Roma: Day One

The Day of Only Naps

We started the day with a drive to Seattle airport at 1:00 AM. The plan was to drive at night so that by the time we were on our flight to Rome, via connection in Chicago, we would be tired enough to sleep soundly on the plane. I'll go ahead and let you in on the outcome of that plan now: FAIL.

We were super tired driving to the airport (we were supposed to get in a nap after packing.. didn't happen), so we were driving after being awake since 6 AM-ish that morning. We were super tired at the airport and took a 30 minute nap. We were super tired flying to Chicago and took an hour nap. We were super duper tired waiting in Chicago and took a 20-ish minute nap. And we were super duper duper tired by the time we boarded the plane in Chicago. Thinking we were close to our long awaited sleep, we were unpleasantly surprised with a mechanical issue that delayed us on the tarmac for over two hours. We still couldn't sleep because we knew we'd just wake up again during take-off announcements and then the meal etc. We hoped to sleep after the meal, straight for at least seven of the nine hours.

On our way to Chicago, trying to stay awake with the in-flight movie.

I guess we've been spoiled by our other intercontinental flights because we've always experienced better leg room, nicer seats with individual monitors in front of you, and several other little amenities that make a long flight tolerable. Sadly, this was an old plane and those comforts were not present. We found our knees hitting the seat in front of us, even before they reclined. This did not bode well for our long desired sleep and all we got was a couple of hour naps.

Needless to say {further} we arrived in Roma, very, very tired and almost three hours later than originally scheduled. We tried to make our way through the activities we had planned for the day, so that we could check in to our hotel and sleep only through the night, setting our internal clocks to local time. Again, FAIL.

To pass the time during the day, we visited {what we thought was} the National Museum of Rome. It turns out it was only one of the locations, and not the main one. We saw some interesting things though.

Outside at {one of the} National Museums of Rome

Walkway down to a fountain

This crazy tree was more interesting than the fountain ;)

These horse statues guarded the fountain.

Inside an old Bath house - now used as an exhibition hall. 

This place was HUGE.

Welcome to Rome, where almost every statue you see, is headless.

Piazza della Repubblica, opposite the church below.

We also toured an incredible church that is housed in the former Baths of Diocletian. Michelangelo was commissioned to renovate and create the church. The old Roman baths were over five stories tall and the church now takes up all of that space. It was absolutely breath taking, and I know that the pictures don't do it justice.

The unimpressive exterior to the incredible church.

Giant dome, which used to be open at the time of the baths.

Every square inch, covered in art.

See how tiny the people look!

They seem to hold televised services here, as there was a lot of video equipment behind where I'm standing.

An interesting part of this church was the meridian line on the floor.There are two holes in the walls (see below) that allow light to come in and fall on this calendar, indicating the calendar very precisely. I can't do the explanation justice, so feel free to either just be satisfied with my simplified explanation or read more about it here, second paragraph down.

See that little circle of light, there's another one of these on an opposite wall.

There it is again, waaay up there.

What a massive, and beautiful, organ!

A view of the church from the side.

Back at the museum to collect our bags, and ready to find our hotel.

After that we initiated ourselves to the bus system and started finding our way to our first hotel. The bus was easier than expected, once we figured out how to validate our tickets. Finding our hotel, however, was not as easy as expected. Essentially, our hotel is two (or maybe more) floors of an apartment building. We were looking for a hotel/business entrance, but couldn't find it. Then we started looking for anything that would give us a hint of the hotel and finally saw the sign on a standard looking door. It's kind of fun to feel like you are a local, going in and out of the door with your own key.

That's our room with the cracked window, second window up.

After getting settled at around 4:00 we foolishly laid down on the bed, 'just to see how hard it was going to be' and woke up after dark around 6:30... oops! We forced ourselves up to freshen up, shower, etc. and hit the streets again. We walked around our neighborhood, promptly found a gelato bar and meandered through the busy streets (my flavors were hazelnut, that was pure heaven, and a darn good tirimisu) We also came across a pizza place that serves by the slice. You pay per kg, which ends up making pizza very cheap.. yet delicious!

This is pretty much the extent of our hotel room, there is just enough room to walk around the bed and
our suitcases barely fit on the floor. There is a tiny desk with a tv and closet rack with a safe opposite the bed.
As you can see, Blake fell asleep first.

The bathroom is also tiny, but clean and functional.

