The Baby!

So, the newest member of our family arrived a bit sooner than I expected, and I never did that New Year post I talked about. But baby pictures are more interesting anyway, right?

We went to the birth house on January 9th, and Geneviève was born in the wee hours of the morning on January 10th, weighing 8 lbs. 4 oz. The birth house experience was absolutely fantastic! The midwives there are so kind and extremely competent, and most of them speak very good English. I had a water birth, which was wonderful, and we were able to stay a couple of days at the birth house before going home.

Not the best picture - we brought our camera to the birth house but forgot the memory card somehow, so Didier took this with his cell phone.

There are several cooks who come to the birth house to make meals for whoever is there recovering from a birth, and every meal they served us was DELICIOUS.

Our little burrito. Hmmm, can you tell this was taken with a better camera? Didier's mom and dad helped us buy a really good one so we can take better pictures of this little cutie. Now we just have to remember the memory card...

My mom came to visit for two and a half weeks and was such a blessing to us, doing laundry and cleaning and cooking and letting Didier and me rest.

The proud father.

Ever-so-slightly cross-eyed, and wondering what is going on. With her round face and big feet (which I don't have a picture of yet) I think she looks like a baby hobbit.

I can't believe this little person is one month old already! The other day Geneviève was testing out a few facial expressions and I managed to capture them with the camera.

Possibly my favorite.

Christmas in the Alps

Frohe Weihnachten! We've been up in the Alps with Didier's family for Christmas, and it's a good thing, too, because it's been raining in Winterthur. So depressing.

Just thought I would share a few pictures from a walk we took the other day.

Pregnant

It was a beautiful, sunny day, as you can see

Digging a snowball out of his shirt, courtesy of one of his sisters

Didier's mom, enjoying the sunshine

I like this one

Getting back at his sisters

Sophie and I, unable to resist the white stuff

My in-laws, with Silja in the middle

Looking down at the village

A little ski hill

Siblings

Sisters-in-law!

A shot of the old church

Aw... apparently they don't fight all the time

The front door of Didier's parents' house... I should have gotten it from a better angle so you could see how much snow is piled up there, but you get the idea

And this is what is happening today! It just looks foggy in this picture, but it is actually snowing.

We hope you all had a Merry Christmas! Think I can manage to do a New Year's post before the baby comes? Hope springs eternal, so stay tuned...

The Picture

We finally did it - we managed to get a photograph of pregnant me. It seems like it really shouldn't have taken this long, but, well... I'm pregnant, okay?

The close-up.

Hmmm... the belly seems large.

For what it's worth, I am now in my 25th week. I think. (I know if I don't mention that there will be those of you who wonder.) So far, so good - the kid makes his or her presence known quite often and is clearly doing fine in the area of muscle development.

Things the belly is good for:
1. Catching spilled food
2. Making it increasingly difficult to tie my shoes
3. Causing family and friends to insist on doing the dishes

Things the belly ought to be good for but isn't:
1. Getting offered a seat on the bus


I'm thinking the next post should include some pictures of Didier... all those in favor, click the "interesting" button at the bottom of the post.

Old German Stuff, Plus A Little Surprise

Last week I was in Esslingen, Germany with Didier - business trip for him, tourism for me. Esslingen was largely untouched by either of the world wars, so there are a lot of buildings intact from as far back as the 13th century.

Church of St. Dionysius

Inside the church

The magnificent organ

The front of the sanctuary... I wish my camera could have captured the beauty of the stained glass windows, which were gorgeous.

The church towers as seen from a bridge on the river Neckar.

St. Paul's church... there were a couple people praying in this one so I didn't take many pictures. This church was completed in 1268 and is the oldest monastic church in Germany.

Walking past the vineyards on the edge of town.

Inside Frauenkirche, or Church of Our Lady.

Now that is a pulpit.

The back of the old town hall. The front has a newer facade that just isn't quite as cool.

Doors. One day I will do a post solely of door pictures. 

 

 

 

 

 

That brings this post to a close... I shall leave you with the announcement that I am pregnant, and due in January!
Now it all makes sense... we can blame the pregnancy for the fact that this is my first blog post in four months. (Seriously - "morning sickness" is a misnomer.)