Sunday, June 1, 2008
Friday, May 30, 2008
Home Security
It's Friday evening again. I love Friday evening, with the whole weekend stretching out ahead of us.
Adam managed to break into our house this afternoon.
He left his house-keys at home this morning as I (plus Edward and Hannah) are invariably at home when he returns from the office. This afternoon he decided to escape from work early and as I was visiting a friend he came home to an empty house.
Not to be deterred, he managed to climb through the tiny, very high-up window that is above our shower. To reach the window he had to stand on our rubbish bin, and to fit through the window he had to remove almost all his clothes. He assures me he left his underwear and socks on... my mind boggles at the thought of dear Adam actually fitting through a window that looks (to me) to be about 10cm tall and maybe 50cm wide.
He was very lucky that I had forgotten to set our burglar alarm!
What a resourceful man I am married to.
Apart from that, we have no news to report. Both children are growing well. Both adults are coping.
Adam managed to break into our house this afternoon.
He left his house-keys at home this morning as I (plus Edward and Hannah) are invariably at home when he returns from the office. This afternoon he decided to escape from work early and as I was visiting a friend he came home to an empty house.
Not to be deterred, he managed to climb through the tiny, very high-up window that is above our shower. To reach the window he had to stand on our rubbish bin, and to fit through the window he had to remove almost all his clothes. He assures me he left his underwear and socks on... my mind boggles at the thought of dear Adam actually fitting through a window that looks (to me) to be about 10cm tall and maybe 50cm wide.
He was very lucky that I had forgotten to set our burglar alarm!
What a resourceful man I am married to.
Apart from that, we have no news to report. Both children are growing well. Both adults are coping.
Thursday, April 24, 2008
Monday, April 21, 2008
Tuesday, March 25, 2008
Easter is over for another year
It's Tuesday evening - the day after Easter Monday. Both the little darlings are sleeping. This is the second evening in a row that they have both been asleep by 8pm and it feels a bit strange to have some time to myself.
I'm feeling a bit down as Easter is over for another year. I love Easter - a far better holiday than Christmas in my opinion as it has lots of chocolate and none of the Christmas hassles.
We went up to Eucumbene Cove for the long weekend. It is a beautiful part of the world. We stayed in a little holiday shack, surrounded by gumtrees. It had a breathtaking view over Lake Eucumbene and then mountains that rolled on and on into the distance. I think Adam took a few photos and if he did I will eventually post one in here.
(No mountain view - sorry - Adam)
It was one of those places where it is so quiet and peaceful that the quiet almost hurts your ears.
To my surprise we actually had a (fairly) relaxing couple of days. This is a miracle given that we went with 2 children under the age of 2.
Edward had a fine time exploring, helping bring the wood in for the fire, inspecting wildlife and playing in a 'cave' which we made for him by draping blankets from the upper level of a bunkbed. He got a huge splinter in his hand but Auntie Suzie took it out when we got back to Canberra.
Hannah did what most 2 month old babies do - drink milk, fill her nappy, cry a bit and have cuddles. I had to wash her by holding her in the shower. She didn't hate it but didn't love it as much as having a bath (which has to be her favourite thing at the moment).
So that was our holiday. It was wonderful.
Now we are all back in our real lives.
I had a bit of a stressful day today. It started with Edward taking his nappy off (behind the back of the kitchen bench so I couldn't see...) and then joyfully announcing to me: "Tiny Poo Poo". As we have a very nice blue potty in the kitchen I thought he was playing with a teddy and the potty and it wasn't until a few minutes later that I discovered that he had indeed done a "tiny poo poo" right there in the kitchen. Edward was delightedly inspecting it (ie squatting with his head between his legs staring at the stinky thing) so I made him pick it up and put it all in the potty. We then put it in the loo to join all its friends and Edward had a thorough wash.
Then I thought we would go to the supermarket as I had invited a few friends around for afternoon tea and also there was no food for dinner. So I wrote a shopping list, dressed both children and put them in the car.
We have had heavy rain overnight. I discovered that our garage roof leaks and that the back seat (Hannah's seat) of the pram was absolutely soaked. I didn't know what to do so drove to the supermarket with the wet pram in the boot. Parked the car. Then had the thought that if I had brought Edward's raincoat (which is in the garage at the moment) I could have dressed him in it and he could sit in the wet car seat. Too late - no raincoat.
Decided to put Hannah in Edward's seat of the pram (not really safe as it doesn't recline much) and that Edward would have to walk. Attached baby-reins to Edward and set off towards the shops. The first 50 metres or so were good - E walking relatively quickly and in the right direction.
Then it all deteriorated. I ended up pushing our HUGE double pram with my right hand, holding Edward on my hip with my left arm and trying to ignore the hysterically screaming Hannah in the front.
Managed to grab various groceries, pay, get out of store and then the long trek back to the car. Pile now exhausted Hannah into her car seat. Strap Edward into his. Groceries onto the ground. Huge wet pram in boot. Groceries into boot and then drive home in the pouring rain.
Once home got all items upstairs (first a trip with groceries, then Hannah, then Edward) and with Hannah in the cot sleeping, I decided to quickly bake the cake for afternoon tea. It was 11.30am by this stage.
So lots of sifting, mixing, measuring etc with Edward 'helping' by licking spoons and twirling around the kitchen being a mixmaster.... and then I realised that the oven was not getting hot even though I had turned it on to preheat. Found oven instruction manual. Instructions don't work. Ruddy thing must be broken. By this stage it was 12.30 (Edward half an hour late for his nap) and I had a raw cake and no oven.
Phoned my mother. She drove over, grabbed cake. Left. Returned an hour later with baked cake.
Had first attempt to get Edward to sleep. Hannah woke screaming for milk. Felt sorry for her as she had suffered in the supermarket. Abandoned nap attempt. Amazed Edward goes off to play. Hannah has feed. I look at our pigsty of a sittingroom and decide that I HAVE to vacuum, pick up toys. Vacuum entire house. Clean bathrooms. 1.45 pm. Edward staggering with exhaustion- get E into bed where he falls asleep almost instantaneously.
Rest of the day was much better and I had a great time catching up with old friends from uni. I must remember to get the wet pram out of the boot of the car.
I'm feeling a bit down as Easter is over for another year. I love Easter - a far better holiday than Christmas in my opinion as it has lots of chocolate and none of the Christmas hassles.
