Coffee from a Reusable Ceramic Mug

I have had allergies for as long as I can remember. There are just certain types of grasses and pollen that set me off around this time of year no matter where I go. I have found antihistamines that work well for me, but at the moment, I can’t take any of them.

Until now, I have been having slight improvement using natural remedies. I have a ‘Nasa Dusche’ (Nose shower), which I have been using to flush out my nose. It works pretty well in the short term, and I found that using cool water is just dreamy in the middle of an allergy attack. I’ve had to used it several times a day to get some relief. Yesterday was the worst day, and I felt like I was going to sneeze out the baby by the end! Matthias made me a cool wash cloth, and I laid on the couch with that over my face for an hour - that helped for a while as well. I spent most of this morning in bed, exhausted from yesterday. I finally broke down and talked to a pharmacist as I felt like I was never going to be able to leave the house this summer if I didn’t get some help.

She said that only thing they recommend for pregnant women is calcium and a nasal spray - I bought both. I think I have tricked Matthias’ body into having allergies too because he started up today as well (we got him some of the normal antihistamines). I was skeptical of the nose spray because if it won’t affect the baby, I figured it must be weak. But, it actually worked!!! (God bless the pharmacist!). It is only to be used when I am really suffering, but GOD it helped so much.

With a new lease on life, we headed out to West Bad this afternoon. It’s the big public pool I’ve mentioned before. I got to try my new tent - I mean, maturity swimsuit. I picked on up at C&A yesterday after finding that most places charge around 80 euros for a maturity suit!! It’s not pretty, but it was 25 euros, which seemed reasonable given how often I will be able to wear it. I actually tried on some normal swimsuits as well, with the hope that I could just get a larger size in a regular bikini. I was impressed to learn that I have grown 3 suit sizes and three cup sizes! Seeing this body in a regular swimsuit was pretty funny. In the end, I went with the maturity suit for good reason. Its a bit big at the moment, but I suspect I will be filling it out quite well soon. The only thing I don’t like about it is that it is one of those tank-top 2 pieces, and there is all of this material over my belly. It is kind of clingy when I am out of the water and it floats all over the place in the water. I might pick up a normal bikini top for an alternative at some point too.

Anyway, West Bad was great. It wasn’t even that crowded, and I always love people watching there. Getting in the water was great for the allergies. When I got out, I realized how much heavier I am with the extra 8 Kg I’ve picked up lately. I’ll have to go back there more often as the temperature stays high. The lack of air conditioning definitely calls for more trips to the pool.

The banana plant (it’s not a tree) is the worlds largest Herb. Bananas are not a fruit, they are a berry!! The plants blossom once and then are killed to make room for the next generation. The Panama Virus wiped out almost all of the variations of bananas that used to be sold around the world. The one we are all familiar with is a lower quality banana but it was immune to the virus - however, now most bananas around the world are of the same type (much like the Bovine populations around the world), and a new strain of the virus has popped up in East Asia. This time, the banana we all know and love is not fairing so well. The name Banana Republic comes from the cute name given to brutal mafia like gangs that moved across south America looking for new fertile soil for banana growing - the original virus outbreak left infected lands useless. What that has to do with over-priced trendy clothes, I have no idea.

If you ever want to know such random stuff, down load some podcasts from Scientific American and play them on your next road trip. Just remember to ignore the underlying message that science is for boys - the three hours of podcasts we listen to, not one woman scientist was interviewed! One awesome woman,Salome Gluecksohn-Waelsch,was mentioned, but she just died. Sigh.

Has Matthias been secretly leading the life of a photographer, blogger and web designer? It’s amazing what you find by typing someone’s name into Google.

It was a relaxing, low key, weekend - so this may be a boring post :-). I think the blob needed some energy because she sure seemed to require a lot of mine. I slept in late on Saturday. Once I got up, we ran some errands for a few hours and came back home with some groceries. I was starving by that point (because three hours without eating is a lot for me!). I laid down after a snack and slept for about three more hours! Matthias enjoyed having time to play his flight simulator, so he didn’t mind. We watched a few episodes of Seinfeld (Matthias bought the entire series on DVD) and went to bed rather early.

