Fun & Famous

CAROLIEN’S FAST LANE LIFE

Het woord is eruit: Jon and I are expecting our first child this summer! We are already so over the moon and everyone can finally know. It was also quite exciting to share this huge secret just the two of us over the past few months... The first call I made was to the midwifery practice Femme: all my friends were ecstatic because they offer much more extensive care than a ‘regular’ midwifery practice. You can purchase two different packages, where you get a certain number of ultrasounds AND you can make use of a number of extra services such as an acupuncturist, a nutritionist, a sexologist, a coach, or a massage therapist. When I walked into the practice, I immediately felt at ease: the midwife felt very familiar right away and all the rooms are equipped with the latest ultrasound equipment. And then we saw the little one for the first time on the ultrasound: Jon and I both had to shed a little tear... Our baby adventure can now officially begin!

In London, we went completely wild at Petit Bateau and Baby GAP, so that little one already has as big a wardrobe as his mother. But that's the only thing we've purchased so far. Now come the trips to Babypark to test all the strollers, find the best high chair, and decorate the nursery. I've just started making a list of what we need, but I have the feeling that I still don't know half of what should be on it! Luckily, I can copy-paste Marly's list, so that will get me quite far. But for all the mother readers with tons of experience: tips are more than welcome!

Now that belly keeps growing, I need to purchase a slightly different wardrobe for the upcoming season. Last week, I officially couldn't wear my first pair of pants anymore. I don't have huge cravings yet, so luckily I'm not growing too much in width (just wait until you're at the end and only holding onto water and are round like a barrel, I hear a few mothers thinking...). But my search in the coming time will be to find beautiful, flowing dresses and pants with an elastic band. And shoes with a very modest heel, so I can wear them until the end (because walking on stilts for 8 months is unfortunately only reserved for power chicks like Victoria Koblenko, I'm afraid...). That last part was a short search, because I found this perfect boot in the new collection from Nubikk. Now just the rest of the wardrobe..!

Just one more day to go and then the filming for the movie ‘Bella Donna's’ will be over. I've never been able to do so many cool things for a film as for this project and last week we were able to add something to this list: skydiving! Luckily, I didn't have to jump for the ‘real’ thing, because my instructor was played by an actress. But the other ladies had a trained parachute instructor and were allowed to jump for real! Their reaction after the jump was so special to see: as if they were on some kind of trip and were still high from the whole experience for an hour. As soon as that little one is born, I'm definitely going to do a tandem jump with Jon! Although: my mother once received a jump as a gift, but then it turned out she was pregnant with me... After that, she never dared again. Curious if history will repeat itself...

Last week, the first episode of season two of Zwarte Tulp was aired on RTL4 and the reactions were fortunately very positive. I can only say: it’s going to get much, much more exciting... And this week is already focused on the promotion for the new KPN series ‘Brussel’ which will be aired from January 20: I am so incredibly curious how the series has turned out! The trailer looks promising in any case. In the series, I am pregnant, so for the past year, I have been walking around almost non-stop with a fake belly for this series AND for Zwarte Tulp. I wonder if I will play my next ‘pregnant’ role differently after my own pregnancy. My dress from By Malene Birger is already ready for the Brussels premiere next week. And then for the first time with the little one on the red carpet, secretly a bit exciting :-).