Friday, 8 April 2005
Frunty wanted out of his stroller today on the way home from Mandarin lessons. I asked why and he said, "I need to run." I have heard this before and out he jumped and ran the whole way home! We enjoyed our lesson which was about food and then our teacher made us lunch afterwards, Chinese noodles. We brought a panettone from Torino. It was all very delicious!
Wednesday, 6 April 2005
One of our favourite activities in Brussels is meeting K at Cinq. park, going for a run together and then out to the Creperie for icecream and crepes. Today K did a fast run as she is training for the Brussels 20 km at the end of May. I did 30 minutes of very slow jogging as I am tired today and was pushing the stroller and Frunty. After Frunty had a "red" icecream (framboise), K had a goat cheese crepe and I had a salad nicoise. I will try to take a photo of our special Cinq. runs as it is one of our highlights here in Brussels.
En route to our home after the run, we ran into one of our friends from Taiwan who is also our Mandarin teacher. She phoned her mother in Taiwan yesterday and discussed, it seems, my pregnancy and the mother told her to tell me that I should do my stair climbing every day. Slowly but try for at least 20 minutes. On days when I run though, I don't feel like doing the stairs. I like to do stairs followed by weight lifting. Anyway, her mom says that my labour should be fast and easy if I continue with the stairs. I am willing to do this a) because I believe most Asians (of the older generation) know how to live b) I will try anything to avoid pain c) most importantly, I want a healthy baby and body. I just hope she is right. I do know that since starting stairs, I have had absolutely no lower back discomfort. If you do stairs with correct posture, you will strengthen your back, inner thighs, buttocks and of course, heart. I will keep doing stairs just to keep my back feeling great.
Yesterday our Mandarin teacher gave us a container filled with seaweed that she cooked in a Japanese style and I am to add a little to rice every now and then and for Frunty too. I was not in the mood for it yesterday but will try to eat some tomorrow. Again, I am very grateful for this support.
We got home and who should surprise us with an early arrival at 4 pm? Da-da!!!!!! And with our favourite chocolates from Marcolini. The dark chocolate filled with Earl Grey is particularly lovely. Frunty loved the duck shaped, milk chocolates filled with oozing caramel. There are other days when Da-da comes home very very late so what a treat to have him home early! Sometimes he is able to work from home like this and it is nice to have him in the house. On days when he has meetings in and around Brussels, he is able to work partly from home instead of driving to the new office in Leuven, half an hour away.
Time for a hot tea on this cool and windy day. Cheerio!
En route to our home after the run, we ran into one of our friends from Taiwan who is also our Mandarin teacher. She phoned her mother in Taiwan yesterday and discussed, it seems, my pregnancy and the mother told her to tell me that I should do my stair climbing every day. Slowly but try for at least 20 minutes. On days when I run though, I don't feel like doing the stairs. I like to do stairs followed by weight lifting. Anyway, her mom says that my labour should be fast and easy if I continue with the stairs. I am willing to do this a) because I believe most Asians (of the older generation) know how to live b) I will try anything to avoid pain c) most importantly, I want a healthy baby and body. I just hope she is right. I do know that since starting stairs, I have had absolutely no lower back discomfort. If you do stairs with correct posture, you will strengthen your back, inner thighs, buttocks and of course, heart. I will keep doing stairs just to keep my back feeling great.
Yesterday our Mandarin teacher gave us a container filled with seaweed that she cooked in a Japanese style and I am to add a little to rice every now and then and for Frunty too. I was not in the mood for it yesterday but will try to eat some tomorrow. Again, I am very grateful for this support.
We got home and who should surprise us with an early arrival at 4 pm? Da-da!!!!!! And with our favourite chocolates from Marcolini. The dark chocolate filled with Earl Grey is particularly lovely. Frunty loved the duck shaped, milk chocolates filled with oozing caramel. There are other days when Da-da comes home very very late so what a treat to have him home early! Sometimes he is able to work from home like this and it is nice to have him in the house. On days when he has meetings in and around Brussels, he is able to work partly from home instead of driving to the new office in Leuven, half an hour away.
Time for a hot tea on this cool and windy day. Cheerio!
