Birthdays

I realize that I am nearly a month late in posting this, but better late than never, right? So happy birthday, Brett! Poor Brett has spent his last two birthday's in foreign countries without much fanfare, but hopefully next year we will be in the U.S. where at the very least he can have a delicious birthday burrito. Here are just a few of the many things that I love about the birthday boy (and the photos don't necessarily correspond, I just wanted to add some photos of Brett):

1. Before we got married, I wasn't much of a "touchy-feely" person. Turns out I was just holding all of my touching in for one specific person, and he lets me squeeze and hug him as much as I want even though I think he probably gets sick of it sometimes.

2. We've spent a lot of time apart in our marriage, and I know it sounds strange, but I'm actually happy to know that it's difficult for him too. Sometimes I think he doesn't need me as much as I need him but then he sends me emails like this: "I just miss you so much and can't wait to get back home to you. Home is wherever my Lindsey is." (I hope he doesn't mind that I shared that...)

3. He can make me laugh even when I'm trying so hard to be mad at him. For example: I was having a bad day a while back and the house was a mess and I was mad at him for not automatically noticing how messy it was and cleaning it up (we women are crazy sometimes, I know). He could tell that I was upset, but he didn't know what to do. So I start angrily cleaning only to look over and see Brett frantically shuffling some papers and things around trying his hardest to look busy. He was too funny and cute to stay mad at.

4. Even though there are some things that I watch that he absolutely loathes (like Gilmore Girls and What I Like About You) he will let me watch them without complaint. He even sat down and had a Veronica Mars marathon with me one time.

5. He is always willing to help other people around him. This includes small things like holding doors open for people, giving people directions, or helping a woman with her luggage, to other bigger things like helping people move. Somehow every time we go home to AZ there is someone moving in his parent's Ward. He's always willing to go and help them.

6. Sometimes I make fun of him for it, but I actually love that he is a big nerd. I don't claim to understand some of the things he is studying in school, but I know that he has a passion for them and I know he will be great at applying his knowledge in the future. He's so smart! I hope our kids get his brains.

7. He always tells me I'm pretty. (I know it's vain, but what girl doesn't like to hear that?) Even though I sometimes spend entire days in my sweats with no makeup on and greasy hair, he still tells me I'm pretty.

8. I know that he would do anything for me.

9. He is incredibly self disciplined. The way that he continues to work on his language skills amazes me. Arabic is an especially tough language because to be fluent you have to know so many more words than you would in English. So he continues to work at it on his own every day.

10. I had a dream a few weeks ago that we had a little baby girl and she had Brett's green, squinty eyes. I love his eyes, especially when he smiles.



I will stop there, but there are so many other things that I love and adore about Brett.


And in other "birthday" news... I am due on December 12, which also happens to be Brett's graduation day. So that should be fun. At this point it looks like I will be having the baby in California because I don't really know how else to work the insurance stuff. At least now I know what I am getting Brett for a graduation present! :) Or I guess if the baby is late, he or she can be a Christmas present. Hopefully at our next appointment (on July 8th) we will be able to find out the sex of the baby, but we'll see. I'm still having the heartburn ickyness, but other than that, things seem to be OK. The baby also seems to be trying to make his or herself known by way of a bump. Maybe one day I'll take some pictures, or maybe I'll just wait to surprise you all when I get home. Then I'll really look like I have a little something going on.

Hope all is well in the U.S. We are both pretty excited to come home in about 40 days! (Yes, I'm counting the days) It's been a wonderful experience here, but I'm just about ready to come home. That's all for now!

Pea Pod updates

Well since there has been a request for more baby news and I only aim to please, here's what I got:
First things first, is forgetfulness a part of pregnancy? You know how they (they being Dr. Ryuta Kawashima of Nintendo DS' Brain Age) say that when you are concentrating with intense focus, your brain will shut down access to senses you aren't using? Well, I think that my brain has shut off the "memory" function so as to focus on the Build-A-Bear workshop going on in my stomach. Secondly, I feel very blessed to have not experienced the throwing up part of pregnancy, however, heartburn has come at me full-force. Here in Austria the pharmacies don't allow you to just stroll willy-nilly around until you find the medicine you need, you have to actually speak to a pharmacist every time you go in. So the other day I tried to ask for Tums or something for heartburn, but I don't think she understood me. The good news is Brett works for a UN organization that has an area complete with American type things, like cheddar cheese and Tums, only the latter of which I hope to consume. Thirdly, I went to get my blood tests done last week and although the nurse who took my blood didn't speak English, I think we got along just fine. She would gesture, I would nod, and really, getting your blood drawn is pretty straight forward, assuming that the nurse knows what she's doing. Unfortunately when it came time for my results, there was no one to gesture, nod, or speak broken English to me. So basically I have a piece of paper that indicates I'm low in 2 areas, but which ones, who knows? I have another appointment with my doctor at the beginning of June, so hopefully she will make sense of things for me.

