our birth story

i guess i should start out on april 20th.

we had our routine doctor appointment and everything was looking good with xavier. my blood pressure was still high so the doctor wanted me to come back on friday to see how it was doing.

april 23rd - a surprise visitor!!


we went in to the hospital and my bp was still higher and my doctor did an ultrasound to make sure xavier was getting enough blood and everything was fine. they also wanted to test my blood. she said that we might have to come in on saturday and that if we get a call we would have to but if not then we would just see her on the following tuesday at our regular appointment.

when we were finished with that appt we went to jeremys office because they were having a "hail and farewell" lunch thing for some people in his building. while we were there jeremy checked his work email. i was looking at the screen but not paying attention to what was going on and jeremy kind of panicked and minimized it and asked why i was reading his emails. so i got suspicious! he brought it back up for me and i saw who it was from. afton moman! =) he let me read it and it was saying that her flight was on time to stuttgart and she hopes that i dont know she was coming!! i got extremely happy! i was pretty upset that she was coming all the way to europe and not coming to visit so this made my day so much better!!! she was to be arriving at 4:50pm.

we left the lunch at around 2:30 because now i needed to tidy up the house a bit. i was getting so nervous. i hadnt seen afton in a while and she was also bringing someone that used to not like me at all, well, we didnt like each other. we did get a phone call from the doctors office and they said i needed to come in because my platelets were lower than they liked and they wanted to see how they were doing the next day. after cleaning up a bit we headed out to the airport.

we got to the airport a little late and we couldnt find afton anywhere. we finally found her and it was such an awesome feeling to see her! i miss her so much! on the way home, traffic was so crappy. it was also hot so that didnt help. i think it took us like an hour or so to get home and it usually only takes like 30-40 minutes. when we got home we unloaded everything and they settled in. that night we just hung out. i was pretty tired from being on the go all day so i went to bed earlier than them.

april 24th
jeremy and i went to the hospital at around 9 to get my blood taken and wait for the results. we were there for about an hour or so and they said i needed to come back on sunday because my numbers were still dropping. by this point i was getting kind of nervous because something obviously wasnt right. when we got home we all got ready and we headed out to downtown stuttgart. we walked a ways to the indoor market and we bought fruit, veggies, cheese, and bread for dinner that night. we were going to bbq teriyaki chicken. we always make teriyaki chicken with afton and so we HAD to do it while she was in germany! we sat around downtown for a while. it was so nice out and it felt good to just sit by the fountains and such. we got home and we watched some of "the office" and then we started bbqing. dinner was great, especially with afton there. when we finished eating, everyone, except me, tried the zip line they have here at the playground. it was funny to watch them ride it. afton was the most scared about it but finally rode it! hehe that night we pretty much watched "the office" for the rest of the night.

april 25th - my birthday!

jeremy made us breakfast, which was awesome, then jeremy and i headed out to the hospital at around 11am to get my blood taken again and they let us go home instead of waiting for the results. we got home a bit later and we all got ready and went to the commissary to get deli sandwiches and stuff to go eat at the park. afton and ryann really came at a great time because it was absolutely gorgeous here! on the way to the park we were looking for parking spots and since it was so nice and everyone wanted to be there, there was absolutely no parking close by. we finally found a spot in this little lot a bit away. we got there and found a spot under a tree to eat by a bunch of tulips, it was so gorgeous! it was fun to sit there and watch all of the people taking pictures by the tulips. most of them looked like they were trying to be models. we sat there for a while and ate and then headed home.

when we got home i checked our cell phone and we had a missed call from the hospital. i called them back figuring they would just tell me that i had to come in on monday to repeat the tests. when i was talking with them they told me that since my numbers kept dropping they wanted to see me at 9am on monday and to bring all of my stuff because they were going to induce me. the feeling i felt after that was a feeling i have never ever felt. a flood of various emotions came over me to the point where i almost started to cry. it was reality that i was going to meet my son very soon. i immediately told jeremy. it was weird saying it out loud. after that we told our parents, well, jeremy got a hold of his first. i was having trouble getting a hold of anyone in my family. i finally got a hold of them after a while trying to call. everyone was so excited for us. i was getting more nervous but trying not to show it. jeremy called and made reservations at this sushi place for my birthday dinner. while we waited for dinner time to come around we watched more of "the office". i made a few more phone calls in that time to family.

dinner time came and we headed out to the sushi place. we were told we needed to make reservations and when we got there we wondered why. hahaha it wasnt busy at all. i got octopus for my appetizer and it was totally NOT worth the almost 10 euro i paid for it. lame! and i got 2 california rolls for dinner. usually california rolls are the cheapest thing on the menu because of the fact that its imitation crab used. not here. not in good ole' germany! they were the most expensive roll!!! i think it was almost 10 euro for each of those rolls. double lame! anyway, so we finished eating and came back home. i finished packing my hospital bag and xavier's diaper bag. we watched more of "the office" before we went to bed.


april 26th - induction day!
i woke up pretty early to take a shower and get ready. it was becoming more real that i was going to be giving birth soon. added to those feelings i felt extremely sad to see afton leave. it was so awesome that she came to visit us. i feel very blessed to have her as a best friend. we all headed to the hospital together because we were having shera pick afton and ryann up from there to take them to the airport since we couldnt. we got to the hospital and we sat around for a while waiting to be called back. i think it was around 10am they finally called me back. they explained to me what was probably going to happen and she did an exam to see if i was dilated at all. she said i was about a 1cm. they did a non stress test next and while that was going on afton had to come and say goodbye. i was really sad. while they were doing the non stress test the doctor started an iv and gave me a dose of antibiotics for group b-strep. i had no idea i tested positive for it because i had no idea they did the test! weird. that antibiotic was really weird. when she injected it into the iv she told me that i would start smelling something weird and i did. it smelled sort of like nail polish remover or something. it was totally weird.

