Two Ponies!

Rockin the Mohawk!

This little mohawk beauty is back to sleeping through the night again - knock on wood, fingers crossed!!  But this morning, had a roll over incident that got one of her arms caught in the slats of the crib side.  Very traumatic! 

Car Free Sunday

Today in Brussels was Car Free Sunday. No driving your car anywhere within the city limits! This is done to encourage use of public transportation.......

There was a festival down at the Cinquantenaire.....


.....so we hopped on a (free for today only) tram, and headed on down. There were lots of pedestrians, bike riders, skate boarders, roller skaters, and horse riders.



Lots of different activities going on..... people were even zip lining off of the monument! We strolled through the park surrounding the monument checking out the sights.


And then we found a few things to munch on.

Escargot!
Look at my girl diving in!!


Grace got some Lemon Sorbet



And no photo, but also enjoyed a Shwarma like sandwich.

And speaking of cars, here's a shot of the new family 'quite large' car in the driveway.

Rockin the Pony

Super Why!

Grace's favorite show is Super Why....although, she also can't live without Sesame Street, Dinosaur Train, and Curious George. Thank you Slingbox/Tivo host family for making this possible!!

So anyway, I've always thought that Super Why was a little 'old' for her. She's too young to be learning to spell, read, etc. But apparently not!

Listen....

Hair

It's finally getting longer.....

On Safari

Yesterday we ventured out for a day trip to Monde Sauvage, a wildlife park about an hour and a half away.

The first part you drive through..... and these guys were blocking the road.....



And then later, you walk through a zoo.

Grace's favorites were the Giraffes, Elephants, and Zebras.


They even had a seal show.


Oh, and they had a Forests of North America exhibit with RACOONS (how exotic) and teepee's, among other things.....
This guy looks like he's stuck...and probably confused as to why he's not in Texas anymore.

TGIF

A few pictures from this morning....

Grace eating breakfast at her table in her new house. Nice view!



Look how strong Audrey is!!


And some thumb sucking.....

Audrey's 4 Month Stats

Successful visit to the doctor!! We found an online recommendation via expats.com for Dr. Nathalie Debroux. She was great! Whew.

Here are Audrey's stats:

Weight: 5.850kg, approximately 12.9 lbs., 50th percentile.
Height: 63 cm, approximately 24.8 inches, 75th percentile.
Head: 41.5 cm, 50-75th percentile.

Some things about our visit. She spent almost a full 45 minutes with us. She has NO nurses, and does everything herself. She filled out all the administrative paperwork, took the measurements, administered the shots, wrote prescriptions, and collected payment. Wow, imagine if doctor's offices in the states had less overhead.......imagine.......

Anyway.... the shots.....Audrey was not happy. But quickly recovered and is fast asleep in her car seat. 2 interesting things about the shots. 1. They combine a lot of the vaccines into a single shot. She got Infanrix Hexa, which contained the DTAP, Hep B, Polio, and HIB. Hep B was extra, since she wasn't due for it, but apparently there is no issue with an extra dose. She also got Prevnar. The only scheduled vaccine she didn't get was the Roto virus one, but we can come back in one month and get it....which brings me to number 2. You are prescribed your vaccines. You must go to the pharmacy before your appointment, pick up your shots, and bring them to the doctor to administer. She doesn't keep Roto onhand, so that's why we have to come back and get it in a month after we attempt our first pharmacy visit.

Bald spot

I don't remember this being an issue with Grace.....haha.....


So pretty, and so oblivious to her bald spot.


Such pretty lips and eyes!

Ooooo, but maybe she does know, and she's going to keep me up all night for making fun of it! (Please don't mind naked Bubba in the background - apparently she was 'poopy'.)

Audrey is 4 Months Old!

We found a doctor, so we're going tomorrow.... calculators ready, so we can convert kilograms to pounds and centimeters to inches!

4 Things about Miss Audrey:

1. Sleep became almost intolerable this past month. We went from 11 hour nights to up almost every 2 hours. Not nice. So we started some sleeping training. Babies at this age should be able to sleep/go without eating at least 6 hours at night. So, I'm trying to put her to bed drowsy, and not sound asleep and then if she starts fussing, only going in every 5 minutes and patting her, not picking her up. It's going ok. Last night, she gave a lovely 30 minute performance at midnight. But then slept till 4am.

2. As a part of the sleep training, Audrey is learning to self soothe. Her method of choice? Her thumb or pointer finger, directly in her mouth, ferociously sucking. I would have NEVER let Grace suck her fingers!! But at this point with Audrey, if it makes her happy, and stops the screaming...I say GO FOR IT! We'll deal with the consequences later.

3. Extremely expressive. When she's angry, you know it. When she's happy, you know it. And her laugh.... it is infectious. And no one can make her laugh more then her favorite person on Earth, Grace.

4. Mover and a shaker. She does not sit still. If I lay her down in one direction, next time I go back, she'll be 180 degrees from where I left her. She's rolling quite a bit. Not continuously, but more then what I'm used to. And she is grabby, grabby, grabby. She is always trying to grab something. If she's sitting in our lap at dinner, it's our dinner plates. If she's on her play mat, she's always going after some toy, on the ground or hanging above her, or her feet. If I'm rocking her in her chair, it's the quilt hanging on the back of the chair.

Fleece

September in Brussels......calls for fleece for morning walks!

Progress: Grace's Room

Before:
And now:

Sunshine light, and curtains that still need to be hemmed.



A wardrobe!!



Again, lots of things left to hang on the wall, but huge progress!

Progress: TV Room

Just wanted to share an update on the progress made now that our stuff has arrived.

As a reminder, here is the TV Room BEFORE:


And now:


New bookshelf - man, do we miss the built-in's!


Obviously, we still have a lot to do....like hang things on the wall! But it's starting to come together.