17 weeks

Here is my exploding 17 week belly. I didn't really mean to take this picture, I accidentally snapped it. I thought it actually turned out okay, so I kept it. Enjoy :)

Right on Track

I had an OB appointment today - I am officially 16w 5d and everything looks great. Baby was moving around a lot and everything measured in the normal range. I am still feeling really good. I did have a pretty bad headache yesterday, so my doctor reminded me again how important it is to drink enough water. Jan yelled at me that I wasn't drinking enough, but I swear I'm trying! It's become a hot summer after all - YUCK!

"Here I am at 12 weeks"

"Hi, see you all in January!"

Baby Shower

A former colleague of mine is having a baby in August and we hosted her baby shower on Sunday. My colleague Elizabeth planned great games - The Price is Right, Guess Sarah's Girth, The All-About Sarah Quiz, and Guess the Baby Picture. We had some yummy food (thanks in part to Jan's help) and had a good time hanging out all afternoon.

Sarah opening her homemade hat from Elizabeth

BFP!

(BIG FAT POSITIVE)

In case anyone in the free world hasn't heard the news yet: we're expecting a baby in January!

Here is the first long awaited belly shot. I started showing around 10 weeks, at least for people who knew I was pregnant. There isn't any hiding it anymore! Here is my super huge 14w 5d belly!

I'm it

Kristy has tagged me for the first time since elementary school, with a meme (whatever that is). Here goes...

Three things...

...THAT SCARE ME: raising children bilingually, labor, my parents getting older

...I LOVE: my family and friends, reading, traveling

...I HATE: being wrong, the sun (we're going through a rocky patch in our relationship), being too warm (hence the sun thing)

...I'M DOING RIGHT NOW: hanging out at work, relaxing in the cool breezy weather, completing this meme

...I CAN DO: speak German, consul people (or so I have been told), teach

...I CAN'T DO: speak Spanish (but I wish I could and I go on spurts when I try to learn), eat sushi right now, I'm not too good about being firm

...THAT ARE MY ABSOLUTE FAVORITE FOODS: salmon sushi, savoy cabbage and red onions, ice cream

...SHOWS I WATCHED WHEN I WAS A KID: Who's the Boss, Family Ties, Smurfs

People I'm tagging to do this on their blog: no one, everyone's been tagged :)

Auditors in Köln

So, last year I was asked to lead an English Seminar in Köln (Cologne) for a group of Bank Auditors. It sounded pretty daunting, but like a challenge I couldn't pass up. They were scheduled for two days (Fri and Sat) every month for a year, so it was a pretty big committment. The group ended up being really nice - we started with 6 men and were down to 4 within a few months (it wasn't me though :) , their work environment doesn't seem to be so great and so there is a high turnover). I scraped together audit cases and we worked our way through them - not the most entertaining of seminars I've ever given surely, but they didn't give me much to work with.

At any rate, they decided to continue this year, so here I am again up in Köln for a Friday night. Köln is only about a 1 1/2 train ride from Mainz (on the fast train) so it would be doable to go home in the evening, but one 6:09 train on Friday morning is enough for me. It's nice to "sleep in" on Saturday and have breakfast in the hotel. I have taken advantage of the English movie theater here in the city a few times and saw "Becoming Jane" and "Atonement" last year. I had a routine of going and eating sushi (yummmm - salmon nigri!), but I guess I won't be doing that this time :) Tonight I am going to walk around a bit, scrape something together for dinner and head to my hotel for a night of reading and being mad that nothing good is on TV.

Back to the Living

It's been too long since my last blog, but I am back on the horse again.

We had a very nice trip to the US in May. We began our trip at a belly dance show in Washington DC. Carrie dances with a troop in DC and we were able to see her perform - it was cool to sit in the audience with her on the stage. Brought back memories of when we were little and were going to different theater productions with her mom. We stayed with Carrie in Baltimore for a few nights before training to New York. I had never been to Baltimore before, so it was a nice to be a tourist. We had some wet weather unfortunately, but the sun showed up on our last day. Carrie was able to have a day off work and tour us around the city. We visited the harbor, Fort McHenry (http://www.nps.gov/fomc/) and ate yummy crabs. We also met Carrie's boyfriend, Ian - he's a keeper, Car! :)

From there we hopped a train to NYC. We stayed with Michelle Roark in the Flatiron District. She has a cute little apartment and a fiery (read: bi-otch) roommate. We had a great time visiting the sites with the highlights being seeing Morgan Freeman on Broadway in "The Country Girl", seeing the Yankees play at Yankee stadium (they got killed by the Mets!) and walking around Brooklyn. If I had to live in NYC, I think I'd live in Brooklyn - super nice area, parks, quiet - like a real neighborhood, and still a subway ride to Manhattan. Of course the big event was Lindsey's wedding. They had a welcome cocktail reception on Friday evening at a bar/restaurant in Grand Central Station and the wedding and reception took place at the Harvard University Club. It really was a once and a lifetime experience and we were glad to have the opportunity to take part. Both evenings were very elegant and yet relaxed fun.

From NY, we flew home to Chicago. We visited with family, hung out in the city, saw Abbi and Andre and spent the weekend in Bloomington before heading up to the Indy 500.

We are looking forward to our September trip - lots of exciting things happening!

Sorry I am not very funny, it's been too long since our trip and it's too hot here! It had to have been over 90 today - try surviving that with NO air conditioning! BLAH!

Link to all our May pictures: http://picasaweb.google.com/mmschroeder/USAMay2008