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!