Bits and Bobs

Charlie is becoming a true little man. He poops like clockwork every morning between 7-8am. And then in the afternoon he takes a nap and lets his pacifier hang out the side of his mouth like a cigar.

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In the weeks leading up to the move this is basically where Charlie lived. I would feed him and then put him in his bouncy chair while I scurried around getting stuff done. Thank goodness we have an angel for a baby or I don't think we would have been able to do this move.

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The move went very well. When we moved from Alabama to Belgium, I had never used professional movers before and I was overseeing the move myself while Kyle was in NYC. The day the packers came was one of the worst days of my life. I was not prepared for just how fast professionals move! We were trying to have things shipped to three different places (Belgium, storage, our parents house) and there were four packers and one of me trying to run around and make sure nothing got sent to the wrong place. This move was a bit easier because everything was going back to the US, but I still wanted to make it as organized as possible to avoid the chaos that happened last time.

The night before the packers came we moved into a hotel. That is the absolute best thing to do so that when the movers come in the morning you are not still trying to strip your bed and figure out where to pack wet towels. I also put post-it notes on anything I could think of. The movers were pretty good about labeling the boxes with the post-it notes. Now, rather than just having a box labeled "Bathroom" I know which box to look for Charlie's medicine versus my contacts.

They took all our stuff down on this lift which is a common way they do it in Belgium (and I guess other cities with lots of apartments). I think the lift guy has the best job in the world -- he gets paid good money and basically presses a button all day.

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One thing I will not miss about our apartment are these stairs!!!

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Charlie is enjoying hotel living.

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Charlie and I have a new favorite hangout. A cute coffee shop? A new bookstore? Nope, it is the laundromat! It is the perfect place -- there is plenty of noise so I don't have to worry if Charlie cries, no one is really paying for an experience (like at a restaurant) so I don't really care if he disturbs anyone, there is a big flat table where I can change him, there are chairs where I can sit to feed him, and I can stay as long as I like and no one will give me a nasty look. And best of all it is free! Here is Charlie hanging out after a diaper change. Today we actually stopped into two separate laundromats for a feed and a diaper change.

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Charlie is already gearing up to be a white trash baby. He likes to be swaddled to go to sleep but he gets really hot like that. So the other day I swaddled him, he fell asleep and then I put him in the stroller to run errands. He woke up while I was in the store and when I picked him up I realized that he didn't have any pants on! It was 55 degree weather and I had made sure to bring a hat for him, but no pants.

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And for a last laugh as we leave Belgium...

I walked by our street today and started to get a little sad. That is, until I saw that they are tearing up our street yet again! The tears dried pretty quickly when I saw the scene below. (That is dirt all the way across the entrance to our street).

After being glad I wasn't having to navigate the stroller around all the construction, I noticed that the workers were all taking a break and drinking Jupiler! (Jupiler is a Belgian beer).

And as if the guy holding the six pack at 3pm on a construction site wasn't enough, the driver of the backhoe was drinking one too! I guess there are no drinking and driving laws when you are only operating a 2000 pound machine.

When I was about 10 years old, my dad and I went out into the ocean while on vacation at the beach. The water was really rough and every time we would dive under a wave, we would come back up just in time to take a deep breath, wipe our eyes, and look up to see another wave cresting and about to break on us. We would dive under again and again only to surface and see yet another wave about to break. I remember being so scared and exhausted but we couldn't get back to the shore because of all the waves pounding on us.

These past four months keep bringing to mind that memory. I feel like a car on the side of the road that has a flat tire and is hobbling to the nearest exit. I am exhausted. Kyle is exhausted. Charlie is an angel but I am sure he must be feeling the stress too. I just want life to be normal and predictable again. Yet, I realize that that will not be happening for at least another six months. I keep telling myself that this is a marathon and I just need to dig deeper and keep on going. But I don't know how much deeper I can dig and I have always hated running.

Charlie ducky, you're the one

My mom was so sweet and got us a Flip video camera. We have loved using it but I haven't had time to really work with the uploading and editing. Once the move is done and I get that figured out, you'll get to see lots of videos! In the meantime, here is a photo taken from the video of him in the bath. He has hit that magical three month mark where he really seems like an interactive baby rather than just a sleeply infant.