We went up to Eucumbene Cove for the long weekend. It is a beautiful part of the world. We stayed in a little holiday shack, surrounded by gumtrees. It had a breathtaking view over Lake Eucumbene and then mountains that rolled on and on into the distance. I think Adam took a few photos and if he did I will eventually post one in here.
(No mountain view - sorry - Adam)
It was one of those places where it is so quiet and peaceful that the quiet almost hurts your ears.
To my surprise we actually had a (fairly) relaxing couple of days. This is a miracle given that we went with 2 children under the age of 2.
Edward had a fine time exploring, helping bring the wood in for the fire, inspecting wildlife and playing in a 'cave' which we made for him by draping blankets from the upper level of a bunkbed. He got a huge splinter in his hand but Auntie Suzie took it out when we got back to Canberra.
Hannah did what most 2 month old babies do - drink milk, fill her nappy, cry a bit and have cuddles. I had to wash her by holding her in the shower. She didn't hate it but didn't love it as much as having a bath (which has to be her favourite thing at the moment).
So that was our holiday. It was wonderful.
Now we are all back in our real lives.
I had a bit of a stressful day today. It started with Edward taking his nappy off (behind the back of the kitchen bench so I couldn't see...) and then joyfully announcing to me: "Tiny Poo Poo". As we have a very nice blue potty in the kitchen I thought he was playing with a teddy and the potty and it wasn't until a few minutes later that I discovered that he had indeed done a "tiny poo poo" right there in the kitchen. Edward was delightedly inspecting it (ie squatting with his head between his legs staring at the stinky thing) so I made him pick it up and put it all in the potty. We then put it in the loo to join all its friends and Edward had a thorough wash.
Then I thought we would go to the supermarket as I had invited a few friends around for afternoon tea and also there was no food for dinner. So I wrote a shopping list, dressed both children and put them in the car.
We have had heavy rain overnight. I discovered that our garage roof leaks and that the back seat (Hannah's seat) of the pram was absolutely soaked. I didn't know what to do so drove to the supermarket with the wet pram in the boot. Parked the car. Then had the thought that if I had brought Edward's raincoat (which is in the garage at the moment) I could have dressed him in it and he could sit in the wet car seat. Too late - no raincoat.
Decided to put Hannah in Edward's seat of the pram (not really safe as it doesn't recline much) and that Edward would have to walk. Attached baby-reins to Edward and set off towards the shops. The first 50 metres or so were good - E walking relatively quickly and in the right direction.
Then it all deteriorated. I ended up pushing our HUGE double pram with my right hand, holding Edward on my hip with my left arm and trying to ignore the hysterically screaming Hannah in the front.
Managed to grab various groceries, pay, get out of store and then the long trek back to the car. Pile now exhausted Hannah into her car seat. Strap Edward into his. Groceries onto the ground. Huge wet pram in boot. Groceries into boot and then drive home in the pouring rain.
Once home got all items upstairs (first a trip with groceries, then Hannah, then Edward) and with Hannah in the cot sleeping, I decided to quickly bake the cake for afternoon tea. It was 11.30am by this stage.
So lots of sifting, mixing, measuring etc with Edward 'helping' by licking spoons and twirling around the kitchen being a mixmaster.... and then I realised that the oven was not getting hot even though I had turned it on to preheat. Found oven instruction manual. Instructions don't work. Ruddy thing must be broken. By this stage it was 12.30 (Edward half an hour late for his nap) and I had a raw cake and no oven.
Phoned my mother. She drove over, grabbed cake. Left. Returned an hour later with baked cake.
Had first attempt to get Edward to sleep. Hannah woke screaming for milk. Felt sorry for her as she had suffered in the supermarket. Abandoned nap attempt. Amazed Edward goes off to play. Hannah has feed. I look at our pigsty of a sittingroom and decide that I HAVE to vacuum, pick up toys. Vacuum entire house. Clean bathrooms. 1.45 pm. Edward staggering with exhaustion- get E into bed where he falls asleep almost instantaneously.
Rest of the day was much better and I had a great time catching up with old friends from uni. I must remember to get the wet pram out of the boot of the car.
Tuesday, March 4, 2008
Back by Popular Demand
It's been months since my last entry. I was talking to my gorgeous Den Haag uncle last week and he mentioned that he is missing reading my blog! I was quite delighted as I didn't think anyone actually read this blog.
So I'm going to try and write in here every so often.
What's happened to us since October? Well we left the NL, had a fantastic holiday in Switzerland visiting Aunt Liz & Meinrad and then carried on back to Australia via Singapore. It was a strange journey. I was stressed - I spent the journey either worrying that Adam was stressed and/or trying to keep Edward quiet on the plane. Edward was well behaved and great on the plane with the exception of the last 2 hours of each flight. With all the lights, noise, other passengers who (irritatingly) wanted to play with him, the poor child couldn't sleep much. And on each flight he got to a stage of extreme tiredness and I ended up holding him in my arms and walking up and down near the airplane loos trying to get him to stop crying. A bit of a challenge with my pregnant tummy.
By the time we arrived in Sydney I was too tired to feel emotional at seeing family / being home again. My goodness, Australians are friendly compared to Europeans. I have a new-found respect for Qantas, who took one look at us with over double our luggage allowance and booked it all through from Sydney to Canberra at no extra charge. We had a little reunion with Adam's parents at Sydney Airport (they had come down from Newcastle for the day) and then flew on to Canberra. I was so tired that I just felt numb when I saw my mother and sister Suzie again. My tiredness did not lift and after seeing the Australian obstetrician a few days later and having some blood tests it was discovered that I had (again) developed gestational diabetes & also had an iron count of 5 (she told me that she got worried when it goes below 25).
With hindsight I think I had had the diabetes since mid-September. The Dutch midwife assured me that whatever she measured in my urine on the fortnightly visits was fine, but the diabetes must have been hiding in there. So I was back on the blood sugar measuring and also taking 2 vitamins.
Anyway. My tummy measured 43 weeks by mid-December and I was the size of an elephant by early January. Thankfully I had an elective c-section. The c-section was an excellent experience. Hannah is a beautiful baby. I will post some photos.
I had the baby in a small private hospital. This meant that I had the same nurses day after day, which was nice. I really liked the night nurse - a plump lady who trotted around in comfortable exercise clothing (shorts and a T-shirt) and jogging shoes because as she told me, she gets too hot in her nurse's uniform. I staying in hospital for 5 nights. I could easily have gone home after 4 nights but hadn't finished reading a (third) novel and really enjoyed having a nice rest.