at around noon they gave me my first dose of the stuff to induce me. it wasnt like what i thought - an iv of a pitocin. it was actually just half of this little pill. i cant remember what they called it but it started with a "z". jeremy and i went back to our room and watched "the office". within a half hour of taking the pill i started having small contractions. every 2 hrs we had to go back and do non stress tests, which was kind of annoying. i hated having to leave our room and go to another part of the hospital to do the tests. xavier was looking fine in the tests except the fact that he would be sleeping so they would have to come and wake him up. most of the time they would just use this stick with a bell(like a bicycle bell) and ring it around my belly, that usually worked but sometimes they would have to shake my belly. haha. i got my next dose around 5pm and the contractions were still coming but not really regular or strong enough to do anything. we continued to do the same things, watch "the office" and go do the non stress tests. this was pretty much what we did the whole time. the last test was around 10pm i believe.

before we went to that test one of the nurses came and told us that jeremy had to leave. i didnt know that he couldnt spend the night. i got extremely upset and started crying. when we were doing the test the midwife came in to talk to us and i started crying again and she asked why and i told her that they said jeremy had to leave. i just couldnt believe it. i wanted jeremy there with me. i needed jeremy with me. the contractions were getting a bit stronger but the midwife said she didnt want to give me another dose because they wanted me to sleep. they gave me some pain medicine to help me sleep and said we were set to go. before we left the room a guy came in and said that they had some bad news. i almost started freaking out(thinking it was about xavier) until he told me it was because they had to move me to a different room in a different part of the hospital because they needed my room for someone that just had a baby. i understood and asked him since we had to move everything to a different room if jeremy could spend the night. he said that he could compromise with that and he got jeremy this chair thingy to sleep on. i was so grateful to have jeremy with me. such a huge relief! we went to bed and it actually was pretty easy to fall asleep, easier than i thought.

april 27th
a nurse came and woke us up around 6:30am and said that they wanted us in labor and delivery after breakfast. so, we ate and went there to do a non stress test. i got another dose at around 11am and we were free to go walk around and such. for the majority of the day we did the same stuff as the day before but at around 5:30ish we went for a long walk and walked up and down 8 flights of stairs and by our next test for xavier i was having harder and more frequent contractions. after that test we went back to our room for a couple of hours and the contractions were coming about a minute apart and were really intense. im not going to lie, they were really painful and i cried a lot. i thought i was going to be stronger than i was, but you never know how you are going to react until you are in the situation. we went for another test around 9ish and after that one they decided to check me again and i was only 2cm dilated. the midwife asked me if i wanted to labor in the tub for a while and i totally said yes! while we were finishing up the test she got the tub ready for me. the labor room was pretty awesome. the colors were oranges and reds and it felt so calming. the tub was huge! i was excited to get in and hoping that it would relieve some of the pain. i think i spent about an hour and a half or so in the tub. it didnt do much for the pain but it was nice to be able to sway back and forth and work through the contractions that way. jeremy called the midwife in at around 11 or so to tell her that i wanted out. when i got out she said that she could check me to see if i was progressing and i had dilated to 3 and i was told i could get the epidural, which i gladly accepted. again, i thought i would have been stronger but i felt them a lot in my back and it was just horrible.

april 28th - the big day!
i got the epidural around midnight. after that things kind of took a turn for the worse. i was falling in and out of sleep for the first hour or so. sometime shortly after getting the epidural it wore off or something on my right side because i could feel contractions on my right side and only there. it sucked. i also noticed that i now had this huge ball on my left side where xavier was. he sort of curled up into my ribs and wouldnt move. it looked like this, but more extreme:

it made dealing with the contractions i was feeling on my right side super hard because i couldnt move very much and it was a bit harder to breath. around 4:45am they came in and checked me and i was fully dilated so they broke my water. about a half hour later or so they noticed xavier's heart rate was dropping and he wasnt descending so they wanted to check his blood to see if he was getting enough oxygen. this was really scary for me. they had to go up and poke his head to get the blood! this whole part reminded me of watching one of those haunted places shows on tv. sometimes they show haunted insane asylums and they flash back to show what they thought went on in one of the haunted rooms. in the flash back it was usually a bunch of doctors speaking a different language, using tools you have never seen before to torture the patient. this is exactly what i thought of. there were a few midwives there doing the procedure and they were all speaking german. i had never seen any of the tools they were using before and it freaked me out. i closed my eyes for the most part hoping that he was ok and that it would be over soon. they got his blood and tested it and said he was fine. then about a half hour later they came back in and had to test it again because he still wasnt moving and his heart rate was still dropping. this time he wasnt getting enough oxygen so they decided they had to take him via c-section. i got so scared. it all happened so fast from here. they got me into the operating room and i could see everyone getting ready. jeremy finally came in wearing scrubs after they started and they told him not to look over the curtain thing. i was so glad to have him there. i started shaking pretty bad. this happens when i get extremely scared or nervous and im not sure why it happens. there was a midwife next to me the whole time telling me it was almost over. then we heard him cry. i remember looking at jeremy and he said "there he is.". it was amazing! they took him to get cleaned up a little before they brought him to us. when we saw him we couldnt believe how beautiful he was. it was the best feeling in the world. even though i couldnt hold him right away i knew he was ok and it made me feel so much better.

