brand new, 2010 XC60. It's beautiful! Check out the photos on Flickr.

We started out on Wed (Oct. 28) by leaving Kaiserslautern by train. The train ride took a little over 4 hours and headed north to Kiel, Germany. The ride was nice. I just love traveling by train. You get to see the landscape, you get to see new people coming on and getting off and it's all WAY faster than driving or any other public transit. We cruised (at high speed) through several regions of Germany and enjoyed the beautiful fall foliage and changing landscapes.

Once in Kiel (a port town) we walked out of the train station and walked directly to the harbor. And just after a short walk we came upon a big ship that would be our ferry. We checked in, boarded and settled into our birth and started exploring the ship.

I have to say, I was quite impressed by the birth! I was expecting much less and got so much more. The beds were comforatable, the bathroom was generous (as generous as can be in a ship's birth) and the whole room gave us pleanty of space to spread out w/o tripping over each other.

After a short exploration, we were off to dinner. The buffet was beautiful. Probably not as nice as a true cruise, but pretty darn nice. Lots to choose from! And the dining room had such amazing views. At this point we were still in harbor finishing the load up - yes, we did eat w/ the older crowd, but if we hadn't we would have had to wait until 8pm to have dinner and me and peanut just can't wait that long for a meal!

When we were just about finished eating, the whole room started vibrating. Well, it just so happens that the dining room sits on top of the engines! So there we were, having our dinner digested for us, and watching the cast off process. It was AWESOME!!

By the time we had finished dinner, we had seen the sun go down and Kiel nearly all pass by. So we headed up to the sun decks to take some photos.

By then we had left harbor and were out to sea in the North Sea. The wind was COLD and hard, but it was worth the fresh air and seaspray.

We whiled away the hours before bed just haning out in one of the lounges and watching the night-time scenery pass by.

We finally snuggled into bed to the gentle rocking of the boat. I was expecting to be able to hear the waves and water pass by, but the room was very well sound proofed and we spent the night in near silence. Another surprise, given that the ferry was carrying a good crowd of people.

The next morning, we woke up, showered, dressed and then went topside to take some sunrise photos. The air was even colder and we were now about 2 hours from port in Gothenburg Sweden. After capturing some photos, we headed to the dining room and enjoyed a seaside breakfast. Again, a beautiful spread with much to choose from. We finished watching the sun rise as we ate our eggs and drank our hot chocolate.

By the time we finished breakfast, we were headed back into civilization so we went back up to take more photos, exchanged some Euro for Swedish Kronor and then got ready to disembark. The captain was quite impressive. There were some interesting maneuvers that had to be made to get us into dock and he did it w/o any trouble.

As we exited the ferry, we headed down a long gangplank and found ourselves in Gothenburg. There at the bottom stood a gentleman with a sign with our name on it! I felt so special. Our own chauffeur. We were whisked into a nice looking Volvo and we drove for about 5 minutes to the Volvo business/manufacturing park, which I have deemed “Volvo City”.

This business park had several buildings and all of them were marked “VOLVO” in some way or another. We were dropped off at the visitor center where we were again greeted by name, introduced to our “new car specialist” and given coffee and postcards to write home. The specialist introduced himself, gave us a quick greeting and welcome and then was off to pull our new car into the showroom.

Shortly after we arrived, another American couple arrived. They were in from Oregon to pick up their new car. WOW, now that’s a trek. So, apparently it doesn’t matter where you buy your Volvo, you can always come to the factory visitor center to receive it. They got to drive it for a limited time (2 weeks I think) and then they return it to the factory (or other approved shipping location) where they pack your car up and ship it to your home dealer. Gosh, I’d find that just too frustrating. How long does it take to ship a car? I know when we did it through the Army, it took about 4 weeks. How hard would it be to get a taste of your new car then be without it and waiting for it on the other side?

So the specialist pulled the new car into the showroom and we were introduced to “Kollett” (yes, our new Volvo already has a name, the License Plate was “KL ET ###” so we named her as such.) The specialist showed us most of the bells and whistles and helped us get the settings in place as we like them – not just the seat and searing wheel, but the whole car has settings that have options you can choose from – kind of like your cell phone – choose the look, choose the sounds, and on and on!)

