Summer time in Leuven

We have all moved to a nice new apartment in Leuven. Between unpacking, painting the walls, and changing my nappies, I still get lots of visitors... 

This is me with my special Canada Day onesy my gramma sent me to celebrate July 1st. 

Here I am with my uncle Joris. He's expecting a little one too, so I'll be having another new cousin in December ! 

This is me with my mom and Sam. 

Here is my very first babysitter, Lore. We are lucky enough to live beside our friends Kaatje and Bram. Their two kids, Lore and Niel, can come over whenever they want ! 

Lore isn't my only secondary care-giver. Oma kept her promise and comes over regularly to look after me and lend a hand. 

Sometimes oma brings Opa-Wiffy who has helped mom and dad a lot to set up the apartment. Here I am helping them with the morning crossword puzzle. 

All in all, I'm a happy little boy and I even learned to smile ! As you can see, my smile is very contagious. Actually, I am learning to express a whole range of feelings... 

... total innocence... 

...strong-armed intimidation...

...playfulness...

... and earnest contemplation. ... 

At night, sometimes mom and dad give me a bath and an oil massage. I'm not too fond of the oil on my face, but life doesn't get any better than mommy rubbing my feet and bare back ! I just lay down and coo while mom works out all those tired tummy-time muscles... beauty! 

We've had a heat wave in Belgium so I like to strip down and hang-out in my blue onesy. Dad puts on my matching sun-hat before we hit the town. Trust me, chicks dig the blue sun-hat. 

Today is special because it's my godfather's birthday. Happy Birthday ! Thanks for all the help moving to our new apartment. And don't worry, I think mom and dad will eventually get over that broken mirror... 

...just kidding, Peter Karel ! 

Dad and me.

This is my dad sporting the “de rigueur” unshaven-new-daddy look. 

It is tradition in Belgium to give “doop suikers” to all my new friends and family. Mom and dad packed them away in little suit-case packages. All of my birth rituals were done in a travel theme since I was conceived while my parents were on a world trip. 

I thanked all my guests at the hospital with champagne, candy, and fresh Belgian strawberries. 

Babies lose a lot of heat through their head so mom and dad got me this cutting edge thermal baby outfit designed by Russian-cosmonauts. 

I’m a big boy for a baby my age, but I still have a lot of growing to do. 

After the hospital, mom and dad took me back to their temporary apartment in Oostende. The white flowers are from my Peter Karel, while the orange ones were sent from Canada by Cool Aunt Didi and Uncle Ryan. 

This is mom giving me my first bath. 

Truth be told, I’m not a big fan of warm baths but mom says I’ll appreciate them later. 

Today is Father’s Day in Belgium so I’d like to tell you a bit about dad. 

He’s pretty new to the parenthood thing, but has already mastered basic paternal skills like working with one-hand and remaining equanimous everytime I pee on a fresh diaper. 

Sometime he wraps me up and takes me out for the day so mommy can get some work done around the house. 

I can sleep for hours on daddy’s belly. 

In appreciation for all his efforts, I gave daddy a gift for father’s day…

New pyjamas ! He needed them. Behind dad is our new apartment in Leuven where we moved to yesterday. It is mostly a construction site right now but we are living happily out of boxes. 

I like my dad a lot, but when I’m afraid, cold, or hungry, there’s nobody quite like mom… 

My Birthday

Today was my birthday, and I'd like to share with you a few pictures my dad and the nurses took of my grand entry into the world.

This is me in my first outfit shortly a few hours after I was born. Let me tell you about that experience. 

Mom started feeling contractions at about 4 in the morning. My mom and dad waited until about 9 AM before finally deciding to go to the hospital. This is my mom just before the delivery. 

The nurses monitored our progress on this machine. The left plot shows my heart rate which increases and decreases with the size of the contractions shown on the right plot. 

My mom had already made good progress by the time we arrived at the hospital, so went straight to the warm bath. She chose some gentle classical music for the delivery. 

My dad put his trunks on and joined us in the pool. Both mom and dad were very calm and relaxed during the delivery. The doctors and nurses were especially impressed with my mom who showed a steady concentration and confidence throughout. 

This is me seconds after I came out. Mom and dad chose to deliver under-water without an epidural and it was a big success. 

When I was first born, I was blue ! 

But don't worry, I'm not blue anymore. 

Mom and dad were allowed to hold me, skin-on-skin, for several hours before the doctors weighed and measured me. Everybody says that at 52 cm and 4.4kg I'm a huge baby ! 

Here I am with dad. 

This is me with my oma. She says she'll come over and look after me sometimes. I can't wait ! 

This is me with my proud godfather, Karel. Mom says he makes a small fortune playing football in Belgium. They won the championships this year and my god-dad was awarded the MVP trophy. 

Here I am with my tante Mieke. 

This is me with mom and Tante Lieselot. 

Sophie is Tante Lieselot's mom. 

All in all, it was a pretty exhausting day, but I'm happy to be alive !