How to beat the heat

I know that yesterday I was complaining about the heat but I came up with a temporary solution yesterday afternoon. I was in desperate need of something cold to drink and I really wanted a smoothie. We had frozen strawberries and frozen peaches in the freezer from back when I went through a smoothie stage about six months ago but nothing else. Then I found a bottle of V8 Splash Strawberry Kiwi juice from back when all I wanted to do was drink 8 gallons of juice a day early in my pregnancy. I figured I would just try and make a smoothie with these three ingredients and see what happened. I didn't use ice because the fruit was frozen and holy moly was it good.It tasted just as good, if not better, than any smoothie I have ever had at Smoothie King or Planet Smoothie back at home. I have had three since my discovery yesterday and now I am out of all my ingredients!! I know that there is probably not much nutritional value to my new discovery but I don't care because they taste so good! Now I know what I will be stocking up on at the commissary next week!

I head to the doctor in the morning and I am really looking forward to it. Should be fun to see baby Evans again. He has been moving up a storm and is pretty happy to keep me hobbling to the bathroom 7-8 times a night. Hard to believe he could be here in 8 weeks! Or earlier! But hopefully not later!!!

Holy Heatwave

Remember all winter when I whined and moaned and groaned about how cold and wet and dreary it was here in Germany? Someone please smack me now! It is HOT in Germany right now. The car temperature gauge said 107 when I got in it after lunch (yes, I know that this was in no way accurate but still.....). My best guess is that it is around 88-90 degrees here and it has been like this for a week or so now. Now before all you Atlantan family members start reminding me that there is currently a heat index of over 100 in Atlanta right now let me take a minute to remind y'all of a few things.

1. Our house is not air conditioned. Yes, we have lovely marble floors that like to remain cool all winter but that is just not working in our house right now.

2. Our house is 4 full floors. I could say 5 floors if I wanted to count the split levels but for the sake of arguement, I'll say 4. Our bedroom is on the 3rd floor. Heat rises.

3. I am currently 1 day shy of being 8 months pregnant. I haven't complained much about being pregnant because everything for the most part has been great so far. But now I am officially HUGE and therefore, I am hot. Enough said.

So, while I am enjoying seeing the sun and all, I just wanted to point out that even though it is not as hot here as it is at home, it is still uncomfortably warm. My solutions for the day have been simple. I stayed in our bedroom (which has the most glorious portable AC unit known to man) until it was time for me to meet Deaner for lunch. From lunch I went to the airfield to mail a package (post office = not air conditioned, thus almost passed out). Then to the PX to get Deaner some new sunglasses. While I love him dearly, I can't stand that the glasses he is currently wearing are being held together with actual silver duct tape.I'm not exactly sure how they broke but there is a reason that I am allowed to wear expensive Ray-Bans while he wears $17.99 Foster Grants from the PX! :) From there I went to the air conditioned commissary where I managed to spend $50 on mainly liquids. We now have enough water, gatorade, snapple and diet cherry coke to last us thru this heat wave. And maybe a couple boxes of Mac & Cheese that I have been loving so much. Finally, after working up a sweat carrying all those drinks up to our drink fridge, I am back in our bedroom with the AC blasting right on me. About two hours til Deaner returns home from the gym and then I will be forced to sit downstairs for a bit and eat dinner. I'm hoping that this heat lets up soon!! Happy Tuesday!

It's Been Awhile

I didn't really have any intention of not blogging the latter part of last week but it just happened that way! We had a lot going on it felt like and I just didn't get around to it. So now I have lots to update y'all on. Thursday I drove over to a much larger base than where we live and met a fellow blogger, Casey, from Ever Changing Life of a Military Wife for lunch. We had never met before even though we have become friends via gchat (I know it sounds weird) and we decided it was time to meet before she moves to Turkey next week. Lunch was a lot of fun and I really enjoyed meeting her and her friend Sarah. They were neither lame nor weird! :)

Unfortunately when I got in the car to head back home I had a message letting me know that Deaner's sweet grandfather, Pa-pa, had passed away. He had been sick and we knew it was coming but it never matters once it happens because it is still sad. Pa-pa was a great man and he will be greatly missed by his wife, three daughters, six grandchildren, two great grandchilden and the two great grandchildren that are still on the way.Deaner and I were really sad that we weren't able to be home with the family this weekend for his funeral but it just wasn't feasible. Everyone say a little prayer for Deaner's family this week if you have a chance.

