We had our 20 week ultrasound this morning at 9:30am...The drama, however, started well before then...I was so restless last night...I woke up at 1:30am and just couldn't go back to sleep until about 4:00am...I think that I was just so anxious about the ultrasound that I couldn't sleep. Sy had to go and pick up one of his teammates, Tyler Dunnaway, from the airport this morning. He left the house at 5:00am so that he could be at the airport by 6:30 (It's an hour and a half drive to the airport from our house)...I wanted to go with him, but he wanted me to stay behind in case something happened...He wanted to be sure that I would make it to the doctor because we have had so much drama with all of our appt thus far since we have been in Iceland...Sy called me at 8:30am to tell me that he has picked up Tyler; our car had broken down in Reykjavik (30 minutes from our house); and Siggi was on his way to see about them...My first response was "You have got to be kidding me!"...No, he wasn't kidding...So I get up out of bed and start to get dressed because I realize that I have 30 minutes to get ready before I need to start making my way to the hospital...
Now, it would take any normal person about 15 minutes to walk to the hospital from our house, but I am not normal when it comes to being in a hurry...I am probably one of the slowest people you would ever want to meet and the fact that I am pregnant does not make matters any better...so I knew that it would probably take me 25-30minutes to walk to the hospital...I started on my way at about 9:00am...
As I am walking I see an ambulance coming my way and I was soooooooo close to flagging him down and asking him to take me the rest of the way BUT I didn't...Saevar calls to tell me that our car has to be towed; Siggi is letting us borrow his work truck; and that he is on his way!!! He also asks me to stall the ultrasound tech as long as I can...At that point I realize that the paperwork that we need for the ultrasound is in our broken down car...Thankfully Sy remembers it!!!
I get to the hospital just in time sweating like a pig...The technician calls me back into the room...I explain the situation and asks if there is anyway that we can postpone the appt a little so that we can wait for Sy, who at this point is about 10 minutes away...She kindly explains that she is booked all day and that she can't wait, but that we could re-schedule the appt for next week...I kindly DECLINED that suggestion- we had already been postponed a week (our appt was originally on the 23rd of Dec)...She said that the appt would last at least 30 minutes so Sy would be there in time for the majority the session...and she was right!!! When Sy got there (papersork and all) he hadn't missed hardly anything!!!! Praise the Lord!!!!
The ultrasound was wonderful...She measured the baby's head and femur, which showed that we are actually 21 weeks and some days instead of 20 weeks...My due date was moved from 14 May to 11 May...We saw all 10 fingers, 4 chambers of the heart, the kidneys, eyes, nose, two little lips, the stomach, two little legs, and last but not least the female anatomy!!!!!!
Honestly, me and Sy thought we were having a boy, but we could not be happier!!!!
The funny thing is that we went to a birthday party this past weekend with bunch of Sy's friends that he grew up with- ironically, all of his closest friends growing up were girls...Anyways, four of the girls that he grew up with are pregnant- all with girls!!!
Happy New Year everyone!!!!! It will definitely be a new year for the Sigurmundsson's...Life, as we now know it, will NEVER be the same!!!!!
Tuesday, December 30, 2008
Sunday, December 28, 2008
Some Christmas Pics
Clearing all the snow off the car
Siggi, Sirry and Einar with the Christmas Tree we found in the woods
Mr and Mrs Good Looking
Merry Christmas!!
Friday, December 26, 2008
Sy's Email
The following is an email that Sy sent out to our friends and family from our church back home, The Light, a few days before Christmas...I am posting it for two reasons: 1) It gives a good update on what's been going on with us, as well as the economic conditions here in Iceland and 2) Not everyone that reads this blog is on our church email distribution list...
Merry Christmas everyone. I have been meaning to send an email for a while, but better late than never. Just wanted to let everyone know that Dasha and I are doing very well in Iceland. I know some of you have been keeping up with us on our blog that Dasha does such a good job of updating. I have been extremely busy with basketball and work and I am really excited about a little Christmas break. Our team hasn't done as well as I would like, but we are getting better. We are 3-7 in the league, but we have lost some very close games that we could have won. I am hoping we can pick it up in the new year and get on a winning track.
The baby is doing really good. We had a doctors appointment this week and we got to hear the heartbeat and everything seems good. We go for the the 20 week ultrasound on the 30th of December and then we will get to know if we are having a boy or a girl. We had decided not to find out, but then Dasha changed her mind so we are really excited to find out what we are having.
We have found a really nice church here in Selfoss where we live. It is a small church and it really reminds me of the Light. I got to share my testimony last Sunday and it went really well. Dasha has been getting more and more involved in the community and she is really starting to enjoy Iceland more. We have also had several opportunities to share with my teammates and we are praying that God will bless them and draw them to Him.