Sunday had a bit more action. I slept late, met Matthias at the gym (I had a big 20 minute workout), and then we headed out to Christina and Rainer’s to have lunch at a Mill near their place, Friesemuele. It was a nice place, out in the country, with good Bavarian food. It is Spagel (asparagus) season at the moment, so we all started with a big bowl of Spagel creme soup - Delicious!! Matthias and I had some trout from the Laaber river, which was really moist and fresh. We went for a short stroll afterward. It was nice to get out of the city. Plus, Matthias got to test drive the Quinny stroller that they have for Oliver. It is the one I would like to get, so I wanted him to test drive it. He managed not to flip it over or anything, so I think it passes the test.

When we got home, I had to lay down again. All of that sleeping, and I was still the first in bed last night. I had a great night’s sleep too! I think it was the most I’ve slept in weeks. I have been awake a lot at night lately, and I have felt groggy in the mornings, but this morning, I actually felt refreshed. The blob was kicking away as usual while Matthias was getting ready to go to work. She is already getting strong. I can’t imagine how it will be in a couple of months when she is even bigger! Can a baby kick through a uterus? I think I will Google that…..

I can’t say I am a big fan of the pope, but I do like the apparent open embrace of science being expressed out of the new ‘administration’ over there in St. Peter’s.

Vatican says aliens could exist

I think the popular media have missed out on the many stories of the roles of priests/astronomers have played int the development of modern cosmology. The apparent dichotomy that has popped up between Christians and science, particularly in the U.S. in the past few years, has not always been there. The Catholic church, in particular in the last couple of centuries, have played an active role. I will over look, for the moment, that you don’t hear much about nuns/astronomers coming out of the Vatican observatory.

Back to reading about extrasolar planets……..

It’s been a while since I wrote an update about the blob (already a bad mother!), so I thought I’d give an update.

We are just starting the 23rd week, which means me are more than half way to her birthday. My belly has grown so that I am wearing my ‘big girl’ clothes all the time or making some alterations to my old clothes so I don’t pop out. The photos show how much I have grown since the beginning. I am still wearing my old yoga clothes, but I am going ‘belly free’ (as Matthias calls it) because the stretchy material just won’t cover the blob.

She is moving more and more these days. Matthias finally felt her move last week, and I noticed today that if I watch my belly, I can see it jump when she kicks! At the last ultrasound, she was lying transverse with her head on the left and her butt on the right. She seems to be both kicking and punching because she moves on both sides. Up until a few days ago, she usually moved the most at night, but now she is bopping around throughout the day. Matthias gives her updates on what’s happening out here, but she doesn’t yet respond to his voice.

We are starting to read books on the preparation for the labor and delivery. My friend and wonderful yoga teacher, Clare Collins, is prepping me on how to use my yoga ’skilz’ for the pregnancy and eventually for labor and delivery. Matthias is struggling with reading about this part - he gets a bit squeamish when he sees the photos. I, on the other hand, find it all fascinating. I suspect that will change to anxiety as my belly grows more and I realize that the blob will be coming out in a most amazing way.

I have been trying to get out a bit and walk every day, which is pretty easy to do in Regensburg. I met with Andrea for a coffee/lunch today. After spending the morning reading about planet formation around nearby stars for work, I was walking down the street appreciating the beautiful May afternoon in Regensburg (the best month of the year here). I thought, “How come they never talk about how beautiful May is on the extrasolar planets?” That would make proposals more interesting to read! I can see the proposal title now: “Investigating lovely May weather on HD 209458b” - I think it would review well!

Anyway, the blob seems to be doing well, as are we - with periodic moments of freaking out during the whole apartment search drama, but that is for another post.

So, while in Italy, Aparche searched for dresses for her graduation party. Luca had a few for her to try on - she looked great in all of them. Which one is your favorite???? I uploaded the rest of the photos from our visit here. Aparche wouldn’t stand still for very long, so it was tough to get good shots - I guess that’s why she’s a doctor and not a fashion model.

We’ve got the White, beige/gold, green, purple (1 & 2), and the peacock (or at least that’s what I call it):

Gas in Germany runs about 1.5 euros/liter. A euro is 1.55 dollars as of today. A liter is approximately a quarter of a gallon.

