It's been a long time. To my horror - but not astonishment - apparently the last time I updated this space was January of this year. Requests for updates with pictures have become less and less frequent and are now almost nil. Rightfully so, friends and family have given up. An update of my academic antics will follow, but for now I thought my faithful, patient readers might enjoy a little visual updates of the persons we around here tend to refer to as the hooligans. These were taken quite recently by the best photographer in the house (not me).














Isabella loves drawing, singing, dressing up, being read to and reading, letters, numbers, colors, acorns, leaves, rocks... and is a constant source of fascination to her brother. Here they are together. Bella turned 2 in June and we were in Vienna for that, which was simply lovely.





















Here she is combining dressing up with another favorite activity: building towers.















And the Ben Ben would spend all day on a swing if he possibly could. I wouldn't mind actually. At least he'd be in one contained space. He began crawling much sooner than common sense would seem to dictate and climbs with that particular kind of speed and recklessness that chills the parent's heart. What you can't see here is that he has 6 teeth, with more on the way. What you can see is that he has a glorious smile.

We're enjoying the Autumn/Fall, with as many trips to the park as the weather allows. Now that I've met a bunch of October deadlines for various pieces of writing, and given all the conference presentations of this semester, I've eased up a bit on the pace of everyday academic work, but that will change within the next few days as I start on a whole new batch of projects.

Jo's parents came to help while I was away for 5 days in Jerusalem (more about that next update and giving another paper here in Leuven: a Godsend. Unfortunately, I left with a cold/flu that I had passed on to the kids before departure. I came home to sick kids and tired grandparents and daddy. While they were here we went to the fabulous new museum in Leuven (opened in September), to see this exhibition.

And the washing-machine broke the day before I left. I'm still catching up on laundry, but that's nothing terribly new.

A little late, but here's an update

Readers all,
Somehow time has flown again. We're all well here and feel rather entrenched in 2009 already.

Christmas was lovely, especially because the beautiful Bella thoroughly enjoyed it all. It's still hard for me to say whether she was more disappointed when we took down the tree than we were at no longer having the prospect every day of seeing her face light up when we switched on its little fairy lights.




















Jo only had Christmas Day and New Year's Day off, so our lives continued apace in-between everything. We also all managed to sustain a cold for quite some time, which made me reticent to admit, until about a week beforehand, that I should really do something about Christmas. We had an Advent wreath that we only occasionally remembered to light; but then we found a tree at the Christmas market and once that was inside and gradually decorated, things started to feel a bit more festive.

We had celebrated St. Nicholas's feast-day with Isabella on the 6th of December. She loved it, although she was startlingly non-nonplussed by the fact that our shoes were on the coffee table with clementines and speculoos inside. She received some books and other little items that day.

On Christmas Eve we had our little family celebration, all dressed up. On Christmas Day we had a big meal with a few friends. Here are Bella and I at the end of the day.























Now we're slowly getting ready for the arrival of the next little Kohler-Ryan, due on February 6th. I finished working for the KU Leuven in the middle of this week. It's a strange feeling, after being an assistant at the university for 7 years and affiliated with the Institute of Philosophy in particular ever since I arrived here in September of 1997. I'm keeping well, although I'm of course heavier now, a bit more tired, and have a slightly sore back. All in all though, all four of us are keeping very well, and at least two of us are very excited to meet the most recent addition to our family face to face. As for Bella, well, let's just say I'm more than curious to see the expression on her little face when she meets her first sibling.

Happy new year to you all!

There and back again from the USA

The last few weeks have been as filled with peaks and troughs as they come. Isabella and I embarked on a trip to the USA on the 29th of October*.

It was a great trip, in one particular way that become evident only after we had returned back again. The main reason for my trip was to see my college friend Aimee, who was diagnosed with skin cancer about a year and a half ago, endured the more usual and some experimental treatments to try to defeat it, and when I saw her was holding her own. I saw her on Halloween, and then All Saints and All Souls days, and the Thursday before I left the States.

On the following Sunday, having returned to Belgium. I received word that she was on hospital in a critical condition. That Wednesday, she had passed away. God's ways may not be our own, but I have the sense that we were really cradled in His time those few days at the beginning and the end of our trip, with Aimee, her wonderful husband, extended family (with whom we spent Halloween), children, family and friends. When I left her, it was with the promise that I'd call when I was back again - not with the overwhelming sense that this really would be the last time we'd talk to and see each other.

It's still unbelievable that she's gone. There's only ever been one Aimee, and I'm so blessed to have known her.

Bella and I were also able to spend time with friends who are very much like family, and with family who are, well, also friends. We were on the East coast for a few days, before flying to Tucson, with my Aunt Nancy so kindly coming to help with Isabella on the way over. We stayed with her and Uncle Rich and cousin Jeremy, and caught up with Bella's great-grandmother, and more aunts, uncles, cousins, and a couple of college friends who are living in Arizona. I saw Aimee the day that I was supposed to fly out again.