Hannah is an easier baby to look after than Edward was. My mother has told me that this is because I had no idea what to do to take care of Edward. She is probably right. When I look back on it, I think Edward was too cold for the first 6 months of his life, and (I am ashamed to write) hungry from when he was 13 months when I weaned him, until we arrived home in Australia.
I think by my mother's standards I could still probably do things better with both children, but I'm honestly doing the best I can and it will just have to be enough.
Both children and I am delighted when she comes to our house for a few hours. We have been very lucky for the last 2 weeks as she has had time to come each day. I love my mother. She is so intelligent, kind, but unflinchingly honest... this afternoon she went to get Edward's lunch from the fridge (I was breastfeeding Hannah) and she called out "Is THIS the pasta?". I said "Yes". There was a slight silence as she inspected the left-overs from the night before, and then she said "And does Edward actually EAT this thing?"
Hannah is now 8 weeks old and Edward is 23 months. Today Hannah had her first immunisation. Unsurprisingly she did not like it at all. With the first injection she went bright red in the face and starting screaming in fright. She screamed so much that the nurse actually got a bit nervous but I said to her "Quick, do the second one" as I thought it best just to get it over and done with. Poor little Hannah. It must be having some effect on her immune system because she has slept on and off all day, only waking for a brief feed/nappy change and then falling asleep again. It is now 10.10 at night and I'm hoping that she won't wake up in an hour or so and want to play.
Edward is an absolute darling. While I was in hospital my mother looked after him and she unlocked something in Edward and he suddenly started to put words together and say things. It's really lovely - he is such an innocent child. He wanders around the house chatting to himself and giggling at his own little jokes.
He is unfortunately fixated on tractors as for Xmas all the extended family (both sides) gave him some form of tractor or other vehicle - books, lego, plastic replicas etc etc. Some time this week I'm going to put all the vehicle things in a box in our spare room to give him a break from them. There are so many other lovely things to play with.
Well Hannah's still sleeping so I'm going to write a little bit about our house and then leave the rest for another day.
When we came home we lived in my mother's house for a month and then had a bit of luck as a rather run-down but large house in the next suburb came on the rental market. So we have signed a six-month lease and moved in during the Xmas-New Year period.
And it is so nice to be in this house after the cramped housing of the NL. Our sitting room is the size of the whole downstairs of the Eemnes house. And then there is also a separate dining room, an enormous but very 1950s kitchen, separate but old-fashioned laundry, study, three bedrooms, 2 toilets, one bathroom and a separate room for a shower. The master bedroom is so big that we could easily buy a second king sized bed and put it in there and still have plenty of space.
The garden is very large, hilly and is almost 100% lawn. It took Adam 3 hours to mow the back garden and he had to have a rest before he could tackle the front garden. That was before Xmas and he hasn't mown since. The grass is now up to my knees in places - quite exciting for Edward to run through but I'm a bit worried that a snake might be in there as we have a nature reserve directly behind the back fence. One of these days we will hire someone to cut the grass.
So I'm going to try and write in here every so often.
What's happened to us since October? Well we left the NL, had a fantastic holiday in Switzerland visiting Aunt Liz & Meinrad and then carried on back to Australia via Singapore. It was a strange journey. I was stressed - I spent the journey either worrying that Adam was stressed and/or trying to keep Edward quiet on the plane. Edward was well behaved and great on the plane with the exception of the last 2 hours of each flight. With all the lights, noise, other passengers who (irritatingly) wanted to play with him, the poor child couldn't sleep much. And on each flight he got to a stage of extreme tiredness and I ended up holding him in my arms and walking up and down near the airplane loos trying to get him to stop crying. A bit of a challenge with my pregnant tummy.
By the time we arrived in Sydney I was too tired to feel emotional at seeing family / being home again. My goodness, Australians are friendly compared to Europeans. I have a new-found respect for Qantas, who took one look at us with over double our luggage allowance and booked it all through from Sydney to Canberra at no extra charge. We had a little reunion with Adam's parents at Sydney Airport (they had come down from Newcastle for the day) and then flew on to Canberra. I was so tired that I just felt numb when I saw my mother and sister Suzie again. My tiredness did not lift and after seeing the Australian obstetrician a few days later and having some blood tests it was discovered that I had (again) developed gestational diabetes & also had an iron count of 5 (she told me that she got worried when it goes below 25).
With hindsight I think I had had the diabetes since mid-September. The Dutch midwife assured me that whatever she measured in my urine on the fortnightly visits was fine, but the diabetes must have been hiding in there. So I was back on the blood sugar measuring and also taking 2 vitamins.
Anyway. My tummy measured 43 weeks by mid-December and I was the size of an elephant by early January. Thankfully I had an elective c-section. The c-section was an excellent experience. Hannah is a beautiful baby. I will post some photos.
I had the baby in a small private hospital. This meant that I had the same nurses day after day, which was nice. I really liked the night nurse - a plump lady who trotted around in comfortable exercise clothing (shorts and a T-shirt) and jogging shoes because as she told me, she gets too hot in her nurse's uniform. I staying in hospital for 5 nights. I could easily have gone home after 4 nights but hadn't finished reading a (third) novel and really enjoyed having a nice rest.
Hannah is an easier baby to look after than Edward was. My mother has told me that this is because I had no idea what to do to take care of Edward. She is probably right. When I look back on it, I think Edward was too cold for the first 6 months of his life, and (I am ashamed to write) hungry from when he was 13 months when I weaned him, until we arrived home in Australia.
I think by my mother's standards I could still probably do things better with both children, but I'm honestly doing the best I can and it will just have to be enough.
Both children and I am delighted when she comes to our house for a few hours. We have been very lucky for the last 2 weeks as she has had time to come each day. I love my mother. She is so intelligent, kind, but unflinchingly honest... this afternoon she went to get Edward's lunch from the fridge (I was breastfeeding Hannah) and she called out "Is THIS the pasta?". I said "Yes". There was a slight silence as she inspected the left-overs from the night before, and then she said "And does Edward actually EAT this thing?"
Hannah is now 8 weeks old and Edward is 23 months. Today Hannah had her first immunisation. Unsurprisingly she did not like it at all. With the first injection she went bright red in the face and starting screaming in fright. She screamed so much that the nurse actually got a bit nervous but I said to her "Quick, do the second one" as I thought it best just to get it over and done with. Poor little Hannah. It must be having some effect on her immune system because she has slept on and off all day, only waking for a brief feed/nappy change and then falling asleep again. It is now 10.10 at night and I'm hoping that she won't wake up in an hour or so and want to play.
