Le Tour de France! Stages 8 & 9

About 5 years ago Paul and I got really into the Tour de France. We were living in Provo before moving out to New Jersey, we were both working but had time in the morning to watch the Tour together. I started to love cycling as a sport, getting to know the tactics, the teams, the cyclists, the history. Jump to this summer, living in Western Germany and bordering France. We  decided we HAD to go to the Tour, so we found a weekend and stages that worked and made it happen.

My friend Megan flew in on Friday night and we left early Saturday morning for Stage 8 (Tomblaine / Gérardmer La Mauselaine). We got to Gérardmer a few hours before the race was to finish there. We ate a lunch in the car while it poured rain. Then the rain fizzled off and we took off to the finish line at the top of mountain. It was a fun hike up, through a really pretty French village and overlooking the beautiful lake. The weather added some nice foggy effects.

First the caravan came through - basically a parade of all the sponsors. It was a fun environment to be at the finish, even in the rain. They had a few big screen TVs where we could see the stage going on.

Then the racers came through! Mountain top finishes are awesome because they come in slow and steady instead of in a huge mass.

Blel Kadri of AG2R survived the breakaway and took the stage win (first French win of the tour) and also the polka dot jersey (mountain points leader). My favorite moment was when he was getting his polka dot jersey and some of his teammates rolled through the finish (the road was right in front of the stage) so they stopped and congratulated him. It was cool.

Sagan was in green (sprint leader) and my OPQS boy Kwiatkowski was in white (best young rider). Nibali was in yellow (General Classification leader). It was fun to see the jersey presentation, and we even got on TV during that (as tiny members of the rainy crowd)!

We headed back down the mountain to our car and then drove to our hotel in Orbey. We drove on the road the next days stage would travel on. It was so foggy we could barely see 10 feet ahead at some points. We came upon a mountain lake and stopped for a few chilly moments. When we arrived in Orbey it was dusk and beautiful and sunny! Such a difference from an hour before when we were in the clouds.

Our hotel was so cute and had a restaurant that we ate dinner at. The best news of the day was when what looked to be a gross cooked pear turned out to be delicious mashed potatoes! We went on a little nighttime stroll of the village then settled back into our huge hotel room (Megan even had her own room!)

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Sunday morning Paul headed out early for a bike ride and was able to ride some of tour stage climbs for that day. He came back a very happy happy guy. Megan and I walked to the church in the village, and though it wasn't open, enjoyed exploring the hillside cemetery behind it.

After Paul returned from his ride we drove to Colmar. Megan wanted to visit this city and it worked out perfectly with Paul and I wanting to go to the Tour (it was right by the stages!) but when we got to Colmar we were all shocked. It looked like a dumb industrial town. Luckily we persevered and we found what we were looking for!

After our Colmar visit we picked a random city (Turckheim) on the Tour's route for the day (Stage 9, Gérardmer / Mulhouse) and drove to see the riders go through. Wow, we were lucky with Paul's random pick - it was a beautiful little French village with vineyards on the hills. Tony Martin (my OPQS man!) came through in the lead and ended up winning the stage basically solo time trialing all the way to the finish. And he took the polka dot jersey that day so it's a good thing I bought the polka dot tee shirt to support him.  :)

From Turckheim we headed back to Bonn passing so many neat castles and hilly villages on our way. It was such a nice drive! We got back to Germany just in time to watch Germany win the world cup and join our neighbors in the post-victory celebrations.

 (A morning in Orbey, Paul's bike ride and our walk around town)

 

(Colmar!)

(Turckheim)

Thank you, France, for this lovely weekend.

BABY BOY FRANDSEN!

I'm pregnant!

Baby Boy Frandsen is on his way - due in December! 

It's been a really neat few months. Here is a quick review:

Weeks 1-12

We had a positive pregnancy test on my mom's birthday in April. 

Two pink little lines to change our lives!

We went to Disney World & Universal Studios a few weeks later with Paul's family. After sitting out a few roller coasters, the Frandsen family caught on to our secret. I really need to go back to ride all those rides I missed out on, but I really did love helping watch the too-small-for-ride kids.

I was also coaching lacrosse on top of working full time during these few months. I was able to handle it pretty well, only a few moments of sickness that were terrible (ie: throwing up while driving between work and lacrosse with no shoulder to pull off on). I ate a lot of bland snacks throughout the day (as soon as I got hungry I would want to puke) and I also liked having a sucker on hand which my lacrosse team thought was so funny and strange.

