Is the American way the right way?

Now that I've finished my assigned dog book, I've moved onto parenting books. I decided I should save these for the third trimester so I might actually remember something when Baby K comes along, and I figured without so much travel I would probably have a little more time. I was right, but I didn't realize how much I would enjoy this first one: Bringing Up Bebe.

I probably found it most interesting because by living outside of the US I've already experienced many cultural differences myself living in Switzerland- both in regard to raising children and in relation to our life in general. This particular book looks at what has become the "American" way of motherhood and raising children and compares them to how the French do things. Living here, BK and I have obviously had other American ways challenged, including the one I posted about the other day, the fact that it's so much easier to be healthy here and that making everything ultra convenient, around-the-clock, and placing a high value on business are not necessarily a good thing.

Even though Baby K was a shock to everyone else, BK and I had discussed many things about having a family at length amongst ourselves. Before it happened, we talked a lot about what we would be most excited about and what were we feared the most. We do still have those conversations, but have also now started discussing what type of parents we think we want to be, how we'll handle discipline, how our relationship will change, expectations of one another, and lots of other stuff.

Many people say, "LK, you can't know those things until your child comes along, then you will figure out how to do things- it depends on the child." Umm, for me that's just not enough. I feel like our life will be all willy nilly and crazy, which neither of us function very well within. Maybe it's weird of me to plan to do things keeping in mind the way that BK and I function best, but we're the ones who will make the family run, so it makes sense to me. Also, after nearly nine years of marriage I'm not sure that we know what else to do.

Going back to the book, one of the funny things that I found was that about 2/3 of the way through I realized that I think this how my parents parented. Maybe that's why I found myself nodding all the way through, like this doesn't seem so foreign to me after all.

A couple of my favorite tidbits include:

• Could it be that making children delay gratification actually makes them calmer and more resilient? Having kids who can wait makes family life more pleasant.
• Kids learning to play by themselves is important- it helps them learn to be happy by themselves.
• Teaching your kids frustration is not a bad thing. A child must learn from a very young age that he's not alone in the world, and that there's a time for everything.
• She's (a mom) always been very clear on what was okay and what wasn't. She managed to be both affectionate and have authority without ever raising her voice.
• If every misbehavior is treated as equal, how will they know what's important?
• The couple is the most important. It's only thing that you chose in your life. Your children, you didn't chose. You chose your husband; you're going to make your life with him, so you have an interest in it going well. Your children will eventually leave and it will be back to the couple.

Like I said, these were just a few, and I highlighted tons of stuff so that BK could read up on my notes. One of the biggest things that I was taught early on and carried with me throughout life is to make myself happy before I ever try to make anyone else happy. I think I'll carry this with me through parenthood, knowing that I'll be a much better parent if I'm able to fulfill other areas of my life as well- husband, career, friends, baking, running, traveling, time by myself…just to name a few.

Do I think this is the "right" way? I'm not sure, but I think people should do what works for them and BK and I will make a go at it the way we think works for us too.

Who's being trained here?

Our goal: two calm and obedient pups

Today I finished the book the trainer wanted me to read, On Talking Terms with Dogs: Calming Signals. It's quite an easy and quick read and has a completely different philosophy from other dog training books that I've read, mostly in that dogs need positive reinforcement to give positive actions and reactions to things in their world.

In general this seems to be how the Swiss view dog training- no punishment, threats or punitive action, just rewards for positive behavior. I personally find this very challenging. As I sit here typing, Tanner is kind of growling/whining at me and I at least would like to send him a glare to let him know that this is not okay. But no can do…I need to just ignore, even going to the extent to turn my back on him and walking into the other room. And yes, it's hard.

The other part of this is learning what your dogs' calming signals are, or in other words, how they attempt to calm themselves and other dogs/people in their environment down. Over the past few days I've been trying to observe both Tanner and Toby in various situations to determine how they calm themselves and others. Calming signals include moving slowly, moving in an arc, sitting or lying down when approached, freezing, turning their head away, yawning, licking, lifting a paw or licking others' faces. It's actually pretty interesting and you can typically pick up on their signals pretty quickly.

All that to say, we've been working on these things today. I switched to longer leashes so they don't get jerked every time we see another dog (a negative association with other dogs), been giving treats if we pass a dog or human calmly and giving rewards if they ignore noises inside the apartment when they would normally growl or bark. And I have to say, it does seem to be a little calmer in our life.

