things are good

hello everyone! we are alive and haven't frozen yet. i promise i haven't forgotten about you. i know i owe a big update, so here goes...

things have changed in 2008! my attitude about budapest and living here has changed for the better and we've been so busy. our social life has really picked up. reese and i have something going on almost every day of the week - from play dates to coffees and lunches to dr. appts. to grocery shopping (2-3 times a week) and then matt and i have started going out to eat one night a weekend. there are just too many good restaurants in budapest to not try them out! we found a really good spanish tapas place that we will go back to for sure! it's like half the price of mi luna in the village and probably just as good! we have met a lot of new people who we are enjoying spending time with. the men work at either GE, IBM, transocean, pricewaterhousecoopers, xom, citigroup, pepsi, or the american embassy. i'm sure i'm forgetting some, but that's all i can think of. one couple from south africa even lives on our street AND she is pregnant due like the same day as me! i'm so happy to have a pregnancy friend! :)

the weather has been better, which in my book means warmer. i don't know what has happened to me, but i now think that 36 degrees is a "warmer" day! seriously, it's so much better at 36 degrees than at 26 degrees. we've even seen the sun peek out some too! now that's glorious! i'm trying not to get too hopeful, but the weather forecast for the next week has us hitting the 40s!! we'll see if that happens.

thank you grandma d for the new clothes! reese loved this hat with the knitted outfit. she played with it the whole day and most of the time it was on her head! hopefully i'll snap a pic next time with the adorable sweater. as i was proofreading this post i noticed the white crayon still proves to be the favorite. :) zoom in.

reese continues to crack us up all the time. if she doesn't want to talk on the phone, put "lips" on (chapstick), "watch, watch, watch, watch" the computer, or see what i''m doing on counter, then she wants to play in the back room. you know exactly what's going to happen when she asks for your hand. she proceeds to lead you to the back room where we keep the door shut so she doesn't have full access to it. when we open the door she runs and throws herself on the air matress! too cute! it's a helpful room when i'm trying to get dinner ready. our routine of putting on socks, shoes, gloves, coat and hat has gotten much faster. she stays one step ahead of you. if we are putting on her socks, she's saying "shoes". if we're putting on her coat, she's saying "hat". then once she's dressed and we are getting our coats on, she's saying "keys" to unlock the door! she doesn't let us forget anything, that's for sure!

she's also doing a great job at using her "poon" (spoon). this morning for breakfast i gave her a full yogurt and a spoon and let her go to town. sure it got all over her face and hands, but she got almost all of it in her mouth.

we have started time-outs with her for bad behavior or not obeying. it is working quite well. she understands everything we say and she is following instructions very well. she tests me some and is learning that i will follow through with what i say.

pregnancy update: not much to report, which is good. things are progressing smoothly. i'm 15 weeks and my clothes are still fitting for the most part. i retired one pair of jeans and a couple other pants, so i'm basically wearing the same jeans everyday, but i'm not ready for maternity stuff yet. i went to the doctor this week and had another quick ultrasound. it's so still amazing to see the little baby moving it's arms and legs inside me! i love it! btw, in case you are wondering, we are "waiters". we are going to wait until the baby's birthday to find out boy or girl! it's one of our favorite parts about having a baby. "it's a girl!" or "it's a boy!" awesome moment it time!