Edward is an absolute darling. While I was in hospital my mother looked after him and she unlocked something in Edward and he suddenly started to put words together and say things. It's really lovely - he is such an innocent child. He wanders around the house chatting to himself and giggling at his own little jokes.
He is unfortunately fixated on tractors as for Xmas all the extended family (both sides) gave him some form of tractor or other vehicle - books, lego, plastic replicas etc etc. Some time this week I'm going to put all the vehicle things in a box in our spare room to give him a break from them. There are so many other lovely things to play with.
Well Hannah's still sleeping so I'm going to write a little bit about our house and then leave the rest for another day.
When we came home we lived in my mother's house for a month and then had a bit of luck as a rather run-down but large house in the next suburb came on the rental market. So we have signed a six-month lease and moved in during the Xmas-New Year period.
And it is so nice to be in this house after the cramped housing of the NL. Our sitting room is the size of the whole downstairs of the Eemnes house. And then there is also a separate dining room, an enormous but very 1950s kitchen, separate but old-fashioned laundry, study, three bedrooms, 2 toilets, one bathroom and a separate room for a shower. The master bedroom is so big that we could easily buy a second king sized bed and put it in there and still have plenty of space.
The garden is very large, hilly and is almost 100% lawn. It took Adam 3 hours to mow the back garden and he had to have a rest before he could tackle the front garden. That was before Xmas and he hasn't mown since. The grass is now up to my knees in places - quite exciting for Edward to run through but I'm a bit worried that a snake might be in there as we have a nature reserve directly behind the back fence. One of these days we will hire someone to cut the grass.
Sunday, October 21, 2007
Our last Sunday
It's Sunday afternoon and we've not packed a single box yet this weekend.
Right now Adam and Edward are having an afternoon nap and I'm sitting at the kitchen table with a great mountain of packing boxes on my right and a huge pile of stuff in front of me and wondering what to do next.
Yesterday we sold the washing machine, and the same people want to buy our IKEA kitchen utensils and toaster etc and are going to pick them up on Thursday afternoon. The iron and kettle people could not pick up last Friday and so Adam is dropping the stuff off to them on Tuesday morning.
Some good news is that Singapore Air has issued our flight tickets - thankfully they accepted a short note from the midwife saying that I am pregnant & that baby is due 18 January as a "fit to fly" certificate. The note doesn't say that I am in good health, or that the pregnancy is trouble free or even mention flying!
I'm not happy with it (the fit to fly certificate) as I am worried that we will show up to check in the staff with take a look at my Enormous pregnancy tummy and demand a 'proper' certificate.
So I've downloaded a tick-the-box fit to fly certificate from the Emirates website & am going to take it along to my final Dutch health check (this Thursday) and ask the midwife to fill it in. This should get around the language barrier as all she has to do is tick all the boxes, fill in my due date and name and sign it.
Hopefully I will have the older midwife, rather than the younger one this Thursday - the older one speaks better English, seems to be a pleasant person and the younger one wrote the very short note that I sent to Singapore Air. I would prefer not to have to try and explain in basic English why I need another certificate.
Adam was very, very stressed by the end of last working week and he unfortunately has a really busy week coming up. He has to drive to the Hague every day next week! It's actually not a long distance (by Australian standards) but there are bumper to bumper traffic jams literally all the way. Last Friday Adam took Edward and me into the Hague with him for the afternoon because I was going a bit crazy being in the house all the time. How my perspective has changed - I now find wandering around a shopping street & buying some lip gloss and travel toiletries to be a really good day out! Hmmmm.
And it took over 3.5 hours for us to drive home (should have been a 45 minute drive). I hope Adam doesn't get 5 repeat days of that because it adds a lot of hours to his normal working week.
To schedule him into 5 further days in the Hague as well as an evening meeting in some other Dutch place in his last week is not considerate at all of his company and is (in my opinion) a bit disappointing. Especially as Friday of this week the cleaner is arriving at 8am with a van to remove all our goods that are not being shipped to Australia, and after we have the end of lease inspection from the real estate people, we have no address in the Netherlands.
This is all complicated by the fact that we have an 18 month old child & I'm rather pregnant. Normally I would take the moving in my stride. But I am worried about how Edward is going to cope on Friday - he won't be able to play in the house & the weather is just awful at the moment but I suppose I could put him in his snow suit and sit in the back garden with him while the house is cleaned. He will have to have his nap in the stroller, which isn't ideal but it's only one day.
I'm hoping that Adam will have a light working day on Friday as I am without a mobile phone and by the end of the day he will be without a vehicle. I suppose the worst case scenario is that I take a bus from Eemnes to Hilversum with all our luggage & Edward as well, hope that some Dutch person will help me with the luggage (ha, ha as if that would happen!), and make my own way to the hotel.... and wait for Adam to arrive. Oh well, we will see.
Right now Adam and Edward are having an afternoon nap and I'm sitting at the kitchen table with a great mountain of packing boxes on my right and a huge pile of stuff in front of me and wondering what to do next.
Yesterday we sold the washing machine, and the same people want to buy our IKEA kitchen utensils and toaster etc and are going to pick them up on Thursday afternoon. The iron and kettle people could not pick up last Friday and so Adam is dropping the stuff off to them on Tuesday morning.
Some good news is that Singapore Air has issued our flight tickets - thankfully they accepted a short note from the midwife saying that I am pregnant & that baby is due 18 January as a "fit to fly" certificate. The note doesn't say that I am in good health, or that the pregnancy is trouble free or even mention flying!
I'm not happy with it (the fit to fly certificate) as I am worried that we will show up to check in the staff with take a look at my Enormous pregnancy tummy and demand a 'proper' certificate.
So I've downloaded a tick-the-box fit to fly certificate from the Emirates website & am going to take it along to my final Dutch health check (this Thursday) and ask the midwife to fill it in. This should get around the language barrier as all she has to do is tick all the boxes, fill in my due date and name and sign it.
Hopefully I will have the older midwife, rather than the younger one this Thursday - the older one speaks better English, seems to be a pleasant person and the younger one wrote the very short note that I sent to Singapore Air. I would prefer not to have to try and explain in basic English why I need another certificate.
Adam was very, very stressed by the end of last working week and he unfortunately has a really busy week coming up. He has to drive to the Hague every day next week! It's actually not a long distance (by Australian standards) but there are bumper to bumper traffic jams literally all the way. Last Friday Adam took Edward and me into the Hague with him for the afternoon because I was going a bit crazy being in the house all the time. How my perspective has changed - I now find wandering around a shopping street & buying some lip gloss and travel toiletries to be a really good day out! Hmmmm.
