Home at last

After 2 weeks on vacation, Derek and I came back home early Saturday morning around 1:30am. Needless to say we had both been awake for more than 24 hours and were exhausted, we both slept for about 12 hours straight!

Romania

We arrived in Romania without too many problems. I think we both feared for our lives several times during the 5 hour taxi ride from Budapest to Marghita. Once we crossed the border into Romania, we started driving on the worst roads I have ever been on in my life. I used to complain about the potholes in Lansing, and lack of repairs, but not anymore. Every other few yards there were large chunks of the road taken out on both sides, and yet the taxi driver decided it was still ok to go about 100-120 kilometer per hour. I was about 18 weeks pregnant at that time, and I thought my bladder was going to explode. Once we arrived at Kelsey's apartment, we lugged our suitcases up to the top floor, I don't remember how many flights of stairs I was, but I was definitely out of breath. Caleb was super excited to see Derek, and I don't know if he remembered me from my visit almost 3 years ago or not. He was a little shy but that lasted maybe 10-15 minutes and then Derek started asking him about all of his cars.

After a good night's sleep we got ready and headed out to church in Oradea. We were able to meet up with Kelsey's good friend, Rachel, at church, and she had a group from England there with her so we weren't the only ones who didn't understand Romanian. Kelsey did a good job of translating for us. The church was fairly similar to ones over here. After church we went to lunch. Thanks to the low price of things there and the great exchange rate ($1 = 3 lei), we were able to get 3 big salads to share, and an entree for all of us for around $20. We went down a walking street in Oradea, which is more like an outdoor mall. Everything was closed, but since it was about 100 degrees out, we did stop to get some ice cream.

Monday we drove up into the Black Forest to relax and play in the river. It was still close to 100 degrees out, but the breeze was a lot cooler in the mountains. We pulled over on an embankment and set up some lawn chairs. Caleb and Derek played in the water, while I worked on my tan :) After playing in the river for awhile, we hiked up a hill and followed a waterfall. It was great, it was really nice just spending some time together. On Tuesday we stayed in Marghita, Kelsey and I treated ourselved to $8 mani-pedis. We went to Casa Alba in the afternoon to celebrate Reni's (not sure how she spells her name) birthday with all of the kids. Derek played soccer with a lot of the boys outside, it was a little crazy, but still fun.

On Wednesday we headed back to Oradea for the day and enjoyed some good old McDonalds for lunch. Surprisingly, McDonalds cost the same there as it does over here. It would have been cheaper to eat at a nice restaurant! Caleb enjoyed the lunch, because with his happy meal they were giving out Spider Man toys. We also took Caleb to the mall to go bowling! He enjoyed it for the first couple of turns, but after getting mostly gutterballs he got pretty frustrated and was more excited about the race car videogame. Bumper bowling hasn't made its way over to Romania yet, I think if that ever happens, Caleb will enjoy doing that a lot more. We also headed to a HUGE outdoor park/jungle gym park. There were 6-8 different themed play areas, including an indoor play area. Caleb and Derek went to town and had a really good time.

Thursday morning we headed out to Belgium.

Belgium

We arrived Thursday night into Belgium, and were greeted by my old host family, Christian, Annie, and Pierrick. It was as if I had never left...it's still hard to imagine that 5 years have passed since I lived there! We went into Brussels to show Derek the city. It was just as breathtaking as I remember it when I left before. Each time I see le grand place it's as if I have never seen it before. I am just so enthralled by it's beauty. We of course each ate a gauffre (waffle), and man they were good. After saying hello to le mannekin-pis (yes it is really a statue of a boy peeing), we went to grab a drink. Derek enjoyed his first Belgian beer, and me some juice. I was surprised when my family tried to convince me that having a beer would be ok. It was interesting to see the difference in what pregnant women are allowed to eat/drink over there vs. here! After drinks, we headed to dinner. Keeping with Belgian tradition, I opted for the national dish of moules et frites (mussels and fries). Nothing beats Belgian french fries with mayo...fried twice and oh so delicious. I did try to eat as many servings of fries as I could while I was there. I'm sure I have gained a few pounds from my 3 days there, but it was worth it. After grabbing a coffee and some tartes (slices of pie), we headed home. It was exactly as I remembered it, even smelled the same.

