Teenie ist da...

Just a quick update I will write more later

After 20 hours labor including 2 failed attempts at induction, a failed pda and failed spinal baby Luca was born via C section under full anesthesia Wensday morning at 7:31 am.

He weighed 3640 grams and was 53 cm long.

I think hes perfect, check back for updates. 

Sundays in my city- 40 weeks can you believe it???

40 weeks, 40 weeks can you believe it??? It sure is hard to believe it. Here it is my 40th week. I was hoping to have some baby photos to share but little Luca has decided today is not the day. That is unless he changes his mind in the next 2 hours.

I am hanging in there. It is great having my mom here with me. My next appointment is Tuesday if nothing jump starts on its own, and c-section has been laid back on the table as an option after the baby weighed in at 9 and a half pounds on the last scan. Scans are not fool proof in weight projections, but even with the margin of error he will be a big boy.  Which explains the gnarly pressure I have been having on my pelvic floor. Otherwise no progress since 2 and a half weeks :(

So here it is week 40 in all its glory

 We will just ignore that hair mishap :P

 My battle scars which luckily are not anywhere I could easily see them so it has not caused me much duress. I am at the point now where I have come to terms with pregnancy in all its glory :)

 We have had some wild weather.

 As well as some late nights taking a toll.

 But we have had a lot of fun too.

Not that I am biased since I won or anything :P

So that was my Sunday in my city. My due date come and gone. Here's hoping for some new smiling faces in next weeks photos.

Thabks for joining me and make sure you check out everyone else over at unknownmami.com

A few more

I wanted to share a few more of the maternity shoot photos with you.

Baby Luca is due in just 2 days now. :) I am ready for this part of the journey to come to an end. I still can't wait to meet him. I think waiting is the hardest part.

Woohoo!

Since I first opened this blog I have posted 309 posts.

And I just discovered between Networked blogs and google reader I have exceeded 100 followers woohooo!!!

Now I know there are a few duplicates. But in all fairness I did not count my facebook fan page which had quiet a few new follwers as well, so I think it balances out :P

Thank you so much to each and everyone of you who reads my blogs. Even those of you who do not follow me. You bring my voice to life and it means the world to me.

I hope to keep writing quality content that you enjoy reading. I enjoy everyone's comments and read each and everyone of them.

Only 4 days left until baby Luca is due and I am having so much fun with my mom. And who doesn't love Christmas right?

Meal plan monday- Dec 13, 2010

It is that time again. Here is my meal plan for the week. You will notice more meals are planned as Hubby is on vacation and my mom is here now.  Also being 9 months pregnant I could eat a small horse so we are eating more often and it changes a bit based on what sounds or smells good lol.

 

I wanted to start out by reflecting on how last weeks meal plan worked out.

Mon- Thurs was abendbrot

Friday we did have the pasta with baguettes, but instead of salad we had Brussels sprouts. I had a small accident in the fridge and milk exploded over all my produce and I was not about to eat produce soaked in milk.

Saturday we ended up eating some Berliners for breakfast, the donuts not the people no need for concern, then we had a coffee and Mcdonalds at the airport later in the morning. Lunch got skipped. Dinner was leberkase, rotkohl and an attempt a Knödel. I ended up only need one package of leberkase so I have another one left for another meal made the dinner even cheaper. I screwed up the knödel, normally Toni makes them, and he failed to tell me to start will cold water, so we ended up with knödel smash, which at least tasted good. 

Sunday Toni made German eierkuchen (pancakes/crepe like dish) for breakfast. We were at the Weinachtsmarkt (Christmas market) at lunch time so we ate out. My mom and I shared a piece of Pizza and Toni had his own. He then had a steak brötchen and we shared a Bratwurst and kinder mulled wine (alcohol free). We had planned döner for dinner, but since we ate out we were not ready to eat again and its not a dish that sits well or reheats so we will eat that at a later time. Instead we had chicken noodles soup (canned) and warm rolls.

So the eating out was not in the budget, but at the same time we skipped Döner so it only ended up being off by a few euro and it was a special occasion so well worth it. First weinachts market in over 25 years gotta make that special :)

So here is a look at my plan for this week: (obviously subject to change if teenie makes an appearance)

Monday:

Breakfast- Maple and brown sugar oatmeal Rena + mom, Belegetes brot Toni

Lunch- Sandwiches and my mom and me had pretzels as a snack while waiting for Toni

Dinner: Curry wurst with french fries (pregnancy craving)

Tuesday: 

Breakfast: Toast and bananas Rena + mom, belegtes brot Toni

Lunch: Egg Salad

Dinner: Abendbrot

Wednesday:

Breakfast: yogurt- Rnea, oatmeal mom, belegtes brot Toni

Lunch: Baked potatoes with quark

Dinner: Abendbrot

Thursday: 

