Merry Christmas from the Vienna Wilsons!

Crib Notes

Two days ago, we received the long awaited package…Eli’s crib handmade by his Pa Daddy!  It is the most wonderful, perfect crib I’ve ever seen.  I’m not just saying this to suck up to my father-in-law either!  If I saw this bed in a store, I would be drooling with covetousness.  What’s neat about the bed is he made it to convert to a toddler daybed, then into a full-sized bed when he’s a big boy.  Here are some photos:

Up close to see the gorgeous grains of the wood:

A little sampling of the bedding:

How beautiful is that?  I love it, love it, love it!  Thanks, Pa Daddy!  So, the big question I know you are all wondering is when am I going to show you pictures of the whole nursery?  Well, that answer is probably not until late February.  Why so late?  Well, as of yesterday, Jeremy and I have found a HOUSE to rent!  We are moving February 1, so we figured it wasn’t worth finishing decorating the nursery when Eli would never even be in it in this apartment (he’ll be in our room).  But we are SO excited to be moving!  We’ll have lots of extra space, a yard, and not be attached to anyone!  Jeremy can practice all he wants, Eli can go crazy running around, and I can have room for a normal sized washer and dryer!   I promise to post photos as soon as I can though.  To whet your appetite, I’ll show you the beautiful letters Eli’s Aunt Dani painted for him that we’ll hang over his crib (eventually).

Yesterday, we had an appointment at the doctor, and she got this funny picture of Eli.  He apparently was trying to kiss us because his little lips were pursed!  Either that or he has his daddy’s big lips!  

Two and a half weeks and we’ll see which one it is! :o)

Barracuda Belly

Believe it or not, another month has passed, and here is my 36 weeks belly picture!

It’s really stuck out there now, huh?  I’m sort of in awe of it.  Who knew that I could grow like that!  The real question will be, can I shrink back down again?  I was going through some of my previous “belly” pictures, and I came across this little gem of me at 12 weeks:

I’m trying not to be depressed.  Flat tummies are soooo out this season anyway, right?

Jeremy and I are really behind on our Christmas shopping.  It’s kind of hard to get motivated when we aren’t going to be coming to the States to celebrate.  Can you believe that Christmas is exactly two weeks away from today?  Not me!  I’m really excited because I’ll be attending the Nutcracker on Christmas night.  I’ve never seen it in person…just on PBS every so often.  Jeremy will be playing in it, and I figured what a great time to experience it in person on Christmas day!  My good friend Beth will be joining me, so we’ll have a good ol’ time!  

My women’s Bible study had its Christmas party yesterday, and I had a wonderful time stuffing my face.  One of the random things I get a craving for every so often is a cinnamon roll.  Well, they don’t really have those here…that I’ve found.  There are these rolls in bakeries that look suspiciously like cinnamon rolls, but they don’t have a smidgen of cinnamon in them!  I’ve been duped into buying one several times.  However, one of the precious women in my study made homemade cinnamon rolls, so I filled my belly sufficiently!  Thanks, Marci!  Now that I have the recipe from her, I may be gaining the last of my pregnancy weight on these! 

Here is a picture of us at the party:

I’m not really that short.  I’m doing the “cheerleader pose” to avoid blocking some of the other women!  Be sure to tell Jeremy you like his sweater, since I stole it from him.  If you ever want some good entertainment, let the 9-month pregnant lady be the photographer in a group photo shoot.  Not only is it fun to watch her try to waddle back to the group to get in the picture under the 10-second timer, but also it’s amusing to observe the phenomenon of her trying to squeeze around the tripod.  Good times.  :o)

One Month!

I hope you guys don’t mind so many blog posts about baby things!  Today is officially one month before my due date, so it’s hard to think about anything else!  We are trying to keep busy though and prepare as much as possible.  Yesterday we bought the last items on the “To Buy For Eli” list at Tesco in Slovakia.  In fact, I was wondering how many of you have seen Johnson & Johnson’s products in Czech…

A little bit different, huh?  They actually have a lot of great baby products available here in Vienna, but as an American, you just always dream of lathering up your wee one in some good ol’ J&J (well, at least I do anyway)!

We also had the last of our childbirth classes this week.  I think Jeremy and I are sufficiently prepared/scared for the impending arrival.  The instructor did a very thorough job, and we are really glad she offers this class in English.  It was just really nice to have someone available that knew how the system worked here that we could annoy with all our questions.  She even told us all that she would be happy to be there at the birth if we wished, as she is a midwife.  We’ll have a reunion with the other couples once we all deliver, which should be a fun time of trading birth stories!  Luckily, one of the girls remembered to bring a camera, so we could get a picture of us all at our last class!  

I also began packing my “5 day” bag for the hospital.  I don’t know if I’ve mentioned it in any previous posts, but here in Austria you stay a minimum of 5 days in the hospital if it is a normal, healthy birth.  For a C-section, I think it’s 7 days.  That’s definitely ok by me because the hospital will take extra care to make sure you are completely healed before they send you home.  So, lately I’ve been researching “pack lists” on the internet.  I think I’ve done a very thorough job, but I would love suggestions of the things the mothers out there couldn’t live without the first week after delivery!  If you have any, don’t be shy to comment because we moderate comments before we post them.  We won’t allow it to be public if it’s something embarrassing! 

Well, it’s time to waddle to the fridge for my second supper.  Have a happy weekend!  :o)

Just For Fun...

I had this game sent to me, and I thought it might be fun to try out!  It is a baby game where you can guess when Elijah will make his debut, how much he'll weigh, etc.  Please go and enter a guess...it will be fun to see who comes the closest!  I'll keep all the guesses in Eli's baby book too!

You can either click here to go to the game, or click on the banner on the right of our blog!