3 year and 9 month stats, respectively....

This was Grace's first exam by her new doctor.  Although she has accompanied us for Audrey's visits, she has not had to go on her own until now.

Weight:  16.260 kg  - 75th - 90th percentile - roughly 36lbs.
Height:  100cm - 90th percentile - roughly 39.4 inches
Head:  50.5 cm - 90th percentile.

In a year, she has grown 3 inches, gained 6 pounds, and her head has grown 1 centimeter.  Her blood pressure was 85/55 and everything else checked out normal.   They didn't do BMI.  I don't think that is protocol here. 

Now we just need to schedule a check up with the dentist and the ophthalmologist.  Her old doctor did an eye exam at the office, but this one does not, so we'll have to do that separately.

Audrey is an old pro at the doctor now.

Weight:  7.370 kg = 10th percentile = 16.25lbs.
Height:  70cm = 50th percentile = roughly 27.6 inches
Head:  45 cm = 50th - 75th percentile.

In a little over 3 months, Audrey has gained about 2.5lbs., grown 2 inches, and her little head is up 2 cm.  I really thought she would have been up more in the pounds department.  Based on my CDC growth charts, she is in the 10th percentile for weight.  But the doctor doesn't use the CDC charts.  I believe hers are from the World Health Organization, and it shows her in the 25th percentile.  The doctor is perfectly satisfied with her growth.

It's weird to have two little girls on opposite ends of the spectrum.  You can't help but compare.  But if the doctor isn't worried, then I'm not going to be either.  Besides....I have bigger things to worry about.  Like, how to keep her from sending us all to the emergency room.  This little girl is a MONKEY.  She is all over the place.  On everything, into everything and trying to climb everything.  Which is also the opposite end of the spectrum from how Grace was at this age, too.  Last night, she pulled herself up into Grace's Land of Nod chair, stood up, and tipped the chair over and face planted onto the hardwood floors.  I immediately noticed a swollen lip and a small cut above her lip - maybe she bit it?!  Not sure.  But later, I noticed her nose swelling and turning purple.  :(  I was so worried about it being broken.  The doctor (and Dr. Alley) assured me that it was very unlikely she could have broken her nose.  She told me to go to the pharmacy and get this gel that relieves swelling and bruising.  We may walk down there today before music class if we have time and weather permits.  The pack-n-play has reappeared as a play pen for when I can not control her.  I'm also borrowing a play yard from a friend tomorrow.  She is just dangerous!  She loves pulling up on the oven handle!  I don't know how to stop that.  I tell her no, and have started to smack her hand.  And by smack, I mean tap hardly with one of my fingers.  But you would have thought I busted out the wooden spoon.  She immediately sticks out her bottom lip and huge crocodile tears flood out of her eyes.  And then she does it again!!!  She is going to wear me out!!

Thank God for NO shots for either girl.  I don't think I could have handled it, let alone them.  :)

Day Trip to Gent, Belgium

Today we took a drive to Gent.  Or if you prefer, Ghent.  It goes by both.  It's only about an hour west.  Perfect drive time for Miss Audrey's morning nap.

Gent is the capital of the Flemish region of Belgium.  There are approximately 250,000 people that live there.  And all of them, plus some tourists were out enjoying the beautiful, late February day.


We stumbled into this square around lunch time.

Look, a Pizza Hut.

 And a McDonalds.

Not pictured, a Subway and Starbucks.  Rare sights to these eyes.....

We ate a none of the above, and settled on a Brasserie that shockingly had RIBS on the menu.  It was quite empty when we got there, but quickly filled up!  And according to Matt, the ribs weren't half bad.

After lunch, we started to wander around the town.

Our first view of the canals. 

Gent's canals have been compared to those of Venice.  They lace through the city and cut it into 13 different islands.

My little poser....

So much beautiful architecture...

The Clock Tower.  We didn't make it up this time.  Will definitely have to do it next time we visit Gent.  The views are supposed to be amazing.

We bought the girls hand made lace handkerchiefs in Gent.  Hand made lace is a big Belgian thing.  I hope to save them for their wedding days to wrap around their bouquets.  Now to put them somewhere where I won't forget.....

Here's a link to the rest of our pictures from a beautiful afternoon in Gent:  Gent Pictures

Another Binche thing....or two....

 I forgot to point out that the windows are covered with chicken wire because they will be attacked by blood oranges during tomorrow's festivities.

