Momma's Bod

Just when I think I'm starting to get my pre-baby bod back, Josh looks at me smiling and excitedly says "Mommy, are you having another baby?" Thanks Josh. So, apparently I have got the three baby pooch. Funny thing is you would think that comment would motivate me....

Highlights for this month: I got a dryer! Finally, towels that are fluffy and soft, instead of towels that exfoliate as you dry. I honestly wanted to climb on our bed and have Cameron pour that first load of hot, dry laundry on top of me. Pretty exciting. A dishwasher, dryer-now just get me a garbage disposal and a walmart and I'm good to go!

For this month I want to describe life in Belgium. These are just facts, I'm not complaining. I'm not!

I think our 1st counselor at church yesterday put it best. He announced the opening hymn "Today, While the Sun Shines" and then added, "Except here in Belgium we say 'Today while the sun shines for the next fifteen minutes.'" Yes, sun shine is a rare thing in these parts. Perhaps Stephenie Meyer should have placed Edward in Brussels, not Forks. He would have liked it here.

You bag your own groceries (and bring your own bags, or you pay for theirs). Yes, this may sound like a small task-but when you have 3 kids with you, one of which is climbing out of the cart while the other is crying, and meanwhie the checker is shoving food in your direction, not pausing for a moment to even breathe, just checking, checking, checking! It's quite the task to get them bagged and into your cart-remember, bread and bananas on top.

Also, when you grocery shop, all the foods are in dutch and/or French. Since I speak neither one, it makes it exciting sometimes (like the time I made lamb stew-I swear it looked like beef to me.)

You pay to use the bathroom. If you can ever find a place that has one, make sure you have change. Otherwise, find a good bush.

Gas is over $5.00 a gallon-so stop your complaining, America.

You have to sort your garbage. Let me explain our different "bins." There is one for food waste (mmmm, that one smells good). Also cardboard, glass, plastics, and the remaining "trash" goes in the garbage bags that you pay 80 cents for (and those are the small ones).

A happy meal at McDonald's costs about 5 u.s. dollars.

Okay, okay, maybe that was complaining-let me think of the good things. Let's see, the good things. Hold on. This will only take a minute......okay I've got it. They have really good waffles. And their fries are tasty too. Chocolates are divine-see, now you know why I still have a pooch.

Joshua

I love this boy. This month I cut off all his curls. It was getting pretty long, as you can see from the pictures. His favorite moment this month was travelling to Redu, a small town known for their antique book shops, and their raspberry bushes. So we spent the afternoon picking Josh's favorite thing, raspberries! You only pay for what you put in the carton-so you can eat your fill as you pick. And did we ever! (Yes we had the runs, but it was worth it.)

Daxton

Cut his hair too. It really helps with the whole head issue. He LOVES to wrestle and is constantly tackling his older brother (and little sister a few times, she's going to be a tough one.) It seems the quote holds true "The faster they learn to talk, the faster they learn to talk back." Daxton loves to point his finger at us and yell jibberish when we try to discipline him, or get him to apologize. He's wanted to sit and go "potty" quite often, so I might be crossing that bridge soon. I hate that bridge.

Ella

Sleeping through the night! Yes, it's only happened a handful of times, but those are wonderful times! She is so much fun! Laughing, "army crawling" all over our apartment (are my floors really that dirty?) and biting her older brothers with her two new teeth. She's great, and I'm loving this age!

Cam

Internship finally started up again, so no more cabin fever for this boy. He actually has several trips planned for the remainder of this year with TPN. He leaves for Paris on Wednesday, then travels to DC and India in November. Pretty exciting. School starts up again the 3rd week in September.

Me

I really do like it here, I apologize for my sarcasm earlier. Our youth talk in church yesterday was on grattitude. He talked about how we sometimes see what others have and wonder why we don't have the same. Yes, I am guilty of this one. It's hard being poor, I'm not going to sugar coat it. But what is poor? Sure, I don't have the fancy clothes or the nice furniture. I don't have the big car with leather interior, only the "blue dart" (as we lovingly refer to our van.) But man, I'm rich! I have 3 beautiful, healthy children. They can run and play and learn all that I want to teach them. I am a mother, and a wife. I realize that God can give abundantly, but can also take away. (It took a lot of taking away for me to finally humble myself. Nearly all my physical possesions, and almost a husband.) I guess we just need to realize how good we have it, all of us, (Yes, even me here in Belgium.) We have a lot, and have a lot to give. Think of how much better a place it would be if we were all willing to just give a little more.

