17 days til baby and 2 days til family! Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Well this might be my last post as a pregnant woman!  I sure hope so because Im ready to be a mom instead of a just walking around with a huge belly.  Right now I call him my squirmy wormy because he is always on the go and while I love the movement and love the look on Paul's face when my belly does a dance I can't wait to meet him.  Today marks 37 weeks and 4 days and I feel like just last week I was 27 weeks.  Paul is in disbelief too that it has gone this fast and that he will be a daddy so soon.  We are so excited though and couldn't be any more ready.  Here's a couple pics from 36/37 weeks.

I haven't been working for 2.5 weeks and I've loved it but it has flown by!  I made a to-do list to finish before my family got here and it will definitely be finished by tomorrow.  We finally got the insurance thing figured out and have a pediatrician and everything we need for Jakob's arrival.  I am super relieved.  And now my family will be here in less than 2 days!  I haven't seen my mom or brothers in 11 months and it will be an awesome reunion!  Paul ordered our 8 kg turkey in German from the grocery and I can't wait to do a real Christmas dinner in our place.  We'll take them around Switzerland and hopefully I'll be able to do most everything with them.  Here's Jakob's little corner... I wish I had more decoration but that's not the easiest to get here when Im craft/artistically challenged.  The green thing is the bassinet that slides into our stroller.  We'll use it at the least the first couple weeks like this.

We still don't have a Christmas tree but when my family gets here we will go find one and decorate it with a few things I bought.  I found the perfect little 5 foot-er for 50 bucks the other day when we were Christmas shopping so hopefully I'll be able to find one again and the boys can carry it home.  :)  Last weekend we actually found a few good stores to shop in for Christmas presents!  A little late but Im glad we finally found stuff because I have been getting super disappointed in the options here for the not-rich people.  We went to a mall on Saturday and didn't find anything but that Sunday happened to be one of 2 Sundays that some places open up for Christmas shopping  so we took advantage and found some good stuff!

Anyway, it's a winter wonderland here... at least today is.  It has been snowing a lot lately and actually staying cold enough that it isn't melting.  Maybe we'll actually have a white Swiss Christmas!  But here's to the new year of 2011!  It willl be a great brand new year!

Less than 4 weeks to go!

Wow, it has been too long since I posted last!  But things have finally slowed down and I'm feeling a lot better about the things we've accomplished.

So let me back up a bit... Thanksgiving we celebrated a week early to include some foreigners who wanted to experience it the American way.  We went over to Sarah's with about 12 other people and had mostly everything that we'd normally have.  I made sweet potatoe casserole and brownies from scratch and then there was a small turkey, mashed potatoes, green bean casserole, stuffing, and more and for dessert there was also a super awesome cranberry apple pie.  We had a great feast and were so thankful to be able to celebrate with people.  That weekend Paul skyped his little cousin's 6th grade class.  The kids interviewed him on skype for Europe day and they got a kick out of it.  It was cute to basically have a whole class of kids in our living room.

The next week instead of Thanksgiving we went to see the lights be turned on over Bahnofstrasse.  It was pretty uneventful but they were pretty and we had reservations at a small Swiss hokey restaraunt.  Their speciality was a HUGE pork cordon bleu that was so big it didn't even fit on the plate.  I got the smaller one and it was really good.  That weekend Harold had a Schnitzel party and made Austrian schnitzel, potato salad, and apple strudel.  He used to cook in his parents' restaraunt so of course everything was super delicious.

My last day of work was the last day of Nov.  I had mixed emotions about the end but overall Im very happy it is over.  It was great for 6 months but I could not see myself making a career out of it.  They gave me a recommendation letter (in German) that will hopefully make finding another job easier and a nice bonus which was awesome.  I am just so thankful to be able to relax now.

Last weekend we threw a Glögg/Swedish Smörgåsbord party and I think it went well.  Paul made Glögg (a mulled wine) all night and gave everyone a bottle to take home.  We had lots of food and filled our living room with people.  It was a great night and Im looking forward to doing it again!  We wanted to invite so many more people but our place definitely couldn't hold them all.

This week we are focused on getting paperwork prepared, signing up for insurance, and buying last minute items.  With less than 4 weeks til his due date and less than 2 weeks til my family arrives we are feeling the crunch.  Because of the party the place is already super clean so that's nice and we finally bought a vaccum after 11 months!  It was half off so we went for it and that day was a day of deals!!  We got the vaccum, paid for some baby stuff with grocery points, AND got so many stickers from our spending that we have enough to save over 100 bucks on some new dishes!  I love deals.  Anyway, it's been snowing and cold but now it's raining and not as cold which is not as enjoyable.  This is what we woke up to a week and a half ago...

Oh, and this is our bathroom now!!  We were without a toliet a few times and those times were super miserable but now it was all worth it.

So things are going well and we aren't freaking out yet.  We are really excited for our future and are really excited to see my family in a couple weeks!  Love the Christmas season.  :)