Happy New Year!

Happy 2009 to everyone! Somehow turning the page on the calendar makes Pauline's eventual arrival seem more real to me. One way or another, one day or another, she will be born this year! Tim and I cannot wait to meet her.

The holidays were nearly as quiet as expected. We got to watch my brother Jim's 7-day run on "Jeopardy!" all of Christmas week and at the beginning of this week. Sadly, all good things must come to an end, but he was amazing on the show. He's flying out to Las Vegas shortly to tape the Tournament of Champions, which will air in March (hopefully not while we're at the hospital!!), along with a small legion of family, friends, and supporters.

Meanwhile, Tim and I enjoyed our last quiet Christmas as a couple. We realized this was our 5th Christmas together - time flies when you're having fun! - and our 4th overseas. We got to spend a few days of the holiday together with Connie and her husband Jim. Connie and I have been friends since middle school. She's now Dr. Chang Wilking and I'm climbing through the ranks of the Foreign Service, but put the two of us together and it seems very little has changed since we were 14, much to the amusement of our husbands. It was wonderful to see Connie and Jim again! They're now doing post-doctoral research in Boston, and so we look forward to seeing them much more often when we're back in DC.

We had a brief... episode earlier this week. I've had asthma since high school, though since I've lived overseas it's generally been very well controlled. I had an attack that began Saturday night, though, and when it still hadn't cleared up by Tuesday, the embassy health unit was a bit concerned. They sent me to the local emergency room, which was fine (please, just check and make sure the baby's OK!) except that I wound up having a linguistic argument with the attending physician in German. Apparently the term I learned for "asthma attack" means something more acute than what I was technically experiencing. (There is no such thing as a "mild asthma attack" in German.) OK, so call it whatever you want, but please stop arguing with me and do something about the fact that I can't breathe! Sigh. Meanwhile, poor Tim had to sit there and listen to me become frustrated to the point of tears in between coughing fits and wheezing. The treatment was much less aggressive than ER asthma treatment I've had in the US, though this was also fine with me (less medication = safer for the baby). Mostly it was one of those bizarre foreign moments. My first time to an emergency room outside the US. Here's hoping it's also the last... although my German is very good, it's not too nuanced in terms of medical terminology. Thank goodness our obstetrician speaks English!!!!!!