A week in the life of Erin and Jude

What do you do all day is a common question received by SAHMs. It was certainly a question I asked myself when deciding to move to Amsterdam- What would we do all day? While the weather is halfway decent, I will make every effort to get out and explore with Jude. He's at a great age for it. I can put him in the carrier facing out and like clockwork, after he's been awake for 1 1/2 to 2 hours he'll start to fuss, I'll turn him facing in and within 5 minutes of walking, he'll be asleep. Napping in his crib at home, however, is a whole other story!

Here's a look at our past week together!

Despite grey skies, on Monday we headed into Vondelpark and the surrounding Oui Zuid neighborhood. 

At snack time we chilled at the Groot Melkhuis for some hot cocoa. When asked if you want slagroom (whipped cream) the answer is always ja! This is like the "Boat House Cafe" of Vondelpark, but without the pretension. The outing was lovely except for when I tossed a dirty diaper into a trashcan and a swarm of bees came after us! 

During the next naptime, I wondered through the streets of the Jordaan in a misty rain.

Wednesday was a glorious day! I biked with Jude for the first time 7 minutes to the nearest tram stop, which would take us to the NEMO Science museum. Of course, Jude is too young to appreciate the museum, but it has a great rooftop terrace with views of the city to enjoy.

Next to NEMO near Central Station is the main branch of the Amsterdam Library. I had heard from Amsterdam Mamas that when babies sign up for a free library card, they get some free books. The books came in a very sweet little lunch box. They are in Dutch and one is book of Dutch songs that came with a CD. We checked out a number of lullaby CDs while we were there including lullaby renditions of Taylor Swift songs (seriously!).

Next up was exploring the Plantage neighborhood. My SIM card ran out of data so I didn't have internet. I got a little lost, but thankfully had brought a city map and managed to navigate back to the tram line.

On Friday, Jude and I headed into the Amsterdam- Zuid (South) neighborhood for our weekly Baby Sensory Class. We attended a trial class last week and Jude seemed to enjoy it. While the class was small the week prior, there were ten 0-6 month old babies this week and lots of opportunities to meet new mamas. German, American, British, Dutch, Indian and Chinese. A very multi cultural group! Following class, we rode into the city and visited the Floating Flower Market before heading home to wait patiently for Papa to arrive home from Belgium!

Sunday Evening

With one babe sleeping soundly and the other babe hard at work, I took off for a solo bike ride on this beautiful, end-of-summer evening. I headed away from the Amsterdam Forest toward the Amstel River on a tree-lined, bike only lane along plodders and farms. Then I cycled along the Amstel for a few kilometers before turning back towards home. I hope everyone has a wonderful Labor Day tomorrow!

Jeugdgezondheidszorg

I wrote this post yesterday after returning from the Baby clinic very happy with the experience. Then I went to input Jude's new height and weight into my baby app and saw that the weight they gave me puts him at 400 grams less than he was 6 weeks ago. I know he didn't drop from the 80%tile to the 25%tile so they must have written down the wrong number or used a broken scale. I am still waiting on a call back from the clinic to advise what we should do about this. So now my feelings are mixed, but here is the original post :)

Jeugdgezondheidszorg:
Say that 5 times fast! Jeugdgezondheidszorg translates to Child Health Care and Jude and I had our first experience with it today.

A week and a half ago around 10am, I was getting ready to change out of my pajamas to head into the city with Jude, Opa and Oma. There was a ring at the door and a woman introduced herself as someone from the health department. I asked if we were expecting her and she replied, "no." While I had already received a letter in the mail asking me to call the Jeugdgezondheidszorg to make an appointment for Jude, I had never received a call back so the visit was quite unexpected. She shared with me a little about how the Consultatiebureau (AKA Baby Clinic) works, presented me with an English version of the 0-4 years growth book, confirmed that Jude had newborn screening in the US and left telling me that a nurse would be calling me to schedule a home visit. Sure enough, a day later a received a call from a nurse and appointment was set up for later that week. The nurse arrived just as Opa and Oma were heading out to the airport. She was very kind and asked me some questions about Jude and our family histories (yeah for concern for genetics!). I had some questions for her regarding Jude's teeth and starting solids and she answered them thoroughly. She told me that I would be receiving a letter in the mail with the date and time of Jude's first appointment (I guess there isn't much choice when it comes to socialized medicine!). The appointment was scheduled for today, which was a little concerning since Pete is out of the country on an orientation trip and Jude was scheduled for shots.