After we were pretty well set with the car, we were allowed to go out to the “test track”. Yes, sounds impressive and exciting, but it was just a quarter mile strip of asphalt in a straight line. But we drove it back and forth to make sure we were comfortable with how things worked (a quarter mile at a time).

After the test drive, we were invited to lunch at the visitor’s center where they fed us Swedish Meatballs – and they were delicious! I loved it, in a time when they could have introduced us to a lesser known Swedish dish, they chose to go traditional and give me exactly what I was hoping to have!

After lunch, we took a whirl-wind tour of the production facility (where we learned that our model was actually created in Belgium) then a visit to the Volvo museum (boring). By then, it was time for us to head back to the ferry and begin our journey back to Germany.
We loaded up onto the boat, this time thru the vehicle ferry entrance, went back to our birth, dropped our things, and went to the sundeck to enjoy the sunset.

The sky was on fire that evening and we got some amazing photos. When we’d had enough wind, we headed to the dining room, had dinner then wasted away the evening and finally tucked ourselves into bed.

The next morning we were determined to capture photos of the sunrise. So we set the alarm extra early, got bundled up and headed topside to get the photos. Sadly, as we approached the doors to go outside, we saw that it was raining – yup, we must have been back in Germany.

It wasn’t raining too hard, so we stuck around to see if we could see anything, but the cloud cover was so thick for as far as you could see that we never saw the sun until 4 pm that day. A few more photos later, we were headed back to breakfast, followed by gathering and cleaning up the room and then over to an observation lounge where we once again watched the docking process. We were dismissed to our cars and eventually, we drove off the boat and back onto German soil.

We drove south starting at 9am. We made a few stops (food, bathroom) and finally made it back home Thursday evening at about 8pm.

It was a great time! Part of me wishes we had stayed a night in Sweden, but at the same time, I was happy for the excellent ferry cruise and the wonderful treatment we received at the Volvo center. I was truly feeling like a VIP by the end of the trip – and the best part was the excellent souvenir we got to bring home.

No new news...

Yesterday we had another ultrasound and got to see things like the feet, that baby's bladder and the hands clasping...but Peanut just wouldn't show us if it was a boy or a girl *Grrrr*.

The baby stayed face down (toward my spine) and legs crossed the entire time. He/She even squirmed away from the doctor several times.

Everything looks healthy, the baby is very active and has a heart rate of 127. The Previa looks to have moved completely in the last 5 weeks so that's even greater news.

We have a few more U/S pictures, but again, it's hard to tell what they are.

Tune back next time for more adventures - the next appointment is Nov. 10.

It's been too long!

It's been just a bit over one month since I posted an update and for that I'm sorry! Things have been quite busy for us here in the Watson Haus.

Since we last checked in with "first baby scare" not too many things have been going on. The baby is doing very well...I think :) and Stephen and I don't have too much to complain about.

Just this past Friday (Oct. 9), I gave my last performance of "Almost, Maine". This play was a lot of fun to do, but I found myself very uninterested in continuing to do the production after 2 weekends (and Friday was the 3rd weekend). It just zapped the energy and excitement from me. I loved seeing the other cast/crew members so often (as many of them are now very good friends) but I just don't have the stamina to work & rehearse all week and perform on the weekends.

The good news is last Friday was actually for competition. Not the whole show went, only select scenes and my scene was one of the ones selected. The awards show is tonight, but I don't plan on attending - so hopefully I'll get some good news regarding awards, if not about myself at least about my show. For photos, click here.

I am now 19 weeks pregnant and am feeling the baby move! I began recognizing it at week 17, but now that I know what it feels like, I know that I was also feeling the baby move as early as week 14. We have a doctor’s appointment on Tuesday and this is the appointment that we could possibly find out the gender of the baby.

YES! We do want to know!! It's driving me batty not knowing. And I'm so honestly confused by the thoughts and intuition that even I can't tell if it's a boy or a girl. Some days, I see the face of an adorable little girl and on these days I crave fruits and sweets. Some days, I hear a little boy "whisper" in my ear and on these days, my attitude is fierce and my skin is dry.