Friday was a pretty fun day as well. I met Deaner for lunch and picked up some packages that were delivered to me. The diaper pail that gave me so much anxiety arrived and now I don't have to think about it anymore! Deaner was at the BMW dealership later that afternoon and came home with this AWESOME toy for Evans.He said he couldn't resist and I think that it is just about as cute as it gets. Plus it is perfectly appropriate for us living here in Germany! There is no denying that our child will be stylish!

Friday night we had dinner with a friend of ours whose family is at home right now in the States without him. It was an early night because we had to get up early on Saturday morning for our wine buying trip to France! Steph and Jon came over around 9am and we ventured out for our adventure. We made it to Cora, which is basically like a Wal-Mart, right over the French border in a couple of hours. Once there we started loading up on French wines. It was a lot of fun and we all left with some great loot. Since it was our first trip we will see how we like our selections and alter it for next time we head there. We came home with 58 bottles of wine to add to our collection! I had every intention of snapping a shot of our "wine cellar" but I'm just too tired now to go back downstairs. Sorry! Sunday was relaxing and we didn't do much. It is starting to get hot in Germany which means that I am starting to move slower and slower with this belly. God help me over the next two months!

Today has been a productive Monday. I got up and went over to Steph's house and got my roots touched up. Thank goodness. Then we went and ate at our favorite place, Vapiano. YUM! Now I am home and on the couch! Of course I am doing laundry too but I am dreading have to get up to fold it when the dryer beeps! I hope that everyone had a great weekend and here's to a quick week!! I have a doctor's appointment on Thursday and then we are heading to the mountains for the long weekend!!!

31 Week Baby Bump

31 weeks today and here is what I look like! Since I actually got up early this morning, showered, dressed and was out the door by 9:30am I figured it was a good time to take another picture. Especially because I was wearing black and don't look AS huge! I have to admit though, when I took this I hadn't eaten anything yet. I took another picture after lunch that I will post in a second. I met Deaner over at the hospital we are planning to deliver at, at 10am this morning. The patient liasion from the base met us there to give us a tour. It was extremely helpful and I am super glad that we did it. The biggest difference from the States seems to be the size. I am used to Atlanta, where Northside Hospital delivers 14,000 babies a year, more than any hospital in the country. Whenever I have visited people there it is a maze to find them and the size is totally overwhelming. This hospital's maternity ward was contained to one hall!! I couldn't believe it. But it was really nice and I think I will be happy there. The big bonus? AC in the delivery room. This is a must in my book! I'll probably die when they move me to my real room and maybe I will have to beg to stay in the delivery room! :)

I was also able to pre-register at the hospital today. Thank goodness they let me do it while I was there because the next appointment available was July 26th! I would have been a nervous wreck waiting until then. Plus, I wouldn't have had the translator with me and it would have been much harder. I felt a million times better when we left the hospital and I think that Deaner did too. Now we know what to do and where to go when the time comes. After our tour we had a quick lunch by Deaner's office so he could get back to work. He has to leave work at 3:30pm so he can get home in time for the US vs. Algeria game today! When I got home I realized how much bigger my belly was so I snapped another shot!Wouldn't y'all say that the belly grew over the course of a few hours! Oh well, I guess it is getting to be about that time! As of last week I had gained 14 pounds and I am starting to wonder just how much more I am going to pack on before Evans arrives.

Yesterday I realized that I did not have a laundry basket for Evans room yet. I quickly got online and was excited to find this liner on Pottery Barn Kids, on sale, for $5.99!I had Evans' name monogrammed on it in royal blue and bought a plain white hamper at the PX to go with it. The monogram actually cost more than the liner did but I think it is cute and worth it. Can't wait for it to arrive! My mom also sent me this picture of the cutest outfit ever that my sweet Aunt Kay sent for Evans. I think it will be perfect for the 4th of July next summer! What do y'all think?ADORABLE! My mom will bring it when she comes in August. Thanks Aunt Kay and Uncle Frank!