And it took over 3.5 hours for us to drive home (should have been a 45 minute drive). I hope Adam doesn't get 5 repeat days of that because it adds a lot of hours to his normal working week.
To schedule him into 5 further days in the Hague as well as an evening meeting in some other Dutch place in his last week is not considerate at all of his company and is (in my opinion) a bit disappointing. Especially as Friday of this week the cleaner is arriving at 8am with a van to remove all our goods that are not being shipped to Australia, and after we have the end of lease inspection from the real estate people, we have no address in the Netherlands.
This is all complicated by the fact that we have an 18 month old child & I'm rather pregnant. Normally I would take the moving in my stride. But I am worried about how Edward is going to cope on Friday - he won't be able to play in the house & the weather is just awful at the moment but I suppose I could put him in his snow suit and sit in the back garden with him while the house is cleaned. He will have to have his nap in the stroller, which isn't ideal but it's only one day.
I'm hoping that Adam will have a light working day on Friday as I am without a mobile phone and by the end of the day he will be without a vehicle. I suppose the worst case scenario is that I take a bus from Eemnes to Hilversum with all our luggage & Edward as well, hope that some Dutch person will help me with the luggage (ha, ha as if that would happen!), and make my own way to the hotel.... and wait for Adam to arrive. Oh well, we will see.
Thursday, October 18, 2007
The Countdown is On
Adam has handed in his resignation, our house is full of boxes in preparation for sea freighting and there are only NINE more days until we leave the NL for a holiday in Switzerland with Liz and Meinrad. And after that, we fly to Schiphol, sleep overnight in a very cheap hotel, and fly home.
I'm so excited about it, it's scary!
I've become obsessed with doing things in advance and have already packed our handluggage. I'm currently weighing up whether or not to pack our big luggage for Switzerland, ie now or do it on the weekend. The only thing holding me back is that I am not sure how we will manage on clothes for the next 9 days as the rest is either going to be sea-freighted or go into our Australia-luggage.
We've sold most of our Dutch language books and we've also sold the iron and kettle. So after tonight there are no more cups of tea in our house (not that we drink much tea anyway) and I will have to go to the neighbour's to do the ironing. I've also got someone interested in our washing machine and at a pinch we could sell it on the weekend..... and use the neighbour's washing machine a few times.
I'm so excited about it, it's scary!
I've become obsessed with doing things in advance and have already packed our handluggage. I'm currently weighing up whether or not to pack our big luggage for Switzerland, ie now or do it on the weekend. The only thing holding me back is that I am not sure how we will manage on clothes for the next 9 days as the rest is either going to be sea-freighted or go into our Australia-luggage.
We've sold most of our Dutch language books and we've also sold the iron and kettle. So after tonight there are no more cups of tea in our house (not that we drink much tea anyway) and I will have to go to the neighbour's to do the ironing. I've also got someone interested in our washing machine and at a pinch we could sell it on the weekend..... and use the neighbour's washing machine a few times.
Things we Like About the Netherlands
This blog entry is going to record the things that we like about the Netherlands. Adam and I have been asked what we like about the Netherlands quite a few times over the past few months. After much thought I have come up with the following (in no order of preference):
* My perception of the Dutch male attitude towards young children.
In Australia only women of the grandparent generation tend to notice other people's babies. In the NL I have found that lots of people, male and female would smile at Edward / wave at him / play peek-a-boo. (At first I thought this country was full of weird men who had strange fondness for babies, but after a few months realised that, in general, Dutch men are not ashamed or embarrased to notice babies). I think this is a good thing because it makes me feel that babies are openly valued by everyone, not just (older) women.
* Adam likes the cheap beer.
* I like the little red bottles that spices come in.
* I LOVE not having Adam's weeknights and weekends taken over by whatever "Special" / "Once a Year" / "Unique" etc etc sporting event that is on the television. It is going to be hard for me to accept going back into sport-obsessed Australia.
* It is wonderful to be completely unaware of American 'news'. I'm sure I will find the Australian focus on the USA difficult to accept.
* Stroopwaffels. The only drawback is that I cannot stop eating them. I wish they came in packets of one or two, rather than a dozen.
* Dutch use of indoor lighting.
* Affordable cut flowers.
* My perception of the Dutch male attitude towards young children.
In Australia only women of the grandparent generation tend to notice other people's babies. In the NL I have found that lots of people, male and female would smile at Edward / wave at him / play peek-a-boo. (At first I thought this country was full of weird men who had strange fondness for babies, but after a few months realised that, in general, Dutch men are not ashamed or embarrased to notice babies). I think this is a good thing because it makes me feel that babies are openly valued by everyone, not just (older) women.
* Adam likes the cheap beer.
* I like the little red bottles that spices come in.
* I LOVE not having Adam's weeknights and weekends taken over by whatever "Special" / "Once a Year" / "Unique" etc etc sporting event that is on the television. It is going to be hard for me to accept going back into sport-obsessed Australia.
* It is wonderful to be completely unaware of American 'news'. I'm sure I will find the Australian focus on the USA difficult to accept.
* Stroopwaffels. The only drawback is that I cannot stop eating them. I wish they came in packets of one or two, rather than a dozen.
* Dutch use of indoor lighting.
* Affordable cut flowers.
Sunday, October 14, 2007
Wednesday, October 3, 2007
Happy 18 month birthday Darling Edward
Today Edward is 18 months old. He is a lovely little boy and Adam and I are very proud of him.
His current special things are:
- favourite word: Bubbles
- favourite toys:
Lego (for a quiet game),
the lower kitchen cupboard which has pots & pans, plastic spoons etc and
the never-used-on-a-fly Fly Swat.
- favourite food: it's a contest between steak, oranges and chocolate.
His current special things are:
- favourite word: Bubbles
- favourite toys:
Lego (for a quiet game),
the lower kitchen cupboard which has pots & pans, plastic spoons etc and
the never-used-on-a-fly Fly Swat.
- favourite food: it's a contest between steak, oranges and chocolate.
Sunday, September 30, 2007
Windmill of Weesp
We have more Australian visitors! At the moment we are enjoying a wonderful visit from Adam's Great Aunt Glad and her daughter Kerrie. It is very, very nice for me to have people to talk to during the week, and I'm going to be quite upset when they leave I think. Most of their visit has been taken up with the very exciting life in Eemnes, where a daily highlight is walking to and fro the local shops. Last Sunday Adam took us in the car to see a windmill, in the town of Weesp.
