The Proud Parents

Isn't she cute!? :-) We were trying on the Baby Bjorn carrier that Laura delivered for us (along with lots of other fun stuff!!) and thought this was a cute moment. He's going to be a great dad! :-)

Laundry

Do you know what this is? This is the baby's first load of laundry! We're getting ready...

We saw the doctor yesterday and she said it doesn't look like this baby is coming out any time soon... We'll see...

Pretty Flowers

When Laura was here we went to a really big farmers market kind of place in a small town about a half an hour away. It was cool to see all of the fresh fruits and vegetables and things the farmers had brought in. It was also fun to see the gypsies selling their things like "real" Gucci purses and lots of clothes for really cheap.

Well, I found this beautiful bunch of 20 Gerber daisies for only 4 Euros (about $6)! I couldn't pass it up! So we brought them home and I went to the kitchen to arrange them in a vase. As I started to trim their stems I noticed a small white bug flying off the flowers. Then two. Then three and more and more. Laura suggested I rinse them under the faucet to wash off the bugs. Oh no! That made TONS of bugs start flying around! Yikes! Not good!

So to avoid infesting the apartment with bugs we decides to banish the flowers to the window sill in a jar. We could still see them and enjoy them - and so could the neighborhood!

Maybe I won't buy the cheap flowers at the market next time... I'll at least check for bugs first!!

Laura is here!

Laura is here visiting this week and we're having a great time! Here's us at the castle on Monday. Yeah for visitors! :-)

Priority

Here's another fun cultural tid-bit for you. You'll find signs like these posted in lots of public places around here like government offices or the DMV or the grocery store (where I took this picture - and yes, that's Teri in the background).

People - especially women - carrying small children, pregnant women, and disabled people get "prioridade" - priority - in lines.

If you hadn't noticed, I fall into one of those three categories. Man has it been helpful sometimes! We recently had to do the paperwork for our Portuguese drivers licenses. Just like the DMV back home, the lines here are long and slow! We got to cut in front of about 100 people because I have "priority!"

This has also been a little embarrassing from time to time. It's SO great to have everyone stare at and make a big deal about the pregnant lady especially when she doesn't necessarily understand what's going on!

This is actually a law here (like the yellow reflector vests!) but I'm not sure where all it applies. It does apply on all public transportation like the metro, buses, and trains. There's little signs like this posted next to the best seats on the bus and people could actually be fined if they don't stand up and give me their seat! At first when people offered me their seat and I really felt fine, I felt bad taking it. But I quickly figured out it was better to just say thank you and sit down because whenever I'd say no, I'm fine thanks, they'd keep asking or someone else would offer and practically force me into the seat.

Then again there are the times when there are able-bodies looking men sitting down and no one offers their seat. Come on! There's an 8 month pregnant lady standing here, buddy! :-)

Of course all of the women push me to the front of the line in public bathrooms. There's even designated parking places at the mall and in major parking lots! It's great!

We think this would be one of the cultural things Portuguese people would find strange in the US, that we don't automatically give priority to people in these categories.

It's a major plus to being pregnant here!