Tim's new computer has arrived (yay!) - but since it came with Windows Vista, his scanner doesn't work with it. (Boo.) If I can, I'll hook the scanner up to my machine tonight so I can get Pauline's latest sonograms up online tomorrow. Otherwise this may be a weekend project...
But it will depend on the state of my head. I suffer from migraines. I didn't, really, until we came to Berlin - I had the occasional one, but not very many and not very often. But here it's become a full-blown problem. The great thing is that there have been some wonderful new medications that have come out in the last 5-10 years, and these work miracles for me. I can work, I can function, I can see, I can more or less think straight, when the meds are working - and they're effective for me almost every time.
Except, of course, that they're completely off-limits during pregnancy. Now, like many women with migraines, I've noticed that my attacks are less frequent and less severe since I became pregnant. (Incentive for a large family!) But the bad news is that when I do get one, there's nothing at all to be done about it. I can take 2 Tylenol, drink a small amount of something with caffeine, and hope. Sometimes it works. Tuesday it didn't, so I spent the day at home nursing my head in a dark room. Yesterday was better; today has been another headache day, though not nearly as severe.
I am hopeful that when we leave Berlin, I'll get to leave my migraines behind. Enough is enough of this!
Thursday, December 4, 2008
Wednesday, November 26, 2008
Birthdays, Bodysuits, Bibs, and Baby Registries
Today is Tim's birthday! This tends to be a low-key annual event, as evidenced this year by the fact that I'm at work. But there might just need to be a pumpkin pie tonight or tomorrow - one of his favorite desserts. I just wish there were more I could do to tell my wonderful husband just how terrific he is.
Now that we know that Speck is a girl, we've started to work on our baby registries. So far, we're registered at Target.com and BabiesRUs.com - both registries can be found under either of our names. These are works in progress, and reflect a few oddities about our situation:
- We won't even attempt to decorate Pauline's room here in Berlin, since we'll be moving about 3 months after she's born. Every baby website I've visited suggests that this makes us unfit parents right out of the gate, but we can't see how it makes sense to invest the time, money, and effort into setting up a nursery when she'll still be tiny when we leave. Besides, it lets us save our nesting energies for things like organizing our household effects for packout. And we don't really think our 3-month-old daughter will feel unloved just because her bassinet is in a room without pastel paint on the walls.
- We have no idea where we'll be living in the Washington area, so major items like rocking chairs, crib, etc. will have to wait until we know how large her room will be, and how much storage space we'll have in our house/apartment. Same thing for safety gates and other equipment - until we know what the layout of the house is, we can't buy these things. Happily, we get some wiggle room from the fact that by the time we're moved in and settled, Pauline will only be 4 or 5 months old, and not all that mobile (yet!)
- We are also trying to keep our baby gear, including larger toys, furniture that's nice but not strictly necessary (e.g. changing tables), etc. to a minimum, because we'll only be in Washington for a few years before we have to pack up and move all over again. And there are limits on how much stuff the State Department is willing to ship around the world for us.
- We're new at this! We have absolutely no idea how many onesies, socks, outfits, sleepers, receiving blankets, etc. we'll really need. So we haven't registered for much clothing or toys. We put a few things up just to give examples; otherwise we trust to the taste and experience of those who might be shopping, and hope to get some things to cover us for various sizes/ages. (We also have no idea how many diapers we'll need, but feel safe in assuming the answer to that question is "LOTS!")
- Because some online merchants (Target can be bad this way) don't like to ship to APO addresses, we've put our "diplomatic pouch" address on some of the websites. Our APO address is the best one, but if you can't ship something there, you can also send to the Dulles, VA address which you should find online. I've found that for clothes and small things, it doesn't matter much one way or the other, but for larger items, you may need to use the Dulles, VA address.
And most important of all: We'd be delighted to help the environment and your closet/attic/storage space by using hand-me-down items! We love the idea of getting good use out of things like clothes, which is hard for babies to do on their own.
Now that we know that Speck is a girl, we've started to work on our baby registries. So far, we're registered at Target.com and BabiesRUs.com - both registries can be found under either of our names. These are works in progress, and reflect a few oddities about our situation:
- We won't even attempt to decorate Pauline's room here in Berlin, since we'll be moving about 3 months after she's born. Every baby website I've visited suggests that this makes us unfit parents right out of the gate, but we can't see how it makes sense to invest the time, money, and effort into setting up a nursery when she'll still be tiny when we leave. Besides, it lets us save our nesting energies for things like organizing our household effects for packout. And we don't really think our 3-month-old daughter will feel unloved just because her bassinet is in a room without pastel paint on the walls.