The other thing I've done since we saw the trainer last week is bring the stroller upstairs. The bassinet part is on the floor in the dining room with one of Baby K's blankets in it and the base is now in her room. I'm not really sure what to do with it now. Outside of the one little misstep below, the dogs pretty much just ignore it.

Not what the trainer had in mind...

I also finished some of my "dog homework" and sent it to the trainer so she could look at it before we meet again on Thursday. I responded to questions like, How do your dogs react to adults; How do your dogs react to children; Do your dogs have problems with resources (are they possessive); What if they don't get what they want; and other similar questions. Hopefully tomorrow and Thursday will continue to improve and we will be given more things to work on.

Can't you just see it now…two calm weenie dogs, me and BK enjoying a sweet Baby K, who has adapted perfectly to the planned sleep schedule, and all is well in the world. Um, yeah…we'll keep dreaming! But hey, I guess it's at least worth a shot!

Who's listening in?

BK and I typically take Sundays pretty easy. All of his work weeks are busy and the days are long, so we try to relax on the weekends. Occasionally Sunday will be a travel day for us when we're heading back from whatever destination we last visited.

The one thing that we almost always do on Sundays is listen to church. As a kid growing up at University Christian Church, I used to wonder who in the world would want to listen to church on the radio. Ick…how much more boring could you get?

I'm sure I probably partially thought this because I loved seeing all of my friends at church, attending Sunday school with them, sitting together in church, then all heading out for lunch afterward. Strangely enough, I have no recollection of where my parents sat during the service because I'm not sure I ever sat with them.

The other part of it is probably me picturing having to listen to some sort of televangelist on the radio or something. That is not at all what would have come across the airwaves, but after many years of hearing and seeing my grandmother watch whoever was on the religious channel on TV, I knew I wanted no part of that. To me that said, hell and damnation, and give us all of your money. Like I said, not what would have come through on KTCU, but still.

Now, on the other hand, things have completely changed for me (as should be expected being a grown up and all). Every Sunday at 6pm Basel time BK and I tune in online. They have the bulletin posted online as well so that we know what's going on in the service. Having been a member there the majority of my life, I typically know who the Elders are, recognize whose kid is acolyting and despite my years away from the church could probably recite to you exactly what order the service will go.

Of course I enjoy listening in to Larry preach, as well as hearing about news throughout the church, including who has recently gotten married, had a baby or lost a loved one- especially right now when lots of people that I grew up with at church are returning to the church, getting married and having kids.

More than anything though, I think that I love that it makes me feel connected to UCC and Fort Worth for that hour. I love that I know that my parents and sisters are sitting on the lectern side, about a third of the way back, listening to exactly what I'm hearing in that moment. And that just a couple hours earlier my mom sat on the pulpit side a little closer up and experienced the same service. It makes the distance between us not seem so far and is something we can do together even though BK and I are an ocean away from them.

So who's listening in? There's obviously a reason they've been doing it all these years, as I'm sure people near and far return home to UCC for that hour each week and listen in. I'm just thankful that it's something we can do while we're in Basel to make us feel not quite so far away from home.

Why is it so easy to be healthy here?

So I've been thinking about this and discussing it some with BK, but I keep asking myself why it is so much easier for me to be healthier in Switzerland than it is in the US? I think a lot of things play into it, and there's not just one specific thing that does it, but it's crazy to me just how different our activity level and food consumption is the minute we get back over here.

Like I said, I think many things play into this. Why is it that my convenient snacks here are much more likely to be an apple, a pear, some grapes or a clementine that I can just throw in my bag on the way to school? As opposed to the granola bar, prepackaged bag of crackers, or other random thing that I used to eat in the US. Is it because it's hard to peel fruit in the car when I'm on the go and seems to be easier when I'm walking along here? Not sure, but that seems pretty weak.

Maybe I'm more aware of what I have here because food is more expensive, so it pains me much more to waste, not to mention that even the trash bags are expensive, so we try not to produce nearly as much trash as we did in the US.

Another thing that you notice right away over here is that fast food and convenience food is expensive, so it makes you seek out other alternatives if you can't eat at home. A six-piece nugget at McDonald's will run you around $12. For that (and probably cheaper) I can easily go next door the "to-go" part of the grocery store and get a sandwich with a piece of fruit and a drink. Even the convenience stores are different- they're not full of prepackaged food or a million choices of candy and chips. For one, they typically all have a fruit stand out front, but have mostly things you might need after the grocery store closes such as dairy products, some breads, and fruits and veggies.

