Summer vacation with girls all around!

Wow, where has the time gone?  I really can't believe half the year is over.  We've been doing our fair share of traveling- I guess we have to get it in before our family grows!

In the beginning of May, we drove to Dresden, Germany to visit our old neighbors in their hometown.  We had a great visit and saw lots of the city.  Jakob really enjoyed running around with their 2 kids and they really enjoyed 'reading' his english books.  We hiked a little and Jakob walked a lot of it since we didn't bring the carrier but by the last hour he just couldn't handle his tiredness and fell asleep on Paul's head while on his shoulders.  It was adorable.  We also were told they are expecting another child only a week or two before us!  We think this is pretty neat since our boys are also only a month apart.

At the end of May, about a week and a half before we left for the states, I had my 17 week appointment and we were hoping to find out the sex of the baby.  My doc checked all the important stuff first (everything was normal- praise God) and then couldn't get a super clear picture of the baby's parts and said it was probably a boy.  We weren't sure if we really wanted to go off of a maybe so I scheduled an elective ultrasound for the day after we got into the states.  I just really wanted to get clothes while in a much cheaper place.

So being pregnant-tired and flying with Jakob alone made me a little nervous.  Everyone around us on the plane was so nice and gave Jakob lots of compliments except for the people directly in front of us.  They were older Americans coming back from a Europe vacation and had some issues.  Jakob was very well behaved with no crying/screaming or really any talking but in the first 4 hours managed to kick their seat a couple times and brush up against it a couple more.  In my book, this is less than someone holding onto the back of your seat and pulling you back in an effort to help themselves up.  But this couple had a few choice words to say to me on a couple occasions.  The people behind me were definitely just as shocked as I was but I managed to roughly compose myself and bottle up my pregnancy hormones and moved to the empty middle row for bassinets.  The rest was uneventful even though out of all the flights in Atlanta this couple just happened to be on the same Tallahassee flight.  Luckily, we didn't sit near them.  Jakob didn't sleep until he hit about 17 hours of being awake and crashed on the last 30 min to Tallahassee- the norm.  With all our junk (which I managed to keep at a very minimum) and a very heavy sleepy/cry-y toddler, my arms were dying but we made it.

The next day was our ultrasound.  My parents, Conrad, Jakob, my mother-in-law and soon to be sister-in-law all came and at first I saw boy.  But apparently the umbilical cord had been hanging out inbetween the legs because after many many angles, the lady confirmed textbook baby girl parts.  We were all SO shocked but so excited!  Our girl vibes worked!  Baby girl did not want to cooperate and show us her face but that is ok.  We got the most important part verified.  :)  That weekend we shared the news with lots of people.  Paul was shocked as well when he called specifically to find out (costed him 20 bucks).  Lots of Paul's family came down to hang out that weekend and visit with us and we really enjoyed that.

Then I got Jakob ready for 4.5 days with Paul's parents and my road trip.  I'm sure Jakob had a great time and I know he really didn't miss me too much.  When I got back he just looked at me and smiled.  I had to ask for a hug!  Crazy boy.  But I had a great time on my road trip.  Carli road everywhere with me and we saw our college buddies in Tampa, West Palm, and Orlando.  It felt so good to catch up with everyone.  We ate yummy food, went to the mall, had a beach day, and just relaxed.  My best friend happened to have TONS of girl clothes from her and other people for me to go through while I was in Orlando.  It really helped so much and I was able to get so many essentials and cute things.  And throughout the trip, since Carli is pretty much an expert knitter and crocheter, I learned her ways, bought lots of fun yarn, and starting knitting in the round!  My first project is baby leg warmers and I'm almost done with the first leg!  It's not near as hard as I thought it was going to be.

Back in Tallahassee, my family went to St. Marks on the boat and had some of our family over to visit and I managed to squeeze in a couple more friends.  Jakob and I got to see a lot of people in our 10 days and he had the best time playing with the dog and cat and playing outside.  He would go outside whenever he wanted and someone would always have to drop what they were doing and run out- locking the door didn't help since he can undo all the locks.  He especially loves the lawn mower.  Our flight home ended up being delayed over 3 hours before leaving Tallahassee which made us miss our flight to Zürich.  So we stayed an extra night and then made the trek home.  We were so thankful to have Paul and his friend pick us up from the airport with all our luggage!  Paul had a great time with his buddies and was able to do a good amount of climbing despite the snow/ice and they all managed to come back in one piece!  So thankful.

After we got back, I had another appointment where the doc still couldn't tell me what the sex was- apparently she wouldn't move her legs.  So I am very happy I paid the money in the states!  Before I left the states, Paul's grandmother fell and hit her head to cause bleeding on the brain.  So we got frequent updates and 1 week after we got back, Paul headed to the states because things weren't looking good.  She passed away on Friday and as sad as it is we are very thankful Paul was able to get there and be with all of his family.  We were unsure of when he should go but the timing worked out perfect.  Except now I am home with a sick kid by myself.  The krippe had an outbreak of hand, foot, and mouth disease and we were hoping we had just missed it but apparently not.  Blisters on his hands, feet, butt, and in his mouth.  The mouth ones are very painful for him which makes him not sleep well at all or eat well but we're managing.  Hopefully, they're gone soon so we can get back to normal!  We need normal since we're going to Croatia with my parents in less than 4 weeks!

