I didn't manage to snap Manon (sorry!) but I got Mark who came over to see everyone, that's him on the right looking very bohemian:
Sunday, December 31, 2006
Garry, Manon and Charlie
We went to Garry & Manon's on Friday. They've got a little boy called Charlie who's 7 weeks, so just 1 week younger than Leon. He was a bit bigger at birth though, and still is. Everyone had camera phones so we had fun transferring photos to each other by bluetooth :)
I didn't manage to snap Manon (sorry!) but I got Mark who came over to see everyone, that's him on the right looking very bohemian:
I didn't manage to snap Manon (sorry!) but I got Mark who came over to see everyone, that's him on the right looking very bohemian:
Leon's world
Our pushchair has a transparrent section so you can look in and check the baby's ok. Well I had a flash of inspiration and took a photo through it so you can see the world from Leon's point of view!
Here's Leon being all grown up and sitting up. It lasts until he wiggles, when he promptly falls over :)
I actually remember doing this myself when I was little - putting my thumb between my fingers like this. Apparently in some parts of Holland it means something like "talk to the hand"!
Here's Leon being all grown up and sitting up. It lasts until he wiggles, when he promptly falls over :)
I actually remember doing this myself when I was little - putting my thumb between my fingers like this. Apparently in some parts of Holland it means something like "talk to the hand"!
Snaps of Utrecht
I loved this doorway - it's "Cow's Foot Alley"
Only the Dutch...
How narrow are these buildings?!
Only the Dutch...
How narrow are these buildings?!
Night shirts and more Nijntje
Just to clarify the pronunciation - it's pronounced Ninetcheyuh from konijntje which is a small rabbit in dutch thus in kiddie speak it's just nijntje - you just pronounce the j as a y and give the e on the end an 'a' sound.
I managed to find two largeish (one size however) Nijntje night shirts with drawstrings and hand bits that go over the hands to prevent them from scratching themselves. They are white with pink bits, I'm sure Leon wont notice. I'm still on the hunt for a couple more so I can get another one for Matthew. They were the last two in the shop and were on offer at 5 euros each so I took the last two. Need more!
We spent this afternoon in the very nice cafe in the V&D store restaurant with Jose and Martine hogging really good seats with a view out over Utrecht. They made a fuss of Leon and we caught up a bit. I think we talked a bit too much baby stuff, I tried to change the subject and talk about some of the good films I've seen recently as Jose and I always used to enjoy our films but baby brain here can't remember the title of anything interesting - Ice Age 2 was about as interesting as I could remember which is frankly disgusting (good film tho' - better than Ice Age 1 )
Leon has already out grown some of the stuff we brought and is into some of the bigger stuff I brought thinking he might be big enough for and is now big enough for - some nice stuff from Matthew for a start.
Since Christmas eve, he's sleeping up to 8 hours at night straight, sometimes a bit longer, which is wonderful for us. It does mean that I've had to ensure feeds more like every 3 hours during the day to get in the minimum 6 feeds in 24 hours. It seems to be working - by the time Leon wakes for a feed in the morning my boobs are exploding so I express one, either just before or just after his first feed. I can express the full 4oz feed in one go and then give the bottle to him last or second to last feed at night when supplies are low. As I said, it seems to be working. I am aware everything is a phase though, especially as we will be heading home in a few days and back to his normal cot rather than the travel cot he's in while we crash at my mums.
Smiles are getting more often too, he tends to reserve them for us but it's more than just a daily occurrence now. They make me go all guey.
I managed to find two largeish (one size however) Nijntje night shirts with drawstrings and hand bits that go over the hands to prevent them from scratching themselves. They are white with pink bits, I'm sure Leon wont notice. I'm still on the hunt for a couple more so I can get another one for Matthew. They were the last two in the shop and were on offer at 5 euros each so I took the last two. Need more!
We spent this afternoon in the very nice cafe in the V&D store restaurant with Jose and Martine hogging really good seats with a view out over Utrecht. They made a fuss of Leon and we caught up a bit. I think we talked a bit too much baby stuff, I tried to change the subject and talk about some of the good films I've seen recently as Jose and I always used to enjoy our films but baby brain here can't remember the title of anything interesting - Ice Age 2 was about as interesting as I could remember which is frankly disgusting (good film tho' - better than Ice Age 1 )
Leon has already out grown some of the stuff we brought and is into some of the bigger stuff I brought thinking he might be big enough for and is now big enough for - some nice stuff from Matthew for a start.
