Ready, set...Please let me go into labor soon

Granted, I am only 36 weeks and 4 days along, but I've had enough. Everything is stiff or swollen or sore, and dealing with Zach-man is a whole other story. At my doctor's appointment a week ago I was two centimeters dilated, which really doesn't mean a lot, but it gives me hope that I won't go to 40 or 41 weeks. We'll see what my progress is next Monday.


We are quite ready for this baby in all sorts of ways other than my discomfort:

We've been completely packed for at least a couple weeks now. Even stuff for Zach in case he has to go to the sitter's house. Depending on the situation, a coworker of Frank's may come to our house or Zach may end up going to his. We did a trial run of him staying with this family for a long day and all went smoothly.


Over the last few weeks we have stocked the pantry, fridge and freezer to completely full. If baby doesn't come before this weekend we'll be hitting the commissary again. I don't know if frozen pizzas and taquitos are what others have in mind when they advise expecting moms to make meals ahead to freeze, but they're staples around here.

We've set up downstairs accommodations for napping and diaper changing. Baby will be sleeping in our room in our other pack-n-play, and our plans (for now, at least) are to move Zach out of the crib in a few months.

Clothes are washed and sorted by size.

I've even worked on the quilt a bit more. It's coming along, but at this point I don't know if I feel up to getting it back out.

I don't know if this exactly qualifies as baby preparations, but Frank's decided on a new car and we finally did a test drive. It's the Volvo XC60, and all that's left to do is for him to decide on options and place the order. It'll take a few months to come in, but I'm glad we are getting all the details settled before baby comes.

A gift for the big brother-to-be

We'd been thinking about making this purchase for a while...

He loves all the little tikes cars/tractors/bikes at playgroup, so we decided to get him one of his own. He can reach the pedals but can't quite work them yet, so the push handle is still a must.

It has been in the upper 60's/low 70's lately, and hopefully it stays there...it is good biking and walking weather. Check out Zach in action!

At 21 months

Zachary has got quite a personality! Some of the stuff he's doing now:

The answer to every question is "no," even if he means "yes." We are trying to teach him to say "yes," but it's hard not to laugh every time because his "noooooo..." is high-pitched and really cute. We'll have to try to get that one on video.

He loves getting dressed, especially putting on shoes. If we leave any dirty clothes downstairs he finds them as soon as we come down in the morning and wants to put them on immediately. I guess we've let him run around the house in just a shirt and diaper too much, because now he thinks that if he gets dressed it means we are going outside or in the car, which he is very excited to do.

He enjoys walking around in our shoes, and goes for them whenever we take them off. Maybe I'll post that video next...

He says "hi" and "bye" and waves all the time now. I know it's a highlight for Frank when Zach runs to the window and waves "hi" to him as he pulls into the driveway after work. Also cute is when he says "bye" to the TV when one of his favorite shows ends, or when I leave the room and he tells me "hi" when I come back :)

When I am making him food, he wants to be the one to get the fork or "poon" out of the drawer. He can feed himself some things, some of the time.

He is just starting to say ABCs and count with us. Another thing we need to record. Actual letters and numbers are hard to understand, but he's got the rhythm more than anything, including "en-ne-nen-oh-pee." Oh, and I'm not sure if he's still doing it, but for a few days there he was saying "double-u" almost perfectly. It was weird.

He likes to "play" the video game and on the computer with Frank, though most of the time he sneaks in the office when I'm not looking to climb into Frank's chair and mess with the mouse and keyboard. Luckily the computers are usually off.

I'm trying to ignore all the little tantrums he's been having the past couple of months, and I think it's been working out OK. Hopefully he's learning that naptime is non-negotiable, he must hold my hand if we are walking down the street, and that food will not heat up any faster in the microwave if he screams at it and throws himself on the floor.

Enjoy the video of our silly little monkey!

Lately

Here's what we've been up to lately...

32 weeks, 2 days, & counting
These are my 30, 31, and 32-week photos. You could guess that I am getting more and more uncomfortable, and you'd be right! We took some where I am holding up my shirt, but why scare anyone? I did get to this point with Zachary, with the belly sticking straight out, but it didn't last too long before he was born. If I really have two more months left with this one I'm doomed!

Nowadays:

*My feet are swollen by the end of the day most of the time.

*Between what I use to make my instant coffee, what I wash down my cake and cookie desserts with, and just other general cravings, I am consuming at least a quart of milk a day. I have always liked milk, but this is getting a little ridiculous. No wonder the baby is able to kick me so hard.

*We are still completely undecided on a name. Well, I guess we have a first name that we kind of like, but can't decide what would go with it. Can both your kids have the same middle name?
*I have started on a baby quilt, but have no real hopes of getting it completely finished before the birth. I figure I have time, considering that Zach hasn't even realized that I made him one.

*I am almost completely packed for the hospital.

*Zach is binky and bottle-free for now. A couple weeks so far with no bottles and a few days of not using pacifiers as usual at nap and bedtime, and I don't think he's even noticed. We'll see what happens when the new baby starts using them.

*It's taken me a couple days to finish this post, and I've completely lost my train of thought. I guess that is par for the course.

