Cant Sleep

It's 3:30am here, I've been up since about 1:30 and I just cant sleep. I decided I might as well update you all on our Thanksgiving since I'm up. lol

Our guests didnt actually arrive until Thurs morning, a blessing from God because I was feeling a bit stir crazy on Weds still not being ready for their arrival and not being allowed to do anything about it. They are a wonderful couple, I'm so glad they are staying with us.

Well I made an apple pie - cheated the whole way, roll-out refrigerated dough and canned apples LOL - but that's about all I could manage. Dennis made his mom's potato salad too and we brought those into church.

What an amazing church we have here! I'm telling you! I dont think I can describe how thankful we are to have this place, this refuge. It is really and truely like a family, like having a bunch of brothers and sisters.

There was TONS of food, everything you can think of for Thanksgiving. I even tried Sweet potato pie, can you believe I've never had that before?! haha! YUM! I dont know what took me so long to try it. Unfortunately my appetite, as well as my ability to sleep, have all disappeared lately. All the food was so delicious, I was sad I could only have a few bites.

The boys had a great time! Ryan was eyeing the food (the desserts in particular) from the second we walked into the room, "mama, can we eat now?" lol There were a ton of kids to play with and they opened up the auditorium for all of them to run around and work off all that sugar. OH! and I almost forgot, all the children sang some songs infront of everyone - the boys included. We took pictures but I havent downloaded them from the camera, I'll post them later.

By the end of the evening, everyone was standing around the piano singing hymns. It was a wonderful Thanksgiving!

Tomorrow (or I guess I should say today), everyone is meeting at the church in the morning for breakfast and then they're all heading out to the Ludwigsburg Christmas Market (Weihnachtsmarkt), which is supposed to be one of the really big and beautiful ones around here - one I've been looking forward to go to. Not only that, but the children are all staying behind at the church so the adults can enjoy themselves. UNFORTUNATELY, I have to miss out on all this fun. I'm SOOOO bummed!! I've been looking forward to these Christmas Markets since... um... I dont know... 1997 or so. LOL (...long story, came to Germany that year to go to a Christmas market and we never found a good big one...) That's ok though, there'll be other years, sigh, baby comes first. Dennis and the boys are going though, hopefully he can get some pictures and some nice stuff there. Maybe, after I get some rest, I'll put up a few Christmas decorations at home while everyone's away. I wont over do it, I promise. There's not much to put up right now anyway, we dont even have a tree yet! lol

Complications again...

Well, doc has put me on her version of "modified take-it-easy" rest. All last night and this morning I was having horrible dizzy spells, even while laying down... especially while laying down. I couldnt sleep last night because the room was spinning as if I had too much to drink or something. At the doctor's office, my blood pressure was over the top high: 165/105. That combined with the dizziness worried both of us. BUT at home, my blood pressure has still been pretty good. It's been slightly more elevated than what it has been in the past but still not above the danger zone of 140/90. I wonder, as does the doctor, that Ive just been over-doing it lately with Thanksgiving and guests coming. So Ive been ordered to rest and take my BP over and over and call if it doesnt settle down. Also, I had some blood work done to see if there isnt some other issues going on that could cause the dizziness.

Over-all everything else is good. I go back in next week to see her again and re-evaluate. I'm not overly worried though. I dont feel well but if anything comes up, baby is offically "full term" now so we should be fine. Only 3 more weeks to go! Hopefully! I dont know how much longer I can waddle around like this and people look at me as if I'm a walking time-bomb as I go by. LOL

Well, we're expecting our guests to arrive any hour now. I dont have everything ready for them yet, which is frustrating but what can you do? Dennis is out trying to get the oil changed in the car - that's been an adventure in itself, trying to get that done over here. He had an appointment for 1:00... funny how 1:00 translates to 4pm with auto mechanics. SIGH! I still have yet to make an apple pie (I'm cheating this year and got the store bought crust and canned apples) for the Thanksgiving thing tomorrow. HA! and the doctor says take it easy! Trust me, I'm trying.... holidays and pregnancy just dont mix very well!