We had a few doctors appointments and seeing the heartbeat (at 6 1/2 weeks) was a miracle and a relief. I had another appointment at 10 weeks and loved seeing the little gummy-bear looking baby just before I headed out to Germany. I was also able to hear the heartbeat via Doppler, what a sweet sweet sound!

Weeks 12-16

The 12 week mark was a nice milestone mentally, as the risk of miscarriage drops and morning sickness is supposed to fade out. I wasn't showing yet but decided to start documenting the monthly progress. I actually started to feel a bit more sick around this time and was also exhausted. When I'd push my body too far (a long day of touristing, trying to go for a jog, etc) it would result in sad times for my stomach. Luckily my work schedule (starting at 2pm) allowed for sleeping in and a daily nap but it was a rough few weeks!

Chelsey visited around 14 weeks and my energy was kind of coming back, but I was grateful that she was ok with a slower pace. We had a fun trip to Amsterdam and after dinners I could feel my stomach sticking out a bit. 

I was missing the reassurance that a monthly doctor visit provides. I did have health insurance in Germany but decided not to hassle with finding an English speaking office that had appointment availabilities, when everything seemed to be going well.

To make it seem more "real" (since there was no real bump, no kicks, and no doctor appointments) I decided to buy a little German gift for the babe. All the kids in Germany wear these cute little striped cotton beanies, so I found one for our little babe. It was so weird being in the baby section for a baby that was my own!

16- 20 Weeks

Between 16 and 20 weeks things started to feel more and more real as we begin to see some “evidence” after waiting for it for 4 months. A little pooch of a belly seemed to be there all the time instead of just in the evening or after I ate. I was feeling pretty well during the day but was getting stomach aches late at night. Sometimes my stomach made the craziest, loudest, noises. I was still throwing up about once a week. It was tricky in Germany to find good, healthy, easy-to-make foods at the grocery stores, especially with our teeny tiny closet kitchen. It was during this time (around 16-17 weeks) that I felt pretty confident that some twitches and squirms in my lower stomach were the baby moving!! 

My friend Megan came to visit at 18 weeks and we spent time in France and Switzerland.  Headaches were (and still are) my only frequent trouble maker. I found the European version of Tylenol in a desperate moment in Switzerland.

We did a 10 mile hike in the Alps that was amazing and I was so proud of my body for being able to handle (a few weeks before I was throwing up when running a few hundred feet). We took a lot of breaks and Megan was really helpful carrying the backpack up the steepest parts. Probably because I was so busy, I didn’t notice much movement that week, but when I got home and rested I would feel little nudges more and more frequently.

At 19 1/2 weeks Paul and I spent our 6 year anniversary in Paris. It was romantic and beautiful and a nice time to reflect on our marriage and growing family.

20 weeks! 

20 Weeks! The big halfway mark! On this very day Paul was able to feel the baby kick from the outside. It was so neat and I was so happy because I was leaving for the U.S. just a few days before and it was my "goal" that he would feel it before I left. I bought a little wooden German baby toy to celebrate our halfway mark.

I flew home at 20 1/2 weeks and did well. I had an aisle seat and went to the bathroom around a million times. It was a long day, but it was nice to have company on the long flight with little kicks the whole time.

Bump wise, it is actually starting to be there! I can hide it if I want to, by wearing looser shirts, and all my pants still button up, but if I wear a tight shirt you can definitely see there is a belly there. Paul thinks it cool, and I think it is cool but still a little in the awkward stage. I am starting to embrace it (especially now that people know I'm pregnant!) with a few outfits that show it off.

I shared the good news with my work on the Monday I returned, and on Wednesday (one day shy of 21 weeks) we had the anatomy scan ultrasound. Wow! It was amazing to see a little 11 inch long tiny human inside me. I was able to FaceTime Paul and we got to see its beautiful little profile, see it suck its thumb, a strong little spine, a brain inside a nice round Frandsen head, all four chambers of the heart pumping away, long little legs that were all the way stretched out and wiggling its feet, 5 little fingers on its hands (Paul thought there were 6 for a minute, haha) and then a quick look to find out it is a BOY!

We shared the good news "with the world" that night and it was amazing to hear from people from all different parts of our lives that were excited for us. Paul and I feel so loved!

We are so grateful for this growing, healthy, little dude and we can't wait to meet him in just a few months!