Just arrived in Paris today. Keyboards are very different and hard to get used to. Germany was fun and very cold. The baby didn’t bother me at all. The King has been taking good care of me (he even carried my bag today!)

We just went shopping down by the Louvre and guess who we were standing right next to….Rob Lowe. Not that I am a big fan-but the man looks good.

I think we are headed to Sephora next. Our traveling companions aren’t feeling very well. Maybe it was the brauts in Germany!

What are we missing back home?

I have a lot of things on my mind this week. I am presenting them in bullet format:

• I have been blessed with a wonderful family. They are crazy, but what family isn’t (at least a little?)! I have siblings, that although I don’t see very often, they love me and I love them. My parents love each other dearly and I am very thankful for that. They both love me very much. They taught me right from wrong and gave me a strong foundation to base my life on.
• I have been blessed with wonderful in-laws. Every single person in The King’s family is amazing. From his parents, to his sister and her little family, all the way up to his Grandparents and cousins. I love them dearly. And if I would’ve been given the chance to choose my own family, they would be my second choice.
• My husband is the most wonderful person IN THE WORLD. It is by shear luck that I have him in my life and that he is as amazing as I always *knew* my husband would be. He works hard for our little family and carries so much weight on his shoulders. I am thankful for him every step of the way.
• We have a snuggly little guy that is healthy and growing nicely in my belly.
• I have a job that pays me to work, a comfortable place to sleep at night, clothes to keep me warm, friends that make me laugh, a kitty that loves me, enough money to take care of us, and a pretty purse.
• I have faith.
• I am not too sure about the new support hose I am wearing today (at the request of my doctor). They don’t seem to stay up. I think it’s because my undies are silky, so the hose just slid right down. I walked to work holding up my pants. That won’t work on the trip.
• Today is the “busiest travel day” of the year. Not good for The King and I, since we usually forgo the recommended “2 hours prior to flight” junk and just show up in time to board the plane. That system probably won’t work today. Which means we have to change our plans and leave work a little earlier. But that’s okay because I already turned in my time sheet showing 8 hours today. Yahoo.
• Trying on your bikini to “make sure it still fits” the night before you leave for vacation is not good. Especially when you are very pregnant. And even more so if you ask your husband if it looks okay, while you are still wearing the knee high socks you had on for work. People, you can’t look good pregnant, in a bikini, while wearing knee high’s. (The King says not to worry about it since the Europeans don’t bother with swimming suits. It’s all natural over there. And I’m okay with that.)
• The Most Beautiful Couple I Know, who are traveling with us to Europe, called yesterday to let us know the wife had, in fact, received her passport in time. Phew. Because we didn’t even know that she didn’t have it. Good thing we didn’t know she had even requested a new one, or we would have been freaking out. We are good to go and they should be boarding their plane this morning. They have a lay over in NYC, and that isn’t looking too good right now. Pray that they get to Berlin safely and then pray that they don’t go directly to the hotel and hide for the 10 hours until The King and I get there.

Happy Thanksgiving to everyone! And if you don’t hear from me while I’m in Europe, I’ll be back in 10 days. 10 glorious days.

*yes, that is a picture my older brother and me. Aren’t we cute!

Vacations are fun. We all love them. I love them. But I hate the prep work for actually leaving. We are leaving tomorrow directly from work. That means I have to have my bag packed and with me when I leave for work tomorrow morning. Last night I decided it would be best if I started to lay out all the gear for the trip. We are only going to be gone for 11 days. And I have to carry all my stuff on my back. Needless to say I had big plans for not packing a lot of stuff.

Then we found out the weather in Berlin is cold. As in snowy and dreary and cold. This will be my third time in Berlin and I have never seen snow there. Cold, yes. But no snow. I am not prepared for this. This means I have to bring more clothes to keep me (and junior) warm. This also means I had to head to Old Navy last night to stock up on some cheap long sleeved maternity shirts. (Which they only had in XXL and XXXL, which I am NOT!). They had one small shirt in a horrible color and one medium shirt in another horrible color. I was forced to buy both of them. Which means, I will be wearing shirts of horrible color, but I will be warm. That is all that matters (I keep telling myself).

We also went to Walgreen’s last night to buy the toiletries in convenient travel sizes. Tell me this, why do the travel sizes cost just as much as the regular sizes? I realize you are paying for the convenience. But that is quite a mark up. We stocked up on baby sized shaving cream, hair care products (of horrible brands and descriptions, but they will fit in the back pack and I’ll be wearing a wool cap), lotions, Q-tips, toothpaste, and anything else made in travel size.

I will be downsizing my make-up bag tonight and only taking the essentials. As well as only one brush and my travel hair dryer that works in Europe (but doesn’t really work well). Believe me when I say you pack as light as possible when you have to carry your gear on your back. It sucks (but it really the only way to travel in Europe).

I took my doctors advice and bought some support hose for the plane rides. Maybe they will help with the walking and the cold also. I was also cleared by the doctor to take some Tylenol PM. She said it was okay to take it at any point during the pregnancy. Good to know.

I divvied up all of my daily vitamins. And hope they don’t get lost at some point, because I am not sure how to say “folic acid” in either German or French.

And while I did all of this, what was The King doing? Cleaning the bathroom, so that I didn’t have to. All praise The King. He rules.
(but he’d better start packing up his stuff when he gets home tonight!)

I had heard from friends that there just weren’t any cute boy clothes out there. The King and I refused to believe it, as we set out last weekend to find the perfect outfit to celebrate our little guy. Want to know what we bought?

Nothing.

That’s right, nothing. We looked and looked and looked and didn’t find one single thing to buy for our guy. The stuff that is out there right now for newborns has penguins and Christmas trees on them. That really isn’t appropriate for a baby born in April.

As I am from a very small town where my folks own horses, chicken, dogs, cats, turkeys and have even been known to have a pig around, I have always loved little boys dressed as cowboys. I don’t really like big boys dressed as cowboys (except, of course my Dad). When I saw this collection I about died from all the giddiness. I mean, look at those little cowboy boots. And the outfit with the cowboy on his horse. I can’t stand it.

I looked at The King with the biggest eyes and begged for the cowboy boots. He said something like “no boy of mine…”. Understood.

I called my Mom this morning to tell her that we’re having a boy. Then I moved the conversation towards the cowboy boots and how we didn’t get them. She said “you’ll have to send me a link and maybe you’re Dad and I will get them!”

Perfect. Because they are so cute. Right??

*and they are on sale online, but they weren’t at the store.

I am testing out mobile blogging so that I can blog while in EUROPE. Which I will be in a just a few days. While the rest of you suckers will be enjoying a nice Thanksgiving dinner with your family and friends…I’ll be in Germany!!! Hooray for frequent flyer miles!

I reminded The King that I would be home late tonight from work. I was going to have to make up for the long lunch I was planning on taking.

As stated before, I work in construction. Construction Management, so don’t think I’m outside hammering nails. Needless to say I work with very few females. Today the ladies decided to all go out to lunch together to a fancy restaurant. I knew we would be a long time and since I usually work through lunch, I would have to make up the time.

The King informed me that I should get paid for this lunch.

“It’s considered a ‘working lunch’ if you have to go with people from work that you don’t like!”

Good point.