And the Baby is really there...

Today marked a very important day for us. I felt the baby. I was laying in bed watching a movie with Blake, when all of a sudden, there were three very distinct bubble-like taps about two inches below my belly button, all in the same spot. I have not been gassy today, and I just knew. I knew it was our little one, making itself known. I shed a tear...yes, pregnancy has made me a wus! Blake laughed as my tear was shed, reminding me how I thought it was going to feel like an alien was living in there. I am so glad I don't feel like that. We are both very happy!!! I just had to share! I know I will be wanting the baby to NOT move, later on, but right now, it's the next step. Everything is still going okay. I'm thrilled!!

Botched Chicken Noodle

I made homemade chicken noodle soup today. I actually made the broth a couple of days ago, but there were some unexpected out to eats!! (I got kalamari, yum yum yum!!!). So anyway, back to the soup. I made the noodles today, just thinking about how yummy this is going to be. I keep trying to replicate my sister's soup. She makes the BEST homemade soup ever! Well, my noodles stuck to the counter, and I ended up having to scrape most of them off and I ended up with chicken blob soup. They were still good, jsut not quite the same. The broth was waaaay too salty, though. I still ate two bowls of it (I was starving at this point). It was better than my last attempt, so I am getting better at it. My goal is to be able to make it like Jess does. Hers is just so yummy. I often dream of food. My husband laughs at me. Like, the other night, I had the kalamari. It made an appearance in my dream that night and last night! It was just so good. This has happened with quite a few foods that are just that good. My sister's soup is one of those things. I literally dream of eating it. This is not a pregnancy thing, either. This has always happened. When we first got here to Germany, we ate at this resturaunt that served the best canelloni ever. I dreampt about that canalloni for weeks! Blake finally took me back to get some more, just so he would stop hearing about the dreams! He is so good to eat my cooking. He has eaten my soup before, but he lucked out this time. He is working nights right now, so he was sleeping during supper. He wasn't that sad....

A Wonderful Hiding Place!

I couldn't figure out what our darling Gratch was planning. He had been stalking the tv and dvd bookshelf all morning. Blake has already gone to bed, so Gratch is hanging out with me today. He seems to think he can get away with a lot more when Blake isn't around. It's quite humorous. So, I was just typing away on the computer, and I happened to look up, and guess where the cat is? Under my Marie Antoinette doll! Just hanging out, I guess.

I took a couple of pictures, and then said "Why don't you come out from under there?" He totally did. I think he thought he wasn't allowed up there. We don't really let him climb all over things, like the tv stand and what not. It was just funny!!

On another note...I just wanted to post a picture I just took to prove that the cat really does love me when nobody is around. It's kind of a joke around here that Gratch prefers Blake to me. The animal will never sit and cuddle with me, just Blake. This is fine, as Blake is the one getting covered with cat hair :) However, when no one is around, Gratch loves to cuddle with me. This is my attempt at taking a picture of the two of us. You'll never get a good picture, taken by somebody else, seeing as if anyone else is in the room, or the house, he just loves them instead. He is a cuddle monkey when he wants to be, though.

As I finish this post, I just want to let you know that Gratch is, once again, trying to get underneath the dolls dress. I think it's funny how cats like to be hidden like this. He is so funny and makes my days so very intersting! Thank you Mother for bringing him over to me!!

Internet...Grrrr.....

So, do you want to know what I find interesting? The fact that internet is not internet. You would think that anywhere you log on to the internet, would be in English. It's not. I know this all makes sense, me living in Germany and all...but how do they know? Especially when you are logged into, say Hotmail, and it's registered that you live in the states!! Why would your home page be in German?? It so goes way over my head. It's so aggravating when you are trying to find something, you finally find the correct webpage, and there isn't any language button. The blog is quite simple. I just go to my dashboard, and there's a dropdown menu of languages. Google..I had to search for google in english, but I found it and have it bookmarked. The same goes for Yahoo, Target and Amazon. That's pretty easy. Other things are not. I also don't understand why, if you punch something into english google, does it still sometimes come up with german sites. This is just my vent for the day. Our internet is slow at best anyhow, so when you add language issues to the mix, it makes for a very interesting day. So, I feel better having just enlightened you all on my inadequacies in the computering world. I just don't understand, but that's okay. At least I have internet at all!

