Happy Halloween

Halloween isn't really celebrated in the Netherlands, though I am afraid that in 20 years or so this holiday will spread all over the world. The lure of large bags of candy is just too strong. Our first year in the NL we hosted a Halloween party, and had a lot of fun-- but we prefer Thanksgiving, and would rather celebrate that. Due to the proximity of these holidays hosting both is just not manageable. Our Halloween was very lowkey-- we dressed James up this morning, took some photos and then took the suit off. It was great.

We spent the weekend working on the house. Mike helped our neighbor Ronald get their nursery ready for their baby, due in February. I worked on the garden. It turned out that renting a jackhammer was not necessary (bummer)-- Mike was able to cut out one stone, which made removing the row easy. I then rushed to replant everything from pots into the ground while our neighbor Maaike held the baby. All in all a really nice weekend- the weather is still beautiful, and should remain so through Thursday.

For the photos, here is James smiling up at Mike, a closeup of James in his pea suit, and one of me and James in the garden (note Ghost in the background).

More of the twins

Here are photos of James' newest cousins.
Congrats Dorothy, Terry and Sophie.
The first photo is of Emily, the second of Michael

Making Friends

The Twins

The Stats:

Michael Thomas Gould

October 28th, 2005

born at 7:10 pm

4 lbs 5 oz, 17 inches

Emily Clare Gould

October 28th, 2005

born at 7:20 pm

4 lbs 13 oz, 18.5 inches

Just taking it easy

The weather has been beautiful again, and we are taking advantage of the opportunity to get outside while we can.

Here is a photo from last night. This is his favorite sleeping position during the day/evening. We usually try to get him to settle down on his own or put him down while he is still awake, but more often than not this burping position turns into a snooze.

We are anxiously awaiting the birth of James' newest cousins in Atlanta. Dor and Terry do not know the sex of the babies-- is anyone interested in making a bet??? No money, just for fun.

Mike is going on record with the guess of one boy/ one girl.

Katharine guesses two girls.

If anyone else wants to make a guess, add it to the posts!

We will update with news of the twins.

Getting Back to Routines, Confused About Sleep Patterns

Things are great here-- the weather is supposed to be nice later this week, we're all finally feeling better after our cold, and we've had the chance to visit with friends over the last few days. We are trying to take this opportunity to visit before my pregnancy/delivery leave is over. We are nearing that time-- November 7th is the day I return to work. I have a few weeks back at work before we take our holiday to the United States. Hopefully, we will be able to use that time as a trial period to test out our new routine.

James is still eating and sleeping on demand, which means his routine changes from day to day. Before the cold set in we had one night featuring 5 consecutive hours of sleep. We have yet to see a repeat of this. For what it is worth, the adults feel pretty rested and content. We get plenty of sleep each night, if only in 3 hour increments. Yesterday was especially mysterious, as James failed to nap at all during the day. We were confused, and afraid he would become so tired that he would hit the Dot Maier classification of being "overtired". He is such a great sleeper at night (he wakes up, eats, is changed, and then goes back down without problem) and we do not want to create any sleeping issues. During the day he often falls asleep while being held, which is obviously not going to work as he continues to grow.

We tried to put him down in his crib for an 'official' nap, but it was clear he was not tired.
To the sounds of James crying upstairs we looked up napping in all of our parenting books. We found out that he is incapable of keeping himself awake at this age. So, Mike climbed the steps and brought James down. I held him for a while and wouldn't you know it, he fell asleep for about 30 minutes. At this point we prepared to go over to some friends house for dinner. We loaded James up in the car seat and he crashed out, and stayed out for the entire dinner. He woke up about 4 1/2 hours later. We thought this strange new pattern might be the harbinger of James "sleeping through the night". That was not the case.

Regardless of our obsession over his sleep patterns James is doing everything he is supposed to be doing now-- eating, sleeping and growing.

Here are some photos of a hat and booties knitted for James by Deb Lee Cress. They are just a little big now, but it looks like they will be perfect for winter. These were actually taken last week during "the cold", so James is not quite as perky as usual.

