Currently: August

Eating the last of the black cherries I bought the other day.

Preparing for my 36 week OB appointment coming up this week.

Loving these cooler 70 degree days. It beats 100 degree heat anytime, especially during a summer pregnancy.

Tidying up the guest room for my mom's upcoming visit post-baby.

Sewing another craft for Little Mister's nursery.

Anxious for the school year to start. Ariana is going into German Immersion Kindergarten this year.

Planning quick and easy meals I can have on hand once the baby arrives.

Wishing I had a house elf to some cleaning around here.

Swimming with Ariana at the base pool.

Sleeping uncomfortably most nights.

Learning to use the new printer I got for my birthday this week and hoping it helps with keeping me up to date with printing photos.

Happy to have celebrated my 29th (and 1st) birthday in Germany. The other 2 I was lucky enough to be with family in Florida.

Waiting on my new carseat for Little Mister to arrive in the mail. It's the last of the baby items!

Undecided on a baby name still. Yesterday was the 8th, now it's officially less than a month left until my due date!

Reflections on this Pregnancy

I haven't shared a lot about this pregnancy on my blog. 

I haven't posted ultrasound pictures, dear baby letters, maternity wardrobe photos, or even shared bits and pieces of his nursery yet.

In a way, this surprises me. 

While we are beyond excited and giddy with his impeding arrival, there has been some worrying too. Some fears. Some concerns. I've kept it all close to my heart.

I find it curious that people have asked me if this baby was planned...like I'm over 40 or working on my 11th child. I answer a simple yes with a smile, but in my heart I want to say you will never know how long this baby has been planned for, waited on, and dreamed of. You will never truly know the struggle and heartache we have been through to get to this point. So yes, this baby was most definitely planned. 

2012 wasn't an easy year.

Autumn wasn't the best season.

2013 started out rocky.

June was a bit of a struggle.

July is teetering back and forth.

And with it all I guess I've taken a step back and needed time to process it all instead of immediately sharing it all here. Some of it I didn't (and still don't) know if I was ready to put into words. I'm not sure if I'm waiting until the delivery and then will breath a sigh of relief and share our story or if I'll just be glad to be through it and make it part of the past.

Sometimes people who you are close to shock you by their words and actions. And you think to yourself if that person, that I was so close to responded that way, how would people who don't really know me react? Would they be supportive? Or would they be negative? What comments would they have? Could I handle it?

So for now, I've decided to keep it private.

We are so blessed and can't wait to hold our little love. We love you baby boy!

*I am currently 32 weeks pregnant. This photograph was taken last week in Sardinia at sunset by my wonderful husband. I was 31 weeks pregnant.

Naming a baby in Germany

Choosing a name for a baby is a big deal. I mean it's what they will be called for life. That's huge, and scary, and can be overwhelming at times. Some people use classic family names that have been around for generations while others choose something more unique and trendy. There are the people that know the name they are going to use before they are even pregnant, and some people wait until they meet their child before choosing a name. 

Whenever people find out you're pregnant everyone wants to chat about baby names. Everyone has their favorite names or names they absolutely hate. Everyone has an opinion.

Thinking about nicknames, initials, meanings behind a name, all of those things are things you think about when talking baby names. Naming someone for life is hard.

And  if you have older children, you have to worry about how it will sound along side each other. Do they sound nice together? Because, let's face it, you'll probably be saying them together a lot, calling them for dinner, talking about them in general.

But, if all of that isn't stressful enough, in the USA you can name your child pretty much anything you want, but imagine if you lived in Germany and had to deal with baby-naming laws.

Yes, you read that right. 

Germany has laws on baby-naming! 

You better think twice before naming your Junge (boys) and Mädchen (girls)

I know you are wondering what these restrictions are and here are some of them:

• Names must be gender specific, except for Maria which can be used as a second boy's name.


• Names must follow order and decency. 


• No biblical names with negative connections or negative names in general  (Cain, Lucifer, Adolph)


• No names of products or brands. (Nike, Apple)


• A child can have up to 5 names, but only 28 characters in a name. 


• Surnames can not be used as first names.


• No geographical names. (Berlin, Paris, River)


• No titles of nobility. (Princess, Duke)


• No names that will “negatively affect the well-being of the child.”
  

Here are some interesting facts I found when researching this:

Huckleberry was turned down because the character Huckleberry Finn was an outsider in the Mark Twain novel.

Miatt was denied because it wasn't known whether or not it was male or female.

The name Whoppi (to honor Whoppi Goldberg) was denied because of the expression "making whoopee". 

Your name has to be approved by the office of vital statistics, the Standesamt, in your region. Each name you submit costs a fine. If you name is denied, you can submit a new name for another fee.

So what DO Germans name their children?

My landlord told me two popular boy names now are Max and Otto. Seems right.

I also found boy and girl name lists for the top 5 German names in 2012.

Boys:

1. Luca

2. Maximilian

3. Alexander

4. Paul

5. Ben

Girls:

1. Sophie

2. Marie

3. Maria

4. Sophia

5. Mia

Pretty average names huh? 

