Chain of Events

Valais, a stone throw away from Lausanne, where I found myself huddled up and building a home with my husband of a year and a half. After leaving Tokyo for Solomon Islands (My home country) right after the 2011 earthquake and tsunami. We ended up here in Switzerland.
The year flew by so fast, so many things to discover, so many people to get to know and before I know I was spending my first Christmas then New Years here in Valais. Today marks my first anniversary since I arrived and well a lot has happened over the last months.
Learning French, exploring this beautiful country and settling down into our new home. Was a challenge at first. Not knowing the language and the culture made things difficult for me. I actually gave up on mastering French when I was handed the opportunity to study it in a class. With each new French lesson I find myself easing into the society, I'm no longer watching from a distance but actually participating. I was one of the fastest learner then, probably because I had experience in learning a foreign language before, Japanese. I knew how to study a language, how to quickly grasp it and ways to express myself. 3 months later I was able to converse with my mother in-law, that was a milestone in our relationship. It use to be very frustrating when the boys left us alone. We couldn't communicate with each other and eventually just avoid any situation that would allow us to be alone.
Anyway last December we found out that we are expecting a baby. So expect a lot of baby~maternity posts from me, sorry I think it really is a pregnant/mum fever. We had to keep it quiet for a number of reasons at first. One of the reasons was my sister in-law just gave birth that December after numerous miscarriages and disappointment. I really didn't want to take away the spotlight from her especially with all that she's been through to have her little bundle of joy. And then I had some complications. In medical terms its called a false positive ( just google that up) so I had to do numerous blood tests. Which after 2 weeks of waiting I was cleared of any disease. It was a relief but they had no clue what they put us through. Fortunately, as always my husband was my rock, he knew that every scenario we were put through was impossible because it just doesn't make any sense.
Now we were able to tell family members however seeing that my family was so far away, I wanted to know more before telling them. Especially the sex of the baby. So we waited another month till my next appointment with my gynaecologist. By the time we told our families they were all shocked especially when they were told that I was already 20 weeks along.
Fast forward to today, this very minute. I'm 5 months pregnant and still can touch my toes despite warning from my gynaecologist that I gained extra 3 kilos, like an excess to the desired/recommended weight. O.k so I had to cut back on snacking and sodas and maybe my weekly double layered chocolate cake. Not a bad idea besides I'm not extremely worried because lately I've been doing a lot of hiking and been walking a lot since I can't go to the gym. So maintaining this weight for the next three months shouldn't be a problem.
So far we had 3 ultrasound pictures of the baby and recently the 3D. Which I can already make out who he resemble. Nose and cheeks is definitely me, eyes and mouth his dad. Funny though because growing up my parents always teased me about my nose. According to them, which I'am blind to, is that I have a flat nose. Well the bridge of my nose is non existent. And it was the first thing I can see that the baby took after. Of all things why my ugly flat nose???? Well his dad and I are hoping its still in the forming process hahaha!
Today I'm just slowly gathering baby stuff. With that said, I have to confess that baby shopping is addictive. I'm a heavy shopper, well a smart heavy shopper. But since I bought his first pyjama I just couldn't shop for myself anymore. I always head to the baby corner. Where everything is so cute and small but more expensive than adult clothes. I still have a lot of things on my what-baby-needs list to collect. Other things I will receive. I want to collect all these things in a stretch of 5 months to spread out the expenses. I know parents out there are well aware of how expensive it is to raise a baby.
Among all the decisions I had to make before the baby arrives is whether I should be a-stay-at-home mum or work. Well I made it clear that I will look after my kid. Not paying an over priced nanny to look after my baby while I'm killing myself at work to pay her salary. People warned me that after a while I would want to do something else. Or I would be tired of taking care of my kid 24/7. I look at them with pure disgust, just because you are not smart enough to entertain yourself doesn't mean I'm the same. I'm already planning out my career from home. And if that doesn't work I will just re-strategise over and over again.
That's the plan for now but like my mum always say, you can talk all you want now but just wait until you have a baby with its own mind in front of you......