February 22, 2009 - Week 19

Our baby continues to grow and I have gained another pound. I still feel my lower back pain once a while, but that is something I am getting used to. I feel more pressure as my belly is slowly expanding and I cannot lay flat on my back anymore.

Wednesday the 18th marked a year since our not-so-little Romeo and Rascal were born. We celebrated their birthday with a full can of food for all three of our boys...normal is just a half a can each. We normally need to feed Snooky separately since the little "cleaners" are aggressive eaters. However, for the first time we were able to take a picture of all three eating together and there was even a little bit left over...that never happens.

On Friday after work, we headed to Clarinda for the weekend. On the way, we stopped in the town of Creston for a concert. The featured performers were an acappella group from Sweden called "The Real Group". They are considered one of the best jazz vocal groups in the world. It was truly an amazing show. This group rarely tours in the US and here they were in this little town of Creston, IA. Creston has a small college with a jazz music program and this concert was part of their annual vocal jazz festival.

This world class group was there for the kids and I was blown away with their performance. We sat among the students who cheered loudly after each song. We had so much fun that we drove back on Saturday night to see this group again. This time Marvin, Jean, Richard and Janet joined us. We stopped for dinner at a steak restaurant east of Creston. It was another great performance and this time they even sang a couple of songs in Swedish. It was just great! We wrapped up an entertaining weekend by watching the Oscars.

Nase ditko roste a ja znovu pribrala pul kila. Porad citim obcasne bolesti zad, ale s tim uz se budu muset smirit. Citim v brisku vice tlaku, protoze postupne roste a take se uz nemuzu natahnout a lezet na zadech.

Ve stredu 18teho se pred rokem narodili nasi uz velci Romeo a Rascal. Oslavovali jsme tim, ze jsme kazdemu dali celou konzervu masa...normalne dostavaji jen polovicku konzervy. Musime krmit Snookyho oddelene, protoze ti nase male "cisticky" ji agresivne. Proprve jsme ale vyfotili vsechny tri jak ji dohromady, a dokonce i trochu jidla nechali...coz se nikdy nestava.

V patek po praci jsme cestovali na vikend do Clarindy. Na ceste jsme se zastavili na koncert ve mestecku Creston. Vystupovala svedska acappellova (bez nastroju, nastroje napodobuji hlasem) skupina jmenem "The Real Group". Jsou povazovani za jednu z nejlepsich jazzovych vokalnich skupin na svete. Toto byla opravdu uzasna podivana. Tato skupina nejezdi skoro vubec do USA a my ji tady uvidime v malem mestecku Creston, Iowa. V Crestnu se nachazi mala univerzita, ktera zahrnuje take jazzovou muzikalni skolu a tento koncert byl casti programu jejich festivalu.

Tato skupina priletela hlavne kvuli studentum a ja jsem byla absolutne unesena jejich vystoupenim. Sedeli jsme vedle studentu, kteri hlasite jasali po kazde skladbe. Tak nas to zaujalo, ze jsme se vratili v sobotu vecer na jejich druhy koncert. Tentokrat jsme vzali s sebou Marvina, Jean, Richarda a Janet. Zastavili jsme se v restauraci specializovane na steaky kousek od Crestnu. Bylo to opet uzasne vystoupeni a tentokrat zaspivali par pisnicek ve svedstine. Bylo to opravdu neco! Tento zabavny vikend jsme zakoncili tim, ze jsme se divali na predavani Oskaru.

February 15, 2009 - Week 18

My lower back has been bothering me, but I still tried to exercise a couple of times. It looks like this month I've been gaining about a pound a week. As part of selecting a delivery hospital, we are now going through the paperwork involved with switching doctors.

On Friday, our company held their annual international potluck lunch. I made Czech "Valentine's Day kisses" and Paul brought homemade ice cream. This year's ice cream flavor was "Nutty Maple" made from walnuts and maple syrup from the family sugar maple tree in Clarinda.

We received several inches of snow on Friday afternoon so there was some shoveling to do. Saturday was Valentine's Day and I received a beautiful bouquet of flowers. We went out for breakfast and then to the home and garden show in downtown. On Sunday, we had friends with their little two year old boy over for dinner. I tried two new Czech recipes, spinach soup and brocoli casarole.

Prestoze me boli zada, porad chodim do posilovny aspon dvakrat tydne. Zda se, ze tento mesic pribiram asi pul kila kazdy tyden. Protoze jsme si vybrali jinsi nemocnici, tak ted podavame nove formulare na zmenu doktora.

V patek nase spolecnost poradala rocni ochutnavku mezinarodnich jidel. Upekla jsem Valentynske pusinky a Paul udelal domaci zmrzlinu. Tentokrat prichut byla pojmenovana "Orechovy javor", protoze pouzil orechy a javorovy sirup z rodinneho sladkeho javoru pred domem rodicu v Clarinde. Znovu nam v patek vecer nasnezilo, tak jsme opet museli odhazovat snih. V sobotu bylo Valentyna. Od Paula jsem dostala krasne kvetiny. Sli jsme na snidani a pote jsme vyrazili do centra mesta na vystavu "Dum a zahrada". V nedeli u nas byli znami s dvourocnim synem na veceri. Vyzkousela jsem dva nove ceske recepty, spenatovou polevku a zapecenou brokolici.