I walked the 25 minutes through quiet residential neighborhoods, along canals to the Baby Clinic. The reception area had half a dozen changing table stations with chairs where I was instructed to undress Jude. The receptionist had a scale and length measurer and took Jude's measurements. Then we waited (naked) in the waiting room to see the doctor. The visit was really wonderful. Doctor Barry seemed very experienced, was great with Jude and patiently answered my questions. I was with him over 20 minutes. He also administered the two vaccines, which Jude handled like a champ with only a few tears and then smiles for the doctor a few minutes later. The doctor offered me the option of keeping Jude on the US vaccine schedule or switching to the Dutch schedule. Though the Dutch schedule has the vaccines sooner than in the US, when in Rome! 

I had read mixed reviews of the Consultatiebureau from other expats' blogs and was a little apprehensive about going, but I feel really at ease and confident in the system (umm, prior to the weight debacle). We will return to the Consultatiebureau at 6 months, 8 months, 9 months, 11 months, 14 months, 18 months and then yearly. 

In addition to the Consultatiebureau, which is geared towards measuring the baby, vaccinating the baby, monitoring development and answering parent's questions, we will also seek out a family doctor to handle emergency situations/colds/etc for Jude, Pete and myself. Your family doctor or huisart is located in your neighborhood and we will be signing up with one as soon as our health insurance cards arrive.

"Do I look like I'm falling off the growth curve?!"

The Rest of Opa and Oma's Visit

Here are some pictures highlighting Opa and Oma's second week in Amsterdam, filled with good food, sightseeing and lots of Jude time! They were a tremendous help to our transition here and we were very sad to see them go!

Our first taste of Indonesian food. Indonesian is a major cuisine here due to the Dutch colonization of the East Indies.

Jude only tolerated the Old Masters for a short while before letting the Rijks Museum know what he really thought of it! 

Lovely stroll through the Vondelpark (Amsterdam's Central Park though smaller and with more people smoking dope)

Picnic dinner in one of our neighborhood parks.

We garnered some strange looks from passersby. Is picnicking not allowed here or were they just enthralled by Jude?!

Look how tall I am! 

Visiting Pete in his classroom.

The new wing of ISA.

Hop on hop off canal boat tour on a rainy day. It probably wasn't fair to Opa and Oma to bring Jude along- he was much more interesting than the sights to them!

Strolling through the Jordaan.

Evening walk through another beautiful neighborhood park. Note Jude's favorite napping position- on Opa!

Jude's first fine dining experience at De Jonge Dikkert restaurant in the wind mill. The amuse bouche was his favorite course :)

The Bos is Boss

Now that we have bikes, we have been able to properly explore the Amsterdam Bos (Forest), which is adjacent to our neighborhood. Three times the size of Central Park, the Bos boasts numerous running, hiking and biking trails through forests and around bodies of water.  There is also a large lake for water sports, a pancake house, a goat farm, a Japanese cheery tree garden, numerous sports fields and the Bosbaan rowing lake. Having been city-dwellers for so many years, it is still a shock to live so close to farmland! We look forward to many bike rides, picnics and sporting in the Bos over the next few years!

De Poel 

Marshland leading up to de Poel

Baby Goats!

Hopefully Jude will be more interested in the goats when he is older. 

Perfect for evening bike rides.

The Bos is directly next to Schipol Airport.  

When Opa and Oma returned from Sweden, we rented bikes and spent a Saturday exploring the Bos further. Happily we came upon the pancake house in a charming farm house. Strawberry, Banana, Apple & Cinnamon, and Chocolate- delicious!

Fence should have a "Caution: Bike-eating Goats" sign!

Bosbaan Rowing lake.

The World Rowing Championship starts today on the Bosbaan and as soon as the munchkin rises from his nap, we'll bike over to check it out!