What's a girl to do?! I suppose, I just wait and pray that God gives us a healthy miniature of ourselves. I will certainly post an update if we have any news after Tuesday. And of course, 20 week baby bump photos will be taken on Friday, Oct. 16 (ish). For other baby bump photos, click here.

Monday is a federal holiday!! So let me be the first to wish you "Happy Columbus Day"! Seriously? Who celebrates Columbus Day? How does one celebrate Columbus Day? Is there a special meal? Perhaps a gift? Well, I completely forgot that it was a holiday and scheduled a doctor’s appointment for my stomach as early as possible (no concerns, just routine follow-up). Which, for any other doc appointment, wouldn't be an issue. The problem here, is that the doc is an hour away, the appointment is at 8am and just because I'm having a holiday, that doesn't mean all the Germans trying to commute will.

So despite my having a holiday, I’m still going to have to leave the house at 6:15 a.m. to get to my appointment on time and hope that traffic jams and construction don't hold me longer than 45 minutes. UHG! Usually I'm an early riser...but I like to rise early so that I can go sit and relax or do something fun...not shower and get ready to fight traffic.

The good news about the whole situation is that the appointment is in Mannheim, Germany and this is a FANTASTIC shopping area. So far, I've got Stephen coming with me and maybe we can do some shopping. I'm hoping it'll turn into a delightful day in the city - weather permitting.

I know I mentioned before my vivid dreams. Well, I had a doozie today. This is 99.9% of the reason I woke up at 5 a.m. today. Sadly, this wasn't one of those wonderful, happy, colorful dreams. This one was quite horrific...

I dreamed that I had gotten pregnant while SCUBA diving (yes, that is medically impossible, but it's a dream, just go with me on this). Stephen and I were so happy, because this is what we wanted and found this to be a lucky coincidence.

There was no birthing scene, just suddenly, I had a baby. I use the "baby" term lightly. It looked more like a miniature house elf from the Harry Potter movie. It was clearly evil and as soon as we had it in our hands, it began trying to kill, mame and destroy.

I dropped it and it scurried behind a dresser (the very dresser we plan on using for the baby). In an effort to trap it, Stephen pushed the dresser up against the wall as tight as possible. I then told him to drop the dresser leg on top of the thing to kill it. He did, but it wasn't quite dead. So I got on the dresser and we both continued to drop the furniture onto the thing until pieces of its body began to break off. The pieces still writhed as independent entities.

"Hurry, gather all the pieces and burn it" I said. And as Stephen was wrapping the pieces in white paper, a hand got away, fell off the table he was working on and dropped to the floor. The skin peeled back to reveal a mechanical robotic hand.

The fingers stretched and clawed in an effort to get away, and as this happened, the hand sprouted a new arm, new shoulders, new body, new neck and head. It regenerated into a complete being again.

Before it could regain conciseness, I grabbed it by the neck, turned it face down on the floor, grabbed a HUGE letter opener and began stabbing and cutting the thing. I made extra sure to hit all vital organs beginning with the lungs and heart and concentrating on the brain stem.

As I was slashing and cutting, I found myself very concerned that I was cutting the orange carpeting.

When I felt like I had done a good enough job with the cutting, I took the head into my left hand, twisted it awkwardly (to break the neck) and then ripped the head off. I then continued to dismember the thing and stopped when all the pieces were dead.

I was covered in deep red and blue blood so we decided to go swimming so that I could get cleaned up. Swimming in the exact same place that I became pregnant.

I think that it's quite clear why I couldn't go back to sleep after this.

The most surprising thing is that while I lay in bed, I kept telling myself "remember every detail! Write it down. Don't forget anything." Even though this may have been the most horrific dream I've ever had. The dream was so full of color, commitment, anger, pain, fear and I could actually feel the way the letter opener passed thru the body and organs. It was disgusting and I'm quite surprised by myself and my brain's interpretation of such an act.

Hopefully soon, these images will be replaced by baby duckies and kittens. I don't think I can handle much more of this grotesque abomination.

First Baby Scare

So, Stephen and I had a bit of a scare Sunday night. I was having some slight spotting.

