Last week Hannah and I enjoyed a "girls trip" together with my friend Daniella :-) Matthijs had to go speak at a conference in Atlanta, GA and it was my first week of maternity leave - so why not make the most of it and go find some desparately needed sun?? So, we did! The first couple days was overcast, cool and windy (although still much better than the temperatures in Holland)....so, not sure how long this downturn of weather would last, we signed up for some day tours. We landed Wednesday, relaxed Thursday and spent half of Friday visiting some local towns in the Algarve region of Portugal. By Saturday, the sun was blazing and we anxiously threw on our swimsuits and relaxed by the pool! The water was too cold to get in, but all I cared about was the sun anyhow... Hannah was impressive the whole trip! Hours on the bus, by the pool or in a plane, it didnt matter - Hannah was great! So long as she had a nice book to point out everything and say what it is or "read" it to us, she was a happy camper. I was relieved and very impressed. (I am pretty sure the other travelers were equally relieved - lol).
The photos above are all from our hotel or the surrounding towns in Algarve, Portugal; except for the one with Hannah playing at the fountain and those 2-3 with large buildings in a city - that is Sevilla, Spain - our one full-day excursion. We sawy the cathedral, city hall and Spanish embassy there. Pretty place but long day for Hannah. We spent the weekend in the sun and Tuesday afternoon on another regional half-day tour - we even visited the most south-westernly most point of Europe. Daniella has those pictures. I only took a few - she has the rest on her camara. Wednesday we returned home to Matthijs :-)
It was amazing to see how quickly a 19 month old's vocabulary could increase. Hannah LOVES to read and point out every word. If she cant say it, she still knows it when you ask her to point it out. (She is very familiar with the entire Sesame Street crew - LOVES Elmo) Dutch still seems to be her stronger point, but I am working on it! Daniella really helped :-)
I have also included a fully body view of me at 35 weeks (just shy of 8 months by a few days) pregnant...for my family members curious to see. My belly pops out more than it did with Hannah :( but otherwise, the weight gain is about the same. As of two weeks ago I had gained a total of about 6 pounds...Tuesday is the following appointment. I am due 4 weeks from Monday, but I have a strong suspicion that Christian is ready to come early. He has already dropped - Hannah had dropped by this point too but that is more common in a first pregnancy. I have to confirm still that he's dropped at my appointment but it sure looks and feels that way. I can hardly sleep at night from the pre-contractions all around my stomach and back....it just feels very soon. Still, its best if he at least waits until next week! Otherwise, I am ready. If he doesn't come early - oh well - but I CAN NOT WAIT to NOT be pregnant anymore :-) I am already drooling over my "flat stomach" clothes....
Thats about all. Matthijs is doing well and turns 28 in a couple weeks :-) Work is going well for both of us and I have been extremely busy during my maternity leave. I am definitely at the "nesting stage." Despite not sleeping, I am spending the day organizing, organizing, organizing and preparing for Christian. We are also putting our house up for sale/rent since it looks like (assuming the economy doesn't prevent it) that we will get to work in our law firm's NYC office for two years, starting next spring (2010). Not a time to sell a house, but oh well. We wont make anything on it, but thats just how the market is. We are both excited to have our 2 year detour in the states :-) So we are busy getting it up for sale/rent :-))
