Just One of Those Days...

Yesterday started out perfectly innocent and nice for me. The sun was shining when I woke up, it was supposed to be a beautiful day, the boys were happy, and I was not feeling terrible. I had grand plans to take Cameron to school in the morning, then go run some errands with Harrison before spending the rest of the morning at the park. I also planned to be very productive during the boys' nap time. I feel like the boys and the house have been very neglected while I have been sick, so I was really looking forward to spending some quality time with Harrison as well as getting some things done around the house. Well, as soon as we walked out the door in the morning, everything seemed to fall apart. First of all, as soon as I pulled out of our garage, I noticed that our street was closed in one direction. No problem I thought…I just turned the other way and went out the opposite direction. However, as soon as I got around the corner down for our house, I was greeted with another road closed barrier. We were too late to walk or grab a bus to school and our bike trailer is broken, so I began to panic a bit. Why was our road closed anyway?? Luckily, a neighbor of ours pulled out of the garage shortly after I did to head to work, so we discussed the situation and came up with a strategy. We couldn't see any reason why our street or all the streets around us were closed, so we decided we would tag team the barriers and slip through so we could get out. By this time, another neighbor came along (a local) and informed us that all the roads were closed because they were having a street market of sorts on Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. This neighbor said that we could get out and back in if we lived in the area, but that people would probably be upset. So he helped us moved the barriers and I was able to get Cameron to school just in time!

After dropping Cameron off at school, Harrison and I went on our way to run errands. We went to a home improvement store for some gardening supplies and then to the grocery store. It's been quite a while since I have actually done proper grocery shopping. Smells really bother me at the moment, so I've  been spending as little time in stores as possible. Anyways, we clearly really needed groceries. So after spending a good amount of time in the store stocking up, we proceeded to the checkout. Ten minutes and €100.00 later, the groceries bagged and in my cart, with five people behind me in line, I discovered that I did not have any way to pay for my things. This particular store only takes cash, which I did not have, or a chip card (not a credit card), which I did not have. I do have a chip card, but it was not in my wallet at that moment!!! It felt like all the blood drained from my body and I began to panic. I did not know how to have a conversation about not being able to pay in Dutch (or I at least lost all the Dutch that I do know), so I began, as calmly as I could, freaking out in English. The lady at the register very calmly responded to me in English, acting as if this happened more often than you would think, and called the manager over. I couldn't even bring myself to look at the growing line behind me, but I'm sure they were annoyed. The manager took my groceries and said she would keep them at the customer service desk until I could come back with money to pay. I was still panicked and extremely embarrassed, but she told to go to a hospital nearby to get some money from an ATM.

I left the store and called Cole to tell him what was going on and that I would not be able to get Cameron from school because I was trying to get money to pay for my groceries. I felt terrible because I knew he had plans for lunch and that these shenanigans would make him late. Thank goodness for a patient husband who puts up with my crazy!! He told me to take care of the grocery situation and he would go get Cameron. I hung up and headed to the hospital, thinking about the cheese, chicken, milk and other perishables that were just sitting in my cart at the store. Then, it dawned on me that, although I knew physically where the hospital was, that it was a big hospital with many buildings. How was I supposed to quickly find an ATM on the huge hospital premises? By the grace of God, I was able to find where to park and literally walk straight to an ATM to get money for the groceries. As an added bonus, I was able to get everything done quickly enough that I didn't have an pay for parking at the hospital! You might be wondering about Harrison during all this. Well, he was happily along for the ride, but was a very curious participant. He kept asking the same questions over and over…"Where are we going mommy?" "Why are we going to the hospital mommy?" "Why did you forget to bring money mommy?" After a while, I begged him to let me answer his questions later so I could figure out what I needed to do. He seemed to understand my pleadings and waited until we had the money and were back in the car to start up again. Needless to say, a whole new set of questions came up when we arrived back at the same grocery store we had just left a mere 20 minutes earlier! To bring my humiliation full circle, I returned to the customer service desk to retrieve my groceries and pay.

After retrieving the groceries, I met up with Cole so I could get Cameron and go home. There was no time for the park at this point. We had an uneventful trip home until I got back to the above mentioned closed streets by my house. Because I live on one of the closed streets, I am allowed to drive through there to get home, but I was still stopped by an unhappy woman who was sure to tell me that I was not allowed to be doing what I was doing. By this time, I wanted to loose it on someone, but I just responded that I was going to my house and she begrudgingly let me go.

Nap time could not come fast enough once we got home. We had a quick lunch and then all headed to bed for a nice long nap. Once Cole was home, he was very sweet to take the boys out to enjoy the nice weather so I could relax a little more. At the end of the day, I was so thankful to fall into bed, have a good laugh with my extremely loving and understanding husband, and recognize and accept that it was just one of those days!

