Scott's first post!

Hey everyone,

Thought it was about time for a quick blog from Daddy!! I am so excited and a little bit nervous about the upcoming birth of our little girl, _____ Elizabeth Matzka, and as you'll see in the pics we've done a great job of concealing the identity of her first name (and initial!!) I am now on high alert when I leave the house, checking the phone constantly, especially when we play on the road. I have a game tonight about 3 hours away, so we've been talking to beaner telling her it's okay to stay in mommy's belly at least another 24 hours. I've arranged for a car to follow the bus to the game tonight in case i have to get home quickly. Anyway, gotta wrap this up as my pregame skate starts in a little bit. Catie is 39 weeks pregnant today and as you'll see in the belly pics, she's showing every week of that. Can't wait to update you all with the good news of baby Matzka's arrival.

Home away from home...

Now that we are all settled into our new place, thought you might want to see a few pics of our home away from home. It's plenty big enough for the three of us, something I was concerned about before we arrived. Beaner will have her own room when we decide to move her crib from ours into hers. For now, we'll use it as an office area. Thought it might be more convenient to have her close when we first bring her home from the hospital, what with all the night wakings! Our bedroom is plenty big enough for all of us in the time being which is nice. The bathroom actually has a bath TUB which is a first for us in Europe. The living/dining area is roomy too. There's also a separate eating area in the kitchen. Lots of storage space for all of our stuff. We are about a 3 minute walk to the rink which is great for all of us. Will be easier to just pop beaner into her stroller and walk to the games.

The weather here has been great so far. Sunny and pretty warm since we've been here. Almost no rain at all so a big change from Denmark. I'm sure the rain is yet to come but we are enjoying the sun while it lasts.

Officially 2 weeks until my due date and we are anxiously awaiting beaner's arrival! Not much change from last week so no belly pic today. Have an appt. this Thursday for a regular prenatal checkup. Will let you know if there's anything exciting to report.

37 weeks!

Only 3 weeks to go and I am finally feeling ready...well I guess as ready as I can be. It's a huge relief to have our place in order and the baby stuff organized. I am feeling pretty good and the pains have subsided for now, phew! I hope they don't return until it's go time.

Yesterday, we got our gym memberships set up and I actually went in for a short workout. It's the first time since we've been here I've had the energy to do much outside of organizing inside the house. It felt good to do a little exercise. Not sure how often I will make it from here until my due date but plan on going when I feel up to it. With my ever expanding belly, basic things like walking are getting more and more uncomfortable.

We also had a day of cleaning the entire place yesterday which is something I've become obsessed with over the past few days. I just have this crazy urge to vacuum even if I see one stray fuzz on the floors! I hope that goes away as I really don't want to turn into a crazy woman :)

Here is the latest belly pic along with a couple pics of the baby stuff all ready to go!

Sweden, finally!

We've finally arrived in Sweden and are starting to feel settled. What a great feeling it is to be here and breathe a bit easier (well not really literally since beaner is squishing my diaphragm in half but you get the picture). We have already made a couple trips to Ikea to get a few things for the apartment and of course baby furniture. Scott was hard at work last night putting it all together. As you can see in the pics, he did a great job! The last pic is Scott testing out the 'earmuff' things we got for beaner to wear at the hockey games. It's always so loud in the rinks so we thought these were the perfect baby accessory to keep her ears protected. According to Scott, they work great! We just did the final load of baby laundry and everything is sorted, folded and put away. I've been busy getting the place in order and must say this whole 'nesting' thing is really kicking me into gear. We have a few last minute things to do but it's almost there. Packing the hospital bag will be the last thing we need to do to prepare for beaner's big entrance. Hard to believe we will be using all of these baby things in 3 short weeks.

I have been having what I think are false labor pains the last couple of day/nights. They are absolutely no fun and I am really praying they don't last for the entire next 3 weeks. There's really nothing we can do about them as I suppose it's my body's way of preparing itself for labor and delivery. Speaking of which, we found out at our ultrasound this morning that beaner is still head down and ready to go whenever she feels it's time. I am heading to the hospital again this afternoon for a baby class and hopefully a little tour of the labor/delivery unit. Our midwife was supposed to arrange for a translator so I actually know what they are saying so we're hoping she did. Scott is at practice now so will meet me there when he's done. Hopefully after this, we will be a bit more comfortable with the hospital and systems here in Orebro.

On a hockey note, things are going really well. Scott has had 2 home exhibition games which I've been able to make it to. They tied one against a team in the top league and won against a team in the league below. Their season opener is Wednesday against a team about a half hour from here. It's a big rivalry so should be great game. Scott has been playing and feeling great too. We met and hung out with the other North American guy, Justin, and his wife Nikki. They have an 8 month old son, so that should be lots of fun.

I will post another belly pic later this week as I hit the 37 week mark! Hopefully pics of our place to follow shortly too.

35 weeks

Well, I have officially reached the 35 week mark which means 35 DAYS until my due date! I had to calculate that a couple times to be sure it was right. It's so hard to believe we will be holding our little beaner in our arms in such a short time. Moreover, we will be parents, which is an even crazier thought.

Scott is now home from Sweden and has delivered all of our (and beaner's) stuff safely to his new team. He played in a tournament and they did really well and things look promising. Was nice for him to meet and play with his new team since the season will be starting shortly after we arrive next week. There is another North American player on the team who has his wife and 8 month old son with him too. I was happy to hear both me and beaner will have some friends there. Scott says he can really tell a difference in my growing belly in just a weeks time. As you can see from my latest belly pic, he's right!