Brugge

Grandma and Grandpa Smidt arrived on Friday, November 27^th to meet Isaiah. We started out their visit with a birthday trip to Brugge on Saturday. (Kathy turned the big 5-0.) Brugge is a city in Belgium near the cost that is often called, “the Venice of the North.” The ancient buildings and cobblestone streets make you feel as though you took a time machine back to the middle ages. It is amazing how “old” Brugge feels- as our tour guide told us, “There is always something to restore in Brugge.” Brugge was even more beautiful because of the festive Christmas markets scattered across town. The markets are made up of tiny wood stands filled with food, clothes, Christmas decorations, candles, and anything else you can imagine. There was even a stand sold only cotton turtle necks…not sure what the draw was there. There wasn’t anything fancy or different about them, just your average turtlenecks. We tried a potato/cheese dish and a bratwurst at the stands. For lunch we visited a nice restaurant that served traditional Flanders fair. We had meatballs, waterzooli (chicken in a cream sauce), salmon, and traditional Flemish beef stew. Everyone at the restaurant was quite taken with Isaiah. The party behind us was from Italy and we talked to them for a while. As we were leaving, Isaiah was getting loads of admiringly glances from a table of 8 ladies, who spoke English. There were many highlights of the day. One of our favorite activities was taking a canal tour. There is a canal the runs through the city (used to be a moat around the city) and you can see loads of interesting houses and interesting architecture along the way. We also stopped at a renowned chocolate store and bought some delicious treats. We didn’t buy any, but we saw some people drinking amazing hot chocolate. You choose your chocolate, which is in blocks attached to spoons, and then they serve you a steaming cup of milk and your chocolate on a spoon. You then dip the spoon in the hot milk and swirl it around until it has melted…and Viola! You have custom, fresh hot chocolate! At the end of the day, we visited the snow and ice sculpture festival. Called, “Ice Age,” the exhibit was built by 40 international ice sculptors from 300 tons of crystal clear ice and 400,000 kilos (that’s a lot- 1 kilo = 2.2 lbs) of fresh snow in a cooled hall (21 degrees Fahrenheit…we thought it was chilly before we entered the hall…wow…much colder with the ice sculptors.) Characters from the animated movie “Ice Age” were all over the hall as well as a giant ice slide (Ben was the only one brave enough to slide down) and a bar made entirely of ice. Other than being freezing, it was pretty amazing! Isaiah did a nice job- he rode in the sling most of the day and in Grandpa’s arms the rest of the day, so he was a content, sleepy boy all day. Again…too many cool pictures- I’ll post more on facebook J

The Bell tower and main market at night...wow.
There was a neat ice skating rink behind us.

It is very hard to navigate Brugge by car, so many people rent bikes and tour the city that way.

Isaiah being cross-eyed...he's gonna love this one when he's older!

In his cute pea-pod hand made by Pat Long...Thanks Pat! It was a huge hit!

Christmas markets.

Kathy...how old are you again? (we tipped of the church to light some candles for her...haha, just kidding!)

Isaiah being super cute at the restaurante :)

Making faces at grandma!

Sweet dutch shoes...they are actually wood!

Eating real chocolate covered cherries...pit, stem and all!

Deluxe hot chocolate. Chocolate squares attached to spoons, stor in steamed milk...delicious!

Every kind of chocolate you can imagine!

Ice library and table.

Everyday Life

Just a couple of pictures this week. Ben took the camera to the Phillipines, so I won't have any new ones until next week. Isaiah is growing and filling in nicely. He is already growing out of clothes! He only fits in about half of his socks and has outgrown the feet in most of his sleepers. We have his one month check-up this week as well and his first shots. He is usually a trooper with the doctor, so we'll see how Wednesday goes!
Hanging out in his bouncer...a favorite activity. He really likes gazing at the orange hedgehog. Poor owl and squirrel...they never get attention.

Playing piano and singing kids songs from a book I got from Great Grandma Smidt. His favorites are "Who built the ark-y, ark-y," "He's got the whole world in his hands," and "Father Abraham."

Ben bought out the flower stand at the market in celebration of Isaiah's birth. My favorite's were the lilies and palm branches- They were beautiful!

Isaiah left Ben's arms to go eat dinner and Luna thought she needed some "daddy time" too, so she took his exact position!

A little gas smile after eating...haha

Nose to nose with Papa.

Luna, Isaiah and Ben hanging out on the couch.

Isaiah is mesmorized by Ben's face....oh so cute :)

Helping me around the house and hanging out in the sling. Isaiah loves sitting in the sling...he usually isn't awake for very long once he gets in my little kangaroo pouch. When he sleeps in the sling he makes all kinds of cooing noises...its great!

Asleep...finally!

Bath Time

Everyone loves babies and bath time, so I thought this might be an appropriate Blog.
Isaiah wasn't too excited initially, but after he warmed up in the water he really like his bath. He was such a tropper!

First bath at the hospital. I'm sure he's thinking, "What are you doing to me?!? I'm freeeezing!"