We will be spending Christmas with my family in the capital city. It is only 30 minutes from our home and we are going to stay with them for 4-5 days and just hang out.
I know many of you have probably heard about the economic crisis here in Iceland. The country pretty much went bankrupt and many people are really hurting. I know it is going on all over the world, but we were the first country to go down. My mom lost her job, but she will continue to get paid for a few more months, which is such a blessing because there are no jobs available here. God has also really blessed my dad because he had just gotten a pretty big project that will last until this summer. They are saying that things will get really bad in about 2 months since most people that have been laid off the last couple of months will be receiving their last paycheck then. Who knows what will happen, we just keep praying.
Dasha got her residence card which was a lot easier process than what I had to go through in the states. The only problem we have right now is that we are not in the health system. We didn't know this, but it takes us 6 months to get into the system to receive free health care. So we have to pay for all our doctors visits, which is not bad since prices here are not nearly as bad as in the USA. It was just bad timing due to the pregnancy and we have to see the doctor every month. Dasha and I should be in the health care system in early April, which is just in time before we have our baby in mid-May. We are thankful for that because it could have been really expensive to have the baby without being in the system.
Well I don't want to write to long and bore you guys. We really hope all of you are doing great and that you have a blessed Christmas.
Here is all our contact information. We actually have a US number you can call anytime. It is a local call for you guys we would love to hear from you.
Phone (local): 256-513-6575
Sy Email: saevar@inbox.com
Dasha Email: ladashat@yahoo.com
Skype: sysigur, dasha sigurmundsson
We also use facebook
Merry Christmas everyone. I have been meaning to send an email for a while, but better late than never. Just wanted to let everyone know that Dasha and I are doing very well in Iceland. I know some of you have been keeping up with us on our blog that Dasha does such a good job of updating. I have been extremely busy with basketball and work and I am really excited about a little Christmas break. Our team hasn't done as well as I would like, but we are getting better. We are 3-7 in the league, but we have lost some very close games that we could have won. I am hoping we can pick it up in the new year and get on a winning track.
The baby is doing really good. We had a doctors appointment this week and we got to hear the heartbeat and everything seems good. We go for the the 20 week ultrasound on the 30th of December and then we will get to know if we are having a boy or a girl. We had decided not to find out, but then Dasha changed her mind so we are really excited to find out what we are having.
We have found a really nice church here in Selfoss where we live. It is a small church and it really reminds me of the Light. I got to share my testimony last Sunday and it went really well. Dasha has been getting more and more involved in the community and she is really starting to enjoy Iceland more. We have also had several opportunities to share with my teammates and we are praying that God will bless them and draw them to Him.
We will be spending Christmas with my family in the capital city. It is only 30 minutes from our home and we are going to stay with them for 4-5 days and just hang out.
I know many of you have probably heard about the economic crisis here in Iceland. The country pretty much went bankrupt and many people are really hurting. I know it is going on all over the world, but we were the first country to go down. My mom lost her job, but she will continue to get paid for a few more months, which is such a blessing because there are no jobs available here. God has also really blessed my dad because he had just gotten a pretty big project that will last until this summer. They are saying that things will get really bad in about 2 months since most people that have been laid off the last couple of months will be receiving their last paycheck then. Who knows what will happen, we just keep praying.
Dasha got her residence card which was a lot easier process than what I had to go through in the states. The only problem we have right now is that we are not in the health system. We didn't know this, but it takes us 6 months to get into the system to receive free health care. So we have to pay for all our doctors visits, which is not bad since prices here are not nearly as bad as in the USA. It was just bad timing due to the pregnancy and we have to see the doctor every month. Dasha and I should be in the health care system in early April, which is just in time before we have our baby in mid-May. We are thankful for that because it could have been really expensive to have the baby without being in the system.
Well I don't want to write to long and bore you guys. We really hope all of you are doing great and that you have a blessed Christmas.
Here is all our contact information. We actually have a US number you can call anytime. It is a local call for you guys we would love to hear from you.
Phone (local): 256-513-6575
Sy Email: saevar@inbox.com
Dasha Email: ladashat@yahoo.com
Skype: sysigur, dasha sigurmundsson
We also use facebook
Tuesday, December 16, 2008
Catch Up...
Several things have happened over the last two weeks...I won't mention them all, but I will try to hit the highlights...Me and Sy somehow end up in Reykjavik almost every weekend...The weekend before last we went to a Christmas Buffet dinner with Sy's parents and another couple....This wasn't a typical buffet...It was at this fancy resturant and we had all this fancy food...Everything was wonderful and the food was delicious...After dinner we walked around downtown and went to several places that had live music...We ended up meeting a guy from France that was in town for the weekendat a place called Cafe Rosenburg...He was actually a violinist and he played with the band that was performing at the resturant that evening...He had never played with the band before, but you wouldn't have known it because he was great! AND his french accent was da bomb! Later on that night I met a guy from Maryland who was visiting Iceland for the first time...He just went to his travel agent and said I want to go somewhere I have never been and she suggested Iceland...He got a really good deal because the dollar is so good here right now...We had a nice little talk...He was an mechanical engineer who built night vision system for the army...We had alot in common with my missile defense background...
