Cains in Europe - Party of 3

Hi everyone!

It has been quite some time since I last blogged. It is crazy looking back on my last couple of posts. It was before Carter was born and life is completely different now that he is here. We have been so blessed with such a happy, healthy baby. The past seven months have been the greatest, most exciting, exhausting, hardest, best days of my life. Being a mom is the best thing I've ever experienced. I am so happy that we are in this new chapter of life with the best little guy around!

I will quickly try to recap things since Carter's arrival. Carter technically spent his first two months of life being French. We traveled to Paris a few days before going home to the States for the summer to get his American citizenship from the US Embassy. It was a headache putting together all the paperwork needed for his citizenship and passport, but it all went so smoothly once we were at the embassy and it will always be a cool story for him to tell. After spending the morning at the embassy, we were able to take Carter on his first mini tour of Paris. We walked along the Champs-Elysees, posed for some pictures at the Arc de Triomphe, grabbed lunch at a French cafe and took him to see the Eiffel Tower for the first time. At two months old, he had already gotten to do what many people can only dream of.

I always say our summers at home go way too fast. And this past summer was by far the quickest. It flew by trying to introduce Carter to so many friends and family and trying to do the million things that we wanted to get done. It was a great summer though. I loved having Carter in his "real" home and I cherish our time we have every summer. To be honest, it gets harder for me leaving every year. Especially now that we have Carter. I am so grateful for our home, family and friends that it is so hard to pack up again and say goodbye. I am truly grateful for the opportunities God has brought us through Tyler's career, but there is nothing better to me than being in our house in Minnesota, visiting my hometown in Iowa and revisiting our college memories and friends from South Dakota. I'm a Midwestern girl through and through.

As most of you know, we are back in France for a third season in a row (and Tyler's seventh season overseas). Tyler is with a new team but still the same league that he has been playing in since he has been in France. This year we are located in Reims, France and it is about an hour and 20 minute drive east of Paris. Tyler has already been here for over two months and Carter and I have been here for a month. Carter did amazing on the flight and in the airports. He slept most of the time but it was absolutely exhausting for me. I didn't sleep at all and I basically held him for 12 hours straight. Whoever decided that you can't get your stroller back until you clear customs after an international flight clearly isn't a woman/mom. Carrying him, a large carry on/diaper bag + my purse throughout one of the largest airports in the world, standing in a dreadfully long customs line and retrieving 3 suitcases, a car seat and stroller was no easy task. It would have been so nice to be able to get the stroller back after we landed. I literally could not open a bottle of water when Tyler picked us up because my arms were so weak. Oh, and I had a nasty cold. Thank the Lord for helping me through all that!

Carter and I have also had an extremely hard time adjusting to the time difference. I am one tired mama. We've seemed to do much better in the past week or so but my goodness, what I would do for a solid 8 hours of sleep. That hasn't happened since probably before I was pregnant and I know I won't be seeing 8 hours of the backs of my eyelids anytime soon. I'm just trying to catch up as much as I can.

But on a more positive note, I am loving Reims so far! There is a completely different dynamic to the team this year. We somehow always end up on a team where I am the only American wife. But this year, all four of the American players have wives/families! It is SO nice to be able to go to games with them and I have been able to hang out a couple of times with a couple of them. I am already looking forward to getting together more now that's Carter and I are getting on a better schedule.

Another thing that I am loving about Reims is that wherever we go, we are just as likely to hear someone speaking English as we are French. It is so bizarre! We will be out and about and hear so many people speaking English. Some people just flat out start speaking English to us - we clearly aren't doing a good job of passing off as French ;) At first I would just look at Tyler and be like "what is going on!!"  When you live in a foreign country the majority of the year, hearing English is definitely comforting. We think there are so many English speakers because there is a University here. It definitely makes things easier when being out and knowing our chances of being able to communicate with people are fairly good.