Playing games with Dad before bath time. Ben will call Isaiah's name from right above him, or the left side, or the right side and Isaiah will turn his head to find Ben's voice. It is pretty amazing. I tried this with him and he doesn't seem to want to play with me....haha, but he loves this game with Dad!

Looking o so cute after bath time!

Our super sweet Tummy Tub...apparently they have been "all the rage" in Europe for a while. It is supposed to immitate being in the womb because the babies sit in the fetal position in water. Isaiah loved sitting in his tummy tub. He is so relaxed as soon as he hits the water. His arms and legs just float around. It will be so much fun when he can sit up on his own and splash!

It's a boy!

I would look at the pictures at the bottom first- there were too many to re-arrange, but the older ones are at the bottom...

Isaiah's first walk!

Holding Dad's hand.

Ben used to do this same thing...

Luna is thinking, "Grandma...what do you have there?"

Luna meeting her little brother and giving lots of kisses!

Oh so cute in Grandma McCoy's arms.

Sleeping like a baby- nice :)

Getting weighed and measured- not his favorite.

Me in labor...after the epidural...I'm actually smiling at this point!

Our new family :)

The infamous Pujols jersey.

Proud Grandma's! Both made it here for the birth- God's timing is perfect!

Getting ready to leave for the hospital...apologize for Luna's alien eyes.

After much ado, he’s finally here! Isaiah Benjamin Smidt arrived on October 23^rd at 10:22pm (22:22 Europe-style time) in Brussels, Belgium. He weighed 3.5 kilos (7lbs, 12 ounces) and was 50cm (20inches) long. We were very surprised that he had hair! Both Ben and I were baldies when we were born, so I’m not sure how Isaiah got so lucky.

But, let’s back up a bit. Grandma Smidt (Kathy) moved her plane ticket in the hopes that (after slaving away for me for 3 weeks!) she would get to see Isaiah before she left. Grandma McCoy (Betty) arrived on Thursday, October 22^nd and still no baby. Friday dawned bright and cheery and we were all a bit worried that Grandma Smidt would still have to travel home without seeing this baby. I was covertly thinking that if I was somewhere inconvenient or embarrassing for my water to break, then it probably would, so we all walked to Stockel market to buy our fruits, veggies, waffles, and groceries. We arrived home in one piece…no broken water, no contractions and rather disappointed. In our exhaustion waiting and hoping for baby Smidt to arrive, everyone laid down for a nap. At 1:30, I woke up with a strong contraction, but didn’t call in the troupes because I had been having these random contractions for about a week now. I figured that if they were real ones, the next one would wake me up. I tried to go back to sleep and the next one woke me up in about 15 minutes. After that, the contractions jumped to 2 minutes apart fairly quickly. We all decided that this was the real thing and called Ben about 3:00 to come on home. Unfortunately, on Friday in Brussels, everyone leaves work early. So, Ben left when I called him, but took an hour to get home. At 3:45 we were going to leave on public transport, but Ben called and said that he was close, so we waited for him. Ben arrived and quickly changed into his “it’s go time” clothes. (His official Pujols jersey) We finally left for the hospital around 4pm, but traffic was nasty again, so it took us about an hour to get there; the whole while Ben was cracking jokes, trying to make me laugh during my contractions, while Grandma Smidt was wisely saying in the background, “Ben, she doesn’t want to hear that right now!” Panting and waddling into the lobby paid off because I got to cut to the front of the elevator line, which was significant. When I got to the maternity floor, I had to announce myself through the intercom. I said, “This is Rebekah Smidt.” The lady on the other side responded, “and you are here for??”. I said, “ummmm…labor!” (Why else would I be buzzing into the maternity floor??) Our birthing room was super nice; very big and with lots of things to help with labor, including an Ipod dock for our music- nice! The midwife and Ben were excellent help and did a great job getting me going. I ended up having an epidural a little before 10pm when I was at about 8cm. It was a great epidural- not very strong, so I could still feel the contractions, move my legs, and feel to push. It was amazing- I thought that I was going to be out for the count once he did my epidural, but I wasn’t numb at all, it just helped with the pain. Isaiah came very quickly once I started pushing- it was pretty amazing. I was surprised it was a boy! I thought for sure it was going to be a girl just because everyone expected it to be a boy- the way the end of the pregnancy had gone (with all the waiting, etc) I thought this baby was just going to do everything very unexpectedly. But, we are very excited that he is a boy- it’s fun to have a big brother and Isaiah is going to make a great one….SOMEDAY….NOT in the near future. Childbirth is excellent birth control. hA! Our hospital stay was fine, but we got out two days early for Belgian standards (I’d already been there for 3 days and I was ready to be home!). So, we are home now and enjoying little Isaiah. It is definitely a lot of work being a mom…more than I thought, but it is great J! Thank you all for your prayers and thoughts throughout the pregnancy. Love you all! I’ll try not to take so much time getting the next blog up. I know this one was long overdue!