The non-existing nursery

and a few other totally random things:

* I am TIRED. Tired because I have been waking up EARLY (like 5 AM early) the last couple of days and not been able to go back to sleep. Sometimes just because I have had enough sleep (though that does not make sense AT ALL), sometimes because I get cramps in my legs. Pregnancy is such a charm.

* Also tired because last night I woke up at 4 AM because Tim had a nightmare. Poor little guy.Though my darling husband got up to comfort him, I did not get back to my dream about Dr. House (heart!) until I got up at 5.30 AM, enjoyed my first breakfast and went back to bed.

* Yes, I had another breakfast later that morning. Shut up. I am pregnant, I can eat as many breakfasts as I want!

* I am too frustrated to talk about the non-existing nursery. I'll give you a few hints though: water damage by our upstairs neighbor, a big hole in the ceiling and our contractor had a heart attack yesterday. Right after his visit to us. I am not even kidding. He's in the hospital and doing OK.

* Though my heart goes out to him and his family, every hormone that is racing through my body is screaming (not to the contractor, I am not that cruel): THE NURSERY SHOULD BE DONE ALREADY.

* In all fairness, I have to say that the hubby did in fact put many hours in that room. But my hormones don't care about that. They care about colorful wallpapered rooms, cribs with matching blankets, and stuffed animals.

* The contractor's partner will be here Monday to see if they can still finish the ceiling in time.

* Though we did get wallpaper and I even found myself a creative decorative something to make for the nursery.

* Something that should hang on the non-existing ceiling.

* Frustration, frustration.

* On the bright side, my boss gave me a BONUS! Hooray! He also said some pretty nice things about the way I have been doing my new (though temporarily) job.

* Did I mention yet that I listened to your advice, got my priorities (health & pregnancy wise) straight and am now only working 3 half days a week (part part time!)? I am SO not going back to the delivery rooms until my due date. No, make that my 38th week of pregnancy, 40 weeks is a little too long.

* Working only 3 half days a week have been heaven for my belly.

* Monday night I'll attend my first pregnancy yoga lesson. Maybe it will help me breathe through this whole nursery thing. Maybe breathing will fix that hole in the ceiling. Positive thinking, and all that jazz.

Laundry can explode

Note to self: do not leave toddler in living room with four loads of freshly cleaned ready to be folded laundry, while turning back on him to answer the phone and leaving said toddler for two seconds out of sight while a very happy upbeat song is playing in the cd-player. Laundry.explosion.

That same day I had another four loads of laundry to do. Please tell me that with the birth of our second child our laundry will reduce to 30 percent of what it is now. Right?

Winter, spring, summer and fall

Though I miss the warmth of Portugal (I cannot believe I was sunbathing on a Lisbon beach in my bikini just two weeks ago), there's nothing quite like enjoying a clear, colorful fall day with my two boys.

Why you should be glad you are not married to me

Somewhere between 4 AM and 5 AM...

Me (laying on my side, carefully placed the pillows supporting my legs and pregnant belly): Honey?
Hubby: zzzzzzzz
Me: Honey?
Hubby: What's wrong?
Me: Can you slowly turn on the light?
Hubby: What?
Me: Can you turn on the light? Slowly? And than..
Me: Without moving to much..
Hubby:???
Me: Pull the blankets of me..
Hubby: ???
Me: and look at my butt?
Hubby: What's wrong with your butt?
Me: I think there's a bug sitting on it.

Hubby follows directions... looks at my butt.

Hubby: There is no bug there honey.
Me: But I felt something.

Hubby takes a closer look

Hubby: No, really, no bug.
Me: But I felt something.
Hubby: There is a
Me: Kill it!
Hubby: There is a piece of string of your PJ's caught between your legs..
Hubby: Maybe that's what was pulling your PJ's.

Hubby places back the blankets, kisses me, turns of the light, while saying some reassuring words

Hubby: Go back to sleep honey. There is nothing to worry about.
Me: I could have sworn I felt something.
Hubby: Try to get some rest.

Hubby drifts back into his coma...

Me: I love you.
Hubby: I love you too.

...

Me: Sorry for waking you up.
Hubby: That's OK honey.

...

Me: I'm hungry.

