. . . Liam lately (19 months)

Another month gone by, and Liam is growing mentally, physically, and developmentally right before our eyes. It truly is amazing watching this person grow . . .

Is it Gent or Ghent?

Our family adventure this weekend was to the city of Ghent, Belgium, a mere 90 minutes away . . . we decided to get an early start and woke Liam up at 7:30 am and threw him in the car in his pjs -- this ended up being a great plan because he was in shock for the first half of the ride and didn't say much, so we were able to make it all the way there without so much as a peep. After finally finding a parking garage we dressed Liam in the car and headed out to explore the town. It was a pretty cold day, but at least it wasn't snowing!

Bien venido a Espana!

You all know that we have loved living abroad and try to take full advantage of our surroundings while we're here. One way we do that is by planning trips to cities we wouldn't normally get to go to. The first week of February Keith had to go to Barcelona for work, so we thought that would be the perfect time for a family weekend away. It happened to coincide with Carnival, which meant that most people had off work in the Netherlands that following Monday and Tuesday, so it was easy for Keith to take off as well. Keith's birthday also happened to be that Friday at the end of his work week, so what better reason to take a trip??

Day 1 - Friday

lunch in the airport

Liam and I flew out Friday afternoon (all on our own, God bless me), and met Keith at his hotel to pick him up and head to our apartment for the next five days. The location was perfect, walking distance to several sites we wanted to see, on a busy shopping street, and close to plenty of restaurants (more on that later . . . ).

I am SO glad Keith got an apartment that was in conjunction with a nice hotel in Barcelona. We had two bedrooms, a bathroom, a living / dining room and a full kitchen -- plus maid service every day. It was the perfect arrangement to have with a toddler. Once we got settled at the apartment we walked a block away for dinner at a local tapas restaurant. We all got something delicious for dinner (the chicken and veggie risotto -- OMG), and kept Liam fairly busy while he sat in the booth because there were no high chairs. Turns out, we would come to find that no restaurant had high chairs. Like none. Zero. And we tried, oh did we try! On our very last meal over the course of five days we finally lucked out with a high chair. We figured either there were no toddlers in Barcelona or people just didn't take them out to eat. The latter I suppose . . . sigh.

We put Liam to bed as soon as we got back as it was already getting late, and he went right to sleep, exhausted from the day's events.

. . . Liam lately (17 months)

My sweet boy is only a month away from being a year and a half old -- where has the time gone?! Seventeen months hasn't been that different than 16 months, but here goes nothin' . . .

Merry Christmas!

Liam loves Mexican food!

Still no stats -- just a running, growing, crazy boy who makes me laugh every day! It's funny to see him next to his friends because although he is younger by at least 5 months (and up to 10 months) from the kids he hangs with the most, he definitely holds his own and is even taller and weighs more than a few of them!

His eating habits have stayed the same -- three full meals at 9 am, 12 pm, and 6 pm, and a snack around 4 pm after his nap. He eats what we do, and has done a great job feeding himself with a fork. The spoon is a little tougher because he hasn't quite mastered scooping, but he's working on it! It can just be a little messy at times. : ) His favorite fruit is still grapes and he loves roasted carrots.

Georgia on my mind . . .

Two weeks ago Liam and I boarded a plane and headed back to Georgia -- just the two of us! I really prayed a lot before the trip about our flight, and specifically the people who I would encounter on our journey. It really couldn't have gone better, thanks be to God. We had a day flight, which meant that I had to feed Liam all his meals (breastfeeding and solids) three times during the flight. Yikes! Out of the nine hour flight, Liam took three thirty minute naps on my lap -- that made for one very long day! Lucky for me, Liam never cried, but just fussed a few times when he would get tired or hungry. We also were fortunate to have the nicest people around us, all young folks who loved to give Liam attention, which let's face it, is what the boy lives on . . .

Liam and Gram Gram : )

Case in point: he loves to be held!

