So Much Time, So Little To Do...

Scratch that. Reverse it. We've just spent the last few days seeing more sights of Belgium with our super fun friends, James and Sydney. Our kids were sad to find them gone this morning and don't fully seem to understand that they can't return at a moment's notice to "babysit" as Nathan put it. We were discussing who might babysit for them should we ever need one and his first suggestion was "Miss Sydney and Mr. James!" That was seconded by Hannah instantly.

Time has somehow slipped away from us and we are faced with only 2 more weeks before Nathan starts kindergarten. I am still in a little bit of denial about him going to school all day 5 days a week. Little Sis Number 1 has decided to grow up over night. Without much encouragement on her parents' part she has decided to use the potty pretty regularly. She insisted on wearing her Princess underpants today and has managed to stay clean and dry. Mommy is so bad about reminding her to go potty regularly and even took her for a long car ride hand delivering Nathan's birthday invitations to his little friends--oops, Mommy just doesn't think these things through. The past few days have not been especially potty training friendly as we have been traveling around the area seeing the sights. While most bathrooms we came upon were clean, we had to pay anywhere from 30 to 50 cents to use them and they aren't always easy to find. Hannah still managed to go potty when she thought of it on her own or her brother reminded her while we were out these past few days. She recently has decided that when she has to go potty and, for reasons known only to Hannah, doesn't want to tell us, that she goes under the kitchen table while here at home (just in her diaper--that sounded pretty disgusting re-reading that). I did find her under the table at the restaurant we visited last night and I was just a bit too late getting her to the bathroom, but crisis averted as she was wearing a diaper at the time. I guess there is no denying that she is ready to work on this process in her own way. She is incredibly stubborn and independent (don't know where she gets that from) so she insists on doing everything by herself. Her favorite moments to choose to be so independent are the moments when her brother and sister both need something and/or the laundry or other household chore is requiring my attention. Those are the moments when I think cloning might not be such a bad idea.

Sweet, smiley, baby Sarah continues to baffle us with her unending patience. She is so happy just to be and makes everyone in the family happy just because she is here. She wakes up in the morning laughing and giggling to herself. She has suddenly taken on an interest in everything going on around her, especially at the table. She has caused several spills while sitting at the table in Mommy or Daddy's lap because we aren't quite used to her Go Go Gadget arms yet. She seems content just to roll from side to side or practice lying on her stomach. She still scoots and rolls a bit, but doesn't seem to be in too much of a hurry to go anywhere. Three teeth are coming in at once and she doesn't seem to be bothered by them at all.

We have so enjoyed our frequent visitors and can't wait for more. It really helps with the adjustment here and keeps us from feeling as lonesome for home. Little by little, families are returning from their holidays and home visits and before we know it school will be starting and we will once again see our new friends and neighbors. As always we have an abundance of pictures from our adventures as of late and we saw so many pretty places, I had trouble choosing just a few to post. Sydney was kind enough to share the pictures from her camera so we had even more than usual! We visited two communes South of Brussels. Dimont and Namur Belgium along with the obligatory visit to downtown Brussels, of course. For now the title of this post applies...I just heard two calls for "Mommy!" and one "Bababa, Mamamama" simultaneously. Anyone have any information on cloning for moms?