.pictures.

Here are some more pictures of Nina. If all goes well they can leave the hospital tomorrow (Friday) afternoon.

Three days old

Four days old

.a.wantonly.cruel.act.

No matter how sad, tired, or mad I was, one thing always made me laugh. I just looked at it and it made me realize how blessed I was and how thankful I should have been. What was it that resulted such a radical change in my emotional state? Well, you are going to laugh, it was a trash can across the street from the university in Pécs. Yes, no mistake, it was a huge metal trash can. You are wrong if you think this was an ordinary trash can. This trash can (maiden name: waste receptacle) had something written on it. Someone once took time, a brush, some paint and wrote "I hate being a trash can" on it. I don't know if you find this funny or not, but it sure made me laugh all the time. The irony of the graffiti and the difficult "life" of a trash can in comparison to my problems always cheered me up.

Why is all this gone now? Because a lobotomized idiot glued an ad for a concert over the graffiti. If hell has compartments like Dante says, this senseless retard sure is going to room with all the traitors.

.changes.

Nina has changed quite a bit since I took a picture of her 20 minutes after she was born and uploaded to our blog (thanks to PTE for free wireless at the clinic), so here are some more pictures of her.

Seventeen hours after birth

Thirty six hours after birth

Andi's wound hurts like hell (sic!), but her recovery is on schedule. If things go well, they are going to be able to leave the hospital on Friday or Saturday.

.girls.girls.girls.

I just spoke with Andi on the phone (she is still in the ICU) and she said she is feeling well, considering the fact that she had surgery. She is going to try and nurse Nina in an hour or so, which may not work if her stomach hurts and she can't turn to her side.

Her doctor said that she will have to stay at the hospital for a couple of days, so the earliest she will be able to get out is Friday or Saturday.

.24th.of.june.

On this day Henry VIII was crowned King of England in 1509, New Jersey, named after the Isle of Jersey, was founded in 1664, Napoleon crossed the Nieman River and invaded Russia in 1812, and Nina Horvat-Kavai was born at 00:35CET in 2007. She is 3,86kg (8lbs 6oz) and 50cm (20"). Both her and Andi are doing well. Click on the pictures to view them in higher resolution.

.offspring.induced.insomnia.

At 01:45 CET on Saturday Andi's water broke. We are at the clinic in Pécs already, where she is undergoing some tests. Andi is feeling well, she is not in labor yet, she only has minor contractions that only the machine registers.

We will keep you posted once we know some more.

settled (take up residence and become established)

There is one recurring question people ask us nowadays: "Have you guys settled in?" We unpacked everything and put everything away three days after the move and about seven days later we inadvertently referred to the Gate House as HOME. I guess we have settled in.

We even have a daily routine by now. I get up at 06:00, make my way to the coffee maker and while the coffee is brewing I prepare my breakfast cereal. Then I read and pray for some time while sipping coffee. Then Andi wakes up, we pray (but only after she raids the toilet - she is pregnant, you know) and then we watch a morning talk show for a bit. Then I go to work, around 12:30 we eat lunch, and I go back to work until 16:00 or so. After that it is always different, but it usually involves sports or hanging out with people and watching an episode of [spooks] later in the evening. We intend to enjoy this while we can, because we know that Nina is definitely going to have a say in our scheduling methods when she comes, don't you think?

A mighty rushing wind... of a different kind

A few days ago, on the day of Pentecost, there were huge windstorms in many parts of Hungary, some of which even tore off roofs of buildings. We had ours on Monday. It came quite unexpectedly. One minute it was sunny and warm, the next the sun was nowhere to be seen, and then in a split second the wind became very strong. Then we heard a VERY LOUD cracking noise. I looked out the window, and the bigger branch of the tree right in front of our house had been broken off, and was now sitting on the ground.

Here are the pictures I took from the window:

The move

A week ago today, we moved from Pecs to Vajta, and this is to say a big THANK YOU to all who came and helped: András, Zsolti, Tamás (Schauermann), Tamás (Németh), Géza, Balázs, Edit, Jon and the interns at Vajta, and our moms (the amazing cleaning crew).

Here are some pictures of the ingenious ways the boys devised for moving our stuff into the apartment in Vajta:

A box goes up ...

I would have never thought that the wardrobe can fit through that window!