KissKus

We celebrated Queensday yesterday

Yesterday all the Dutch were merry, because we celebrated Queensday!! Hurray, hurray, long live our Queen!!!

Everyone is (almost) obliged to wear something orange, so the children were dressed appropriately.

We ventured out to the free market as early as we could (which was after 9 a.m. but still!) and already there were quite a lot of people there, but a little later it was so busy that at places the crowd was hardly moving anymore.

Luckily we decided to carry Linus around instead of taking the pram with us.

It was a very successful morning. We all scored some great bargains, the children payed games and Linus behaved very well.

It's so much fun to see that people sell the strangest things on Queensday... I just had to take a photo of this mountain of ugly dolls.

This was my modest haul:

Fabric (love the teapot fabric!)

And two adorable prints. I fell in love with the one on the left immediately. These will definitely be reframed and hung somewhere nice.

So all in all a very good day that we ended with an indoor bbq.

Read more about Queensday and what we did previous years here and here.

The posse and I

Michel went back to work yesterday and so now it's just me managing our clan and household.

I told myself that I wouldn't set crazy goals. As long as everyone is happy and fed then I consider my day a success. So far so good. I even managed to do the washing and did a bit of tidying up. Oh, and I bathed Linus all by myself and he didn't even cry once!

We've been blessed with lovely weather these past days, so that we've been able to spend lots of time in the garden, which I must admit makes it a lot easier to manage our clan!

By the way, the top photo was taken two weeks ago and the bottom one this morning... what a difference already!

32=3+2=5

Today's my birthday.
My first birthday as a mother of three.

Except for the usual birthday ingredients like cake and presents, this time there were other highlights as well.
I took a shower with Linus this morning, which was really special and we went on our very first walk. It was lovely weather and it was wonderful to be outside.

Apart from a serious lack of sleep things are going very well around here. Linus is such a sweet, easy baby. He is so soft and pink and cute and cuddly... I'm happy just to hold and watch him all day.
Amber and Simon have adjusted very well to the changes too. Simon had a little trouble initially, but he's back to his old self now. It's no small thing to become an older brother overnight!

Look at my two boys taking a nap together... aren't they adorable?!

Ok, just one more photo of Linus then!

I'm amazed at the way he looks around when he's awake. His eyes are so curious and wise... it really seems as if he's absorbing everything. As I said I could look at him all day!

Well, I think it's almost boobtime again and then hopefully some sleep!

Introducing...

Our sweet, beautiful and healthy son Linus Hugo was born yesterday.
We couldn't be more proud. All is good.

3 april 2008
8.18 p.m.
3470 gr.

39+6

Come on out now, baby.... we so want to see who you are!!

Hello winter!

After a very mild winter without any snow or ice at all, look at the view that greeted us when we opened the curtains this morning! Even though it was only a thin layer of snow, everything was white!

The children were very excited of course. We put on their clothes and at 7.30 a.m. they were already playing outside. They had a great time until noon when most of the snow had melted.

The rest of the day was very relaxing. I made wentelteefjes and even managed to take a nap. I also made a good start with the travelcot and a matching blankie. Hopefully that project will be finished tomorrow.

The day ended appropriately with a fire in the garden.

Oh, and the obligatory 39 weeks-bellyshot of course :)

Easter

We've had a very nice Ester Sunday so far. We started with a lovely Easter breakfast this morning, after which we prepared our Easter egg hunt. Apparently this a serious bussiness in our household... Michel and the children were all excited!
Now look what they did to me...

They told me I was the Easter bunny's assistent and I had to wear the biggest teeth. That added to the fact that I already was the fattest assistent the Easter bunny ever had... just charming!
Anyway, all eggs were hidden and more importantly found again.

We then went out for some ice-cream through the snow (we're having the coldest Easter in 40 years).
And since we returned I made Michel vacuum the whole house, because I've been having on and off pains in my tummy and I don't want to give birth in a dirty house! (btw the pains are gone now, but I'm still glad that the house is clean... thank you dear ;))

Yesterday I managed to make this lamp shade for the nursery. I think it turned out really well. I used textile glue to put it all together and that worked great; I'm very pleased.

And look, I used my matryoshka trim as well!
Tomorrow, I'll hopefully get some sewing done.

Happy Easter, everyone!!

Still going strong

38 weeks and still pregnant, thankfully.

The belly is too big to be covered now as you can see.

