I kicked off our weekend with some Thermomix buttermilk blueberry pancakes topped with Michelle and Grant’s homemade blackberry jam. We caught the metro to the European Parliament district in Maelbeek valley, and while the sun was out we took a quick stroll through Parc Léopold. The Park contains such treasures as a rare Oriental plane tree, the remains of the fifteenth century Eggevoort castle, as well as the Royal Museum of Natural Science.

Forsaking the Iguanodons this time around, we head over to the Parliamentarium, the new €21 million high-tech EU visitors’ center that opened October 2011. The touch-screen audio devices are available in 23 different languages, and a triggered by placing them within close proximity to your display of interest. For a subject matter that could be quite dry, the curators have managed to bring the history of Europe alive with interactive displays that include a long corridor traversing the history of Europe, a 360 degree film on the parliament, an huge map to explore with trolleys that play short clips about various regions, and an expansive lounge room with interviews of European citizens.

After a lunch of frites and a long afternoon nap, we headed out for Lapin à la gueuz (Rabbit in cherry beer gravy) at Le Forestier, followed by a marionette performance of The Passion at Théâtre de Toone. I had assumed that since I was familliar with the plot, I would be able to follow the story, even though I don’t speak Bruxellois (a dialect mixture of Flemish and French). I was mistaken. The story was told from the perspective of Judas, who was portrayed as a drunk man wandering through the Sablon and the Grand Place, with a cameo by St Michael, the patron saint of Brussels. Hayden loved it, refusing to sleep and staring with wonder at the puppets on the screen. He probably understood more of the Dutch than we did.

We took him back home after intermission and left Grant and Michelle to enjoy the Grand Place.

On Sunday we went to the Midi Markets for a brunch of Moroccan pancakes filled with honey, cheese, and marinated vegetables. Michelle hung out with Hayden and told him a story about a certain caterpillar with a bit of an appetite.

We finished up the weekend with a trip to the Sky Cafe at the Royal Museum of the Army and of Military History. Hayden sat in his first pilot’s seat but looked a little overwhelmed at the responsibility. After a few rounds of bowling, dinner was Ethiopian, which Hayden loved because it meant that everyone was eating with his hands, just like him.

He claps at every opportunity, even using it to self-soothe during a traumatic experience such as having his nappy changed. He will now tolerate having his nose cleaned, simply blowing a raspberry to register his disgust. His new pet peeve is lying on his back, which means that I now have to attempt to dress him while his is clambering around on the floor. This is especially difficult now that the crèche has suggested that he might find it easier to crawl if I stopped dressing him in one-piece rompers and started putting him in pants and a top. Boo.

He loves to eat solids, and is happy to be either spoon-fed (opening his mouth up like a baby bird) or feed himself. His favourite foods include strawberries, bread, lettuce, quorn, and cheese. He likes clearing his plate, even if that means deliberately dropping food onto the floor rather than placing it in his mouth. After a serious post-meal clean-up, we often read a book together. Hayden enjoys turning the pages in both directions, which means that often the story progresses in a very non-linear fashion.

Hayden and I have both had constant runny noses and coughs this month, but he still generally slept through the night, after a dreamfeed and bottle around 10pm. Hayden will now only breastfeed when he is asleep, he much prefers a bottle when he is alert.

Adrian continuous to be an amazing father. I swan off to work most mornings leaving Adrian to feed and change the baby, then take him on the train then on bus to the crèche, only to turn around a few hours later to pick him up and take him home again. If Adrian goes off for a few drinks with his colleagues he always takes Hayden with him, which gives me the evening alone to socialise or to relax with a long hot bath. Even on the weekends Adrian is now in charge of most of the feeding, though I must admit he is terrible at getting Hayden to fall asleep as the little bear is usually too excited to calm down and close his eyes.

My two guys make me laugh and smile every day. It is wonderful to see more of Hayden’s happy and chipper personality emerge every day.

Today Adrian celebrated his birthday with TinTin, Dr Seuss, Mint nudges, beer and chocolate cake, phone calls, and kisses.

Adrian has achieved many extraordinary accomplishments this year. A last author paper in Nature Immunology, the recruitment and retention of some fantastic lab members, and numerous grants, all the while being an astonishingly hands-on, involved, and superfun dad and husband.

Some friends came over for a playdate and to share some cake with us – thanks to Michael for snapping this shot.

Happy Birthday Adrian.

Hayden is a delight. He laughs often, especially when Adrian holds him up like a plane or when I make silly noises with my mouth. He has started taking an interest in books, slapping the pages and trying to eat the spines while we read him Where Is The Green Sheep or Fox in Socks. He loves the songs that we sing which, that range from Adrian Originals (“Velocobear has a fearsome nose/ Velocobear has fungusy toes/ Velocobear is in need of a hose/ ‘Cause Velocobear don’t smell like a rose”) to Play School Favourites (“…but the one little duck with a feather on her back, she led the others with a quack quack quack…”).

