In Deutschland over a month!

Thought I'd start by letting you know where we live. We're in Hennef, which is just outside Bonn, near Cologne. We're almost done renovating the flat on the third floor of Sebastian's parents home (you can see our windows are open on the top floor. Pic on the right shows our names on the buzzer).

Before I forget - a couple things I think need clarification...

#1: We are not finding out the sex of the baby. Not yet anyway. We both kind of go back and forth, but at the moment we're just going with it and probably won't find out. For some reason for quite some time we've both referred to the baby as "she" or "her" - no particular reason, just happened organically. We'll just see what happens and let you all know whenever we find out.


#2: Although at first glance the blog may appear to be some kind of wedding blog it's not. It's my last name (Weiss) and Sebastian's last name (Wedding). Sebastian and I are not married at the moment. Right now we're living in the present and focusing on our baby - who will be here before you know it!


I am very quickly approaching the 6 month mark....and therefore the third trimester! This blows my mind. Although my profile is certainly matching this time frame. The past couple weeks we've gotten A LOT done on the flat. Painting, installing a new door, floors....next we complete our kitchen. Pictures of that to come.

Some people have been asking about what it's like here...mostly you all seem to be curious about what I'm eating. I am no longer a vegetarian - although I never really was, I still ate fish when I could. But anyway. Most mornings (which are admittedly late mornings, I've been sleeping a lot) consist of yogurt with müsli and fruits or breads/cheeses etc...and Nutella. No cereal. And Müsli is NOT cereal. It's somewhat comparable, but not the same thing at all. Lunch totally depends on the day, sometimes leftovers...sometimes more cheeses, fruits, breads... sometimes salad....sometimes olives and ice cream. More on that later. Dinners are varied as well. Some are what I would imagine to be typical German foods (ummm... potatoes? meats...) but other times we cook Indian, Italian and what ever we feel really.

Still no weird food things or cravings, but ok ok, I have been eating Olives like they're going out of style. Not really creating recipe's around them, just snacking on them while I'm cooking something else. And when the weather is nice I really enjoy ice cream. But who doesn't!?


Ah yes! And we got to meet our new nephew on July 18th - Philipp (Sebastian's twin brother) and Petra welcomed Jona into the world (J pronounced like a Y, so phonetically "yo nah") a few weeks early. We visited them again Sunday and mother father and baby are very happy and healthy.

Can't believe soon Sebastian and I will have a little one to welcome to the world. I think Sebastian might write one of these updates soon, we'll see. Off to see a friend in Belgium this weekend, will update more after that.

Much love -

Stacy, Sebastian and Admiral Lemon

22 weeks....whoa

Could it be!??? 22 weeks!!! Oh my gosh, when I see this picture I think....who is this person!? Am I really THAT big? I see my reflection in a store window or walking by a car and do a double take. I'm getting big!

Wow...it's slowly setting in that I am now here for over two weeks. On one had that doesn't sound like a whole lot of time. But on the other hand it feels like so much more. I still have quite a list of things to accomplish...getting things in order for our flat, the baby, etc. But the more work I do on such lists the longer the list seems to become. Maybe this is just how it will be now, starting a family.. keeping busy with life and such. And planning. hhmmmm... again with this planning thing.

We got to go sailing this past weekend with David and Danielle, friends that are sadly moving to Namibia soon.

Then we, of course, watched the German soccer game against....Argentina I think. Wow, I know no one in the states really cares about the World Cup - at least no where near as much as they care about it here - but it's big here. Like Superbowl big. No, even bigger than that really. 'Cuz it's only every 4 years or so. Well, when your country makes it as far as Germany has, you tend to jump on the bandwagon, as I clearly have. SCHLAND!!!!!!!!!!! (that's what you yell for Germany because in German you call Germany Deutschland, and, well, like any good German word that's just too long, so they shortened it to just -"schlaaaaaand!!!!!")

(below - David and Daniela 'surfing' on a air mattress)

Sunday was a lovely brunch and walk on the Rhine with David & Danielle, Christian & Nina, their two little ones Mio & Tomte, and Sebas and I. Then we had a nice dinner with Lissy and Peter (Sebastians parents) Phillip and Petra (Sebas' twin bro and very pregnant girlfriend) Lea and Ronnie (Sebas' little sis and boyfriend). I was reminded once again that I need to enroll in a German crash course. Quickly. It's not like me to just sit back... attempting to follow a conversation that I understand 0.5% of...just laughing when everyone else laughs....not 'getting' the jokes...not making any jokes...it gets to be a bit too much at times. Like I don't get to be myself. I go inside and hide in a way. And whoever I'm with thinks that I'm always like this...quiet...passive...and those of you that know me know that's just not true. But I knew it would be like this for a time.

(right - clockwise from top right: Sebas, Me, Phillip, Petra, Lissy, Ronnie, Lea, Peter)

It's healthy to put yourself in these kinds of growing, learning, maybe even uncomfortable situations.

Otherwise I'm comfortable...healthy...happy......working on lots of little projects. One specifically, I'm creating an artful family tree (a Weiss one and a Schwarz one) with pictures and such, so Sebastian and I can start getting to know our extended families. Any other ideas?? For Sebastian and Lemon to get to know you all even if we don't meet just yet...? Please send advice. Input. We would be so grateful.

For now, love and light

Sebastian, Stacy and Lemon

(oh, and check it out...I've been labeling things in the flat so I learn more German words...the bottom pic shows that Sebas went a liiiiittle too far with the labeling - it says "Lemon inside")