Oh! The Places You'll Go!

We've all had "bad parent" moments, right? Okay, at least say you have so that I don't feel too guilty. With all the excitement brewing from "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows," Joshua decided to become Harry and drew a black scar on his head-with permanent marker. After telling him that the scar will probably be there for a while, he got rather nervous, but soon came up with a grand solution. "I know mom, just use the Magic Eraser." Are you familiar with the Magic Eraser? It's an amazing little tool that takes just about anything off of walls or furniture. Let me reiterate-off WALLS and FURNITURE. Apparently, it is not intended for permanent marker on your child's forehead, for after scrubbing off the marker (yes, it did come off quite easily)it also seemed to have rubbed off a layer of my son's skin. I know, I know, bad parent. But at least he'll never write on himself with the marker again.

This past month has been wonderful. Let me just recap all the events! Kelli stayed with us for a whole month-and just left on the 19th. It was so much fun to spend that time with her! She came with us to Disneyland, and though it poured rain, we had a great time (I mean, it's Disneyland, right? How can you NOT have a great time?!) During all this excitement, my in-laws came too! Glen, Holly and my bro-in-law Collin visited. They are great and even allowed my crazy family to accompany them to London. It was a beautiful city and we had a great time. The kids were even able to swim at the hotel, (Dax is a little too fearless in the water, I'm afraid.) One of my favorite events this
month was our trip to the Netherlands to a little town called Kinderdijk. It has beautiful old windmills (preserved from the 1800's), so we all rented bikes and set off along the paths by the canals. Josh and Dax hopped into seats on the back of Cam and Glen's bike, while Ella sat comfortably in a seat on the front of my bicycle. It was a good time.

Another great event was the birth of two babies! Shera had her baby boy, Jack Delson Whitmer, on June 4th (and she ran a 5K 4 weeks later, what's the deal with that?), and my brother Scotty and his wife Meghan had their baby girl, Audrey Pierce Thredgold, on July 22nd. It is so exciting! Though pictures and web camera's are great things, I still can't wait to hold my new niece and nephew in my arms! Shoot, now I'm getting misty.

Josh-
Let's begin with the Josh quote of the month. We asked Josh if he would like to go to Amsterdam, to which he replied "I love Hamsterdam! It's full of Hamsters." When we were walking around the windmills, he was anxiously looking right and left to see if he could catch a little golden fur ball. Funny kid. You are probably getting tired of me saying how much this boy grows, but I'll say it again, Josh is growing like a weed. He turned 5 this month on July 14th. Wow, I have a 5 year old! He just got out of school end of June, and is loving his summer vacation, as well as having so much family come to visit.

Dax-
Isn't it nice when your children can finally communicate with you? Instead of playing the "what do you want" guessing game, they can just tell ya. Dax is quite the little jabber-box now. Now that Josh is around so much, Dax is enjoying having so much time with him. It's nice now that they can play together, however, most of that is spent beating up on each other. I always thought Dax would be the child who wants to be left alone, to do his own thing, however-he seems to need the most affection. He is constantly wanting to be held, hugged, or kissed. Perhaps middle child syndrome?

Ella-
Red hair, green eyes, and two little teeth describe my Ella-Bella. She is great. I just love having this little baby. My favorite moment is right when she is waking up, as she stretches her limbs, and contorts her little face. Then, as she squints her eyes to adjust to the light, her eyes focus-she recognizes me, and gives me a smile. Does life get much sweeter?


Cam and Me-
I think Cam and I will both look back on this summer as one of our fondest. We have been able to spend so much time with each other, with our family, and with our children. We are able to play with our kids every day! It truly is a blessing to have Cam home so much, and to have this time together.

