For all my friends who have been impatiently waiting for this news to break, here it is….

“WE’RE PREGNANT !”

Yes, residing in my belly is a tiny little gummy-bear-size tyke who will ultimately crash into the world with a German passport in his/her left hand and an American passport in his/her right hand, hollering “Give Me Business Class Or Give Me Death!”, followed by
”Show Me The Road To Paris!” and possibly “Fish Tacos Or Bust!”

Yes, my friends, on September 12th, I crept back under the covers at about 6:30am with a pregnancy test hidden in its casing. After waiting the 5 agonizing minutes for the test to perculate, I tapped Soenke who crankily opened one eye as if to say “BABE! It’s my first day off in a week! Let me sleep!”. I tapped the box, and he rose up onto his elbows…groggy…confused.

Then off came the casing. The instructions had said that one line meant “not pregnant”, and two lines meant “very very pregnant, and your life will change unbelievably from this moment forward, so you better be REALLY ready, because there’s no going back, and it’s totally gonna happen, and yes you will be pretty fat in a few months”.

We had two lines.

In an act of utter shock, I managed to defy the laws of gravity and human movement by springing backwards and upwards, completely clearing the bed and landing on my feet about 4 feet away. My eyes bugged out about 12 inches from my head, and a garbled version of “OH. MY. GAWD.” came spewing forth from my otherwise-paralyzed mouth.

Soenke laid there, his forehead wrinkled, and inquired “what does 2 lines mean?”

He actually didn’t believe I was pregnant until I took a 2nd test later that day (a different brand, of course, just to be safe), also very very positive, with lots of pink lines, dots, etc.

Since that morning, I have gone through an incredibly wide range of emotions… from abject terror to utter amazement. Soenke remains at the top of the range in “complete delight”, regularly patting my belly and making big plans about all the fun things we will do. I wallow in all-day sickness (whoever called it “morning sickness” was an optimist or a liar, I’m not sure which) and try to squeeze into my ‘skinny jeans’ for as many weeks as I can.

The good news is, the baby will be REALLY well traveled before it even comes down the chute ! Now that tax season has cruised to a close, we have the following adventures in the works between now and the end of the year: Nice, France; Southern California; Houston, Texas; possibly Bali and Brunei (or a reasonable facsimile, where sandy beaches bake and palm trees sway); possibly NYC; and Marrakech, Morocco.

Mark your calendars for May 18th, when Global Baby has scheduled its earth landing!

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Here’s the little tyke, lounging upside down, about 2cm long.