Tuesday, 5 April 2005
At the end of our doctor's appointment the other day, I thanked Dr. de V and Frunty said, "Thank you for checking our baby." It was very cute. Dr. de V came over and patted Frunty on the head and looked at the plane he was building with Lego.Some people have been asking me for a recent picture of the "bump" as it is fondly referred to by the foreigners we know. I don't think I ever heard that in Canada, have any of you heard it before? Anyway, this picture shows the "bump"!
Monday, 4 April 2005
Spring is here but it feels like summer!
The magnolia behind us is huge and in full bloom. Spring is here and I took Tiny Baby on an hour run this morning at Woluwe Park while my guys slept. We got home late last night from a great long weekend at Eperheide. More about that later. The run was very good and it is warm enough for shorts and t-shirt. Six weeks til the 10 k run for breast cancer research and I plan to run it. My recent article entitled "Mom-on-the-Run" about running while pregnant and exercising with a toddler, was published in the Brussels Childbirth Magazine subscribed to by 2000 foreigners here in Brussels. The editor gave my article a great introduction/review so I was very pleased and I have received a few wonderful emails in response.
About Eperheide, a family park near Germany. (click for more info) We stayed in a lovely cottage and enjoyed the AquaDome and other facilities on the property. In fact, we had a very busy weekend with swimming/renting a paddle boat and family bike, visiting the Baluba Kid Zone, petting Zoo and playgrounds...we had lots of fun but need an afternoon nap today. Even though May has three long weekends, we think that Eperheide was our last "trip" before the arrival of Tiny Baby. It is very tempting to visit Denmark's Legoland, the Tulip Festival in Holland and take the train to visit friends in London. But in May, it could be better to hang around here and rest up before the big day...well...we'll see how we all feel.
Frunty is cutting my hair for my birthday while I type this. This is a recent activity he really enjoys and me too. With plastic scissors, a brush and two train tracks, he gets my hair ready most days for a pretend party.
I leave you with another Egypt photo, of Frunty with his backpack almost surgically implanted, admiring some Egyptian art...
The magnolia behind us is huge and in full bloom. Spring is here and I took Tiny Baby on an hour run this morning at Woluwe Park while my guys slept. We got home late last night from a great long weekend at Eperheide. More about that later. The run was very good and it is warm enough for shorts and t-shirt. Six weeks til the 10 k run for breast cancer research and I plan to run it. My recent article entitled "Mom-on-the-Run" about running while pregnant and exercising with a toddler, was published in the Brussels Childbirth Magazine subscribed to by 2000 foreigners here in Brussels. The editor gave my article a great introduction/review so I was very pleased and I have received a few wonderful emails in response.
About Eperheide, a family park near Germany. (click for more info) We stayed in a lovely cottage and enjoyed the AquaDome and other facilities on the property. In fact, we had a very busy weekend with swimming/renting a paddle boat and family bike, visiting the Baluba Kid Zone, petting Zoo and playgrounds...we had lots of fun but need an afternoon nap today. Even though May has three long weekends, we think that Eperheide was our last "trip" before the arrival of Tiny Baby. It is very tempting to visit Denmark's Legoland, the Tulip Festival in Holland and take the train to visit friends in London. But in May, it could be better to hang around here and rest up before the big day...well...we'll see how we all feel.
Frunty is cutting my hair for my birthday while I type this. This is a recent activity he really enjoys and me too. With plastic scissors, a brush and two train tracks, he gets my hair ready most days for a pretend party.
I leave you with another Egypt photo, of Frunty with his backpack almost surgically implanted, admiring some Egyptian art...
Sunday, 3 April 2005
Thursday, 31 March 2005
We had fun catching up with all our Italian relatives in Torino over the Easter weekend. We flew there last Thursday as Daddy had a meeting with Fiat on Friday. That meeting got bumped to Tuesday instead so Daddy could work from home which meant time on the computer and phone off and on all day while Frunty and I enjoyed the nearby markets.
I love Italian markets. They are so full of beautiful, fresh produce. Tons of fresh fruit and strawberries galore this time of year. We ate strawberries everyday at least after one meal if not two. The cheese stalls are amazing and there are also many stalls with beautiful, cotton products like undergarments for children and adults. Of course, tons of leather and in particular, shoes. Visiting the markets is definitely a highlight of visiting Torino.