- We have no idea where we'll be living in the Washington area, so major items like rocking chairs, crib, etc. will have to wait until we know how large her room will be, and how much storage space we'll have in our house/apartment. Same thing for safety gates and other equipment - until we know what the layout of the house is, we can't buy these things. Happily, we get some wiggle room from the fact that by the time we're moved in and settled, Pauline will only be 4 or 5 months old, and not all that mobile (yet!)
- We are also trying to keep our baby gear, including larger toys, furniture that's nice but not strictly necessary (e.g. changing tables), etc. to a minimum, because we'll only be in Washington for a few years before we have to pack up and move all over again. And there are limits on how much stuff the State Department is willing to ship around the world for us.
- We're new at this! We have absolutely no idea how many onesies, socks, outfits, sleepers, receiving blankets, etc. we'll really need. So we haven't registered for much clothing or toys. We put a few things up just to give examples; otherwise we trust to the taste and experience of those who might be shopping, and hope to get some things to cover us for various sizes/ages. (We also have no idea how many diapers we'll need, but feel safe in assuming the answer to that question is "LOTS!")
- Because some online merchants (Target can be bad this way) don't like to ship to APO addresses, we've put our "diplomatic pouch" address on some of the websites. Our APO address is the best one, but if you can't ship something there, you can also send to the Dulles, VA address which you should find online. I've found that for clothes and small things, it doesn't matter much one way or the other, but for larger items, you may need to use the Dulles, VA address.
And most important of all: We'd be delighted to help the environment and your closet/attic/storage space by using hand-me-down items! We love the idea of getting good use out of things like clothes, which is hard for babies to do on their own.
Monday, November 24, 2008
Exciting news!!!!
Our ultrasound appointment on Thursday went perfectly. The specialist was able to do all the measurements he needed to do - Speck's growing well, and is on average in the 65-70th percentile for growth based on gestational age. There are a few exceptions, most notably the femur bones, which seem to be more like 90th percentile. (Long legs? Can this really be my baby?) But best of all, we were able to get a definite call on the baby's gender:
It's a girl!!!!!!!!
Speck, aka Pauline Elizabeth, was very active during her ultrasound, moving her arms around and at one point sucking on her big toe. (Remember when you were flexible enough to do that?) We got some wonderful sonograms, which we'll post as soon as we can - we've been having some computer problems at home. But the important thing is that she's healthy and growing well. The specialist did an echocardiogram, which turned up absolutely clear. Liver, kidneys, lungs - all are developing normally, as are the physical structures of her brain. In short, as far as medical science can tell us, we're expecting a very healthy baby.
We decided on Pauline Elizabeth for her name. Pauline is for my mother's godmother, Pauline Hansen, who was like a grandmother to me and who was a very special person in my life. Elizabeth is for Tim's mom. We can't think of two women we would want to honor more, or two better namesakes for our little one.
Our next regular appointment will be Thursday - Thanksgiving. (It's not a holiday in Germany, so it's a great time to take care of some errands, including this one.) We have so very much to be thankful for this year.
It's a girl!!!!!!!!
Speck, aka Pauline Elizabeth, was very active during her ultrasound, moving her arms around and at one point sucking on her big toe. (Remember when you were flexible enough to do that?) We got some wonderful sonograms, which we'll post as soon as we can - we've been having some computer problems at home. But the important thing is that she's healthy and growing well. The specialist did an echocardiogram, which turned up absolutely clear. Liver, kidneys, lungs - all are developing normally, as are the physical structures of her brain. In short, as far as medical science can tell us, we're expecting a very healthy baby.
We decided on Pauline Elizabeth for her name. Pauline is for my mother's godmother, Pauline Hansen, who was like a grandmother to me and who was a very special person in my life. Elizabeth is for Tim's mom. We can't think of two women we would want to honor more, or two better namesakes for our little one.
Our next regular appointment will be Thursday - Thanksgiving. (It's not a holiday in Germany, so it's a great time to take care of some errands, including this one.) We have so very much to be thankful for this year.
Thursday, November 20, 2008
Fall in Berlin
One thing we've really enjoyed here in Germany - and will also enjoy about being back in Washington - is that we have a true autumn here, unlike in Tel Aviv. It's my favorite season - I love the colors, the smells, the apple cider...
