My Baby Bump is getting bumpier (+ a German grammar lesson or two)

So, I'm new to this whole being pregnant thing. Yes, I'm the oldest of 5 kids (the youngest of which is 16 years younger than me...so really, I was fairly conscious + aware for my mom's last pregnancy)

Flashback to 2008 :)
Who needs motorized vehicles when you've got a flotilla* of other wheeled things?

and the oldest of 29 grandchildren on the one side (+ I don't know how many on the other...erm...but I'm definitely on the younger end there), but STILL, this is my first own pregnancy.

And I'm happy to report that it's going swimmingly! My worries about dealing with puking day in and day out for the first three months (like my hero mom did!) were luckily unfounded! (I was trying to figure out how to teach and puke at the same time..or alternating? Anyway, it sounded complicated! Thankfully I didn't actually need to figure out those logistics)

I've had plenty of heightened sensitivity to smells

Like good little Germans we divide our trash (such as into compost + packaging (which gets recycled)) -- with this heightened sensitivity I sometimes enter the arpartment and declare that we need to take out the trash again -- or 'air out' the apartment. :)

but I've survived that so far (+ it's lessened a bit). These days I've begun dealing with more regular acid reflux.. annoying but still not puking!

So far I've not taken too many photos, but for the first while I wasn't really 'showing'. F would occasionally comment on the presence of my Bäuchlein (or little tummy) but I could usually still suck it in. The larger changes initially happened somewhat north of my Bäuchlein...tja...aaaanyway. :)

At our latest Frauenarzt (gynocologist) visit, she suggested finally starting with pregnancy pants + bras (after I had admitted to wearing long sweaters so that I didn't have to zip up my pants...). Finally got some! Whee!

Here are some pics (some side-by-side of sucked-in + pushed-out...at some point, that won't work anymore! But at the moment it still works :) )

From our class Faschings (= Karneval) Party at the end of 15th week (or 15. SSW (Schwangerschaftswoche = week of pregnancy))

Nothing to see here yet :)

End of the 19.** SSW (at first 'sucked in')

Now pushed out :)

At the beginning of the 21. SSW (just pushed out :) )

In the 22. SSW

In

Out + Yup, that's my tongue :)

Happy Easter! (beginning of the 23.SSW)

"we MADE this!"

End of the 24. SSW (+ my serious top-of-the-head wave!)

In

Out

dat HAIR doo

and again with tongue "out" :D

We love our little θ!


*According to Wikipedia a "flotilla" can be part of a larger fleet of warships but is usually made up of a homogenous group of the same class of warships...so maybe that isn't a flotilla. Oh well :)


**A little German lesson about ordinal numbers: The "." after the number is the equivalent of the English "th", "st", "nd" or "rd" (as in 4th, 1st, 2nd, 3rd) ...much more efficient! -- both in writing and pronunciation :)

Okaaay, at least in writing, because there are some changes in the root word, like in English. For example: "one" becomes "first", "two" becomes "second" in the change from cardinal to ordinal numbers and similarly there are changes like "eins" becoming "ers-" or "sieben" becoming "sieb-" (then with the appropriate ending*** of course:) Yay German!)

In 'pronouncing' the "." you add a "-te" or "-ten" depending on the case ("-te" for nominative (subject) case and "-ten" for accusative or dative (direct or indirect object) cases -- does this remind you of English class? Hopefully no nightmares!)

• For example "zehn" (10) becomes "zehnte" when you are saying "Das ist das zehnte rote Auto." (That is the tenth red car) -- in the nominative case. 
• or with the ".": "Das ist das 10. rote Auto."
• Then for an accusative (not to be confused with accusatory!) example: "Ich esse meinen zehnten Pfannkuchen." (I eat my tenth crepe/pancake)
• or "Ich esse meinen 10. Pfannkuchen."
• And dative: "Die Feier ist am zehnten April" (the celebration is on the tenth of April)
• or "Die Feier ist am 10. April."
• Oh + let's not forget genetive! (posessive case): "Das ist der Hund des zehnten Kindes" (That is the dog of the tenth child)
• or "Das ist der Hund des 10. Kindes"

*** If you've delved into German a bit, you've probably come across the three different 'genders' or versions of articles. You don't just have "the", you have "der", "die" and "das". And unfortunately it doesn't stop there, because "der, die, das" change if you are no longer in nominative but rather in the accusative, dative or genetive cases...tja

Some of the to-be-washed cutlery from our church Easter Brunch!

And in the aforementioned example, if you are using one of these definite articles*+* (e.g. "der, die, das") then the number has a "weak" ending, such as:

• "Das ist der zehnte Löffel." (That is the tenth spoon.)
• "Das ist die zehnte Gabel." (That is the tenth fork.)
• "Das ist das zehnte Messer." (That is the tenth knife.) (Yes, each item of standard cutlery has a different article.....go figure!)

but if you are using an indefinite article*++* (such as the English "a"/German "ein") OR the article is missing, then the number takes the "strong" ending (such as "-er", "-e", "-es") and therefore in nominative I could say:

• "Ein zehnter Löffel wäre hilfreich." (A tenth spoon would be helpful. -- as in, 'having a 10th spoon would be helpful/useful')
• (and I'm having trouble coming up with an even mildly plausible sentence without the article at the moment...therefore I'm just going to give the example of someone counting cutlery out loud...perhaps a tongue twister, but good for practicing your pronunciation AND your ordinal numbers!)
• or "neunter Löffel, zehnter Löffel, elfter Löffel..." (ninth spoon, tenth spoon, eleventh spoon...)
• "Eine zehnte Gabel wäre hilfreich." (A tenth fork would be helpful.)
• or "neunte Gabel, zehnte Gabel, elfte Gabel..." (ninth fork, tenth fork, eleventh fork...)
• "Ein zehntes Messer wäre hilfreich." (A tenth knife would be helpful.)
• or "neuntes Messer, zehntes Messer, elftes Messer..." (ninth knife, tenth knife, eleventh knife...)

I think we may stop here at nominative...or I'll make another post for more, cuz goodness! This is getting crazy!  (If you'd like that/be interested in more German grammar lessons, please let me know in the comments! :) I may not be able to resist anyway, but it helps if I know people are actually interested :) )

*+* Other examples of definite articles include: "dies-"(this), "jen-"(that), etc.

• To continue with cutlery: "Dieser zehnte Löffel liegt schief." (This tenth spoon is lying crookedly.)

*++* Other examples of indefinite articles include: "mein-"(my), "kein-"(no), "sein-"(his/its), "ihr-"(her/their), etc.

• "Mein zehnter Löffel ist am schönsten." (My tenth spoon is the prettiest.)

Isn't German wonderful? I think so! :D