Normandy

We had the opportunity to go to France for a few days last week. We spent two days driving and three days exploring. On our first day of exploring we went to the Normandy American Cemetery and Memorial. Words cannot describe how we felt as we toured the visitor center, the cemetery, and the surrounding beaches. We are definitely blessed to have and to have had many brave men and women whom have sacrificed much (if not all) for our freedoms. I'd like to quote a line from one of the films we watched at the visitor center: "These young men gave up their futures to ensure our future". As we visited Normandy we were able to be reminded of and gain a greater appreciation for the many sacrifices that have been made and will continue to be made in our behalf.

Here we are exploring Omaha Beach - one of the beaches where U.S., British, and Canadian troops landed on June 6, 1944:

A few pictures of the cemetery where 9, 387 are buried:

Pictures of the chapel:

The chapel has a beautiful mosaic ceiling that shows America blessing her sons and a grateful France placing a laurel wreath on the American dead:

The Memorial:

The Garden of the Missing - engraved tablets honor the MIAs:

We then drove to the Pointe de Hoc Monument. We walked around this area for a bit. We were able to learn some more history, as I don't remember learning about this particular attack in my history books. There are several original fortifications and lots of bomb craters that have been left untouched. The monument: The cliffs the soldiers scaled:

Courtesy of Rachel:

Rachel insisted on Andy taking a picture with her with one foot up: From Pointe de Hoc we drove to Arromanches. We were able to see the remains of the Mulberry Harbour. A pretty amazing artificial military harbour that was built to help get supplies to the Allied Forces while they were invading France.

Rachel was as happy as a clam playing at the beach. We weren't expecting such warm weather, but enjoyed it nonetheless! :)

Our first day of adventures was definitely a busy one, but well worth the experience. Now on to day two, once I get through all the pictures... :)

Sleepless Nights

Audrey has been out of sorts now for several days. She's finally gotten rid of her temperature, but she's still not sleeping or napping well. It looks to us like she's getting some top teeth. We will have to see... But, I wanted to share something with you all that I came across tonight. Audrey has her 9-month check-up tomorrow morning. I was gathering everything I'd need for the appointment including her "Growth Book". It's really a nice book the Dutch have put together that keeps track of each appointment and gives advice at certain ages. So, I was reading through some of the 9-month advice and got a good laugh.

And I quote (referring to sleepless nights): "Try to be clear and let him know that the night is for sleeping in his own bed. This phase might take some time. If it really wears you out, then don't hesitate to organise for your child to sleep over at someone else's home for a while."

Does anyone else find that absolutely ridiculous? First of all, my child is my responsibility (especially in the middle of the night) and not someone else's. Secondly, who would want to put their friend through such torture? I guess a friend that you don't mind losing as a friend... And lastly, would you really sleep better knowing your baby was screaming away at someone else's home?

It's times like these that I'm grateful I had Rachel in good, old America and have 18 months of advice from my American pediatrician. Seriously, I know the Dutch probably have some good ideas, but this one I just think is absolutely ridiculous!

He's a hunk!

Here's a conversation I had with Rachel last Thursday after we had said good-bye to Andy as he left for work:

Rachel: I like Daddy.

Me: Oh, why do you like Daddy?

Rachel: Because he's a hunk!

I quickly opened up the door and got Andy's attention. I told him what his daughter had just called him and asked him if he had been brainwashing her! :) He denied telling Rachel he was a hunk. This past weekend it finally came to me where Rachel got the word "hunk" from. About a month ago I purchased The Little Rascals movie for 4 euros. Rachel has watched it probably a dozen times and is quite obsessed with it. And if I remember correctly there's a part in the movie where a little girl calls a boy a hunk. So, mystery solved! Andy better enjoy these days while his daughter thinks he's a hunk... :)

3/4 of a year

Audrey is 9 months old today. She weighs 16 pounds, 6 ounces and is 26.75 inches tall. Audrey is quite the busy girl. Her favorite thing to do is empty things out. Here she is at our hotel earlier this week emptying out the cooler and diaper bag - she was in heaven:Currently, she is sleeping horribly. We don't have any trips planned in the near future, so hopefully we can work with her a bit on that. Audrey's still taking two naps a day, bedtime is around 8:30, and she usually wakes up for the day around 7:30. She loves to play with her toys and is getting a bit more mobile. She scoots around on her bum quite a bit and she can army crawl backwards. So, she usually ends up quite frustrated when she gets stuck:
One of these days she'll figure out how to move herself forward. :) Audrey still just has her front two teeth, but we believe she's working on some more. She's learned quite a few tricks recently. She loves to talk, let out random screams, wave, point, bang toys together, and play peek-a-boo.