Are we healthier here because our food is fresher? Swiss people would rather pay more for a Swiss product than pay less for a product from really far away. The grocery chains do a lot of advertising around "From the region, for the region." I know I've mentioned that I haven't had berries in quite a while, but they are not out in the grocery store, and I'm honestly not sure when they come back into season.

Obviously our activity level factors into things as well. I write this post after returning from a walk with the dogs that was nearly five miles, and took us a little more than an hour. On a Saturday morning in the US, I would have never woken up on a Saturday morning and thought to myself, "Let's go for a five mile walk." Not sure why, but I'm sure I would have wanted to relax with BK after a hard week at work.

For us, and many people who live in Basel, a car is almost an inconvenience. You have to pay more at your apartment for a parking spot, you pay to park anywhere in the city that you're going, often where you park is far away from where you're going to run errands, you're legally required to have two sets of tires (summer and winter), and the list goes on. In fact, because of all the one way streets here, it typically takes longer to get somewhere in a car than it ever would via public transportation.

And even though I do use the buses and trams at least once a day, it still requires a walk to the bus or tram stop. My dad was asking BK how he would get to work if it got really cold, as in, could he take a tram? He could, but ultimately because of where we live, it would be out of the way to catch a tram. So the answer is, suck it up, bundle up well, and walk to work like he does every other day.

Interestingly enough, I recently ran across an HBO documentary about the obesity epidemic in the US called Weight of the Nation.  It's a multiple part series that looks at the various ways obesity is impacting the US, and after pondering this Swiss versus US thing it was interesting to watch. Maybe BK and I are healthier here, because the US has essentially engineered its way to unhealthiness. Everything the US does is based on convenience, not necessarily what's actually good for you. How fast can the US mass produce this thing and make sure that everyone stays busy, busy, busy?

I'm not really looking for an answer, nor do I think I've found some new key to it. It's the old eat healthier and be more active. Nothing too earth shattering about it, but it seems so much harder to do in the US for some reason. Hopefully we'll stay mindful of this and it will be a lifestyle change that stays with BK and I long after we return to the US.

Update on Baby K and getting the fur children ready for her

Today was more than just about getting the buddies ready for Baby K's arrival. We were back at it this morning around 6:30, walking for an hour, then I headed to day two of German class. Class is fun, and way less intense than this summer. The teacher did give us more homework than on Tuesday, but we do have the entire weekend to get things done.

Now, on to the exciting part of the day…the doctor appointment and trainer appointment. This appointment was just a routine monthly appointment, and everything looked good. We're 30 weeks along today and only have 70 days to go until the due date! I am literally the worst at taking my own weekly pics, but when BK is out of town I don't really have a choice. I took another one this morning, but my sisters seem to think this one shows progress a little better.

30 weeks along!

The doctor was really happy with all of my vitals and weight gain and also did not seem as concerned about Baby K being really big, as her growth has slowed down a bit since the last checkup. BK and I were both around seven pounds, which is what I'm hoping for. She weighs about 3lbs 10oz right now and is extremely active. Baby K did finally cooperate and we got a 3D picture of her face this time. Most of the time she has her hands by her face so that you can never get a good picture.

Baby K's face

BK and I will start going to the doctor more often now, and in a couple of weeks have a joint appointment with a doctor at the hospital where Baby K will be delivered. I'm also supposed to register with the hospital in the next week or so, so that we're ready when it happens.

Now, on to our other children…

Today I had a new trainer come to the apartment so that we could continue to work on a few things with the boys. As expected, Tanner pretty much went crazy when she came over, which is pretty much par for the course. She helped with ways to reward him the second he stops barking and giving the behavior that is wanted, but it is really hard to ignore a barking dog! One thing I'm supposed to also do is to leash him in the apartment so that when people come over he can be leashed and know that he's with us and it's okay- no reason to be stressed.

Throughout this next week I'm supposed to continue to reward them, both in the apartment and on walks when they behave well. I'm also working on assessing their behavior by writing down some things for her, such as how they act with adults, how they act with children, do they have issues sharing, how do they react when they don't get what they want, and a few other areas.

