A rainy Friday night

It started raining last night, and there isn't an end in sight. What a storm this is. I think they are calling it a noreaster. Not really sure what that means though. I worked til this evening, then came home for dinner and an early bedtime. However, first I had to watch ER and Grey's. They killed Pratt off of ER, and I just have to admit that I bawled like a baby. I'm not joking. Eric walked in the den, and I was almost crying hysterically, with big old crocodile tears running down my face. Dang preggo hormones. I was slightly disappointed with the season premeire of Grey's. It was okay, but didn't really keep my attention. That could be the hormones as well.

Eric got the chair rail up in the nursery today, and it looks really good. He's such a great husband- very handy! I bought some drawer liner, and may start putting that in the dresser and chest of drawers tomorrow. I'm on call from 6:30am Sat morning until 6:30am Sun morning, so my productivity level depends on how busy the hospital is. Hopefully the rain will keep people indoors. At the same time, I'd love to get called in at least once for some $$$.

We are running severely low on gas in Charlotte. Lines are over an hour long, IF you can find a station with gas. If morons with 3/4 tank weren't "topping off", it wouldn't be such an issue. My jeep is out almost- the light is on. Eric still has almost a full tank, so we'll be using his car for awhile. We're hoping the situation is resolved before his car gets low. We don't have any plans really this weekend, especially since I'm on call and it's raining for days. I do have a massage scheduled for Sunday, and I'm quite happy about that. My hips and back hurt. I hope I have the gas to get there:-)

Well, Eric is headed outside to get in the hot tub, and I may join him. It depends on how hard it's raining right now. Have a good weekend!

Back to work tomorrow....

I'm in mourning about returning to work tomorrow. I really want to be a stay at home wife. Okay, maybe one 8 hour shift a week would be alright. But honestly, that's about all I want to work. This long vacation has made me lazy. Here is my latest belly pic, at 23 weeks 2 days.



It's really starting to get on out there. My belly button is becoming an outie! Shim moves all the time now, practicing is taebo skills. Active little man he is. I called my office yesterday morning to make sure that the frequency of my braxton hicks (BH) was okay, b/c I have at least 1-2 an hour. And I was also just a little concerned that they started at 21 weeks. I expected them to just say that it was fine, and instead they wanted me to come in for a check. The OB nurse said 99% likely everything was fine, but it's always better to be safe rather than sorry. Anyhow, they worked me in with one of the OB's, and as expected, everything was fine. I was not very happy about having to see one of the Dr's, b/c I just love the midwives all so much. My care with them is so much more personalized and in depth. But, this doc I saw was really nice and thorough, and I really liked her. So, if my worst fear comes true and I end up with a C-section, I would be happy to see her face. At least I've met one out of the 8 or so.

Now that it's a little cooler outside, I have a quarter sleeved shirt I can now wear. My friend Katie sent it to me a couple of months ago, and I've just been waiting to wear it. A pic of it is up above. Even if you are a fan of McCain, you've got to admit it's a cute shirt.

I'm gonna go off on a tangent here. Why won't blogger put a friggin picture I add where I'm typing??? Why does it always go to the top???? If anyone knows a way around this, please leave me a comment. This is my BIGGEST complaint about blogger.

I went shopping Sunday, and pretty much bought my entire cloth diaper stash to last for hopefully the first 6-8 months. It really just depends on how big shim gets, and how fast. I am so excited to have my stash, and can't wait to start washing and organizing them all. Look for a future post on why I'm choosing to cloth diaper, and pics of all my fluff!

We are home!

Well, it is Saturday morning and for some strange and crazy reason, I can't sleep. We got home and to bed around 11pm, and it sure was good to see my own bed. I think part of the reason I can't sleep is that I know there is so much I want to start getting done. The first load of laundry is in, so the cleaning shall commence. I don't go back to work until Wednesday, so I've got four full days to get alot of stuff done. Don't be suprised if you don't hear from the Kirsch's for a while. Meanwhile, I will start posting pics at gallery.mac.com/winternichole. There is no www. Have fun checking out the pics!