I hope you all have a Happy Thanksgiving. Enjoy lots of turkey and pumpkin pie!

Snow! (part 2)

The boys (that includes Dennis) went outside and played in the snow for a bit. They made a cute little Schneemann (snowman), Guinness hat and pickle nose and all. LOL

(feel free to click on these pictures to make them larger)


These pictures are also what I get for sending out my camera unsupervised. LOL!!

Snow!

This is what we woke up to this morning!! Our first German schnee! LOL Can you hear the music? Everytime it snows I always think of that song from movie White Christmas. I guess the song's called "Snow" - where they're singing on the train anticipating ALL the snow they'll see when they get to Vermont.

It's actually been snowing for the past couple days but just a little here and there. Finally last night it stuck around and it's still coming down.


I took these pictures from our very top window in the house. I love the view looking out from up there.

The boys are excited to get out and go play in the snow so I better get going and get them all layered up. Thankfully their winter jackets FINALLY arrived in the mail (a month later).

This kind of weather makes a girl wanna put up the Christmas lights!

Tag?

Thanks Becky for the tag. LOL!! I think I'll do this right.

You post the rules and answer 8 "8" items. You let the person you are tagging know they have been tagged by leaving "tag" in their comment box. That means they now do it.


8 favorite tv shows
1. Desperate Housewives
2. Heroes (jealous you guys have the new Heroes)
3. Survivor
4. Biggest Loser (once AFN catches up with the seasons sigh)
5. Sponge Bob? lol
6. 24
7. Brothers and Sisters
8. Uhhh... AFN channel guide to listen to the radio - AFN stinks! LOL

8 Things I did Yesterday
1. sneezed... a lot
2. went to the commissary to spread the "love" lol
3. worked on some baby crochet projects
4. made Stir Fry
5. played a computer game
6. drank lots of tea ;)
7. checked the mail hoping the baby stuff I ordered over a month ago has arrived (I lead an exciting life) - it hasnt by the way *angry face*
8. watched some AFN channel guide hoping by some miracle there'd be a show worth watching

8 Things I am Looking Forward To
1. Baby being born!
2. Thanksgiving having a GIANT feast at church
3. Putting up all the Christmas decorations
4. going to a German Christmas Market
5. Sharing Germany with my in-laws this spring
6. being done getting everything set up for baby
7. travelling around Europe
8. getting old an grey with my husband and watching our children grow

8 Favorite Resturants
1. Cracker Barrel (I miss those chicken salad sandwiches)
2. Olive Garden
3. I dont remember the name but that Mexican restaurant in Maryland LOL
4. not a real restaurant but the festival food here in Germany
5. Indian restaurants
6. Diefenbach (not a restaurant but a super yummy bakery up the road)
7. Applebees
8. TGIFridays

8 Things on my wish list
1. Healthy baby
2. Baby girl (lol)
3. Wii Fit hahah!
4. my children's salvation
5. the boys (and baby too) to grow up respectful and responsible
6. a fast and easy labor (yah! keep on wishing, I know...)
7. for me to think of 2 more things to wish for LOL
8. for family to visit! (stole your last one, Becky lol)

8 Pet Peeves
1. Whining!
2. saying, "I cant" when you havent even tried
3. liars
4. kids who talk back/argue with me
5. irresponsibility
6. tardiness - but lately we've not been so good at this ourselves so I'm forgiving on that
7. People who are fake
8. Unforgiving people

8 Things you would like to be remembered for (this is going to be hard)
1. Being a good mom
2. loving
3. caring
4. Raising my kids to believe on Jesus
5. patient (hahah not so good at this one sometimes)
6. being a good wife
7. being a good servant to God
8.