Since Christmas eve, he's sleeping up to 8 hours at night straight, sometimes a bit longer, which is wonderful for us. It does mean that I've had to ensure feeds more like every 3 hours during the day to get in the minimum 6 feeds in 24 hours. It seems to be working - by the time Leon wakes for a feed in the morning my boobs are exploding so I express one, either just before or just after his first feed. I can express the full 4oz feed in one go and then give the bottle to him last or second to last feed at night when supplies are low. As I said, it seems to be working. I am aware everything is a phase though, especially as we will be heading home in a few days and back to his normal cot rather than the travel cot he's in while we crash at my mums.
Smiles are getting more often too, he tends to reserve them for us but it's more than just a daily occurrence now. They make me go all guey.
Saturday, December 30, 2006
Miffy museum
Wandering on from the Dom, we set off towards the Utrecht museum. It was quite late, so we weren't sure it would be open, but taking a back road we stumbled upon the Miffy museum so went in there (taking in the shop first of course and buying some posters for the nursery).
By the way, Miffy isn't Miffy in Holland, where she originated, she's Nijntje (pronounced 'nye-cha' I believe) which is a little bunny in child speak :)
Our first inclination that the building we were passing might hold something of interest was spotting this though the window!
The expo was really good - we'll come back with Leon when he's old enough to play on the kiddy sized computers: they had Nijntje games and puzzles, really good.
Two of the Nijntje pictures on the wall tickled my fancy, the first one's now my phone wallpaper :)
By the way, Miffy isn't Miffy in Holland, where she originated, she's Nijntje (pronounced 'nye-cha' I believe) which is a little bunny in child speak :)
Our first inclination that the building we were passing might hold something of interest was spotting this though the window!
The expo was really good - we'll come back with Leon when he's old enough to play on the kiddy sized computers: they had Nijntje games and puzzles, really good.
Two of the Nijntje pictures on the wall tickled my fancy, the first one's now my phone wallpaper :)
Leon interlude
'Hang on!' I hear you cry, 'All these pictures of churches (if you're reading these in order) and Miffy (if you're not) and none of Leon!' Well we did go to the church cafe where we fed him and I hugged him and was a proud dad:
Inside the Dom
I thought the Dom was beautiful. Simple, almost austere and very tall. When the wooden nave was blown away by a tornado it wasn't rebuilt - instead the church was sealed with a wall which now houses the organ. The entire church is simply the chancel and transepts of the original building.
The church has an interesting curved apse and sacristy, which makes it, I suppose, horse-shoe shaped, but it feels almost oval because the crossing in front of the organ has been left clear.
There's not much stained glass, because a lot was blown out by the tornado, but what remained was gathered into windows at the ends of the transepts. I love the effect created by the lit star hanging in the middle of the south transept:
I also loved these candlesticks which fit perfectly with the stark perpendicular architecture:
And as I'm in an artistic mood, here's a moody shot I took out in the cloisters:
The church has an interesting curved apse and sacristy, which makes it, I suppose, horse-shoe shaped, but it feels almost oval because the crossing in front of the organ has been left clear.
There's not much stained glass, because a lot was blown out by the tornado, but what remained was gathered into windows at the ends of the transepts. I love the effect created by the lit star hanging in the middle of the south transept:
I also loved these candlesticks which fit perfectly with the stark perpendicular architecture:
And as I'm in an artistic mood, here's a moody shot I took out in the cloisters:
Friday, December 29, 2006
The Dom
Yesterday we headed into town because I wanted to do some sightseeing - it's been nice visiting friends and having parties but I just wanted to get out, bit of fresh air and all that. We weren't particularly fast out the door (I do believe we managed to get out just after lunch, around 2pm) but that was ok - we didn't have a schedule to keep.
We took the bus into Utrecht and decided to visit the cathedral - the 'Dom'. It was a cold and misty day - I certainly got my 'fresh' air! Here you can just about see the Dom Tower. It's not actually attached to the rest of the cathedral, well not now it isn't. The two halves were once connected by a wooden structure, but it got torn down by a tornado!
One day we'll do the tower tour. For now here's the main part of the cathedral:
The nicely preserved cloisters:
central fountain:
and view over the rooftops:
We took the bus into Utrecht and decided to visit the cathedral - the 'Dom'. It was a cold and misty day - I certainly got my 'fresh' air! Here you can just about see the Dom Tower. It's not actually attached to the rest of the cathedral, well not now it isn't. The two halves were once connected by a wooden structure, but it got torn down by a tornado!