First morning in the USA for Bella - with her new-found frog at Jess and Lizzy's.















In the West now: with cousin Jeremy.

Isabella was a wonderful little traveller. We took 9 flights together in all, and she only really had difficulty during two of them. She loved meeting everyone and found particularly intriguing the presence of dogs in the two homes where we spent the most of our time.





























I particularly loved it when I could take her to my alma mater and watch her play with the leaves on campus.
















With Jessica, helping out in her office.





























Now we're back again, on European time. I must admit to feeling like half of me was still on the East Coast for at least a week upon return. My thoughts were constantly with Aimee and her family. They are still, but the daily routine has taken over more, and with that a certain temporal adjustment.

Bella is talking incessantly at the moment, in-between running around, dancing and singing. She also loves to draw, throw balls and spend hours looking at books and being read to.

















Her talking consists, of course, mainly of her own language at the moment, but she's slowly adding to her vocabulary. "Hello" is the favourite of this week. It joins "No", of course, although I'm still very pleased that her first word was "Whatisthat" - discernable through context and intonation rather than totally clear diction. She says "lookatthat" in a similar fashion. She also says "dada", "mama", "dahdah" (good-bye, apparently), duck, dog, Oooohhh (when delighted or amazed), and "dat" when she wants something. The list goes on; let's just say communication is happening.

By the way, I haven't ever put this on the blog, but for those of you I still haven't been in touch with since finishing the old dissertation, we have a baby on the way in February. I'm keeping very well. February is really just around the corner though...!

*... only to be turned away by US Air, who decided to cancel a flight, send me home again to call them to re-book, and then demand that I come back to the airport to take care of Isabella's ticket. We left bright and early on the 30th of October instead. We tried to leave the USA on the 13th of November, but were once again thwarted by an inexplicably cancelled flight and made to leave a day later. As I cheerfully told the US Air representative who re-routed me on the second occasion, I intend NEVER to fly with that airline again.

Updates and photos

Dear all,
It already feels like it should be the end of the week, but we're about half-way through. I returned from Rome yesterday evening, to a somewhat astonished daughter and a fairly happy husband. This was the first time I'd left Isabella behind and that part of things was strange all around.

Rome, though, was beautiful as ever. The conference was invigorating, and my paper was received well. There were some great discussions the couple of days I was there, and the conference will continue through tomorrow. I was able to travel there with friend Syd, which was wonderful. She and I strolled around on Sunday afternoon, and had a fabulous dinner at the restaurant I've eaten for the past 6 years with students in the Rome Programme of the Thomas More College of Liberal Arts, when I've taught for them in the Spring semester. The family at Le Fate were so excited to catch up again, and we enjoyed that immensely.

Back again, Jo will go in for some minor dental surgery shortly today. I'm waiting for him to come home from work now. I've been catching up on e-mails and other business, in-between bandaging up my arm as I managed to burn it rather badly this morning with steam from the tea kettle. This is what happens of being half asleep and over-enthusiastic about tea at the same time. The chemist gave me some great cream for it, when I went to see him after the old cold running water and ice tricks didn't work.

My dad was in a bad car accident while I was in Rome, and my brother Evan was fabulous about keeping me updated. We're all very grateful that Dad didn't sustain truly serious injuries, and that the hospital looking after him was superb. Also, no one else was hurt in the accident.

And, on a completely other note, Isabella is officially, no-kidding walking around.



















Walking means you can carry your own balloon around!

...and your own (well, and mummy's t00) bags:





















Running and playing basketball seem now to be only a matter of time.



















Below you'll find some more photos, which as usual should have come with other posts but are only here now.




















Walking next to Notre Dame.














What comes after Italian gelato and Belgian Cote D'or ice cream? Why, parisienne sorbet of course.














Bella with Igor the wolf, her friend from Paris, who insisted on coming home with us.

Walking and summer days of rain

Dear all,
In the last couple of days, Isabella has really started to enjoy walking. She still doesn't do what she does when crawling - rock her head back and forth and sing in Bella-speak, from the sheer joy of it. Hopefully it won't be long now. Jo and I still talk about getting safety gates for the doors, but for now just make sure we keep them shut. We have very steep stairs, and given half a chance Isabella will climb them.

Bella's family meanwhile continues with day-to-day activities. Through an unforeseen scheduling fluke and a national holiday (Feast of the Assumption - I do love living in a catholic country), Jo had five days in a row off last week. We had fun just relaxing and catching up on things - including helping a friend move. I've finished editing that dissertation and am now writing a paper for a conference in Rome. I'll only go for the first two days. It's going to be strange to go without Jo and Isabella.

The postal service finally saw fit to deliver a couple of boxes they'd been holding for several weeks, apparently. They seem consistently to confuse our apartment with the store beneath, which has been closed for several weeks. It was worth the wait though, as they contained fabric, patterns, and dozens of my childhood books. Isabella has been in seventh heaven with more to read. Thanks Mum!