An Exciting/Slightly Terrifying Adventure!

When we decided to leave home and move to Belgium, there were a lot of things about life still very much undecided and up in the air…things like whether or not to go back to school, whether or not to pursue jobs, whether to move somewhere else, whether or not to have more kids, etc. While many things are still up in the air and undecided, one of those questions has been answered; or maybe more appropriately, has happened.

Baby #3 is on the way!!

When we decided to move to Belgium, we also decide that we would be completely committed to the move and to making this our home. Well, what better way than to have a baby here! I would be lying if I said that we were completely decided about this issue or on the same page when we discovered that I was pregnant. It was more of a "let's see where God leads us" type of thing. In fact, I would say that I was nervous and a bit in denial when I got a positive pregnancy test. I was so in denial that I didn't tell Cole for three whole days that I was pregnant!! However, after working through the crazy in my brain, I remembered that not telling Cole would not change the fact that I was indeed pregnant, so after three days, I told him and was happy to see that he was excited. 

Over the last nine weeks, all of which I have been sick all day every day, I have been working through this situation in my head and, I think, have come to a much more excited and calm perspective. There are still many things going on in my head about this, but there is definitely much more to be excited about than afraid of. 

So, we are having baby!! This is a positive thing! This whole process is such a miracle that we can't help but be thankful and excited. There is nothing like seeing an ultrasound with a precious, tiny beating heart, or feeling your baby move inside your belly, or bringing a life into the world, or seeing precious newborn fingers and toes, or watching your child grow and learn. We feel so blessed to have Cameron and Harrison in our lives and are so excited to welcome another little one into our family. 

So, why am I so nervous? Well, we are having another baby.…in Belgium! Ok, I know that people have successfully been having babies in Belgium for years, but it is still Belgium!! Things are different. My family isn't here. After birth care is different. Expectations are different. I can't seem to articulate it very well, so suffice it to say that it is just different. Thankfully, most medical professionals speak at least some English (at least in my experience), so I think I can rest assured that our critical needs will not be ignored. However, I can already tell that this is going to be a story for the books. For all the ladies out there, you already know that going to the ObGyn can be a teensy bit awkward, but for me, going to the ObGyn here is terrifyingly awkward (I'll spare you the details)! I'm already anticipating the actual birth story to be even worse. But it's not really realistic for our family for me to come home to have the baby and then come back here, so I'd better get used to all the differences ASAP!  

The boys have been so sweet and excited about welcoming a new baby to the family. I was a little nervous to see how they would react because Harrison is very protective when I hold another baby, and Cameron told me the other day that he didn't want any more babies in the house. However, when we told them, Cameron got a big smile on his face, grabbed my hand and said "ahhh, two babies (meaning Harrison and a new baby)?!" He went on to say, "we are going to have another Harrison." He then leaned over to me and rubbed my arm with a sweet smile on his face. After some more discussion about babies (where they grow/live, etc.), Cameron asked some more questions like "what color do you think the baby will be," and "can I see the baby wiggle," and "why does the baby make you sick?" Even though Harrison does't understand as much as Cameron, he is still very sweet. The other night he asked me if he could give the baby two kisses. He gave my belly two kisses, then asked if he could jump on and bite the baby.  It was very sweet while it lasted and, despite the later comments, I know he will be a great big brother. In the weeks since the boys have known about the baby, they have asked many times to hug or kiss the baby and Cameron is anxiously waiting to feel the baby move. It has been so wonderful to see their curiosity about the baby and their desire to sing and talk to the baby. 

So some facts:

• I am currently 13 weeks pregnant and my due date is November 24, 2014.
• Although the baby will be born in Belgium, he/she will be an American citizen. Apparently, because there are so many immigrants here, citizenship is determined by the parents' citizenship rather than where the baby is born.
• We will be finding out what we are having. Even thought we loved being surprised with Harrison, there seem to be too many other unknowns with this process that we feel like it's a good idea to find out. 
• It will be soooooo much cheaper to have the baby here rather than in the U.S. We don't qualify for Belgian insurance because we don't pay social security taxes here, but even without Belgian insurance, everything is so affordable that, in the end, I still pay much less per visit than I would in the U.S. with insurance. For example, for my last visit to the ObGyn, I had a consultation, lab work, and an ultrasound. Without any kind of insurance help, I had to pay 40 euros…that's approximately $55.00!! I don't think I have ever gone to the doctor for anything for that price, much less with all the lab work and ultrasound. 

So here's to a very exciting/slightly terrifying journey! Wish us luck!! 