)
...but I've never been as fond of the raking! Tim, Minka, Speck, and I tackled our back yard a few weekends ago; here are some pictures.
Just look at the belly! By the way, Speck slept through all this physical activity - I guess the motion of my raking was soothing.
Minka also pitched in, chewing up all the sticks we uncovered in the leaves to make them easier to rake. She may be aging (gracefully) - I can't believe how white her face is becoming - but she's never gotten over the retriever puppy chewing thing. We also uncovered tennis balls and other dog toys in the leaves. She had a ball playing with us in the yard (and diving into leaf piles.)Tuesday, November 18, 2008
Frost on the Pumpkin
Post-election, we're starting to get into the fall holidays. We spent some time raking leaves in our backyard the weekend before last, only to have our hard work undone by a windstorm the next day that dropped more leaves on the yeard than we had raked in the first place. (Sigh.) This past weekend, we were invited to our friends David and Christy's for an early Thanksgiving dinner, so Speck and I got up early on Sunday to make apple pies. Tim helped me peel and cut up several pounds of apples for 3 pies - one to bake for dinner, and 2 to freeze for future needs. (The dough for some pumpkin pies is also in the freezer now, ready to be rolled out.) The new recipe I tried for the apple filling is tasty, but really juicy - the bottom crust turns to mush. But no one seemed to mind.
We're planning a trip down to the Army base this weekend. We have been thinking about getting a new TV, and have decided to exercise our consumer confidence and go for it. The flatscreen should be lighter and slimmer than our current TV, and already set up for digital and HDTV; by buying it on base, it'll also be multi-system and dual-voltage. So: easier to ship than our current model, and better to watch. While we're down there, in addition to the obligatory Taco Bell fix, we'll do some grocery shopping (the appeal of this is hard to understand unless you've lived overseas. Whole aisles of cheddar cheese and breakfast sausage! Ingredients you can't buy here! And things like cereal which you can get here, but on base it's half as much.) We'll also stock up on things at the exchange - this is kind of like a Target. Minka will have to stay home just so we can get everything into the car. Lucky for us, the Ohio State-_ichigan game (I can't write the name until it's over) is on late here, so we should be back in time.
But before that, we have 2 big dates this week. Tonight Tim and I are going to the hospital for their welcome tour/information session for expecting parents. (I'm practicing my vocabulary for childbirth terms - somehow, "labor" and "C-section" aren't in the standard German you learn in school.) And Thursday is our long-awaited 2nd super-duper ultrasound, where we're hoping to FINALLY learn Speck's gender.
We had a neat event last night: The American composer we worked with to do two projects to teach English to minority kids in inner-city Berlin through theater and music hosted a thank-you show for the Ambassador and his wife, who were truly the driving force behind those projects. These are kids from schools that had some of the highest gang and violence rates in the country, who are told every day by German society that they'll never amount to anything. Well, the violence has gone down, and even the kids who didn't take part in the musical have seen for themselves that if you're willing to work hard and try to accomplish something, there are people and organizations out there that will help you. The Embassy began it, but the German government is now on board too. Anyway, there was a lot of blood, sweat, and tears from me and my German staff that went into these projects; it was wonderful to hear the kids sing again, and listen to the high school kids tell the story - in excellent English, which they couldn't have done when we began this work - of how the projects came to be. (Their story even quoted a long excerpt from the letter I wrote to the school director when we began. Neat to be recognized!) Speck seemed to enjoy the music, too - s/he definitely responds to the sounds of singing.
We're planning a trip down to the Army base this weekend. We have been thinking about getting a new TV, and have decided to exercise our consumer confidence and go for it. The flatscreen should be lighter and slimmer than our current TV, and already set up for digital and HDTV; by buying it on base, it'll also be multi-system and dual-voltage. So: easier to ship than our current model, and better to watch. While we're down there, in addition to the obligatory Taco Bell fix, we'll do some grocery shopping (the appeal of this is hard to understand unless you've lived overseas. Whole aisles of cheddar cheese and breakfast sausage! Ingredients you can't buy here! And things like cereal which you can get here, but on base it's half as much.) We'll also stock up on things at the exchange - this is kind of like a Target. Minka will have to stay home just so we can get everything into the car. Lucky for us, the Ohio State-_ichigan game (I can't write the name until it's over) is on late here, so we should be back in time.
