Our Sixth Anniversary

Six years ago today, Eric and I were married in front of our family and friends in Ann Arbor, Michigan.  It's been a wonderful ride this far and I am looking forward to our next big step, parenthood.  Only a few more days until we move from a family of two to a family of three!  Happy Anniversary to the best husband this girl could ever hope for!  I love you!

Here's a quick look at our last six years:

Officially Married!

Our First Anniversary, Playa del Carmen, Mexico

Married for Two: Big Bend National Park, Texas

Three Years and a trip to Michigan

Four Years and getting ready to move to Penang!

Ten Years as a couple and almost five years married! Lake Louise, Canada

Five Years and a weekend in Langkawi, Malaysia

Six Years and our last anniversary as a family of two!  Baby Hartner will join us very very soon!!

The Baby Showers

Over the last month and a half, I have been showered with baby gifts and parties for our little one.  I have had three separate baby showers, thrown by wonderful friends here in Penang.  It has taken me almost a month to write this post, as the outpouring of love and support for the little life that I'm growing has been simply overwhelming.  I'm really at a loss for words for the generosity, kindness, compassion and love that has been shown to Eric and I and for our little girl.  I am also blown away by how many people truly care for us and without family obligation or having known us for an extended amount of time. It's humbling, really. 

I feel extremely blessed to be pregnant in Penang and to be bringing a new life to this wonderful community.  Everyone here is far from home and far from family, but have managed to make me feel like this tropical island is the most welcoming and warm place to have our baby.  I am excited to share this experience with so many friends and new "aunties" as well as our family and friends back home.  I do know one thing for sure, our baby girl is loved internationally and she hasn't even arrived yet.  What a great way to enter the world! 

Here are some pictures of the showers.  Enjoy them.  To everyone who partook in my special days, THANK YOU!!

The NI Ladies:  Paulette and Tica threw me a great shower, where the ladies contributed to help buy our crib!  Everyone also made personalized onesizes and we shared a great little lunch!

 

The Dalat Swim Team:  My wonderful friends Heather Johnson, Debbie Mayo and Elizabeth Graves organized a shower and invited all of my swimmers and their families to celebrate our baby.  It was a fun event where the kids joined us after school and enjoyed one of the most unique cakes ever!

Seriously, how cute is that cake?? It's perfect for a swim coach!

 

The Aunties: Our child will have an abundance of "aunties" in Penang.  Yasmine and Nikki threw me a fabulous shower, full of fun games, arts and crafts, a gorgeous cake and lots of special gifts.  Many of the ladies bought little Awas and I a newborn and baby photo session, which I am so looking forward to having!  I had a wonderful morning and really felt the love from my friends. 

Mia, Lou, Me & Nikki. Mia & Lou flew in from Singapore to celebrate with us!

A few of Awas' "aunties"

Thanks to Paulette, baby girl has her nickname ready to go on a onesize.

A beautiful handmade blanket from Shami!

Another Super Cute Cake!  And it tasted DELICIOUS!

Our Second Anzac Day

This morning Eric and I woke up well before dawn and made our way down to the annual Anzac Day dawn service at the Esplanade.  Anzac Day is a national day of remembrance in Australia and New Zealand.  It honors those who are on active duty and those who have served and died in military operations.  Anzac day is very similar to Memorial Day in the United States. The Australian and New Zealand defense forces have a nice dawn service followed by a gunfire breakfast at the hostie.  It was a beautiful morning and we feel so honored to have been "adopted" into the military community here.  Enjoy our pics.

The Kiwi Military Families

The Foxes!

Ellie's First Anzac Day

Three Generations on Anzac Day

And look how much our lives have changed in the last year

2012 Anzac Day

Nikki and Leon teaching me how Kiwi's celebrate Anzac day at 9am

Compare that picture with today's 

2013 Anzac Day

Nikki, Leon and 15 week old Ellie and Eric and I at 35 weeks pregnant!

What a difference a year makes! 

Emily Comes (Back) to Penang

Eric and I were lucky enough to have our friend Emily visit us for the second time in Penang.  Last time Em was here, she and Dave were on their two month SE Asian honeymoon.  Eric and I traveled with our friends to Bali and Halong Bay, Vietnam.  This time around, Dave had to stay and work, so Em came to hang out and have a super chill vacation with us. 