So I of course turned to the very trusty internet to research it and all signs were pointing to "probably nothing to worry about, but contact your doctor". I next called up the insurance company's nurse line. The woman was incompetent, and simply gave me an over the phone computer survey and said "contact your doctor w/in 72 hours". No advice, no explanations, no comforting. So, I called the hospital, told them my symptoms, and they told me to come in so they could take a look.

After about 90 min. in the waiting room, we were seen by a doc (at 9pm). She did an exam and an ultrasound. The baby is fine! Peanut was very active on the monitor but the doc did find that my placenta was covering my cervix (this is a condition called complete placenta previa). She couldn't be certain, but she suspected that this was the reason for the spotting.

I have since, had no additional spotting.

Good news is, this placenta previa happens to a lot of women in the early stages of pregnancy and they "outgrow" it by the time the baby is ready for delivery. I got an appointment this afternoon w/ my usual doc, and she said it wasn't anything to be concerned about at this time, and that as my uterus grows, the placenta will probably migrate away from the cervix. If it doesn't then we'll have to deliver by C-section. Either way, the baby is healthy, strong, active and 4 days ahead of schedule.

We had an extra long ultrasound (u/s) today and get to see a BUNCH of great things (baby's spine, shoulder blade, ribs, legs, brain). But peanut was shy and didn't wave or smile for us and stayed in a head-tucked-down position.

We got 4 new u/s pictures, but let me say, even as the mom of this child, i can't tell a THING from these! They're not very clear and its hard to make out any distinct parts. I'll post them on my flikr but you're probably not going to get much out of them :). This was my first real trans-abdominal (like you see in the movies) u/s. and the baby is now 15 cm, 100g (6 in / 3.5oz) Previous u/s have been trans-vaginal which give a much clearer pic when the baby is so small.

it's still too early to tell the gender, but the doc tried w/ no luck. But we have moved into a new category of measurements. in the first trimester, they measure crown-rump length (from top of head, to the bottom of the hiney) and the head circumference. Today, we had head circumference, crown/rump and now femur length. So, good news is, our baby has legs!! Which we didn't see on the last u/s (doesn't mean they weren't there, we just didn't see them)

Bottom line, baby's healthy, i'm healthy and now we're hoping that in the next 6 mos. i'll "grow out" of my placenta previa.

12 is the Magic Number

I've been counting my blessings since the whole pregnancy journey began. The counting, of course, started with finding out that we were pregnant but I think I really started racking up the blessings when I escaped the dreaded first trimester "morning" sickness. I even enjoyed no more than the usual pre-pregnancy crabass-age (or mood swings if you prefer).

The whole process has been such a breeze that I wouldn't even believe that I was pregnant unless it were for the ultrasound!

Well, as it turns out, 12 is my magic number. On Friday, I entered my 12th week of pregnancy. On Saturday I couldn't find enough food in the house to keep me satisfied. I ate, and ate, and ate and still my stomach rumbled!

Fast forward to today, Tuesday. I woke up this morning at 5am from a vivid dream - ok, so that's one more symptom that I'm suffering from, vivid and memorable dreams. The dream goes a little like this: Stephen and I were in what looked like movie theater seating. My parents were there, my Aunt Amy & Uncle Jim, Cousin DeeDee and Great Aunt Betty. Everybody was hugging and smiling and congratulating us about the baby. But then, Aunt Betty wrapped her arms around me and I just lost it completely. I began SOBBING uncontrollably. No reason, it was a VERY happy dream. But I just couldn't hold it in any more. My dream crying woke me up where I proceeded to be racked with sobbing, for real.

Again, I didn't really have any reason to be so moved! Yes, this process is scary. Yes, I have no idea what I'm doing. But I also have full confidence that I can do it and I have an amazing partner by my side to lean on when ever needed.

So after a few minutes of steeping in my own tear soaked pillow I decided that I needed a change of scenery. Maybe if I got away from "the scene of the crime" I could focus on something else and stop the blasted crying.

So I got up and made myself some Malt-O-Meal for breakfast. I poured the water in the pot, added all the ingredients and as I stirred tears rolled down my cheeks. My lips twisted in grimace. When it was finished, I sat down at the kitchen table and nursed my breakfast while I read a magazine thru bleary eyes and tear stained glasses.

