Wednesday, July 15

8 Weeks

Last week-end marked the eight week mark and we decided to start taking bump pictures to document the pregnancy. So here I am at eight weeks with a bit of a belly that I don't even think I can blame on the baby at this point. 
So far my symptoms are pretty steady (1) a lot of miscellaneous cramping, but nothing too severe, (2) occasional queasiness, which seemed to be getting worse last week, but hasn't been bad at all the past few days, and (3) general tiredness.

Miran's Birthday

Miran's 35th Birthday has spread out over the past week as he opened some presents early and others came late. He really cleaned up this year as his birthday coincided with our contract renewal for our cell phones so getting new phones and accessories got bundled into the birthday.

Random Summer Stuff



This post is a random collection of photos from the past few weeks - our general goings on.

First, after a year of slowly gathering documents I finally got it together and submitted an application for restored German citizenship through Granpa. Here is me and my cover letter and envelope of documents ready to be mailed.
Over the Fourth of July week-end Cecilia and the girls and Mom and Dad visited. We went the Charlotte Symphony's concert in the park. It was all patriotic music followed by a pretty impressive fireworks show. We had a 10 minute downpour before the concert started, but we covered ourselves with blankets and waited it out adn the rest of the evening was perfectly pleasant.
The visit overlapped with the final few games of the Women's World Cup, so the girls joined Miran in game watching and provided plenty of interference. They were pretending to be a full service salon that offered everything from foot and back massages to make overs and hair styling.
We also went to a fun indoor pool with slides and a lazy river (no pictures) as well as checked out the children's library. Here is Maggie posing in a book sculpture in front of the library.
Kico has been a bit lonely as there is much less activity downstairs than normal with Milada and Azra gone for the summer. We've tried to make an effort to watch shows or games downstairs in the evening as well as to take him for walks as often as we can. We've also been buying him toys to entertain himself, which he definitely enjoys, though tends to destroy very quickly.
We've signed a contract to have our house re-painted the first week of September. It desperately needs it. We are going gray, but haven't settled on a shade yet. Here are some paint samples I painted in the back. I am leaning towards the middle gray, but Miran likes the darker shade. We have a while yet to make a decision.
And finally, the garden is in full bloom, and even though he scaled way back this year, it looks like we'll have more peppers and tomatoes than we need. The extreme heat and lack of rain has made it a bigger project as Miran has to go out and really water it every other night. Sometimes I join him and have been slowly weeding around the edges - you can see the half of the front I've managed to clear out.

Tuesday, July 7

Ultrasound Pictures

We just got home at 6:00 after a long day of errands. Miran had taken off for the ultrasound and we maximized the afternoon. Mostly we dealt with his car and with renewing our drivers licenses (spent quite awhile at the DMV). 

But we did of course start the day with the ultrasound and then went out for a celebratory lunch. Here are the two ultrasound photos - the first shows the steady heartbeat and the second is a better shot of the baby itself.
We were both very excited and can hardly believe it is working. Of course we aren't in the clear yet, but with each milestone we are getting a little more confident. Of course seeing these photos and hearing the heartbeat makes it a whole lot more real. There is a little person inside me. Crazy!

I can start phasing out one of my five meds now (the estrogen). We go back in two weeks for another ultrasound and to decide how much longer I take the other meds. That will depend on some blood work taken today.

Strong Heartbeat!

Everything looked right on track at the ultrasound today. One good looking baby that is over a centimeter long with a heartbeat of 147 beats per minute. Due around February 20th. I will post the picture when we get home; we are having lunch now and then have some errands to run first.