The rest of our time in Belgium was spent between my 2 families, the Bultots and the Delhezs and was wonderful. It was much too short, but it was a much needed visit. It was really difficult to leave, it just has become home to me. We had perfect weather while we were there, in the 80's every day. This is very unusual for Belgium in May! I ended up getting a sunburn in Belgium, something that I didn't think was possible. Everyone really wants me to come back with the baby, and I will do everything possible to go back there within the next year or so...afterall it's only about $200 for a baby (under 2) to fly international! Once we left Belgium, we headed to Scotland for a week.

Scotland

We really really enjoyed ourselves in Scotland. It was such a beautiful country and we had again great weather the entire we were there. Derek now wants to move there, we shall see! The first 3 days we spent in Perth. We went to Stirling, to visit the Castle there, and of course the William Wallace monument. Seeing the old history and walking through things that are hundred of years old was just amazing.

We spent a day in Perth and went to several free museams, including one about The Black Watch. It was a really well put together exhibit/museam full of lots of information. We also visited Scone Palace where over 40 Scottish Kings were crowed on the "Stone of Destiney".

From there we headed to Edinburgh, which was probably my 2nd favorite stop of our 2 week trip. The first, of course, being Belgium. We visited Edinburgh Castle, and enjoyed seeing The Honours, or royal jewels. We went on a free tour, and the guide was extremely insightful. We also went on a free walking tour of the city. We ended up stopping after about 2.5 hours, because I could not walk anymore. We also went on a Witchery tour one night. It was a lighthearted, historically accurate, tour that took us through some more famous spots of Scotland's darker history. The guides were extremely funny and did a great job giving us the facts while keeping us entertained. Next time we go to Scotland, we will probably head to the Inverness area. Overall the trip was amazing, and a great way to celebrate our upcoming anniversary, as well as our last trip with just the 2 of us before our baby comes!

Mother's Day

Happy Mother's Day! It's weird for me to realize that next year I will be a mom and celebrating this holiday! We drove in to Kalamazoo yesterday to spend Mother's day with Derek's family. Lisa and Dan (sister-in-law and brother-in-law) and their son, Zach, were in town as well! As much as I love Zach (he's almost 16 months old), I am overwhelmed sometimes by how much effort it takes to be a mom and a dad. To the point that I realize neither Derek nor I am fully prepared for what we will be experiencing in about 5 months. There is so much pressure to raise your childen properly, and I stress that the mistakes we will make will leave our children in lifelong therapy. I'm sure it will all work out and be fine, but it's just very stressful for me to realize that the life and care of an infant will be in my hands in 5 months and I am clueless. I can change a diaper but that's about it!

I have another ultrasound scheduled for this upcoming Thursday. I'll be about 17 weeks along, so I'm hoping that maybe the doctor will be able to tell if pee-wee is a boy or girl!! I was hoping to find out before I go to Romania so I could tell my sister, Kelsey, as a part of her birthday present. If I don't find out, we will know June 4. I have been feeling a lot better these days, with so much more energy. Lately I have had this weird desire to clean...and I hate cleaning! I think it's because I have more energy so I actually can take care of the apartment. Once I found out if we're having a boy or girl I will be able to decorate the baby's room.

We leave on vacation on Friday and I cannot wait to go! It's going to be great to see Caleb again and have him meet Derek! We have changed our plans slightly while we're in Scotland. Instaed of going to St. Andrews for a few days, we will be spending the second half of our week in Edinburgh. There are so many things we wanted to see Scotland, but that will need to be reserved for a second trip! The one thing I need to make sure I bring back are some Kinder Bueno Bars. They are my favorite candy in the world, and even though sweets aren't really my thing these days I know my sweet tooth will return and I will be glad to have them available. I usually have my parents pick me some up when they come back from Romania. I plan on stocking up. I don't know how I'm going to make it through working this week, I am so excited to leave that I wish we were leaving today!

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.