Still have a lot to learn but here's my 10 tips for pregnancy ... SO FAR!

Pregnancy has been such an interesting journey so far.  As most of you know I have continued to work out and eat "somewhat" healthy throughout my pregnancy and I think that has played a big part of how I feel overall, but it doesn't mean that I haven't had my ups and downs with it!  Every week I experience something new...sometimes good....sometimes bad.  Overall I have been blessed with an uncomplicated pregnancy, no puking (thank goodness) and an overall good energy level.

The Progression

I can remember a year or two ago thinking how scared I would be to get pregnant and go through that because I swear, the stories women tell are SUPER scary.  They make pregnancy seem like its this awful thing that you have to go through to have a baby.  But for me it honestly hasn't been that way.  Every strange or painful occurrence is all part of a bigger plan and its all so worth it when I feel my baby girl moving around in there.  It still feels like a little alien or something and it freaks me out, but I love it!

I'm 27 weeks now and this week has been an interesting one so far.  I've begun to feel her kick me in the ribs and I can just tell that she is SO much bigger now.  In just a matter of days it seems like she has grown all the way up into my rib cage.  I can't even believe it!  I have also been experiencing the most painful and somewhat crippling calf cramps! Every day this week I have woken up to the most painful paralyzing cramp that I have ever felt.  I was actually limping for a couple hours after one incident yesterday because it was so painful afterward.  Last week I didn't have leg cramps but my eyes were so dry they were burning...if its not one thing its another.  But they are all small little parts of the whole journey.  I don't know everything but I am learning something new every day so here's my tips for those of you who will have babies in the future....

10 Things I've learned so far about pregnancy SO FAR:

1. Don't expect pregnancy to be perfect.

I went into pregnancy thinking I would be able to do it all, but you just can't!  You have to accept that you body is changing and there are things you can't do. .... But at the same time there's still a lot you CAN do.  I don't like when people make me feel like I'm a crippled person. I hate when people tip toe around me or won't let me carry something just because I'm pregnant.  I'm pregnant...AND healthy....I don't have some sort of heart condition or something haha

2. Weird things are gonna happen.

Seriously you never know what to expect with your hormones or your body.  One minute you could be happy and the next you start crying in the middle of the grocery store.  Or one minute you're eating a nice dinner and the next you get really dizzy and feel like your gonna pass out (that happened)!  But its all just part of the change.  I'm just getting used to weird things happening!


3.  Eat .... A LOT!!!

I don't think I ever go more than one hour with out eating or at least snacking on something!  That's also what has saved me from getting sick! Always keep food in your purse when you leave the house otherwise....BEWARE.  If your belly is empty you will probably not feel great!


4.  Always pee BEFORE you leave the house!

That one is no joke! I'm talking every 20 minutes some days.  Make sure you go before you leave the house...like RIGHT before not 20 minutes before!


5.  Talk to other pregnant women and new moms

I have been thankful to meet and talk to so many incredible women who have shared their birth experiences with me to help me be more prepared.  Everyone is different, but its good to know how many different ways of going about pregnancy and labor there are so that you can be prepared for the best or for the worst.

6. Sleep is your best friend.

I've always enjoyed a good nights rest, but no joke I don't think I've ever slept as hard as I have during pregnancy.  I can just tell that my body needs it!

7.  If you're married, appreciate the little things your spouse does for you (and MILK IT HAHA)

I can't imagine having to do everything without my husband around during this pregnancy.  We didn't see each other at all during my first trimester, which was not fun.  And then he was injured and on crutches for 3 weeks recently and let me tell you it was SO much harder managing little tasks that he normally helps me with since I've been pregnant (carrying groceries, walking the dog 3 times a day, washing the dishes when I'm so exhausted I don't want to stand up, etc.) So I truly truly appreciate the moments when he is around and shows me that support.  It really does make a big difference!!  For all you ladies who don't have a significant other to help you during pregnancy I give you BIG props! Its not easy doing this alone.

8.  Don't let little things overwhelm you or let people's opinions stress you out

Every woman will have a different experience during pregnancy.  Take others advice, but always do what's in your heart.  You know what's best for you and your baby!

