Happy Early Valentine's Day!

Alexis and I will be traveling for the next few weeks. Back in the fall, Scott thought it would be best if Alexis and I went back to the U.S. sometime in the winter to get out of the cold. It's not that we can't handle the cold but it's more to get us out of the house. Remember, I don't have a car so if we want to go anywhere Mon.-Fri. we have to walk. With the cold wind and misty rain hitting you, it just isn't fun. Being couped up in the house all day gets old.

It didn't work out with Scott's work for him to come along with us for the first leg of my trip so, it will just be us girls. With "us girls" I mean...me, Alexis and Shannon. Shannon is the best friend a girl can have. She agreed to come out to Belgium, spend a few days here and then fly back with me so I wouldn't have to do the 10 hour flight by myself. I might have bribed her with European Twix...just kidding.

Of course when Shannon comes out we choose not to stay in Brugge. We're taking a side trip to the South of France before we head off over the water.

I'll be spending 2 weeks in south GA with my parents. It's weird to think this is the longest I will have been back home since I was 21! The 3rd week, Scott's flying out and we'll fly to Colorado together to spend a week nestled in a cabin in the Rocky Mountains. Happy Early Anniversary to us! This also ensures that I will have Scott flying back with me.

The only thing I have to do is go through ATL security by myself with Alexis when meeting up with Scott to go to Colorado. I hope the TSA people are nice as I hoist the stroller, car seat and hand luggage onto the belt. I should wish for patience for the people behind me too!

Until next time!

Oh, Alexis' lip has healed well and she appears to have no memory of the event. Whoo hoo!

Sunday Bloody Sunday

Let's all sing the U2 song. But now let's say Saturday......Bloody....Saturday because that's how our Saturday started out.

Alexis was sooo excited to show Scott how fast she can crawl these days. This time she slipped (a combination of slippery socks and pants) and down she went. When she slipped she fell down hard onto a baseboard and split her lip open. We managed to compose ourselves and stopped the bleeding and attempted to ice it (impossible with a 8 3/4 month old). After lots of tears and screams on Alexis' part she's now all better....just a fat lip.

Scott and I however are scarred from the experience and feel like losers of parents...even though there was nothing we could have done to prevent it. We went to the grocery store later that morning and were surprised to find they were offering free shots of Jagermeister. Yes, that's right, our grocery store had a Jagermeister stand at 10AM on a Saturday morning. We couldn't help ourselves and each took one to numb our pain a little.



If this shows us anything it's that our first aid kit for babies is not probably equipped. We didn't have a syringe to clean the wound, no baby Neosporin like cream, etc. I'll be stocking up on that stuff when I'm back in the U.S. next week.



Still feeling guilty we went to the toy store and bought Alexis a new toy. We might have went overboard on our "We're sorry" present so we combined it with her Valentine's gift.

You know we feel bad if we buy stuff in Euro. We never buy anything over here.





This week besides her busted lip event she crawled up a flight of stairs. (With me directly behind her) It was the stairs that lead to the 4th floor which are the more American like stairs. She doesn't really fit on the European stairs so she doesn't want anything to do with those. She likes exploring around and pulling up on everything. I called it a few posts ago that she'd crawl up the stairs soon so I'm gonna go out on a limb and say she'll be walking soon too. This is such a fun age!

Hanging out the other day!

The ghost is back!

Since we moved in I've always thought our house was haunted. I've written about it in other posts such as: things going missing, the stove being turned on and such. Then there was the time Shannon saw an orb-like presence in a secret room in our cellar. (I haven't been down there since) I like to think they are friendly ghosts that like to play tricks on us. They've laid low for a year but now they are back.

I have a missing Miracle Blade knife. No, really...I can't find it anywhere. I don't take the knifes out of the kitchen area. I've looked in every drawer and it's no where to be found. I'm open to the possibility that it was thrown away but I just can't imagine that. Now I live in fear that the ghost has my knife and is going to kill me. smirk.

Just this morning Scott called and said, "When I went to the car this morning all the windows we out." I said, "out...as in broken?" He responded with, "that's what I thought at first but they were just down...the front ones and the back ones." How does that happen. I'm nosey and am always looking out our windows onto the street. I specifically remember seeing are car on numerous occasions yesterday afternoon...WITH THE WINDOWS UP! Before Scott hung up he said...must be the ghost.....or a faulty key. I went on line and discovered that if you hold the LOCK button down long enough all of the windows go down. Remember, I drove yesterday so my key was sitting out on the counter all night. Mischievous ghosts.