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| Windmills of Weesp |
The Forest
A favourite Sunday afternoon activity for Edward is exploring in the forest near our house.
Here is a video of him.
Here is a video of him.
Saturday, September 15, 2007
Dutch Supermarket Manners
It's Saturday afternoon and Edward and I have just returned from our local supermarket. I promised one of Adam's very nice Den Haag colleagues that I would write a positive blog entry about the NL. Warning: this is not going to be that entry.
Part One: Super de Boer in Laren
I do not know what it is with (some) Dutch people that they seem to think it is perfectly OK to push between a (heavily pregnant) woman and the pram (called a "buggy" over here) to snatch a carton of milk off the shelf. This actually happened to me yesterday afternoon at Super de Boer in Laren.
If the Dutch shopper would just wait 5 seconds or so, I could pick up our milk, move forward, and they can then pick up their milk.
For the benefit of any Dutch readers of this, the above is extremely rude behaviour. It not only makes the mother-child shopper scared that someone is about to abduct their child / steal the mobile phone, house keys, purse that are kept in the back pocket of the pram, it also is very effective at telling the mother-child shopper that they are getting in the way and should do their shopping somewhere else.
The problem is that I cannot boycott Super de Boer as it is the nicest supermarket in this area and I am already boycotting the local Boni (see part 2 below).
Part Two: The Boni Check-Out Chick
A few weeks ago (while our internet was broken, or I would have written about this earlier) I popped out to go to the larger local supermarket (the Boni) for the daily groceries. This is the supermarket that smells like a tip. It's cheap, which (was) its saving grace.
I collected the things for the day and lined up at the checkout. To my astonishment, when it was my turn to be served the checkout lady called out to another shopper (who was waiting in the queue at the next checkout) and waved her over. I had already started to load my goods onto the conveyer belt. The checkout operator stopped the belt and glared at me. Other woman pushed in front of me and unloaded her groceries, which were put through (other shopper and Checkout chatting vigorously).
Checkout operator then put my groceries through in complete silence (no greeting etc). She told me the amount due. I paid. She turned to the next person (no offer of receipt "Bon" over here. How weird I thought.
I left the shop, completely bemused and feeling really upset.
I was in tears by the time I reached the babyweighing place on the corner, and this turned to anger when I reached the marketplace. So I thought I would turn around, pointedly get my money back and redo the shopping in the other supermarket in this village. But she had not given me the receipt!
So I am getting my revenge by never buying anything from Boni again. I don't think they'll notice. With hindsight, maybe the other shopper was the best friend of the checkout chick? I don't know but an explanation would have been nice, rather than being barely tolerated at the checkout.
Part Three: The Co-Op Shoppers
Now for the final part - today's delightful experience at the Co-op (the only supermarket left in Eemnes where I will shop). I go in, choose some apples, a carton of milk and some revolting Dutch meat for stirfry - Edward needs some protein. Proceed to the checkout. No, no don't worry, checkout chick is lovely at Co-op. Pay for goods. Try to push stroller through so that I can leave.
The way is blocked by 2 cardboard boxes that are lying on the floor in front of the stroller. I take my pregnant stomach around the pram, pick up the boxes and put them slightly to the side. (This took me all of maybe 30 seconds or so.) I turn around.
A Dutch man has pushed the pram & Edward out of his way and is pointedly stuffing his groceries into a large plastic bag, hovering it near the shelf where he could put his bag if the pram was not there. The checkout lady is still putting his goods through and there is no-one else waiting. I feel a bit miffed that this stranger has (1) touched my pram with my baby in it, and (2) that he is so very close to my keys and mobile which are clearly in view in the back pocket. Thankfully my wallet was safe.
OK I tell myself, don't be oversensitive, just leave. So, with cardboard box with groceries under left arm, pushing Edward in pram with right arm, I head towards the exit. Can I get out? Oh no - a horde of Dutch people decide at that moment to shove their way in. In they come, past the heavily loaded pregnant lady. Don't worry about her, she can fend for herself.
Now I guess no Dutch person would think there was anything wrong with Part Three. But I tell you, this would NEVER happen in Australia, or in the UK. People would be ashamed of themselves. Leaving aside the pregnant with pram issue, it is quite basic manners for people who live in a community to let those people who are exiting, out first, and then enter. One would think in a country as crowded as the NL that this would be really normal.
I must say that we were "warned" in our Dutch class about Dutch "manners". Well, the teacher told us that in the NL it is considered "sexist" if you do something like hold a door open for another person. She called it equality. I call it selfishness. The Dutch attitude actually extends to no-one helping me last week lift Edward in his pram up 3 steps into a tram in Den Haag. I am obviously pregnant - some women are at full term with the tummy I have now. It is not healthy for a pregnant woman to lift pram plus 17 month old toddler up stairs.
What our Australian Dutch teacher didn't say is that this place is without those little social rules that make an individual's daily life better.
Part One: Super de Boer in Laren
I do not know what it is with (some) Dutch people that they seem to think it is perfectly OK to push between a (heavily pregnant) woman and the pram (called a "buggy" over here) to snatch a carton of milk off the shelf. This actually happened to me yesterday afternoon at Super de Boer in Laren.
If the Dutch shopper would just wait 5 seconds or so, I could pick up our milk, move forward, and they can then pick up their milk.
For the benefit of any Dutch readers of this, the above is extremely rude behaviour. It not only makes the mother-child shopper scared that someone is about to abduct their child / steal the mobile phone, house keys, purse that are kept in the back pocket of the pram, it also is very effective at telling the mother-child shopper that they are getting in the way and should do their shopping somewhere else.
The problem is that I cannot boycott Super de Boer as it is the nicest supermarket in this area and I am already boycotting the local Boni (see part 2 below).
Part Two: The Boni Check-Out Chick
A few weeks ago (while our internet was broken, or I would have written about this earlier) I popped out to go to the larger local supermarket (the Boni) for the daily groceries. This is the supermarket that smells like a tip. It's cheap, which (was) its saving grace.
I collected the things for the day and lined up at the checkout. To my astonishment, when it was my turn to be served the checkout lady called out to another shopper (who was waiting in the queue at the next checkout) and waved her over. I had already started to load my goods onto the conveyer belt. The checkout operator stopped the belt and glared at me. Other woman pushed in front of me and unloaded her groceries, which were put through (other shopper and Checkout chatting vigorously).
