Look at that Nose!

I had another doctor's appointment at the end of August. I am now 28 weeks along (6 1/2 months). In Belgium, at each doctor's visit we have a sonogram. So every 4 weeks we get to see Phoebe. My mom told me that when she was pregnant with me she prayed that I wouldn't get the nose from my dad's side of the family. From pictures I have seen, my grandfather's nose was very large and distinctive. As an answer to all of her prayers, I arrived with a small little button nose! Well, I have felt the need to say the same prayers for our little one. Hary's family also has very distinctive noses. So at this last visit when the sonogram was done, the doctor spent some time showing me Phoebe's little face. She is getting close to 3 pounds now and has started gaining fat and you can now see cute little cheeks in the sonogram. And as you can see the profile revealed that she too has a cute little nose. God does hear the prayers of mother's for their daughters about their noses. 2 generations have proven this effective!!

She's Getting Her Own Wheels...

Baby things are expensive anywhere, but on this side of the ocean the prices are higher than imaginable. Since a stroller is a necessity in world of metros, buses and trams, we needed to make sure that Phoebe had one of her own. Several offered to give her a used one, but each one that we looked at had broken wheels or something that would fall off or apart after 2 more uses. So I found this stroller system online at Wal-Mart. Thanks to a bunch of beautiful children at my home church who gave us a gift, we were able to use their money to pay for more than half of the stroller price. And our new friend who is coming to work with us on September 6 is going to try and bring it out to her on the airplane. So if everything works out as planned, Phoebe will have her own set of wheels!

Gifts for Everyone...

It is tradition in Arabic culture that families will come to visit the new little baby when she arrives at the house and that the new parents need to give each person some kind of little memento when they visit. These gifts can range from the inexpensive to the very costly. However, in most cases, the little gifts are not something that visitors would want to hang on to. So with the help of my mom, we are giving out little booties that she made and that are stuffed with chocolates and candies. When Phoebe is born, we will write her birthday under her name on the little card and put that in the bootie as well. It is also tradition to have plates of fresh baked goods and a variety of nuts to serve the guests. So part of my "nesting" period of pregnancy has been to make and freeze all kinds of cookie doughs.

Like Mother Like Daughter...

My mom has been going through my baby things that she saved. She found several little dresses that have kept well through the years. This is one of the little dresses that I wore in picture that was taken of me when I was 8 weeks old. My mom washed it up and sent it to me. I am so excited to see Phoebe in this little dress when she is just a few months!

A Space of Her Own...

We live on the second floor of the building we work in, so it is basically like an apartment space. There is a living room, kitchen, dinning room, bathroom and one bedroom on our floor. So in preparation for Phoebe, we had to find some space for her. Our bedroom wasn't large enough to fit much more than our bed and dresser. So a few months back we swapped the bedroom and the dinning room (which is pretty large). So on one half of the room is our bedroom space and here is a picture of the space we have prepared for Phoebe. So far we haven't had to buy very much in this photo. We have received hand-me-downs from friends and those Hary has worked for including the bed and bassinet. So I have been cleaning, disinfecting and washing all the clothes and things loaned to her from friends. And because I love Classic Winnie the Pooh, we have a few decorations that were made before we knew she was a "she". So now Phoebe has a space all her own.