KissKus

Off to see the neighbours

Today we're off to visit our nextdoor neighbours.
The ones that live to the right of us. The right of our country that is.

We're off for a long weekend to Germany with family.
We'll be celebrating Sinterklaas, we'll go to a Christmas market and we'll undoubtedly enjoy the good food and drinks of Germany.
I'm really looking forward to it. I think I deserve a break after a whole month of blogging, don't you?!

Amber made a list of what clothes to pack... she did it all by herself; the mistakes are just delicious!

Shine a light

Today has been dark and dreary.
I'm tired and edgy.

Painting made by my neighbour

I had plans to get the house organised and somehow it's gotten even messier.
Simon  made pen drawings on the wall and floor (fortunately under my desk).
One of those days...

Nonetheless, there were some (high)lights as well.
At least I got lots of things done: three loads of washing, the shopping, a couple of things sewn, a shop update... and it's not even 16.30 yet!

And NaBloPoMo is done! That last post is definitely not going to get me down... I made it! Hurray for me!

I blame someone else

So I had to work today.
All day.
When I left it was still dark and when I came home it was dark again.
I knew I wouldn't be able to take photos for my blog today.
And therefore I asked my darling husband to provide me with a photo today.
A simple enough task, right?!
Well, here comes the photo:

It's not my fault, I'm telling you!!

22 weeks

I'm starting to lose sight of my feet... I hope they behave themselves down there!

All is well with the pregnancy.
I trust the baby is still growing well and feeling content. According to the sources it's about 30 cms and it weighs about 500 grams.
Physically everything is in place now and it's looking the way a newborn baby looks.
It just needs to get bigger and fatter... like me!

My body is holding up rather well, although I've been experiencing quite a bit of pain in my lower back. Michel keeps telling me to go see a physiotherapist now before the complaints get any worse. I think I will, but I want to discuss it with my obstetrician first and I won't be seeing her until next week.

There's not much happening on the organising/redecorating front right now with all the festivities going on and having our Australian guests over here. I think it won't be until January before we can pick up where we've left behind, but it will definitely be full speed ahead then!

Traditional festivities

I've already talked quite a bit about Sinterklaas on here, but there's even more to tell... I hope you don't mind ;)
Sinterklaas is a very old Dutch tradition that is fortunately still very much alive in Holland... and old traditions are something to cherish, right?!

On Saturday the good man arrived in our hometown and yesterday we celebrated Sinterklaas at my work. In between the children were allowed to set their shoes as I told yesterday. It was one big Sinterklaas celebration!

When Sinterklaas and all his helpers (Zwarte Pieten) arrived in our town on Saturday he was greeted by many excited children (and parents). Everyone was singing and cheering and all the children were hoping for a handful of pepernoten. Amber was lucky enough to get some.

The Zwarte Pieten (Black Petes) are Sinterklaas' helpers. They are black because they climb in and out of chimneys at night to put presents in all the children's shoes. They carry with them big bags filled with pepernoten which they scatter around them.

Sinterklaas has a white horse called Amerigo. At night Sinterklaas rides his horse on the roofs of the houses to distribute all the presents... no mean feat for such an old gentleman!

The reason why he hands out all these presents is that he celebrates his birthday on December 5th. That's the day that we call Pakjesavond (presents' evening) in Dutch. This year we'll be celebrating with Michel's family. For the adults we buy a couple of small presents and play a game, for the children we buy some presents for them to unpack. It'll be fun... it always is.

This last photo was taken at my work yesterday... spot the 7 differences with the other photos ;)

Read all about the Sinterklaas traditions here on Wikipedia.

Big or little?

Even though Simon is a tough and independent boy (ha! all within reason ofcourse...), he still needed his dummy * to fall asleep at night. He would also often call out to us when it got lost somewhere in his bed.
It wasn't really bothering us and we thought it was nice for him to find comfort this way.

However, recently we had an appointment with the counsel nurse (I have no idea how to translate it and it's too difficult for my vague head to try and explain) and she asked me whether he still used a dummy. This because Simon's pronunciation of the S sounds more like a SSHH (very cute now, but will it still be cute when he's 16?!).
Apparently the dummy's use is causing that speech defect... so the dummy had to go.

We came up with the perfect plan to get rid of it. Once Sinterklaas had arrived in our town, Simon would set his shoe and put all his dummies in there. We told him that we were sure that Sinterklaas would reward him with a nice present.

Simon agreed with the whole plan until yesterday evening when he had to go to sleep without his dummy for the first time. He pleaded with us to get it back. My heart almost broke when he said:"Mummy, I'm still a little boy, you know!" But after that he went to sleep and didn't wake up until the next morning. Tonight he didn't even mention his dummy! It seems our tactic worked!

And ofcourse Sinterklaas left a note saying how proud he was at both of the children and they were each given a present. They deserved it.

So any parents out there that want to lose the dummy... make a deal with Santa!

* A pacifier or binky or piece (North American English), dummy or comforter (British, New Zealand, and Australian English) or soother (Canadian and Irish English), is a rubber, plastic, or silicone nipple given to an infant or other young child to suck upon. (Wikipedia)

So proud

Today was a very important day for Amber and therefore for us.

This afternoon she received her swimming diploma. But not before she showed everyone how well she could swim. It was amazing to watch her. She did everything right, but it was most special to see that she had her very own style of swimming: thoughtful, gracious, neat and determined.

We're so very proud of our girl. And so are all the opa's and oma's that came along to cheer her on.
I remember her first lesson so well last year.
This is when it was announced that all children had earned their diplomas:

Another milestone... sigh!

Day 23

Relax about relaxing

Today Simon let me nap on the sofa for almost two hours without making a sound or disturbing me!
Thank you, you sweet angel... I really needed that nap and apparently you noticed!

I'm trying to feel relaxed about taking a time-out now and then. I usually feel guilty or a slack when I'm not cleaning, cooking , sewing...whatever, but lately I've been trying to just let it go and enjoy a bit of peace. My new motto is that I can't do it all and I don't have to.
So I really enjoyed my sleep. And when I woke up the house was only a bit of a mess since all Simon had been doing was reading books.

He's cute, sweet and well-behaved... at least today ;)

Tut faves

A useful post today!
Here are 10 of my most favourite online tutorials:

Placemat
Pencil roll
Quilt
Apron
Coasters
Fancy chocolates
Freezer paper
Fabric box
Tissue box
Quilt

All these and many more are stacked away in my clipping file at Bloglines. Everytime I come across something fun, I save it for later. Isn't that clever of me?!
I'm ashamed to say though that I haven't tried out any of these tutorials yet... have you?