A Visit from Auntie B!

Time is telescoping for me lately. Last Sunday we had lunch with some friends who we hadn't seen in a while. It felt like it had been several weeks, but we realized that we actually hadn't seen them since Thanksgiving. Wow. So, I guess it's not all that surprising that I've let the weeks slip by without a post. However, we had a lovely visit with my sister back in February and that definitely merits a few words, even if they are late in arriving.


It didn't take long for Maren to warm up to Auntie B!

Blythe arrived on the Sunday of Carnival. Since we couldn't really go anywhere on Mardi Gras itself (Troy uses our one car to go to work, and Brussels doesn't have much of a Mardi Gras celebration), I had the brilliant idea to go to Binche the afternoon she got in. Binche's Carnival festivities have been recognized by UNESCO, so expectations were high. But alas, it was cold and crowded and really not that great. Maybe we caught it at the wrong time.


Attempt at a shot of the three girls


Maren, Troy, & Blythe in Binche


Carnival parade in Binche


At least some of the costumes were cool

After our Carnival misadventure, we mostly just bummed around during the week, doing my new "normal" activities of playing with, feeding, and bathing Miss Maren.


Maren playing on her activity mat


Eating lunch with Auntie B


Tired baby in the bath


Awwww.....

We did go out to lunch one day, went for a short walk in the Bois de la Cambre, and paid a visit to one of the lovely neighborhood pastry shops. We even got to celebrate Maren's 7 Month Birthday together.


Maren hanging out in her stroller at the café


At the Pâtisserie Debailleul


Celebrating her 7 Month Birthday!

Despite the quotidien nature of these activities, before we knew it it was Friday. Troy took the day off, and we decided to have a day out in Brussels. Our day started with a nice lunch at a seafood restaurant in our neighborhood. We then went downtown to buy some glasses at the Bier Tempel, walk through the Grand Place and the Galleries, and get chocolates at the original Neuhaus.


Maren and Daddy at Toucan Sur Mer


Les huîtres creuses (oysters)


The three girls at lunch!


Choosing glasses from among the hundreds at the Bier Tempel


The three girls in the Grand Place


Blythe took this cool panoramic shot of the Grand Place


In front of Neuhaus, in Les Galleries Royales

The next day, we bundled ourselves into the car at a relatively early hour and set off for the Brasserie à Vapeur. Located in the tiny village of Pipaix (about an hour west of Brussels), it is the last steam-powered brewery in the country. On the last Saturday of the month they hold an open brewing day and offer a multi-course beer-themed lunch where most of the food is produced or grown locally and organically. When Troy's sister was visiting last year, we all went to Vapeur with a big group of friends and loved it, so we thought it might be a fun and uniquely Belgian way to wind up my sister's trip. (Side note, I see that somehow mysteriously I failed to blog about Tami's visit last year, so expect a flashback post sometime soonish!)


Outside the Brasserie à Vapeur -- Troy trying out our baby sling

Rather disappointingly, we discovered that the tour wasn't scheduled to take place until after lunch, so instead we just sort of wandered about on our own before we moved across the street to the cense (farmstead) for lunch.


The century-old steam engine that powers the brewing process


A huge brewing vat


Blythe and I tasting the wort, an intermediary, sweet-tea-like product.


Maren surveying the scene with Daddy

Now, the tour might have been limited, but the food was not. There was beer-and-vegetable soup, beer bread, smoked salmon and duck, cured pork, pâté, slow roasted ham, potatoes, and a cheese course to die for. All this was accompanied by Vapeur's light and dark brews, and they even produced a strong pousse-café (after dinner drink) made from beer.


Maren had her lunch first


Jean-Louis, le patron, explaining the buffet


Cheese!






Our friends Jeff, Erin, and baby James met us there

We had a lovely day and got back to Brussels in time for one last visit to a pastry shop before dinner. The week simply flew by, but we had such a wonderful time getting to hang out with Blythe. It was super cute seeing Maren bond with her, and we can't wait until May when we get to see Auntie B again!



Blythe's February Visit Photo Album - Click Here

La Nouvelle Cuisine

So this is certainly not the first time that I have written about les choses culinaires on this blog, but I haven't written on precisely this topic before: baby food!



My parents got us this great Béaba baby food cooker for Christmas. It steams and purées, plus defrosts and reheats if you are so inclined. Though I prefer the speed of the microwave for defrosting and reheating, I like the idea of the extra features just in case. A few Saturdays ago, I did a big cooking session, steaming carrots, potatoes, and rutabaga, plus I roasted a butternut squash in the oven.



The results were a creamy color-wheel of oranges and yellows, which I proceeded to mix in various duos and trios, topped off with a spoonful of good olive oil. I froze them in batches, popped them out of their silicon cupcake molds, and filled up my little freezer with a couple of weeks worth of yummy, homemade meals for Maren. It's easy to do; I know exactly what's going into (or not going into) her food; and it's a fraction of the cost of store-bought baby food. Brilliant.



Maren is a good eater, liking everything we've given her thus far. She's still sensitive to textures and gags if something is too lumpy, (like bananas mashed with a fork) but she gobbles up anything smooth. Her favorites so far seem to be mangoes, carrots, and fennel.