Next you're going to tell me that,

he got his drivers license, he's allowed to vote, he's allowed to drink, he's graduated, found himself a wife, 2.4 kids and a golden retriever, and that he has found a nice nursing home with free WiFi and wheelchair accessible rose gardens for his old demented parents.

And when you do tell me that, I will realize, this is where it all started:

The minute he let us know he can handle things by himself.

The minute he got his own toolbox (and turned green because his mommy was so smart to aim
the camera flashlight at his green bedroom wall).

The minute he pointed out a hammer is a tool for GUYS.

The minute he and his dad had different approaches to handle the same thing.

The minute they got into their first discussion.

The minute he showed US how it should be done.

The minute my baby boy slept in his big bed for the very time.

Follow the white rabbit: finally the Lisbon zoo recap

We visited 3 zoos did year, that's as many as we visited in the last 10 years. Can you tell we have a toddler? Bizarre but funny sums up our experience at the Lisbon zoo pretty well.

We started our zoo visit at the Dolphin show. Tim ADORED it! We went to a dolphin show at the Baltimore Aquarium in May, but he was a little too young to enjoy that show at its fullest. This time around? He was overjoyed. Jumping up and down on my lap. Shouting from joy, giving me hugs. It was amazing.

I promised weird, here is weird. They let the two sea lions of the show 'walk' through the audience. They let them get on the bench and slide through the hundreds of people, who were flashing their camera's right in their faces and letting them touch them. I felt tremendously sorry for both animals and felt the urge to go all PETA and Greenpeace and help them escape. However, rescuing big animals from a zoo is probably illegal, not to mention inconvenient as I am pregnant, plus the bath tub in our hotel room was large but not THAT large. So, I just got one huge butted creature out of there: myself. Mission accomplished. Sort of.

Can you spot the sea lion?

Anyways.

After that, we visited the monkeys. When we arrived at this monkey cage, there was some anxiety amongst visitors. There were people standing still in a circle gazing at something on the ground. This could mean either:
1. a person is being ill and is laying on the ground
2. a person is being mugged (I have such faith in humanity, can't you tell)
3. a monkey escaped

A, B or C? C is the correct answer, you really want to win that new dishwasher, don't you? I am sure the monkeys weren't supposed to escape, because only the little ones could squeeze their tiny bodies through the bars. However, the zoo did put up a sign that they weren't responsible for any personal belongings stolen by the monkeys. Does this mean I can go all Oliver Twist on Tim and send him on the streets to pick pocket?

As a Dutchie, I should probably shut up about the escaping monkeys as they weren't exactly 400-pound gorilla's like Bokito who escaped a Dutch zoo earlier this year.

The WEIRDEST thing however was the DOG CEMETERY, just a short walk from the escaped monkeys.

Bye bye Lassie, rest in peace (while the monkeys dance on your grave).

The music to the bird show they gave was pretty weird too. But Tim LOVED to dance to Wham's 'Wake me up before you go go'.

Go go, good idea. But this this zoo trip was like a bizarre dream where you realize you are sleeping, but you can't seem to wake up. There were many exit signs, but they were all pointing in different directions! I should have made photos of that, but to be honest, we just wanted to get out of there!

The gyno game: play with me

*update: comment page fixed, thanks Haley!*

Close your eyes...

OH NO, that doesn't make sense! Open them! Hello?

OK.

Imagine, without closing your eyes, you're laying on a bed.

A hospital bed.

You're in pain.

Your legs are spread.

Giving birth to a baby girl (sorry guys, you can stop playing now).

In your designer jeans. ('cause, you know, don't we all?)

Between huffin' and puffin' you look up...

And you see this:

Mika!

The latest member of the gyno team I have seen. Not spoken, seen.

I am not sure about getting the baby delivered by a Mika look-a-like. I'd rather stick with Hugh Grant.

I mean sure Mika is all "Big girl, you are beautiful" and therefor I adore him. But I imagine puffing contractions away, while he sings his
"Relax take it eaaaaaeaaaaasyy" song. And when I shout "YOU TAKE IT EASY, FREAK, I AM POOPING OUT A BABY" And he starts singing his Grace Kelly song (my Mika favorite):

"do i attract you?
do i repulse you with my queasy smile?
am i too dirty?
am i too flirty?
do i like what you like?"