Checkout operator then put my groceries through in complete silence (no greeting etc). She told me the amount due. I paid. She turned to the next person (no offer of receipt "Bon" over here. How weird I thought.
I left the shop, completely bemused and feeling really upset.
I was in tears by the time I reached the babyweighing place on the corner, and this turned to anger when I reached the marketplace. So I thought I would turn around, pointedly get my money back and redo the shopping in the other supermarket in this village. But she had not given me the receipt!
So I am getting my revenge by never buying anything from Boni again. I don't think they'll notice. With hindsight, maybe the other shopper was the best friend of the checkout chick? I don't know but an explanation would have been nice, rather than being barely tolerated at the checkout.
Part Three: The Co-Op Shoppers
Now for the final part - today's delightful experience at the Co-op (the only supermarket left in Eemnes where I will shop). I go in, choose some apples, a carton of milk and some revolting Dutch meat for stirfry - Edward needs some protein. Proceed to the checkout. No, no don't worry, checkout chick is lovely at Co-op. Pay for goods. Try to push stroller through so that I can leave.
The way is blocked by 2 cardboard boxes that are lying on the floor in front of the stroller. I take my pregnant stomach around the pram, pick up the boxes and put them slightly to the side. (This took me all of maybe 30 seconds or so.) I turn around.
A Dutch man has pushed the pram & Edward out of his way and is pointedly stuffing his groceries into a large plastic bag, hovering it near the shelf where he could put his bag if the pram was not there. The checkout lady is still putting his goods through and there is no-one else waiting. I feel a bit miffed that this stranger has (1) touched my pram with my baby in it, and (2) that he is so very close to my keys and mobile which are clearly in view in the back pocket. Thankfully my wallet was safe.
OK I tell myself, don't be oversensitive, just leave. So, with cardboard box with groceries under left arm, pushing Edward in pram with right arm, I head towards the exit. Can I get out? Oh no - a horde of Dutch people decide at that moment to shove their way in. In they come, past the heavily loaded pregnant lady. Don't worry about her, she can fend for herself.
Now I guess no Dutch person would think there was anything wrong with Part Three. But I tell you, this would NEVER happen in Australia, or in the UK. People would be ashamed of themselves. Leaving aside the pregnant with pram issue, it is quite basic manners for people who live in a community to let those people who are exiting, out first, and then enter. One would think in a country as crowded as the NL that this would be really normal.
I must say that we were "warned" in our Dutch class about Dutch "manners". Well, the teacher told us that in the NL it is considered "sexist" if you do something like hold a door open for another person. She called it equality. I call it selfishness. The Dutch attitude actually extends to no-one helping me last week lift Edward in his pram up 3 steps into a tram in Den Haag. I am obviously pregnant - some women are at full term with the tummy I have now. It is not healthy for a pregnant woman to lift pram plus 17 month old toddler up stairs.
What our Australian Dutch teacher didn't say is that this place is without those little social rules that make an individual's daily life better.
Sunday, September 9, 2007
Dijkfest
Ten to seven on a Sunday evening.
We should be enjoying the relaxation and quiet of sleepy Eemnes on a Sunday. This is the place where the only thing that is open is the church (at the end of our street). But no. It is Dijkfest here, which is (I think) an event that is unique to Eemnes. Inmates of Eemnes have been encouraged to put up artwork in their front gardens. There are several themes - Dutch flags, orange things, clogs, lots and lots of dairy cows. A welcome delight is the naked (male) garden gnome.
Another part of Dijkfest is musical. This unfortunately occurs in a huge pavilion that has been set up one block from our house, and in the Eemnes Jazz Night Club, which is less than 50 metres away from our house on the same block.
Hence our house is currently being bombarded with the sounds of an atrocious brass band, interspersed with a man bellowing something (in Dutch) on a microphone. This is due to some event being held in the pavilion.
I think this is slightly worse than the "Kinderfest" which was held last Wednesday, starting at 12.30, just when Edward fell asleep for his afternoon nap. Kinderfest consisted of Yelling Microphone Man for 20 seconds or so, followed by the sounds of dozens of screaming, cheering Dutch children, followed by Yelling Microphone Man... and so on for an hour or so. Thankfully once Edward is asleep, he is asleep.
The last two nights we have been subjected to Free Jazz Concerts (starting at 9pm and continuing with no break at all until the early hours of the morning). These are so loud that it sounds like we have the radio on too loudly inside our double glazed house. I am hoping that we don't have a third night of Jazz because my temper is wearing extremely thin. I've spent too many hours in the last 48 hours lying in bed, desparately tired, being subjected to some idiot singing their lungs out, and wondering if it would be possible to take matters into my own hands and cut the electricity supply to the Eemnes Jazz Night Club.
We should be enjoying the relaxation and quiet of sleepy Eemnes on a Sunday. This is the place where the only thing that is open is the church (at the end of our street). But no. It is Dijkfest here, which is (I think) an event that is unique to Eemnes. Inmates of Eemnes have been encouraged to put up artwork in their front gardens. There are several themes - Dutch flags, orange things, clogs, lots and lots of dairy cows. A welcome delight is the naked (male) garden gnome.
Another part of Dijkfest is musical. This unfortunately occurs in a huge pavilion that has been set up one block from our house, and in the Eemnes Jazz Night Club, which is less than 50 metres away from our house on the same block.
Hence our house is currently being bombarded with the sounds of an atrocious brass band, interspersed with a man bellowing something (in Dutch) on a microphone. This is due to some event being held in the pavilion.
I think this is slightly worse than the "Kinderfest" which was held last Wednesday, starting at 12.30, just when Edward fell asleep for his afternoon nap. Kinderfest consisted of Yelling Microphone Man for 20 seconds or so, followed by the sounds of dozens of screaming, cheering Dutch children, followed by Yelling Microphone Man... and so on for an hour or so. Thankfully once Edward is asleep, he is asleep.
The last two nights we have been subjected to Free Jazz Concerts (starting at 9pm and continuing with no break at all until the early hours of the morning). These are so loud that it sounds like we have the radio on too loudly inside our double glazed house. I am hoping that we don't have a third night of Jazz because my temper is wearing extremely thin. I've spent too many hours in the last 48 hours lying in bed, desparately tired, being subjected to some idiot singing their lungs out, and wondering if it would be possible to take matters into my own hands and cut the electricity supply to the Eemnes Jazz Night Club.
Saturday, September 1, 2007
September already!
Happy first of September everyone!
We're in the middle of a very relaxing Saturday. So far we've had 2 big Skype sessions with Adam's family in Newcastle, done the weekend's supermarket shopping and an awful lot of websurfing.