Being rewarded for good behavior while on the phone

The primary reason I asked her to come work with us was to help me get them prepared for the arrival of Baby K. So over the next few weeks we'll be working on that as well. One of the first things I have to do is bring her stroller up into the apartment and set it up. They need to get used to it, then we'll start moving it around, then we'll walk in the apartment with the stroller, and then finally try it out outside. They have to behave as if the baby was already there; they won' t be allowed to jump inside and roll around in the bassinet or anything like that.

She also wants to work on recall with them so that if they're off the leash (in the park or somewhere like that) they immediately respond and come back to what we want them to do. This will also help when interacting with other dogs while on walks as well. I also have a book to read that is on calming signals for your dog.

All the learning wore them out

On the bright side, she did think that we had a good foundation in place and were practicing many good habits with them. We're meeting again next week to work on more. We have lots of work to do in the next 10 weeks before Baby K arrives!

My latest adventures in baking

Last week I completely forgot to post about my monthly workday five creation for BK's team. Maybe it was the fact that I was still trying to adjust back to normal after returning to Switzerland or that BK pulled an all-nighter at work (as in he worked from 8am Tuesday until 7pm Wednesday without making a trip home) which completely threw me off.

For workday five this month I made Salted Caramel Stuffed Chocolate Crinkle Cookies…didn't realize what a mouthful that was! I think they sound much fancier and harder to make than they actually are. As this was year end, there was part of me that thought I should do something really out there, but honestly, that first week back after flying from the US is really hard on me and Baby K. I wanted to make sure that I still did something for them, and of course wanted to try something new, but I didn't get too far out there.

On one of our previous trips to the US I did think to bring caramels back with me. The ones here just aren't the same- they are much drier and not chewy. I've made my own before, but things can turn really bad really quick when trying to get it to be the right consistency and all. The chocolate cookie part is your basic cookie dough, then you roll them into balls, flatten them out and press a caramel into them. After you sprinkle salt on them you then wrap the caramel up with dough so it's stuffed with the caramel.

After you've wrapped the caramels up with dough you roll the unbaked cookie around in powdered sugar.

I'm not sure why you do this, as all of the powdered sugar bakes right into the cookie, so there's nothing left when they're done baking. I cooked the first batch a little too long for my liking the first time, but then reduced the second batch by just a couple of minutes for chewier cookies. After they cool you sift powdered sugar onto them, so there's actually some on there.

As they were all consumed in no time flat, I'd say the cookies went over well at the office. I have to say though, they weren't my favorite thing I've ever baked. The main thing I didn't like was that the caramel gets hard on the inside of the cookie, so it's not all gooey like the recipe indicates. If you have a microwave handy, they are really good heated up. Like I said, not bad, but not my favorite. This one probably won't make it into the regular rotation of baking.

The other treat that I made this week ranks much higher in my book: Chocolate Cheesecake Truffles. They are super easy to make and, in reality, don't actually require any baking. BK and I went to Zurich for the day Saturday and spent the night there for him to fly out the next morning. Our friends L&V stayed with the pups, so as a way to say thank you, I wanted to make them a little something. L really likes cheesecake, so I thought these would be good for her.

There are only four ingredients involved in this recipe: cream cheese, powdered sugar, chocolate and vanilla extract. You would think with all the baking I've done I would be trained to check my ingredients before going to the store. But no, I forgot and had to walk back to the store for cream cheese, only to get home and realize that I didn't have nearly as much powdered sugar as I thought either. That didn't deter me; I just adjusted and made a few less truffles than the recipe states.

Start by melting chocolate. Surprisingly in the land of chocolate over here, I can't find baking chocolate, so this is another US purchase brought back by BK.

Mix the melted chocolate in with cream cheese and powdered sugar that you've already combined in a little bowl.

Here comes the annoying part- then you have to chill them. Ugh…I don't know why I hate this part, but I just want to move on to the next step in the recipe and not have to wait for them to sit in my fridge. I did chill them, and have a feeling that of you don't the "dough" is way too soft to keep the shape you want.

I would think that you could pretty much top them with anything, but I went with almonds, coconut and cocoa powder.

It's pretty simple, although a little messy. Just roll your dough in one of the chosen toppings and set aside to package, or just to eat later. They do have to chill again after you roll them in the toppings, but it makes them stay together so much better.

Mine are still chilling in the fridge, so now all I have to do is figure out how I want to package them. As someone who really doesn't like my food to mix (and yes I know that it all goes to the same place and mixes together, blah, blah, blah) I don't want to just cram them into the same package. I'll figure that out this afternoon.