Anyways, I am off for a quick rest before the soccer frenzy starts again. The US plays at 4pm and Germany at 8:30pm. Our neighborhood is probably going to get ROWDY! Let's just hope that Germany wins this time! And this is the last chance for the US. Happy Humpday!!

A Lot of Nothing

Not having a project or a chore to do during the day really makes the day go by slowly! Whew! I really have to make more of an effort on days like this just to get out of the house. However, I was semi productive today with a few things. I spoke with my doctor and she agreed to TRY to deliver Evans if she could. I have to understand that there is a chance she won't be able to make it because of her own children at home and I think I can live with that. I'll just hope for the best. Secondly, I found out that I could schedule a tour of the hospital thru the base with a patient liasion even though we don't have the same insurance as military families. Deaner and I are going to see the hospital tomorrow morning at 10:00am and I am hoping that the patient liasion can help me set up an appointment to pre-register with the hospital. Who knew that there was so much stuff that went into having a baby? I seriously was under the impression that you went into labor and just showed up at the hospital. Not so much. Thirdly, I called the pediatrician that I want to use and asked what all I needed to do prior to Evans arriving. Thankfully I don't have to do anything!! I just have to call when he is born and set up an appointment! That is a relief!

Besides that, I haven't done much today. Just waiting for Deaner to come home from work. I'm sure there are some soccer games on TV tonight! Gag! Deaner and I have planned a wine buying trip to France for this Saturday. Steph and Jon are going to join us and I am really looking forward to it. Don't ask me why, since I can't even drink it but I guess I am looking forward to stock piling it for when I can drink again! Plus, we can eat at Chili's on the way back to Wiesbaden!! Buying wine in France and eat at Chili's don't really go hand and hand but see if I care!!

Anyways, I'm off. Hope everyone has a good Tuesday!

Baby Deaner's Glamour Shots

Here is what Baby Evans is looking like these days! I know that it can be confusing to look at ultrasound pictures if you aren't used to them (I still have to get the doctor to point out everything to me each time because I am really bad at it) but this is a semi profile shot of Evans. In the second picture you can see his little hands as well. The giant slope is his nose. I'm a little concerned about how big it appears to be but I have been reassured that it is completely normal for it to look like that. I just can't believe that he is getting so big and will be here so soon. If I make it until my due date he will be here in 9 weeks! Yikes! A friend of mine who was 7 weeks ahead of me had her baby this weekend and that really freaks me out. At least I am super obsessive and got everything done so early. My nursery is complete except for the glider and there is nothing I can do about that now. I have diapers and wipes and pretty much everything else I could think of ready to go! Just waiting on the baby now! I head back to the doctor next Thursday and then if all goes according to plan, Deaner and I leave for Garmish on Friday for a long weekend of relaxing in the Bavarian Alps. I'm really looking forward to it!

I hope that everyone had a good weekend! Friday afternoon Deaner came home from work early and we had some friends over to watch the US World Cup match down by the river. Things were not looking good for the US but surprisingly they still pulled out a tie somehow. Afterwards we all went out to dinner and then back to our house to watch the England match. Have I mentioned I am a bit sick of soccer? Saturday morning we got up and Deaner wanted to go eat lunch at this Strawberry Festival that was taking place in the next town over this past weekend. He dropped me off while he went to park the car and I thought that things seemed a bit quite for a festival to be going on. I rounded the corner and found this.Some festival huh? Totally deserted! I guess things didn't kick up until much later in the afternoon! I know that Deaner was disappointed because he was looking forward to it but he felt much better since we went and ate at the Brauhaus that he likes so much. Nothing like two lunch beers to bring your spirit up! I wouldn't know it has been so long!