8 Things to Ask and Tag People About
1. What's for Dinner this week?
2. Favorite things to do at the computer
3. Favorite memories from your childhood
4. 8 things you'd do if money/time weren't an issue
5. 8 fears
6. .......
7. ........
8. ...........

8 people i tag
1. Peggy
2. ..............

I dont know what to call this....

I couldn't think of a title for this entry so... there ya go! LOL My brain is too fried for all that. ;) Plus I've developed a wonderful head cold to help me with the whole "being uncomfortable" package. Thankfully, it's just mild but enough to make you feel miserable all day, ya know?

Dennis took leave all this week so we could manage to get the house in order for our incoming guests (ref. several posts ago that we'll be hosting some Missionaries for Thanksgiving holiday). Also getting the baby's stuff all set up - everything is still in boxes LOL. Unfortunately, so far we've only managed to make it to the commissary. LOL Oh! But I did finally get my hospital bag packed. Gosh! but I cant wait for the day I'll need that. These next 4 (or more *sob*) weeks are going to be torture. (as I glare at the clock, swearing I just saw the hand go backwards)

Of course, I'm conflicted because I don't know why I would want this pregnancy to hurry up and be over. No more just getting in the car and going somewhere... no more sleep (pfft, like I get any now)... no more long showers and silent house... what am I thinking?! LOL BUT then again, once baby is here, it wont take me 5 mins to get from the basement to the top floor of our house... I can sit in a chair for more than 5mins without my right (yes, only my right) foot swelling up like a balloon... and I can reach down and pick up what I've dropped on the floor. Not to mention the sweet baby that will be here to hold! :) Dennis snickered at me the other night because I dropped a notebook on the floor and after attempting and failing miserably at picking it up, I gave up and said "aww forget it, it can stay there!" LOL (yes, he did come and pick it up for me :) of course he did)

I wanted to say thank you to you guys leaving comments. I don't know how to respond to those other than writing it here (or sending personal emails) but please know that I LOVE reading your comments! It's too funny about 140bpm heart rate being the cut off for either boy or girl (>140 a girl, <140 a boy). So typical!! LOL That's ok! I like surprises. I'll just have to listen very closely for the words mädchen (girl) or junge (boy) on delivery day! LOL

Well, there was more I wanted to say but the fried brain attacks again. I'm off to shove the kiddos in bed and search a nice hot cup of apple cider! Good night!

Baby, that was probably your last chance....

Yep, another doctor's appointment today and another day the baby decided to be shy. We went to see the other doctor in the practice this week (my doc is on vacation) and BOY DO I FEEL GYPPED!!! HE, the other doc in the practice, is the one with COOL 3D ultrasound and all the cool gadgets! We were wondering where this supposed 3D ultrasound they advertise was this whole time, apparently it's only in his office... sigh. We actually got to see the baby - well his or her hand - in 3D lol! Probably if he was actually my doctor we would have seen the whole baby in 3d... sigh... oh well. It's too late to change docs now, plus I feel more comfortable having the woman doctor anyway. but... Sigh...

Yes, even with all his gadgets, 3D doctor couldnt find the baby's sex. Can you believe it? He said that the baby is laying with his/her back toward the front of my stomach so the "bits" are all hidden. All I can do is laugh.

Everything is still good with baby. We got stuck on the heartbeat monitor. Nice strong Heartbeat sitting at 140bpm (quick!! what's the ol'wive's tale concerning HB and sex? LOL). Last appointment (2 weeks ago) I actually managed to gain a whole 2lbs for the first time... but this time, the scale says I lost it. LOL So still no weight gain for me - doc is not worried and is happy about it (me too). I'm just a little shocked considering the way I've been eating lately, Copper and I could be twins! LOL

Oh! speaking of eating like a pig: Copper the yarn eating maniac. He is doing ok, we are watching him. His attitude and appetite hasn't changed, trust me, he's still a hoover and after he cleans his bowl, looks at you like, "is that it?!" Dennis has been trying to call the vet for advice but their working hours are worse than a bankers!

