Monday, June 13, 2005

I keep trying......

We had some excitement and thought the big day had arrived last night (Sunday). Brian had turned off his computer and said he was going to go to bed, went to put the dog in her cage and Christine said "No! We need to go to the hospital!" To make a very long story shorter, we left here about 11 p.m, with Christine having contractions 3-5 minutes apart. We had to stop at one of the bases, that happens to have a 24 hour gas station, as the tank was too low. We got to the hospital, they got her to change, into a bed, hooked up to a monitor, and her contractions went to 10 minutes apart. Oh well. We tried walking, she sat on an exercise ball----some wise person found that sitting on an exercise ball can help stimulate contractions, and is more comfortable for the mommie-to-be. Well, none of it worked, she just isn't ready yet. They put her back on the monitor before we left, for about 20 minutes, to make sure Baby was still doing well. Which she was. So, we left and headed back home, arriving at the early hour of 4.30 a.m. The sun rises early enough here that the sky was definitely lightening up and dawn was not far off. When I got into bed at 5, the birds were singing and I was very grateful for the wonderful shades the Germans put on their windows, as you can pretty well block out all of the light!

So, we continue to wait! Before all the excitement though.....

Yesterday afternoon we went for a walk around the block, so to speak! It was nice to see so many of the houses in town, to see their flowers and plantings, etc. Roses seem to do well here, and they were really gorgeous. Some more than others, as some of the people really seem to have a green thumb, and others don't have such green ones! An indication of how cool it has still been most of the time, I saw plenty of peonies, still blooming and looking lovely as they usually do. I always loved May in Ohio and the blooming of the peonies. I saw fuchia, bleeding hearts, the peonies, roses, poppies, geraniums, and I don't remember what all else. Parts of the roads we were on are paved, and some are brick and cobblestone. Some of the houses are right on the street, and some have yard/garden in front. There doesn't seem to be a lot of uniformity. There are barns right in town, in places, and that was an interesting sight. I don't think they are animal barns, as I didn't hear or smell them! Some of the places are small, and some are really big. You will see some places that are like little compounds--but in the nicest way. They face right on the street, a gate to go through, and a courtyard with house, garages, etc off the courtyard. Some of them were extremely nice, looked huge, and often had lots of gorgeous flowers. One place like this had two huge climbing roses, one white and one red, that climbed up two stories worth of wall. Really pretty!

Speaking of animals though, there is a farm or something right behind Brian and Christine's house, that has animals, or at least roosters. I have not noticed them crowing in the morning, particularly, but they do crow off and on all day. Both places are on a hill, with the farm or whatever downhill from the kids, and a good break of bushes, etc, between, so you don't see the farm much at all. There is a church a couple of streets over, and we hear the bells there everyday, and they seem to ring even more on Sunday--go figure! I think Christine said they always ring at 11 a.m. and 11 p.m., along with times now and then between.

The town is quite hilly and so it was a good walk for us all, stretched the legs a good bit! I was a little sore after, and thought at first that I was in worse shape already than I had thought, but then remembered the time spent on the floor the day before, pinning a small (relatively) quilt. That took at least an hour to pin, so my legs weren't too happy! My legs are fine today, so I am sure I am right about it NOT being the walk but instead the quilt that was the culprit!

Today, Monday, we slept in pretty late, as you might guess. I was up at 12.30 p.m., after waking up at noon and not being able to go back to sleep. The kids got up at 2.30, shortly after Christine's mom called. We eventually got moving and went to check mail, then off to Vogelweh, where we picked up a few things. It was really pretty outside today, mostly sunny with a few clouds and warmer than it has been. We should have walked, but I guess we did enough when at the base, and I knew that Christine was still pretty tired. They headed off for bed at 10 p.m. tonight. Christine has a doc appt tomorrow at 11 a.m., so we will have to be up and ready to go by 10 at the latest.

I will continue the tour of the house tomorrow, barring more pressing news! Meanwhile, I will tell about the wonderful shades I mentioned earlier. Brian and Christine say they are called rouladen, which makes sense since they roll up. The nice thing is that they are plastic slatted things which can be lowered or raised as low or high as you wish, along the height of the window or door. They are on the outside, and there is a heavy fabric strip (band??) that you pull or let out to raise or lower the rouladen from the inside. I just noticed when looking at them again, that there is also a sort of box, which actually looks a little bit like a valence, that I guess the rouladen go into when they are pulled up. You can arrange them so that the slats fit right flush with each other, and in that mode, they block almost every bit of light. You can lower them so they aren't flush and there are little holes in the connecting material, so that a little bit of light can come through. They really are quite neat, and so much better than the old fashioned roller shades I did have the thought that made out of metal or certain tough plastics, they would make great hurricane shutters, and be so much easier to deal with!

Well, I think that is enough for tonight. Take care and I hope to have good news soon! Oh, by the way, I don't think I remembered to tell that one of the doctors put Christine on prednisone for the puppps and it cleared it right up. She has some residual dry skin but she doesn't have all the horrible itching and hive type rash, so she is really happy about that! That was just before I got here, I think, that they put her on it.

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