Saturday night Steph and Jon came over for more soccer watching and a mexican fiesta! We all ate way too much and it was a fun evening. Sunday was a really lazy day for us. I'm sure you can guess by now that we watched MORE soccer, I wrote some thank you notes and basically we chilled out all day which was nice. Today I met Deaner for lunch and then ran to the commissary. I've changed the sheets on our bed, done laundry and started dinner. Very productive in my mind! Strawberries were on sale at the commissary today for $.78 for a huge carton and I got two. Yum! They are sliced up now and chilling in the fridge waiting for me to eat them! I hope this is a fast week so I can get back to the doctor and then off on vacation! Happy Monday to everyone!

10 Weeks and Counting

Really 9 weeks and 6 days if you want to get down to the nitty gritty. Or 69 days, but who is counting that closely?!? ME! My doctor's appointment this morning went pretty well. Apparently my cervix is getting a little shorter so I have to sort of take things easy for awhile. No more moving furniture for me. I also had to be hooked up to the fetal heart monitor for a little while to make sure I wasn't having contractions and that everything was okay with the baby. Everything checked out and I go back in 2 weeks. Evans was moving all around on the ultrasound and he already weighs about 4 pounds! Again, I am a little annoyed at my doctor's office because they are closing for THREE WEEKS right at the time I would start going every week. What bad luck is that? I don't want to have to go to another doctor right at the end of my pregnancy. Ugh. Just another thing to worry about.

After my appointment I wasn't able to have lunch with Deaner. Since I had to unexpectedly be hooked up to the fetal heart monitor for 30 minutes, he had to head back to the office. I headed to the toy store on the base afterwards to buy a baby monitor. Deaner's sweet aunt, Susan, sent Evans a very generous baby gift and I am planning on buying the rest of the big things that we need. Of course the diaper pail that I had my eye on is out of stock (AGAIN) so I will have to wait, but I did get the monitor. My list shrinks by the day. Thanks Susan! I know you are reading!

Anyone else excited that tomorrow is Friday? I know I am. I just wish I wasn't marking days by tomorrow being Germany vs. Serbia , US vs. Slovenia, and England vs. Algeria. Saturday is otherwise known as "the rest of the games". How many more weeks of this? Happy Thursday!

Happy Humpday

I have got to get some more exciting things to post about! Our trip to Brussels was pretty good, nothing out of the ordinary. We got in around 5 or so on Monday and after whichever World Cup game was on we went and ordered a big ole giant pizza at Pizza Hut for dinner. YUM!!!!! It was just what I wanted! And I may or may not regret it when I get on the scale at the doctor's office tomorrow morning! Tuesday morning I went with Deaner to his meeting so that we could leave Brussels directly from the meeting and head home. We don't normally do things like this so it was a bit different. After his meeting we had to have lunch with the people he had been meeting with, which was fine, but it pushed us back several more hours. We didn't get home until after 5 last night. Neither of us felt like cooking so we went to the pizza place down the street (yes, pizza again!). And that was pretty much our day! Boring I know!

Today I got up, showered, picked up Subway for Deaner for lunch, dropped it off to him, went to the commissary, spent an outrageous amount of money on things we needed but will hold us for awhile, and then headed home! I have taken a walk and now I am watching Days of Our Lives, which I'm just sort of over. I think that the exhaustion that I felt in the first trimester of pregnancy has returned. I am SO tired during the day for about the past week or so. The only problem is that once 8pm or so hits, I'm wide awake. So it doesn't help me sleep any better at night. And I'm trying so hard not to nap during the day because that pretty much guarentees that I won't be able to sleep at night. Having to get up 6 times a night to use the bathroom doesn't help. Ugh.

As of today, 10 more weeks til Evans makes his debut. I have a doctor's appointment in the morning and feel like I have a million and one questions for my doctor. I found out while I was in Greece that my doctor has decided she no longer is going to be delivering her patient's baby's anymore. WHAT? Nice time to let us know huh? 10 weeks before they baby is due. She said we would discuss it at my next appointment so I am really interested to see how that plays out. Keep your fingers crossed for us, I'm getting pretty anxious about the whole thing.

Maybe tomorrow I will have more exciting news! Perhaps a cuter picture of the baby if he cooperates! Happy Humpday to everyone!