I'm about to head out for another walk with the boys and thought I should sample one. The cocoa covered ones are good. Yum!

Let the learning begin!

Ah yes, it's time once again to get going with German. I took an intensive course (three hours a day, five days a week) during the summer which got me started with things, but couldn't continue until now due to all of the traveling we were doing. Yes, I know, it's a hard life I lead.

Through the intensive course I completed levels A1 and A2, and now I have moved on to a semi-intensive course, which is a little bit of review from level A2 and then moves into B1. They say after you finish B1 you should pretty much be able to carry on any conversation in German. The only downside for me is that in Switzerland they speak Swiss-German, so they're going to have to slow it down a bit and switch into high German.

This morning was the first morning of class, and of course, I loved it. If I'm not involved in some kind of learning or structured personal/professional development of some kind, I sort of forget how much I like it. I was also very happy with how much I knew, especially considering how much I doubt myself when people are firing off an entire conversation in Swiss-German.

I will say, the pups and I are back to early morning walks- we're up and out by around 6:30 so that we can walk for an hour. As I've mentioned before, the fact that it doesn't get light until around 8:00, and add to it that it's cold and rainy right now makes it a little difficult to get out of bed. When outside looks like this, it's hard to get excited about going outside.

Ultimately though, it results in this:

Meaning that I can go to school, to the store and pretty much do anything I want or need to without having to worry about two wild weenie dogs terrorizing the neighbors with their barks. They don't so much appreciate the raincoats right now, but they'll live. Hopefully it won't be such gross weather for too long and we can get out without all of our gear.

That's all for now. I'm off into to the kitchen to make some sweet treats for our friends who watched the boys this weekend while BK and I went to Zurich. I'll update you on my adventures in baking soon!

Christmas craziness (Part II)

The second part of Christmas was just as packed as the first half. Our tradition at Christmas is to do Christmas Eve, until around 9, with my family, then drive to East Texas so that we can wake up there on Christmas morning with BK's family. Most people think the driving at night part seems really hard, but I just can't bring myself to trade off years or switch between Christmas and Thanksgiving or some other arrangement like that.

I have a lot of guilt about the fact that I don't have nearly as many pictures of the second half of Christmas as the first, and I literally have no evidence that we even went to Arkansas. Ugh! Usually I'm the family photographer; not sure what happened this year.

We spent Christmas day like most others do, seeing what Santa brought the kids, opening gifts from one another and eating. Luckily we got to spend lots of time with these guys!

BK and I were recruited to put some toys together too. BK put these doll bunk beds together for HG. He questioned how he ended up with the task. I told him he was getting to practice for future toys that needed to be put together for Baby K some day.

Somehow I was roped into helping Hud put together lego figures. BK and I gave him Ninja Turtle legos for Christmas, but before getting them I hadn't considered how hard they would be to put together. Hud and I were able to put together the tiny car in the picture below and in that same time BK came over and put the big car together. I seriously had to follow the directions step by step to get the thing done; it seemed to come much easier to BK- maybe from childhood experience with these things? Hud and I then put together one leg of a lego Samurai…and that's as far as we made it. We returned to that project a few days later.

After Christmas BK and I, along with his sister and her boyfriend, headed to Arkansas to see BK's extended family. We hit Camden and Magnolia; saw aunts, uncles, cousins and grandparents; played Wait-A-Minute; and enjoyed catching up and spending time with family. After that whirlwind of a visit, we made our annual trip to/stop at Superior Bar and Grill in Shreveport to meet the rest of BK's family for dinner.

We caught a movie the next day before leaving East Texas and then headed back to Fort Worth in time to catch Robert Earl Keen's Merry Christmas from the Fam-O-Lee concert at Bass Hall. I would highly recommend the concert- it's a fun way to end the Christmas season.

BK joined UCC the next morning and he and I spent the day watching playoff games…he, more than I, as I took the iPad and my magazine to keep me occupied. I swear it seems like the next couple of days were spent getting some of the big stuff off the registry, washing baby clothes and bedding, and trying to figure out how in the world we were going to get all of the stuff back to Switzerland.

We spent New Year's with some great friends and enjoyed dinner at Michael's in Fort Worth, then met BK's sister downtown to ring in midnight. As much of a party animal as I am right now, BK and headed home not too long after that.