Charlie has started to smile often which is just the cutest thing. He has also taken to waking up in the middle of the night even though he used to sleep through the night. I hate waking up at 2am, but when I come in his bedroom and see him just smiling away I can't help but smile too. With all the changes about to happen to him (staying with friends on the day of the move, sleeping in a hotel, flying, jet lag, sleeping in a new place) we are just trying to roll with his sleep/wake times rather than let him cry it out. I guess I'll be seeing a lot of 2am smiles for the next few weeks!

Move on down the road

Right in the middle of planning our wedding, at the height of stress, my sister famously said, "What's so hard about planning a wedding? Don't you just send out invitations and order a few flowers?" It has always been a good reminder to me that you don't know how much work is involved in something until you are in the midst of it yourself.


When Kyle accepted this job 21 days ago I actually thought, "This move won't be hard. Everything we have here needs to go back to the US and the movers will pack us so really there is not much I need to do. Maybe I'll have lunch with friends every day." HA! I am lucky to get half a PBJ as I am running out the door.


So in case you wanted to know just a few of the things that are involved in an international move:

--interviewing moving companies to compare quotes
--taking an inventory of every single thing you have in your house and putting a value on it
--doing any last minute shopping for momentos
--selling all electrical items and anything else you don't want to bring back (which means lots of e-mails and phone calls about pick up and delivery times of things people want to buy)
--selling a car and doing the paperwork to get the car title transfered
--canceling all utilities and subscriptions
--thinking about buying a house back in the US
--cleaning the apartment after the movers are out
--organizing the final walk through with your landlord
--making hotel and plane reservations
--sorting your things as to what you will fly back with and what you can live without for the next 3+ months
--figuring out what to do with the stuff that has been in storage for the last 4 1/2 years --saying goodbye to all your friends


Only six more days until the movers come!

The race is on

While I was pregnant, Kyle and I had a several debates as to who the baby would look like. If you have ever seen my family, we have very strong genes and all look very similar. However, Kyle and his mom and sister look very similar also. I figured that since I had the dark hair/green eyes that my genes would overpower Kyle's recessive genes of blonde hair/blue eyes.

However, ever since Charlie was born everyone comments on how much he looks like Kyle because of his blonde hair and blue eyes. But thanks to my mom and my cousin Megan for noticing this -- I think my genes might be starting to peek through on Charlie!

(me on the left at three months, Charlie on the right at three months)

Fiddle Dee Dee

We've got to get Charlie back to the South fast -- he is turning into a Yankee!

(Thanks to my cousin Megan for this cute onesie!)

Happy (belated) Easter!!!

Fun videos for your weekend

Here are a few videos that make me laugh...

This one has been making the rounds but it still makes me smile each time I see it.



This video makes me laugh because when I was 12 years old I had to have a few teeth pulled. They had me breathe gas during the whole procedure and in the car afterwards, I remember telling my mom, "When they told me they were almost done I tried to breathe really deeply because I wanted to get as much of that stuff as I could. It made me feel so good!" No wonder she lectured us so much about not doing drugs!




I can relate to this video because I always feel that first white girls in situations like these.




This one also cracks me up because I have definitley felt the burn in my arms after living Charlie. He is only three months old (and pretty small for his age) so I should be really ripped by the time he is one. (Thanks to Gretchen for this one).

HOW TO WORK OUT FROM HOME - watch more funny videos

It's a jungle out there...

A friend once said that moving away from being an expat is a little like dying. The statement seemed a bit severe at the time, but now it is making more and more sense. In a very odd way, it is like you are experiencing death from both sides -- you are the one dying and having to say goodbye to your life but you are also the one that is still living and having to mourn a whole part of your life that is now empty and gone.

This week I have been saying goodbye to friends, knowing that we will never see each other again. I give away my things as fast as I can just to have one less item to deal with later. I reflect on my time here and whether I think I lived it to the fullest. I look back on where I wasted time and how I could have done things differently.