One day we'll do the tower tour. For now here's the main part of the cathedral:
The nicely preserved cloisters:
central fountain:
and view over the rooftops:
Sleepy Leon
On Wednesday - we had a bit of a relaxed day making up for the last few hectic days. Here's Leon in a very relaxed pose!
Then yesterday we tried to get up 'early' to get into town and he fell asleep in the bath!
Then yesterday we tried to get up 'early' to get into town and he fell asleep in the bath!
Another First for Leon
Before I post all the photos I've been collecting with my new camera phone (I've gone a bit snap happy) I have some important news of a new first for Leon... his first bogey! Yes this morning a large green bogey was seen exiting his left nostril. You will all be disappointed, of course, to know that this was one event not caught on camera :) After the sighting Leon's support crew stood by, fearing a cold, but his temperature was normal and a grumpy disposition was put down to inheriting his father's general abhorrence of waking up earlier than strictly necessary.
Tuesday, December 26, 2006
Christmas Presents!
Up late morning, in our dressing gowns, for opening of the presents! I think Christmas must be great when your presents are as big as you are:
Here's the aftermath with books, CDs and mice everywhere!
Here's the aftermath with books, CDs and mice everywhere!
Christmas Dinner
We went to Carol's for Christmas Dinner (one of Margaret's friends). I'm afraid I forgot to snap Carol! But I did get a shot of everyone fussing over Leon (there's a theme there somewhere ;):
And some shots during the meal. We had a lovely fish starter then a huge plate of turkey with home made cranberry sauce (sorry forgot who made that, was lovely), suckling pig, roasties, pumpkin mash, broccoli and cauliflower and lovely gravy, followed by a scrummy Xmas pud (the others had it with cream, I had jelly I stole from the trifle!). I was most glad I couldn't partake in the milk chocolates or cheese-board as I was mightily full by then, but I did manage a glass of port :)
In my cracker was a kallidoscope... hooked up to the camera and suddenly Leon was in a remake of Bohemian Rhapsody!
He slept fitfully, possibly because of the noise and the fact he'd had 2 exciting days in a row. He even got a little confused and tried to suck his fist and dummy at the same time, or maybe he was just making sure it stayed in :)
(BTW note the 100% cute T-shirt, just in case you hadn't noticed his main disarming tactic):
And some shots during the meal. We had a lovely fish starter then a huge plate of turkey with home made cranberry sauce (sorry forgot who made that, was lovely), suckling pig, roasties, pumpkin mash, broccoli and cauliflower and lovely gravy, followed by a scrummy Xmas pud (the others had it with cream, I had jelly I stole from the trifle!). I was most glad I couldn't partake in the milk chocolates or cheese-board as I was mightily full by then, but I did manage a glass of port :)
In my cracker was a kallidoscope... hooked up to the camera and suddenly Leon was in a remake of Bohemian Rhapsody!
He slept fitfully, possibly because of the noise and the fact he'd had 2 exciting days in a row. He even got a little confused and tried to suck his fist and dummy at the same time, or maybe he was just making sure it stayed in :)
(BTW note the 100% cute T-shirt, just in case you hadn't noticed his main disarming tactic):
Christmas Eve
For Christmas Eve we went to Chantal's - she'd invited Erik, José & little Rosa, Jantina with her two: Heilke and Anne, Brent came along and of course Chantal, Marcel and their three: Kristi, Jesse & Sarah. With Leon, Christine and me that made 8 adults and 7 kiddies, all different ages from 8 weeks to 8 years! Boy it was noisy!
