"We did it!"

Today we are full-term, yeeha! We made it to 37 weeks and I celebrated with an early morning run through Woluwe Park. With my new support belt, I feel great and completed 45 minutes with no problems. Now Tiny Baby can come any day! We are so excited!

Last night we celebrated K and E's engagement. I made banana leaf, sticky rice, and chocolate oaties...both designed to help K carbo-load for tomorrow's 20 K run. K made an excellent lasagna. We watched the sunset on their roof top...what a view of the city! K is already writing a list for my Mom and aunt of things to do and rules to follow as they will stay chez eux during their visit. It is such a nice area of town too.

The last few days we have had 30 degrees Celsius in the shade. It has been very hot. I am glad I got a run in before the heat wave hit and I did one stair work out thursday but yesterday, it was too hot to do anything! Tomorrow it is supposed to cool down a bit and be rainy which is way better for the runners. We will go to the race to take pictures of K and S, another friend, and I am so tempted to walk and run it...it isn't too late to join in the fun as S accidentally got two numbers...I will really have to think about it.

All our Tiny Baby clothes have been washed and are almost dry, my bag has been packed, we are getting our documents in order...I think we are almost ready to go except for the name business...still can't think of names. It isn't a question of deciding on a few we like...it is a question of finding ones we like...what a hard job again.

The other special thing to celebrate today is the wedding of L and B in Toronto. We wish we could be there. I bet it is going to be very beautiful especially given that it is at Black Creek Pioneer Village. We will have to content ourselves with photos. Our gift to them is Belgian Chocolates from Leonidas with the letter A on them. We will celebrate with them one day in person. Good luck, L and B!

Happy Birthday, to our lovely niece, K, in Port Credit! Hope you have a fun day!

Nonna sent me this wonderful quote today. Thanks so much, I love it too!

Quote by Noah Ben Shea:

"Do not kiss and hug your children so they will hug you
back. Kiss and hug them so they will kiss and hug
their own children."

Envy can be a positive motivator. Let it inspire you to work harder for what you want.

-Robert Bringle

Funny underwear moment: On Saturday in the car, I asked Frunty if he had to go "pee-pee" and he said, "yes...I want to go pee-pee in my underwear." I tried to persuade him not to but then his face went all calm and his eyes were just staring straight ahead and I knew he was going ahead with what he wanted to do. And I am really positive that Frunty really wanted to just see what it was like because all week he has been holding it so well and maybe he was just curious about what it would feel like. He didn't do it again the rest of our car trip to and from Holland. Anyway, maybe some people would be furious but we thought it was really adorable and funny. Frunty wanted the experience and now he knows what it feels like to go "pee-pee" in his underwear!

[Some people] have a wonderful capacity to appreciate again and again, freshly and naively, the basic goods of life, with awe, pleasure, wonder, and even ecstasy.

-A.H. Maslow

We just got home from a fun weekend in Holland. We think it is really lovely there and the Dutch seem to make their country very quaint and pretty. We stayed by the coast in a hotel near Noordwijk, about 2 1/2 hours from Brussels. On the way, we stopped at an Asian store where we used to go while living in Amsterdam. I was amazed that after all these years, Daddy could find it so easily. (the last time we went to this store was six years ago!)

We got to the hotel and checked in but then went immediately into Noordwijk to do some shopping at the Hema. First on our list, more underwear for Frunty. I never thought I'd have so much fun buying underwear but for a pint-size little guy, it is an adorable thing to do. The guys left me to walk to the beach where they played. We were lucky with the weather. After the beach, we ate some mackerel/raw herring and took a pizza, at Frunty's request, back to the hotel.

Our hotel was doing some renovation and although we never noticed any noise or experienced any inconvenience, they gave us coupons for drinks at the swanky bar. So after we had our pizza and enjoyed the pool and hot tub, we got dressed and went to the bar which was miraculously, not smokey! We sat at the bar so Frunty could watch the Karate competition and on the way back to our room, he practised lots of moves and it was hilarious.

Today we packed in a lot of fun activities. Across from our hotel were still a couple of bunches of tulips so we took pictures before moving onto the train museum. We played with a train set and took a train ride in the countryside where we saw cows/horses/sheep and people walking dogs. Mowgli came on the train too.

After that, we ate our sandwiches and headed to the ESA Space Expo. We thought the one in Belgium was way more interesting. This one had a very good film about Glenn, the 77 year old American who returned to outer space. Before heading back to Brussels, we tried to find a pannekoeken restaurant in Leiden but ended up getting a picnic-to-go from Albert Heijn. We were all pretty tired when we got home but Frunty was so thrilled to see some of his toys again so we stayed up awhile and played.

I think that that is it for mini-getaways until after Tiny Baby is born. We had a really fun time but any trip can be tiring and we have to save our strength for the months to come! Plus there are a lot of great day trips we can do around here.

Happy Victoria Day, tomorrow, Canada!

It's Wednesday and Frunty still wants to wear underwears and at the Little Gym yesterday, took off for the bathroom on his own twice. On the way home, he stopped by some trees. He is doing really well and I am surprised that he just all of a sudden decided to do this and that he is keeping with it.

Today J&J are babysitting while we, Daddy and I, go to our 35.5 week check-up to discuss our birth plan which are really hopes. We have to learn a lot about how things are done over here and it is like having a first baby in many ways. Afterwards we will visit the hospital. I will try to squeeze in a run by shuffling over to the doctor's office and meet Daddy there. I feel tired but runs always shake the willies out, as Raffi sings.

We got some great news yesterday as our friends here, K and E, are getting married in Las Vegas on June 9th! We wish them the very best.