Three Months to Go...

Time has been flying and I honestly don't know how I feel about that. There are days where I just want to be home with my sisters, brother, parents, and friends. I just want to actually drive somewhere instead of rushing to catch a train or dreading walking four blocks to the grocery store then four blocks back lugging a stroller and bags like a pack-mule. Some days I just want to spend a day with Melissa and her kids, or baking something with Lou, or hitting up Cafe Rio with Cassie, or eating my dad's amazing cooking while talking to my mom about surviving motherhood. Ben and I dream of the day we get to use the drive-thru at Burger King with Mike in the back ordering three REAL double cheeseburgers (yes, to Belgium a double cheeseburger is one patty with two pieces of the most horrendous cheese on it...that was a bad day), or going camping with the family and sleeping in tents, or even just having a cell phone that actually texts in English (mine texts Italian so I have to key in every word individually). I can honestly say that I miss home a lot sometimes. But the fact is I love living in Brussels.

I love living in Brussels. A fact which always gets a laugh out of Europeans because they just think of the terrible weather, expensive groceries, and multilingual-ness and can't imagine anyone even wanting to live here but to me it's become somewhere very special. For me, Brussels represents more than gray skies, smoker-infested streets, and bureaucratic nonsense (though there is plenty of that). It represents home.

Brussels is where Ben, Brooklyn, and I became our own little family. Brussels is where I learned how to be a stay at home mom without going completely insane. Brussels is where Ben and I learned to count on each other and only each other. It's the place where Brooklyn went from constantly crying baby (those who were there know it's true...) to an adorable, ecstatic, adrenaline junkie who couldn't stay bump free for one day if her life depended on it. It's the place that I learned more about myself in three months than I have in twenty years (I figured the first five years deserve some recognition...especially after watching Brooklyn). This is where I figured the whole mom thing out with TONS of help from my dear friend Maureen and I feel like the reason I've figured so much out is because I couldn't just keep myself busy with friends and family. I had to deal with the huge life change that a baby is. Had we stayed in Utah, or the USA I probably would have just gone for baby #2 before we even figured out how to handle baby #1. I would have avoided figuring out what I needed to do to be a happy, enthusiastic, and sane mom. I know my mom, Melissa, and Cassie would have helped as well as Ben's family but then I would have just skated by thinking that I knew what I was doing when in reality I wouldn't have had a clue. I would just be replicating the amazing examples of my family instead of learning through mistakes and meltdowns. But through those mistakes and meltdowns I grew and Ben and I grew as a family. I would never change our decision to move here because it has changed our life so much.

I am so excited that we still have three months to enjoy our time here especially with the holidays coming around. Christmas here is so much fun. The decorations, the food, the music, it's all so much fun. It's our little family against St. Nick and his Spanish elves**
**Side Note- Belgians traditionally believe that St. Nick comes in from Spain via a steam-engine ferry and is accompanied by "Black Petes" who are black elves that either give children clementines if they are good or kidnap the children and take them back to Spain if they are bad. Gotta love tradition!

Back to the point I'm happy to be here. Part of me doesn't want to go home because being here has changed me so much for the better that I worry that by leaving I will forget. So my dear family and friends don't let me get lazy. Don't let me forget to take Brooklyn on fun adventures or take special time to be with my little family. Every family needs some time to grow and learn together which is knowledge I'll always owe to Brussels.