In other related news, Austria is a hard place to be when you're sense of smell is heightened. Brett said that it's like I have a super power or something, but I can tell you there's nothing super about getting on the subway with a bunch of stinky people practically breathing on you. Why is deoderant still not hip here? Oh well. I seriously spend most of my time at home hanging out, watching cheesy movies, and working. It's a nice set up.

My last thought is that I'm really glad that everyone says I'm really going to love my own kids. I didn't grow up playing with dolls, and the idea of having kids was one that took a while to grow on me. I wasn't the type of girl that gushed over babies or wanted to hold every one that I saw. Don't get me wrong, I love my nieces and nephews and think my friends have some of the cutest kids ever, but the idea of having my own used to really freak me out. I think just like marriage, having kids is a very personal thing and there is no specific time/age to do said things that works for everyone. But for me and Brett, we know that this is the right time and that everything will work out.

To keep from having a blog with no pictures, here are a couple:
Me and my dad when my parents came to visit:


Me and Brett at his office:

Oh and FYI, I'm almost 12 weeks along. That's what everyone really wants to know, right?

The Pitter-Patter of a little Lindsey or Brett

Well first of all, Brett and I have now been married for four years! Can you believe it? I certainly can't. Time really does fly by. Before we got married, I honestly didn't know exactly what to expect (does anyone really?). My mom made sure to let me know that marriage was not always easy, but I still didn't know how hard it could sometimes be. Fortunately along with all the struggles and difficult times come wonderful, fun, and amazing times. I am so grateful to be married to Brett. He never ceases to amaze me with how smart, funny, and sweet he is. It's also nice that he is so willing to put up with me. We've seen a lot together over these four years and we've grown so close. I can't imagine my life without him.

Now, as you may have heard or guessed by the title of this blog, we recently discovered I'm pregnant. I had been feeling sick since we got back from London and I had missed my period (sorry for the personal detail), which actually isn't that uncommon, but I just had a feeling that something was different this time. So I went and got a pregnancy test (without telling Brett). The test that I got was all in German and it was a digital test that said Schwanger (pregnant) or Nicht Schwanger (not pregnant) instead of the little +/- or whatever. After I waited that ridiculously long 3 minutes, it said schwanger and I had a momentary freak out by myself in the bathroom before I came into the bedroom to tell Brett. When I first walked in, I just stared at him not knowing exactly what to say. Then he said, "what? what's going on?" I replied, "I'm schwanger!" Of course he didn't know what I meant, so I said, "I'm pregnant." He didn't believe me at first and kept saying "no you're not." Actually, here's a better representation of his reaction to the news:


So I brought in the test to show it to him.


(This picture is actually from the second test that Brett wanted me to take, and as you'll notice it says that I'm at least 3+ weeks along)

Then we both freaked out for a while. We're excited, but we were also caught off guard as we were not planning this at all. We just found a doctor so I have an appointment in about a week, so I'll be able to get a better idea of all those questions that people want to know, like "how far along are you?" and "when are you due?" I did one of those online things that is supposed to calculate your due date and it said Dec. 12, but I don't know about that.... so we'll see. I feel sick pretty much all day long, but I haven't thrown up yet, so I guess that's good. One thing that is super annoying is that I keep craving foods from restaurants that don't exist here. I get so hungry, but I only want certain things... things that I can't have. Oh well. I'll try not to think about Cafe Rio, Chipotle, the Euro Cafe, Joe's Real BBQ or the Mint Thai. Dang it.

In conclusion, I bought some Popsicles the other day only to discover that one of them came with a complimentary wood shard. Talk about a lawsuit waiting to happen! What a tasty lawsuit though.