Another advantage of starting solids is that Troy gets to participate in feeding Maren too. Sometimes she likes to help Daddy out by holding the bowl.



Or his hand. Awww....



For some reason, she always gets sweet potatoes all over her face. I must confess, I find it completely adorable.



Little Miss never did learn to take a bottle, though admittedly we didn't try all that hard. But anyway, eventually we gave up and instead, we're helping her learn to drink out of a sippy cup. She "got" the sucking motion down pretty quickly, and she even occasionally grabs the cup and puts it to her mouth. I'm sure it will only be a matter of weeks before she's mastered drinking by herself. And with that, I must close this post as baby and pear purée call...

Maren at 6 Months!!!

Maren is 6 months old already and cute as a button, if we do say it ourselves.



So if a picture is worth 1000 words, then this album buys me 80,000 words!

Maren Aurelia Weeks 13-26 Photo Album - Click Here

Noël à Bruxelles

This year was the first time that we stayed in Brussels over the holidays, but after our terrible travel experiences the last two Christmases, we were not about to tempt fate by flying with a wee bairn. It was actually the first Christmas in my whole life that I have not spent with my parents and siblings and, from that point of view, it could have been a pretty sad occasion. Make no mistake, we definitely missed seeing our families and friends in Colorado, heading to the mountains, and enjoying a white Christmas sitting by a cozy fire. But even so there was something very special about spending Maren's first Christmas here, in our own house, with our own little family. We were also really fortunate that several of our friends decided to stay in town this year, so we were far from alone.



Our holiday season kicked off in late November when we took a drive to Aachen (Germany). Troy's parents were visiting, so we took them for the opening weekend of the Aachen Christmas Market.


Dennis & Sharon at the Aachen Christmas Market

It was Chicken's first visit to a different country, but she didn't really see much as she spent our entire visit sleeping. The rest of us had a good time, however, and among our other finds was a super cute, warm, chicken hat for Maren for Christmas!



As part of our move earlier this year, we shipped some more stuff over from Colorado, including our collection of Christmas ornaments! These ornaments are very special to me as my parents would give my siblings and I an ornament each year, starting with my first Christmas. A couple of years ago, my mom carefully boxed up all my ornaments, plus Troy and I have picked up many more over the years. As my friend Cornelle said, it's a bit like my life on a tree.



For one reason or another, Troy and I have never had a proper Christmas tree before so we were both super excited to get our first real tree!



Troy walked over to Monceau Fleurs and picked out a beauty. Once he got it up and fluffed out, it was the quintessential Christmas tree and smelled lovely too!



We started with the star, but decorating took quite a while -- we had more ornaments than I thought!



Tree trimmed, we posed for a family photo to commemorate Maren's first Christmas!





In case you were wondering, 99% of the gifts you see in these photos are for Maren. And as cheesy as it might sound our own best present this year was, of course, Miss Maren herself.



With the house decorated and the Christmas music on constant rotation, we were ready to celebrate! Christmas Eve morning arrived and Maren got to sport her reindeer ensemble, an early present from Mamie and Papie.



And the stockings were...laid by the chimney with care -- oh well, at least we have a chimney! (Heavy stocking hooks are on the list for future Christmases.) That's my childhood stocking at the bottom right, now in use for the next generation.




Cool close-up shot of some of our ornaments, with the cityscape in the background.

Our good friends Cornelle and Serge came over to celebrate Christmas Eve with us and were kind enough to bring the meal to us! Here's the table, set and waiting for them to arrive.



Maren was very excited!



Mid-nosh shot -- eating huge plates of pasticcio (Greek lasagne) and Greek salad.




Pasticcio


Me & Cornelle

For Christmas, we had a very full day. First up was services at St. Andrews Scottish Presbyterian, our church in Brussels when we go (which, unfortunately, is really not enough). For the occasion Maren got to wear her beautiful Christmas ensemble, again courtesy of my parents. (I was torn about what was cuter, these adorable ruby slippers or her coat, which you'll see in just a second.)



It was Maren's first time in church and she did really well. She turned quite a few heads at the service as she looked around at everything and everyone from the vantage-point of our arms. She liked the music, but finally sacked out near the end of the service.



When we got home, we changed into comfy clothes and opened presents!




The Chicken Hat!

Maren had fun with her gifts, especially the tissue paper. But, by the time we got to this photo, she was OVER IT. I love the grouchy look on her face in this shot!



After a nap, it was time to get dressed up again and head over to our friends Raven and Jon's for a Christmas party. Here's the aforementioned coat -- isn't it the cutest thing ever?



We had a fun time at the Christmas party and went to bed that evening tired but happy.


Family photo at the Christmas party

Christmas may have come and gone but our holiday celebrations kept going! Troy took the week between Christmas and New Year's off from work, and we spent the time hanging out en famille. La Poste finally delivered several packages, so we had Christmas all over again.



We had not yet made it to the Brussels Christmas Market, so one afternoon we paid our annual visit in search of tartiflette and the Grand Place light show.


Video of the Grand Place Christmas light show



It was a lovely couple of weeks, and we loved getting to spend them together with Maren. Her first Christmas, in Brussels, will be a special family memory always.





Christmas 2011 Photo Album - Click Here