This hotel room does put a new meaning to 'small European style hotel rooms' but really, it's everything we need and we aren't spending much time here (awake) anyway. It's clean, nice, recently remodeled/decorated and very conveniently located near many places we want to see. It's just tiny :).

Cleaned up and ready to hit the streets (with a jacket of course).
We were also testing out our monopod for self portraits :)

We walked over a bridge and around a corner to this mass of people.
We never did figure out what was going on here, we think that this is just a meeting place.

Our pizza sampler... delicious!

Every kind of pizza you could think of, all were delicious.
We thought that this place was unique, but later realize that these types of pizza places are everywhere!

Pumpkin: Weeks 4 & 5

October 6th through October 19th

First, if you think I'm crazy for posting baby updates this early.. just remember: this is more for me than it is for you ;).

I don't think I'll bother with a picture yet.. there's nothing there besides my pre-pregnancy fat! Sometimes Blake will put his hand on my abdomen and say, "How's Pumpkin today?" I generally just give him a report about what Pumpkin is doing this week and how s/he's making me feel that day. I did have to point out, just once, that what he is putting his hand on isn't Pumpkin.. it's pumpkin pie, pumpkin scones, pumpkin cheesecake and pumpkin lattes... but not our Pumpkin, not yet!

How I Feel
I'm feeling pretty good, which isn't a surprise. 'Morning' sickness/nausea isn't expected until after week six. I have headaches most days, but that is usual for me. What is unusual is not taking something for them! I could take Tylenol, or so they say, but it doesn't really do much for me and I figure, why put anything through my body that I don't *need* at this point. I also have a lot of bloating and, eek,  gas. I think that it's my prenatal vitamins. I've been trying to work out like I was before Pumpkin, and it absolutely helps me to have plenty of energy and most importantly keeps my GI system in better harmony. I am a little more tired than usual but not remarkably tired. I have noticed some greater emotional swings, but nothing crazy. I'm definitely getting more familiar with the bathrooms at work and in the middle of the night, but I'm also drinking a lot of fluids.

What I feel
During our two week wait, I felt all kinds of things going on in my uterus, I thought it was July 4th in there. In week four I still felt a lot of cramping and tingles/pains but not as constant and pronounced as before. During week five, things have continued to mellow even more and now I just get occasional cramping (like once a day) and the occasional sharp pain (like once or twice a week). I'm really feeling changes and tenderness in 'the girls' and that is starting to get old.. but probably not going anywhere!

What We're Doing
We had our first midwife appointment on Thursday of week five. It was just a consultation to get to know her and decide if we want to use her for our prenatal care and delivery. She has also been to Israel and I was glad to be able to pick her brain about anything that I should be concerned about with traveling during early pregnancy. She said that the food should be mostly fine and that flying will be no problem, just the usual get up and walk around, drink lots of fluids etc. The only unknown factor is whether I'll get daily nausea and that I should know before I leave, in which case she has some safe remedies for that.

On a side note.. I kind of wonder if my mom is going to flip out when she realizes that I took her first unborn grandchild to more than one foreign country without her knowing about it. I'm pretty sure that in the end, she'll thank me and realize that she'd be even more stressed knowing that all three of us were over there instead of the moderate level of stressed out she is experiencing from what she thinks is the two of us being there.

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Next baby post: Pumpkin: Weeks 6 & 7

Previous baby post: The Results Are In!

The Results Are In

We are... wait for it... EXPECTING!! We are thrilled! Due date: June 15, 2013 (Six days before my 30th b-day!)

Thursday morning we'd had a *very* faint line, but it was so faint we weren't sure if our eyes were playing tricks on us, so we went off to work with a little smile and a prayer.

On a pleasant Friday afternoon I took another test, let it sit and we looked at it together. We got our first definite positive test (at 12 days past ovulation for those of you that follow that line of thinking)! We also took a digital test the next morning, just to confirm.

I was pretty sure we were pregnant. I could feel things working down there. From sharp pains to twinges and cramps this was no ordinary end of cycle. It seemed like more than I could be imagining. It was our first month of trying and I hoped it was our last. I really want to be due at the beginning of summer (to avoid being pregnant during the ridiculous heat of July and August) but I also wanted to finish out this school year (which is why we didn't start in August).

We went out to dinner to celebrate and talked about all the things we hope Pumpkin loves and does. The number one thing we hope Pumpkin does is stick around and keep growing. Miscarriage is not as uncommon as we'd wish it to be and although I fully trust in the Lord's plan for our family, I feel like I'm holding my breath a little and wondering if I'll regret planning out this little baby's pregnancy, delivery and first years ;). I'm trying not to get ahead of myself, but what can I say? I'm just a planner.

