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!!!!!!

Merry Christmas!

We finally managed to scan in Speck's latest ultrasounds yesterday. As you can see, she's gotten so big that she doesn't really fit in a single "frame" of sonogram anymore. She's about 2 pounds big; I don't remember the length guesstimate, but her cranium measures in at about 7 centimeters in diameter. Our ultrasound specialist managed to get a few lovely 3-D images of her; our favorite is the one where she seems to be sucking on her thumb.

We have a 2 day holiday for Christmas (the 26th is a German holiday - Second Christmas, who wouldn't love that?! - and was given to us as a Federal holiday this year, too) plus a head-start today, since the Embassy will officially close at noon. We are planning a quiet Christmas at home, the last one of these we'll have as a couple. (Mind you, Pauline probably has as many presents under the tree as either of us...) In addition to lounging in our PJs, watching movies, eating fondue and other yummy treats, and decorating our gingerbread house, we'll need to do a bit of cleaning, because our friends Connie and Jim are coming on the 29th! Just for a few days as they pass through Europe, but we're super excited to see them. I can hardly believe it's already been a year since their wedding!

And, of course, we'll continue to enjoy watching my brother Jim's run on "Jeopardy!" It's very neat to have him right there in our living room this week.

We wish you all a very healthy and happy holiday season, and a peaceful and joyous 2009. It's going to be a very exciting year!

Pauline at 27 Weeks

The Growing Baby - Week 23

Week 27!

For those of you keeping score at home, we just crossed the threshold into Week 27 - which means we're more or less headed into the final trimester. Yippee!!!!! Pauline is due on March 26 - a day which seems a million miles away.

We had a check-up this morning. Pauline slept through it, but was kind enough to turn as needed so Dr. Buescher could measure her. She remains right in the middle of the growth chart, happily adding centimeters every week. Our next appointment should be fun - I'll be doing the glucose challenge test to check for gestational diabetes. This means I have to fast before my appointment - this should be a shock for both Speck and me, since we're both firm believers in breakfast - and then go in and have my blood sugar tested before drinking a sugar solution. They'll then draw blood at 1 hour and 2 hours after I drink the glop, to see how I'm processing the sugar. (Sorry for boring those of you who've been through this before!) I'd love to see an ultrasound from about half an hour after I drink the glop - it would be fun to watch the baby's first real sugar-high.

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In other news, we took a whirlwind trip last weekend to visit Caroline, Antoine, and Caroline's parents in France. Since we had days left on our Eurail passes, and I can't fly right now, we took the train. We left Berlin last Thursday after work, took a high-speed train to Karlsruhe, changed there for a night train to Paris, changed stations in Paris to get the TGV (French high-speed train) to Dijon, and then a local train to Beaune, right in the heart of Burgundy. We got in around 11 AM on Friday to Beaune - a very long trip! But since the sleeper car we were supposed to have to Paris was out of order, we hadn't gotten much sleep on the trip. So Beaune was less about sightseeing and more about finding places out of the cold to sit and warm up. We did make it to the Hospices; we also had a lovely lunch with incredible wines by the glass (where else in the world could you find a Chassagne-Montrachet by the glass?) Pauline and Tim both experienced their first-ever escargot as I indulged this particular craving. Caroline and her dad - and Antoine - came to pick us up, and we had a foggy overland trip from there to Autun, to Caro's parents' house. It was so wonderful to see her parents again! We spent Saturday alternating between exploring the sites in Autun and lapsing into food comas from Caro's mom Marie's wonderful cooking. (This included a second helping of escargots, which Pauline seems to really like; goose, the first time Tim or I had ever had it; a variety of delicious French cheese; baguettes, of course!; and seared Charolais beef that was unbelievably fresh.) We had to leave Sunday morning, and Caro's dad Roland was kind enough to take us out to the train station in Dijon. It was too short, and too much time on the trains!, but it was great to see the Vuillemins, catch up on the family news, and - as always - see Caroline and Antoine again. One of the best things about this tour in Europe has been that we've gotten to see Caro and Antoine so much. Tim took some great pictures, so we can prove to Pauline once she's old enough to recognize it that we did travel with her - before she was born, anyway! Sheesh, she's been to Paris - twice, technically; Rome; here and there in Germany; and to Burgundy.

By popular demand...

Because some of you have asked us for it, the most recent photo of Ruth Anne's growing belly. This is from today, the last day of Week 25:

Joyous Thanksmas!

One of the many, many things that Tim and I share is a love of Thanksgiving dinner. (Pumpkin pie is his favorite birthday treat.) We also love to entertain, especially at the holidays. We've learned, though, that planning a big Thanksgiving dinner on Thanksgiving isn't necessarily the best way to go.

Last year we skipped Thanksgiving entirely - we'd planned a trip to southwest Germany, but had to cancel because I got the flu - but celebrated a very memorable "Thanksmas" in Ohio on our eastbound return trip from Connie's wedding in Los Angeles. I'm not sure if it was Jim, Amy, or Becca that came up with the name for the occasion, but it sure fit.

So this year, we decided to host a Thanksmas dinner. (The table was decorated for Thanksgiving, the rest of the house for Christmas, and Tim put out our plush turkey with a Santa hat on just for Thanksmas.) Although many of the friends we'd invited had to cancel, we had a lovely evening - and a deeeeeelicious turkey dinner with all the trimmings. Turkey, ham, two kinds of stuffing, sweet potatoes, green beans, mashed potatoes, cranberry relish... our table was literally overflowing with yummy goodness, even before we brought out the pies! We tried some new recipes and were thrilled with the results - good notes for my holiday journal. (Must track down the gravy recipe I used...) We're now feasting on leftovers, parceling some out to friends who couldn't join us, freezing what we can to enjoy again over Christmas weekend, and generally trying to empty the fridge before we leave for a long weekend in France.

It seems that Pauline is inheriting this Thanksgiving enjoyment from us. She was quite active as I bustled around the kitchen, but did let me rest when it was time for Tim to cook and me to put my feet up. She also seemed to prefer the small glass of wine I had with dinner to the sparkling grape juice I had as an aperitif. (Jim, this is definitely your niece. Whatever else she's done to my taste buds, we both enjoyed the '98 Meursault tremendously...)

This was also a good warm-up for our weekend trip to visit Antoine, Caroline, and her parents in Burgundy. I can't wait to see the Vuillemins, but I know I'm going to need to find excuses to walk or romp with Antoine to burn off the calories from Caro's mother's incredible cooking. And the yummy French bread... and cheese... yay!