Last night we went downtown to the Grande Place to celebrate! Why the celebration? We all went to the doctor at noon and found out that our Tiny Baby is doing just great and everything is "perfect". And what a surprise to see the ultrasound pictures which show his/her face so clearly?! With Frunty we only had one ultrasound at 17 or so weeks. Having an ultrasound at 33 weeks with the new 3D technology available is absolutely incredible and one of the highlights of our pregnancy. Dr. de Vylder was in his office with the door open when we walked by so we showed the picture and he said, "What a beautiful baby." and that we definitely weren't disturbing him by sharing our joy.

So what better way to celebrate seeing our Tiny Baby and hearing an excellent report from Dr. Cos than to walk around one of the most beautiful squares in Europe, if not the world? Well, actually, we ran around it as Frunty found white lines on the cobblestone and wanted to pretend we were trains. Before getting to the Grande Place though, we had to stop for icecream this time at Haagen Daas. Instead of a waffle smothered with Belgian chocolate and various icecreams, we went for a brownie. Frunty wanted "red" icecream which means raspberry. We made short work of gobbling up our delectable desserts and walked through the narrow streets to the Grande Place. What a special night!

What we need is more people who specialize in the impossible.

-Theodore Roethke

Life can only be understood backwards, but must be lived forwards.

-Soren Kierkegaard

Daddy picked Frunty and me up from Bemel park yesterday afternoon so we could take off for Halle Bos and enjoy the beautiful sunshine and gorgeous carpets of blue bells. We quickly ate our picnic as soon as we arrived as we were all starving and I waivered between going for a run or just lounging in a bed of blue bells. (Daddy packed my running gear.) I decided to go for a run because when do you get a chance to run through beautiful forest pathways with flowers on either side of you? And Daddy and Frunty went on their adventure with the GPS to find the "cache". I met up with them on my run to see the "cache" which was a glass jar hidden under a tree trunk with little viles of perfume inside and a notebook. After writing a few words and reading everyones adventure stories, Daddy left a little trinket. (a bike reflector in the shape of a lightening bolt!)

I took off again running and when I met up with the guys at the car I instantly got a huge whiff of a stinky stench. One of the perfume containers was a spray bottle and Frunty wanted to see how it worked so Daddy showed him by testing the perfume on their wrists. It was pretty funny to watch Frunty sniff his wrist and tell me about all of this and even though the ride home was polluted with this crappy perfume, it was still a really fun experience. And one of my favourite pregnancy runs to boot. Mowgli was exhausted though from all of the excitement of being loose in a big forest but I am sure he even would agree how wonderful it was to go to Halle Bos.

We stopped at Colyrut in the countryside to get some groceries just before closing time and there was only one other customer in the whole shop. What a treat! No line-ups which I have never experienced in Europe before!

I hope we can go again before the blue bells disappear because it was so beautiful and hard to take in during one visit. Perhaps we'll try another forest. It's fun to celebrate spring this way.

Lately Daddy and Frunty have been taking some field trips together. Frunty calls them "adventures"! On the weekend they went to a nature/science center where they played with a robot dog and learned about lots of neat things. They had a lot of fun and Daddy bought a one year pass so they can go back as many times as they'd like. A few days ago, they went to a big forest with Mowgli too to look for a "cache" (see www.geocaching.com)and discovered an incredibly beautiful carpet of blue bells. We will go tomorrow morning to take another look! They have other adventures in store! Stay tuned!

This morning Daddy and Frunty accompanied "us" to the doctor for our check-up. I squeezed in my run and met them at the doctor's office. Good news on all fronts.

*Tiny Baby's heart beat is strong and sounds "perfect"
*Tiny Baby's head is down!
*All tests came back normal for Mommy
*Mommy's blood pressure great (111/70)
*Only gained 0.5 kg in three weeks= doctor very happy and Mommy too!
*Mommy can keep exercising as much as she wants (running/stairs/weights= no problem)
*Dr. de V will NOT go to New York just before our due date afterall!

Daddy did some filming and took a picture too. We forgot to get a picture of Dr. Woods back in Toronto in 2002. She delivered Frunty. But I don't mind so much because she really only came at the very last moment. I feel like our nurse, Mary Estrella, delivered Frunty and we have pictures of her. Anyway, all is well. By the way, Dr. de V is convinced Tiny Baby is due on my birthday but we shall see! He says the very first ultrasound is the most accurate.

Courage does not always roar. Sometimes, it is the quiet voice at the end of the day saying, "I will try again tomorrow".

-Anonymous