9. Exercise

Not every day is going to be a good day, but when you feel up to it take advantage of it and get a workout in or get your body moving in some way.  You will feel so much better!  When you exercise normally you have more energy...its the same for pregnancy as well!

10.  Smile and laugh a lot

I truly believe that your baby can feel your emotions, so remember when you're upset your baby might be too.  I've noticed that when I'm relaxed and happy, so is she! Give him/her something to smile about and be happy :)


Those are my tips so far.  I'm sure I'm going to learn a whole lot more along the way...so I'll keep you posted :)

Ukraine and Babies...update on the Petersons!

So I finally decided it was time to start updating my blog again.  I've been on a long hiatus, but since things are getting interesting again and I have more time now I figured I might as well update everyone on our life!

So if you didn't know, Travis and I are currently in Ukraine.  He is playing for BC Goverla in Ivano-Frankisk, Ukraine.  This is his second season with this team.  I moved out here in October and have just been thankful to be with my hubby again full time.  Last year, I mostly stayed at our home  in Phoenix because I was honestly burnt out of traveling so much and not having a normal life.  I needed a break and to be able to work for myself for awhile, which I really haven't had the opportunity to do since he's been playing.  It was a good break for me and it made me realize what is really most important to me.  Over our time apart I came to the realization that the grass is always greener and that I need to enjoy the little things in life a bit more than I had been.  After a season being apart, I came to the conclusion that it really doesn't matter where we go, home is where my husband is.  Thats really what is most important.  So needless to say, I don't think we will be separated much at all in the future, which we are both happy about!

Niko likes Ukraine too!

Travis' season was going very well until he recently fractured his ankle in a game.  He was on crutches for 3 weeks, but is now back in the gym a little bit trying to strengthen.  He will hopefully get back on the court next week and he is ready!

Travis on the game program.  As the team's captain this photo is on posters all over the city here.

2013 was a good year for us and I think we both learned a lot.  Lots of exciting things happened in our family.  My sister got engaged, my brother got married.  Travis' grandparents moved closer to us in Phoenix.  We bought our first car together and made a lot of improvements to our house.  And what tops the list is that we found out that we are having a baby girl!!  Nothing can really compare to finding out the news that we were having our first child and are going be parents! I mean how crazy is that?  We are going to be responsible for another human life pretty soon...but we are so ready! We waited a long while to tell people after we found out in August because of a previous loss.  After that devastating experience we had last Spring, I was very skeptical and scared about how this one would turn out.  But God has truly blessed us, we have a healthy baby girl on the way and we couldn't be more grateful for this gift we have been given.  I am now 23 weeks along and feeling better than ever.

Its crazy to finally be able to feel the baby moving and kicking.  She is very active and I'm loving every second of being able to feel that---its really quite an amazing thing to experience :)  I've been lucky to have a somewhat easy pregnancy from what I hear.  I haven't had any morning sickness, just a little bit of nausea in the first trimester and of course exhaustion, which is normal.  Now that I'm in the second trimester I have been feeling amazing.  I really believe that staying active and trying to eat healthier has helped with my symptoms.  I'm a big believer in feeding your baby good food and that the healthier I am the healthier my baby will be, so I've been trying to stay active (within reason) and been eating clean (90% of the time haha).  I haven't had too many cravings...at one point I was craving mandarins every night, but at least thats healthy.  And just recently I was craving a bagel with cream cheese, which is so strange cause I've never been a bagel person.  Thats the mystery of pregnancy I guess.

The bump at 19 weeks

21 weeks

We are so looking forward of what's to come in 2014, especially for the arrival of our baby girl :)  I can honestly say that I have never been happier in my life.  I am learning to appreciate all the small wonders and joys in life and not take ANY second for granted.

We hope that you will follow our journey as we live overseas and transition into parenthood! One of my resolutions is to update my blog regularly, so I'm gonna make that happen!

Here's to 2014! Cheers from Ukraine
<3 Jackie

Czeching out...