they let him stay with us a bit while they stitched me up and such and then when it was time for me to go to the icu they took him to be cleaned up better and to do all of the tests on him, jeremy stayed with him for this. i was still shaking pretty bad while in the icu. i was really tired as well so before jeremy brought xavier i fell asleep. i woke up when i heard jeremy come into the room. one of the midwifes came in shortly after and got me started on breastfeeding. that was a very awesome moment for me. he did pretty good for his first time. he ate for a bit and then the midwife has to take him again. people were checking me frequently and when i could move my feet and toes they said we were ready to go to my room. they wheeled me down to the room and transferred me to my bed. the rest of the day i was in and out of sleep. shera came and visited for a while to meet xavier and i felt bad that i just slept pretty much the whole time. i was pretty exhausted and it was super stinking hot in the room. i think the temp outside got up to 80 degrees! it was crazy. jeremy left that night around 10 i think, which totally stunk. i HATED that he had to leave. but, i just went to sleep anyway and the nurses brought xavier to me whenever he needed nursed so that made it easier.


april 29th to may 3rd - the rest of our hospital stay
i was in the hospital for a total of 6 days - post c-section. every day i was in the hospital was a day for me to get better, and i did. i slowly was able to start doing things on my own which was really hard but nice. it was also nice not to have all of these bags coming out of me. they took the catheter out i think the second day and i also had these tubes coming out of my incision site that they took out of me the 3rd day. oh and when they took those out, it hurt like crazy!

during the day when jeremy was with me he helped a lot with xavier. we would go for walks together and go change his diaper and clothes together. he would help me get my food. he was such a great help and comfort. i took it really really hard that he had to leave at night. that coupled with having to have a c-section, i cried a lot. sometimes i couldnt even help that i was crying. it was really weird. i was really sad to be left alone without my husband at night and really disappointed that i had to have a c-section. i knew and understood why i had to have a c-section but dealing with the recovery and seeing the other new moms being able to walk more normal than me, wear normal clothes, doing things without help, and going home before me made me really sad. i couldnt really talk to anyone either because i didnt know german so i felt pretty alone.

the nurses and midwifes were awesome though. they helped me a lot with trying to feed xavier because he was having some latching issues. i had to pump a couple of times, once because he was just freaking out in the middle of the night and not latching and the other because he just got circumcised and he was all drugged out and was just sleeping and not latching. they had me feeding him every 2 to 3 hours because he was a little jaundice. he never got bad enough to be under the lights which was really good. when we were discharged they didnt even say anything about it so we assumed he was fine.

the day before we left the hospital xavier got circumcised and i also got checked out by my doctor to make sure everything was ok for me to leave - and it was! that last day there made me so happy because i knew that i was going home with my baby the next day. i didnt even cry! haha

may 4th - the day we went home
jeremy got xavier dressed in the coming home outfit that has been worn by 3 generations on jeremys side of the family. it was really special to us that he wore that. he looked so cute! we left the hospital around 10am. it got very cold and rainy here in germany which was lame! we got home and it felt wonderful to be home! later on in the day we made a bunch of phone calls to our families. it was good to talk to everyone. the first night was good for us. xavier slept and woke up when he wanted to eat and thats it. i was still pretty sore but able to move good. i slept on the couch, reclined because there was no way i could get up into our ginormous bed! haha


so thats it! that is our birth story! thanks for reading!

gifts, gifts, and more gifts!!!!!

here are all of the amazing gifts we have received so far - in no particular order. this blog post will be updated as we get gifts so if you dont see yours on here, its because we havent received it yet. if i miss anyone, please be sure to let me know. we LOVE everything we have received so far and feel extremely grateful to have such wonderful people in our lives to bless us and help us with our new adventure with xavier! enjoy!

first up, we have the gifts from xavier's nana (jeremy's mom)! while we were pregnant she sent us this package and it included a heart monitor to listen to xavier, that was an awesome gift! in this bunch of clothes there is a pair of long johns that i think are just incredibly adorable! he looks so comfortable wearing them, even if they are a bit too big for him right now! i cant wait until he can wear the "daddy's best buddy" onesie. =)

and some more from nana! the shoes are just too cute! also not pictured are some charms for my charm bracelet! once i put them on, i will update with a picture!

nana is just spoiling xavier!! here is another load of clothes!! the shirt that is on the back of the couch says "the dude" hahahaa i thought that was funny. there is a onesie that is baby blue cow print and says "got milk" too cute!

xavier's aunt melissa and uncle ryan(my sister and her husband) sent us some packages and she would always include something for xavier. i really like the train sleeper, i think its so cute! aunt melissa also sent us a gift card to baby's r us. once we receive the items, a picture will be posted!

our best friends, nikki and jim paino sent us a package of a ton of stuff as well as a snuggle me cushion for xavier. everything is so awesome! i really love all of the toys they sent for xavier! he also now has plenty of wash clothes for bath time and plenty of things to teeth on! AND he totally loves sleeping in his cushion!!!

our best friend, afton (xavier will be calling her auntie afton) sent us a burberry bath set and burberry slippers. i absolutely love them both! i think the little sheep on them is pretty darn cute! look at how cute the slippers are!!

while i was pregnant i joined this website called babycenter.com. i would usually go on there everyday to read up on things and such. in my birth month club someone started a "stork exchange" where you get partnered up with someone and you send each other gifts each month until may. i got partnered up with a girl named leah. we started talking right away and have become very good friends throughout this pregnancy. she is an awesome person and i am so glad that we got partnered up! she sent us some pretty great gifts throughout the months. i really like the bath toys she sent, i think xavier is totally going to have a lot of fun playing with those in the bath!