Evolution Vs. Creationism...

As I lay in bed tonight, my thoughts (surprise, surprise) are on the baby. We have had a bout of all-day sickness yesterday and today. I believe it's becuase we've just switched work shifts, and getting on track with the sleeping and the eating is difficult. So, back to my original thoughts. I'm just sitting here, reflecting on the day. We watched a program today that had a segment on evolution vs creationism in schools. Becuase evolution is not a religous practice, it can be legally tought in science class as how the human race came to be about. However, on the opposite side of things, creationism is "religioius" becuase it talks of a "higher being" (God) creating mankind. Creationism can be taught in religous theory classes, but not science classes. I find this confusing. I don't understand why both aren't taught as theory, instead of one being taught as fact, and the other isn't even brought up in science classes. It just confuses me. I know everyone is all about the separation of church and state, but where does it end? Now that we are going to have a child that will eventually be in the education system, it provokes thought. Not that I havn't thought about it before, but it hits a little closer to home now. I just want the best for this little person that God has entrusted to me. I believe as parents, its our responsibility to make sure our children are taught what's right and moral. Okay, so this ends my rant for the moment. I just have a lot of thoughts that float around my ever shrinking brain :) I want so much for this little person to grow up with faith and belief in God. I don't really know how military schools work, but it will be interesting to find out...down the road, of course:) I guess I have a little bit of time before any of this comes into play for us. I just wanted to share some thoughts.

152

152 happens to be my favorite number at the moment. This is the heart bpm of the littlest Henry. Doctor Holland didn't even have to search for the heartbeat. He found it right away! I was so pleased. He said everything is on track with being 14 weeks along. Our next appointment is in 6 weeks, and it's the big one. We get to find out what we are having!!! I am so psyched!! I just can't believe that everything is going okay! I am so relieved that he was able to find the heartbeat at all. It's such a squishy-swooshy, but precious, little noise. He answered all of our questions we've had so far. I had quite a few! We are going out this afternoon to buy our baby apointment gift. I like us to buy something for the baby every time we have a succesful appointment. I don't know what we are going to buy for this one. On the last apointment, we bought a pack of gender neutral onesies. I know for our next appointment, I want to buy the crib. Or at least order the crib on base. We have a limited selection over here. Anyway, I guess I just rambled. Back to the heartbeat...It was so amazing to actually hear the little persons heart. Blake and I both think it's a little like having an alien living in my tummy. It's kind of strange when you think about it. Very surreal. I now know exactly where my uterus is. This has been bugging me lately. It seems as if it's about an inch or two above the pelvic bone. Woo-hoo! Blake caught site of the button on my jeans today. He wondered what on earth I was doing with a rubberband around the button, instead of just buttoning it. I told him that the jeans just didn't want to button, and it gave me cramps to do it, so this is a very easy fix that a lot of pregnant women do. He told me to go buy maternity pants that fit...He says if they are too tight with them buttoned, then they are too small to be wearing. We had a good laugh over this. He'd just never heard of doing that before. So, even though it was a very early morning for us, it has been a very wonderful day. The baby is past the most critical and dangerous stage of the pregnancy and we can now relax and enjoy the rest of it. We are sooo looking foward to next month. Finding out the sex of the baby is just so exciting!!! I will be defenitly letting you all know!

Willow Tree

So, while I sit here and wait for the soup I just ate to hit bottom, I thought I would share with you all about the gift my mother-in-law, Teri, sent. She sent us two willow tree figurines. My sister wasn't familiar with what willow tree is, so I thought I'd post a picture of them. I'm sure she'll recognize them when she see's them. I don't have any willow tree people, so these will make a nice addition to the baby's room. Teri sent us the pregnant woman labeled "Cherish" and the daddy with the baby labeled "New Dad". She also sent a really cute maternity tanktop and another tanktop for Blake. It was very nice of her to think of us. She always sends the most interesting packages. We are very excited as tomorrow we get to hear the baby's heartbeat for the first time. We have to get up awfully early to be at the appointment on time, but it's sooo worth it! The hospital (and emergency room) is a half hour away, in good traffic and no rain. The good traffic and no rain has only ever happened once to me! We are hoping for good traffic and no rain or snow come February!