The thought kills me (and the hormones are frying my brain, have you noticed?).

Anyway, Wednesday in the hospital, I also saw a gyno that looked like our VET. I would not be comfortable with that either. Sure, he has seen both my pussies (hormones, I swear, brain, frying unable to make a joke on a decent level). Delivering a human baby should not be done by a man who looks like he fills his days giving flu shots to bunny rabbits and reviving gold fish.

So far, my regular appointments have been with Hugh Grant. But the chances of him actually delivering our baby girl are slim. There are like 10 gyno's at the hospital. Pray with me that our baby girl will not be delivered by Mika or our vet.

Have you noticed I'm seeing a lot of look - a - likes lately? Not hormones I swear. My husband sees them too.

SOO. Dorsal Stream's lovely spouse asked me a while ago what Hugh Grant (floppy haired, Bridget Jones kinda Hugh, or more the About a boy kinda Hugh). After the dreadful job of looking at tons of Hugh Grant pictures (hi husband, I hated it, really), I have found a photo with a striking resemblance of my gyno. However, imagine a little less hair paint and add a little gray.

You like?

I'm not sure yet.

It's a bit like fitting shoes, isn't it?

Oh and I might even switch hospitals. Mika, Hugh and the vet are a 15 minute drive away. But there is also a hospital just a 5 minute drive away. What do you think? Are those 10 minutes worth the switch? Or am I really lazy even considering doing that?

So I am ugly AND fat?

This falls into the category 'kids are honest' or 'the things kids say' or 'he didn't mean it that way, you're beautiful'.

I urge you to comment the last one.

Two days ago, I was putting on my make up. Which I might add, is nothing more than eye make up. Tim standing by my side, paying close attention. Between the eye shadow and the mascara, I turn to my curious son and ask him if if he likes it. On which he ferociously not only does his sign for 'more' but also starts saying 'more'. Not stopping until I turn to the mirror and add more make up. Point taken.

To add to my self esteem, Tim has pointed out the fact that I am carrying triplets. He'll gently touch my belly and says 'baby' (which he pronounces baybay, it sounds French and is the cutest thing). But he won't stop there: he'll pinch my left boob and say 'baby' and he'll pinch my right boob and say 'baby'. I am not that humongous people, I swear!

I am not letting him see my butt. He might think his cruel mom is sitting on two of future siblings.

Now, it's your turn to say I am beautiful and for a woman in her 7 month of pregnancy I am amazingly slender. Not to influence any comments you were or weren't about to write.

21 months

My dearest Tim,

This 3 month letter is a few days late. As you turned 21 months during our holiday break in Lissabon, Portugal. As I type this, early morning Saturday November 3rd, you're napping in our suite hotel room. We've placed you in your crib in the living area, I 'm resting on the big bed while your daddy is off to the airport to pick up the rental car.

As I type this I miss you. For 21 months every second I'm not with you, I miss you. Even when I'm tired and in bed like now, I have to resist the urge to get you out of bed and cuddle you. When you woke up a second time crying at 5.30 this morning, I hopped out of bed. Picking you up and comforting you at that moment, meant the world to me. I adore you from your little toes (which you call 'tee': short for the Dutch word 'teen') to the ever so blond hair on top of your precious head.

You are so lovable. You even made the cranky Buelah Ballbricker (Nancy Parsons in the movie Porky's) type breakfast lady of the hotel smile this morning. Unless the unlikely situation happens that you're ill or extremely tired, you are a very happy little toddler. You smile, you enjoy almost everything and appreciate life like we all should. You even let your mommy and daddy take you all over the world, to various cultural and touristy things, and manage to enjoy yourself.

The bond you have with your dad is awesome. You love him so much. You enjoy being with him, cuddling, helping and just hanging out with him. Next to your love for your mom and dad. comes your soccer ball (sorry grandma's and grandpa's). And from all of the most gorgeous historic sites we've seen in Lisbon, I enjoyed nothing more than sitting on a park bench in a small park, warmed by the warm Lisboa sun and see you play soccer with your dad, with a historic cloister gloriously shining in the background. Life is as perfect, as you are my little one.