my best friend, rachel sent us this little book for parenting. the "rules" are pretty funny! im sure that when we are having a day where things are a little tougher i will refer to that book for some laughs. =)

good friends of the family, beth, kelly, and katie keenan sent a baby quilt with an owl print on it! i love it and so does xavier, it totally keeps him nice and toasty! they also sent us a book entitled, "where is baby's mommy?". 

our cousins, karen and lisa, and xavier's great aunt jamie sent us some much needed and awesome things! he really likes to be swaddled so i was extremely happy when they sent the swaddlers! we also really needed a bumper for his crib and was glad they sent that as well! i love everything!

our best friends, adam and emily taylor, sent us some super cute clothes! in the package there was this little organic set which included a burp rag, onesie, and bib. each of them had a figure on it and it says "little prince". i love what the little prince looks like! i think he is cute! i love the clothes they sent, especially the short overalls. xavier is going to look so cute in them!

uncle patrick and aunt kelly (my brother and his wife) sent us a couple of packages with some sweet clothes and such in them. i really like the "toy story" shirts they sent and cant wait for him to be big enough to wear them! jeremy really likes the onesie they sent because it has a dragon on it! hehe and the pants are super adorable! i love the blanket they sent as well because its super soft and they had his name embroidered on it!

auntie jenna (jeremy' sister and my best friend) sent us his swing that he absolutely loves to be in. sometimes he sleeps in it and sometimes he just looks around while in it. i really love it and love the fact that you can change it to swing back and forth or side to side. its awesome! he also looks really adorable in the sleeper she sent, its one of the few that actually fit him perfectly right now!

aunt melanie and uncle scott (my sister(and best friend) and her husband) sent us a whole heap of gifts! i love the burp rags, they are much needed and i am glad they are organic! included, but not pictured(i took the picture after we put it on) is a protective boppy cover! i dont want my boppy getting nasty so this is awesome! she also sent xavier's 4th of july outfit that reads "american baby"! i love it!

great auntie mar did an amazing job, like usual, and crocheted xavier a baby blanket! it is wonderful! super soft and i love the colors! it keeps him warm as well so thats always a plus!

xavier's mimi and pipi (my grandma and grandpa) sent us a package and in it was a beautiful quilt mimi made! she knew i loved precious moments and i just think this is so gorgeous! she also sent us burp clothes and bibs! i love them!

a close up:

and one of the tag she put on there:

a great friend of the family, shirley, sent xavier a little outfit and some onesies! the outfit says "all american boy"! i love it! 

xavier's great great aunt marilyn and great great uncle jerry sent us an outfit - its totally true what it says! =)

we have received a visa gift card from xavier's great aunt april and family - once we receive the items we purchased with this, a picture will be posted!

we have received target gift cards from xavier's great great aunt marilyn and great great uncle jerry, one from great great aunt sandi and cousins mindy and renea - we havent received the things we've purchased with them yet, but pictures will be posted!

that is all for right now, but like i said, this is going to be updated as/if we receive gifts so check back often!

thank you for reading!

whats been going on in our lives

jeremy and i have been busy getting things ready for xavier's arrival.

on friday(apr 9) jeremy had the day off so we got ready and went and picked up paint from self help. after we got the paint we headed up to the furniture store because i wanted to look for an area rug for our living room and possibly a glider for the baby's room. there were 2 gliders to choose from that i liked. jeremy tested each one out and we both picked the one that we liked best. we went to the furniture clerk to see if they had it in stock. of course, the did not and they didnt think they were getting more and said that that one was a promo. however, they did offer to let us buy the one off the floor and that is what we did! when i ended up going to the clerk i walked by this dining table set and totally fell in love with it. i told jeremy and he went and looked at the table and said he liked it too. he said if i wanted it we could get it! i was super happy! we checked and they did have it in stock and we got the table with 6 chairs! we couldnt take it home with us that day because our little golf is way too small for that. we did bring the glider home though. when we got home jeremy got to work on painting xavier's room. the color turned out awesome. he also got a hold of our friend, jose, to see if he could help him bring the table home and that was going to happen on saturday. jeremy finished painting and he took a shower. we both got ready and we headed to go see clash of the titans. that didnt turn out so good. we got there and there was a line just barely coming out of the door, which was really no big deal but once we looked more there was another line that had started coming out of the theater! we decided that was just too much and we would just go another day. so we headed out to the px to get some things. once that was all done we headed home for the night.

on saturday(apr 10) jeremy and jose went up to the furniture store around 10am to pick up the dining set! i was getting super excited not only for that, but our baby shower was at 1pm!!! while jeremy was gone i hopped in the shower and he was home and putting the set together by the time i got out. i continued to get ready while jeremy kept working on the table. i finished getting ready and chris and sandi met us here to follow us out to the baby shower! it was only about 10 minutes away at sharon's house. when we got there we were so amazed at how beautiful her house was. it was also huge! there was a terrace and she also has a sauna! the bathroom was as big as xavier's room and the tub was so huge! ahh, its just an amazing home! we chit chatted for a bit and then we ate. the food was really good! while we were eating there was a game on the napkins that people had to fill out and answer the questions how they thought i would answer. the questions were funny. i liked it. on the tables there were little favor bags and in the bags there were little dinosaur rubber ducks! they were awesome! jeremy liked the pterodactyl the best! after everyone was finished eating we opened up presents. i always get nervous when i am the center of attention but it wasnt that bad with jeremy up there with me. we got some amazing gifts! i was very grateful for everything we received! even the women that hosted the shower got us things and they totally shouldnt have since they already did so much for the shower! i feel so blessed to have shera, sharon, and jenny in our lives. they are all so amazing! when we were done opening presents we had some cake, which was super good! mmm! then chatted for a while and left shortly after packing everything up. i was pretty exhausted by the time we got home. jeremy started working on putting the rest of the chairs together and found out that the last 3 werent fitting together right so we had to go exchange them. we got them home and set them up. that was pretty much it for our saturday night. my favorite part of the day was obviously the baby shower! =)