Weekend Recap a day early

I know I am not typically a Sunday poster but we are leaving to go to Brussels in the morning and I am not positive that I will have time to post tomorrow. Just a quick overnight trip for us but I never know what sort of sightseeing and playing around we will do once we get there. I hope that everyone had a great weekend! We sure did! Friday night our friends had a small baby shower/get together for us at their house and we had a great time. I didn't even realize that it was midnight before we left! My friend Barbara made us the CUTEST diaper cake I have ever seen. I don't think that I ever want to take it apart. The first pictures I took at Barbara's house but once I got home I was able to take some close ups so you can see the detail on the diaper cake.I mean, how cute is that! Deaner and I both agreed that we can't take it apart for now because it is so great. So now it's new home is on the windowsill of Evans' room. And yes, those are the vineyards in the background that are already looking so pretty. I swear, the baby has the nicest room in the house!Now that I have shown y'all 23894 pictures of the diaper cake....

The rest of the weekend was fun as well. We watched A LOT of soccer and I sort of think that this might be a long 5 weeks of World Cup. Saturday and Sunday have pretty much run together for me. Next weekend I might demand that the games be TIVO'd and that we take a wine buying trip to France! I might as well stock up for August when I can enjoy a drink again! Hope everyone has a great FAST week!

All Hail....

The greatest most awesome and wonderful invention on earth. Helping pregnant people across Europe (who are smart enough to buy one) sleep one night at a time. The machine that allows me not to dread bedtime quite as much as I used to in previous weeks. I bring to you........My portable air conditioning unit! God's gift to pregnant people who live in houses in Germany without AC. Seriously, it is not that hot here (nothing like living in Atlanta with no AC) but being seven months pregnant does not do a girl any favors when sleeping in a stagnant room. Before, Deaner and I got away with lots and lots of fans but we realized early on that it wasn't going to cut it this summer. We bought this portable unit from someone selling it on base and yesterday I demanded that it be set up (after a particularly warm night). Pure and utter bliss. When I woke up the 5th time to pee during the night I didn't even mind because I got to return to cool crisp sheets! I'm actually looking forward to bed tonight! :)

Today was about the most boring day of my life. When I woke up I knew I had nothing to do and when I took a shower I knew I had nowhere to go and when I cleaned my whole house I knew that it wasn't like it was for anyone coming over. It made for a very very long day! When Deaner came home from work he decided he didn't want to eat dinner here so we went out to a little pizza place in the neighboring town. It was a pleasant evening. On the way home we stopped off down by the wine stand at the river because we were curious about a set up that has been being built for a few days now. Turns out it is a giant TV screen for all the world cup games! And several wine stands, beer stands and tons of beergarten tables as well! Looks like they will be showing ALL the world cup games there. Deaner just stated that if I was ever looking for him I should automatically know where he is! Here are a few pictures (bad quality from iphone).
I have a feeling it is going to be a long 5 weeks! Thank god tomorrow is Friday! I am ready for the weekend! Monday we are heading to Brussels so hopefully it will make next week go by quickly. Deaner booked us three nights in the Bavarian Alps over the 4th of July at the Edelweiss Lodge in Garmish so now I have one last trip to look forward to!!

Getting Closer Everyday!

Today I am 29 weeks and counting! Exactly 11 weeks until Evans' due date on August 25th. Sometimes it seems like it is quickly approaching and other times it seems like it will never get here. Regardless, I am almost finished with Evans' room and I am happy with the results. The only thing we are waiting on now is the glider, which was one giant pain in the butt. Typically no stores/companies will ship something as large as a glider to our APO box and I was starting to get really nervous about it. We found ONE glider in all of Mann Mobilia and it was ugly and expensive. On a whim I checked out AAFES.com and was irritated to find out that they DID have gliders but wouldn't ship to APO's. Seriously? A military website that doesn't ship to APO's? Very irritating. As my last hope I went to the AAFES store on the base and asked if they could order the glider for me. SUCCESS!! Not only is the glider ordered, it was inexpensive and I don't have to pay shipping! It could take 12 weeks for it to get here but I really don't care at this point, it is finished!

