Trip to Munich-WOW!!!

We drove to Munich on Friday and stayed until Sunday. It was a short trip so we walked around town a little but didn't get a chance to see everything that we wanted to. Munich has a lot to see so we will come back in the spring. 

But I have to tell you three things that happened to us. It might turn into a long post, but trust me. It is worth reading:

1. I found a restaurant we wanted to go to that was on a busy shopping street. The restaurant opened at 6pm and we were a little early. The front portion of the restaurant was a beer hall and there was a FC Bayern Munich soccer match on TV. I bet you get the picture...

Since we were early we stood in front of the beer hall for a few minutes, when a young guy and a girl came outside to smoke. They were close to us so I immediately moved because I don't like the smoke. After a minute or two, the guy approached Brian and asked if he could ask Brian a question. Brian said: "Sure". So he did: "How do you feel about the word N*****?" I censored it, but the guy said out loud the entire word. 

I was stunned and don't remember Brian's answer because all I was thinking about was coming up to him and asking him: "How do you feel about being called ignorant? Since you are?" 

Brian kept his cool a lot better than that and got into a conversation with him and unfortunately, the guy was sincerely interested in Brian's feelings about being called a N. and continued dropping the word like they were just good friends talking about last night's basketball game. 4 minutes later Brian excused himself and we went to eat. WOW!

2. The next day we went to an archeological museum of people and things. It was a Sunday and a we were walking along a quiet side street with nobody else on the sidewalk. Next I know, there is a guy on his bike coming towards us and as he passes us, he raises his hand, waves and yells: "Heeeeeeey, Jay-Z!

I told him it was because the guy saw Beyonce and assumed Jay-Z was with her, but Brian didn't seem to buy that story.

So within 24 hours Brian went from a N..... to Jay-Z...WOW!

3. We almost got crushed by a streetcar! We were on a crazy intersection that had a left turn that crossed over a tram line (nothing unusual) and that is the lane we were waiting in. As our light turned green, so did the light for the cars on our right who were going straight into the same street as we were turning into. There were many cars turning so we turned and the street got congested to the point where we ended up on the tram tracks. Lo and behold, here comes a tram coming onto my side of the car and I calmly told Brian that there is a tram on my right coming on. Luckily, the driver must know the intersection because she was going slow and starting breaking when she saw us. The cars ahead moved and finally so did we. Poor Brian apologized and apologized, saying mine and our son's lives flashed in front of his eyes, but it was not his fault. 

There was nothing he did wrong and he kept his cool amazingly well. ..WOW and WHEW!

I will sort through our pictures tonight and post them so that you can see a little bit of our adventure.

A true member of Brian's family

Our baby will no doubt be a part of Brian's side of thefamily.
When the rest of the world is settling in for a good night's sleep, they get full of energy and get to work.
 Brian puts in a movie at 10pm, 5 minutes later I am asleep. He finishes the movie, starts another one and then at 3:30am wakes me up full of energy telling me to go to bed. So I drag myself up the stairs with my eyes closed, Brian skipping and hopping behind me.
   When we visited Jon and Charmian, Charmian was making chocolates all night with no sleep.  When Aunty Jacky, my mother-in-law, visited us, she regularly stayed up with Brian way past my bedtime.  Does the rest of the family stay up that late too?
And keeping with the family tradition, the baby kicks when I am trying to sleep. Late at night and early in the morning. I hope we can find a compromise in our sleep schedules once he is born, but I can see his needs being more important than mine so I guess I will just happily give in...

22 Week Ultrasound

The prenatal care here in Germany is a little different than it is in the States. The doctors do an ultrasound every visit and our doctor even does 3D ultrasounds routinely in the later part of the pregnancy. Our son is still skin and bones so I will post the 3D pictures when he fills in with some fat soon.

Here are two of the pictures from yesterday:

When I saw this, I said that from this angle his eye looks more like he belongs to the Simpson Family. Brian didn't think that was very nice of me. I bet my son will inherit my sense of humor so I am sure he can take this joke.

