Alexandra & her Big Sister

Alexandra & Family

Welcome Alexandra Lynn

Today we welcomed our newest daughter, Alexandra Lynn Z, into our home. After several false starts, and a few scary moments along the way – Alexandra proved she is a fighter and arrived into our arms on Thursday, April 24th (2-24-2008 at 2 pm for you numerical buffs). Both Alexandra and mom are doing well and resting at home. Alexandra weighed in at a lean & mean 7 lbs 3 ozand 21.25 inches tall (takes after her mom, obviously)

A conversation with Sophia

Sophia: Mommy, my hair, my ponytail, its broken.

Moya: Yes, it looks a little crazy right now.

Sophia: But it is still beautiful.

Due Date... +1 day

Well, things are starting to get interesting.

We went for our normal 40 weeks +1 day appt tonight, and it turns out the baby's heart rate is a little on the low side, and combined with a decreased level of amniotic fluid, the doctor sent us in to the hospital just to make sure. Once at the hospital they monitored the baby for another 30 min, then took measurements of the fluid levels, and decided that they will most likely induce me tomorrow or Wednesday morning (depending on how the tests go tomorrow when we go back in).

Plus I think it was really busy in there tonight - people were running all over the place! Tomorrow may be better for all of us. (Maybe even a private room as light at the end of the tunnel)

Due Date...

Well, unless something drastic changes over the next 12 hours, I'm going to guess that my due date will come & go without a new little girl showing her face. Troy is betting on Wednesday, 3 days late. Sophia was 4 days over her due date (and only 7lbs) so that would be fine too.

So we'll just keep on waiting.

Luckily we have distractions now. My parents arrived last night for a visit, and to meet their newest grandchild. Sophia is in heaven, has barely stopped moving since they arrived (I think she was jumping in her sleep), and will love the extra attention with the new little sister as well.

Its a beautiful day in Munich, so we are going to go enjoy the sunshine at a beer garden for lunch (alkohol-frei for me) and then laze away the day. Sundays in Munich are highly regulated for enforced relaxation (there are laws against making too much noise which includes bans on washing cars, mowing the lawn, and even taking out the garbage - all neighbor enforced of course). So we'll eat at a beer garden, go for a walk & take a break at another beer garden. Not a bad way to spend a sunny day.

More Park Time...

Troy & Sophia have been riding a bike to lots of different parks in the greater Munich area over the last few weekends. Troy is taking photos & checking out different areas for the Munich Daily Photo blog, Sophia is just along for the ride & the parks. I get a bit of a rest at home. Its amazing how tired you are the last couple weeks of a pregnancy, coupled with the worst cold that I have had in years. (The cold started at the end of Easter weekend, and is still affecting my breathing!)

Sophia has loved the one on one time with her Daddy, and is becoming quite bold on various park structures - I think we may have a monkey on our hands!

The World According to Sophia

Who is this funny girl? Any hint of Sophia being shy, or even camera shy is thrown out the door with these photos. When she’s with mommy or daddy, she laughs on cue, hams it up for the camera, and just gets downright silly. These are photos from downtown Munich, brunch at our favorite spot the Park Café, and playing on the grounds of the Schleissheim Palace.

Z Baby Update

I'm still pregnant.

One week to go, but we are ready for this little one to join us in the world. She's still putting on the weight, estimations right around 3,000 grams at this point (7 lbs), but she's dropped in the past week & the doctor yesterday said it could be this weekend, it could be 2 weeks from now.

Waiting... waiting... waiting...

We told Sophia that the other car seat will be in the back seat with her after the baby is born, and she said "then I'll be able to tell her that I am her big sister." She's getting a little anxious for the baby to be born as well, she knows that Nana & Papa arrive when the baby comes, and she wants me to be able to play with her on the floor again. (I can get down but can't really move once I am there and am having problems getting back up).

Munich in the News

One of the things we loved about being in Paris was the constant international news about the city. We often choose our weekend activities from articles in the NYTimes or one of the inflight magazines that Troy was constantly bringing home. It was amazing to see just how much was going on at any one time - probably pretty important when you are trying to entertain 15 million residents and 78 million foreign tourists per year!
Munich in the news is a little bit quieter. Obviously a smaller city, only 1.3 million residents, and just about 9 million overnight visitors (but over 80 million day trippers last year), so the news tends to focus on the big events - Oktoberfest, the World Cup 2006, the Euro Cup 2008, Christmas Markets, Spring Festival, MTV Video Music Awards, etc... We were thrilled last summer when Munich was chosen as the "Most liveable City in the World" by Monocle, and then this morning the Germany Bureau Chief for the NYTimes based in Berlin had the guts to say that Munich is becoming cooler than Berlin (There is a huge rivalry between the two cities). I'm hoping we start seeing more & more of the smaller festivals in the international news as well!

In the meantime, you can always check out our other blog, Munich Daily Photo, for views of Munich & a little interesting commentary from Troy.