Springtime!

Spring is somewhat here, and I have never been more ready for nice weather. I absolutely hate Winter, I can put up with it through January 1, and then I strongly feel that it should go away until the following November. Seeing green on trees and flowers popping up out of the ground has me feeling more motivated and happier these days. I'm sure Derek is enjoying my better mood! We are leaving for Europe in 15 days, and I cannot wait to go. There's a large part of me that wants to permanently "miss" our return flights home and stay over there forever. I know that Derek won't let that happen, but a large part of me wishes it would.

Our first ultrasound is tomorrow, and I am getting really excited, although I'm not looking forward to the doctor pressing the ultrasound thing against my bladder for 1 hour. Hopefully pee-wee will cooperate with his/her positioning and I won't have to do any funky moves to try and get the baby to move!! I started my second sewing project for the baby, this one is if it's a girl. I already completed the boy one, I guess a large part of me wants a boy. I wouldn't be upset if I had a girl, but I am hoping for a boy so that we can have a girl next and she will have an older brother. Plus if we have a boy, lots of our friends have recently had boys so we will have lots of hand me down clothes to pick from!! Of course there is still a small part of me that is wishing for twins so that I would have both kids right away and I wouldn't have to be pregnant ever again :) :) :) :)

I've been thinking about finding some volunteer work to do in the area that is related to international development. It's always been a strong interest of mine (at least since college) and now that I'm not doing anything related to international development, I feel as if volunteering would be the best way to include that in my life. I haven't decided where/what I would like to do. I don't want to do work for a non-profit where I would just sit behind a desk or just answer phones. I did do some volunteer work with refugees in the Lansing area in college, but I got so frustrated because the work wasn't proactive. People came to us and not vice versa, I guess it just wasn't what I had anticipated it to be like. I'll have to do some more research, with MSU nearby I know there have to be several different options.

Baby Update - 14 Weeks

I am now 14 weeks pregnant and I am very thankful to be phasing out of the first trimester woes. It's hard to realize that I'm already 14 weeks along, it seems like it was just yesterday that I was in the bathroom taking 6 different pregnancy tests. I have not yet had an ultrasound, but we did get to listen to the heartbeat a few weeks ago which was really cool!! My first ultrasound is next week, and that should be a fun visit. I'm still not thrilled with my OB-GYN, but I don't really feel as if I have a lot of options. I love the doctor, but the staff there are horrendous. Maybe it's just me, but I feel like you should be treated respectfully at the doctor's and not treated like a dollar sign!!

My mom and I went shopping this past weekend for maternity clothes galore and I am realizing more and more that it is very diffcult to find quality maternity clothes nearby. We drove to Maumee, OH for one store, and I ended up leaving with about 4-5 bags full of clothes at the end of the day. Noone ever told me how comfortable maternity pants were...if I had known I probably would have worn them sooner when my regular pants weren't fitting. I'm starting to show a little bit, but not enough that people would be able to realize that I'm pregnant, if anything they probably think I'm just porking out a little bit. I haven't had any weird cravings, but I have been sneezing all the time. I did some research, and I'm not crazy, it is because I'm pregnant. It's suposssed to calm down, and I haven't seen a huge difference yet, but I'm still hopeful.

On a side note, Derek and I are leaving for Europe in 22 days and I(we) cannot wait! Our first stop is in Romania, we're going to visit Kelsey and Caleb and take them on a vacation. We're going to see the Dracula's Castle , I think this will be a fun place to visit for all 4 of us. After our trip to Brasov, we will head to Brussels for 3 days to spend some time with my host families from when I lived in Belgium. I haven't seen my families since 2004, and I'm really looking forward to having Derek get to know them as well. After Brussels we're heading to Scotland for 6 days, we head back to Michigan on the 6th day there. We'll spend a few days in Perth, and a few days in St Andrews. I think I'm looking forward to the time in Belgium the most, just because I have missed my families there so much. I can't wait to see Caleb again and hang out with him too, I haven't spent time with him in person since my mom and I went to Romania for Christmas a few years ago.