Grandma and Grandpa King Visit!

In mid-June Sofie met her first family members, Grandma and Grandpa!  They arrived after a visit to Spain, which of course meant packing for two entirely different "summer" climates.  As much as the Belgians claim this weather is unusual, the weeks of grey, rainy chilliness have continued long past the end of Spring.  It was so exciting to see them and we really had the best time during their visit.

Sofie spend a lot of time "trying on" all her new gear from G-ma

Sofie just loved her Grandma and Grandpa!

We had lots of fun things planned despite the weather, and were glad to have a few days in the sun as well.  First we went up to Waterloo for an annual reenactment of the great battle of Napoleon and the French versus the English/Dutch.  We climbed to the top of the Butte de Leon, visited the muddy battle campsite and had a Belgian lunch at a cafe.
The next day was Father's day so we celebrated with Brunch downtown at the Musical Instruments museum and a walk around the Grande Place.
We also had a visit from Josh, who joined us for a trip to Westmalle Abbey and to the Magritte museum downtown.  Chris was busy with a meetings during the week, so the Kings and I took a trip up to Bruges and enjoyed a canal cruise, chocolate from the The Chocolate Line AMAZING store and of course more beer sampling :)

Walking around Bruges

                                                                                                           

We had to say goodbye to Grandpa early, but we had Grandma for another week and adventures planned to Gaasbeek castle, the Neuhaus outlet and the Tour de France! Gaasbeek was nice, the grounds were really great, but I didn't find the inside to be that spectacular.  Neuhaus was unbelievable, and I was completely sick from eating so much free chocolate! Next time I go in with a chocolate sampling game plan!!          Chris and I celebrated our 2 year anniversary this weekend as well, and with a fantastic babysitter in town (Grandma!) went out for dinner at Comme Chez Soi.  This is probably the best restaurant in Brussels, and Uncle Sean had given us a gift certificate for Christmas which we decided to save for this special occasion.  Everything was AMAZING, we had a seven course meal which included two desserts, some tasty wine, and the most friendly, efficient service I've ever experienced.  It was one of those places where three people run around and fuss if you make a motion like you need to get up for the bathroom, or have a question with the wine.  Very fancy!

Welcome baby Sofie Mai!

So clearly I haven't been keeping up to date with the blogging, I'll have to catch up with the months of May-July
!
May 23rd our beautiful baby girl was born at 7:03 pm at Edith Cavell Hospital.  We were SO sure we were going to have a boy, it was a very fun surprise at the end.  Glad we waited!  She is the cutest thing, was 3.265 kg and 49cm long.  The whole experience was great and I'd love to have a baby in Brussels again! Sofie's due date was a week before and my doctor had offered to enduce on this day.  We thought, why not, so off to the hospital Tuesday May 14th.  One thing that is surely different in Belgium is that you have to bring SOO much stuff to the hospital, so we arrived with a rolling luggage suitcase, pillows, computers, cameras, slippers, robes, shampoo, soap, towels, snacks, books, and clothes for 5 days for all three of us!  This is one of the reasons that it was quite annoying to be turned away- there was no beds for us, so back home we went.  The next morning, we showed up again, me getting more and more anxious to get the babe out, only to be turned away again!  Taking this as a sign, we did NOT show up again the next day, hehe.  Sunday was the new date of induction, so back to the hospital, but after a almost 24 hours of induction meds, two different kinds, we weren't making any progress (just 1 cm dilated!)  I hadn't really slept, the contractions were very painful and we decided to go back home to wait a few more days.  Then Wednesday we arrived at the hospital again, third different induction, Pitocin this time, an epidural and 12 hours later we had our baby! Definitely not the labor story we had expected, but a story non-the-less.
 Our stay at the hospital was great, they have you "room in" with your baby for 5 days! Every day was full of activities, like learning how to give a bath, a visit from the pediatrician, a massage from the kinestherapist, and three pretty good meals a day.

 The midwives were so nice and taught us a lot in the first few days.  Although I was definitely ready to get out of the hospital by Sunday, the stay was very enjoyable!

Our first family photo!

The day we got home Sofie had her first overseas visitor, Clare and Matt!  They were in Brussels, for a few days and we were lucky enough to catch them before they left.  We had a nice time catching up (wish it could have been longer!)

From the very first days home Sofie has been a great sleeper at night and an all around great baby :)  She loves smiling, sticking her tongue out, laying on her jungle mat and being carried all over the house.