Maybe it's getting older, but it seems like things are starting to click for me. The light bulb is on and I am realizing what a blessing motherhood is, as well as an extreme responsibility. There's so much I want for these kids-so much I want them to know. I guess we all just need to take it a day at a time and do our best each day. There's so much I am feeling, however, I lack the skills to put it into words-but all those parents reading this know exactly what I am talking about. Getting misty again.

I hope your summer is a good one. Those of you in Utah-suck on an otter pop, and try to stay cool. We don't have much trouble with that here, as with the month that Kelli was here-we had 2 days of sunshine, and the rest was rain. We love you and love hearing from you!












Josh and Dax asleep in the Hotel-
Kelli swinging Josh around at Chateau La'Hulpe
Cam and Josh cheering on the riders in Ghent for the Tour de' France

Sisters

So, I'm in the car the other day and as I stretch to put something in back, notice that my abs are sore. 'Why would my abs be sore?' I question myself. Could it be the 100 crunches I did the night before-oh wait, I don't do those. Sit ups? No. Any kind of exercise? No. Then after minutes of contemplation, I realize that it is my sister Kelli who has caused the soreness. My little sister and I have been laughing-or perhaps giggling, since she arrived here a week ago. (Yes, I do realize how pathetic it is that laughter is a work out for me.)

We have been having a great time together-and might I add that she has been a tremendous help. I could get used to this. Today we traveled to the Neuhaus Chocolate Outlet (talk about fine Belgian Chocolates!) I think together we ate about half the store. I mean really, when do you turn down free samples? Especially when those samples are chocolate of all shapes, sizes, and flavors. Sure, we left a little intoxicated, but we made it home safely.


Josh-
Well, this month Josh managed to break a Mercedes. That boy. We were at a chateau in La Hulpe, and there was a wedding reception taking place inside. Lots of fancy cars on the outside. Josh gets curious, his hands start to twitch, and he breaks off the emblem on front of a Mercedes. So, Cam left a card with our info on it, and we'll see how much that one will cost us. Josh also got his first pet this month. A house fly. He caught it in a jar and named him Max. He eventually let Max go. Now, whenever he sees a fly anywhere-the grocery store, parking lot, garage-Josh will follow the fly with his eyes and say "Hey Max."

Dax-
Trouble. Dax is now tall enough to reach door handles-which means he can get anywhere he wishes to be around the apartment. No more boundaries! Agggghhh! His newest tantrum involves screaming, and running into the wall with his head. Sharp as a tack, that boy. He is talking a lot now, and that's fun. We got a walker for Ella, but she hardly gets the chance to sit in it with Daxton around. He calls it his "car" and drives it around the apartment (I'm sure the people below us are just loving that one!) Daxton picks up the tray part, runs while carrying the whole contraption, then lets it go and slides across the tiled floor. It's really quite fun to watch.

Ella-
Ella can not stop eating. She LOVES food. Six or seven meals a day, plus nursing, so she is filling out nicely. It's too bad that chubby thighs can't be a "cute" thing your whole life. She is rolling everywhere! Kelli and I just popped some popcorn, and Ella can't keep her eyes off it. She even rolled over, and grabbed a handful. Somebody stop her! She loves to blow raspberries, and that tongue of hers is never in her mouth.

Cameron-
Cameron has had a great month. He secured an internship with a group called the "Transatlantic Policy Network." They work at arranging dinners and lunches with business and political officials-so they can "mingle." He is meeting a lot of different people. Lots of "head haunchos." So it is good that connections are being made.

Me-
What more can I say? I have 3 beautiful children, a husband I adore, and my little sis to laugh with and give me great abs. Things are great, and I look forward to seeing Cam's parents and brother Collin in a couple weeks. Hooray! Cam, Kelli, me and the kids are all heading to Disneyland Paris on Tuesday. I am SO excited. I have wanted to take Josh there since he was born, and now 5 years later, it is really happening!

We love you all and look forward to hearing from you soon!

Turning Heads in Brussels

Have you ever had those times-at the post office, in the grocery store-where people stop what they are doing to look at you. You think "Man, I must look good today," When it actually turns out you tucked your skirt into your nylons and your butt is hanging out? Well, a similar case holds true here in Belgium. I turn heads wherever I go. No, it's not my killer body (and by killer body, I mean 3 kids has really killed this body). No, it's me toting around 3 kids-the oldest being a 4 year old. I guess in Belgium a double stroller is comparable to a courteous Belgian-you just don't see them very often.