on tuesday (apr 13) we had our doctor appointment which started with a nst. xavier was moving so much that it took a little longer than usual. since he was moving so much they made me drink this HUGE bottle of water and said it had to be consumed in 10 minutes! i asked if it was carbonated(because that is the kind of water they like to drink here) and the nurse said no and so i started to drink and it was mineral water! YUCK! it was so hard for me to drink that nasty stuff in 10 minutes. i only had like a minute left and there was a bit left so jeremy downed it for me. after that i felt sick. it was really lame. i was glad when the test was over though. when we were done we went and had our regular appt. and we got to see that he was head down again! yay! that made me happy! the doctor also prescribed me medication for my high blood pressure and told me to monitor my blood pressure 5 times a day and that i needed to come back in a week to see how it was doing. thats about it for that appt. very routine.

on thursday (apr 15) jeremy and i went to the exchange and got a lot of things for xavier. we got clothes, a blanket, diapers, baby wash, shampoo, lotion, diaper rash cream, gas drops, pacifiers, ect. just necessary things for him. it made me so excited! only one more month until his due date!!!

jeremy came home from work on friday(apr 16) he mapped out how he was going to put the decals on the walls of xaviers room. this took him about 2 hrs or so to do because he was being super accurate with his measurements and wanted to make sure everything looked right. it was so cute to watch him to that! =) it was even cuter to watch him put them on the wall. it didnt take too long and it looks exactly like the picture he made! the rooms looks so amazing! we dont have everything for his room yet. we are still waiting on a few things for his crib and a sign for his door, but once everything is here and done i will post pictures. i am so glad that we chose nintendo for his theme.

we didnt do much on saturday (apr 18). we went and saw a couple of movies. or at least tried to. we made it through the first one but in the middle of the second we had to leave in the middle of it because i was having major pains in my back because of the seat. it hurt so bad and told jeremy i couldnt take it anymore. it felt nice to get home and be comfortable. no more back pain! jeremy stayed up late playing video games with my brother. that was about it.

we went grocery shopping on sunday (apr 19) and got some sandwiches to eat outside since it was so beautiful. we were going to go to a park by our house but there wasnt any parking so we decided not to and just ate outside on base. it was still really nice. we got a pack of newborn diapers when we were grocery shopping and when i opened them to put them on the shelves in his room it made me almost cry because they were so tiny! i cant believe it! i also washed the rest of his clothes that we received and put them in the baskets of his changing table. everything is coming together and i cant wait!

so that brings me to today, monday (apr 20). tomorrow we have our appointment to check my blood pressure and take action because i have been monitoring it and its still high. i really hope we can get it lowered by the time i deliver! i am nervous about that. tonight we are grilling out and making teriyaki chicken with chris and sandi! i am really excited about it because i havent had teriyaki chicken in forever!

here are some pictures of thing we have received so far, mostly at the shower:

whale bathtub from josie!

sports stuff from the rosa's! see the little "cup"??

cute little outfits from jenny!

 some of the many awesome gifts from shera! diaper bag w/ diapers, bib from ireland, sippy cup from paris, onesie that says " my mom rocks", hat and burp cloth.

 boppy pillow!! from the lapierre's!

blankets! the owl one is from chris and sandi and the other one is from pat and kelly!

german high chair from the shive's!

our swing from jenna!

cute outfit from pat and kelly, jeremy loves it!

just a newborn diaper =)

doctor appt 33 w 3 d

today jeremy and i went to our routine doctor appointment. we got there and i did the basic stuff that i usually do but this time they couldnt get my blood. they tried both arms but couldnt get it from either. i dont know why that happens because i drink water all the time, even throughout the night when i get up to go to the bathroom. so its not like im dehydrated. the nurse decided after the second try that we could just try again after the appointment.

during my appointment we had an ultrasound. i asked to get pictures if he had turned. of course he was still facing my back! not only that, but he is now breech! nice. i know we still have time for him to turn so i am not too worried about it. the doctor also asked if we knew what the sex was and we told him it was a boy and he said "are you sure?" so that scared me a little, but he just verified he was a little boy! hehehe the doctor took some measurements and told me that xavier is going to be a big baby! after the ultrasound he told me that xavier is measuring about 6lbs 4oz! i have never ever been told his estimated weight and they told me today! i know that its only estimated but that still kind of scares me. i keep thinking, what if i go early, or what if he is going to be this massive 10 lb baby?! i have about 6 1/2 weeks to go. if he stays in the full 40 or even later i know i am going to have a huge baby! eek!

when we were done i went in for my first non stress test. they strapped these 2 monitors to my belly and i had to sit there for about a half hour. during that time we could hear his movements and he was moving like crazy! it was cool. when that was over, a different doctor came in and talked to us about the epidural and stuff and went over some paperwork i had to fill out. i was supposed to choose whether or not i want the epidural or if i want to wait until i am in labor to decide so i chose to wait. i am still going for the natural childbirth and really hope that i get that.

after that we went out to make another appointment and to get my blood drawn. they got this lady that has been able to get my blood before and i told jeremy that she is a pro at getting my blood and sure enough, she got it with one poke! haha i was happy about that. we set up our appointment for 2 weeks and we were on our way!

