US Visit

Tom and I had a busy two and a half weeks in the States. He went to DC to visit some friends one weekend and then to Wisconsin for a wedding the next. I went to Dothan to visit with my family and then hung out with the girls the next weekend in Atl. As usual, it was great to be home and see friends and family (and speak English to everyone we saw!). Here are some highlights from the trip.

My favorite picture from the trip - me and baby girl with my sisters :)

A family photo after church.

My mom, sisters and I did a good bit of baby shopping while I was there. We scoured Goodwill, garages sales and 2nd hand baby stores. It was a lot of fun and we found some good stuff! I washed all the baby clothes before packing them up. They looked so adorable (and pink!) on the line that I just had to take a picture.

As per tradition, Tom and Craig dumped Matt in the river the night before the wedding. Matt got his revenge, though and pulled them in after him. Tom hadn't packed with that in mind and had to get another shirt to wear at Walmart the next day :)

The only picture I have of Tom looking all snazzy for the wedding - don't he and Craig look nice!

Remember the swan?? It has now been a part of 5 weddings - one in Alabama, one in Kansas, two in Georgia and now one in Wisconsin. Fortunately, Tom managed to stuff the thing into his suitcase and didn't have to carry it onto the airplane!

Matt with his bride, Katie.

The wedding party spent some time after the wedding just hanging out. Here's Karl flying a kite during some of their free time.

While Tom was at the wedding, I got to spend some time with Cristina and Ashley. It was great to see each other and talk each others ears off!

Since Tom didn't see my family in Dothan, we met my sisters for coffee one evening before we left. I'm glad he likes his sister-in-laws!

Tom's dad is building an airplane in his basement (and it should be done soon!). Cristina came over one day and was very excited to be able to sit in it and work some of the controls.

Cristina concentrating and me with my belly. The plane does have wings - they just aren't attached for some reason (I know there is one, just don't know what it is) at this point in time.

Ellie is doing marching band for the first time this year and we were able to attend her first game. She is the 2nd person back closest to us. Her school even won - Go North Cobb!

She's somewhere over on the left.

Home Improvements

We've (maybe I've is more correct, but we'll go with the plural :) been wanting to paint the guest room for awhile and transitioning it to the guest/baby room was just the push we needed to ahead and do it. We picked a neutral shade of brown to complement the colors currently in the room and then went to work. We moved most of the furniture out, so that for about 2 weeks, no room in our house was organized anymore. There were bed parts in the living room, baseboards and dresser drawers in the hall and bed linens and curtains draped over any surface available. Then we (mostly Tom) vacuumed, taped edges, painted, and then sanded and re-stained baseboards. Then we got started on the closets before putting the room back together, which meant we had to empty them out and find places to put all the stuff. It's finally done and we are pleased with the results. Below are all the during pictures - I'll post the after pictures once I take some.

Tom enjoys painting words and pictures during the process.

Cloé and Maggie both took to sleeping in this spot during the project.

A snapshot of the chaos we lived in for 2 weeks.

Touching up a spot by the baseboards. Before the baseboards matched the floor - we really like how the new color complements the wall color.

The insides of all the closets were painted white and look tons better.

I'm happy that we're almost done!

Tom captured a great picture of the sunset complemented by a crescent moon one night. God's creation holds so much beauty!

August 1st in Locarno

Tom had a 4 day weekend over the August 1st holiday (the Swiss national holiday like our July 4th) so we decided to take weekend trip to Locarno in the Italian part of Switzerland. We were able to go with our British friends, Richard and Emma and had a great time hanging out with them and getting away for a few days. I think my favorite part of the trip was the fabulous Italian food! We had dinner out both nights we were there and the food was absolutely fantastic - bruschetta, caprese, pesto pasta, ravioli, and molten chocolate cake were just a few of the things we tried. I'd go back again just for the restaurants!

We took the Simplon Pass over the mountains instead of taking the tunnel like we usually do. We thought something different would be nice and we wouldn't risk running into the dreadful traffic that sometimes bottlenecks at the tunnel. The pass was beautiful even though it was cloudy and not a bad drive at all. We enjoyed lunch at the top with a view of some gorgeous mountains. It was a bit chilly at the top, but it just got us more ready for the hot weather in Locarno!

We visited the Verzasca Dam again (the one which Bond jumps off of in Golden Eye) and this time saw a group of 7 guys bungee off of it! Watching them jump was scary enough for me - I don't think I'll ever "take the plunge" though both Tom and Emma seemed eager enough.There he goes...

Emma, Richard and Tom atop the medieval stone bridge just a short drive from the dam.

It was a hot day so a lot of people were swimming in the freezing cold water. You can also see a few girls preparing to jump in from the rock in the middle - a few brave souls even jumped from the bridge!

Trying to take an artsy shot...didn't work out so well :) The water was really cold - even having my foot in was hard!

The Madonna del Sasso - a well-known church in the area. It's style is very different from the cathedrals I'm used to seeing around Europe, so it was nice to see a change from the norm.

On the evening of Aug 1, we took a cruise out on Lake Maggiore to watch fireworks. The boat ride was very pleasant and the view of the fireworks was superb!

Our last morning was spent just walking along the lake. There was a great walking path and we found a quaint cafe for coffee and then another delicious restaurant for lunch before heading back to Fribourg.

Update on Baby Girl :)

It's hard to believe that time goes by so quickly! Little girl will be here in less than 2 months now!! We had our last ultrasound 2 weeks ago and everything is looking good. She was about 3 pounds and moving around like crazy. I feel her moving all the time now and she frequently has the hiccups :) It still amazes me that there is something alive and moving in my stomach.

We've been busy getting ready for our little one to arrive. I enjoyed doing some shopping for her while we were in the US. There are way too many cute baby girl clothes in the world! I could have spent endless amounts of money on adorable clothes that would probably only last a month or two! As far as things here, the former guest room (now the guest/baby room) is painted and has furniture back in it. We just have to buy a mattress for the crib, buy a pad for the changing table, and put away the pile of things that we have accumulated and the room will be ready. The dresser drawers are stocked with clothes and the changing table is replete with diapers and wipes - ready for little one's arrival. Thank you thank you to everyone who has already given/loaned us things. It has been a HUGE help!

This past weekend, Tom and I traveled to Zurich to attend a birthing class in English. It was very helpful and really nice to meet some other couples in situations similar to ours. We also could understand everything and were able to easily ask any question that popped into our heads. It was also fun to take a short trip to Zurich and do a little exploring there.

So that's where we are at the moment. We're looking forward to welcoming her into the world and introducing her to you all! Enjoy the picts below and hopefully I'll get some of her room posted soon as well.

Ultrasound picture from June 15

Ultrasound picture from September 2
(the thing next to her nose is the umbilical cord)