Second Visit from My Parents

I feel so lucky that my parents were able to come to Gent for a second visit since we have been here. They made a quick stop to visit my brother stationed in the U.K. and then came to spend five days with the boys and me while Cole was on a business trip. Of course I LOVE having visitors, especially family, but my parents really outdid themselves on this trip…they completely spoiled me rotten while they were here. I basically got to have a short vacation without any planning, packing, traveling, etc. My dad fixed countless things around our loft (thank you friends for the tools!!) and did most of the grocery shopping, and my mom did cooking, helped me plant flowers, and did my laundry. They also cleaned, played with the boys, and were in charge of school duty almost every day! It's been a long time since I didn't have all those responsibilities on a daily basis! We really enjoyed having them here and I loved seeing them interact with the boys. Here are some pictures of the week.

The boys loved helping my dad fix things around the loft!

Snuggle time with grandma

Waffles!!

Playtime with grandpa

I was very thankful for my mom's help to plant flowers again. My mother-in-law helped me plant beautiful flowers last year, but I seem to have a black thumb and kill everything I try to grow. I'm pretty sure most everything we planted was dead soon after! I'm not sure if I water too much or what, but I can't keep plants alive for anything!! Needless to say, I was happy to have help to, once again, try to have some flowers, fruits, and vegetables on the terrace!

Marigolds and Hydrangeas

Geraniums

Sunflowers, tomatoes, and cilantro

Strawberries and Dahlias

At the airport to head home.

Saying goodbye

Happy Birthday Harrison!

It seems hard to believe that we just celebrated Harrison's second birthday this past Monday. Harrison has definitely changed a lot since his last birthday, but probably most notably in the last couple months in his physical and speaking ability. Last year on his birthday, he was still very unsteady on his feet, doing a lot of wobbling around, and not really talking at all.

There has been a lot of growth this past year…physically, verbally, and emotionally. Harrison, or bunga bear, as we affectionately call him (don't ask me where that came from?!), has turned into another little wild man in our house. He has grown a lot and now has a ton of crazy blonde hair, which was cut for the first time this past year. He now runs, jumps, sings, kicks and throws balls, counts, plays instruments, talks up a storm, and has really established his own little place within our family. He is still very much like me in his personality…he's observant, opinionated, ornery, strong-willed, extremely expressive, a bit dramatic, not easily amused, and independent. He plays so well on his own and definitely enjoys his space and quiet time, but he also likes to snuggle and has such a sweet spirit. However, he also received some of my not so appealing qualities. For example, like me, he is very mellow and calm...until he is not. He is easy and go with the flow most of the time, but he can go from totally fine to complete meltdown in a millisecond! Thankfully, there is much more calm than crazy from him, at least for the moment.

Look at those ornery eyes and smile!

Some of my favorite developments of the last year include his love of hugs and kisses, his growing interest in reading books, his love for food and eating (just like his mommy), his sense of humor, his infectious laugh, his mischievous smile, his love of being chased and tickled, our growing conversations with him, his growing imagination, family music time that now includes Harrison singing at the top of his lungs, his love of all things that are big and move including, trains, cement trucks, garbage trucks, cranes, planes, etc., his little voice saying "camen", a.k.a. Cameron, the way he sucks his tongue when he's tired, and his desire to do and be everything just like his big brother.

We decided we would do a small party with family to celebrate this birthday because Cole needed to travel over Harrison's actual birthday. When we asked Harrison what he wanted to for his birthday, he told us with unashamed and complete confidence that all he all he wanted was donuts! We asked him this question at least a dozen times and the answer never changed, so donuts it was. We celebrated with a little homemade donut cake and presents. Harrison was thrilled!!

Boxes are the best!

Finished product!

On Monday, his actual birthday, we started the day with our birthday tradition…birthday pancakes! I think I need to work on my skills a little bit, but Harrison liked his pancake regardless.

The birthday boy

Trying to show me two fingers...

We settled for one finger on each hand

Harrison's birthday pancake

In the afternoon, we were excited to welcome my parents to Belgium! We met them at the train station, which is a gift in and of itself for the boys (watching trains), but hey were also very excited to see grandma and grandpa!

In the evening we enjoyed dinner that consisted of meatballs (one of Harrison's favorite foods), and another donut. Unfortunately, Harrison decided, right on cue, that he would officially welcome the terrible twos into our world by having a several hour meltdown/freak out before dinner. I tried everything from snuggles to discipline to isolation to singing and talking to reading and everything in between to calm him down, but nothing worked. It really was the worst meltdown I have ever seen from a child. Despite my dad and Cameron physically getting in the crib and being so overly silly to try to get him to laugh, it was not until his beloved meatballs were served that he finally calmed down. Thankfully, we were able to enjoy the rest of the evening.

Meatballs!!!

Harrison is such a joy and a gift. He is a unique and wonderful part of our family and we are so thankful for this precious little boy!! Happy birthday sweet bunga bear…we love you so much!