Zoë's 1st Week

Has it been only 1 week! Our little girl is growing so fast, already gaining lbs. and smiling...we think.

She Has Come And...

we gave her a bath! HERE IS Zoë

40 Weeks!

I've reached the endgame! Tomorrow is the official due date and soon I'll be transitioning from "pregnancy talk" to "motherhood talk". :) Here are some final pictures that Michael and I took yesterday to remember the pregnancy. I can't believe that soon this will all be a distant memory and that we'll be a family of three.

I'm probably feeling better now than I have at any other time in the pregnancy. It's really nice to be off work and to be able to get all the "little things" done - getting the baby's room ready and doing a little bit of housework each day and packing our hospital bags. I finally feel like I'm ready for the baby to be here! So goodbye pregnancy, hello motherhood... any day now. Roll the credits!

Winter in Brussels

It's been way too long since I've updated the blog, but I've just been way too tired. Tomorrow is my last day of work and then hopefully I'll be able to get some much needed rest for a couple of weeks before the baby arrives. We're down to the last 2.5 weeks -- almost there! In the meantime, we got some snow today in Belgium, and Michael convinced me to try out our new video camera by making a video with him. So here it is - think of it as an electronic Christmas card to all our friends and family from Jane, Michael, Zoë, Pi and Finnigan! I'll keep the posts coming in the next few days!

Nice to Meet You, Third Trimester!

I've made it to 28 weeks - the official start of the third trimester! My friend Angie calls this the "uncomfortable stage" and warns that it is followed by the "miserable stage"
(actually it's 29 weeks now, but this is the 28-week picture).

Michael and I have started our pre-natal classes, and all this talk about how you know when it's time to get to the hospital and what to do after you arrive home with a newborn has suddenly started to give us a sense of urgency... even if there are still over 2 months to go. On the other hand, preparing for the baby gives us something to do other than looking at each other every night and saying "omg, what have we done?", and a little distraction is welcome at this point.

I've started to get the backaches and general uncomfortableness that comes with this stage of pregnancy, and unfortunately for Michael they tend to be harder to deal with at night after a day of work, so he bears the brunt of the whining and complaining. He asked that I point out to everyone that he is very good at giving me back rubs and bringing me tea after I get comfortably arranged on the couch, and that he has been doing all the cooking too (on the menu this month - lots of omega-3s to help with brain development).

We're now looking forward to two November events - on the 9th we're doing the tour of the maternity ward to see the place where I'll be giving birth, and then on the 20th we have a final ultrasound to make sure that the baby has turned and is in the right position and that everything else is looking OK. It's the home stretch!!!

An Exciting Shopping Trip

Michael and I recently joined the Brussels Childbirth Trust - a non-profit, English-speaking organization here in Brussels that offers all sorts of services for young families in Brussels. We're starting pre-natal courses through this organization this week, and they also organize playgroups and events for babies and toddlers (and their parents) after the birth. This weekend, they held one of their bi-annual "nearly new" sales, so Michael sacrificed his lunch break in order to dig through tables of baby clothes, toys, books and equipment. Since Michael has a limited lunch break, we set out a strategy to get in and out as quickly as possible. Priorities were English books and newborn clothes that are only ever worn for a few weeks.

The sale started at 1:30 and came with a warning to "show up early in order to get the good stuff", so we arrived at about 1:35. The line to get into the place already reached all the way to the main street, and people were streaming into the line quickly. We waited in the line for 10-15 minutes (luckily it wasn't raining), and paid our €1 fee to get in and join the mob! It was packed wall-to-wall with people clustered around the clothing tables, people trying to manoeuvre through the crowd carrying high chairs or rocking horses or bassinets, and Michael's favorite - people stopped in the middle of a travel lane to have a chat. The first table was the books table, and Michael and I both managed to muscle into a spot and start sifting through the options. Michael's best finds were a dinosaur pop-up book and an "I spy" picture book based on fairy tales. I got two books about fairies and a couple of others that looked like they had nice illustrations.


Next up: Clothing! We started making our way toward the newborn table at the other end of the room, but before we could get there Michael got frustrated by the slow walkers and pregnant women not moving quickly enough and headed off to the rack of 3-6 month clothing. I eventually made it to the newborn table and started to pick out little onesies and sleepers, along with all the other pregnant women asking each other how many hats a baby needs and if it's even worth it to buy socks. Michael eventually joined me with his selections of outfits "for the summer" when the baby gets a bit bigger. We have realized two things: the first is that it is hard not to buy all pink things when you're shopping for a little girl, and the second is that we are both suckers for anything with winnie-the-pooh on it.


At the end of the day we ended up with 10 books and 21 outfits for €72 euros - not a bad deal at all, and a good start to both the library and the wardrobe! The next sale is in March, and we're already writing down the next battle plan.


In the meantime, Finnigan can't wait for the new arrival - she definitely knows that something is up now!

OMG Maternity Pants!

I took these pictures about a month ago (at 21 weeks pregnant), and have been meaning ever since to write a special post about how much I love maternity pants. I have read quite a few complaints from women on pregnancy forums about how they can't find pants that fit them, and how they wish they could still fit into their normal pants... I am the total opposite. Saying that you can't find maternity pants that fit is like saying that you can't find sweat pants that fit! These are the best. pants. ever. I'm never going back to normal pants.

For those of you who haven't experienced them yet, these are pants with a huge elastic waist band that comes up to your armpits, which doesn't sound terribly comfortable, but really is. It's like wearing sweat pants all day! And the bottom parts of the pants look perfectly normal, so once you put your shirt on over them it's all style. I must admit though, that the best part about them is that they are so stretchy and flexible that they always fit -- so Michael can pick out my size at the store and bring them home and I never even have to shop! Perfect.