BIG NEWS

Oh, and the BIG news of the week is that my oldest sister Marilois just got engaged!!! She and Pablo have been dating for two years, but we have known his family forever. Pablo's dad was my Doctor when I broke my leg as a little kid. I will never forget the lollipops they gave out at his practice. They almost made the broken leg worthwhile.

Citizen James

Yesterday was a busy and tiring but productive day. The Holland Maiers awoke at 5:30 AM for a feeding and then got dressed, biked to the station and caught the train to Amsterdam. We went to register James' birth with the American authorities and apply for his passport. The trip was a learning experience in a lot of ways. First, we realized what a pain it is to carry around the baby carrier while walking in a rainy city. We did not opt for the stroller-carseat-carrier combination because in general we are not getting on and off of public transportation with the baby. For walking in the neighborhood we use the pram and for most of our business around town we use the hug a bub sling. We brought the sling and the car seat on the train and soon discovered the sling would have been sufficient.
We arrived in Amsterdam and made our way to the Photo shop that makes passport photos according to US standards. A regular passport photo will not do. The photo place is open from 9:30, and the consulate is open from 8:30-11:30. We propped James up on the stool for his photo then walked to the consulate. We did not manage to walk directly to the consulate, but instead we walked near it, around it, past it and THEN to it. Once inside things went very smoothly. Since Mike and I are both American citizens, James citizenship is automatically American. If one of us were Dutch his options would be a little different, exactly how I am not certain. I have learned that America is unique in that we grant citizenship to any person born on our soil, reagardless of their parentage. Most countries do not do this-- as we learned in an early Dutch language lesson "the Netherlands is full" but this is true even of countries with a less dense population. I think America's laws are this way because of our history and the amount of space we have.
The trip to the consulate was uneventful and pretty easy, all things considered. We have walked through all the checkpoints, filled out all the forms, taken the oath and signed on the dotted line. James is now officially American, and a baby passport should be on the way in two weeks.
After that we set out into the rainy Amsterdam streets to look for something to eat. We were really interested in finding a sushi place-- but failed miserably. Instead we ended up in an Argentenian steakhouse and had a DELICIOUS meal. We were the only patrons, as it was still a little before noon. We had a relaxing meal before heading back to the train station. The train's rocking motion put James right to sleep, which made for a pretty relaxing day for him. Actually, the rocking motion put us all to sleep on the ride back to Enschede. A woman across the aisle commented that the whole family was asleep!
The most interesting part of the day had to do with our layover in Amersfoort. In train stations it is customary to pay to use the WC. Sometimes there is a bathroom attendant and sometimes not. In many train stations the bathrooms look like large steel vaults, they have a coin slot on the outside and only after you put in your 50cents does the door unlock. I call them robot bathrooms because they mechanically clean themselves between users. At the Amersfoort station I approached a bathroom of this type and looked and looked for the coin slot but couldn't find it. I tried the door and it was locked, but the light outside signalled that it was free (as in not occupied). I simply COULD NOT figure it out. Finally I noticed a sign on the door that said the only way to pay for this toilet was to call a number with your mobile telephone. I am not kidding. Some of you may know that we do not have a mobile phone. We don't consider ourselves good candidates for a mobile phone. We tried one once when we first moved here, but broke it AND lost it simultaneously. Needless to say, I was not able to use this bathroom.

World's Most Photographed Baby...

Smackety smack

That is the sound we woke up to last night when James very noisily found his entire hand, not just the thumb. Mike and I were both thumbsuckers, and we have been looking forward to this momentous occasion.

The busy bee

Well, chalk it up to being new parents-- we continue to be totally clueless sometimes. James has a fussy period most days in the afternoon. Last week his cold made that fussy period longer and fussier.
Yesterday we went to our neighbors house for a birthday party (Gefeliciteerd Ronald!) They are expectant parents and just bought some great baby gear second hand. They offered to put together their blanket-baby gym combo to let James test it out. Apparently at some point in the last week he has turned a corner developmentally. The birthday visit coincided with the fussy period. He was a little fussy and we put him down under the baby gym. Low and behold-- we found out he's not fussy, he's bored! He began to immediately smile and wiggle at the mirror and mice hanging from this contraption. He even started to grab at them!
Mike is off today buying James a baby gym of his own. In the meantime I put him in his car seat and hung this busy-bee thing in front of him. He is enamoured.
Notice how his hand and the toy are fuzzy-- that is because this shot is post-grab by just a few seconds.