February 8, 2009 - Week 17

This week I was able to go to the gym twice and Paul and I played volleyball a couple of times as well. It felt great to exercise and it is helping my stiff lower back. Jean stayed with us on Monday and Tuesday because she had some seminars in Des Moines. On Wednesday, Paul and I went for a tour of Mercy and Methodist hospitals. In the end, we chose Mercy hospital for delivery because it is a brand new facility and seemed more friendly and comfortable.

On Friday, I went for my four week checkup with my doctor, who works with Methodist hospital. She told me they do not have privileges to deliver in Mercy hospital. In this case, I need to switch doctors so I can deliver in Mercy. I have to decide quickly on a new doctor so they will be available for our due date. Our Negley baby is doing fine and has a heartbeat of 160 beats/min. My belly is slowly growing and my blood pressure is OK as well.

On Friday night, we drove to Clarinda to watch the high school basketball team play Harlan. Harlan is a top ranked team, but Clarinda stayed close until the last 4 minutes. On Saturday, it was a beautiful day with sunshine and temperatures around 60F. I decided to walk to see Grandma Elsie and we spent some nice time together. After lunch, I joined Paul at the farm. It was beautiful out there and we spent the time piling up cedar branches for a future fire. I then went into town to make homemade pizza which I took back out to the farm for us to eat. While we were eating, we had a visitor. This dog came out of the woods and was looking right at us. It was probably a neighbor's dog from across the road. We gave him some leftovers, so he stayed for a while.

Tento tyden jsem sla dvakrat do posilovny a take jsme s Paulem dvakrat hrali volejbal. Citim se dobre a posilovani pomaha mym zadum. V pondeli a utery u nas zustala Jean, byla v Des Moines na seminarich. Ve stredu jsme s Paulem sli na prohlidku nemocnic Mercy a Methodist. Nakonec jsme si na porod vybrali nemocnici Mercy, protoze je nove postavena a take se zda privetivejsi a lepe se v ni citis.

V patek jsem sla na prohlidku k doktorce po ctyrech tydnech, ktera pracuje v Methodist nemocnici. Rikala mi, ze oni nemaji opravneni rodit v nemocnici Mercy. V tomto pripade musim zmenit doktora, abych mohla rodit v Mercy. Musim najit doktora velmi rychle, aby me mohli vyhovet, protoze nase datum porodu se blizi. Nase ditko se ma dobre a ma tlukot srdce 160 tepu/min. Moje brisko pomalu roste a muj krevni tlak je take vpohode.

V patek vecer jsme jeli do Clarindy se podivat na stredoskolsky basketbal, kde Clarinda hrala s mesteckem Harlan. Harlan je povazovan za nejlepsi druzstvo, ale Clarinda bojovala a zustala s nema tesne az do posledni ctvrte minuty. V sobotu byl nadherny slunecny den s teplotami okolo 15C. Rozhodla jsme se, ze se projdu k babicce Elsie (tento rok ji bude 98 roku) a bylo to pekne stravit nejaky cas s ni. Po obede jsem sla s Paulem na farmu. Bylo nadherne, tak jsme tahali suche cedrove vetve na hromadu, kterou pozdeji budeme palit. Pote jsem jela do mesta udelat domaci pizzu, kterou jsem vzala na farmu, kde jsme meli "stolecku prostri se". Pri jidle jsme meli navstevu. Pes se vynoril z krovi a dival se primo na nas. Asi to byl souseduv pes pres cestu. Dali jsme mu nejake zbytky, tak s nami zustal dele.

February 1, 2009 - Week 16

This week I went to Mercy hospital for a seminar called "Great Expectations". Most of the stuff I had already read in a book, but at least I got to see the new hospital addition. Next week we are going for a tour of both the main hospitals in town (Mercy and Methodist). This should help us make a decision on which would be our preference for delivery.

On Saturday, we went to the see the Iowa State men's basketball team play Oklahoma, the #4 ranked team in the country. It was surprisingly a good game and was close until the final minutes. Afterwards, we went out to eat in Ames with our friends. I hosted our girlfriends' get together lunch on Sunday...we shared a lot of stories. This Sunday was also full of TV sporting events. It started early morning (2:30am) with the Australian Open finals in tennis and finished with the Super Bowl.

Tento tyden jsem sla na seminar "Velke Ocekavani" do Mercy Hospital. Vetsinu jsem vedela z knizek, ale aspon jsem navstivila novou pristavenou cast nemocnice. Pristi tyden jdeme na prohlidku do obou hlavnich nemocnic ve meste (Mercy a Methodist). To nam pomuze se rozhodnout, kterou nemocnici si vybrat na porod.

V sobotu jsme se sli podivat na vysokoskolsky basketbal muzu Iowa State, kteri hrali s Oklahomou, ctvrtym nasazenym tymem ve Statech. Prekvapive to byl velice dobry a tesny zapas. Iowa State drzeli krok s Oklahomou az do posledni minuty. Pote jsme sli do baru ve mestecku Ames se najist a popovidat si se znamyma. V nedeli jsem doma hostila obed pro me kamosky...mely jsme si co povidat. Tato nedele byla plna sportovnich televiznich udalosti. Zacalo to rano (2:30) finalem tenisu na Australian Open a skoncilo to Super Bowlem americkeho profesionalniho fotbalu.