I know I've posted it on the blog before, but it still gets me. The next day was spent packing to come back to Switzerland, where somehow we got nearly everything baby-related back in approximately eight suitcases!

I'm here for quite a while now. No more air travel for me and Baby K until after she arrives, but BK and I will be embarking on some train travel before she makes her arrival. I'll keep you updated on where we're headed to next!

Christmas craziness (Part I)

Whew! I am finally feeling back to normal. Today was the first day that I have been able to get up at a normal time (7ish) and not totally crash and burn sometime in the late morning or early afternoon. Not to mention, the past few days I've been averaging around 22,000 steps per day (over 10 miles) which took some adjusting back to as well. BK pulled an all-nighter at work last night, so who knows what his sleep will be like now.

Now, on to the fun stuff…our Christmas trip to the US! BK went early for work and was there for three weeks and I joined him one week later for two weeks of festivities. Our schedule was packed full, and, as it should be, was full of family, family, family. In August I made the mistake of over-scheduling us with friends in Fort Worth, leaving my family no time; this time we pretty much just saw family the entire time. I've already told BK that when Baby K arrives and we venture back to the US for the first time with her, I'm going to have to stay for at least three weeks. There's just no other way to see everyone and have quality time together in two weeks. It's a stretch now- I can't imagine adding a baby into that, who at that time, no one but the parents will have met.

So here it goes…highlights from the trip!

This is what ensues when BK is left to his own devices for too long without me there to supervise, especially when it involves one Bobby P. This is one of the tamest pictures they sent me. Bobby P's wife (NP) is also pregnant, about two weeks behind us, and I let the party boys know that after the babies get here they would be on dad duty and NP and I would be out enjoying ourselves like they do!

One of the many texts that I received letting me know I was missed

A tamer BK joined my family for the dedication of Abbs and LJ at church the Sunday before I arrived.

The H family

When true order was restored, and I got into town (just kidding…sort of) we hit the ground running with KRM's 50th birthday that night. Somehow I have no pics of dinner or the fam visiting Sundance Square. I blame it on the fact that BK and I "share" his iPhone when we're both in the US and I don't always have it at my fingertips.

I initially was relieved that Thursday had arrived, as I had no plans, but somehow filled my day up quite well. The morning was consumed by baking for BK's Fort Worth team and hanging out with my sisters as they got ready for the baby shower coming on Saturday. I know you've seen them before, but just to reemphasize how good they are, here's another pic of what I made.

Cream cheese filled snicker doodles

Friday was a big day- Abbs' friend birthday at Van Grow Studios, Kilgore High School (BK's alma mater) played in the football state championships, and we had the M extended family Christmas.

My sister asked if I could help her out by making rice crispy treat "paint brush" party favors for Abbs' party. Of course, as one who bakes often, I thought no big deal. They were a complete pain- don't do it if someone asks. There's really not even any real baking involved. I'd do it again for them, but it was quite the process Thursday night and Friday morning. I told CMH that I hoped those two-year-olds enjoyed the crap out of these rice crispy treats!

The "paint" drying on rice crispies

Finished product

The birthday girl painting

We went to the football game at Cowboys stadium. Kilgore lost, so nothing exciting to report there, outside of some outstanding people watching. That night my dad's family came to our house for our yearly dinner and gift exchange.

Saturday was also a big day- Baby K's baby shower! The theme was Traveling Tot, which was really cute, and I was very thankful to have many family members and friends come to celebrate our upcoming addition. Unfortunately I don't have any pictures as of yet. I did take my camera, but was too busy socializing and being the center of attention to take any of my own. More to report on that later.

It also happened to be this guy's (LJ) first birthday that day. Yes, he and Abbs are approximately 360 days apart from one another.

The next morning we lit the advent candle with my mom.

Then celebrated both Abbs and LJ's birthdays at home.

In the meantime, BK and I started celebrating our own Christmas together by starting to open presents. TR said that we seem to think that we celebrate Hanukah, as we open presents from one another for about five days before Christmas actually gets here. Here was one of BK's to me- he wraps his own and must have liked this one, as he took this picture of it before I opened it.

I had lunch with some great friends on Monday, and did some sewing with my mom on Baby K's bedding. When BK and I get done with her room I'll post pics of the bedding- it's black, cream and purple (surprise, surprise).

That brought us to Christmas Eve on Tuesday, when we celebrate Christmas with my family. Here's a good one of mom and the babies before Christmas lunch.