Breakfast: Cereal Rena + mom, belegtes brot Toni

Lunch:Asian noodles

Dinner: Abendbrot

Friday: 

Breakfast: Oatmeal Rena + mom, belegtes brot Toni

Lunch: Sandwiches with veggies

Diner: Eggs and potatoes with mustard sauce

Saturday: 

Breakfast: Omlettes

Lunch: Sandwiches with fruit

Dinner: Peppersteak and fried rice

Sunday: 

Breakfast: Rolls

Lunch: Sandwiches with veggies

Dinner: Fish sticks, potatoes and a veggie

Dessert: Apple Strudel

And I thought I would leave you with this pic, it was also taken by the friend who did the maternity photos. I think it is just lovely. I plan to blow it up and frame it.

Make sure you stop by Orgjunkie for over 300 weekly meal plans from real folks. And leave me a link to yours, I love new meal ideas.

Schlecker Baby Club Begrüssungspaket

Next one arrived today from Schlecker's Baby club  and this one was pretty cool too. Have I mentioned that surprises, things in the mail and freebies are a few of my favorite things?

This set had:
* A sample of NUK Spül Reiniger (bottle and nipple wash)
* A pouch of Tetesept Entsoannungs Bad (therapy bath)
* A sample 50 ml bottle of Bübchen kinder shampoo
* A full sized Shogetten Vollmich-Schokolade (Candy bar)
* A copy of Leben and Erziehen magazine (living & parenting) with a special offer supscribe to the magazine for 23.88 and get a free 20 euro schlecker gift card, so in the end 43,88 in value for 23,88.
* A pair of socks from Pampers
* A mullwindel (German gauze diaper)
* A packet of Hipp Feucht- Tücher (babywipes)
* A small ,25l Frucht Tiger apfel-erbeer juice
* A 3 euro gift card
* A 40 ml sample bottle of Penaten Intensiv Lotion
* A schlecker baby product catalog
* An advert for some random baby items clothing
* A coupon book valued at 31 euro in savings

The coupon book had the following coupons:
* 10€ off 22,95 fr an a4 hardcover photobook
* ,50€ off Babay smile Nature Gesichts- & Pflegecreme 75ml (Face and body cream)
* ,50€ off Babysmile Sensitive Panthenol Hautschutzcreme 100ml (skin protection cream)
* ,50€ off Babysmile Kopf bis Fuß Waschgel 500ml (head to toe baby wash)
* ,50€ off MAM My first Silikon pacifier
* ,50€ off Erstes Zähnchen Baby Zahnpasta (baby toothpaste)
* ,50€ off Nenedent Kinderzahncreme 50ml (Childrens toothpaste)
* ,50€ off HIPP Babysanft Washgel Haut & Haar 400ml (Hair and body wash for babies)
* ,50€ off HIPP Babysanft Intensivcreme Wnd & Wetter 50ml (wind and weather cream)
* 1,00€ off Bübchen Baby Bad 1000ml (Babybath)
* 1,00€ off Bübchen Creme Pflegebad 400 ml (creamy bath)
* 1,00€ off Bübchen Baby shampoo 400 ml
* ,80€ off Bübchen Calendula Gesichtspfelege 75 ml (face cream)
* ,80€ off Bübchen Wind & Wettercreme 75 ml (wind & weather cream)
* ,50€ off Penaten Stilleinlagen 30er (nursing pads)
* 1,00€ off Penaten Bad & Shampoo Kopf bis Fuß 400ml (head to toe baby wash)
* ,75€ off Penaten Pflegecreme Gesicht & Körper 100 ml (face and body cream)
* ,50€ off Penaten creme 50 ml
* ,75€ off Penaten Shampoo Gländes Haar 250 ml
* 1,00€ off Penaten Plege Öl 200 ml (Baby oil)
* ,75€ off Penaten Lotion Tücher 4er Vorteilspack (lotion wipes)
* ,75€ off Penaten Sensitiv-Tücher 4er Vorteilspack (sensitive wipes)
* ,50€ off NUK Kühlbeißring-set (cooling teething set)
* ,50€ off NUK First Choice Flaschensauger Latex Verschiedene Größen (nipples Latex)
* ,50€ off NUK First Choice Flaschensauger Silikon verschiedene Größen (nipples silicon)
* ,50€ off NUK Genius Beruhigungssauger Silikon verschiedene Größen (pacifier silicon)
* 1,00€ off NUK Junior Cup mit Push-Pull-Tülle
* ,50€ off HIPP Bio-Milchbrei Kindergrieß 500 g (Organic childrens oatmeal)
* ,30€ off HIPP Gemüse 190g verschiedene Sorten (baby veggies)
* ,50€ off HIPP Tee 400g verschiedene Sorten (Tea)
* 1,00€ off Humana Folgenmilch 3 500g vershiedene Sorten (Forumla)
* 1,00€ off Humana Schlummermilch 500g (Forumla)
* ,40€ off Humana Brei ohne Milch 250 g verschiedene Sorten (Dairy free oatmeal)
* ,40€ off Humana Milchbrei 350g verschiedene Sorten (Oatmeal)
* ,40€ off Humana Schlummerbrei 250g vershiedene Sorten (some variation of oatmeal)
* 1,50€ off Humana HA 2 500g (Forumla)
* 1,50€ off Humana HA 3 500g (Forumla)
* 2,00€ off Humana Folgenmilch 2 100g Sparpack (Forumla)
* ,20€ off Humana Babywasser 1,5L  (water)
* ,50€ off Edelweiss Milchtucker 500g (milk sugar)
* ,30€ off Kölln Schmelzflocken 250g (oatmeal of some sorts)
* ,50€ off Alete Greisbrei Vanille oder keks 4x 100g
* ,50€ off Alete Mahlzeit zum Trinken 2x 200ml verschiedene Sorten