Abby came to town

We mostly just lounged around the house, which is something I'm really good at these days. We did go out once to hit the touristy stuff downtown and also visit the Magritte Museum. I don't think I am much into Surrealist art, but it was one of the things on Abby's list so we were happy to include it in our outing. It was nice to have another person around to entertain Zach while I rested, and also just nice to catch up. We even worked on some crafts together; she brought some sewing projects with her, so that prompted me to work on the baby quilt some more.

Zach and Daddy time

By the time Frank gets home from work I am pretty exhausted. I tend to put my feet up and let him fix dinner, do the dishes, and play with Zach. I do realize how lucky I am!

Dear Friends

To Abby and Loic:
Thank you for such a great tour of your city.

I knew we were going to have a marvelous weekend when we could see the Eiffel Tower as soon as we got off the Metro...talk about LOCATION! Barb and Ron could even see the top of it from their hotel room.


We purposely booked a hotel close to you guys, and it was a good call. We enjoyed being able to go to your apartment, and I can't even say enough about the great bakeries and the Starbucks right down the street.


The boat tour was another great idea, and was unbelievably convenient. Like a water taxi taking you to all the best locations! Loic was the ultimate tour guide. Did he really get off the boat a stop early so he could run to the bridge and wave to us? He did, indeed--a great memory that I'm glad I caught with the camera.

Thank you, Abby, for trying to help us distract Zach from his tantrum at the Musee d'Orsay. And thank you, Loic, for escorting Frank and Zach back to the hotel when it didn't work. Ahhh...sightseeing with a toddler!

We are so glad to have been able to see so many of the places that make Paris beautiful, even with all the crowds.

Notre Dame:

Musee d'Louvre, and the view of the obelisk and Arc de Triomphe from the Louvre:

Arc de Triomphe from Avenue des Champs-Elysees:

The Eiffel Tower and Trocadero Fountains:

Yes, we are lucky to have such dear friends live so close to us during our time here in Europe. And pretty darn convenient!

We had to say "Au revoir," but we will see you again soon!

A whirlwind tour of Dresden and other places

OK, so much for me trying to limit the photos on this one. They just tell the story so much better, especially considering my limited time to compose these posts. Believe me, it was difficult to even narrow them down to these 30 or so.

What can I say about our train travels through Germany? Well, each direction involved four different trains (not to mention a tram and two metro lines on the Brussels end) and took about 12 hours. The trains were all pretty nice, and in one we got a cozy little 4-seat section with a closing door. Perfect for Zach! Some had restaurant cars where we went to eat, and some just had snack bars, but overall we were pretty comfortable. I'm not sure how the train passes would've compared to plane tickets, but at least we didn't have to drive. Zach did manage to get in a nap on our travel days, but by the end of the trips he got understandably cranky.


Our German relatives (related to Ron, for those of you who haven't heard the whole story) live in Elstra, Germany, and we stayed at a bed and breakfast in the next little town, literally right down the street. It was a charming place, and ended up costing us less than we'd imagined. It was a good deal indeed, considering the many meals we ate there. There is a courtyard with a beautiful country view (farm animals included) that Zach absolutely adored running rampant in. I'm not sure if our relatives knew the owners personally before setting up the arrangements, but I enjoyed staying in a place where everyone seemed to know each other. It made it slightly easier to communicate, considering that for the most part the Germans don't know English and we don't know German.


We had a very nice room with our own bathroom.

The owner, Rosie, would tell us each evening what time she would serve breakfast, and we all met downstairs. It was delicious and one of my favorite parts of the trip.

We all had dinner at the bed and breakfast a couple of the evenings, in the room on the other side of the courtyard. That's where we filmed Zach's little dancing video :)

One of the days we visited a place called the Spreewald (another link here). We had no idea what to expect, but what we got was a boat ride through the canals of the Spree river, with stops at pickle stands and an old village to explore.

At the end of the tour we stopped for some food in a little area with shops (pic of Frank with the bratworst I previously posted). Ron had an electronic translator that was fun to sit around and play with.

Another day we traveled to Dresden. By train it was about half an hour.

Again, I had no idea what to expect to see, though I'd heard that Dresden was full of beauty. The Zwinger was no exception, and this photo really doesn't do it justice! We basically only walked through, stopping to snap a few pictures and enjoy the fountains, but I believe that the buildings are art galleries.

The first of two gorgeous churches we visited, the Hofkirche is the Catholic church:

And the Frauenkirche is the Lutheran church:

We decided to take the elevator up to the cupola, though we didn't know/realize that the elevator ride was very short. Going to the top involved walking most of the way up via a ramp, then some steps. And coming back down there was no elevator! I had to take it slowly.

But we enjoyed the views from the top :)

On our final day we were taken to Saurier Park. Zach enjoyed it well enough, though most of the stuff was for older kids: climbing, digging in sand, etc. I'm not sure he associated the dinosaurs with his favorite book Dinosaurs, Dinosaurs, but I think he got a kick out of seeing the big figures.

That evening we got some much needed relaxation at a family BBQ. It was a lot of fun for Zach to slide and run around, and a relief for us trying to keep him happy, which you can imagine was not so easy during all of our outings. And the food was excellent! It was a great end to our visit.

We just want to say "Danke!" to all the Germans for planning a great tour for us!