I can’t wait to stuff my pregnant belly with turkey and gravy and mashed potatoes and sweet potatoes and cranberries and stuffing and sweet potatoes and pumpkin pie and then a little more turkey.
Here’s a coloring page to celebrate Thanksgiving.
Click on the link to download.
Brian pointed out that we are never in a million years going to be able to capture baby number two with as many photos as we have with Bea. What can I do? You can’t get around the fact that it’s the second baby and everything is a little less new. Plus baby number two will always have to share the frame with Bea. I can only try… or I could permanently attach the camera to my face.
When we were out walking one evening in Zurich – we stopped at a little used book market and I spotted this book.
Of course it’s all in german and I don’t understand a bit of it, but I had to have it. Luckily I was with my indulgent husband who had some Swiss Francs in his pocket. Page after page of beautiful little tipped in prints like these. For me, this is the best kind of souvenir. I just might have to frame some of them someday.
I have to keep reminding myself that we are actually moving to Zurich only a few months from now.
Aaack – here’s the list in my head:
– sort household into three piles – sea shipment, air shipment and storage
– get ready to sell our house
– find an apartment in Zurich
– get a new doctor in Zurich and gather all the baby items I’ll need for a while
– don’t forget to enjoy the holidays
– think about maybe learning at least a little german
Here are a few photos that are more serene that the scene in my head.
Is there anything nicer than having a cake made specially for you. Jennifer and Mom lovingly made a delicious red velvet cake for my birthday. While they baked Jenna and Bea did their own “baking”. Really just spooning flour and Cheerios between their bowls and getting some little ponies involved too.
And Bea showed a big interest in Dad’s fly tying supplies. He would get out the various sparkly yarns and she actually waved her arms in the air with excitement. So he made a pink and white Bunny Bugger for her. When we got back home the first thing she asked for the next morning was her Bunny Bugger.
Pregnant and jet-lagged Kathy sleeps so I carry the torch.
First picture is for Bea. Kathy mentioned the public transit system and it is incredible. There are buses, trains and trams that criss-cross the city and its vast surroundings. They are clean, reliable and to be had for a single pass card (which my company conveniently provides). The tram is particularly fascinating because it is almost like the L in Chicago with the exception that it is clean, lacks homeless crazy people, does not smell, is on-time and reliable (literally to the minute, or they apologize in four languages). Did I mention the lack of homeless, smelly, begging, crack-out alcoholics? How do they accomplish this? We think Bea will love the tram like she loves the train back home:
Kathy mentioned the bells yesterday. Well, the bells are nuts. They start calling the faithful or whatever the heck they are doing and there is such a concentration of churches in the old city that it is almost like some bizare battle. You feel like you are in a war zone. Part of me gets annoyed and I try to think happy thoughts about harmless, well-meaning church-goers, but the bells are still damn loud. It took some time before we couldn’t hear the train at our old place and now I wonder if we’ll ever become immune to the cacaphony of bells in Altestadt.
I think of Europe as a collection of these walking zones (fussgangerzone) and big squares and great places where people can walk without cars. There are a bunch of those in Zurich’s old town. Although cars are not strictly banned everywhere, they are very infrequent and it allows for a really nice atmosphere. The amazing thing is that people actually live in these old buildings. We were looking at a few places on-line and noticed that one build dated back to the 1300s. Tomorrow we will visit a colleague’s house who lives in the old town and decide if this is something even worth considering.
Maybe tomorrow it will stop raining.
The airport is serene, the cheese is yummy, the water is filled with swans, the trams run exactly on time, the church bells are exuberant and the streets are made of cobblestones.
We just got back from our fondue dinner. Mmmm, yumma and low cal I’m sure.
It’s been very dark and drizzly (not unlike November in the Midwest) so I haven’t taken many pictures… yet.
I hope my Bea is behaving – I miss her already.
Here’s a coloring page in honor of the brand-new baby in my tummy. Click on the link for the full sized picture. Bea and I got to hear the baby’s heartbeat today and it made me so thankful and excited.
Stay tuned for some more photos of Zurich. Brian and I are off very soon for a trip to see what we’re getting oursleves into.
Here are some photos from Bea’s first trick-or-treating experience. It took her a while to get into it and she held our hands tightly the whole time, but I think she had a blast. I never got her to utter the words trick-or-treat or thank you. She kept asking as we would leave each house “are we going to the next house now?” So now Brian and I are amazed and laughing at her complete obsession with the candy. She gets it out of her bag and spreads it out on the floor and then puts it in another bag and carries it to a different part of the house and then she gets it out again and again and again. She asks all the names of the candy and she carefully chooses the one that she will eat after dinner. Such precious fun times!
If my blog was a room it would have a big elephant in it. Two elephants actually.
1) I’m pregnant
2) We’re moving to Switzerland
Two huge things on the horizon that I cannot seem to write about. Maybe it’s because I’m nervous. Maybe it’s because with both of those things it’s at the stage where not a whole lot is happening and I have to pinch myself to remind me that, yes, I am going to really and truly have another baby and, wow, we are moving to Switzerland.
Hmmm what to say? Well first don’t let my silence or my seemingly grumpy introduction infer that I am not excited. I am so lucky to be expecting baby number two. Now Bea will be a big sister and we will have another chance to watch a little person grow up – with all those magic baby moments and all the newness and learning. I am about 13 weeks along right now. I’m looking forward to looking pregnant instead of just feeling fat. I just had an ultrasound the other day and got to see the baby moving around. Please can I have an ultrasound everyday so I can feel reassured that the baby is healthy and happily wiggling around in there. I’m looking forward to finding out if it’s a boy or a girl. Then Jennifer and I will lug out all the baby clothes from her basement. I’m sure we’ll have to spend hours looking through the clothes while holding back tears. We’ll either be making a big deposit at the used clothing store or I’ll bundle all those girl clothes up and pack them for Switzerland.
We’ll move to Switzerland in February. Baby is due in mid-May. So I’ll be having the baby over there. I wasn’t excited about that at first but the timing really wouldn’t work any other way. And everything I’ve heard about the hospitals and health care in Switzerland is great. Brian will be working at the Zurich office of his company. He’s really excited to make an impact at that small and growing office. If everything goes well we will be in Switzerland for threee-ish years. If I had to choose a country to move to for a few years Switzerland would be way at the top of the list. I think it’s going to be a beautiful and un-scary experience for us. One of Brian’s co-workers in Zurich told us to prepare for everything being expensive and for lots of sausage. I can handle that.
I was really dreading telling my family about the move. I hate to leave them. Since Bea has come along I feel closer than ever to my Mom and my sister. I was picturing my Mom’s disappointed face. But after the first feelings of shock wore off they were so very supportive. Brian’s parents have been really positive and my dad has his skis packed already. I’m so glad they can share our excitement and we hope to have a guest room for anyone who wants to visit (for any amount of time). Yes you!
Well I’m rambling. At least I have taken the step of mentioning our big news here. Now I’ll show you some photos of Zurich.
Laowai 