On Monday, Steph and I hit up Ikea and I bought a bookcase for the nursery. I needed a place to put picture frames, book and other assorted knick knacks. I was nervous that it wouldn't look right but I was super happy with how it turned out. And I even put it together all by myself! I have the bruises under my arms to prove I hauled it upstairs all by myself! Here is how it looks.And I have plenty of room to put more things in there as I get them. When we got home from Greece on Friday I was super excited to find that the rest of the boxes from my shower in Atlanta had arrived as well as the Pottery Barn Kids boxes of the cutest rocking horse EVER and the changing table boxes. Here are pictures of both all set up!My Aunt Kay bought us this super cute lamb chair from Pottery Barn Kids and it arrived as well in the box of shower gifts. He (the lamb chair) is currently sitting where the glider is going to go but he likes his home for the time being.And a close up shot of the crib only because you can see some of the great blankets and animals that we got at our shower. As soon as the glider gets here I will be able to move some of the blanket to it but for now they are all stacked up on the crib. I am well aware that a baby would hardly fit in the crib at this point!Finally, last but certainly not least is my favorite picture that I have taken of Deaner in awhile.He wanted to watch me open up all the shower stuff but waking up at 3:45am to make our flight in Santorini took it's toll on him immediately afterwards. I can assure you that he is not faking and that he slept like that for several hours! Too funny.

Anyways, now that they room is pretty much done I hope I can relax a little bit. I spent today cleaning the house up because I feel like I need to get ahead. I am very aware that it will probably have to be done again before 11 weeks is up but I'm going to try hard to keep it clean. My laundry room has never been cleaner! Tomorrow I need to tackle the kitchen, dining room and den. Yikes! Happy Humpday to everyone!

Picture Wrap Up

I don't want to bore everyone to death with the details of our whole trip so I am going to try and hit the highlights today and move on with my life! It is raining in Germany and it seems like we were in Greece MONTHS ago! Tuesday was another relaxing day for me by the pool. Deaner went on a hike and then joined me again. I decided at sunset that I would let him take a couple pictures of my baby belly.I am pretty sure that it grew on this trip thanks to the delicious food! Wednesday was our (my) adventure day. We rented this super cute Smart Car.....Which was delivered to our hotel bright and early on Wednesday morning. We set out for breakfast in Fira, a trip to Ancient Thira and a visit to Oia. First we had breakfast/lunch across the street from this really high class OB/GYN's office.Nice huh? I am quite glad that I didn't require this guy's services while I was on vacation! :) Afterward our snack we headed to Ancient Thira. I was not as thrilled about this little excursion because it required some hiking and it was pretty hot. Here are a few shots of the view from the way up.You can see the black sand beaches from atop the ruins site. The views were incredible.I have to admit that I didn't do as much exploring as Deaner did once we got up to the top. I pretty much parked myself on a bench and gazed at the water but Deaner was a much better tourist. These ancient ruins just didn't do much for me after seeing the Acropolis in Athens!!Now, on to more interesting pictures! After Ancient Thira I may or may not have been a little bit cranky from the hiking and heat. We stopped off at the black sand beach of Kamari just to have a look before heading to Oia. The beach was not exactly what I would want in a beach but it was neat and different. Look how large the pebbles are on the beach! Nothing like the white sand of Florida!My spirits were lifted somewhat when we arrived in Oia. Oia sits on the far edge of Santorini and has spectacular views and supposedly the best sunsets on the island. We had a light lunch here and walked the length of the town. It was really hot in the middle of the day but the pictures made it worth it.And finally, I am just going to post a few random pictures from the rest of the vacation that will show you just how lovely Santorini was. I do believe that it was hard to take a bad picture here. Unless of course your skirt blew up from the wind! Our hotel...Another belly bump picture. Getting progressively bigger!Cute picture of us if I wasn't so puffy looking.View of Fira.And finally the sunset on the last night. It was a bit windy!And that concludes my 8 million pictures. I hope I didn't bore everyone to tears. It was a nice break from nursery pictures I know! And tomorrow I am sure I will have more to post of those since I have just about finished everything up! I managed to order a glider today and while it is going to take ages to get here, at least I know it is on the way and I don't have to worry about it anymore! Happy Tuesday everyone!