Also....Matt read somewhere that the term 'binge drinking' originated in Binche, Belgium.  So yes, those Bees in the pictures were drunk.  :)

Carnavale in Binche, Belgium

Yesterday we went to the Carnaval festivities in Binche, Belgium with our new friends the Hensons; Maureen, Jacob and Autumn.  We wisely opted to take the train for 20 Euros round trip.  Binche is a small town south of Brussels with only 600 public parking spots, and as we rode in on the train, we could see the cars lining the roads leading into the town.

Binche is widely known for it's Carnaval celebrations.  It was recognized in 2003 (I think) by UNESCO, and is a World Heritage site.  I think the part that was actually recognized is the parade that takes place on Tuesday for Mardi Gras, which includes the procession of the Gilles. The Gilles are characterized by their vibrant dress, wax masks and wooden footwear^. They number up to 1,000 at any given time, range in age from 3 to 60, and are customarily male.  It is an honor to be selected as a Gilles.

Here is some more from Wikipedia:  Wikipedia on Carnival of Binche

A picture of the Gilles (from the Internet):  

We didn't see any Gilles on Sunday.  Only these cakes in the Patisserie window:

We got into town around noon, and wandered from the train station into the center of town.  Along the way, there was much beating of drums, and different groups of people dressed in different costumes. 

From the Carnaval website:  Shrove Sunday is the most colorful day of the Carnival. The Gilles, Peasants, Pierrots and Alequins-to-be wear a fantasy costume, that has been imagined months ago and prepared in secret.

From 7am the participants leave their home walking from door to door through the city in small groups, with the sound of the drums or the viola. The visitors can then admire the beauty and the originality of the “Sunday costumes”.

I think my favorite were the Ostriches

and the Flight Attendants.

Who had to check their planes when they went into the bar!!!

After a meal with their family or their friends, the societies gather together again on the Eugène Derbaix square, near the station, for the Shrove Sunday procession. Accompanied by the drums and the brass instruments, they join the Wanderpepen Avenue and they finally split up at the Charles Deliège Avenue.

After the procession the societies continues to walk the streets with music playing until the end of the evening. The sound of the drums will then give rhythm to the night.
 

Grace had a really good time playing with the confetti and streamers!

Audrey seemed to enjoy herself, too.

We left Binche right as the parade was starting at 3pm.  It was starting to snow....  and the parade seemed really unorganized and haphazard.  It seemed to just be more of the same that we had already seen, plus bands.

Here is a link to all of the pictures (100+) from Binche:  Carnaval Pictures

We had a really good time, and reminded ourselves once again that this is why we're here!

Chocolate Escargot

Here is some Escargot for those of you that are afraid of the real thing.

Mmmm, mmm, mmmmmmmmm!

Seminole!

Oh ok, so she doesn't know who the Seminoles are.....but she said this morning, I want to wear my team shirt!  Ok!  No problems there, my sweet!!

Happy Valentine's Day!

This is what naughty looks like...

Oh, you have this latched for a reason?

Well, let me help with you that!

 

See....isn't this better?

Now I can pick out my own movies and music....

Definitely like Lion King and French DVDs.

But now I must go sit inside the end table and contemplate the meaning of life.

 

Why do you have to ruin all my fun!?  You are the meanest mom ever!!

Oh my LORD, this is just a TASTE of what this girl puts me through non-stop!!!!!

Trip Planning: The Netherlands

We're going to Holland for Easter!  I'm not sure if it's our next trip, but it's definitely the one that is in the works at the moment.  Matt gets the Friday and Monday off, so we're just making a long weekend trip.

Holland is actually part of The Netherlands.  The Netherlands has 12 different 'states', and there is actually North and South Holland, to be exact.

We're going to stay in Haarlem (yes, where the borough in NYC got it's name...) and take the train from there to Amsterdam.  It's just 15 minutes!  But parking, driving and staying in Amsterdam is difficult.

Our 'to do' list is growing, but on top are TULIPS! 

 

I hope I can get some fabulous pictures of the girls tip toeing through the tulips!  We are going to visit the world famous Keukenhof park.  Click to see why!

I've been introduced to a new blog that was written by a family from Atlanta that was in Belgium for 18 months and traveled to something like 34 different countries during that time!!  That just seems CRAZY, and not to mention EXPENSIVE, to me......but wow!  E&Y must pay well.  :)   We'll be thrilled to do half as much in twice as long!  Here is their excerpt and album from their trip to Keukenhof:  Willingham Family Trip to Keukenhof. 

Also on the list in The Netherlands for this first excursion:

Windmills 

Anne Frank's House

Canals

Canal Boat tour

Delft pottery

Van Gogh

Not sure if we'll expose the girls to the Red Light District!!!