Finally finished with my breakfast and fed up with my behavior, I slipped into some workout clothes and got my heart pumping. Finally, relief! Something else to focus my energy into...for a half hour.

After my work out, it was time to get ready for the day. So I went back into the bedroom where Stephen was groggily wishing the sun wasn't up yet. I sat down and was telling him about my morning (I had been up for about an hour and a half by then). And the damn tears started again.

I thought I was going to be in trouble ALL day long!

Thankfully, I wasn't. As soon as I got to work, my brain locked in on the task at hand and the day went by without so much as a whimper.

But I didn't stay that lucky.

I picked up a few movies from the Library today, so after dinner I popped in "Juno". For those of you who don't know, it's a charming story about a 16 year old girl who gets pregnant. It has just enough humor and happy endings to make it light and easy to swallow. How was I supposed to know that I was going to unintentionally torture myself for the duration?

Well, this may be the most powerful movie I've ever seen (even thought I thought it was too annoying to even get thru the first half hour the first time I tried to watch it a year ago). Or at least that's what you'd think if you had watched me watching this movie. Thankfully, Stephen was at Aikido class and only witnessed the last twenty minutes of me and the movie.

Again! Uncontrollable sobbing, however, this time, the tears were mixed with deep belly laughs. I was completely amazed at myself! I don't crumble like this! I'm a woman in control. But this movie triggered in me some torrent flood of unstoppable erratic emotions and I could do nothing but strap in for the horrific ride.

*sigh*

Now it's 9pm, bedtime. I think I should be able to make it up the stairs and into bed with out slipping in a puddle of my own salty brine.

So, apparently, 12 is MY magic pregnancy number where the symptoms really started to hit hard.

Peanut Watson

Yes, it's true! With God's blessing, Stephen & I will be welcoming the newest generation of the Watson clan in March 2010. We're pregnant!

"Peanut", as we are calling it, is now 10.5 weeks along and we've just come from the doctor's office where we had our 3rd visit and ultrasound.

Everything is going splendidly, and I've had no trouble at all these last several weeks. This includes no morning sickness (knocking on wood)! In fact, things are going so well, Peanut is already 6 days ahead of schedule - that's my little overachiever!

I'm so excited that the ultrasound picture turned out so well. For those of you who need decyphering, in the photo above you can see the baby's head & brain (inside the large black spot, on the left side), the baby's body (almost the same size as the head) and just above the baby's nose, is a little hand with 5 fingers waving hello!

We still don't know the gender (won't know for a good 10 more weeks or so) but we did see the beautiful little heart beating, the umbilical cord pulsing and lots of other interesting things like the brain and an eyeball.

So that's the latest news for us, stay tuned for updates as we branch out on another crazy adventure.

Don't forget to check out the latest photos at http://www.flickr.com/photos/nikkiwatson/sets

Keep us in your thoughts and prayers! And stay in touch.

Totally new car buying experience

Stephen and I committed to our next new vehicle - 2010 Volvo XC60. It was a totally new car buying experience. Our "car salesman" was more like a waiter than a salesman. He took our order! We selected the features and functions that we wanted, he wrote them down and now they're off to the factory for the order to get "cooked up".

We're expecting to be able to take delivery on the new car sometime in November. Oh, and that too will be an experience! Volvo offers several options to pick up your vehicle: 1) from the dealer or 2) from the factory.

We decided that we wanted to take the Volvo Experience and pick up our new car at the factory in Sweden. This option had 2 methods: 1) fly up, drive home or 2) train/ferry up, drive/ferry home.

We decided we wanted to take the ferry option. Apparently this is an overnight party cruise ferry. It leaves from Kiel Germany (WAY up nort') sails thru the night and ports in Gotenberg Sweden.

After we arrive, we'll be able to tour the factory, see the crash test facility and do other Volvo inspired activities before we pick up our new machine. After we pick the car up, we drive back to the ferry, cruise back thru the night and drive home.



We're so very happy with this whole process and can't wait to get our new car. However, in the mean time our BMW is now on the market.