Well, for us it is 11am Friday morning, and we are sitting in the Rome airport. However, I’m not sure when I’ll actually be able to post this to the internet/blog.

Eric and I both loved the Cote d’Azur, also known as the French Riviera. We ported in Monaco, and went to France to visit Nice and Eze. Eze is simply a tourist trap, but Nice is awesome. The entire area of the Riviera that we saw was just beautiful, and we’d love to go back someday. We went to the Nice market and did some shopping, then just walked along the boardwalk. Once back in Monaco, I went back to the ship (tired after a long day), but Eric went to the casino. Actually, he had to change clothes first since business casual attire is required. He didn’t gamble since minimums are so high, but he did buy a five dollar chip as a souvenir. There aren’t any photos from the casino b/c they aren’t allowed, but Eric said it looked like a museum- very ornate with marble everywhere.

Yesterday we were in Livorno, which is just a port city that is the gateway to Florence/Pisa/Tuscany. I could go back to this area for a week, at least. It was so pretty, and Florence was one of my favorite Italian cities. And no, it’s not name favoritism. It’s actually called Firenze in Italian. We saw David at the Accademia, then went to the Duomo area, then on toward Uffizi and the Arno river. I got some shopping done and had a lovely time. We also had a great lunch in Florence at Piazza d’Repubblica. We headed to Pisa in the afternoon, and took the obligatory pics of holding up/knocking over the Leaning Tower. I don’t feel the need to go back to Pisa again. I just wanted those pictures:-)

I decided last night that I was tired of being away from the US and healthcare facilities that I could communicate with if need be. Not that anything was wrong, I think I just started getting sick of being away; a little homesick. I miss my doggies. Eric was happy to skip Greece if it was what I really wanted, as long as we could get our flight changed. Luckily, we were at the airport by 8:30, and they got us on a 12:45pm flight to Atlanta. That gets us to Atlanta around 5pm (I think after all the time changes), and we should be in Charlotte by 10pm. So now we have Sat, Sun, and Mon to unpack, and get our affairs back in order. Back to the real world in other words!

update

Well, I know it’s been quite a few days since posting, so I’ll try to figure out where we left off. We completely overslept our 2nd day in Venice, so didn’t even end up going to Murano. We’re saving it for our next trip....(in 15 years maybe).

The day after that we were at sea, then Sunday we were in Sicily. However, we had to be up by 7am, and the weather was crappy, so I decided to stay on board. We had an excursion arranged with 50 other people from cruise critic (an online message board), which was basically just bus transportation to Taormina. I wanted to go to the beach there, but it was rainy and windy. I ended up sending Eric with all the other peeps we’ve met here. He had a nice time, and I got to rest and chill for the day.

Yesterday we were at sea again, and boy was the weather windy and chilly. The seas were horrible, and they had barf bags laying all over the ship. Everyone kept asking me how I was, and if I was okay.....and the funny thing was....I was GREAT! I figured that since I puked for 20 straight weeks, God was giving me a break. I did feel quite sorry for all the other folks though; I understand relentless nausea quite well.

Today we were in Barcelona, and went up to Montserrat. It’s a Benedictine monastery up on a mountaintop, that’s been there for 1000 years. It was absolutely gorgeous! After that we came back into the city and went to Las Ramblas, which is a main street with restaurants and markets. And fabulous Sangria as well! We had a nice lunch with tapas and all the other standard spanish goodies, then came back to the boat in time to sail off again. Tomorrow we are in Monaco, and will spend the morning in Nice and Eze (France). After exploring those a little, we will head back into Monaco/Monte Carlo before sailing again tomorrow night. Thursday is our last full day, and we will port in Livorno. It’s essentially a gateway to Pisa, Florence, and Tuscany. Friday morning we arrive in Rome early, and debark to head to the airport.

