How Are You Feeling?

Friends from home ask me this question a lot, which is both fair and considerate since I'm nearly seven months pregnant. (Sorry if that is new news...um, surprise!)

Back in September at around 5 months

I know that it's a lot, if not just sheer insanity, to have relocated at this juncture. Who'd elect so many simultaneous life changes?  Turns out the things we'd long been hoping for happened all at once, so we're going with it. That sounds flip, but explaining much beyond that requires several long stories. Another time, perhaps.

These days, my energy waxes and wanes. I find myself leaving the apartment less frequently and taking more naps. But weekends are still for exploring, getting out to the farmers market, and trying new brunch locales. Something about this city prompts a good deal of walking, even with the excellent public transit system at your disposal. Walking around town often involves hills and stairs, so Prague is keeping me in good shape. The 120 stairs we get to climb in our apartment building due to a broken elevator are just another set of reps...right?

We recently got back from what is probably my last trip to the States for a long while. That was a lot of walking...and flying, and public trans! But so worth it to see friends get married outside of Austin, TX, and to catch up with some friends and family back in Philly, however briefly. (And stock up on Halloween candy that we couldn't get overseas. Oooh! and those Little Debbie Pumpkin Delites. And proper maternity pants...and...and we each filled an empty suitcase to bring "home" with us.)

Back in the City of A Thousand Spires, I have more frequent OB visits and I can get to the office now without consulting my cheat sheet post-it note. (Take the metro from our station at Náměstí Míru across the river to Dejvicka, then a little while on the tram til I pass two stops both called Červený Vrch, and then on foot over the railroad tracks and straight down the street.) After every ultrasound and most recently a "routine" EKG, they tell me everything is looking good. This little boy was a very much wished-for baby, so we're excited to be welcoming him in a few more months. And- super cool!- it does look like he will have dual citizenship. Just watch: he'll be correcting our terrible Czech language skills before too long. Will keep you posted...

6 months, paddle boating on the Vltava
(cue Smetana)