The girls fussed over Leon of course, he was on best cuteness alert:
In fact all the children loved him:
We gave out our presents, success everyone loved what we'd got them: finger puppets, an indoor football, postcards and a fluffy dog:
We had a lovely buffet with Surinamese beetroot salad (really thick like mash potato, red and lovely), cheese pastries, cheese on crackers, olives, cheese and ginger, mince pies and other lovely stuff. Chantal had brought in a bottle of port which we made good inroads into and a lovely time was had by all :)
The girls fussed over Leon of course, he was on best cuteness alert:
In fact all the children loved him:
We gave out our presents, success everyone loved what we'd got them: finger puppets, an indoor football, postcards and a fluffy dog:
We had a lovely buffet with Surinamese beetroot salad (really thick like mash potato, red and lovely), cheese pastries, cheese on crackers, olives, cheese and ginger, mince pies and other lovely stuff. Chantal had brought in a bottle of port which we made good inroads into and a lovely time was had by all :)
Laden pushchair
Just a quick snap of a laden pushchair - fairly typical for when we go out - changing bag across the back, sleeping bag (for visiting friends), shopping, you name it, it goes on those handles :)
Saturday, December 23, 2006
cuddles
Just read Toby's blog which covered most things. It's really nice to be here and to be able to pass Leon to his Auntie or to my Mum for a cuddle while I get a drink or the like. Mum's taught me a new technique to get Leon to sleep if he's windy or wired. It involves holding him very tight to my chest with a dummy, the dummy can't fall out because it's between him and my chest, he starts sucking while he's rocked back and forth. At first he wriggles and complains but very quickly he calms down because he's being held tightly which at first he doesn't like but then he changes his mind and he does like! It gets him to sleep in no time. I don't like to use it last thing - it's better to put him down in the cot and have him get him self off - just sit with him and replace the dummy, but during the day, if he's wired and we both can snooze together and get in a cuddle then it's ideal. I'd always been wary of holding him to me if he complains but this way I can calm him down and get a cuddle. Funny what a bit of experience can do.
Holland here we come!
We were up pretty early on Wednesday morning, stuffing the car full of baby equipment and clothes for the trip to Holland. It was pretty foggy on the way to Harwich, so we were glad we were going by boat as lots of planes were cancelled (not that we would have got all the stuff on a plane!). Freezing cold again:
The crossing wasn't too bad, pretty quick to get on the boat, fairly decent lunch. Leon was well behaved, had to change and feed him but facilities were pretty good. He even got a bendy baloon though I think we was a bit tired by this point:
The evening traffic in Holland wasn't too bad, and we found our way pretty directly to the house, where Leon was fussed over :)
We were pretty tired by the trip though - I'm blogging this on Saturday and we've had lots of lie-ins and mid-morning snoozes the last couple of days:
Went shopping yesterday, to Prenatal and Ikea. Got presents for all the children we'll be seeing in the next few days and a few bits for us. Leon slept a long time though woke just as we were leaving, so it was a rush to get to the car to feed him. I had to leave C with Leon and go fetch the car, but luckly I'd earlier asked C "what does that sign mean?" so I knew how to get to the loading-bay by myself. Talking of driving by myself, I took Margaret to an evening class and manged to find my way back home and back to the community center to pick her up again, without knocking over any mad cyclists or running into the mad bus drivers, now that's got to be worth applauding :)
We also went shopping today, to get me a Xmas present. Last Saturday before Xmas, so it was pretty hectic. The Dutch are very nice people, but in crowds and on the roads they're so impatient! Leon again slept while we were out (I think it's the pushchair action) so all was calm until the trip home when Sir woke up and demanded to be fed, which was too difficult on a tram so he had to wait (not something he does readily and without complaint!). Next time we'll take a dummy with us and perhaps wake him to feed him before setting off on the return trip. Yes, we will learn one day. We did find he could be consoled with him sucking his thumb, but it was quite hard because the snow-suit is so thick he can hardly bend his arms!
Of course when we got home after a feed, it was time for some more cuddles. Note the Scotland bib!
Thomas is cooking for us tonight (Niccola's boyfriend) so I thought I'd blog while he does his stuff. John was kind enough to set up Bluetooth on his Apple so that's how I got the photos from my phone onto Blogger. Ooh, forgot to tell you - new phone! I got it just a couple of days before we left England - Sony W810i. It's very nice and Christine's jealous. Which? did a mobile phone article in this month's magazine - one of the Sony's had a better camera, but in the shop I couldn't use it, the buttons were too small, and in fact I'd secretly decided I wanted the other one anyway, because it plays MP3's and has a radio as well as having a fairly decent camera. Oh and you can make phone calls with it too... ;) I had to pay something towards the phone but otherwise it's covered by my contract with O2 - they looked up if they could get me a better contract for the money but actually mine's 3x better than what they could offer me so I kept on with my good thing (can't remember where I got the contact, I think it was at a Homes Expo or something, but it's jolly good).