I'm sorry I haven't been blogging lately. Enough reasons for that: we've been working like mad trying to get the house finished AND we've all been sick AND I dropped Michel's laptop from the table!

I hope to be posting some more this week; I have lots to show and tell.
The house is more or less finished (I'm coming to terms with the fact that it will never be completely done), the nursery is ready. Now I would LOVE to be able to relax and catch up on some sleep, hopefully that will still happen. I did read two books these last days... that hasn't happened in a loooong time.
Come on, relaxation, overwhelm me!

Good things

Another weekend came and went, which means that lots and lots of decorating has been done. Just ONE more week before my self-imposed deadline and then the house will have to be finished!! Will we make it in time?! Stay tuned ;)

Anyway, this has made me so happy. We finally started painting the nursery and I think the colours turned out wonderful! My Mum turned up with the curtains yesterday and they look great too (tick of the list). She's now frantically sewing away at the cot, which will be finished on Sunday... go Mum, go!

We also managed to buy a new secondhand but perfect Maxi Cosi, which is a great relief to me, because I was freaking out that we wouldn't be able to transport the baby if I needed to go to hospital (another tick of the list).

We're also truly enjoying our new dining table and chairs. The table is so big and light... we love it!

And, it's perfect for folding the washing! Especially baby clothes... look at me go (washing baby clothes... another tick of the list)!

So, I'm 36 weeks and I think I'm finally starting to unwind. I've been feeling very stressed lately, because we were still so unprepared. However, I'm at last starting to see light at the end of the tunnel. I can now start to look around and enjoy all the progress we made instead of only focusing on all the jobs that still need doing. A very nice change!

Physically, I'm feeling pretty well too and I'm actually feeling less pain than a couple of weeks ago. Getting out of bed is a challenge though, but once I get going things are alright. I'm actually really surprised that this pregnancy I'm in better shape than with Simon, even though I'm much heavier. I have no complaints!

The baby isn't moving around so much any more (since there's no more room), but when he does the kicks are very powerful. It sometimes makes me jump up from my chair. This baby also has the hiccups a lot! Five times a day is normal! I'm really looking forward to meeting this new little person that's been keeping us all busy for 8 months now... just a few more weeks!

A magical place?

Well, we're back from Disneyland and let me tell you that the weather was simply magical! So sunny and warm... absolutely wonderful!!

And the rest of Disneyland? Well, I wouldn't exactly call that magical.
It wasn't so much of a disillusion, since I didn't expect much beforehand, but I did find the commercial tackiness a little overwhelming. After entering the park we spent the first 40 minutes or so looking for an attraction... all we could see were shops crammed with ridiculously overpriced souvenirs!

The first attraction we decided to queue for (it was SO busy) was A Small World. It was as if I suddenly stepped into a nightmare: the scary pink and gold sweetness and all those annoying children's voices singing the same song over and over and over again... wow, that was impressive in its own special way!

The hotel we stayed in was fine. It was built as a small town in Western style. The room wasn't big, but comfortable enough and it had a bath, which the children enjoyed very much (I took a bath as well... never did I feel more like a whale). It was lovely to spend a night so close together.

On Sunday morning we got up early. Because we were hotel guests we were allowed to enter the park at 8.00 a.m. (it normally opens at 10.00 a.m.). When we got there around 9 it was already incredibly crowded. Michel went into Space Mountain, which was quite a spectacle according to him. After that we went queue-hopping for a couple of hours.

We took a lunch break and watched the masses stand in line to be photographed with several Disney characters. Now that was entertainment! Thankfully, both Amber and Simon wanted to have nothing to do with these characters with their huge scary plastic heads. Simon started whimpering as soon as any one of them came near us and we had to take a few detours to avoid them when they all came tumbling out of the train after the Parade.

The attraction we all enjoyed most was a lovely old river boat (it was real!)... it was so wonderful and relaxing to stand on deck in the sun.

While Michel and Amber decided to check out the Haunted House, Simon and I sat down on a bench where he happily played with the two sticks we found (he's a collector!). Those were his souvenirs of the weekend and I couldn't have been more proud of him, because he truly didn't desire anything else!

For Amber it was more difficult to resist the temptation of all the kitsch goodies that were shoved into her face every step of the way. I couldn't blame her at all, but we bought nothing.

All in all, we had a great weekend together as a family. It was a very welcome break from all the stress and work at home and we enjoyed every minute of that.  I don't think we'll ever go back to Disneyland again, but I wouldn't have missed it for the world!