...........................................

(Okay, this is a little later in my day. I just had to post that the little girl that lives across the street from us is singing "A Whole New World" from Aladdin, in german! It's so adorable! She's about Valerie's age. I kept wondering why I was hearing the Aladdin song, and here she is, singing quite loud and it's just cute!)

Our Crazed Feline

The shredded bag

(I just noticed, you can see his teeth marks on the cardboard sticking out the side)

The cat, in his "I'm stalking you as you walk into the livingroom" pose

(I'm not quite sure why his eyes ended up glowy)

So, our lovely cat, Gratch had an interesting night. It became interesting for all of us that live and sleep in the house. He decided to take his ribbon with a bell tied on the end of it, and play with it all night. He would drag it up the stairs, get it all the way up there, then drop it off the ledge, letting it drop down each individual step.He did this quite a few times before Blake woke up and took the toy away. He still found it. Eventually it went in a drawer. Between the cat and having to pee ALL the time, this caused very few actual hours of sleep. Then came the morning. Blake came down and found the plastic bag. We aren't really sure what the thought was behind the shredding of the bag. Gratch doesn't have front claws. Only back claws and teeth. The bag wasn't even closed. All that was in it was a few wrappings from a crayon tower I won at bingo the other night. It was crazy. Then, to top everything off, when Blake got down to the kitchen, Gratch was sitting there on the counter. Nothing was on the counter, he was just relaxing up there. I'm under strict orders to keep Gratch awake today so he will defenitly sleep tonight. The cat got wise to my game about two hours into the day. He would go and lay down in the kitchen where I couldn't see him. I would then have to bribe him to come back into the livingroom and be awake by giving him a treat. He loves this, of course. I think he was abusing this after awhile as well. He's a very smart cat...at times, anyway. We always think he's so adorable...then we remember. He's a bit on the evil side. He does keep life interesting, though. There isn't really ever a dull moment when he's around.

The end of the 1st trimester

I was taken off guard in the above picture...but, as you can see, still not showing :(

So we have finally made it to the end..the end of the beginning, that is. If you didn't already know, my ticker is off by 2 days. Tomorrow, we hit 13 weeks, the official beginning of the 2nd trimester. Next week we get to hear the heartbeat for the first time, and that's super exciting! I sometimes worry that they won't be able to find the heartbeat, but those are thoughts I just have to put out of my mind. Everything is okay and there's no reason to think otherwise. It's been a long first trimester. The worries that I had are finally beginning to dissapate. I'm still not showing at all, but I'm sure that will change in the next few weeks. I look chunkier, but it isn't the baby showing yet..it's just chunk. The love of deviled eggs had gone away for the time being also. This is great seeing as I can't stand the smell of eggs, but the taste was great. I won't have to smell them for awhile. The morning sickness seemed to really only last 2 weeks. My sister was a little disgusted at this. She was sick throughout her pregnancies. I still get the occasional yuckiness, but for the most part, headaches and stretching of the uterus are the only symtoms I have left. Oh, and the breakouts on my face. These just started a few days ago. Yuck! I am really happy that everything still seems to be going okay. I still think it's going to be a boy, but my sister-in-law thinks it will be a girl. So does my friend Kimberly, and so does Blake. Blake doesn't really count, though. He thought it was going to be twins. They pretty much ruled that out at 6 weeks, but they did say they have been wrong before. I don't think they were. I'm sooo good with just one. Valerie and Blake sure do like to tease about it! We get our next ultrasound in September, I think. From what I understand, we get referred off base to one of teh local german doctors, and we get a 4-D ultrasound done. This is pretty cool. I'm not sure if that's a defenite, but it seems that way. It will be so exciting to find out what it is! I will be posting a "belly shot" at the top of this, I just havn't taken it yet. Blake had to go to work for a few hours, but he will be back...and then I'm going and playing Bingo (woo hoo!!), but then once I get home, We will take the picture. Then I will post it at the top.