that doctor visit was over 2 hrs long! eek! i was pretty tired because i was pretty much up at 5:30 when jeremy got a call on the duty phone. poor guy! i felt bad for him because we went to bed a little later last night because he could sleep in a little bit because our appt was later.

i am getting so excited for xavier to be here, not too much longer now!! this weekend is easter and i am thinking about making a nice easter dinner. the only bad thing is i LOVE ham for easter but jeremy isnt a big fan of it so i am not sure if we will have it. i may have to think of something else and also make ham for me! =) who knows!

doctor appointment 31 w 3 d

we had our routine doctor appointment today and everything went well! i finally got the courage to ask the doctor for some pictures and of course, xavier had to be a little butt and was facing towards my back so we couldnt get a clear shot. little booger! i did get a picture though of how big his head is. hahaha oh and we got to see his hair! that was cool!

so all is well in the womb and we will be going back on the 30th! yay!

a weekend in paris

our anniversary is coming up next month and we usually go do something for it because its a special day. since i am pregnant, though, by the time our anniversary comes i will be about 37 weeks and that makes me too far along to go do anything because of the possibility of going into labor. so we decided that we would take a trip beforehand and were planning for the end of march/first weekend in april. we decided we wanted to go to paris, france.

i started looking at hotels and bed and breakfasts in paris and either some of them were over $200 a night or we had to find our own parking and walk which would cost us extra. i was getting really discouraged and was telling jeremy that it would probably be way too expensive to go there with paying for gas, parking, hotel, admission to places, food, ect. so he suggested we book through the uso. the uso is an organization that is for military and their families. they have many wonderful services and are just great at supporting the troops. the one here has free internet/computer access, xbox to play, a tv to watch, books and dvds to borrow, and they set up trips that you can book through them and everything is taken care of. they are just great. so we knew there was a trip coming up the next weekend so i called to see if there were still spots open. sure enough, there were! the next day we went and booked it! we were so excited to go and i was getting anxious since it was only a week away!

friday:

jeremy had friday off for a training holiday(which is just a free day off) and so we just vegged out all day. i packed our bags for the trip and washed his uniform so it was ready for monday since we knew we were getting back late sunday. at about 4:30pm, jeremy and i headed out to go see the new alice in wonderland on base. when we got to the theater it was already packed and we were even like 45 minutes early! it was crazy! we ordered a couple of slices of cheese pizza but they werent ready so jeremy had to go back to get them and when he did he met up with chris and sandi and thankfully we had spots still open next to us for them to sit. the movie turned out really good. i had heard that it was boring, but we didnt think so at all. we really like tim burton and this didnt really disappoint us at all. i dont think anything can be worse than sweeney todd: the demon barber of fleet street. the movie ended and we headed to the other base where the bus would pick us up. we were a bit early and had to wait like a hour and a half. hahaa but there wasnt a point in us wasting the gas to go home anyway, so we just sat in the car and listened to music.

the bus finally came at around 10pm, we loaded up and got on the road! a couple we are friends with, shera(jeremys co-worker) and shaun, were also going so they sat across from us on the bus. the bus was really nice but i thought that seats would be bigger than they were and that we would also have more leg room. i had a bigger guy sitting in front of me that reclined so that made me getting comfortable all the more difficult. jeremy was fine, as usual, and fell asleep pretty fast. we stopped in ramstein to pick up our tour guide and some other people for the trip and since nobody was sitting behind shera and shaun they offered to move back so jeremy and i could each have 2 seats to ourselves. i really needed to put my legs up so i was really grateful for that. i fell in and out of sleep for the rest of the trip. the total drive was about 8 hrs and we got to paris around 7am, saturday morning.

saturday:

when we got to the hotel we ate breakfast. they had a buffet style breakfast waiting for whoever wanted to purchase it. this one wasnt included with the trip because we hadnt stayed there yet. let me tell you, totally different than american buffets. totally worse than american buffets! they had an alright selection of food which included: sausage, bacon, eggs, cereal, croissants, chocolate croissants, apple sauce, fruit, and slices of deli meat and cheese. the chocolate croissants were pretty good. i got eggs, and bacon and the eggs were so nasty! they were scrambled and totally were made from powder! ick! the bacon was good but really salty so i only had a few bites. so i pretty much had a croissant, apple sauce, orange juice, and water. good thing we packed snacks for the trip! after breakfast they let us check in and we had about a hour and a half to rest. i was so thankful! we went up to our room and fell asleep! i so needed that little nap!

at about 9:30 we got on the bus and headed into downtown paris! when we started getting into the city it was so amazing. the buildings and bridges are just so beautiful. the french put so much detail into everything, i was just in awe.

our first stop was the notre dame, we had about 45 minutes i think to explore that. the bus parked a bit away from it so it was just a little walk and when we got closer there were these african guys trying to sell eiffel tower stuff. and they were everywhere. they had eiffel tower key chains in the bunches and you could buy the bunch for 1€, so you know it had to be cheap, haha. i dont know how many of those guys we had to tell no, just at the notre dame(yes, this means we had to tell them no plenty more times other places, which got to be a big pain!) we went inside the notre dame and it was really big and beautiful. but for some reason i wasnt all that impressed with it. i thought the outside was way more impressive than the inside. i am guessing because there were parts blocked off, they didnt have pews- just chairs set up, and there wasnt a crucifix at the altar - just a cross. after we were done touring the inside we went back outside for more pictures. in the sidewalk out front of the notre dame there is this gold plate that symbolizes the center most part of paris. that is actually where they measure all the streets and stuff from! it was pretty cool to see that.  when we were done there we met back with the bus and headed out to a perfumery.