At least it snowed after Scott got the windows up!

Being a Mom...

There's a change that happens after you become a mom. It's deeper than the physical changes taking place with your body. It's an emotional change. Before my new title I could listen to headline news and not be phased. I'd just brush anything off. Now, things hit home more.


This past week a completely devastating event happened not too far from our home. I can't write too much about it because my heart can't handle it. I literally feel sick to my stomach.


A man walked into a daycare center about 35 minutes away from my house. He was dressed up as the joker. He walked in with a knife and killed 3 people and mutilated 12 babies. Babies Alexis' age. Click here for more details. We know more details that aren't told in that article and I shake as I think about those poor babies and their parents.


Never take a single moment for granted.

Driving - Attempt #24

Yes, that's right. I'm "learning" to drive the stick shift again. Before when I was trying to learn I was just too nervous and really didn't feel I needed to learn. I was fine on my own two feet. But, the moment Alexis was born I started telling Scott that I'm ready to drive. He's said, "Why now after 2 years?" I told him someone depends on me now. If I needed to go to the hospital, doctor or grocery store immediately I needed to be able to get in the car and go. A bus, taxi or my feet would take too long. Each month for 8 months now I've asked Scott if he wants to go driving today and he always avoided that question like I avoided 2 years ago. Being honest, I think he was scared for his new car and his new precious cargo, Alexis. But, this weekend he asked me if I wanted to go driving. I said "sure" with such confidence that he was kind taken by surprise. Here's a re-cap of what transpired next:

Lacy: "you ready?"
Scott: "what, now?" (I sensed through his tone he had regrets of asking.)

Lacy: "hey, look I have the car key on my key ring. Scott, I'll go warm up the car. How do I do that?"
Scott: (really worried tone) "ummm. unlock it, then put the car in neutral and hold the brake and put on the parking brake, then put the key in and press start."
Lacy: ok (I took off with such confidence...then I pressed what I thought was the unlock button and POP went the trunk..laugh. I followed Scott's instructions and back went rolling the car. I quickly pressed the brake and put the parking brake on. Close call!)

Scott: (after buckling Alexis' car seat in) "Umm, are you going to drive us out of the city?"
Lacy: "Yeah, hop in!"
Scott: " Are you sure you don't want a refresher course? You know you've never driven this car...it has a bigger engine and a different clutch."
Lacy: " I don't need a refresher, let's just go."
Scott: " Hold on. Put the clutch in and practice shifting through the gears first."
Lacy: "1st....2nd....3rd....4th....5th....hey this car has 6 gears."
Scott: "Now for reverse" (He put my hand on the gear shift and guided it to reverse)

Five minutes have past

Lacy: "ok, forget reverse....I just won't back up." (Apparently, BMW has a tricky reverse and I never really found it after trying by myself for sometime. Scott made me quit b/c he thought I was going to break it)
Scott: "sigh"

Scott: "Now rev the engine to 1500 rpms and slowly let out the clutch."
Lacy: "What, this thing that says 1.5?"
Scott" "deep sigh"

We make our way 1/2 way out of the city and I pulled over because there were too many pedestrians and too many bike riders out. My goal was to drive us to the gas station but hey, safety first right?

Scott safely pumped the gas (I pumped gas for the first time in three years a few weekends ago when we were going to see Shannon and Josh and that's a another blog...I'm on pumping restriction after that comical event.) and then he drove us to the back roads of Belgium where I take the wheel again.

Lacy: " Why do you always put me on these two lane roads but really only one car can fit."
Scott: "practice"
Lacy: " Look at this rude guy behind me. He's really on my tail."
Scott: " don't pay attention to him."
Lacy: "SCOTT, he just waved his hand in the air and mouthed something to me."
Scott: " Just watch the road..I'll take care of it."

Scott then imitates the guy and waved his hand at him. I have never seen Scott be that aggressive toward anything. It was really funny.

I'll stop there but we had a really successful driving lesson. I even put Alexis to sleep. Scott says I'm a slow, smooth driver. But, I need to get faster...and keep the smoothness.

His goal is for me to drive him to the airport in April but I'm thinking his work is a good goal.