That is pretty much an up to date summary. I am looking forward to what this season brings for us and it will be so crazy to see how much Carter grows from now until the end of the season. He will have a lot of big milestones in Reims: his first Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Year, birthday ... he'll learn to crawl, walk, talk and everything in between. I'm sure this year will bring lots of memories for us in the future. 

Until next time!

Update Before Baby

Hi Family and Friends

I wanted to get one more blog post up before baby's arrival. As of today, we are only 31 days away from due date (March 23). He could come at any time! So crazy! On the other hand, I hope he doesn't decide to be a 42-weeker and make us wait until April! Either way, I know he will come when he is ready and that is all that matters. 

We were able to have Tyler's dad and sister, Richard and Erica, out earlier this month. They were here for a week and it was nice to be able to finally have some visitors. This was the first time in six seasons that Richard has been able to make the trip to Europe and finally see Tyler play again. I am so happy that they both got to experience that. We showed them around our city and spent time hanging out and relaxing. Since Dijon is of course known for mustard, we brought them to a gourmet mustard shop. This was the first time Tyler and I had been to it as well. They had dozens of different mustards in flavors that ranged from sweet to spicy and everything in between. Although I am not much of a mustard fan, it was fun to look through all the different mustards and they allow people to try them if you want. They also had mustards on tap! It was mustard infused with wine and I guess they were pretty darn good (I declined to try for obvious reasons). It was a fun experience and Richard and Erica both went home with some authentic Dijon mustard. It was a great week that went by too fast.

Tyler's team had a tournament this weekend at Disneyland Paris. It was for the top 8 teams in the league for the first half of the season and I am so happy that the team has done so well and got to go to the tournament. I was super bummed though because I wanted to go but had to ultimately decide that traveling at 35.5 weeks wasn't going to be the smartest choice.

This past month we have been trying to really get things ready for the baby. We have the majority of everything we need and just have a few small things we need to pick up from the store still. I think that I have handled everything well. I am not stressed out or panicking and have just taken it day by day. 

It did hit me a little bit though as I started to pack my hospital bag over the weekend. I was a little overwhelmed that it was time to get the bag ready and I have so much I need to make sure that I have. Here in France, they make you stay 4 nights for a regular birth and 6 nights for a c-section (insert crying face emoji). So I am preparing for a much longer stay compared to the US. I also have a ton of stuff that needed to be packed that my mom sent out for me and baby. For those of you who don't know, she is an OB nurse in labor and delivery at a hospital in my hometown. I had her get me anything and everything that I might need for labor and the days after because I don't think that the hospital here provides as much as in the States. It is a comfort to have everything that I would need if I were back home. 

I think some people think I am crazy for doing this over here. And I will admit, sometimes I think that I am too! But I have gotten asked so many times if I am having the baby over here. I guess I assume that the obvious answer should be yes to people. This is where we live. Remember we are not on vacation over here! This is where Tyler's career is and I would never want him to miss the birth of his baby. Although it would easier to be home going through all of this, so many wives go through this experience over here in Europe. Yes, some things are different and yes, sometimes the language barriers can be frustrating, but babies are born all over the world and I have no fears in going through this here. I don't have a "birth plan" and I am not going to stress out or worry over anything. I am just going with the flow. We have had some hiccups over the course of the pregnancy that haven't been the easiest to handle, but God has always kept us safe and healthy. I know that He is going to continue to do that for labor and delivery and has us exactly where we need to be.  That is all I need to know to get me through all this.

I just wanted to write a quick update as Baby Boy could decide to arrive very soon and I probably wont be writing again for a while after that. Thank you all for your support and please continue to keep us in your thoughts and prayers! I will keep everyone updated on Facebook when our little guy is finally here!

Staycation & Pregnancy Cravings

Happy New Year! I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday season and you are enjoying the new year.

