Daddy went to London on Monday and brought us home a sling ordered from Byron Bay, Australia for Tiny Baby. Take a look at www.hugabub.com. I practised with Caillou and I think it will be great with our real baby inside, all snuggly warm and safe. The distributor in London (www.bio-bubs.co.uk) was super-friendly and efficient and made our shopping experience over the net easy! We chose navy blue and raspberry.

The next morning, Daddy left for Sweden for the rest of the week. My first impulse was to go back to Egypt! But alas, we are getting too close to the cut-off date for flying and I want to stay on the ground from here on out in any case. Before he left, Daddy took Frunty to the Little Gym so that I could have a bit of time to myself. Translation: so I could squeeze in a solo run since I won't get another one in til the weekend. When Daddy came home, the house was still a mess and I would like to say how appreciative I am that he did not complain that I went running instead of cleaning. This is the biggest pre-natal gift so far.

Yesterday J&J came over for lunch. Translation: kids played while J and I hunted through my fridge to find whatever seemed edible and then J created a gourmet lunch, Chinese style. Then a little later, J insisted on babysitting while I did my 30 minutes of stairs. Could you ask for more support? A true friend? I tried to get out of doing it and she wouldn't hear of it!

That evening, K and another friend came over for a potluck dinner. It was great for Frunty as this other friend has a little boy 8 months older so they played. She also has a three month old and Frunty gave kisses to her. I had given K a can of pumpkin pie filling and she created a masterpiece with it. She made a speculoos cookie crust and then put the pie filling and then on top, brown sugar and walnuts. It was superb. We added vanilla icecream and after all that, we ate dinner! What's wrong with eating dessert first sometimes!? Everyone should try it!!!!!

Our neighbour offered to take us grocery shopping today and tomorrow but our fridge is too full to add anything more. Oh, these little European bar fridges. I miss my mega fridge on Willow. So you can see that we are being well taken care of while Daddy is away on business. Actually, I realized this morning that I am part of a survival team for women here in Brussels. We are all foreigners and help each other out with all kinds of tasks from translating, to shopping and cooking for each other, to baby and dog sitting, to sharing movies/books/clothes/baby stuff etc. Most importantly, we share our time with one another and our support.

One of my favourite tasks is to be sent to the local butcher where I have to order unusual things for my friends who turn them into delectable Chinese fare. Often, we take a little bit to the butcher who is thrilled to try the soup or dumplings or whatever. Now when I run by the butcher shop, he always waves to me. Is he wondering when he is going to get his next Chinese lunch delivered!? I also like telling the workers who come to my friends' homes about their plumbing/heating problems because again, it is a chance to practise French and there aren't that many chances over here. My friends also receive a lot of newsletters from their childrens' schools which I help to translate. So I am learning a lot about the school system here.

There is never a dull moment and our survival team's needs keeps everyone busy in a productive way. On Sunday J from mainland China wants to come over and cook for us after church. Daddy cheered when I told him that she was coming over. She is grateful for the wool blanket I gave her and some clothing. But it isn't an even Steven kind of thing. It doesn't feel like we are keeping tabs. We just like helping each other when we can. It took a year to build this team and I couldn't be happier about it.