. . . our weekend in Pah-ree

One of the definite perks about living in Europe is the travel we get to do every so often. Last weekend was one such trip . . . Keith had a meeting in Surenes (pronounced like "syringe" without the /j/ sound), a suburb of Paris, on Friday, so we headed out of town on Thursday afternoon. We drove about an hour to Antwerp, Belgium and took a 2 hour bullet train to Paris. The train station in Antwerp was really beautiful -- massive and open with ornate architecture every which way you looked. If we had more time I would have loved to do some exploring and taken more pictures, but this one will have to do. We found the right platform pretty easily and got seats in the food car once boarding the train. It was perfect because there was plenty of room for us to stand and walk Liam around if needed.

Inside the train station

When we got to Paris we had to take a cab to our hotel in Surenes, and the driver dropped us off nowhere near our hotel, but assured it was right around the corner -- we were about 2 miles away in fact. So we had to get another cab to take us to our hotel, which was really frustrating. Stinkin' cabbies. Keith went into the office for a few hours while Liam and I got settled and took a nap. That night we went to dinner at a local Italian restaurant across the street, which was so delicious. I forgot to nab a picture of my beautiful salad, but rest assured it was uh-mazing.

The next day Keith had to be in the office all day, so Liam and I were on our own. Luckily there was a street market out the front door of the hotel, so I spent a couple hours wandering through all the booths of food, fabrics, clothes, shoes, jewelry, and even toiletries -- if you can sell it, there was a booth for it.

Supplies!!

{Sidenote: If you haven't heard the "supplies" joke, ask me sometime : ) }

So it is 6 am in the Netherlands, we have been home one week, and this may be my first opportunity to blog in the last month or so. It's been a crazy December, but one I won't forget for sure. I will try to capture it all, but it's going to take me several posts to get everything in! Let me start at the beginning . . .

. . . bratwursts and glühwein and latkes, oh my!

For the second weekend in a row we headed out of town to explore the cities around us. Last weekend, it was my birthday in Bruges, and this weekend we headed to the Christmas markets in Dusseldorf, Germany. Germany is well known for their Christmas markets, which are located in every major city and begin mid-November. Apparently they're of all sizes, indoor and outdoor, so you can go to one that suits your liking. We had heard the one in Dusseldorf was pretty big, and all outdoor, which can be good or bad depending on the weather. We really lucked out because the weather both days we were there was exactly what I wanted -- the perfect wintry day with clear blue skies, cold enough to wear a coat and scarf, but not the kind of cold where you have to wipe your runny nose with your gloves a tissue. You know what I'm saying'.

. . . my birthday in Bruges

How often do people get to say that? Besides the Belgians of course. Keith and I decided a while back that we wanted to go out of town sometime soon and my birthday seemed like a great opportunity. We had heard wonderful things about Bruges, Belgium, and one not so wonderful thing -- the traffic leaving town can be horrendous if you leave too late. But we didn't have to worry about that until Sunday afternoon, so off we went.

Just getting there was a feat in itself, mostly because it was Saturday morning and Liam was doing what most everyone wants to do on a Saturday morning -- sleep in. So we had the car packed, all ready to go, and we were just waiting on him to wake up and eat. Which he finally did, and we were off to drop Murphy at the boarder for the weekend. Bruges is only a 2 hour drive from where we live, but when you add in a dog-stop, gas station, and another feeding for Liam along the way, we didn't make it until the afternoon. It wasn't too big of a deal though because we were staying in the Crown Plaza right downtown and easily walked right into the square as soon as we arrived and got ALL of our luggage into the room. I think I forgot to mention how much STUFF a baby needs! I was amazed -- the pack and play, 5 outfits, 5 burp cloths, 10 diapers, wipes, socks, Itzbeen, infacol, and a ton of other essentials and non-essentials. All for approximately 24 hours. We've already figured out what we truly need and what can stay at home next time. But I digress.

hello again, and goodbye . . .

We've had a busy weekend here in Eindhoven that included a special visitor from home -- our friend Spencer had an extra long layover in Amsterdam this weekend (on his way to India), so he took the train out to visit us for a few hours. Spencer was the first of our friends to hold Liam just one week after he was born, and he couldn't believe how big he'd gotten! I'm so mad for not getting another shot of him holding Liam because it would have been fun to compare! Oh well, maybe next time. It was (again) great to see a friend and catch up on life and how things were going. If I couldn't see one of my besties, Jane, then her hubby was a good substitute. ; )