Tummy's been mostly ok, though I had to take another anti-cramp pill this morning. Might have to take another one now I think. I've been eating well though, so I think this is the last vestiges of it. That's three weeks - nasty. Talking of food, I can smell something nice downstairs so I better wrap this up. Now I know I can blog I'll try to do it a bit more regularly. TTFN!
The crossing wasn't too bad, pretty quick to get on the boat, fairly decent lunch. Leon was well behaved, had to change and feed him but facilities were pretty good. He even got a bendy baloon though I think we was a bit tired by this point:
The evening traffic in Holland wasn't too bad, and we found our way pretty directly to the house, where Leon was fussed over :)
We were pretty tired by the trip though - I'm blogging this on Saturday and we've had lots of lie-ins and mid-morning snoozes the last couple of days:
Went shopping yesterday, to Prenatal and Ikea. Got presents for all the children we'll be seeing in the next few days and a few bits for us. Leon slept a long time though woke just as we were leaving, so it was a rush to get to the car to feed him. I had to leave C with Leon and go fetch the car, but luckly I'd earlier asked C "what does that sign mean?" so I knew how to get to the loading-bay by myself. Talking of driving by myself, I took Margaret to an evening class and manged to find my way back home and back to the community center to pick her up again, without knocking over any mad cyclists or running into the mad bus drivers, now that's got to be worth applauding :)
We also went shopping today, to get me a Xmas present. Last Saturday before Xmas, so it was pretty hectic. The Dutch are very nice people, but in crowds and on the roads they're so impatient! Leon again slept while we were out (I think it's the pushchair action) so all was calm until the trip home when Sir woke up and demanded to be fed, which was too difficult on a tram so he had to wait (not something he does readily and without complaint!). Next time we'll take a dummy with us and perhaps wake him to feed him before setting off on the return trip. Yes, we will learn one day. We did find he could be consoled with him sucking his thumb, but it was quite hard because the snow-suit is so thick he can hardly bend his arms!
Of course when we got home after a feed, it was time for some more cuddles. Note the Scotland bib!
Thomas is cooking for us tonight (Niccola's boyfriend) so I thought I'd blog while he does his stuff. John was kind enough to set up Bluetooth on his Apple so that's how I got the photos from my phone onto Blogger. Ooh, forgot to tell you - new phone! I got it just a couple of days before we left England - Sony W810i. It's very nice and Christine's jealous. Which? did a mobile phone article in this month's magazine - one of the Sony's had a better camera, but in the shop I couldn't use it, the buttons were too small, and in fact I'd secretly decided I wanted the other one anyway, because it plays MP3's and has a radio as well as having a fairly decent camera. Oh and you can make phone calls with it too... ;) I had to pay something towards the phone but otherwise it's covered by my contract with O2 - they looked up if they could get me a better contract for the money but actually mine's 3x better than what they could offer me so I kept on with my good thing (can't remember where I got the contact, I think it was at a Homes Expo or something, but it's jolly good).
Tummy's been mostly ok, though I had to take another anti-cramp pill this morning. Might have to take another one now I think. I've been eating well though, so I think this is the last vestiges of it. That's three weeks - nasty. Talking of food, I can smell something nice downstairs so I better wrap this up. Now I know I can blog I'll try to do it a bit more regularly. TTFN!
Wednesday, December 20, 2006
Winter
Feeling a lot better today, probably thanks to the medicine I got yesterday. I had to go back to the docs today for a blood test though, I think it's to check the tummy bug hasn't spread. I don't think so, 'cos I feel fine apart from the tum, but I'm glad they're checking.
It was foggy out - winter's definitely upon us. The spider's webs were all iced up - beautiful:
It was foggy out - winter's definitely upon us. The spider's webs were all iced up - beautiful:
2nd Dad Bottle
This is the 2nd time I've given Leon a bottle (expressed by CJ earlier). Both times he's taken to it easily, though he does peer at me in contemplation while guzzling it down as if to say "Milk + Dad, hmmm something doesn't compute here, still not to worry eh?".
Towards the end of the feed he'd stopped sucking and so I tried to take the bottle away but a little hand shot out, grasped mine and jammed the bottle back in while he chugged the rest down! Surprisingly strong and coordinated!
Towards the end of the feed he'd stopped sucking and so I tried to take the bottle away but a little hand shot out, grasped mine and jammed the bottle back in while he chugged the rest down! Surprisingly strong and coordinated!
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