This is just a shot of his head facing this way. 

Everything is well with him, he is measuring just right for the due date and he still has plenty of room to move around. Brian and I both talked about how blessed we have been to this point. We will pray that things keep going this well.

Cloth Diapers

Yes, we will be using cloth diapers. Brian mentioned it somewhat jokingly very early on. The only picture I could see in my head was the big thin piece of cloth that my mom had to wrap around me and Erika and then 2 hours later she had to soak them in a bucket, boil them on the stove etc... So I said...NO!

But then I had the opportunity to attend some meetings where they introduced me to the 'new'cloth diapers and I was sold. As with everything else these days, they are easy to use and they have so many kinds you don't know where to start looking.
Look how cute they can be these days:

Of course, there are many different colors, designs, fastening systems that it can get pretty overwhelming. After much research, I went ahead and started ordering them online last night. I got a few different kinds to see what works best for us. The start up cost is more expensive than disposable diapers, but once you have your collection, all  you pay for is one extra wash of clothes. I will start with about 20 diapers that I will rotate since we have a washer and a dryer in the house.

I am excited to use them because they are more eco-friendly, we will be putting our son's bum in a natural material and the saving money part is not a bad side effect either. After looking at nothing but diapers for 5 hours straight,  I even dreamed about them last night!

Welcome to our blog!

Seeing that we are in Germany I decided to start a blog so that we can keep in touch with our family and friends as much as possible. Brian and I are not the best about taking pictures so I dug through all the files on our computer and pulled what I could find.

So let me share with you (in pictures)  what has been going on with us since this summer:

In May,  5 days before our wedding, Brian got food poisoning which resulted in one of his kidney failing.

But don't you worry, I made sure he was well by Saturday and ready to get married.

We were so happy to have Brian's parents, brother Ian with wife Alicia and son Aidan at the wedding. My sweet sister Erika and brother in law Ryan with niece Kaylee made sure to be there as well. Thank you all!

We got married in a charming little Bed and Breakfast in Luray, Virginia. After the wedding we stayed a day and visited  the caverns, carriage museum and enjoyed good food. 

After we got married we were in Petersburg, Virginia while Brian finished his training. We enjoyed the summer and found some dear friends. 

Constance, Brian and Brenda

Brian, Bobby and Alex.

We were expecting to move to Kansas but Brian's orders changed and we were headed to Europe. But first, Brian's sweet mom came to visit us to help us pack and organize. We took a trip to Washington DC.

We went sight seeing.

Enjoyed a "drag queen brunch"

Well, here are the actual "drag queens"

And Brian's dear friend Rahel introduced us to Ethiopian food. It was delicious!

After the summer was over, it was time to move. We sold two cars, bought one and shipped it to Germany. We flew to Europe and went to see my mom and dad for a few days. Brian got to go mushroom picking, which is very popular in Slovakia. He enjoyed it and loves wild mushrooms now!

After that, we flew to London and Brian's sister Charmian with husband Jon made us feel at home for our quick visit there. Charmian makes home made chocolates and she showed me how she makes them. I don't think Brian will ever let me go back there again:-)

Brian and Jon talked computers and our nephew Gabriel kept us entertained the whole time.

Then it was time to go to Germany, our new home. First week of September, we arrived in Mannheim.

And now the reality of moving to Germany:

We found a beautiful little house and moved in. Shortly after that, we found out that we are expecting our first baby boy. He is due on May 17th, 2011 and we will also have an addition from my sister. She is expecting her second girl. 

Here is our boy at 17 weeks.

Brian was a good sport and was willing to wear the "empathy baby belly" to see how it feels to be pregnant and not be able to get up off the couch in less than 30 seconds. 

And here is my 21 week belly:

At last, we enjoyed Christmas with my parents here. Christmas day was relaxing to say the least. See for yourselves.

I know this was an overload of pictures but the plan is to keep this blog updated regularly. Come back and see what we are up to in 2011.

We hope you have a wonderful new year!