But before that, we have 2 big dates this week. Tonight Tim and I are going to the hospital for their welcome tour/information session for expecting parents. (I'm practicing my vocabulary for childbirth terms - somehow, "labor" and "C-section" aren't in the standard German you learn in school.) And Thursday is our long-awaited 2nd super-duper ultrasound, where we're hoping to FINALLY learn Speck's gender.
We had a neat event last night: The American composer we worked with to do two projects to teach English to minority kids in inner-city Berlin through theater and music hosted a thank-you show for the Ambassador and his wife, who were truly the driving force behind those projects. These are kids from schools that had some of the highest gang and violence rates in the country, who are told every day by German society that they'll never amount to anything. Well, the violence has gone down, and even the kids who didn't take part in the musical have seen for themselves that if you're willing to work hard and try to accomplish something, there are people and organizations out there that will help you. The Embassy began it, but the German government is now on board too. Anyway, there was a lot of blood, sweat, and tears from me and my German staff that went into these projects; it was wonderful to hear the kids sing again, and listen to the high school kids tell the story - in excellent English, which they couldn't have done when we began this work - of how the projects came to be. (Their story even quoted a long excerpt from the letter I wrote to the school director when we began. Neat to be recognized!) Speck seemed to enjoy the music, too - s/he definitely responds to the sounds of singing.
Sunday, November 9, 2008
Thursday, November 6, 2008
Post-Election Update
We've been so busy since the last update, it's hard to know where to begin. The dominating thing, of course, has been the series of events that we held for the Election - a school program, 2 big parties throughout Election Night, and a post-Election breakfast. I managed to sneak home for a few hours on Election Night, to get a quick nap and watch at least some of the returns with Tim, before dashing back downtown for the breakfast. All in all, we hosted more than 3700 people at Embassy-sponsored Election events on November 4 and 5, with excellent national media coverage of our programs and a huge response from our contacts.
I find it hard to put into words yet the emotions I've been feeling since the election results came in. As usual, Tim's done a much better job of summing it up: the "what are you doing now?" line on his Facebook profile now reads "Timothy Klitz will be able to raise his baby in a better world now." (I think much of the reputation I'm developing for effective public speaking is owed to the fact that I get to refine my ideas and arguments with Tim.) We're much more excited about moving back to Washington next year - it will be an interesting time to be there.
Speck seemed to enjoy all the madness, though. I've been able to feel him/her move for a while now, but it's getting much more noticeable in the past 2 weeks. I've learned that Speck loves it when I walk, gets super-excited when I run, and does not appreciate it when I forget to sit like a pregnant woman and instead curl up on the couch, cramping his/her world in the process. This will be a moot point in a few more weeks; I'm getting bigger by the week (by the hour?) We've already had a few laughs at the inherent comedy of pregnancy: watching me get up off the couch or out of the car is pretty funny.
We had our regular check-up today, at the start of Week 21, and both Speck and I are doing fine. We got some neat ultrasound images, which I hope are clear enough to scan; the printer on our doctor's ultrasound machine is a bit hit-or-miss. But as always, we had a great time watching the baby moving around. Today s/he was exploring his/her hands with his/her mouth, or vice versa. Who knows what s/he will be up to on our next ultrasound, which will be in 2 weeks??
I find it hard to put into words yet the emotions I've been feeling since the election results came in. As usual, Tim's done a much better job of summing it up: the "what are you doing now?" line on his Facebook profile now reads "Timothy Klitz will be able to raise his baby in a better world now." (I think much of the reputation I'm developing for effective public speaking is owed to the fact that I get to refine my ideas and arguments with Tim.) We're much more excited about moving back to Washington next year - it will be an interesting time to be there.
Speck seemed to enjoy all the madness, though. I've been able to feel him/her move for a while now, but it's getting much more noticeable in the past 2 weeks. I've learned that Speck loves it when I walk, gets super-excited when I run, and does not appreciate it when I forget to sit like a pregnant woman and instead curl up on the couch, cramping his/her world in the process. This will be a moot point in a few more weeks; I'm getting bigger by the week (by the hour?) We've already had a few laughs at the inherent comedy of pregnancy: watching me get up off the couch or out of the car is pretty funny.
We had our regular check-up today, at the start of Week 21, and both Speck and I are doing fine. We got some neat ultrasound images, which I hope are clear enough to scan; the printer on our doctor's ultrasound machine is a bit hit-or-miss. But as always, we had a great time watching the baby moving around. Today s/he was exploring his/her hands with his/her mouth, or vice versa. Who knows what s/he will be up to on our next ultrasound, which will be in 2 weeks??
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)