May has been a great month. The sun shined, (briefly) and best of all, my parents came to visit! Hooray! I know what you're thinking. Cindy-you've only been apart for 3 months. Well, it's been a long 3 months! It was wonderful having them visit. I think Josh would agree when I say that Grandparents are the greatest.

Josh is just great. Still growing like a weed. I just checked his percentiles for height and weight, and he is 90th for both. Big kid. I believe that Josh is surpassing his mother in terms of spirituality. He relates everything to the Gospel. For example, the other day we awoke to a horrible storm outside-rain, wind, the works. I said to Josh "Wow, it sure is stormy outside." And he replies "Yeah, maybe Jesus died again." His favorite movie is one that Nana and Grandpa brought over with them. Not Peter Pan or Charlotte's Web, but "The Testaments: of one fold and one Shepherd." He calls it the "Jesus Movie." He's a good kid.

Daxton had a fight with sickness again, but luckily, is better. Tonsilitis this time. He keeps us all laughing. He is actually turning into quite the sweet heart. He is very tender hearted. Dax loves his sister Ella, and whenever he sees a picture of a baby, he always says "la la."(his baby sister.) I hate to admit, but I put Dax on a leash the other day. I was with my friend, Vaitiare, and we wanted to go to the park, but I was without our stroller. So I put Ella on my back (kid-pack) and Dax on a leash. Josh looks at the leash and says "Mom-is this for dogs, or people?" We were quite the spectacle, to say the least.

Ella. It seems to me that daughters make your heart melt. She is great. She is laughing a lot, and her big-gummed-smile makes a smile upon your face as well! Her personality is beginning to emerge, and I think she will be silly like her older brother, Dax. Double trouble.

Cam also was sick this past month. Tonsilitis as well, only Cam doesn't have any tonsils. So, you tell me how that works! Apparently the bacteria grew on the back of his tongue and throat. But with the correct antibiotics, he is back to normal as well. He is currently at an interview for an internship. Keep your fingers crossed!

I am happy. I admit, last week I wouldn't have said so. It was rough with everyone sick, and the constant rain (it rains 300 days a year here. Yes, 300 days a year!) I got pretty depressed. (Sorry to Cam, I was pretty grumpy.) But yesterday I was making cookies for Enrichment and the thought crossed my mind "Cindy, what if you only had a few days left with these children?" I got pretty emotional thinking about having to leave my kids, and have someone else care for them and raise them. Again I realized that a child is a gift from God. He is entrusting me with these precious little people! Everyday is a gift as well and I need to treat it as so. So I am trying to be better.

We pray that all is well in the states and that you are enjoying the nice weather. Hope you have something fun planned for the summer. We love you and love hearing from you!

Okay, I had to add these last two. I take no responsibility with the shoes and the purse-he did that on his own. As for walking around with the box on his head, I guess he takes after his dad.

Travelling

Belgium has a lot to see! It's great because the country is so small, it doesn't take long to get from one end to the other.

We have been fortunate enough to see a few sights this month. We travelled to a very popular city called Bruge. It is breathtaking-with its unique buildings and shops, cathedrals, and canals running throughout the city. We also went to a large Chateau in a city called Gaasbeek, as well as traveled to the Netherlands to see the tulips. Fields of tulips, daffodils, and hyacinth blanket the city of Keukenhof. It's incredible-unfortunately most of the tulips had already peaked, but a few fields remained in bloom for our eyes to feast upon.

Cam is at school right now, busily writing his last paper. One more to go, then exams May 12th. I just read through one of his papers about the comparison between the US and Chinese Soft Power. Hey, I just learned something new! He is attending another meeting tonight, and hopefully arranging an internship with the Transatlantic Institute (a Jewish funded group that works on Foreign Cooperation with energy, trading, etc.)