He has two little teeth and his hair is starting to get a little longer. He has all of a sudden decided that he likes food, after all. He especially loves bread and fruit and Greek yogurt, and will also eat vegetables and avocado. After a few months of resistance he now likes to be spoon fed, and will open up his mouth wide like a little baby bird. I also give him lots of food to play with while we are having our meal. He will feed himself bread and baby biscuits, but he prefers to squish softer foods in between his fingers than put them in his mouth.

He shows no interest in crawling, though he will spin on his belly to get something that he wants. He now wants everything, and will get upset if I take something out of his grasp. He has started reaching for the kittens, but they always stay tantalisingly out of reach. The crèche also tells us that he is starting to get upset when Adrian leaves. He also gets very cranky when we clean his nose. Happily no infections or illnesses this month (even with a trip to India).

Hayden is also rolling from front to back to front, and pushing himself up with his arms. He loves his jumperoo, but hates solids. I continue to breastfeed him in the morning and night, with formula during the day. The carers at his creche patiently feed him potatoes and fruit, half-teaspoonfuls at a time. He will happily chew on an antibacterial towelette if given half the chance, but if he puts so much of a grain of rice into his mouth he looks completely disgusted. So at home we are sticking with milk for nourishment, and we offer him food from our plate during meals for fun.

He loves looking at photos of himself and chatting with the other baby in the mirror. Whenever he sees my phone he starts mashing at it until I turn on the forward-facing camera so that he can drown in his reflection. No stranger anxiety yet – he will beam at all kinds of strangers, though I like to think that he saves his biggest smiles for us.

He can sit unassisted for a reasonable time, and at 70 cm long and 9.1 kg is starting to outgrow his 9-12 month old clothing. We continue to be very lucky with his health, with no major illnesses this month. He is full of smiles and laughter, and I am so glad that he is our little piglet.

This is Hayden on the day we brought him home, a ten minute stroll across the park from the hospital:

He loved his little snug cocoon – as a newborn it was one of the only places he would sleep (as long as it was in motion), and while travelling, he much preferred to sleep in it overnight than the travel crib.

However, I finally had to admit to myself that he had outgrown the cocoon, and it was time to switch the buggy into a chair and turn it around to face the world. Adrian was still in denial, telling me that he was still a baby bear, and surely too little for a big bear chair. Hayden seemed a bit apprehensive about the upgrade.

With a foot muff combined with a stroller snug sack from mum, he is still plenty snug on his daily commute, and Hayden soon warmed up to this arrangement.

I put in huge chunks of broccoli and carrot, and after five seconds of chopping, they came out looking like this:

I removed the veggies, and then Thermie chopped and sauteed the garlic and onion before I added the rest of the ingredients (substituting 500g minced beef for 300g tofu mince and 200g chopped veggies, and adding an extra 70g of tomato paste), then Thermie mixed them all up for 35 minutes while I was out of the kitchen.

I was very happy with the result, and we had enough for two more huge serves of leftovers. It wasn’t as tomatoey as I am used to with a jar of sauce, but it tasted great and I think it will make it into the weekly rotation.

For dessert I made rice pudding, which was pretty good. I think some extra sultanas or other dried fruit would have made it more interesting.

I am glad that I had a few successes under my belt, because the next night was a bit of a disaster. I tried to cook cookie1′s Bacon Leek and Tomato Risotto without the bacon. Once again I was impressed with how quickly it is to convert whole vegetables into diced ingredients (obviously I have never owned a food processor before).

One second later…

However, in my hands this risotto came out too runny and very bland. I think the next time I will increase the rice to 230g, and maybe add some truffle oil or stronger cheese or sundried tomatoes to give it a bit more flavour.

I mixed some eggs into the leftover risotto mix and the next night I made fried rice cakes with Simone’s Mushroom and Wine Sauce. Edible, but also not one to be repeated.

At least Thermie is easy to clean at the end of the night.

Next week I’m going to try Phad Thai and Aloo Gobi.

Another great thing is that the recipes are so easy to follow – “cook for 3:00 minutes at 90 degrees at speed 4″. The instructions read like a science protocol, but have so far been far more forgiving in my hands than a Western Blot. My aim is to have a healthy meal on the table 30 minutes after I’ve first stepped into the kitchen. At the moment I make dinner most nights with the use of pre-cut veggies and pre-made sauces. With the Thermomix, I hope to improve on old favourites (like spaghetti bolognaise with home-made sauce) as well as utilise this machine to expand my repertoire (like risotto).

For my first meal, I was looking for something simple and easy that would also take full advantage of all the capabilities of the machine. I decided on “Bangers and Mash” from Full Little Tummies. While the onion/garlic/mushroom gravy is being blended and heated in the mixing bowl, the steam from the process cooks the potatoes in the rice basket, and the (vegetarian) sausages and vegetables in the steamer Varoma unit on top. It was great to hear little Thermie working diligently away in the kitchen while I was able to chat with Adrian and play with Hayden. The instructions were so precise and easy to follow – never has it been easier to add exactly 50 grams of butter and cook at exactly 100 degrees, and the meal came our tasting delicious. The potatoes were especially nice – for the first time I produced perfectly steamed tots bursting with flavour. I think next time I would thicken up the sauce with a little more corn flour, but I think this dish will enter our weekly rotation.