Therefore: 1.5 * 1.54 * 4 = $9.24/gallon is the price of gas in Germany!!! I read that people in the US are afraid of $5/gallon - HA, I say.

You know those people in your life who you haven’t seen in years, but as soon as you see them, it’s as if no time has passed? We have been lucky enough to have quite a few great friends like that in our life. Being with these friends brings me back to myself like nothing else in the world. This weekend, we spent the weekend with Elena (our gracious hostess in Milan), Denis, Sean and Aparche - I think we both really needed to catch up with these guys. It was like one long, relaxed exhale all weekend. I feel great. There is a pile of picture from the weekend here if you’d like to see some great and not so great photos of Italy.

Matthias and I headed down early on Thursday morning (labor day), and the rest were there waiting for us. We headed out to see a bit of Milan once we got there. There was a big labor day festival in town next to the castle. We all ended up crashing out in the park before heading back before walking through the crazy crowd of drunk Italians celebrating/protesting in the streets. We ambled down toward the canals in Milan for an apperitivo (I had my first 9 euro coke!) before heading back to Elena’s for some dinner.

As usual with our good friends, much of the weekend revolved around eating and chilling out. My theory is that we enjoy eating together because our time together is nourishment for the soul - the food is the embodiment of that. Either that, or we are just all pigs looking for an excuse to stuff ourselves! We also tend to bring a lot of good food with us, so it would be a shame to waste it. Matthias brought some Weiss Wurst and beer. Denis brought three goats worth of cheese! It was good.

On Friday, we took the train over to Venice. Venice is awesome! It was the first time there for Matthias, Sean and me. It is the kind of place that really looks as beautiful as it does in pictures. Even though there are a ton of great Venice photos uploaded from the trip, these two were my favorite! We needed a bit of a break after a lot of walking (we are not as young as we used to be). The only thing that’s different than what I imagined was the hoard of people on every street! We weren’t the only ones to have the idea to go there on Friday. Aside from that, the city was great. We had a fantastic lunch next to one of the canals and then took a Gondola ride after picking up some ice cream - We had the best chocolate ice cream EVER!

On Saturday, Elena took us to her friend Luca Hettner who is an up and coming designer. He is a really nice guy who showed us his Frida Forever collection for the summer. Aparche, in search of a graduation dress, modeled some of the clothes for us. I was soooo bummed that my big belly and backside inhibited me from being able to try on the clothes. How often do you get to try on clothes in the designer’s office? Once I get my body back, we need to schedule another Milan visit! I also encouraged him to make a maternity line next - he kissed my belly instead, which is almost as good. I was surprised Matthias like the visit to Luca’s so much. He said he felt like he was in an episode of Sex & the City, so he had a great time.

Elena and I went on a little adventure to China town at 7:30 that morning. She has been doing Aikido at the Scuola della Respirazione (school of breathing) for about the past 7 months, and she took me to see her class. I wasn’t planning on practicing at all as I am avoiding activities that require me to be thrown to the floor for obvious reasons. However, once I got there, a student approached me about practicing and assured me that pregnant women have come before. The place and people had such a great energy that I felt comfortable. Elena and two of the senior students helped me put on the uniform - they had a spare maternity uniform, which also made me feel comfortable. The class was a lot of fun (no one threw me to the ground, in case you are wondering), and I can totally see why she loves it. The style combines breath work with the movements of Aikido, so it is a beautiful dance when done properly (which I didn’t manage). The teacher is awesome! If I seemed confused, which was often, he came over, took a deep breath as I touched him to do the moves, and suddenly I knew what to do! He also gave the blob a little energy blessing! That was nice. It’s cool that Elena has found her Yoga in the Aikido. I can see why she is drawn to it. If I lived in Milan, I’d go with her! (my legs and knees are still sore today from the practice)

Anyway, after lots of eating, walking, napping, and chatting with good friends, Matthias and I both feel pretty full of life. It was nice to get away from apartment searches and all of things that made us feel stressed here. I hope we can keep that positive energy with us through the rest of the year!

PS - Venice has the best chocolate ice cream in the world!!! If you got there, I highly recommend it.