While he's gone

So Stephen has been in the States working for just short of 2 weeks. He'll be home in 4 more days. I've been marveling at how my lifestyle changes the longer he's gone.

At the beginning of his absence I made (from scratch) chicken fried rice - it was fun, relatively easy and delicious! In the middle, I was still cooking/grilling and enjoyed some gourmet spiced turkey sausage. Last night I think I may have hit a low...pan fried spam and instant mashed potatoes. Well, I thought so, until I was at the check-out at the grocery store today.

My cart included: Cat food, wheat thins, fresh fruit, pimento spread, a frozen turkey dinner and a Twinkie. I started to laugh at myself. It was the perfect confluence of crazy cat lady and "table for one".

"Oh, common" you say, "how in the world does your cart say 'crazy cat lady'". Well...I had cat food...60 cans of various flavors. Which roughly equates to half a metric ton of cat food. Cat Food + frozen dinner = lonely woman* w/ cats :D

Stephen better get home soon...I'm not sure where this downward spiral will take me ;P



*Don't worry, I'm not actually lonely. I've got 3 cats!

When in Rome...

...Do as the Romans!


And we sure tried!!


Stephen, Mom, Dad and I took a little weekend trip to Rome, Italy (July 3-6, 2009). We spent 4 days in the bustling cradle of civilization and took in all the sights we could.


We arrived after midnight on Thursday night. I had specifically chosen the hotel for its location. It was just 2 blocks from the train station where our shuttle would be dropping us off. The unfortunate part was I wasn't sure which 2 blocks away it was.


We set out with a hunch and about half an hr later we found the hotel. The neighborhood was quite sketchy. Homeless people, marauding hooligans...but no one bothered us. We asked about 9 people where our hotel was and they just kept saying "Keep going, straight ahead"...or some version of that.


On Friday, we did the Vatican museum and St. Peter's Square. We had our first gelati and dined in a great family restaurant not far from our hotel. It was also our first taxi experience. If you've never been to Rome, then there's no way you'd know that traffic is the most insane in the world...yea, yea, yea... you can say "sure, but you don't drive in (fill in the blank - D.C., Atlanta, Chicago). To that I say bulls***t! This is the most insane traffic in the world!!!


Cars are double and triple parked on two way streets with buses and semi's not making any attempt to slow down. Lines are on the roads, but within city limits, they mean very little. Passing is the fine art of the mentally instable. Scooters passed on the left while trucks blazed thru on the right. Oncoming traffic? No problem, they'll have to slow down or stop to get out of my way! Pedestrians have the right away...unless the car you're in can drive faster than they run into the street.


Thou Shalt Not Drive In Rome - Leave it to the professionals...and buckle up, just in case.


On Saturday, we did the Coliseum and finished the day in the most expensive and luxurious restaurant I've ever been in. The meal was an EXPERIENCE. This four course meal included appetizers, pasta, beef main dish and dessert. The walls were lined with autographed photos of celebrities from the past and present. The Restaurant had been in existence for over 100 years!


On Sunday, we went to the beach. We took the urban train out of the city center all the way to the Mediterranean coast and spent a couple hours resting on the beach and exploring the area known as Ostia. We then finished the day with a bit of comfort food...McDonald's. We just couldn't eat any more pasta. Pasta is eaten at every meal (except breakfast, but I'm sure we could have gotten it). Don't get me wrong, it was the best pasta I'd ever had. But one can only take in so many carbs and rich sauces.


On Monday we each went our separate ways. Mom & Dad did a Hop-on/Hop-off bus tour and hit all the major sites. Stephen and I headed back to St. Paul's to get photos from the inside of the Basilica then enjoyed a stroll from the Spanish steps (with all the amazing high end designer shopping), thru Piazza Republica (beautiful fountain & national museum), past the main train station and then back to the hotel where we waited to meet up with mom & dad to head back to Germany.


The weather was excellent! The only complaint was that it was so darn HOT. It was in the mid 90's every day. Not a cloud in the sky. Thankfully I brought my sun hat and spent as much time as I could under my hat or jumping from shady spot to shady spot. No one got sunburned...oh, well, except for dad on beach day, but it was very mild and he was recovered by the next morning.