Now that the season is officially over, it's crazy to think that in just a few days we will be leaving our sweet town of Prostejov, Czech Republic and heading back to our home in Phoenix!  It's exciting...yet bitter sweet.  One of the ironic things about living in a different city every year is that once you finally get used to the place you live and start really appreciating the great things about it (which usually happens as the weather gets warmer), it seems like its time to leave.

I think Travis would agree that we have really enjoyed living in Prostejov.  At times it was hard to appreciate the idea of living in a small town (again), where you understand nothing (as usual), and where most of the time time we lived here it was freezing cold (typical), but when it really gets down to it there is SO much beauty in this town and so many amazing people here that we have met.  We have made connections and friendships and had experiences with people that we will NEVER forget.  And that is what this experience is all about.

Things I will miss about Prostejov:

1. The beautiful town center

2. Sipping lattes, milkshakes and smoothies at our favorite outdoor cafes in the center

3.  Taking walks with Niko in the woods and to the park

4. Eating fresh strawberries from the market down the street

5. Potato pancakes and goulash (YUM)

6. Eating out for lunch for less than 8 bucks for the two of us
(158Kc=7.5USD)

7. Being able to walk to the grocery store

8. Playing in the backyard of our apartment building with Travis and Niko

9. My awesome English students

10. Ice cream cones from Aida

All in all, I think we can honestly say this has been an experience we will never forget.  We don't know what the future holds for us, but we know that someday we will look back on this time in our lives and remember all the positive experiences we had here in Prostejov.  You never know...we might be coming back here sooner than we think.  "Never say never"...thats my motto!

Polish history time--Auschwitz

Hi everyone, Travis here.  Now that my season has just finished, Jackie and I have one week left here in the Czech Republic before we go home.  We had an interesting idea to go visit Auschwitz Concentration Camp in Poland, which is only a 2 and half hour drive away.  So we packed up the car in the morning and took off toward Jackie's motherland of Poland.  We had a brief detour due to a highway being closed and we almost didn't make the trip because we had no idea how to get there, but thank goodness we brought the iPad!  

Upon our arrival we checked in to go on a tour of the camp and had a great guide named Ivan who took us through the whole museum of Auschwitz 1 and Auschwitz Birkenau.  It was definitely an interesting place to tour and very eye opening. It was amazing to experience that type of world history.  

Entrance to Auschwitz 1 "Work for Freedom"

This was a sarcastic phrase the Nazis used as a greeting at the entrance to Auschwitz

Two, thick barbed wire, high voltage electrical fences surrounding the camp

Auschwitz I

This room was filled of the remains of pots and pans from the camp.  

This was one of many rooms filled with household items and human remains of the prisoners including items such as, brushes, glasses, razors and human hair.

Inside the main gas chamber at Auschwitz I, where millions of Jews were exterminated at the Nazi occupied camps in Poland.

Railway entering Auschwitz-Birkenau where prisoners were taken of rail cars for immediate selection.  They were either fit for work or sent to the gas chambers.

Memorial to the one and a half million men, women and children murdered 

Ruins from the destroyed gas chambers

Inside the prisoners barracks

After the 3 and half hour tour we left Auschwitz and headed back home to Czech and enjoyed the Polish scenery

The famous Polish "zcz"

Polish flag crossing the border

Beautiful Polish sunset

Victory at last

The season is finally coming to a close.  Travis' team, BK Prostejov, won the semi-final round for the Czech league last week against Decin.  The series was the best of 5 games, we had the home court advantage.  We won both of the first two homes matches, but lost both away games, and were lucky enough to play the 5th and final game here in Prostejov. Needless to say, it was a nail biter and an extremely exciting win for our team!

Here's some action shots of Travis that I was able to get at the game.

Slam dunk!  18 points for Peterson

I am so proud of my husband, he played a fantastic game to help his team to the VICTORY!

So the team is officially at least the 2nd best team in the Czech Republic, which is great, but now it's time to go for the GOLD!    

Now they are facing off in the finals against Nymburk, who have consistently been ranked #1 in the league all season, so it's going to be a tough series.  Right now they are down 2-0 to Nymburk, but will now get a chance to redeem themselves on our home court with 2 more back-to-back games this weekend.  It's the best of 7 games, so it should be an interesting final series. 