We spend a few days chilling on the beach in Langkawi, where we did NOTHING.  Em got a great sunburn and read a few books and I swam in the ocean and slept on my beach chair.  We did so little, that there are no pictures to show for our trip to the beach. It was nice!

Once we arrived back in Penang, relaxing, pampering and eating were on the list.  We treated Em to our favorite restaurants feasting on Thai, Indian, fresh pasta, seafood, wan tan mee and roti.  You know it's a good eating vacation when you are planning your day around what you are going to eat. 

While Eric was at work, Em soaked up the life of an expat wife.  We went to the market, drank tea, shopped and most importantly, took good care of ourselves. Each day we had a new pampering activity lined up...manicures, pedicures, facials, massages and hair cuts.  Yep, it was awesome! 

We also designed and painted our own batik for the baby's room.  It was a great morning where Rosanna taught us the tricks of her trade and we tried to be as creative as possible.

Rosanna showing Em how to wax her batik

The finished products

We spent Em's last day hanging out at our favorite little beach bar in Batu Ferringhi.  It was super hot out, so we didn't last too long, but it was a great way to end a fabulous week with Em.

Eric with his "two" wives

AWAS!!

If you read our blog yesterday you may still be wondering about our baby's name.  What does it mean?  Are they serious? That kid is screwed when she is a teenager, etc.  Well those of you who aren't familar with Malay, Awas means danger, caution, beware. 

So beware friends, we did publish that blog on April 1st and if you haven't figured it out yet...

April Fools!

Baby Girl Hartner's name will be officially announced upon her arrival. 

You will have to wait a few more weeks...until then you can guess, but we aren't telling!

It's all in a name

Our little Malay-Mexi-German at 27 weeks

Eric and I have been holding on tightly to our baby girl's name for the last three months.  Countless friends and family members have asked us for her name and we have finally decided to let y'all know her name before she makes her worldly debut in 2 months.  Like most parents, we have spent hours and hours trying to come up with a name that is appropriate for our little angel.  We didn't want her to have a standard, run of the mill name, like Jennifer or Eric, where growing up we always had other classmates with the same name.  Instead, we thought it was appropriate to name baby girl something that represented her heritage and the fact that she will be born in Malaysia.  Thus, her first name is Malay, middle name is Mexican and last name is German. 

It's with great pride that we introduce our daughter:

Awas Consuela Hartner

She should make her worldly debut, May 2013

Why I Coach, Part II

For the last 7 months, I have been doing more then gestating our baby.  I have been busy being the head swim coach at Dalat.  This was my second year in charge of the team and what a fantastic year we had!  Swimming ended in the end of February and I though I would share some photos and highlights of the season.

We had 48 swimmers, ages 7-18 on the team this year.  Yes, 48.  That's a lot of heads to keep track of in a very large 50m pool.  Lucky for me, not all of the swimmers trained with the Dalat team, which brought practice down to 35 kiddos. I also had a great team of assistant coaches and parents that made the season and practices go very smoothly.  We increased practices from two to three days per week, which helped all of the swimmers gain valuable time in the pool. 

Everyone's hard work was shown off during our swim meets. With each meet, the swimmers were consistently faster and able to win more races and beat their personal best times.  As a coach, this is all I ever want out of my kids, for them to swim the very best that they can.  I've never cared much about winning, as I believe that those who are committed to trying their best learn more about themselves then winning a medal.  

We had some great successes this year in the pool.  Our relay teams won 6 medals at the MSSPP, state swimming meet, for a total of 30 overall medals at the meet.  Many of my swimmers learned how to swim the butterfly and are now able to do a proper flip turn and dive.  We spent a lot of time focusing on the details and it was fun to watch the kids learn how to push themselves and each other at practice.  Overall, a great season, and I'm so glad that I've had the opportunity to be called, "Coach".

The Dalat Under 10 Swimmers

A few last minute instructions

I'm proudly displaying my team's medals at the MSSPP meet!

A special thank you to Heather Johnson and Elizabeth Graves for sharing their photos with me!