Me and Sy have been going to a little church here in Selfoss called Hvitasunnukirkjan...don't ask he what that means...Anyways, we really like it...It reminds of so much of The Light...Its a small community and they have pastors, but they have different speakers come in regularly to share the Word...The pastors of the church are Aaron and Gunna...They are a sweet couple about mine and Sy's age...They invited me and Sy to dinner this week to get to know us better...It was really nice...We talked about 3.5 hours during and after dinner...They told that the church has approx 7 small groups that meet every other Weds night for bible study and they invited us to join them...So, this weds night will be our first bible study!!!! We are really excited because we have been wanting and needing some accountability...Praise the Lord for helping to get us plugged in...The church put together a market to help raise money for needy children...People all over Selfoss have been donating items that they don't want anymore and we are selling the items at reduced prices...This effort has gotten a wonderful response from the community...Poeple have been very thankful because with the econmic crisis many have little money for Christmas presents so the market has given them the opportunity to shop for the presents...I have been volunteering at the market this week and I have really enjoyed it...It has given me an opportunity to meet and fellowship with people in the community and with people in the church.
A very exciting thing happened this past weekend...We bought my ticket to come home in February!!!!!!! YYEEEAAAAAHHHHH!!!!!!! I will be home Feb 13-March 2...I will fly from Iceland to NY and then me and my Momma will both fly from NY to Nashville together...My ticket from Iceland to NY was only $350!!! So anyone planning to come and visit us anytime in the next decade should really checkout flights right now...the are pretty reasonable...Now, the kicker, as always, was getting the flight from NY to home which also costs us about $350...All in all, it was pretty reasonable...
We are having a baby shower for my sister on Feb 15 in Florence and I am really excited about seeing all the fam...It will be great!
Oh, me and Sy have decided to find out the sex of the baby!!! I was really sold on NOT knowing, but now since I'm coming home I want to be able to shop for the baby...Plus I want to be as prepared as possible...So I really had my heart set on finding out next week (my sonar appt was the 23rd of December); however the sonar office called today to re-schedule my appt to the 30th of December...Uuuuggghhhhh...So now we have to wait another week...In the meantime the belly is getting bigger!!!!
The basketball team has been having weekly pool meetings...So we have been going to the pool at night in the freezing snow...Its been awesome!!!!...Americans really don't understand swimming in the winter, but its the best...Iceland has heated pools...They are more like hot tubs really, but you really haven't lived until you've been in a heated pool with 3 feet of snow all around you!!!!
By the way its snowing over here like crazy...I love it and I am dying to have a snowball fight!!!!
Me and Sy have been going to a little church here in Selfoss called Hvitasunnukirkjan...don't ask he what that means...Anyways, we really like it...It reminds of so much of The Light...Its a small community and they have pastors, but they have different speakers come in regularly to share the Word...The pastors of the church are Aaron and Gunna...They are a sweet couple about mine and Sy's age...They invited me and Sy to dinner this week to get to know us better...It was really nice...We talked about 3.5 hours during and after dinner...They told that the church has approx 7 small groups that meet every other Weds night for bible study and they invited us to join them...So, this weds night will be our first bible study!!!! We are really excited because we have been wanting and needing some accountability...Praise the Lord for helping to get us plugged in...The church put together a market to help raise money for needy children...People all over Selfoss have been donating items that they don't want anymore and we are selling the items at reduced prices...This effort has gotten a wonderful response from the community...Poeple have been very thankful because with the econmic crisis many have little money for Christmas presents so the market has given them the opportunity to shop for the presents...I have been volunteering at the market this week and I have really enjoyed it...It has given me an opportunity to meet and fellowship with people in the community and with people in the church.
A very exciting thing happened this past weekend...We bought my ticket to come home in February!!!!!!! YYEEEAAAAAHHHHH!!!!!!! I will be home Feb 13-March 2...I will fly from Iceland to NY and then me and my Momma will both fly from NY to Nashville together...My ticket from Iceland to NY was only $350!!! So anyone planning to come and visit us anytime in the next decade should really checkout flights right now...the are pretty reasonable...Now, the kicker, as always, was getting the flight from NY to home which also costs us about $350...All in all, it was pretty reasonable...
We are having a baby shower for my sister on Feb 15 in Florence and I am really excited about seeing all the fam...It will be great!