Audrey definitely keeps us smiling. One of these days I'll get a cute 9-month picture of her and add it to the post! :)

Pigtails

You know when you were growing up and your parents would say something to you like - "I hope you have a child just like you some day!"? Well, I definitely see traits of myself in both of my girls. One thing that I have gone down in history for is my insistence on having my hair in pigtails every single day when I was around 4 years old. My ever faithful mother would put the few strands of hair I had into pigtails pretty much every day. Well, probably about 2 months ago Rachel was talking to her Papa Michaelson on skype. Rachel had her hair in pigtails and her papa told her how much he liked pigtails and how pretty she looked. He then went on to tell Rachel that her mommy used to always want to have her hair in pigtails. So, now it's my turn to have a little girl who wants her hair in pigtails pretty much every day. Thanks Dad! :) The only way I'm able to talk her out of it is if we're in a rush and I don't have time for pigtails. Otherwise, pigtails it is. At first the reason was because "Papa likes them", but now she doesn't give me any reason at all. I guess what goes around comes around and really there could be worse things... :)

My New Addiction...

Some friends had us over for dinner about a week ago and introduced us to this flavor of yogurt that we had never tried. I cannot get enough of it! Andy compares it to the flavor of a creamsicle. I'm not a huge fan of creamsicles, so I think it tastes a lot better than that. I've heard several people comment in the past 2 years about how when they move back to the U.S. they will miss the Dutch yogurt. I don't mind the Dutch yogurt, but I'm a huge Yoplait fan, so I've never really had the same thoughts. Well, now I do! When we head back to the U.S. I am definitely going to miss the Spaanse Sinaasappel yogurt. I've been having it for an after-dinner snack practically every night. It's better for me than ice cream, right?

Twinners

Audrey and Rachel have grandmas who spoil them rotten! When I was in California my mom sent me home with these matching outfits for the girls. Rachel has been so anxious to be able to wear her new outfit and have her sister match her. I figure I better go along with it while she's willing - one day it won't be so cool for her little sister to match. So, finally the weather was cool enough yesterday for me to cave. The high was 64 degrees with lots of rain and wind. The hoods proved very useful as we walked home from the store in the rain last night. I hadn't planned very well because the sun was shining when we headed to the store, so luckily the girls had their hoods. Andy and I got a bit wet, but it's better us than them... We also got to see a rainbow as we walked home from the store - Rachel was so excited! :)

You've Trained Her Well

Those were the words Andy said to me late last night - referring to Rachel. When he told me that, the first thought that popped into my head was, "what did Rachel do that impressed Andy tonight?". I was thinking maybe she went to bed really easy for him, or maybe she did a good job of helping Andy clean up after dinner, or maybe she helped out with Audrey. I didn't know... Andy watched the girls last night while I got a chance to go to Enrichment. Anyhow, here's the conversation Andy had and why he told me I've trained her well:

Rachel: Audrey is very cute.

Andy: You're right and you are very cute as well.

Rachel: Mommy's beautiful.

Andy: Mommy is beautiful and what am I? (I think Andy was hoping for handsome)

Rachel (without skipping a beat): You're lucky!

Andy: Oh, why am I lucky?

Rachel: Because you have 3 girls!

Too funny! I'm sure I've told Rachel before that Andy is lucky, but it's not something we talk about on a daily basis. I love being a mom and that Rachel thinks I'm beautiful. I was thinking about it this morning and decided that when you are a mom, you can guarantee at least a couple people in the world think you're beautiful. Hopefully your husband is one of those! :) But I definitely think children always think their mom's beautiful. I think and have always thought that my mom's beautiful and will always think so as well. Being a mom definitely has some perks! :)

Joy School

Rachel started Joy School today. She was so excited! She has been talking about being able to go to school for quite some time now. As we walk to one of Rachel's favorite parks we walk right past a Dutch school. She loves to see the kids outside playing or hear the school bell ring. At first she would talk about how she would go to that school when she turns 5, but I've told her she's going to go to a different school in Texas. So, whenever we walk by the school we have a conversation about the school in Texas she'll go to. Technically I could put her in Dutch preschool here, but I don't see the point of her learning Dutch since we are headed home at the end of the school year. E&Y won't foot the bill for the International School until Rachel's 4 and I'm not paying thousands of dollars on my own for preschool. So, Joy School is going to be a wonderful alternative. Next school year, in Texas, she can go to a preschool to get ready for the full-day kindergarten she'll have when she's 5. Rachel has two classmates, Ashley and Hannah. They have already had lots of time playing together, so they are quite comfortable with one another. The mothers are going to take turns each week teaching the children. Rachel will have school every Wednesday and Friday for roughly 2 hours. I got to be a fly on the wall today. Miss Lisa, Hannah's mother, was the teacher today, but it was hosted at our house. It was fun to watch Rachel interact with her peers. I'm looking forward to what the year has in store for Rachel! Here she is all excited for her first day:

Rachel's first school art project:

It's Official...

We (well, really Andy, but it's a package deal) have signed our lives away for another 7 months. We were technically supposed to be headed home November 1st, but Andy was asked to extend. So, we are now going to be out here until May 31st. Andy called me early this afternoon right before he signed the letter and sent it off to get my final approval. I told him there's no turning back now since we've booked our flights for a trip to Italy in March. So, we'll have another long winter here in Holland but it will help that we get to go home for Christmas this year. The past two Christmases we've spent here in Holland. We are looking forward to the opportunity to do some more traveling and spend some more time with our friends here. We're sure the next 9 months will fly by and before we know it we'll be headed home, so we need to make the most of the time we have left! :)