Every day (it seems) I come across another thing that I have to Google to see if I am supposed to eat/drink. For example, did you know you aren't supposed drink many herbal teas? We discovered this just after we conceived. I was drinking tea like crazy (I love tea anyway and usually have one to three cups of tea after my one cup of coffee in the morning) but since I was cutting out caffeine and it felt like something was missing, more tea helped fill the gap. I can't remember what made me Google it, but I soon found out that many herbs can cause early labor/miscarriage or implantation issues. I wonder how serious this needs to be taken, and will ask my midwife (who is also a naturopathic doctor - knows her herbs) at our first appointment. However, nothing is worth the risk at this point.

In the meantime, my sweet husband went to our favorite tea store and picked out three fantastic teas that are caffeine free and herb free. They are Rooibus or red teas and two of my favorite flavors: earl gray and ginger peach. He also picked out one called passion fruit mango, which mimics (but is more fruity than) my other favorite Mango Ceylon. All winners and completely satisfying. I'm so impressed, if I didn't know it I'd never guess they weren't their black leaf/caffeinated versions. Blake was my tea hero with his scouring of teas with ingredient lists that were baby safe.

Other than taking more vitamins, trying to eat extra healthy (and avoid all those 'no' foods), working out *almost* every day and feeling those funny uterus twinges.. life continues as we knew it, with just a little more anticipation. Now I'm going to continue planning our big trip to Italy/Israel and hope that I stave off morning sickness and exhaustion until we get back!

So, here begins our official journey to parenthood! Bring on the unsolicited (and solicited too) advice!

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Next baby post: Pumpkin: Weeks 4 & 5

Previous baby post: Waiting

Cascade Lake and Eagle Nest

The last hurrah of summer. One final weekend in the great outdoors without major outerwear.

Labor Day.

I know it is supposed to be a day where we all stop and recognize the economic and social contributions of workers (or so Wikipedia says) but for me it marks the end of summer and the beginning of Fall. I know, Fall doesn't officially start until Sept 22 (or 21st depending on the year) but for me, Labor Day weekend is the kick-off for all things pumpkin and other assorted fall scents and flavors.

Blake and I have gone camping on Labor Day for five years now. It was his tradition to go camping with his friends near Lake Roosevelt (last year there was a pirate themed 60th birthday party). This year, Blake finally agreed with me we finally decided that we're getting too old for that crowd (or rather that crowd was not growing up), so we happily made new plans.

We made the six hour trek over to Cascade, Idaho on Friday night, after work. We arrived at midnight and set up our tent via headlamp and in a light rain. The rain started as we were pulling in and stopped about five minutes after we had the tent up....of course.

It was a gorgeous campground and worth the drive (although I'd still be okay with something a little closer next year). Cascade Lake is huge and has a nice sandy-ish beach that runs along parts of it. It was a funny phenomenon to be camping one minute and beaching another.. not two vacations I've mixed before.

I'll let the pictures do the rest of the talking.

These flowers closed up at night!

Mid-morning

Our faithful Labor Day tent, a.k.a "the mansion"

These gorgeous red poppies were everywhere!

Love my rugged man :)

One of the few pictures with me in it because I set a timer and RAN to the water, just to show I was there. ;)

Blake and Aunt Jana teaching Joie to swim... cutest thing ever!

She loved it!

Dusk

Around the campfire.

Day hike the next day up Eagle Nest trail (sorry Jana, I didn't see that piece of grass in your face!)

Jana was collecting bugs for a biology class at BSU.

The Snelson Family

Jed on a giant rock

Joie on a 'Joie sized rock'

Do you see that dust! 

The view from the trail. That's Davis Reservoir  in the center.

Keeping up with Daddy.

Cascade Lake, where we were camping.

Where we stopped for lunch and turned around.

It was a 14 mile trail that didn't loop around, so we just went until we were all tired and turned around.

Not the greatest picture but no one could figure out my camera so I had to use the timer.

Slogging out. Joie has the right idea!

Our little hiker ;)

The looks of concentration, except Jed. This was a walk in the park for him.

She's just so cute.

I just liked this shot.

Almost back to the truck

The trailhead rock.

Checking out the bug collection

Why are they still sleeping?

Not the best expression, but I loved the light!