Sun comes with new beginnings!

Spring is coming!!  We are so excited that the sun peeks through and warms things up for bit every few days or so.  The temperature has been shifting from 50's with rain to 70's with sun and back to 50's so many times but I think it stays 70's longer lately.  We are so ready. :)  Jakob got a summer hat and a bathing suit and he's ready to use them!

At the end of the March we took a short Easter long weekend getaway to Deiva Marina, Italy.  Unfortunately, the weather turned for the worse and it rained everyday except one.  So all we could do was walk along the beach in the rain.  Not exactly what I was hoping for.  There was a huge aquarium in Genoa and we thought Easter would be the perfect day to go because everything else would be closed and people would be with their families.  Well, we were totally wrong.  It turned out to be the place to go and was packed and not to mention the weather was beautiful.  A perfect day to play on the beach (not in Genoa)!  It took us almost an hour to find parking outside of the city and then there was a 30 min wait to get into the aquarium and inside there were so many people is was hard to move.  Luckily, Jakob is still small enough to slither through everyone and get up front so at least he had a good time. He loved the sharks and after learning the word everything was a shark after that. That morning Jakob got a small Easter basket with some goodies. We colored eggs the day before when we were stuck inside. So we had a good breakfast while Jakob enjoyed his goodies. Since I couldn't find any plastic eggs to fill with things I sewed some felt together on the drive over to make eggs with pockets. He found the chocolate inside and some even had toys! Nothing too big because we don't really want that to become the point of the holiday but he got some sidewalk chalk, scissors, a 1chf plastic flying disk thing and a small magnetic fishing pole with a few fish. Plenty and he knew exactly how to use the scissors and break into the chocolate eggs thanks to school. :) The drive up was actually pretty enjoyable but the drive home was terrible. We were told Easter is the worst holiday time to drive through the Gotthard tunnel and boy were they right. 2-3 hours later we finally got through and made it home a little after Jakob's bedtime. Not exactly ideal especially since we all had work/school the next day but we made it.

The weekend after we went to celebrate Easter again with the family of the 3yr old girl and our friend Sarah. We did a little arts and crafts, an Easter egg hunt, let the kiddos open a few more goodies and then had brunch. Luckily Paul's mom sent us a little Easter package that included some plastic eggs! So I was really happy Jakob could do a little hunt. They have metal ones here already filled with gross 'jelly beans' but they are a lot harder to open and are still not cheap. But I wanted to see him hunt so bad and he was a lot better than I expected him to be! After a few points he got the idea and kept looking. We had to direct him a few times because sticks are obviously more fascinating and at one point he decided he needed to get rid of all his eggs and just started dropping them out of his basket. But once he realized they had candy in them (one busted open) he decided he should probably keep them. It was a fun celebration!

The last couple of weekends have been pretty low key. Even though we haven't planned much we still can't seem to get all the cleaning and errands done. Since Sat is our only day for all of it, it gets old and exhausting. I don't mind that things aren't open on Sunday but when I can't do laundry or vacuum and the like it gets annoying. And I guess me feeling under the weather for the last month hasn't helped things. But there's an explanation...

Jakob's going to be a big brother! It's all becoming a little more real now since I told work but we are really excited. Everything points to a very healthy baby so far- so thankful. Hopefully, we'll find out if it's a boy/girl in a month (me and our moms are crossing our fingers for a girl against the odds). The baby is due November 3 when Jakob will be just shy of 3 years. A great age difference in our opinion especially since school is making Jakob an awesome walker. On a perfect day he can walk for 15-20 min. But I told work I think it's best I stay home for 6 months (16 weeks are paid) and they didn't seem like it would be unreasonable. I plan to also ask to come back at 80% for the cleaning/errands issue mentioned above and spending time with my babies of course. I'm so thankful I have a job to go back to. Because of it I can spend so much one on one time with this new baby while Jakob is at school/daycare. I'm really looking forward to it. Paul should be finished with his PhD no later than this time next year. So he's starting to plan what he'll do next. He's gotten some great leads/offers and has some things to decide about the direction he wants to go.  It will be nice though when he's finishing that I'll be a bit more flexible and he can stay late to work on things.

All fun stuff! I am so excited for my trip to the states in June. I know I'll be very tired flying with Jakob alone but it will be worth it. This will be the first time I've been to Tallahassee pregnant. I'm so happy I can have some memories of sharing/celebrating this pregnancy in my hometown with people I don't see very often.  And Paul is really excited for his guy vacation.  Our extended winter has probably made a few of his ideas not plausible but he'll still have a great time with his buddies.  I'm glad he can have this special time and I can do the same.  Lately, I have been feeling really lucky and blessed about where we are in life.  So thankful.  :)