On that note, I think I have developed an internet addiction. I love reading blogs of other expatriate housewives, some of them make great reading. I'm also addicted to looking up recipes as we left all our cooking books in Australia. And we realised last week that the Cook & the Chef can be downloaded and watched on the internet. Fabulous! We were going to have another Cook & Chef episode today, as a Saturday treat, but the ABC website is down. Oh well, I'll try again later.
Now about our internet. Our internet (which is provided 'free' via our neighbours - the "Gs" - who are also the son & daughter-in-law of our extortinate landlord). It managed to be broken all last week. Every time I tried to log on I got an error message (in Dutch) that said there was a security problem.
It's great being married to someone who works in IT. Adam managed to get me into gmail, which was very nice, and he also found a sneaky way to log into his work system but that was for emergencies only.
And we couldn't bother the neighbours about the internet being broken because Mrs G's mother died the week before and I hear her yelling at her children every afternoon. She is wearing full black and it would have been tasteless (and a bit scary) to complain about the internet. So we waited, and waited... and to my delight, yesterday it fixed itself.
Oh dear, Edward has now developed the ability to remove his nappy. He has just trotted over and handed the offending article to me and is running around stark naked. It's good that the house has wooden floors, and that we are only renting it!
Happy September everyone, it feels like a big milestone for me as September is a whole month closer to when we go home.
We're in the middle of a very relaxing Saturday. So far we've had 2 big Skype sessions with Adam's family in Newcastle, done the weekend's supermarket shopping and an awful lot of websurfing.
On that note, I think I have developed an internet addiction. I love reading blogs of other expatriate housewives, some of them make great reading. I'm also addicted to looking up recipes as we left all our cooking books in Australia. And we realised last week that the Cook & the Chef can be downloaded and watched on the internet. Fabulous! We were going to have another Cook & Chef episode today, as a Saturday treat, but the ABC website is down. Oh well, I'll try again later.
Now about our internet. Our internet (which is provided 'free' via our neighbours - the "Gs" - who are also the son & daughter-in-law of our extortinate landlord). It managed to be broken all last week. Every time I tried to log on I got an error message (in Dutch) that said there was a security problem.
It's great being married to someone who works in IT. Adam managed to get me into gmail, which was very nice, and he also found a sneaky way to log into his work system but that was for emergencies only.
And we couldn't bother the neighbours about the internet being broken because Mrs G's mother died the week before and I hear her yelling at her children every afternoon. She is wearing full black and it would have been tasteless (and a bit scary) to complain about the internet. So we waited, and waited... and to my delight, yesterday it fixed itself.
Oh dear, Edward has now developed the ability to remove his nappy. He has just trotted over and handed the offending article to me and is running around stark naked. It's good that the house has wooden floors, and that we are only renting it!
Happy September everyone, it feels like a big milestone for me as September is a whole month closer to when we go home.
Saturday, August 25, 2007
Bruges
To finish Stephen's visit off in style, Adam took a day's leave and we headed to Bruges for a short holiday. It's a lovely place, full of chocolate shops, beer shops and shops that sell lace. The canals are very peaceful and curve around the city.
Edward developed a bit of an upset tummy and barely ate anything for 24 hours. So much for my fattening him up regime.
Edward developed a bit of an upset tummy and barely ate anything for 24 hours. So much for my fattening him up regime.
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| Bruges |
Sunday, August 19, 2007
The Laren Duckpond
Today is Sunday. Having saved various bits of stale bread (and some decaying spinach), we took Edward to feed the ducks at the Laren Duckpond.
The Laren ducks love us!
We were greeted with vigorous quacking as soon as we got out of the car. The ducks were so excited that about 20 of them climbed out of the pond and milled around our feet, while the other 30 or so swam towards us, with great expectations.
I discovered the ducks really don't like spinach. They will eat it if there is nothing else on offer. On the other hand, ducks love to eat stale bread.
Dear Edward is very brave. He didn't really appreciate being put to stand on the ground among 20 hungry, quacking ducks. To his credit he didn't cry (or indeed move). Rather, he stood rooted to the spot in front of Daddy's legs, shaking with fear.
We now realise that hungry ducks are a bit scary for a 16 month old. Don't worry, we rescued him straight away.
The Laren ducks love us!
We were greeted with vigorous quacking as soon as we got out of the car. The ducks were so excited that about 20 of them climbed out of the pond and milled around our feet, while the other 30 or so swam towards us, with great expectations.
I discovered the ducks really don't like spinach. They will eat it if there is nothing else on offer. On the other hand, ducks love to eat stale bread.
Dear Edward is very brave. He didn't really appreciate being put to stand on the ground among 20 hungry, quacking ducks. To his credit he didn't cry (or indeed move). Rather, he stood rooted to the spot in front of Daddy's legs, shaking with fear.
We now realise that hungry ducks are a bit scary for a 16 month old. Don't worry, we rescued him straight away.
Friday, August 17, 2007
A Nice Quiet Week
Today is Friday and the end of a nice quiet week. We were all absolutely exhausted by the end of last weekend and it took until Wednesday to get back to 'normal', whatever normal is for us.
Yesterday my expat friend Copper and her lovely baby Maddox came over for a play. Poor Edward woke from his nap to find visitors in the house. He spent half an hour first hiding behind my legs, clinging to me for dear life, and then quietly hiding behind the large lego box, looking at his feet. Then he recovered and had a very nice play. By the end of their visit he was bringing Maddox toys to look at and thoughtfully putting them in front of M's hands (M is quite young and is just beginning to roll over).
I think the Dutch summer is over as we are having weather slightly like a Canberra Autumn - crisp nights. During the day it is overcast and sometimes rainy. Difficult to dry the washing.
This weekend we plan to relax and do nothing, which will be wonderful.
Yesterday my expat friend Copper and her lovely baby Maddox came over for a play. Poor Edward woke from his nap to find visitors in the house. He spent half an hour first hiding behind my legs, clinging to me for dear life, and then quietly hiding behind the large lego box, looking at his feet. Then he recovered and had a very nice play. By the end of their visit he was bringing Maddox toys to look at and thoughtfully putting them in front of M's hands (M is quite young and is just beginning to roll over).
I think the Dutch summer is over as we are having weather slightly like a Canberra Autumn - crisp nights. During the day it is overcast and sometimes rainy. Difficult to dry the washing.
This weekend we plan to relax and do nothing, which will be wonderful.
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