Josh is back in school, after a 2 week long spring break. He loved the castle we saw, especially the knight's armor. However, upon leaving the grounds we asked Josh how he liked the castle and he replied "I liked it, but I just wanted to walk through it, not learn about it." So apparently tours aren't his thing (plus the lady had to do it in 3 languages.) My favorite Josh quote of the month pertains to the prophet. He asked me why Gordin B. Hinkley was chosen as the prophet, so I tell him how God chooses the prophet, and Josh replies "Yeah, and I think it's because Gordon B. Hinkley has white hair and glasses."

Daxton is still a hoot. He has reached the age when he no longer has his baby face, but has grown into a little boy. I cut his afro-so that made him look older as well. His favorite part of the day is when we go to pick up Josh from school. It seems that the boys love each other when they are apart, but tend to argue when together. Boys will be boys, I guess.

Ella changes each day. She is almost 5 months old. Her hair is beginning to grow-still red. She is smiling, rolling, and full of giggles. Here brothers are her two most favorite people in the world. She smiles whenever they are near. She is such a good baby, thank goodness. She just chills most the time, goes to bed no prob, and is still nursing like a champ. I love those chubby thighs!

I am doing great-aside from a sinus infection and mild bronchitis earlier this month. I love the warmer weather, but am not looking forward to the summer heat in the van with no air conditioning. Okay, Dax just farted so loud, and now he is laughing his head off. Got to love em. I am trying each day to be a better wife and mother (I've got a lot to work on). I am learning a lot about what's important in life during our time here. Living here is a great, though oftentimes challenging, experience.

We wish you all well and love to receive updates from all of you!

Spring-Time

Just when you tire of the cold, drab, dark weather; the trees begin to blossom (popcorn!) and the daffodils smile back at you. Welcome Spring!

Truthfully, we have had only a handful of good, warm days here-but I'll take what I can get. Today is one of them, and I'll take the sunshine with open arms!

Cam just took Josh to school, and then is hitting the grocery store for the staples-bread, milk, eggs.....Nutella. Okay, actually I am much better about the whole Nutella thing. I think I kind of burned myself out on it-which isn't necessarily a bad thing. Now I've moved on to Brioche. I blame Juri and Vaitiare (our friends here who are also going to school). You see Juri was kind enough to introduce me to the brioche by bringing some by for us to enjoy. Now I'm addicted. It's a pastry-kind of like a cinnamon roll, but without the cinnamon. They come in a metal tin, 7 to a container-and I could inhale them all in one sitting. Luckily I have a little self control-not much I'm afraid, and still down 2 or 3 each time. Last time we went shopping I bought 3 packs of Brioche. No joke. Actually Juri and Vaitiare, I don't blame you-I'm thanking you!! (so are my thighs and my butt)

This is Cam's last week of classes. He turns in one paper this month, then two more the following month. His only grades come from the papers, so it's a big deal. He is looking for an internship to start for the summer (hopefully a paid one) and that will keep him busy until September when School starts again. He is feeling 100% again, and I am SO thankful to have him back.

Josh is loving school. Hooray! The other day at dinner, he started singing a song in French that he learned from school. It's exciting to hear him actually learning the language. He bore his testimony for the first time yesterday. I still can't believe he went up there on his own. He said "I believe in Jesus. I believe in Gordon B. Hinkley the prophet. I believe Joseph Smith is a prophet." Very heartwarming-a proud parent moment.

Daxton is finally talking. The other day he roamed around the house looking high and low saying "Joshua? Joshua?" He kept opening doors and looking behind the couch-he thought Josh was hiding. I had to explain that Josh was at school. I guess it's good to know that they like each other. Dax currently is obsessed with shoes, and we find him walking around with my heels quite often. (should I be worried? hee hee)

Ella seems to grow by the minute. She is so long! She's wearing 6 month clothing. There is nothing better than a 4 month old baby. Ella is smiling, laughing, kicking her legs and wiggling her arms, but still can't get into anything! You put her down and she stays there! Now if we could only get her to sleep through the night...

I am doing well and was just called into the Young Women. There are 7 YW now, but 7 more beehives are supposed to come in this summer. Should be fun. I am looking into a French class held in the neighboring town of Tervuren. Hopefully I can learn to say something besides "I don't know" and "where is the bathroom" before we leave from here, but don't count on it.