All good through 12/31/2011

Babysmile is the Schlecker house brand offering a variety of baby products and diapers. Check out their prices on my diaper price comparison, and coming soon my baby care products price comparison.

The baby club is free and you can sign up on their website here

Check out other freebies for expecting and new parents here

Sundays in my city- 39 Weeks!!!!!!

All right its that time again, this time we are celebrating 39 weeks, only 7 days to go holy moly!



As promised meet my mom :D

We took her down to check out the wintermarket today. It was the last day so it was beyond packed.  We had pizza and bratwurst from the food stands and enjoyed a kinder glüwein (alcohol free warmed punch). Toni enjoyed a steak brotchen. We found some goodies. I got a special Christmas gift for my dad. I cannot share now as he reads my blog, but it is something I know he will love. My mom found some wooden hand carved ornaments, and a gift for my cousins family as well as some special gifts for her step kids.

We had a pretty quiet afternoon, more naps both Mom and Toni. Toni's prep for the terror that lies ahead :P and mom's attempts to overcome the jetlag, so I spent the afternoon catching up on some final baby prep.

And here it is without further ado..... 39 weeks.

I am tired and uncomfortable to say the least but in good spirits. Excited and terrified the same. But so ready to meet him. I have a feeling he will make his appearance this week. We will have to wait and see what lies ahead for next weeks post.

Thanks for spending Sunday with me and my mom in my city. And don't forget to stop by www.unknownmami.com to check out everyone else's weekly adventures.

Day 1

Unfortunately I do not have any photos. I will take some tomorrow for my Sundays in my city post :)

Many of you know that my mom was flying into Germany for the birth of my son, which is really exciting. Add into that the holidays and its just wonderful. This is the first time I have seen my mom since 2008 when I left home. She had never even met my husband.

She flew into Frankfurt this morning. We left around 6:30 am to go pick her up. She had no trouble with the TSA no photo shoots or frisky frisky, just the fact that no one would help her. She explained she had not flown in 30 years and did not know what to do and they just stared at her, thankfully another passenger helped her.

She said the flight went well, but the seat got smaller lol. The food was ok, she enjoyed the personal screens and the fact that she could want the live tracking to see the flight progression along the way. And I too was able to watch the flight tracker online. The few times in the night I woke up I checked online and saw once when she was over eastern Canada and later Iceland.

The plane was a bit late and they were slow with the luggage, so we ended up waiting about an hour after she landed till we saw her. We found parking without issue, traffic was not bad took about and hour and a half to get there. But oh man did I miss the us conveyor belt escalators, we had quiet the hike to her terminal.

We were able to wait in an area right outside of customs, just like most other areas you can no longer go to the arrival gates. It was all sectioned off so aside from an occasional peek as someone cam out through the doors, you could not see in. Luckily there was a nice sitting area. Toni and I had a coffee at a small cafe and checked out a small shop. They sold English magazines at 11 euro a pop. Needless to say I did not buy any.

I finally got to see my mom around 9:30 am. She saw me right after she came out of the doors and we cried and hugged. She said no one would help her get her luggage of the belt but she managed. Took a while to get through the passport stamping lines, but no one was even at the customs desks when she came to them, so she was able to just walk out without any issue or searches.

We walked hand and hand through the airport and stopped at Mcdonalds for breakfast on the way out. Then we drove back home. Luckily we got back before the winter market rush so we did not have any issues getting a parking spot.

We rested a bit in the afternoon and took naps. We then went through some baby photos I shared some of toni and she showed me some of mine. We looked at some heirlooms and gifts she brought.

For dinner we had leberkase, rotkohl and an attempt at Knödel. Toni failed to tell me to use cold water first, so we ended up with knödel smash, tasted the same but looked horrid.