Car rides are a favorite of you too. When you see a car you enthusiastically move your arms and say the Dutch word for car: auto. Not once, but more like Auto! Auto! Auto! You've come to love airplanes, metros, trams and busses too. Especially the authentic Lisbon trams that move up and down the steep hills of Lisbon. Unfortunately, we can't take those home with us. But luckily you also love the many books you have and your new favorite Teletubby Lala. (which you pronounce in just a sweet sweet voice LaaaLaaa)

What we can take home are the memories and each other. The memories you've given me in 21 months will put a smile on my face for the rest of my life. I hope you stay your happy little self for the rest of your life and that you'll embrace the birth of your baby little sister like you embrace all of life.

I hope your 24-month letter will be on time, since your baby sister is to be born on your second birthday. I have cried that I might steal you birthday and that you have to share it with a sibling. But if you take it as you do all, you'll be just fine.

You're the best thing that ever happened to me. And more. Of course, your dad is pretty awesome too!

Love, Mom

Hello from a very rainy The Netherlands

Originally my plan was to post a picture like this...:

...about 10 days ago with the question: Guess where we finally are?

However, as my darling husband told you already, the internet in our hotel room was "not very fine" (that's Portuguese - English for not working/ kaput/ dead).

Holidays are ALWAYS too short. So was this one. But the great memories our trip has brought, will last forever (unless my brain gets any more pregnant, I forget everything these days. I'm surprised I remember to put on panties and not pull a Britney like every other day!)

Anyways, here are some pictures of our totally awesome holiday to the wonderful Lisbon and nearby villages and beaches we visited. I highly recommend including Lisbon on any European trip.

Even if you're from San Francisco... see there's a European Golden Gate Bridge!

Having fun on one of the gorgeous beaches.

How cute are they. Special thanks to Mia's parents Beth and Chris for the sun hats they gave Tim on our May trip to Washington. Though between May and October, we barely saw sun, the hats came in VERY HANDY this sunfilled trip!

Tim enjoying lunch in a 5-star restaurant in a Royal Palace. It was DELIGHTFUL! Portuguese food is really good (you have to like fish though) and very affordable.

Forget the historic site (Praça do Comércio) we were visiting, look at those gorgeous men!

There are a LOT of trams in Lisbon! Some trams only go up and down the steep hills of Lisbon, just to safe you a climb.

Though Lisbon is a very modern city, it's not very wheelchair or stroller friendly. This is a old church. Apparently when this was built, there where no crippled people.

Try that with your wheelchair! Very Jackass. Yep, did that too. I am totally nuts in my 7 month of pregnancy I decide to go ahead and climb up Lisbon's steepest hill to visit a castle, that we ended up not visiting after all.

Why did we not visit the castle? The was this lounge cafe terrace on top of the hill. Gorgeous view and comfortable couches. Enough said.

Tim really enjoyed being carried on my or FreezeM's back. Don't worry, I only did it for like a 15 minute walk, before FreezeM took over again. It's fun, but not very comfortable when you're preggers.

So we're back. It is COLD, WINDY and RAINY. However I am happy to be home. We can finally finish (or start, there's really no way of telling) on the nursery. As far as the Braxton Hicks, I have been feeling just fine during our holiday, until the last day. For a few seconds I thought I was going in labor, but it ended up being nothing. I'm happy to be back home, where my gynecologist speaks Dutch. Speaking of my gynecologist (Hugh Grant again, have I told you, he is funny too?), we saw him today. Everything is good, though I have to call the hospital as soon as I have the painful Braxton Hicks again. But I am hoping that they stay away!

Upcoming is a post about our trip to the Lisbon zoo, which included escaped monkeys, a cemetery and Wham!

What happend after the hospital visit.....

I guess you are all wondering what happened after our hospital visit right? And now you see FreezeM posting this and not Nadine.... well.... we went on a planned vacation to Lisbao, Protugal. We're having a great time. The only thing is that the internet connection in our hotel has been broken since we arrived. So I took a trip to a internet cafe this morning, while Nadine and Tim are taking a nap, just to let you know everything is all right and we'll be back online somewhere next week :)