Pictured above are:

Daxton playing at a park near our house

My "happy birthday" children

Cam and Dax in Leuven (a town about 15 km from us)

Ella Bella (3 1/2 months)

Josh "fishing" in Tervuren park

We hope you all to be well and happy. Keep in touch!

One Month Down

Well, we've survived our first month in Belgium, barely. Let me just do a quick re-cap of this month's events.

Upon arriving in Belgium Daxton had a pretty bad cough, which progressively got worse. After 2 weeks we took Daxton to the doctor and discovered he had pneumonia. We were prescribed antibiotics, a nebulizer treatment (aerosol), and also 5 "kinestheropie" treatment sessions with a doctor who basically pushes on his chest for 30 minutes, forcing him to cough up the stuff in his lungs. It was a hard time. Well, we've been here a month now and Dax is still sick. We took him back to the doctor today. He still has stuff in his lungs, but only the top most part of his lung, and so we were given more prescriptions which will hopefully get rid of this thing. (oh, yeah, he has pink eye too.) So that's what's up with Daxton.

Ella was checked out today as well because she too has begun coughing. Luckily, hers isn't as bad as Daxton's, but we were prescribed medicine for her as well. Ella will be 3 months old in a few days. She is so much fun. She is smiling so much, laughing, and kicking her chubby legs. Her favorite time is in the bath-she goes crazy in there. I think I have another fish on my hands.

Joshua has had a cough too, but nothing serious. He has just started school here. It is a french speaking school called "La Fermette" (the farm). His first day was yesterday. He was so excited to go, but needless to say he was soon crying. His teacher told us that he came to her crying and said "I don't speak french." It honestly breaks my heart. However, there are other English children who attend the school, so english is spoken a little, but the teachers only speak french. Josh went back today and had a much better day. The school seems pretty nice. They do gymnastics weekly (he did that today, they bus the children to a gym close by-the kids need special shoes, kinda like ballet slippers) and once every other week they go swimming (yes, he needs to wear a speedo-no joke.) They also have farm animals that they help take care of. The hours are mon-fri from 8:30-3:30, but Wednesday is early out at 12:00. So tomorrow will be his first full day. They do lots of crafts, painting and such. So I really think this is the best thing for him to be doing. He has a good friend from the ward who also goes to the school and they will play together at recess.

Now on to Cameron. Cameron has had it the worst. Daxton was diagnosed with pneumonia on Friday the 9th. The following Monday night Cam woke up at midnight shaking uncontrollably. He had a fever, and had trouble breathing. We took him to the doctor in the morning and found he too had pneumonia. The antibiotics didn't seem to be working and by Tuesday evening Cam called a friend for a blessing and to be taken to the hospital. He could barely walk. He spent the night there and they discovered fluids in his lungs and an infection in his blood. He was given different antibiotics, and came home. By the following Thursday he was back in the hospital because he was having severe chest pain again and trouble breathing. He stayed in the hospital until Sunday evening. Now he is finally home with us. He is on different antibiotics (who knew there were so many?) and is doing So much better. He finally went to school today. I am so glad he is home, and alive.

Now me. All I can say is WOW. Who would have thought this would be so difficult? Two things that got me through: Prayer and Nutella. I have never been through anything like this before. Thinking back on it makes me cry because I was so scared for so long. I was given strength that wasn't my own, and through prayer we have survived this scary situation. I just continue to pray that it won't come back and that Daxton and Ella and Cameron will heal entirely and the sickness won't plague our family any more. However, this experience has forced me out of my comfort zone. I was forced to start driving and to talk to people. Don't even get me started on driving over here because it is insane. I think I have seen most of Brussels now-not by choice mind you-I've been lost just about every time I've been behind the wheel. It's been a wild ride, and I hope it will soon be over so we can actually enjoy being here.

Thanks to all of you for your thoughts and prayers. This experience has strengthened my testimony and I am able to see things so differently-see the things that really matter. I suppose that's what life is all about-you have to experience the bad to appreciate the good. I like the good.

One more note-America rocks.

The pictures above are of our family in Tervuren Park, Daxton giving his"look", Ella in the tub, and the boys eating crepes for breakfast (can't get enough!)

Love you all!