The summer here has resembled little of a summer at all. Temperatures are higher, but we've had rain almost every day and some pretty heavy storms. Isabella and I dodge in and out between it all. The town is quiet at the moment, which we're enjoying a lot before the academic year begins again. It makes people somehow more friendly on the street. The other day on the bus someone actually helped me with the stroller as I got off, and yesterday, as Bella and I were hanging out in the ladeuzeplein, people-watching as one of us finished a bottle of milk, some ladies came by and gave the princess a balloon. I wonder if they have any idea how much delight that gave her all the way home - she kept giggling every time it moved unexpectedly - and now here at home, where Jo put a clothes-peg on the end so that we wouldn't have to keep bringing it down from the ceiling.

That's it for now - hope this finds all of you doing well.

Life Chez Nous

Dear all,
Again, it's been a while. Since last blogging, we've been to Paris for a three-day get-away. It was good to have a change. The weather was itself changeable. When we left, rain was predicted for the whole time, and so we planned to go to museums with plenty of crawl-space for you-know-who. Then though, it fined up, so instead of the Centre Pompidou and the Musee D'Orsay we went to the zoo in the botanical gardens, and walked around the city a lot.

Highlights included a fantastic Korean restaurant and a great eatery in the Jewish quarter. Both places were just amazing.

Isabella was a good sport. Understandably, she got a bit tired of the stroller. However, she was almost as excited as we were by the cuisine. There were school holidays in France, of course, so there were kids everywhere. This caused much excitement. One thing we noticed about Paris, being a bit more conscious of it this time, is that it's very kid friendly. The restaurants tend to have high chairs, and there are parks everywhere. There's even a sandpit right next to Notre Dame - now why didn't I notice that one before? However, Jo and I are a little worried about the state of France's next generation's sense of equilibrium. Nowhere did we find Isabella's favourite park accessory. There were slides and jungle gyms everywhere to be had, but no swings! One can only wonder and worry.

Back home again, it's all work and routine.

There's a huge rock music festival in Leuven this weekend -marktrock leuven-, so Bella and I snuck to the grocery store early this morning, to get provisions to hide out for the next couple of days.

Currently I'm using Bella's nap-times to finish editing someone's doctoral dissertation. (I fear I'll never be the mother who wonders whether she should nap or do housework in her children's nap-time; for me the toss-up is between study and power-nap, and the housework somehow gets done with Bella helping right along.) This will switch next week, when I hope to start writing a paper for a conference in Rome, on...er...sacred space, but this time in relation to Benedict XVI's call for a re-hellenization of reason. Funny how that message didn't make it into all those press releases, as the substantial message of the Regensberg lecture.

Isabella must be growing again or something. She's eating and sleeping like it's very serious business indeed. It's great. I'll pilfer some pics of her from daddy's computer sometime soon. For now, know we're all well, and surviving constant hay-fever and crazy storms.

Aftermath

Hello all,
Again this is a post devoid of pictorial accompaniment I'm afraid. I know that there are some photos around here somewhere of the day of the defense, but I'm not exactly sure where. So, more of that later.

For now, in response to requests for updates (hi Jess!), I should make it blog-official. The defense on the 3rd went very well. For me the two hours of giving my presentation and answering questions from the jury went very quickly. Then the jury departed to deliberate together, and then they came in again, the Dean in his robes, and I was declared a doctor. Even though I'd told myself not to cry at this particular moment, I must admit it was very difficult not to. What a moment, finally. After the dean declared me doctor, "with all the rights and privileges pertaining thereto", my supervisor, Professor Desmond, gave a really beautiful little laudatio, and then I thanked everyone briefly and we went to the reception.

Friends Syd, Margherita and Niall had been splendid in helping to set up the reception that morning and just before the crowd came, they had poured the wine, set out the sandwiches and poured out the nibblies. The reception was very festive. After clearing things away, family all came back to our place, and then dispersed to take various naps. That evening, family and those members of the jury who could come all went out to dinner.

Jo's parents and mine came to Leuven for a week surrounding the date of the defense, so for the days afterwards we were spending time with them.

And, in answer to the many who have asked or may still be wondering "Is Renee bored now? What is she doing with her time?", the answer to the first question is "not bored enough" and to the second that I've been editing someone else's doctoral dissertation, reading books for book reviews, getting together my dossier for job applications, and I still need to write a conference paper for September. Several members of my jury also recommended that I look into publishing the dissertation, so I have a meeting with my supervisor about that and other things tomorrow. Oh yes, and I'm also still working - including helping to organize a symposium and preparing to teach again next semester - and have a one-year-old and husband I like to spend time with...

So, not too much has changed here, but it is a big relief to be done with the big project.

Until the next update,
Renee