Golfing the next day (I rode along and took pictures) along the same lake.

He's a really good golfer and surprising quiet about it!

The view from this golf course made me wish I golfed... okay, maybe not. Glad I had my camera though!

Waiting

We are currently in our two week waiting period (tww if you're into those acronyms). In under two weeks, we find out if all our praying, planning and, ahem, extra curricular activities, came to anything.

In the meantime, we are contemplating our life changes that may be coming. Thinking about how we might feel when we find out we're expecting, and, how we might feel if we find out we're not. We are dreaming up ways to announce the news to family and friends, and thinking about how we'll need to be careful to keep our growing baby healthy.. without giving it away too soon. We are discussing names to call the baby until we know the gender. Currently, we agree that Pumpkin is our favorite. Not that I want to think about giving birth to a pumpkin (think more along the lines of pumpkin seed), but it is also a term of endearment and a favorite flavor in our household. We're starting this process at the beginning of fall and the minute Blake suggested it we thought it was cute.

Obviously, we're really hoping that we're expecting. Hopefully we aren't getting our hopes up, but I think we know the odds and are ready to deal with whatever God does or doesn't bring us.

I'll leave you with the lyrics to one of my favorite songs lately:

While I'm Waiting by John Waller
(music video)

I'm waiting
I'm waiting on You, Lord
And I am hopeful
I'm waiting on You, Lord
Though it is painful
But patiently, I will wait

I will move ahead, bold and confident
Taking every step in obedience
While I'm waiting
I will serve You
While I'm waiting
I will worship
While I'm waiting
I will not faint
I'll be running the race
Even while I wait

I'm waiting
I'm waiting on You, Lord
And I am peaceful
I'm waiting on You, Lord
Though it's not easy
But faithfully, I will wait
Yes, I will wait

I will serve You while I'm waiting
I will worship while I'm waiting
I will serve You while I'm waiting
I will worship while I'm waiting
I will serve you while I'm waiting
I will worship while I'm waiting on You, Lord

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Next baby post: The Results Are In!

Previous baby post: TTC

TTC

DH, OPK, LP, BBT, BD, BFP, CF, CD, DPO, EDD, EWCM, HPT, LH, and the list goes on (and on, and on... here's a reference for all of these acronyms if you're really curious! Just know, you've been warned).

Every group loves their acronyms and the fertility world is no different. We are currently TTC and the researcher in me can't help but Google every thought that comes to my mind. In my Google searches I've come across all of these acronyms in one or more of the hundreds of forums and websites dedicated to conception and pregnancy. Some are easy to guess, while others don't make sense until the fifth time you've seen them in context and still others require the above referenced website. I had no idea there were so many acronym worthy terms involved in having a baby. Nor did I realize the intense online community of fertility/pregnancy. Technology age indeed.

I'm just an information junkie. We have only just started trying to conceive and really, the research isn't necessary until you've tried for a few months without success. I've been reading for months now. I just like knowing everything I can about the topic, it helps with the waiting game. Researching gives me an avenue to spend my excitement and pass the time. I love feeling like I understand what comes next and how things should happen. I also already know which brand of cloth diapers we'll use and which soft carriers/slings/wraps I prefer. I just like to be prepared.

It's been so fun to learn about all the ins and outs of conception, due dates and ovulation. I've never really known all these intricate details about my monthly cycle. It's a wonder anyone gets pregnant! The natural process our body goes through is amazing. So far, it isn't stressful, just exciting... but ask me again in six months if we haven't conceived. I've also noticed that Blake has a different level of tolerance for information. Too much and he takes it all too seriously and it seems to stress him a bit, whereas I feel like I can take in what I like/agree with, and leave the rest behind to make an informed opinion..

As I mentioned in an earlier post, we decided in June to start trying this fall (2012) instead of next fall (2013). It has made this summer such a memorable one! With each new summer activity, Blake and I have taken a moment to savor it and smiled to ourselves that next year, we'll be doing it with an infant (if it all works out okay). We are doing things that we might not otherwise make time for, and we are totally enjoying each others company. It kind of feels like we are newlyweds again and can't stand to be apart from each other. It's just been such a sweet time together, expectantly awaiting the newest adventure we'll face together.

The closer we get to being pregnant, the more I realize that we have no idea how our lives will change or what is in store for us... we just know that we're ready to experience it together and to grow in the Lord through it. Whatever this adventure brings us.

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Next baby post: Waiting

Previous baby post: The Baby Plan - Remix