Luckily, for our family, none of these baby naming laws are a problem because we don't fall under these restrictions. We get to pick a name that suits us and our family without having to check with the local law. And for now we're still debating. Like I said, it's hard naming someone for life. But, we think we have it down to 2 names. For now we're keeping them under wraps.

So, would you have a problem with name restrictions? 

Would a name you love be denied? 

Or do you think naming laws are a good idea?

Resources: gfds.de,  babble.com, bbc.co.uk, huffingtonpost.com, about.com

Spring Around Here

 Spring hasn't really hit around here. It comes for a day or so with it sunshine and warm 60 degree weather and then boom, we get a high of 36 and rain for a whole week. A whole week! And it's end of May/beginning of June. Blah. I'm hoping that the month of June will bring us the warmth that we are craving. I think about 68-72 would be nice. Take into consideration that we don't have air conditioning and I can live with that. Everything is nicer when it's not constantly raining.

We made caprese  salads for the first time at home and it was so easy. I don't know why we've never done it before. Tomatoes, mozzarella, basil, balsamic vinegar and a little salt and pepper. Boom, amazing.

On those rare nice days we take Ariana for walks and let her ride her new bike. We've only been able to take it out about 4 or 5 times in the month that we've owned it. We like the paved walking trail by our village since it's close, but we've also let her ride it around the housing area on base. We can't ride it on our street very easily because we live on such a hill, but she and Richard took a walk/ride down to the local bakery in our village the other day so it can be done.

And with Spring comes the best pets ever. Snails! Ariana love love loves finding snails and I'm right there with her, I think they are pretty darn cute too. We've had snails as pets before and they are so simple. Just make sure you give them some things to munch on (weeds, sticks, cucumber, broccoli) and keep their area damp and they are happy. Unlike our last pet snails that had a ton of snail babies, this time we found a little garden snail and Ariana named her "Sweetie Princess". We only kept her for a few days and then set her free back in our garden by the lilies I'm waiting to see bloom.

Our garden is blooming pretty nicely, even though some of the flowers have been overwatered by the rain and the fact that they don't have enough drain holes on the bottom of the pots. I always kill ranunculus and it's a pity because I think they are such pretty flowers. Our apple trees were even finally blooming not that long ago.

My Mother's Day

Mother's Day is such a special day, especially now that Ariana's old enough to make me pretty gifts, drawings and cards. I love getting her handmade goodies! This year in preschool they made ceramic handprints. These aren't like the usual handprint that's sunken into the clay but raised up. There is also a sweet poem on the back that had me tearing up and I could barely read it out loud.

My Mother's Day consisted of sleeping in (a little) while she and Daddy made these awesome homemade cinnamon rolls. I got to spend time leisurely waking up and enjoyed reading a few chapters of my book before Daddy reminded her of the present from preschool and I heard her getting it out of the hiding place in her room. 

She dashed in with a "Happy Mother's Day!" and snuggled on the bed with me while I opened my cards and the handmade gift. The rest of the day consisted of me indulging in too many cinnamon rolls and relaxing with my family. It was pretty awesome! 

Of course, living in Germany presents challenges when trying to order items online (even if you order them weeks in advance) and my custom rings from Olive Bungalow got here a day late. But, they were beautiful! A hand crafted customized peridot ring (my birthstone as the mom) and a citrine ring (Ariana's birthstone) as the smaller one. When our little boy is born, I'll get his birthstone made into a stackable ring too. Richard and Ariana did such a great job picking pretty ones! And it was a great surprise too!

I also got a pretty pot of flowers for the window in our room with my favorite color butterfly as decoration. Ariana got a matching flower for her room too, it's pretty sweet!

Ariana's Room Tour

Welcome to Ariana's bedroom in Germany!

About 6 months ago we gave Ariana's room an update with new furniture from our Base Exchange that she can grown into as she becomes a little girl and not a baby or toddler. I'm finally getting around to taking photos and sharing them on the blog. A lot of the details we had in her room since she was a baby and some of them are from when I was a little girl! I'm not sure what you would call this style besides girly. Here we go.

We have an family friend (that's known our family since before I was born) who lives in Texas. She makes quilts and she made us this pretty quilt for Ariana's room. Nothing better than something made from the heart!

Ariana loves to sleep with stuffed animals and whoever is her newest doll or toy from our latest vacation. Currently she has "Berry" the Polar Bear from the Tiergarten Zoo in Austria, "Hole" her blanket bunny she's had since she was born, and her doll from Hungary.

Ariana loves to play dress up so we've had a dress up corner set up for her for the past year or so. Little wooden butterfly hooks are perfect for displaying dresses and cute accessories like her purses. We use a basket to store the shoes, a little jewerly box for the what seems like millions of beaded necklaces and for now just a tote box serves as our catch all for the rest of the dresses, hats, purses, crowns, boas and whatnots.