We spent much of the day chatting and catching up. After dinner we went through the baby items she brought. I was amused to find out I have been subpoenaed on a old hit in run from about 5 years ago. I was the victim. This woman no showed so many times its not even finny. They dropped the initial attempted assault with a deadly weapons charge and this whole experience has been a joke. I am shocked after all this time to get a new summons. I will have to call next week and inform them I will not be arriving to the Mult co county courthouse on the 10th.

Its now 10pm and everyone is asleep but me lol. Depending on how we feel we hope to take her to check out the winter market tomorrow.

I am just so happy to have her here. We are going to have so much fun.

Oh and I almost forgot. She brought me the journal she started the day I was born that runs through the first year and a half of my life. We started reading it together :D

I have missed her so much.

DM Schwangerschafts Paket

Dm is now offering a pregnancy club in addition to the baby club. You can sign up during your pregnancy for freebies. At the time of sign up, after confirming your account, you are given a coupon to take into the store to pick up a gift box.

I just got mine and it included:
* A full sized house brand pregnancy massage cream (Babylove Mama Massagecreme)
* 5 Euro gift certificate (no minimum purchase)
* A welcome letter
* A info brochure with pregnancy tips and product suggestions
* A coupon book valued at over 15 euro

My coupon book included:
* ,60€ off 2,95 Babylove Mama Massagecreme (massage cream)
* 2,00€ off 9,95 Weleda Damm-Massageöl (Perineum massage oil)
* 1,00€ off 4,75 Bübchen Massageöl für Schwangere (massage oil for pregnant women)
* 4,00€ off 19,95 Hipp natal Nahrungsergänzung (Prenatal dietary supplement system)
* ,60€ off 2,95 Abtei Calcium *d3 Lutschtabletten Nahrungsergänzungsmitttel (Calcium and d3 suppliment)
* ,70€ off 3,25 Taxofit Vitamin B-Komplex Nahrungsergänzungsmittel (Vitamin B supplement)
* 1,00€ off 4,45 Dopelherz aktiv Vitalstoff für Schwangere + Mütter Nahrungsergängzungsmittel (Vitamin supplement for pregnancy and motherhood)
* ,80€ off 3,95 Paradontax toothpaste
* ,60€ off 2,95 Nivea Natural oil shower gel
* ,50€ off 1,55 Dove visiblecare shower cream
* 1,00€ off 4,95 Mein Öl
* 1,00€ Guhl Prachtvoll Lang oder KOpfhaut Sensitiv Shampoo
* 1,00€ off 4,95 L'Oreal Paris Dermo-expertise hydra active 3 skin care series
* ,70€ off 3,45 Spee sensitive laundry soap
* ,40€ off 1,85 Lenor sensitiv fabric softener
* 10% off kodak 20x 30 cm Poster

all valid through 31.3.2012

Overall I thought this was a pretty cool set, it was one of the ones I was most excited about due to the 5 dollar gift certificate. Thats almost a full pack of house brand diapers.

I am excited to see what they offer in the baby welcome packet.

Check out more freebies for expecting and new parents here

Meal Plan Monday- Dec 6th

This week is a special week my mom will arrive this weekend. :)

As usual weekday breakfasts are made up of yogurt, oatmeal, cereal and fruit in a random combination.

Lunches will be random odds and ends

Dinners:
Mon- Thur: Abendbrot

Friday-
Dinner: Past, Baguette and salad

Saturday:
Breakfast: Rolls we will be leaving early to get my mom
Lunch: Sandwiches
Dinner: Leberkase, rotkohl, and knödel

Sunday-
Breakfast: Eierkuchen
Lunch: Sandwiches
Dinner: Döner with french fries

Mon- Tue will be Abendbrot (I plan to pick that up this week since next Wednesday is pay day so I do not want to shop the week before then)

Next week these will get more interesting as we will have 3 adults eating all meals at home for 3 weeks, and then 2 adults for all meals an additional 2 weeks.

:)

I am so excited.

Sunday in my city 38 weeks

Today is a very special Sunday in my cite. We got our maternity pics taken by a very special friend and fellow American expat. These are just a sneak peak straight out of the camera not yet edited, but I could not help but share they are so beautiful.

Today marks 38 weeks. And next Sunday there will be an addition to these photos my mom. I last saw her August 16, 2008. She flies in Saturday morning.

I am filled with so many emotions right now and all I really now is that my life i about to be changed forever, but I am ready to embrace that change.

So a very special thank you to my friend. This is the greatest gift anyone could have given It is memories that will last a life time.

And not only is she an awesome photographer shes a super cook. Make sure you stop by her blog A Mama with Flavor and tell her how awesome her pics turned out :D



And do not forget to stop by and check out the other ladies at www.unknownmami.com