the perfumery we toured was called "fragonard". this was probably the least exciting thing we did on the whole trip. we learned how perfume was made and how it was popular back in the day and such. pretty boring stuff. hahaa at the end we had a chance to buy some of their perfume, soaps, and lotions. we got out of their asap because it was really warm and with all of the perfume smells it was making us grumpy.

now on to the eiffel tower! of course, this was the main attraction i was looking forward to. we had a good while to explore there, which i liked. when we got there(bypassing all of the african guys trying to sell us eiffel tower stuff) and passed through the security check we crammed into an elevator that took us to the second floor. it was really weird riding the elevator because we went up in a slanted way.  when we got up to the second floor we could walk around and take in the view. for some reason i was very very nervous up top. which is weird because i never used to be nervous about things like that. jeremy and i stayed up there for a while and then wanted to head down. we could have went all the way to the top for 5€ but i was too scared. haha we were already pretty high up at the second level, which is about 420 ft high. when we went to head back down the line to the elevator was super long, so we decided to take the stairs. it took us a while to get down but we finally made it. my knees were killing me by the time we got down though, i mean, it was over 600 steps and all! we rested for a bit when we got down and jeremy went and grabbed my coat off the bus. while we were sitting there this girl - which looked like she was from the middle east - approached us asking if we knew english. we thought she needed help so we said yes. low and behold, she did need help but in the wallet! she unfolded this piece of paper which had writing on it stating she was from bosnia and that she needed money for food. we told her we didnt have any change to give her and she said she would take 20€!!!! um, ok, 20€? that is A LOT! we told her again we didnt have any change but that we could give her food. you should have seen the look on this girls face. she looked like "food? are you kidding me?". she didnt say anything so we repeated we could give her some food. she finally took it and we gave her some of these cracker things i had. she didnt say thank you or anything and walked away. seemed a little ungrateful to me, especially since she just took food from a pregnant lady! haha after that little episode we walked across the street in this park area to try and get pics of the full tower. while we were walking we were corned by two african guys. and i mean cornered. we were walking along side a fence and they kind of pinned us in. they had these embroidery floss things to make a bracelet and at the end it was tied into a ring and they wanted to place it on our fingers. well, jeremy took the bait and wanted to see what they were going to do and the guy started making a bracelet. the other guy wanted me to do it and i kept saying no but then he finally did it. they kept saying stupid crap like "hakunah matata" and stuff that like. after they were done and tied it to our wrists they wanted a "donation"! we we told them we didnt have anything to give them and they got fiesty. they kept saying that they can give us change back and we should contribute and to give them a donation and i repeatedly told them we didnt have anything to give them. its like they wouldnt take no for an answer. they even wanted to give us manicures! manicures?! i dont want your dirty nasty fingernail clippers touching me!!! so i finally told them to take the stupid bracelets off. seriously, you dont "rough up" a pregnant lady!! i was so irritated after that! we were getting hit up left and right for money! its not like in the states, its way way way worse! i didnt like it at all. we took a few pictures and headed back to the bus, and again, bypassing all of the freaks trying to sell us crap. the eiffel tower was amazing though and i am so glad that we got to experience that! when we were waiting for people from our group to get back some of the people asked the tour guide if we could go to the arc de triomph. it wasnt on our tour but they thought theyd give it a chance and so the tour guide said yes! so that was our next, unexpected stop!

they dropped us off on a side street across from the arc de triomph and we took the underground tunnel to see it up close. it was really huge! they had a grave under it for an unknown soldier from ww1 which i thought was nice. it had a flame and flowers and everything for him. the sculptures on the side were incredible! jeremy really took a liking to the saint michael one. which i think it was saint michael. anyway, he thought it was pretty cool. i was glad they took us to that. the arc is surround by a roundabout which was exceptionally crazy! people were going every which way. there werent any definite lanes so you could just drive however you wanted. it was nuts to see!

we headed back to the hotel for a rest break. they gave us about a hour and a half to take it easy. we rested for a little bit then headed out to get some food. then came back to our room and had to wait a little bit to get back on the bus for our dinner.

we got to this little french restaurant. it was so cute! the inside walls were stone and it was just so cozy! we got there and they took our orders soon after we got there. we were having a 5 course meal so we had to choose what we wanted. jeremy got escargot for the appetizer, salmon for his main dish and for dessert- sorbet. i chose shrimp cocktail, beef burgundy, and sorbet as well. the first course was champagne which neither of us got and the 4th course before dessert was a variety of cheeses. jeremy got it but i didnt because they were soft cheese. on all the tables they had carafes of white and red wine, water, soda, and baskets of bread. i was pretty bummed i couldnt try the wine, but its alright. anyway, so our appetizers came out and mine was totally not like i expected. it wasnt an american shrimp cocktail. it was a creamy dish with baby shrimp. it has peas and i think onion in it as well. it was a little sweet. needless to say i didnt like it at all. i did try escargot though and i really liked it! jeremy said he has had better but i thought it was pretty tasty! i wish i would have got that or the french onion soup. it smelled pretty good! our main dishes were both pretty tasty! i really liked how i could taste the wine in the beef burgundy. the dessert was really really sweet! they gave us two different flavors of sorbet. one was for sure pear, which i have never heard of pear sorbet before, and the other one is a mystery berry. one of the waitresses said it was blueberry but it did not taste like blueberry at all! they were both still good but i couldnt finish mine because it was too sweet! the restaurant was so much fun! they had two men walking around, one with an accordion and the other with a guitar and they were singing! it was such a great time! after everyone was done eating we got back on the bus to go on a river boat tour of the city.

