Mom on the Scene: arrives in Germany

It is a mom takeover.  I've taken over the blogsite because Jaime never blogged enough for us back home.  She doesn't seem to understand how desperate we are for info.  So here I am and will try to blog more frequently while waiting.

Javin eagerly picked me up from the Vilseck train station Thursday after my all night flight and train ride from Frankfurt.  I am always amazed at my ability to find the way all by myself to a little town in Germany.  For a girl from Paris, Texas who could only dream of one day going to Padre Island, I am thrilled to be here.  If I can do it, you can too.  (And yes, I finally made it to Padre Island.)

Since I did not sleep on the flight and feared sleeping on the train and waking in Budapest or Moscow, I was ready for a nap when I arrived at 1:30 p.m.  At 6:00 pm, I turned in for a good night's sleep and woke at 11a.m. fully rested and now on schedule (I hope).

We woke to a dusting of snow which continued all day.  For an afternoon activity,  I took the newlyweds outside for pictures.   They have very few pictures of them together so here we go.  The heavy snow slowed just before we went out.  Perhaps it will snow more tonight or tomorrow.

We are warm and cozy inside just passing the time now.  Jaime is now officially 34 wks and 5 days (twin pregnancy due date is 38 weeks) so we could be waiting for a couple more weeks.  But I'm here and ready for the show to begin!

R.

Baby Shower...

The ladies from church came over today and threw Javin and me a baby shower. It was fun to sit around and receive some real life parenting advice. They had lots of good advice and stories.

This is one of the presents, these "twins" are made of onesies and diapers. Wrapped in a blanket and put in a little basket. What a good idea.

This is a picture of all the gifts. We got some cute little outfits, diapers, baby care items, pacifiers, hats, gloves, and socks. It was a fun afternoon.

Jaime

Better Late than Never...

Two weeks before Thanksgiving I was admitted to the Hospital with early signs of labor. I stayed for eleven days, during which time I was monitored for contractions twice a day, given corticosteroids to help with the boys lung development, and given medicine to reduce contractions. It was horrible!

We begged them to let me go home before Thanksgiving. I promised I would stay on bedrest at home and Javin assured the doctors that he would be very strict. He is...

We had plans to go to a friends house for Thanksgiving dinner, but with the new restrictions we didn't. Javin went to the store and bought all the goodies. He cooked a turkey, ham, green bean casserole, his grandmother's dressing, mac and cheese, and rolls. He said it was so hard to get everything warm at once. This was his first Thanksgiving to have to cook anything and he did it all by himself. I think I will start faking some illness around this time every year, It was delicious!

We even put our Christmas tree. He assembled the tree and then unpacked all our decorations and handed them to me when I asked. We have a nature themed tree, complete with deer antlers on the top.

I think we are both happy to have me home and are glad the we are able to spend the holidays together. This is our first (and only alone) Thanksgiving and Christmas as newlyweds and Javin's first away from his family. We miss everyone a lot and wish we could be home to celebrate with them. Next year we will have the boys, so what a blessing that will be!

Jaime

Happy Halloween...

Javin and I went to a Battery Halloween party this week. Costumes were highly encouraged for adults too. We went as a hunter and deer. As many friends pointed out, it is considered in bad taste to hunt pregnant deer!!!!

Happy Halloween Y'all.

Jaime

Nursery....

I think they call this the nesting phase. We just hit the 24 week mark and are getting excited about bringing the boys home.

My mom painted these decorations for the boys room. The language are japanese, spanish, italian, german, english, french and the phonetic alphabet. Also we have the boys names painted and the definition of "two". I think it is going to be very cute.

Two picture frames just waiting for the boys.

At least they won't be naked!

J

Our Boys...

As J and I sit around in the evening, talking about our boys, many hilarious notions are tossed around. These are a few:

Our boys will never through a fit in public
Our boys will always be well-mannered and respectful
Our boys will be clean, never sticky or stinky
Our boys will never pout
Our boys will always say "yes ma'am" and "no sir"
Our boys will never run away from us
Our boys will never fight
Our boys will never sleep in our bed
Our boys will sleep through the night
Our boys are going to be PERFECT

I am just not ready to see how many of those words we have to eat over the next 18 years!

J

Baby Update...

So it's been a while! Again I state that no news must be good news.

For those reading that do not know already, we are having twins. Two boys! My mom says it best when she tells me I have been training my whole life for a house full of boys. I am 23 weeks along and the doctor says the babies and mom all look great.