Oh, me and Sy have decided to find out the sex of the baby!!! I was really sold on NOT knowing, but now since I'm coming home I want to be able to shop for the baby...Plus I want to be as prepared as possible...So I really had my heart set on finding out next week (my sonar appt was the 23rd of December); however the sonar office called today to re-schedule my appt to the 30th of December...Uuuuggghhhhh...So now we have to wait another week...In the meantime the belly is getting bigger!!!!
The basketball team has been having weekly pool meetings...So we have been going to the pool at night in the freezing snow...Its been awesome!!!!...Americans really don't understand swimming in the winter, but its the best...Iceland has heated pools...They are more like hot tubs really, but you really haven't lived until you've been in a heated pool with 3 feet of snow all around you!!!!
By the way its snowing over here like crazy...I love it and I am dying to have a snowball fight!!!!
Thursday, December 4, 2008
Thanksgiving in Iceland...
Me, Sy and Tyler (one of Sy's American teammates) traveled to Reykjavik on Friday, November 28 to have Thanksgiving dinner with Sy's family. I cooked chicken-n-dressing, sweet potato casserole, macaroni and cheese, and homemade chocolate cookies-yummy! Now I had never made dressing or sweet potato casserole or homemade chocolate chip cookies before. I found the dressing and the casserole recipes online...The sweet potato casserole recipe that I found is the one that Ruth's Chris uses so I figured that it should be pretty good and it was...The dressing recipe that I used I also found online and it turned out pretty good as well...The chocolate cookie recipe I got from Nat-Nat and it was great...I made the cookie dough on Thursday night and I wanted to test it out so I made half the batch...I made 2 cookie sheets full and they were so delicious that I sat there and ate about 10 cookies that night!!! Needless to say, my stomach hurt immensely afterwards...
One very important last minute detail that I forgot in the mist of all my preparation was the cranberry sauce...We had a little bit of trouble finding it...I don't know it you're like me, but I HAVE to have cranberry sauce with my dressing! We went to about three grocery stores before we found some...
We arrived at Elsa and Siggi's house at about 7:30pm Friday night and Elsa of course had the place decked out with candlelight and her best china on the dining room table...Siggi had spent the past five hours slowly cooking the biggest Thanksgiving turkey I had ever seen!!!! It was huge...Elsa and Siggi had also prepared salad, carmelized new potatoes, fruit salad, and the BEST mushroom gravy sauce ever! We had so much food!!!!
We before we got started eating Sy asked me to tell the story of how Thanksgiving was started in America...Thankfully, I had listened to a sermon earlier in the week by Dr. David Jeremiah on being grateful. In his sermon he described the first Thanksgiving in America...He talked about the Pilgrims coming from England to the "New Land" seeking religious freedom. Because I had heard this sermon I knew exactly what to say. I mentioned how Thanksgiving, back then, lasted three days but today we only celebrate it for one day...Siggi cut in "We only celebrate it for one day, but we cooked enough food for three days!" It was hilarious! and he was right...We had cooked enough food for three days and then some....
After that we all went around the table and told why we were thankful...It was a wonderful Thanksgiving! After we all stuffed ourselves can anyone imagine what happened next???...
We all got SLEEPY...Yep, it was a great Thanksgiving...
One very important last minute detail that I forgot in the mist of all my preparation was the cranberry sauce...We had a little bit of trouble finding it...I don't know it you're like me, but I HAVE to have cranberry sauce with my dressing! We went to about three grocery stores before we found some...
We arrived at Elsa and Siggi's house at about 7:30pm Friday night and Elsa of course had the place decked out with candlelight and her best china on the dining room table...Siggi had spent the past five hours slowly cooking the biggest Thanksgiving turkey I had ever seen!!!! It was huge...Elsa and Siggi had also prepared salad, carmelized new potatoes, fruit salad, and the BEST mushroom gravy sauce ever! We had so much food!!!!
We before we got started eating Sy asked me to tell the story of how Thanksgiving was started in America...Thankfully, I had listened to a sermon earlier in the week by Dr. David Jeremiah on being grateful. In his sermon he described the first Thanksgiving in America...He talked about the Pilgrims coming from England to the "New Land" seeking religious freedom. Because I had heard this sermon I knew exactly what to say. I mentioned how Thanksgiving, back then, lasted three days but today we only celebrate it for one day...Siggi cut in "We only celebrate it for one day, but we cooked enough food for three days!" It was hilarious! and he was right...We had cooked enough food for three days and then some....
After that we all went around the table and told why we were thankful...It was a wonderful Thanksgiving! After we all stuffed ourselves can anyone imagine what happened next???...
We all got SLEEPY...Yep, it was a great Thanksgiving...
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