the river boat tour was really relaxing. it took us pretty far down the seine river and back making it about a hour long tour. it was kind of annoying because it played a recording in about 7 different languages for the different monuments we would pass by. so i basically lost interest in paying attention. the city was really pretty at night. we got to see the notre dame again and the eiffel tower was illuminated so it was really pretty. we got to see the outside of the louvre. it was just really nice to see the city at night. when the boat turned around to head back we were facing the wind so it got really really cold. we ended up going underneath where it was warm for the remainder of the tour. when the tour was done we headed back to the hotel for the night. ahh, sleep!

sunday:

we got up around 7:15, which was way too early for me, and got ready for the day. we got down to the buffet only to be disappointed again and tried getting good things to eat. we were running short on time so we had to make it quick. we boarded the bus and were supposed to leave by 8:30 but someone was running late so we didnt get to leave until almost 9. once the last person showed up we headed to versailles, which is right outside of paris.

when we got to versailles, we visited the palace of versailles. it was incredibly huge! they gave us a hour and a half to explore there. when we got in we got headphones and this little remote so that when we got to a room that had a number to it we could punch that in and learn about that room. it was pretty cool and i liked how we could go at our own pace for the most part instead of having to listen to someone jibber jabber about each room and worry about missing something. the palace was very interesting. louis xiv lived there and he was pretty much obsessed with himself. or that is the way it seemed in paintings. there were a lot of paintings of him and there were also paintings of someone holding a painting of him or someone painting a picture of him. it was really weird. we got to see the famous "hall of mirrors". that was cool. nothing too crazy about it, just a huge hall with a lot of mirrors. it was really pretty though. the detail in some of these rooms was absolutely amazing. the kings chamber was awesome as well as the queens. overall it was a very nice museum. a lot of history and a lot to take in!

after we left versailles we headed back to paris to visit the louvre - where the mona lisa resides. this was the last stop before heading back to germany. on the bus we went by the original statue of liberty! the one that the french made for us was a bigger version of the one they already had in the city. that was awesome to see!

when we arrived at the museum we decided that we didnt want to go in because we knew we would have felt rushed because they only gave us a hour and a half and we didnt want to do that. so instead we took the subway to the hard rock cafe. shaun really wanted to go because he likes the hard rock so we all said we would go. this turned out to be a bad idea. we got there and had about an hour to sit eat and get back. the plan was to get a taxi and have them drive us back instead of walking to the subway and taking the subway. when we were done eating we had about 15 minutes to get back. so we tried to find a cab, no luck. there were cabs parked on the side of the road but nobody was there with the cars. so we just had to walk to the subway. i couldnt go really fast being over 7 months pregnant so it took a little longer. we finally made it back to the museum a half hour late and the bus was nowhere to be found! we were so worried. shera and shaun went to find a phone to call the tour guide and about 15 minutes later she showed up. she said the bus left a half hour later than planned so we JUST missed it. they were waiting up top on the bridge where they were picking up other people that had went out in town. i was kind of embarrassed that we were so late, but what can you do?

it took us about 8 hrs to get back to base. jeremy and i got home around midnight and we were so glad to sleep in our own bed. my poor legs and feet were so swollen. our legs were also really sore from walking both of the days. it was so worth it though and i cant wait to go back again!

cant sleep - random jibber jabber

right now i cant sleep. i have really bad heartburn and my upper back is hurting. i hate having to sleep only on my left side. that whole side of my body gets really sore and achey. i have heard that you can sleep on your right while pregnant but the left is better for circulation to the baby, so that is what i do. my left hip is bothering me and has been for a while now. it feels really loose and makes it hard to walk or bend over. not that bending over is easy right now, but it makes it even more complicated. speaking of that, i was cleaning up today and found that i was squatting more than bending over. hahaha i thought that was funny.

this past weekend jeremy and i purchased xavier's crib and changing table! i am so excited. he set it up on sunday. very easy. we got an awesome deal on them too. we went up to the exchange to see if they had them in stock and i went to grab the tickets to take to the furniture clerk and i guess there was a huge sale going on because the crib said $187.99(reg. $299.99) and the changing table $149.99(reg. $199.99). i was very happy and proceeded to go talk to the furniture clerk to see if they were in stock to get everything going. they were and she got us all set to go up to the front and pay for them(they have to print a separate invoice) and when we got up to the check out the crib was ringing up at $249.99. we told them that it was marked differently. so we had to go all the way back to the crib and show the clerk and they took all of the tags off that said the lower price. someone marked it wrong so they had to give it to us for the cheaper price! so we got the crib for almost half off! it was amazing! we still have to buy the mattress which we will probably do this weekend. then we need to think of a character so his quilt can be made!

i cant believe that he is due in 2 1/2 months! it seems like its going by way too fast! i love it though! jeremy and i always talk about what we are going to do when he is here and jeremy is getting really excited about being a dad. i know he is going to be a great one! he already is a great one and xavier isnt here yet! =) 

i sort of want it to be windy again. on sunday we had this HUGE wind storm come through. it was nice outside but really really windy. while i was just in bed trying to sleep i totally remembered that adam and emily bought me this awesome owl kite for my birthday last year and i could have totally used it then! so now, please let it be windy again soon! i want to use it!

winrey has been being a pain in the rear lately! in the mornings she will wake me up by crying. i dont know what she wants if it is just attention or what, but it is really annoying. this morning i even had to kick her out of our bedroom. i dont like doing that but i couldnt get back to sleep.

jeremy has his exam tomorrow to advance to an e-6! i really really hope he passes and makes it! then he will be a petty officer 1st class! woohoo!!

alright, i am going to try and get comfortable enough in bed to sleep.....hopefully it doesnt take too long.