For dessert I made custard from scratch (milk, egg, flour, sugar, vanilla) in seven minutes. It was even easier than using custard powder. So far, Thermie is two for two.

Snow falling by our apartment in Leuven, February 2009

In February 2009 we migrated to Belgium, the heart of Europe. We spent the first six months in Leuven in a central semi-furnished apartment. Adrian was able to enjoy a short commute to work, but we found the weekends a little too quiet in this student town. I obtained permanent residency and started my new job as an epidemiologist in April. We bought our first apartment together in July, and became Brusselaars / Bruxellois. In August 2009, PepperMint expanded our family from two to four. Our son was born in Brussels in July 2011.

We still love living here. Brussels continues to feel exotic and romantic. We both enjoy our jobs, and we have met some really great people. Belgium offers a great base to explore countries from Azerbaijan to Iceland to Wales.

My biggest frustration continues to be with the language. I had assumed that after three years of living here I would be fluent in French. I have taken group lessons, I have taken one-on-one lessons, I have participated in language exchange meetings, I have listened to podcasts, I have watched movies, I have listened to radio, I have completed verb text books, I have talked to neighbours, shopkeepers, strangers. Every hour that I spend learning French feels like a horrid struggle. I do not enjoy learning another language. I assumed that once I got to a certain level, I would start having fun. I have not yet reached that level. I am constantly in awe of everyone else around me who is effortlessly multilingual, when I can’t even understand my neighbour in the elevator. This is the one thing that really makes me feel apart from everyone else I see on the street, I am not a true resident of this quarter. It also makes it almost impossible to call up anyone from the electricity company to the local government. I am dreading the process of enrolling Hayden in kindergarten in September.

Happily, two of the aspects of Belgium that I complained about last year - the lack of government and the smoking in pubs – have now been rectified. Plus they even opened the shops on Sundays during the January and July sales.

On 30 May 2011, Adrian’s brother Russell had an accident and passed away on the first day of his holiday in North America. Such a shock, a such great loss, such a gap left in the world by this energetic and generous man. We last saw Russell in 2009 when he joined us for a trip through the UK.

On 30 July 2011, baby Hayden was born. The first four months were tough, but now he has matured into a delightful little guy. He is full of smiles and always talking, so snugly and cute. I have watched Adrian become a great daddy, and I am at my happiest when the whole family is together.

Adrian and I also celebrated publications, promotions, grants, bonuses, and awards, travelled to Cyprus and Malta for our babymoon, and showed baby Hayden the countries of Norway, the Netherlands, England, Australia, Singapore and Indonesia.

The events of last year remind me to treasure every moment that I have with my family. After so many years of effort and struggle – finishing a PhD, completing a post-doc, moving to a new country, purchasing an apartment, acquiring a MPH, attaining a permanent position, and achieving a successful pregnancy, I think it is time to slow down. 2012 will be a year of resting on my laurels.

There is a “front door rule” that means that the position of the front door determines whether a house is classified as being in Belgium or the Netherlands. The nationality of the home is also indicated by a flag next to the house number. We visited the house in which the border goes straight through the middle of the door, and thus has two addresses (and two doorbells):

Loveren 2
2387 Baarle-Hertog
Belgium

and

Loveren 19
5111 Baarle-Nassau
The Netherlands

There was even a divisive border across my lunch, separating the savoury cheese and potato pancake from the sweet cherry crepe. I ate each in isolation and they were delicious.

Plus, JT hand-delivered to us a delicious Black & White cookie, all the way from New York City. Hayden is still too little, so I ate it for him.

Then I went back to work and he went off to creche. For the first time in his life he saw more of Adrian than he did of me. Adrian was the one dressing him, feeding him, changing him, and playing with him on the long commute to and from work. Often Hayden and Adrian would have dinner together in Leuven before heading home. This was a great relief, as I had so much on my plate already as I was trying to figure out how to balance my new busy life.

I’m not sure if it’s just maturation, or the beneficial influence of the Flemish creche, or a combination of the two, but Hayden is now a much happier and calmer baby. A lot of the time he is quite happy to entertain himself by playing with his hands – watching in fascination as they furl and unfurl, or trying to interlace the two together.

He is now a joy to be with (most of the time). Adrian and I both feel a lot more attached to him, with his big toothless smiles that greet us everytime we pick him up. Measuring 67 cm and 7.5 kg, he is growing quickly and now wearing 6-12 month old clothing.

He is holding his head up and will turn onto his side by holding his legs in the pike position and then flopping over. He is also babbling constantly and wants to join in with all our conversations.