The doll sitting on her bookshelf is actually a porcelain puppet from Prague.

Her nightstand is too sweet to me. We bought her this ceramic carousel music box for Christmas and she loves playing it every night. She also has a framed picture of all of us from when Richard left for deployment in 2011/2012.

She also keeps some trinkets she's collected. A wooden tulip from Holland, a glass penguin from Czech Republic, mini Eiffel Tower from Paris, and a rock. These are her special things.

This is the other music box she has in her room. I got that as a baby from one of my mom's long time friends. The music is jerky when you play it but Ariana still loves having it in her room and looking at it.

The picture hanging over her chest of drawers is one of my favorites. It's of Alice in Wonderland and we bought it at a cute little boutique shop in Omaha Nebraska when I was pregnant with her and decorating her nursery.

When she was a baby I always put a bow and headband in her hair and made her a hairbow holder one weekend. 

Also just a few of her favorite dolls and bears.

Now that I know I'm having a boy, I can't wait to decorate a little boy's room! I've already started searching for fun finds online to create a cute space for him!

Currently: May edition

Enjoying popsicles on every warm sunshiney day I get. This Sprite and gummy bear one was interesting.

Saying a lot of names out loud to feel them out for our little one.

Reading The Bell Jar. It starts out slow and then suddenly seems to take a turn towards weird. I'm about half way so far.

Pleased to have worked with The Shopping Mama website taking photographs.

Debating on taking a last mini vacation for the summer.

Driving a lot. To base. To school. To dance. To gymnastics. It seems like I'm spending so much time in the car lately.

Happy that Game of Thrones is back on TV.

Narrating the Magic Treehouse book series to Ariana.

Wondering if we should move on base.

Checking the calendar a lot these days. We've been so busy.

Preparing to make another photo book (similar to this one)

Wishing I had an iphone mainly just for instagram.

Loving caprese salads.

Watching our rhubarb grow.

Searching online for rhubarb recipes.

Das Praehistorium

Over the winter break we went to visit Das Praehistorium about 40 minutes away here in Germany. It was a very impressive museum and even though everything was in German of course, they offered headsets in English. There were lots of robotic dinosaurs and information as well as fossils. Ariana loves dinosaurs and even though most of it was over her head, she still really enjoyed the outing.

 The giant puzzle was a hit since we like doing puzzles.

The flood room was my favorite. There was calm and peaceful and then a storm started building and their was lightening and mist in the air and then suddenly water comes pouring down the valley.

Ariana wasn't much of a fan of the T-rex eating another dinosaur but in general she loved the robotic dinosaurs, they were pretty lifelike and did a lot of moving, breathing, and noises. 

They also had a movie about evolution and a 3-d movie about dinosaurs. We thought it was all put together very well.

If you want to go there yourself, you can check out the website here. We would definitely go again and there is also an indoor gym area for kids to play in another part of the building.

2013

As the end of 2012 approached last night I was feeling a little down. I was sitting at home alone. My husband was at work all night until 7 am. Our daughter was sleeping. It was just me and my glass of Moscato ringing in the new year. But then it struck midnight and that magical thing happened in Germany. The thing that I always downplay in my head and "almost" forget about. The fireworks start going off. Everyone in our little German village is shooting off their own fireworks and they light up the night sky. The church bells start chiming too. "Ringing" in the new year with gusto! For a solid 20 minutes at least this goes on. Fireworks bursting and church bells ringing. It's hard not to smile. As I lean outside the window looking into our backyard and take in this magical moment, I realize this year brings new joy and new promises. Why not celebrate that. 

Thank you Germany for that magical moment. And thank you Moscato for my midnight kiss!

So, goodbye 2012. Happy New 2013 friends! With love and gusto from Germany!

Christmas in Germany!

Christmas is upon us and with it brings one of my favorite things. It's probably my favorite part of living in Germany, Christmas Markets! I just love these outdoor street markets. Little shops, and food stalls are set up in most cities here in Germany. They have lots of gluhwein (spiced mulled wine) wooden handmade goods, ornaments, decorations for your house, crocheted and knitted delights, knick knacks, all kinds of food, little rides, and some even have ice skating. 

All with twinkling lights against the beautiful German buildings, churches and the occasional castle! What is there not to love! This year we've been going to lots of different markets: Trier, Saarbrucken, Kaiserslautern, Heidelberg, Landstuhl and Bernkastel-Kues. Each one has it's own unique feel. With only a week left until Christmas, we are hoping to sneak in one last trip before they are gone for another year.

For me I love having hot kartoffelpuffer (fried potato cakes served with applesauce) and gluhwein is a must. Eeirpunsch  (egg punch) is not like the egg nog that we are used to.

And most places have their own mugs made for each year. They are collectable so of course I have one from each place! We really enjoyed Saarbrucken, it's a nice big market and they even decorate the trash cans. Heidelberg is one of my favorites though. I love that city!

Seriously my favorite! These photos were taken at the various markets. I hope this gave you a good feel of the market atmosphere!