It's Just About That Time!

On Monday Jill had her 37 week check-up. As of right now she is already dialated 1cm with about 40% effacement of the cervix. Lauren is totally fine and growing quickly. She moves around like she wants a way out. This coming Tuesday is when they will strip Jill's cervix to help induce labor since 38 weeks is considered full term. This procedure has a 60% effective rate in the induction of labor within a week. So in all actuality it's just about that time :)

In other news Lauren's room is completely stocked with everything a little baby girl could ever need. We are done with her room and are now working on the rest of the house. Our new couch, coffee table, and wardrobe was delivered on the 19th, Jill's 21st B-Day! We went out for a nice dinner and watched Valkyre later, we're growing up so fast lol... We also bought a new camera which means New Pictures so HERE YOU GO!!

Part of the drive to Trippstadt where we live, there's usually horses and sheep here...

Jill waiting in the car while I take more pictures, the building in the back is lodging for the people who work for the Klug 'sche Muhle

This is the restaurant mentioned above, it's on the way to our house and they raise their own animals to eat!

These A-holes are everywhere and they ruin your drive to work!

One of many fishing ponds around here this is the smallest but it looks great when the sun is setting

Castle ruins in the hills before Hohenecken, this is one of three local castles. We'll get better pics of the one near Landstuhl when we have more time. The castle that imprisoned the king of England King Richard I "Richard the Lionheart"is only thirty minutes away from our house!

This is what it looks like to drive into our village from Kaiserslautern.

Here are some of the thousands of acres of farming surrounding our village. The yellow flowers are plants used to harvest biofuels.

My lovely wife enjoying the German countryside lol!

One of the fountains near our town square. Most of Trippstadt dates back hundreds of years.

Jill with some more birthday presents on our awesome new couch.

These are all the clothes Lauren has already! She has three pairs of shoes and she won't be able to walk for almost a year! So if you gifted something in here Thank You!!

Jill in front of Dino's for her birthday dinner. This is one of the best Italian places around i.e. the owner is from Italy :)

Jill and I sharing her birthday Tiramisu

Me in front of my favorite place to eat in the world! and yes that is "I'm lovin it" in German!

Last but not least the bellyshot. This puts it all in perspective. With two weeks to go I don't think Jill can get any bigger :0 Lauren is pretty much done with her rapid growth so I guess she's just gettin ready for her big Birthday :)

Everything is Good

Things couldn't be going much better than they are right now. Our appointment on May 4th was exactly what everyone was hoping for, Lauren has finally moved down into the pelvic station. Which means her head is pointing down the way it should be! No chance of a Cesarean for Jill she will have to push her out. The ultrasound showed her heart rate was doing fine and that she's still eating, which she has been doing every ultrasound we've seen so far. I think she's gonna be a chubby baby, my personal prediction is 8lbs 1oz born on June 4th :) Jill is going with 7lbs 8oz on June 10th. The baby's room is now completed with the exception of books and toys etc. We bought a changing table pad and a diaper Genie and I hung up the valance. We got her a stuffed animal and we might add a couple more around the room. Jill is also entertaining the idea of some stencils on her walls and if I can ever find some nice wooden letters to paint I plan on hanging her name somewhere.
On Monday we are at the 36 week mark! I scheduled us for some professional photos on Monday, they're going to do some of us and some belly shots of Jill. We finally have our suitcase packed for the hospital and we've officially watched 4 hours of pregnancy DVD's on labor and delivery. We're pretty much experts on labor medication, the 6 signs of preliminary labor and the 3 actual signs, breathing techniques etc... On a side note Jill's 21st birthday is coming up next Tuesday along with the delivery of our new couch, coffee table, and wardrobe. Here's more photos of the house and baby's room:






Front of the house, as you can see no garage, that's the only thing that sucks












Our backyard, I'm obviously not a master of lawn maintenance and I don't have an edger lol!












This is supposed to be our garden, didn't know it needed to be watered regularly : )













Back of the house with all our trash cans, plus plastics go in a separate bag next to the black garbage one.










New valance yay













New ducky













I put this in just so you can see Jill's tummy, this picture is almost two week old!











Rest of the room













Jill and her very, very early birthday present. I had to becuase it came in early and I know how bad she's wanted one











Our lives haven't been the same since :)

Just Waiting...

We don't have any appointments or updates until May so we thought we'd just add more pictures. The baby's room is getting closer to done, the walls are painted and most of her furniture has been set up. At this point we just need to decorate and throw in a rug and a lamp. Lauren is getting big fast and so is Jill :)





Probably the cutest mommy in the world!












Me getting carried away with painting...















I picked out the color, so I went with a crazy pink. The picture does not come close to capturing the severity of pink lol!










Jill's tummy with a 5lb baby in it :)















The glider chair and changing table/dresser










This is the day after painting, still has a long way to go!















Me ready to fall asleep on her belly. Lauren always wiggles around when I try to talk to her











More improved photos from our house/balcony
The weather is starting to get reeeeeeally nice!













View from our master bath window















View from the office window looking out back














Part of our backyard and the people behind us












Some of our neighbors and the Rhineland-Pfalz countryside!

***Crazy Stuff***

We got the baby pictures we wanted today along with some cool video clips of Lauren hanging out in the belly ;-) Keep in mind the 3D/4D computer rendition of the ultrasound works at a very slow speed so much of the videos are completely blurred during major movement (ultrasound machines aren't built with supercomputers unfortunately). The enhancement only works for a small area then the image is "pulled" similar to looking at an image on a sphere up close, the front will appear normal whereas the sides will taper quickly distorting image. She rarely looked directly at the machine so almost all of the videos were taken using technology that allows a computer to produce rapid pictures using the information read from ultrasound waves that oscillate from the side of the machine (this would make her right eye look a large bulging ball until she turned towards the "camera"). So enjoy this! It was NOT cheap lol!!






Lauren yawning on the side of Jill's belly :)

We're back and even more Pregnant!!

Well we are finally all settled here in Germany! Sorry this took so long but we've been living out of suitcases with no internet for months until now. We are officially 30 WEEKS as of today which means it is time for 7 month photos...(unfortunately we missed the 6 month photo shoot) We have had two doctor's appointments here, both went well, and we will be back April 7th for another. Lauren is about 17 inches long and weighs a little over 3 lbs! She moves like a maniac and can push her head and feet into Jill's sides so hard that we can actually see her sticking out! She can see and responds to sound even more now. We were able to see her face on our last ultrasound but it was in black and white so we're going to a German OB/GYN tomorrow to get 3D/4D pictures of her and maybe a video for our fans. She now sticks her tongue out during ultrasounds so maybe we can get some good stuff tomorrow. Anyway here are some pictures of us and Germany, our new car and when it snowed outside our house :)






7 MONTHS!!


























I look tired because I just worked 10 hours :(















View from our Master Balconoy













View from our Driveway











Part of our backyard from the office window















A very cute Jill in Landstuhl, which is the city Lauren will be born in!!



















Me in Landstuhl















Cool German store near Ramstein












Weird soccer tree man that Jill liked











Jill making the car look twice as good!!!!