Travis and I saw the OB yesterday and I had an ultrasound. There’s no question about it, TinyD is a boy! Also very exciting to me (with just enough memory of embryology from med school to make things scary) is that all the body parts are present and in the correct location – 2 arms, 2 legs, organs inside the body, complete spine, no tail or horns, etc. He was moving fairly vigorously during the US so I figure I’ll start getting some good bellykicks soon. Either that, or TinyD is exerting his opinion about being named Genghis.
Travis = very funny. He’s been telling people that if TinyD is a boy, his name will be Genghis, and if it’s a girl, the name will be Paris. People’s responses are generally pretty funny. It’s Genghis Khan’s ? (500th?) birthday this year, so I predict an upswing in baby-name popularity.
So nice to be home. I had a fantastic time in Germany – very useful for work and the hosts were fantastic as far as sightseeing and food. Who wouldn’t want to be here, where the weather is cold (-5 F wind chill anyone?). It’s great to see Travis and the cats seem to notice that I’m around again. Future travels include Miami (work) which I now realize doesn’t always have beautiful weather (ie the superbowl), Italy for real vacation, and Puerto Rico for a few days (also, work, but low-key work). Then the travel ban begins. I have some visits planned to DC, which hopefully TinyD will agree to.
Wowee the Germans are serious about airport security. Note to self, allow more than an hour to complete the process.
I checked my bags and they scanned my passport at the desk (not a surprise). Then I went through security. They had the person checking to make sure people were in the right line (look at passport and boarding pass). Then a queue like an amusement park. Then actually screening, which involved scrutinizing the passport and boarding pass again, the usual conveyer belt/xray routine (computer out, baggie of tiny liquids out, jacket off). They didn’t require shoe removal. Then I went through the metal detector, which went off (boots). Then got hand-wanded and frisked. Boots off for a trip through the xray scanner. Then collected my belongings and headed toward my gate. Next there was another seemingly random stop, where they looked at passports and boarding passes, then waved me through. Then came official German passport control, where they looked at my passport and boarding pass. Then came another desk, where they checked my passport and boarding pass. This led to another long line which repeated the entire security screening process: passport and boarding pass scrutiny, xray for computer which is out of bag, boots off, jacket off, liquids out, and backpack on the conveyer for xray screening, plus additional wand sweep with comments on my bra and pant hooks. This went ok and then I got to the gate, which had already started boarding. They looked at my passport and boarding pass, and I got on the plane. I was actually worried that I might miss my flight due to the intense scrutiny of my passport, boarding pass, and bits of metal in my clothes.
This brings the passport and boarding pas check total to 8 episodes. 2 separate xray exams of all my belongings and 2 separate hand-wand metal detecting episodes. Glad I didn’t get pulled for extra screening.