What is WRONG with our dog?!!?!?

I am so... just... I dont know how to explain it in words.... upset? shocked? amazed? scared? mad? I dont know, right now.

To catch you up: A coupled days ago, Dennis found a bag with a giant skein of yarn hidden in one of our many boxes we've been going through. When I say giant, I mean GIANT, it was one of those budget skeins of acrylic yarn that you can get from Walmart. Huge! Not your normal size of yarn! It's like an entire pound of yarn. I was happy because I thought yay I can definitely make something useful for the baby with that. So I set the bag down on the floor next to me and proceeded to forget about it for the last week or so. lol

Well tonight we come home from church pretty late. We scoot the boys off to bed and then both Dennis and I come down here to the basement where Copper is and the computers are. There's Copper laying in the middle of the floor on his blanket and I notice a wad of yarn laying next to him. A few broken strings mangled with fur. As soon as I pick it up he tucks he head and tail and starts to move away from me. "WHAT is THIS!?!"I say. Noticing it's the same color as the yarn I had left, I look in the bag and my giant pound of yarn is no where to be seen. I checked other places where the yarn might be but it's no where. I think Copper ATE an ENTIRE pound of yarn!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! What in the world is wrong with him?!!?!?!??!? How could he... how did he he... WHA.....?!?!?!?! I mean, he eats EVERYTHING. He sits outside and munches on Hazelnuts that drop off our tree. He munches on some prickly, thorny bush we have too and then constantly laps at his tongue because it hurts... bonehead! His favorite spot in the entire house is under the dining room table. But it never ever occurred to me that he would have a fine dinner on my yarn. And acrylic yarn at that... it's not like it was wool and it smelled like an animal or something.... it's PLASTIC made into STRING!! Watch out world, dont leave your sweaters laying around! Our dog, who apparently must be starving to death, might just eat them! BTW, if you're reading this and dont know, our dog is FAR from starving to death, he only acts like he is. My big fear is one of the boys forgets to close his food container one night and he eats until he explodes.

So not only am I mad but I'm also conflictingly worried about him eating ALL that YARN. I do a quick google about "dog eating yarn". The first page I find, go figure, someone writing in their blog about their BASSETT HOUND eating their ball of yarn. BIG SURPRISE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Quirks of living in town

I love living out in town here! I just had the funniest thing happen to me. The doorbell just rang and usually when that happens, it means some random worker is coming over sent by the landlord. I open the door and there is an older German gentleman standing there looking so very picturesque of a typical country farmer. He starts speaking in German, all out full speed ahead. My first thought it, he's definitely not a worker, (the landlord usually warns them we're German language impaired lol) oh no! this means he's probably selling something. I interrupt him with an "entschuldigen, spreche ich English." (I'm sorry, I speak English) He tells me that he speaks a little bit of English so we continue our conversation in Germ-glish. He's holding in his hands a small knife and a half apple and before he starts explaining himself he slices off a hunk of apfel (apple) and hands it to me to try. I start having Disney flash-backs of the old witch giving Snow White an apple. LOL I tell myself to stop being paranoid and take the apple and try a bite - admittedly still thinking of Snow White. LOL No fainting and I havent seen any little dwarves yet, so far.

So anyway, he tells me that he's selling fruit and asks if I want any. Also managing to pat my belly and remind me how good it all is for the baby. LOL I mean, seriously, how can you turn these people down. They are just so nice and charming. So I ask him how much for apples and Clementines (yum!) and he tells me such and such per kilo... then says "how much you want? 5? 10? 20? kilo" *GASP* My mind begins to race... I still get confused, which is more a pound or a kilo so I just say 5 kilos each. So he comes back with 2 GIANT packed bags full of clementines and Apples and tells me I need to make sure they're taken out of the bags or they'll go bad. All I can think is OMGoodness what am I going to do with all this fruit!?!?! HAHA Apple pie anyone?!