The trip was just the right amount of time. Four days is just enough to get sick of the hectic traffic and strange food. I was very happy to return to the rainy, cold climate of south-west Germany but more importantly, my bed.


New photos have been posted. Check them out at http://www.flickr.com/photos/nikkiwatson/

First Open Water SCUBA Dive

We did it! We had our first 3 open water SCUBA dives on May 1. The weather was beautiful, the water was cold and we had a good time.Take a look at the photos: http://www.flickr.com/people/nikkiwatson/

We drove to Waldsee, Germany (about 45 min from Ktown) and we unloaded all the gear. There was a group of about 9 of us (7 students, 2 instructors). Stephen and I were the only Americans.

After unpacking and scoping out the lake, we suited up (quite a labor intensive process). We were both sweating by the time we had all the gear on and were looking forward to the cold water.

We waddled down to the lake (because the wetsuits are VERY tight and the gear weighs about 45-50 lbs) and walked in. Our instructor gave us a few more instructions and then we descended to 5 meters (15 feet).

Yes, the water was COLD, but surprisingly, only my face got a little chilly and after that went numb, it was all quite comfortable.

I had a bit of trouble getting orientated as visibility was still poor (about 3-4 feet) and I was scared (as one should be!). But the instructor took my hand and we dove for about 25 minutes. I soon settled in to the sensations and got more comfortable around the 7-10 min mark. When we surfaced, we were about 1/2 a mile from our start point.

At the surface we got some more instructions for our next "assignment" and made our 2nd dive. This one went even better. No hand holding this time. Stephen and I did some underwater skills and then made our way back to our original starting point.

We made our way out onto the beach and back up to our rest area, took everything off, and spread out in the sun to enjoy our picnic lunch while the rest of the students went our with the instructors.

At about 2 p.m. we made our third dive which went even better. We were on the road by 4 p.m. and back home about 6pm. We both got a bit of sun and we both slept VERY well.We have two more dives scheduled for Sunday and then we will be certified!

Common' Baby Light My Fire

I just lit the water heater!

I was doing some dishes and noticed that the water was just not getting warm. So, my first thought was "oh, shit, now what", then I thought "oh nevermind, it'll fix its self" and then I was like "OH NO YOU DIDN"T" and I went to the basement to investigate.
First I checked the gas gauge, to see if it was moving - it wasn't (Humm...did we pay our gas bill). Then as I was fiddling w/ gas levers to see if it would change anything, the furnace kicked on - OK, we paid our gas bill! Well, since that was burning, I decided to turn off the lights and see if I could see a pilot light on the water heater. Low and behold, there wasn't one. So I grabbed a screw driver, opened the access panel and stared blankly at the guts.

I've never seen a water heater's insides before.this just isn't a common sense skill for me. So I naturally turned to the directions posted directly above the access panel - Damn it! They’re in German...and not just "Hallo, wie geht's" German. No, it's technical, mechanical; don't blow yourself up, German. UGH! I must have missed that day in German class.
Well, I read what I can (mostly conjunctions and pronouns - not very helpful) and I try to follow the 1, 2, 3 instructions.....
Now, I’m not sure if these are the 1, 2, 3 instructions on how to light the pilot or how to initiate E.T. first contact.

I lucked out! I turned knobs, I pushed buttons, and I didn't end up w/ 2nd degree burns on my arms or ankles! Now I should have hot water in 20 min. or so.
The mystery remains thought, how'd it go out in the first place?

A Day Off

I TOTALLY took a day off today! I'm so happy I did. Work has a way of getting to you somtimes so I decided to take the day off, burn some of that precious and hard to come by leave/vacation time.

What did I do today? Well, first I did some paperwork (that took me till 1130) then I had lunch with my husband. After that, I headed out to the "Walmart" type store in our area and, NO LIE, bought over $200 in wine!!! Oh, it was FUN. Stephen and I have a wine cellar in our house, so at every opportunity, we buy wine to fill it up (and of course to taste).

After the wine, I bought SHOES! Yes, my knees are shaking, it's been a AWERSOME day.

I think it was an excellent use of vacation time. Now...if I can just get my husband to take me out for dinner.