I am trying to prepare myself emotionally for closing off this part of my life and knowing that I will never have it back again, but it has been hard. I try to remember that I had these same emotions when I left Wyoming, when I left Australia and when I graduated from college. Each of those times were painful for awhile but eventually I got busy in my new life and the pain faded and I just held on to the memories. I know that this too shall pass, but it sure hurts while it is happening.

Tulip Mania

We were fortunate enough to have Kyle's mom come over for her spring break to help take care of Charlie. We didn't want her to spend her whole week in the apartment so we headed up to the Netherlands and Keukenhof for one last visit. One of my favorite things we have done here is ride bikes through the tulip fields in the Netherlands. We couldn't do the bikes with Charlie so we just drove this year, but it was still amazing seeing so many vibrant colors. I always say it feels like you are living in a rainbow up there! Below is a photo of just some of the tulip fields.

The main reason I wanted to go was to get pictures of Charlie in the tulips. However, one thing I have really, really been trying to learn is that with a child you can't always get what you want, things don't always happen the way you want them to and the only thing you can do is let it go and move on. We were up in the fields and Keukenhof for about six hours and in all of that time we got two photos with Charlie. I'm not even putting the other one up because it is just Kyle holding him while he is screaming. We just couldn't get the timing right of him being awake, fed, with a clean diaper, warm, happy, and in the tulips. Oh well, c'est la vie. At least we still got some wonderful photos of the tulips! I don't have time to upload all of our photos but luckily you can just look at the pictures from when we did this with my dad four years ago.

Bring on the Barn

Although I wanted Charlie to be close to our families, it was very difficult for me to make the decision to actually choose to leave Belgium versus being forced to leave because of tax reasons. (If you stay here over five years you are taxed like a local which is 55%). I got weepy every time I thought of leaving the slower pace of life, the markets, the food, our friends and all the other things I have grown to love about living here. But once we finally looked at it as -- we are going to have to leave Belgium in November either way, we just need to make a decision if we want to be in NYC with the WSJ or ATL with the AJC then our decision became much easier. Even though it would have been nice to be here another seven months, the timing just didn't work out that way.

Because of all the tears I shed at the thought of leaving Belgium I am now shocked at what I am feeling as I gear up for the move to Atlanta -- I can't wait! I am like a horse going to the barn and I can't get back to the USA soon enough. It is as if now that I have a plane ticket home I am finally letting myself acknowledge all the things that bother me about living here.

I am tired of thinking about everything I buy in relation to how heavy it will be to carry up our stairs. I am sick of the coldness of other people here. I am tired of the weather, the constant road construction, the dog poop everywhere and dealing with a baby in a very urban setting.

I can't wait to chit-chat with store clerks about nothing at all, get free ice water at restaurants, have public toilets everywhere I go, take food home in a doggie bag, have so many inexpensive places to shop, and most of all -- speak English!!!

I know that I will get tired of things in the USA just as much as I do about things here. Annoyances are just a fact of life. But I can't wait for new annoyances rather than the ones I have been dealing with for four years.

G20

While Kyle was busy writing important editorials about the economic and global issues that were addressed at the G20, Charlie and I were having our own stimulating conversation at home regarding the summit.

Emily -- "Charlie, what did you think about Michelle Obama's argyle sweater and blue dress?" Emily -- "I agree. Now how did you feel about how tight Sarah Brown's outfit was?"

Emily -- "You said it! I couldn't agree more."

Oh, Atlanta!

The time comes for every expat to pack their bags and move on. And after four and half incredible years here in Belgium, our time has now come. We are sad to say goodbye to so many wonderful friends here in Brussels, but are happy to say hello to our family and old friends back home in Atlanta, Georgia! Kyle has accepted a job at the Atlanta Journal-Constitution as their conservative columnist. He will be writing three columns a week as well as having some speaking engagements and keeping a daily blog on their Web site.