I was just thinking this morning that I need to get some fruit in this house because I keep attacking the boys' Halloween bags, I think God heard me. LOL

Ugh!

What a week this is going to be! Dennis is out of town for the week, hanging out in jolly ol' England. (yes I'm jealous) Here I sit, exhausted, cranky and hormonal. He left yesterday and since the trains operate on a slower schedule on Sundays, I had to drive him to the airport. Yes, my very first Autobahn driving experience. Oh joy!! At least the boys were cooperative and were silent as little mice as mom prayed her way home.

Last night I was so exhausted when I went to bed. I must have slept HARD because I woke up around 3am bright-eyed and bushy tailed and couldnt get back to sleep.... well not until 5:40 that is... alarm goes off at 5:45. After getting the boys up and out of the house and on the bus, I came home to sleep on the couch. That didnt work either. I was flying off the couch every 5 mins thinking that I forgot to wake up and get the boys off to school this morning. Well, "flying"is a funny word to use about me waking up suddenly off the couch. It's best described as arms and legs flailing wildly trying to get this body to move up off the couch, usually resulting in me just rolling off the couch onto the floor. LOL Have you ever seen the Cosby show episode where Cliff (the dad) has a nightmare about all the men being pregnant? There's a part when it shows all of them getting up and down from the couch in hilarious ways. I think of that episode a lot these days. LOL

Ive been getting plenty of those extremely uncomfortable Braxton Hicks contractions today. I'm sure mostly because of my exhaustion and from two little boys who want to choose today, of all days, to test their boundries and see how close they can get to sending mommy to the looney bin. They can be a little scary sometimes though, the contractions, not the boys LOL. I can definitely see how some people could construe them as labor. Thankfully, I know they are not, no worries. I just only hope they are actually doing some work. If I have to be uncomfortable then they better be doing their job to make "the real thing" quicker when it does happen. LOL

Well I'm off to bed to *try* and get some rest tonight. It'd be real nice to actually have some energy to drive *gasp* to a baby store or something. LOL

Happy Halloween

The boys had a great night of trick or treat and fun with friends! Unfortunately this is the only picture I got of the night. HAHA! Half the battle for me is remembering to bring the camera... the other half, remembering to USE IT!

We had a great night though. We took a ride to base, traffic was horrendous! Mainly because cars were parked all along the street outside of the base gate from the Germans trying to get on base so they can trick or treat too! O.O Once we were on base, it wasnt so bad. We found parking right away, shocker because on a normal workday you dont find parking that fast LOL. We told the boys we were only going to go down one set of houses because we needed to get to church for the Family night party - they were fine with that, I think they were more excited about getting to church. LOL Funny thing was, about half way through, Sean was already done, he wanted to go. LOL

I was so curious about how they were going to do Halloween in housing here. I know I've mentioned it before but they houses here are more apartment type buildings, there are about three rows of apartments that all share a common stairwell. We werent sure if we'd have to go up into the buildings and knock on doors individually or would people just be sitting outside handing out candy. Thankfully, it was the latter. At each stairwell opening there was a communal table set up and one or several people handing out candy. Basically you walk up to a table get into a candy assembly line. LOL The whole time, I'm thinking, thank you God for not getting us into base housing. I can just imagine what this would be like:

Neighbor A to Neighbor B: "Are you giving out candy tonight?"
Neighbor B: (unknowingly walking into a trap - this would be me LOL) "Yah! You too?"
Neighbor A: "Oh! no! I cant but here's about 5 bags, can you hand these out for me."
Neighbors C, D, E, and F: "and for us too?"
Neighbor A: "Uhhhh....."

LOL

Anyway, the boys got plenty of candy. Then we headed over to church and woofed down dinner and cake and candy and commenced bouncing off the walls. The pastor prepared a giant bag of candy for each of the kids to bring home too.

Oh! and off the subject, I always have to add a baby tid bit in here. Here's baby and I at about 33-35weeks... depends on which date you're going by, mine or the doc's lol.