We may have some travel issues, b/c our flight to Athens is on Alitalia. If anyone is watching world news, they are bankrupt and starting to cancel some flights, because they can’t pay for the fuel. We hope to make it to Santorini without any issues!!! We will be in Santorini on Saturday and Sunday, then fly out early Monday morning. We should be in Charlotte by 9pm Monday night, barring any travel complications. Things coming out here were so smooth, I almost expect it to be crazy getting home. We miss our doggies and can’t wait to see them! Shim is well, and kicking like crazy. It’s funny to feel him so often now. Eric finally got his ADHD under control for 5 minutes, and was able to lay still with his hand on my belly to feel him. That was exciting, b/c it makes it alot more real for him. I get to feel our little man constantly, and it’s easy to take that for granted. I’m off to bed, and have no idea when we’ll get to post again. Take care everyone!

Well, I should start off by saying “HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOM!!!”, because we are a day late. Yesterday we were consumed by Venice, and never had a chance to get online. Hope you had a wonderful day! Venice was unique and beautiful, and pretty much as I had imagined it. I’m so glad we got a chance to experience it before it sinks into the ocean. We first went into the city yesterday by vaporetto (water bus) after our ship docked. The sail into Venice alone was gorgeous, b/c we went by all the high points to get to the marina. We took the vaporetto to St. Marks Square, which is the main tourist destination. After a few minutes there, we took an alley and just started roaming. I bought Shim the cutest booties ever. We eventually ended up near the Rialto bridge, which was one thing I wanted to see. From there, we hopped on the Vaporetto again and just rode for about an hour. We got seats on the back, which was open air, and just took in the sites. It went up the entire Grand Canal, then out to Lido Island and back. It’s a fabulous and quite cheap way to see Venice.

We finally got off, and began to wander again. By this point I was starving and nauseated (always happens with lack of food). We remedied that with more lemon gelato, and tried to decide where to eat. Unfortunately it was only 6pm, and most restaurants didn’t open til 7pm. My only requirement for dinner was that the place had air conditioning, since most places here do not. We finally found a place, and boy was it interesting. It was like coming to Italy and eating at Fazoli’s, or going to Greece and eating at Showmar’s. Honestly, I think Fazoli’s has better food. NOT exaggerating. Our waiter was Indian, and the waitress was I think Korean. However, we spent most of the meal laughing b/c it was honestly just funny. Oh the memories...

We got to go on the gondola ride I’d been talking about forever, and it really was alot of fun. Very neat vantage point to see all the side canals. We saw Casanova’s castle, and where Marco Polo lived. After dinner, we headed back to St. Marks Square to catch the Vaparetto back to the ship, and stopped there once we realized the orchestras were playing. Basically, there are some restaurants that surround the square, and they each have their own little orchestra. They all take turns playing, and it’s just a really cool thing to experience. We wished we’d eaten there, even though it would’ve cost a bazillion dollars.

For those who don’t know, St. Mark’s Square is the famous one in tons of movies, with all the pigeons. I really wanted a picture of me with all the pigeons, but that would involve feeding them, which now carries a fine. Plus, after Eric described them as “rats with wings”, I was a little hesitant. I’m sure they carry a few diseases....

Today we planned to get up and head to Murano Island, which is where they blow the Venetian glass. However, our plans got a little off kilter when we were woken by our room steward at 11:30. Oops. We were a little tired I guess. We showered and ate quickly, and were gonna head out, but I just didn’t feel like it. It was hot, and I simply didn’t feel like walking all day. So, we stayed on board and put Murano on our list to see when /if we ever make it back. It was a good thing we stayed though, because a massive storm came up at around 3pm, with thunder/lightening, etc. I felt so bad for people on land, b/c they had no choice but to travel in the storm; otherwise risk the ship leaving them.

We are at sea tomorrow, and then docked in Sicily on Sunday. We are spending the day at the beach in this cute coastal town Taormina. I still haven’t gotten much of a tan, b/c I’m more into air conditioning than the sun. Shim is well, kicking more each day. Definite soccer potential! Hope all is well with everyone who can sit still long enough to read these long entries!