Keep checking in as I will be giving updates on our departure status as well as the results for the final series!

Viennese Beauty

On Saturday, Travis and I were fortunate enough to take a trip to Vienna which is about 2 hours South of Prostejov.  I've been wanting to go there for the past 4 months and have been bugging Travis about going every time he has had a day off, but it had just never worked out for one reason or another until now.  I am so glad we were able to go because it was absolutely beautiful.  We were lucky to have perfect sunny weather, so we walked around the city ALL afternoon.

St. John's Cathedral

Every building and park was more beautiful than the next.  I kept telling Travis that we should move to Vienna because I was so amazed at how gorgeous a city it is.  There were cute little outdoor cafes lining the city center streets.  It has a very cute and artsy European feel but with big city bustle, which was very charming.

Vienna City Center

After walking around the city all day, we took a nice break to enjoy some Austrian cake, pastries and coffee at Aida cafe and then went to the Schonbrunn Palace, which was the most beautiful place I may have ever seen.  The pictures don't do it justice.  

The palace ground and gardens were so big that we probably could have spent all day just exploring.  But we were able to see the main parts.  

We trekked it up to the monument at the top of the hill that overlooks the entire city.  It was breathtaking.

And quite romantic

After leaving the Palace we were so incredibly exhausted.  We wandered around trying to find some place to eat, but there was not much around.  The first place we stumbled upon was a Chinese restaurant, so we figured what the heck.  We were hoping to find a typical Austrian restaurant, but there was no way our legs were going to take us any further, so we settled with Chinese.  We were the only people in the restaurant other than the family working and the menu was completely in German.  We ended up just taking a guess on what to order, since no one spoke English or Czech in the place.  

Travis wasn't too happy about it, but I thought it wasn't half bad.  I was just glad we had guessed chicken dishes and not something made from cat!!!  

I'm so glad we were able to experience Vienna, it was definitely a little adventure for us.

If you ever have the opportunity to go to Vienna I HIGHLY recommend it!   

Happy Easter

Just to update everyone, I have been back in Czech now for two weeks.  I had an amazing time visiting my family in Franklin and taking a spring break trip to Florida, but now I'm back and trying to enjoy the rest of my time with here with Travis.  I'm not gonna lie, it was definitely hard for me to adjust coming back here after being at home for two weeks.  Not only is it hard to re-adjust to the 8 hr time change, but just getting back to day-to-day life was a bit of a challenge.  Life in general out here is at a much slower pace than back home, and once I got used to being busy and having activities and family and friends around me all the time, it makes life out here seem very dull.  Now that it's been two weeks I can definitely say I'm glad to be back though.  The weather has gotten a bit warmer, so thats a plus, and I'm especially glad to be back with Travis and Niko.  I think Easter is a great time for me to just remember Christ's resurrection and be thankful for all the wonderful blessings he has given us.  

On Friday, Travis' team finished the regular season with a win against Kolin.  They are officially in 2nd place in the Czech league and will start the playoffs next weekend!  I can't believe how close we are to the end of the season.  After the win, Travis was fortunate to have a couple of days off, so we were able to take a little road trip to Bratislava, Slovakia.  It was the first time we have had a chance to travel since the New Year, so we were excited to see a new city.  The weather wasn't great (a little rainy) so we weren't able to see everything we wanted, but we were able to walk around the castle where the President of Slovakia lives.  It's a huge castle up on a hill that overlooks the whole city, which was pretty cool.  We also ate some really good Brazilian food...who woulda thunk Slovakia would have Brazilian?  Here's a few pics from our trip.

Travis and I at the Slovakian Castle

 One of the courtyards at the castle.  We were surprised at how little security there was considering the President lives there.

overlooking the city of Bratislava

The UFO

Super creepy... we saw this outside a house in Bratislava.

We really enjoyed our time in Bratislava and we decided we will have to go back when the weather is nicer and explore some more.

Today we spent time in Prostejov and took a walk down by the river with Niko.  He was a very happy dog!

Even though we weren't able to spend our Easter Sunday with family and friends we still feel very blessed to be together and be where we are.  We wish everyone a Happy Easter!