God’s hand was in all of this as the process has progressed over the last two months. The wheels got turning only two days before Charlie was born and the selection process just concluded this past week. For a total of two months Kyle has completed an extensive application, written articles, done a video interview and flown back to Atlanta for a final interview, all while still doing his normal WSJ work. And while all of this was happening we had my parents, then Kyle’s parents, and then my sister staying with us – and we hadn’t told any of them about the process just in case things didn’t work out. After getting through all of this Kyle and I are thinking we could be spies for how much lying and covertness we have done! Needless to say, these have been some of the most stressful and sleepless days and nights of our lives.

We haven’t set an exact move date yet, but will most likely be heading back to Atlanta around May 1. The AJC is paying for the move but we are in charge of coordinating it so I welcome any advice or tips from anyone who has done something like this before. I’ll try to keep updating the blog as we move forward but it might be sporadic at times. In the meantime, go check out www.ajc.com, look under Opinion and click on “Who’s new conservative columnist?” to see a little bit more about the application process and what Kyle will be doing back in Atlanta.

Lots of love,
Emily, Kyle and Charlie

PS—For those of you in Brussels, you can go to http://picasaweb.google.com/brusselssale2009
for pictures and details of what we are selling.

Here are a few cute photos from this week...

Charlie is definitely long and skinny!He has taken to putting his thumb between his first two fingers whenever he is drinking his bottle or just hanging out.
Charlie loves his bedspread that Dearie made him!

And I will never get enough of his feet!

Spot the difference...

Can you figure out what is different between these two pictures?

The top picture is Charlie and the bottom picture is my friend Kelly's baby Dali who is now one years old.

Kelly is the most kind and generous person I think I have ever known. We met in my first month in Brussels and have been friends ever since. Thank goodness we like each other so much because she is also the friend I have known the longest here that still lives in Brussels. When Kelly and I first met she had a three year old and a nine month old. Now her girls are 7, 5, 3 and 1. It has been so much fun to watch both her girls and family grow.

I took this photo because Charlie is in Dali (and Sonny, Poppy and Maya's) gown and chair. When Kelly found out I was pregnant she overwhelmed me with passing on all the clothes, chairs, and baby supplies I might ever need that her girls has used. If Charlie had been a girl he would have had the cutest wardrobe around! Since she has four children of her own she has been a wondeful person to be able to call with all of my baby questions.

The only problem with being Kelly's friend is that you always feel lazy around her. Take this week for example -- today she is packing her family of six for a Disney cruise which they are leaving for on Tuesday. In between getting the car seats, pack & play, diapers, formula, clothes and all the other details together before flying with four children on a ten hour flight she is just going to squeeze in running a marathon. Yes, you read that right. Kelly and her husband Rich are running a marathon on Sunday, "resting" on Monday and then flying to the States on Tuesday. And since she has already trained for this marathon, she is just going to go on and run another one in three weeks. I get exhausted just talking to her about her schedule!

So here is to you Kelly, a wonderful mother and friend! Brussels would not have been the same without you.

Happy go lucky

God asks no man whether he will accept life. That is not the choice. You must take it. The only choice is how.

The art of being happy lies in the power of extracting happiness from common things.
--Both quotes are by Henry Ward Beecher

Over Christmas one year we played a question game at the Wingfields' house. One of the questions was, "If you could, what would you change about your life?" I answered that I wish I knew French better, but besides that, there is nothing else I would change. Burt (Kyle's dad) pointed out that I have a pretty darn good life if my biggest concern is that I don't speak enough French. I couldn't agree more.


God has blessed me with so, so many wonderful things in my life, but the thing I am most thankful to have been born with is my good attitude. Sometimes people tease me about how happy I am, but I can't help it. I do try to channel my mind to think positive thoughts, but most of my happiness just comes from the personality I was born with. I feel bad for negative people because I really don't think they can change their attitudes that much -- they were born that way, just the same way I was born happy.


I sometimes wonder if I would be this happy if I didn't have such a wonderful, easy life, but I think I would be. There are plenty of people with easy lives that still don't seem happy. An odd personality trait that I seem to have that helps my happiness is that I can always think of someone worse off than I am. Although it sounds like I am putting someone else down, it really helps me to keep things in perspective with any situation. Yes, each of us has struggles, but in the big picture, especially when looking at how so many people in the rest of the world suffer, we really have nothing to complain about.