Getting excited about planning...

Audrey is 9 Months Old!

Sorry for the delay....

We won't have her 9 Month appointment until the end of the month, so we'll have to get stats then.  Grace will have her 3 year appointment at the same time.  The suspense is killing me.  I like to have their appointments on.the.dot.  But oh well.  I didn't know the whole country goes skiing in February and can't be bothered with routine appointments.  Now we know!

So 9 things about Audrey:

1.  On the move.  On, over, under, into everything.  We can not keep up.  She is exhausting.  She crawls, scoots, pulls up, and inches her way around things.  This is karma for worrying over Grace not moving for so long.  Now I wish I had that back.

2.  Making all appropriate babbling sounds.  Ma, ba, ga, da, etc.

3.  Eating 3 meals, and 4 bottles a day.  I think she's roughly 17lbs, which puts us in the 'ok zone', I hope.

4.  Wearing 9 month clothes now.  I swear she must have had a pretty big growth spurt just within the last couple of weeks.  She's still skinny minny, but she seems longer/taller.  We shall see!

5.  Recent behavioral thing.....if we take something away from her, i.e. Grace's stuff, or tell her No, or stop her from doing something dangerous, oh, like swinging on the glass french doors in the hallway, she IMMEDIATELY sticks out her bottom lip and starts wailing with big alligator tears.  This does not bode well for our future.

6.  4 teeth are through.  I think two more are on their way.....  teething has been rough on all of us.  I don't remember Grace having so much trouble with it.  She's not sleeping well.  Her bottom is sore.  She's pretty cranky and disagreeable.  Which was pretty characteristic of the younger Audrey.  But we've come to know a much happier baby of late, so it's particularly frustrating.

7.  Not a great sleeper.  Another thing we lucked out on in the Grace department.  Her two naps a day are hit or miss.  Some days they are ok, some days they just aren't worth it.  And night time hasn't been so great lately, hopefully only because of teething and will resume to something better?! 

8.  Social butterfly.  Is really flirty with strangers and is just curious and social in groups.  She does have some stranger anxiety, but as long as we're close by, she is happy to explore and meet new friends.

9.  Doing some clapping and waving.  And dancing.  And she gets so smiley and happy to see us! She is generally more happy now.  If only we could get this teething behind us.....

Time is flying by.  It's hard to believe she is 9 months old, and we only have 3 months until she is a year!  Seems faster this time around.

Gymnastics

Grace started Little Gym last week. She did really well.  I was so happy that she went in the class all by herself and didn't hesitate too much.  One new little boy cried the whole time and didn't participate, and one other little boy that is not new, cried and was just disagreeable and didn't participate.  You'll see him in these videos.  He's the red head.  He didn't really participate and follow the teachers this week either.

The teachers are french speaking, but there are a few other English speaking children in the class, so they repeat things back in English.  And because it's Grace's first time, they help her a little more.  I think this is the 2nd or 3rd session for most of the kids.  I also think Grace is one of the younger ones in the class, based on the little bit of conversation I've had with some of the other parents.

Into the Woods

This afternoon, we decided to take a little walk to get some fresh air.... although it's been so very cold, it's been so sunny!  So we have to take advantage of it, right?!

Across from our house is the forest with miles of walking trails.  It also has path that lead to the playground where the Pirate Ship and Zip Line are.  And there is an old abbey, as well, known as the Rouge Cloitre.  They have renovated part of it into a little cafe and art gallery.

Here's a tiny bit about it from the Tourist office:  Rouge Cloitre.

It seems to be a very Belgian thing to go for a walk in the forest.  There is always a ton of people coming and going, rain or shine!  Audrey was not a fan today, though.

Pretty Blue Eyes

Two pretty blue eyed girls.  How did we get so lucky?

I know the picture of Grace is overexposed.  But I was impressed how I captured how blue her eyes are for a change.  I am still practicing using my camera in manual mode, but my 'subjects' are not very cooperative most of the time, so I have to take what I can get.

Sitting with Friends

Remember this picture of Grace.....

Something similar with Audrey.

My Snow Angels

Bubba & Lucy

If these two could talk, I wonder what they'd say......

Making Pizza

These pictures were taken a few weekends ago.  We had this great eggplant tomato sauce leftover, so we decided to use it on a pizza for lunch one Saturday.

I wanna help, too!

It was mmm mmm good!

The Calendar

Teeth

Audrey is working on tooth #4, and #5 and #6 are not too far behind.  Poor thing.  Incidentally, Grace didn't cut her first tooth until 9 months!