Mice Will Play (Frozen)

The Mr. got to run away for a full night of sleep - he called it a "business" trip - and while he was away, the little mice decided to play. It started with a continuation of the model contest (the winner is no longer clear, I'd say).

After kindergarten, PJ and I made a guitar together. Little Man is still really into music and has been asking for a guitar. I'm not a huge fan of toys that make noise; cardboard, tape, and string to the rescue!

Projects are fun.

Afterwards, we made a cheese pizza; poured a glass of wine for mommy and a glass of 'kinderwein" (grapejuice) for PJ; and turned on Disney's Frozen.

PJ had already seen Frozen with Daddy in the cinema a few months before and had been talking about "Ana" and the "Ice Queen" since then. For the first few minutes, he had no idea what movie we were watching but then it suddenly clicked. He turned to me and whispered with great excitement, "Mommy, it is the ice queen."

Totally worth it.

During the movie, PJ sang and accompanied the songs. 

It was a fabulous night until all hell broke loose at bedtime. Sorry, no pictures. It ended with me sandwiched between two crying babies, both fighting sleep and kicking and smacking me randomly in various body parts as they both slowly sank into sleep eventually...cause its all gotta stay balanced, right?

XO

The Halfway Mark

My pregnancy with our little jelly bean is half-way through. Today I’ve hit 20 weeks (the 21^st week for you Germans out there).  Half-way through. Wow.

 

This pregnancy has been different from my pregnancy with PJ. The first trimester was ugly: I missed nine weeks of work (!!) due to recurring strep throat, followed by too much weight loss, irregular blood pressure, some not-too-serious heart issues (mine), significant vomiting, and almost constant nausea.

Thankfully my mom was here for part of the time and the Mr. is patient. Because I am not an easy sick person; I am, however, an excellent complainer about being sick. Right, mom?

The second trimester has been going much better – because really, Einstein hit the nail on the head, everything is relative – but it still isn’t what I would call “easy”.  Last time I flew to Ireland, Russia, and the US during the second trimester. This time I’m not permitted to fly and my doctor encouraged me to stay relatively close (think: Germany, northern Italy, eastern France and the like). Thankfully the vomiting has stopped but I’m still dealing with irregular and short waves of nausea, flat out exhaustion, unpleasant stomach issues, continued blood pressure stuff, and now daily shooting pain in my back and left leg.

 

Pregnancy, how glamorous.

We’ve managed some of the symptoms by permitting me to be lazy (with a limited bad conscious). That means while I'm laid up on the couch, PJ is goofing around and often a movie is running. He can call out some of the lines in Monsters Inc; has shown a real liking to Ratatouille; and can sing and dance along to a German early morning cartoon called Kika. He even has a movie-watching chair. I'm not sure that is something to be proud of but we're getting on together.

 

Those problems also mean that a number of those garden projects that need to get done this spring have been one-man jobs. Let  it be known that the Mr. does NOT enjoy garden projects and suffers from some pretty nasty allergies. So it is impressive that he is doing the garden work on his own - sneezing the entire time - while I take pictures and try to keep my “suggestions” of how he could (read: should) be doing the work to myself. Very impressive.

One of the garden projects that the Mr. has done alone, before...

 

 

...and after.

And lastly, all these negative symptoms led to a larger tweak in our diet for the last two weeks. I have a tough time absorbing fructose, like that found in High Fructose Corn Syrup (HFCS), household sugar, and fruit. Most of the time I can remain in my 'okay' range by balancing the amount fructose in my diet through avoiding HFCS almost completely and thoughtful choosing my other foods. Other time, like during periods of stress (like this pregnancy), I can't and I need to be strict and go almost fructose-free to flush out my system, meaning: nothing packaged (not hard for us), nothing homemade with household sugar (a little harder but I can replace the sugar with glucose), no fresh or dried fruit, honey, or juice, (hard), and no garlic or onions (the hardest part).

Since we eat as a family, that means that the Mr. has also been going without his garlic and onions at dinner. Bless him.

But what it also means is unlimited fresh sushi!! Yeah!!

Lots of vegetarian, pregnant-lady-friendly options.

 

See, it isn’t all bad.

 

I do, also, have that lovely glowing skin and my hair shines like I’ve gotten prepped for a Pantene commercial.  And I can feel the baby moving and stretching in there. And the Mr. can occassionally feel the jelly bean poking around too. And we got to see his/her face on a 3D scan (those are so cool). And PJ runs up to pat my “baby belly” and sometimes he insists that he has to kiss it too.

Yup, it’s not all bad. In fact, it’s pretty great. I’m growing a human and no matter how I look at that, all I see is a miracle.

 

XO

 

Tell Me About Yourself Award

I was invited to be part of the the "Tell Me About Yourself" award by another blogger. The idea is to share seven things about me that you might not know. It seems to be a moving effort around the entire world. I'm stoked that I get to be a part of it. Thanks!

Since family and friends read this blog, I've had a tough time finding seven things that most of your don't know about me. Here we go:

1. I'm addicted to reading. Currently, I read about a book a week and that's with a infant in the house. Before little man arrived I read up to four books a week. I read just about anything - fiction, non-fiction, English, German - and can remember only two books that I put down and never finished.

2. I love peppermint. Mint anything: cookies, tea, After 8, alcohol, cake, candy, etc etc etc etc. I am in the wrong country for this; Germans don't like peppermint all that much. Or could this be the right country? 'Cause I always get double (at least) portions of mint-flavored goodies!

3. I met my husband in an English-as-a-Foreign-Language class. I was his teacher. It still took us about 18 months to finally get together. But talk about Hots for Teacher, right?

4. My favorite movies are Monsters Inc, Amelie, The Wedding Singer, The Princess Bride, and Hope Floats. Why? Because I feel happy after I watch them. Every time.
Bonus: I watch the last minute of Monsters Inc three times every time I watch the movie. Every time.

5. I have moved house more times than I am years old. I'm 31 years old. How 'bout them apples?

6. I do not like talking on the phone. If I talk to you on the phone, it is out of sheer love. My ear starts to hurt; I do it too much at work; and I just kinda run out of things to say if I can't see you. So, pop around. Skype me. Email me. Chat with my on Facebook or Gmail. Text me. Write on my Facebook wall. Comment on my blog. And forgive me for my lack of telephone skills.

7. Writing this blog has helped me transform almost my entire life. I've gone from a dissatisfied workaholic to a rather content woman. Since this one started, I've written through two bouts of depression; grown closer to some amazing family members (you know who you are and I love you both); and started to understand just how good I really have it. Starting this blog was one of the greatest ideas I ever had while drunk. Go red wine!





I get to pass this on to another person - YOU. If you take the challenge, please let me know!