We just had our in-depth 4D sonogram. Our doctor, Dr. Ernhart, looked at all the organs, bones, and features on each baby. We have 20 fingers, 20 toes, 2 noses, and two healthy babies. They are about 12 inches and weight just over a pound each!!!!

Have to get my camera working so I can post some nursery pictures and of course a belly picture. W e are doing well and just waiting and enjoying our last few months together before the boys arrive!

Jaime

Dachau...

Dachau Concentration camp was the first opened and all other camps were modeled after this one. It was open from 1933 to 1945, the entire reign of the Hitler and the Third Reich. It was originally opened to house political prisoners and opponents of the Nazi party.

"Work makes you Free" This is the entrance that all inmates walked through when they arrived.

Prisoners arriving by train to the camp.

The bath houses. Prisoners would first be checked in and stripped of all their belongings. the moved to the Bath House for "Cleansing".

Bunks inside of one of the barracks.

The crematorium. This building was built in 1942, the original is still standing but the camp required more space.

The incinerators.

Jaime

Munich...

Munich is one of the most enjoyable, livable, and entertaining cities in Bavaria.With a population of 1.5 million, the city is still growing!

Within Marienplatz and the Pedestrian zone is the New Town Hall built in 1867. This building boasts a glockenspiel that is 100 years old and jousts daily between 11:00 and 12:00. During WWII this building served as US Military headquarters due to it central location and lack of damage. 

Javin and Dad were approached by a group of ladies on a bachelorette outing. The woman in yellow is the bride and was collecting signatures from tourist!

This fountian is located in the courtyard of the University of Munich.

The Siegestor Arch was build in 1852 and was mostly destroyed during the war. The city of Munich elected to rebuild on this portion. It was one of the original entrance gates in the city.

Jaime

Rothenburg...

This week my parents came for a visit and a tour around Germany. We started out week in Rothenburg ob de Tauber. This lovely hotel was our first home: The PrinzHotel.

This picture is of the town tower. This tower was built on the existing town hall without a proper foundation. You can climb to the top where there is a bell and a beautiful view of the neighboring vineyards. The tower stands at 200 feet tall with 214 narrow,steep steps to the top.

Inside St. Jakob's church, there is a 35-foot-tall wooden carving named the Alter of Blood. It is said to contain a drop of Jesus' blood.

The highlight of my trip was the GIGANTIC Kathe Wohlfahrt store. Since Javin and I started dating, I have been asking him to bring me back here so I can go to this store. It is three stories tall and filled with carved wood figures and christmas ornaments. An overwhelming experience.

This is a treat that Rothenburg is famous for. They call them "Snowballs". And the were delicious!

It was a good start to am amazing week. More pictures and places to follow!

Jaime

AWOL...

Just wanted to explain why we have been missing in action for a few weeks. Sorry to those who have been anxiously awaiting word from our new home here. Life has been full of the unexpected.

The following picture speaks for itself:

(Just in case it doesn't, that is in fact a baby. Which has made me very sick!)

Jaime

Little Things...

Nothing says true love like a washer and a dryer!!!!!

A year....

On this day last year, Javin graduated from OCS at Fort Benning in Georgia. I am just as proud of him today as I was that day. Amazing where a year can take you...

J

Happy Home...

The wait is over. We finally got all our things moved in and ordered to our taste. Javin spent the morning moving the last of our trash boxes out and sweeping/vacuuming. So that was a nice surprise when I got out of bed.

This is our master bedroom, complete with new red duvet and furniture from my brother.

Our dresser, I love the big mirror and how many drawers we have. After living our of suitcases for almost a month, I am in drawer heaven!!!!!

This is our guest bedroom, awaiting visitors! Also, Javin covered our ugly Army issue closet. He's a regular Martha Stewart.

Our kitchen table. It looks sort of small next to the big windows. We are looking forward to having friends over for dinner sometime soon.

This is my kitchen. It doesn't have a whole lot of cabinet space so we had to store some of our things for later use! But it is really big in area.

Javin is going to build me an island to go here, but for now we are using this sweet little cabinet for a pantry.

The living room entertainment center, Thanks Jeff's Friend! It is perfect and fits all our movies and TV just right! Also, I can't wait to sit in the chair and read my kindle and look out the windows! Doesn't it look so inviting?

And our lovely red sofa, thanks to Toni's friend! Very comfortable.

Needless to say, Jeff and Toni furnished out first home. It is lovely and we couldn't be more happy with our "stuff".

Javin played in a softball tournament tonight and has staff duty a for 24 hours tomorrow. So it will just me and the apartment until Sunday. It's nice to be able to walk around and find places for pictures and "sit arounds" to go. We are having fun!

J