The past few months have been typical for us. Tyler stays busy with practice, games and road trips and the days and months are flying away bit by bit. Tyler was able to have about 5 days off at the end of December. It was nice for him to have a little break, although I do wish it would have been a little bit longer so that we could have gone home. It just wouldn't have been easy to spend 2 of those days traveling to and from and quite honestly, I don't think I could have handled sitting all those hours on those flights. I am also probably getting a little too far along in my pregnancy now to be traveling like that anyways. But hey, it was fun to wish for a little bit :) 

We were in the same boat last year when he had some time off. Not enough time to go home but still enough time to do something (that is when we took our trip to Paris). We started considering what we should do around Thanksgiving and talked about going to the French Riviera for a few days. It looks beautiful and we thought that would be a perfect getaway. Well, Tyler started off his break by being sick. He had a fever, chills and a nasty cold (I still don't know how I didn't catch what he had). So by the time he had a couple days to rest and get better, we were already midweek. We ultimately decided that staying closer to Dijon was what we were going to do. While I would have loved a little "babymoon", I was honestly not disappointed. Europe = walking. And lots of it! I get so winded just walking around the city center here in Dijon and have to go to the bathroom every 30 minutes. I was ok with missing out on the walking that our trip would have required. So we ended up having a little "staycation". We did drive a couple hours one day to Lyon, France to do some shopping but other than that we stayed in Dijon. We started to get the baby's room ready, we watched countless hours of Netflix (Yep, we were on the "Making a Murderer" kick too! -- I was obsessed) and just spent time relaxing. Even though we didn't do anything extravagant, it was one of the most fun weeks we have had here and I loved it!

I am now 29 weeks pregnant and so thankful to have made it to the third trimester. It is slowly starting to sink in how quickly he will be here and I can't wait to hold him in my arms. But I am trying to soak up every little kick, punch and roll I feel him make because I know I will miss feeling him move in my belly. I truly believe one of the greatest blessings God gave to expecting mothers is being able to feel your baby move inside of you. The feeling is indescribable. Absolutely incredible.

I really hadn't had any cravings up until about a month or so ago. Early in my pregnancy, I had a week where I ate a bunch of tomato soup and another week or two where I ate Mac and Cheese a lot, but I wouldn't necessarily say they were cravings. Now I have one huge, legit craving that I can not get over. DONUTS!!!! I want a donut all the time! It is so funny to me because I NEVER eat donuts. They are overly sugary and sweet and the thought of consuming them as a breakfast food (or even a snack) almost made me sick to think about. I would never want something so sweet to start off my day but now I drool over the thought. Heck, it doesn't matter what time of day it is. Someone just get me a donut! I have indulged a few times but I still try to limit myself. Tyler bought me some a couple of weeks ago and I tried just eating half of one. He immediately brought over the second half and I didn't even hesitate to accept. I was like "you're so mean!" because I was trying to have a little bit of control and I can't deny it when it is in front of my face! I don't know what it is about them now but they taste like heaven. I literally sit and daydream about donuts. Dear Lord, someone help me!

I have been going to the doctor every three weeks (that's the norm here in France.. or at least with my doctor!) and I get an ultrasound every time I go (also the norm). I have decided that I am totally ok with seeing our little guy that often ;) Some appointments are very quick and some are longer but it is nice to see him at least for a few minutes every time. I feel like if there are any other babies in the future, it is going to be hard for me if where ever I am at in the this world only does 2-3 ultrasounds the entire pregnancy like in the US! It is so reassuring seeing him on that screen every few weeks knowing that he is growing like he is supposed to. Definitely a plus I will take and now after having several ultrasounds, I don't know how women in the US can go so long without seeing their baby!

Now that the holiday season is over, we are getting into the second half of the season. Tyler's team is continuing to do well and have stayed in the top 8 throughout the first half. I hope that they continue to play well and it would be awesome if they were a playoff team at the end of the season!

That is pretty much what our life is like these days. Basketball and Baby. I can't wait to see what life will be like once Baby Cain is actually here! I think it will be good :)