Wow! That's only the first week we were there. As this is starting to feel like my longest blog post ever, I'm going to break this one up and tell you about our second week in the next post.

Now you can see how our holidays were quite the whirlwind, but I wouldn't have done it any differently and loved every minute of it, as I hope you did with yours as well!

Four days back and still fighting jet lag!

Ugh…jet lag is killing me this time around, so I need to warn you this may be a completely random blog post. I need to post about our Christmas trip to the US, as tons of stuff happened while we were there, but I'm just tired and haven't quite put it together yet.

I sort of expected it, as it has gotten harder to adjust back to this timezone as pregnancy progresses, but I was really excited when our first day back (Friday) passed and I wasn't acting completely crazy.

Friday was spent with BK at work and me unpacking the eight suitcases we brought back with us. Yikes! Eight suitcases! I think I can effectively say that our days of traveling light might be over. As a disclaimer, we did have a baby shower and had a ton of stuff to bring back this time.

Tanner is also pretty sure that everything we brought back is for him.

BK and I were surprisingly productive this weekend, despite being a bit off from traveling. Saturday we rented a Mobility car again and ventured out to Ikea. It was a madhouse, but we braved the crowds and got what we needed for the wardrobe conversion in Baby K's room and ordered the crib. The wardrobe used to have shoe racks in it with storage on the side that is covered. We put in drawers and shelves that will serve as a changing table and put some additional drawers on the skinny side. Now comes my part- putting everything that we brought back from the US.

Regarding jet lag, I should have knocked on wood or something because today was rough. It's pretty much guaranteed that  I will wake up around 2:30am and not be able to go back to sleep until the time when I'm supposed to be waking up. This morning it was 3:30am, and I wasn't able to go back to sleep until around 9am- not good. And yes, I totally have a fear of Baby K not sleeping and me being a zombie.

On a happier note, right before I left to come to the US I made Cream Cheese-Filled Snicker Doodles for the neighbors and included one of our Christmas cards. I'm happy to report back that the neighbors seemed to really appreciate them. We had a bottle of wine from one and a baby gift from another waiting for us when we got back, and last night one stopped by with baked goods and tonight a different one came by to introduce herself and say thanks. Pretty cool! My cookies are bringing people together :)

I also embarked on a new dish for dinner tonight- Mini Chicken Pot Pies. I've been craving cozy food since we got back and this sounded good tonight. And since BK's working late, this was a good night to try something new. They turned out well, and I would definitely recommend this recipe. I made Cream of Mushroom Condensed Soup for the recipe and instead of biscuits used dough that you roll out, which also worked really well. Yum! They were fairly quick and make for an easy dinner.

That's all for tonight. Now I just need to decide if I have the energy to do anything else productive. Hopefully I'll sleep better tonight and be back tomorrow with more.

Happy 2014!

Happy 2014! I'm a couple of days late on this post, but the first was spent packing a crazy amount of stuff to bring back to Switzerland, the second was spent traveling and now we're at the end of the third day, which has been a hard recovery day from all the traveling. Such is the life of living abroad…

2014 promises to be an exciting year for BK and I, as we welcome Baby K sometime this spring. Even though we have this life-changer approaching quickly, BK and I still have some other resolutions and goals for the year. I never really know how I feel about New Year's Resolutions. Part of me thinks that if you have a goal or want to change something, you should just do it. But on the other hand, the beginning of a new year obviously gives you a clean slate to start something new. I think it also provides a good time to reflect on where you are and what you want to do. About this time last year, BK and I started talking about the possibility of having a family together and look where we are now :)

So, here we go…my New Year's Resolutions for 2014!
~ Expand our network in Basel (i.e. make more friends)
~ Improve my German
~ Volunteer my time in Basel somehow
~ Continue a healthy and active lifestyle
~ Continue traveling and exploring new places

I would add "Become a Mom" to this list, but it seems kind of obvious to me. The other questionable one I have is to complete the Basel half-marathon. I really want to do this before we leave Basel. It's held at the end of September, but as I've never done the whole giving birth thing, I'm just not sure how feasible this goal is in regard to recovery time and being a new mom. We'll see- it's on the radar and will be done if possible. Maybe I'll do one in Dallas in December if that one doesn't work out.

BK has resolutions of his own, but you can ask him about those if you're curious. I'll be back tomorrow with an update on our Christmas vacation. To say it was busy would be an serious understatement!