It's a..................

Baby Eichenberger was fully awake (probably because of all the sugar and caffeine I had before the appointment) for the big day. The doctor kept us in suspense until the very end and then gave us great news. IT'S A GIRL! Scott had thought it was a girl all along so he was glad to win the bet. She's doing great and weighs 245 grams at 18 weeks. She's measuring 5 days ahead of schedule per the doctor but we all know that doesn't really mean anything. She'll come when she wants to. I'm starting get a little pot belly now. I'm still in the in between stage where you wouldn't ask me if I'm pregnant for fear of me telling you I've just gained weight. We leave for the U.S. on Saturday and I can't wait to pig out on all of the American food I've been missing out on. So I'm sure I'll start looking more pregnant after our trip.

Below is a video of the ultrasound. I put it on here because all of our family members want to see the baby and this is an easy way to view it. Technology is pretty cool these days to take a 4D video from on top of my stomach. Although still not enough to take the alien-look away. Basically that's my warning for you to proceed with caution if your a little skeptical or just grossed out. The clip is really short so for those brave enough for the challenge quickly look at the beginning and you'll see she's already sucking her thumb. Enjoy!

We'll be spending Christmas with my family this year in Albany, GA. The best part is it's suppose to be in the 70's on Christmas. Finally some warm weather. It's been below freezing here for the last week!

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to everyone. We'll be back after the New Year so check for the regularly scheduled blogs then. What an exciting 2008 we're going to have!

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas....

Christmas Market in Cologne, Germany
A bad picture of Checkpoint Charlie in Berlin, Germany
The Brandenburg Gate in Berlin
Part of what is left of the Berlin Wall

What a busy two weeks we've had. Scott's mom, Jacke, came in for a visit after Thanksgiving and left yesterday. We've spent the last two weekends going to Christmas markets in Belgium and Germany. It seemed to rain everywhere we traveled to, but we kept trucking on. Our first stop was to Cologne, Germany and then we headed on to Berlin, Germany. Berlin was great. After the war, the city of Berlin took a vote whether or not to rebuild in the old style or rebuild the city in a modern style. The vote for modern won and now the city is a stylish metropolis. In certain areas you still feel the old Berlin (Checkpoint Charlie, Brandenburg Gate, pieces of the Berlin Wall.) Scott and I really enjoyed Berlin and would definitely return one day. It was nice to visit a modern city since Brugge overwhelmingly historic. This past weekend we visited the Brussels Christmas market and we didn't see too much because, once again, it rained. That's northern Europe in the winter for you!

Our big news of the week was our doctor's appointment to find out if we were having a boy or a girl. Unfortunately, Baby Eichenberger wasn't used to getting up that early and decided to take a nap during the ultrasound.....with his/her legs crossed. The baby is healthy and we'll try again on the 17th for the sex. Scott and I are such planners that we figured something like this would happen to us! We leave for the U.S. on the 22nd and our doctor is very supportive of fitting us in for another ultrasound. This will be my last trip to the U.S. before the baby is born so I'm hoping to be able to do some major shopping for baby clothes. Enjoy the ultrasound pics and wish us luck for the 17th.