We enjoyed seeing many relatives and one very big treat was the fact that we were given an apartment and car all to ourselves. So we had a chance to re-cup between parties and that was particularly great for me as I need a bit more rest and quiet time than usual. And Frunty also loves some time to just play quietly with his toys and so this downtime made our holiday much more enjoyable.
The apartment building we stayed at was also wonderful because of the beautiful marble stairs that I could use for exercise. They were deep and wide so I had no problem going up and down safely and did so two mornings for 30 minutes each time. Here we have very narrow, steep stairs and I feel like I have to tiptoe up them sometimes. I will check out my friend's nearby apartment to see if her stairs are better and then go there. (My Asian pre-natal team has encouraged me to do 30 minutes of stairs a day!)
Another highlight was discovering the giant "kinder eggs" which I had never seen before as this was my first ever Easter in Italy and just watching Frunty open his and the other kids too, was so much fun. Wrapped in a crinkly, silvery paper come these big, chocolate Easter eggs about the size of a human head! Once you open the silvery paper and crack the egg with your fists, you find inside a toy! Frunty got a motorcycle (which he told Gramma and Grampa all about that evening on the phone), a car with a track and other fun stuff. It kept him busy on the flight home too. I will have to include a picture or two so you can see what I am talking about.
I am happy to say that I completed all my plane travel before the Tiny Baby is born without any problems. No one asked me for my medical letter (attestation) permitting me to travel which is a requirement here in Belgium at any stage of pregnancy and which I got my neighbour to write the day before Egypt. (it was a Saturday and my own doctor unavailable.) Better to be safe than sorry. In Egypt, they did ask me how many months pregnant I was and believed my answer which was true, by the by! Anyway, I now will spend the rest of my pregnancy securely on the ground!
We had a busy day today with a doctor's visit in the morning and Frunty enjoying a "stage" at the Little Gym in the afternoon while I went to do errands.
I love Italian markets. They are so full of beautiful, fresh produce. Tons of fresh fruit and strawberries galore this time of year. We ate strawberries everyday at least after one meal if not two. The cheese stalls are amazing and there are also many stalls with beautiful, cotton products like undergarments for children and adults. Of course, tons of leather and in particular, shoes. Visiting the markets is definitely a highlight of visiting Torino.
We enjoyed seeing many relatives and one very big treat was the fact that we were given an apartment and car all to ourselves. So we had a chance to re-cup between parties and that was particularly great for me as I need a bit more rest and quiet time than usual. And Frunty also loves some time to just play quietly with his toys and so this downtime made our holiday much more enjoyable.
The apartment building we stayed at was also wonderful because of the beautiful marble stairs that I could use for exercise. They were deep and wide so I had no problem going up and down safely and did so two mornings for 30 minutes each time. Here we have very narrow, steep stairs and I feel like I have to tiptoe up them sometimes. I will check out my friend's nearby apartment to see if her stairs are better and then go there. (My Asian pre-natal team has encouraged me to do 30 minutes of stairs a day!)
Another highlight was discovering the giant "kinder eggs" which I had never seen before as this was my first ever Easter in Italy and just watching Frunty open his and the other kids too, was so much fun. Wrapped in a crinkly, silvery paper come these big, chocolate Easter eggs about the size of a human head! Once you open the silvery paper and crack the egg with your fists, you find inside a toy! Frunty got a motorcycle (which he told Gramma and Grampa all about that evening on the phone), a car with a track and other fun stuff. It kept him busy on the flight home too. I will have to include a picture or two so you can see what I am talking about.
I am happy to say that I completed all my plane travel before the Tiny Baby is born without any problems. No one asked me for my medical letter (attestation) permitting me to travel which is a requirement here in Belgium at any stage of pregnancy and which I got my neighbour to write the day before Egypt. (it was a Saturday and my own doctor unavailable.) Better to be safe than sorry. In Egypt, they did ask me how many months pregnant I was and believed my answer which was true, by the by! Anyway, I now will spend the rest of my pregnancy securely on the ground!
We had a busy day today with a doctor's visit in the morning and Frunty enjoying a "stage" at the Little Gym in the afternoon while I went to do errands.
