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.