Day in the Garden

After slowly recovering from our colds, we spent a few hours this weekend cleaning up the back garden and preparing for winter. We plan to remove one row of paving stones to increase our bed space. We have tried to exclusively container garden, and our plants are begging for more room and deeper soil. After buying a small chisel, Mike decided that what he'll really need is to rent a small jackhammer. So, that is put on the backburner for this week. Maybe next weekend...

You gotta have the DpTat!?!

A month ago we went for our first visit to the Consultatie Bureau, the Dutch public health department where kids go for wellness checks and vaccinations. James was not yet nursing consistently and we were struggling to make sure he was gaining enough weight for his age. In retrospect, we realize how confusing it can be among all the charts and opinions of what a healthy baby/weight is, to feel confident that you are making the best choices for your child; especially since there is no accurate way to measure ingestion when a baby is only nursing, except through behaviour. At any rate, our last trip was disconcerting as James was pronounced slightly underweight and the doctor that day did her best to push formula on us in spite of our explicit intention to continue nursing. After that, he immediately began a more regular pattern of feeding and the digital baby scale we rented showed daily gains that put him quickly in the normal curve.
This morning was our two month visit and though we had quickly realized there never was a real problem, we felt vindicated by his weight (up from 3470 g/7 lb 10oz to 4425 g/9 lb 12oz) and more so by his behaviour- active, smiling at the nurse, lifting his head up while on his stomach. The smile faded quickly with his first vaccination shot however (even his Dad looked away at the huge needle), and the rest of the day has been spent reassuring an extra fussy little man. Of course I never thought of it before they stuck my son, but have we not advanced further than sticking 2 month olds with needles to deliver vaccinations? The nurse we saw had no formula agenda and joked about having to give all these kids injections- 'If all the babies I've ever stuck remembered this, there is no way I'd be able to walk down the street...'. She also said there is an old Dutch saying about children, something like, 'Some babies are so cute you just want to eat them- and when they turn 14 you often wish you had..'

baby's first cold

We are a little out of the loop this week as first Mike and now James have been under the weather. It is such a terrible feeling to have no way to explain to the little guy why he feels bad. His symptoms are more sinus-related than anything else. His stuffy nose was making him gag repeatedly two nights ago, which really freaked his parents out. After implementing some suggestions from his Aunt Elizabeth we had a much better night, and even a little smile time this morning.

one more for the road

Well we couldn't send you off on your respective weekends without some shots of the world's sweetest baby. Here James is stylin' and wigglin' with the wonderoo diaper cover

downstairs

here we have two photos of the bottom floor. As you can see, (past the bike) now there is a dining table where our bed has been. How nice to get to eat together as a family.
Our sitting area is also a bit roomier now. whoohoo

upstairs

Here is the bedroom WITH furniture-- there are still a few odds and ends to finish off, but we have moved upstairs. It is such a nice room, very relaxing, light and airy. We love being up there. Here on the left is the walk-in closet. It is nice to unpack...

The bear

Check out this adorable bear hat sent to us by Pat Janes! It arrived this morning just in time for our walk. James was so snug he went right to sleep.

Sweet Little Bean

Here is James at seven weeks. He is growing so much-- I cannot believe he is already in his 3-6 month clothing. Here he is stylin' in an outfit from Aunt Laurens and the Ricker.

Errands by Pram

Not a lot is going on this week, as you can tell by the unexciting photos! James is doing well-- he is vocalizing all the time and his eyes are turning color. They started out as a dark gray and I think they are turning brown. Mike and I both have green/brown eyes, so that is what we expect his will be.
Here is a photo of a trip out in the pram this weekend-- we use the baby slings so often that we almost never go via pram. I think I prefer the slings at this stage-- maybe when James is bigger it will be harder to sling. The pram has a great basket underneath which made it very useful at the grocery store.