Thanksgiving!

Considering the odds we were up against, I'd say that thanksgiving was mostly a success. Sadly some of our friends had to cancel due to Jude's chicken pox. Their company was sorely missed as was their slingbox as I'd hoped to watch the parade while cooking throughout the day!

Here's how we pulled off an authentic American Thanksgiving abroad:

1. Gather Americans!

Cousin Jessie and college friend Gia joined us. Gia's timing could not have been more perfect as Jude and I were essentially quarantined from all of our baby meet-ups for the week and I probably would have felt especially isolated with the holiday and Pete working. 

2. Procure turkey

Turkey is not eaten here like in America. In fact, most birds are imported from France I was told. I'd heard from expats that we would need to go to special markets and order a turkey well in advance. Intimidated by this process, I asked Pete to ask our local butcher if they could get one. When Pete went to ask, the super friendly butcher replied ,"Yes of course! For your Thanksgiving right? Would you like me to cook it for you? And keep it warn until you are ready to pick it up? And stuff it with your own stuffing?" Seriously?! I must say, having someone else cook the bird took a lot of the pressure off of hosting our first thanksgiving. And it was one tasty bird!

3. Have Americans bring hard to find American foods to the party

Jessie supplied a can of pumpkin and Pepperidge Farm stuffing that her dad had brought over on his recent work trip. Gia smuggled cheddar cheese and fresh cranberries in her luggage. So nice to have familiar tastes from home!

4. FaceTime with family back home

We had a total of 7 FaceTime chats between the four of us including one where we were projected on the TV screen in Pete's uncle's new restaurant, Pizzeria Deville!

5. Drink lots of wine and eat yourself silly!

I am beyond thankful for this chance to live in Europe, for my hard working husband who makes it possible, for Jude's presence and daily company, for the most welcoming and generous fellow expats who have made the transition so easy for us, and for our supportive family and friends back home. I hope that everyone had a wonderful holiday back home! 

Jude's First Illness

Despite all of the negative things that I've read from other expats about the health care system in the Netherlands, I was willing to give it the benefit of the doubt. The system is constantly being slammed on Amsterdam Mamas Facebook feed and I mostly ignore the comments, not wanting that negativity to impact our time here. Well, unfortunately I have my own negative story to add to the mix.

On Sunday evening Jude developed a high fever and we gave him baby Tylenol. Monday morning I noted a red rash around his mouth and hands. A local mama friends' babies had had hand mouth and mouth disease so I thought maybe Jude had the same. I called our family doctor and the assistant answered the phone and told me to just give Tylenol as needed and to call in 3 days if the he still had a fever or had gotten worse. Well over the past two days, the rash has spread, his fever has been up and down and he has had bouts of inconsolable/un-nursable screaming fits during the night and during the day. So I called again and spoke again to the assistant on the phone. I filled her in on what was going on and she replied, "he has the chicken pox." "You can't diagnose chicken pox over the phone," I firmly responded. "Why not?""Because what if it is something else, like hand foot mouth disease." "Oh for that, you need sores in the mouth." "Well, you haven't looked in his mouth and he is refusing to nurse so I think there must be sores there. Can the doctor see him?" "Yes, you can bring him in."

15 minutes later I'm in the doctor's office and the assistant shows me to an exam room and asks me to undress Jude. She declares that he has chicken pox and goes into what I can do to treat it, how long it will last, etc. I again ask her to explain how what he has is different from hand foot mouth disease. I knew from a previous visit that she was not one of the two doctors in the practice. I ask her if we are going to see the doctor. "That isn't necessary," she replied while glaring at me. I again bring up his pain when nursing and she says he probably has sores in his mouth. "Well, can you look, " I ask. "That isn't necessary," she replied while glaring at me again. "Um, ok."

I returned home, skin foam in hand from the neighboring pharmacy, treated the sores and put Jude to bed. Then I had a good cry and was very thankful to have Gia here for moral support! Please send prayers for a speedy recovery and minimal pain.

Chicken Pox? Oh, I thought you said Baby in a Box!

Jude's First Girlfriend

A few years ago, when bookclub friend, Sarah announced that she was moving with her then-boyfriend, now-husband to London, in addition to feeling sad that she was leaving, I remember feeling a pang of jealousy that she was getting an opportunity to move abroad. Fast forward a few years and now we are also across the pond and both with babies. Sweet Isabel is 2 months younger than Jude and I was looking forward to when these babes would meet. Sarah and James came for the weekend and we found lots of opportunities to take pictures of the babies playing together, eating together and bathing together. Something about two babies together is so much cuter than just one!

"Pleased to meet you, Isabel!" (in his best British accent)

"You crack me up, old pal!"

Twins

Saturday morning play date

Off to explore Amsterdam. First stop cafe for lunch.

Next: beers in the windmill 

Goofing around

Making out

Super chummy now

Add your own caption to this gem :) I left out the more racy bath time pictures out of respect for the babes when they are older :)

After the babes were bathed and in bed, our sitter came over with a friend and we ventured out to our local wine bar and kitchen. We had been once before for snacks and wine when we first arrived and wanted to return because the owners were so friendly to us with Jude. In addition to a friendly atmosphere, the food was also amazing. I think we've found our local spot!

Now that Jude and Isabel are great pals, we are really looking forward to visiting them in London next!

Family Visits!

One of the great things about living in NYC was that we were able to see so many loved ones, even if they weren't in the city to necessarily see us! People would come to the city for work, weddings and/or other events and we got to take advantage by squeezing visits in. I am happy to report that the same is true here. In the past week we got to see relatives on both sides of the family. Uncle Dave was in town on business and we enjoyed a meal together at a traditional Dutch steak house complete with a boisterous table of tall men and questionable service. Pete even tried the local special- horse steak! A few days later, my (second) cousin Sam came to play a concert as part of the European tour for his new album, "Lily-O". A few of Pete's coworkers joined us as we ventured to Paradiso Noord on the other side of the river Ij. It was wonderful to see so many Dutch fans of his music!

Wonderful company!

Wonderful show!

Sinterklaas Came to Town!

Did you know that one of the origins of Santa Claus is the Dutch tradition of Sinterklaas? I didn't either until we were getting ready to move here. Sinterklaas (Dutch for St. Nicholas) arrives on steamship from Spain in mid-November and travels around the country on parade. Today's parade went through our neighborhood in Amstelveen and tomorrow he sails up the Amstel River, debarks from his boat and goes on horseback through the streets of Amsterdam. The subject of a lot of recent controversy, Sinterklaas is accompanied by an entourage of hundreds of jester-like sidekicks Zwarte Piets who go through the streets throwing papernoten (small, round ginger-bread like treats) into the crowd.

In anticipation of the arrival of Sinterklaas, one of the national Dutch TV stations has been airing a nightly "Sinterklaas Journal" news show specifically for children at 6pm. We've been keeping up with the web episodes and it is charming! Imagine being a child in America and watching the evening news on TV and seeing Santa Claus and his preparations for Christmas as if it were real news! We have read in many places that Dutch children consistently rank amongst the happiest children in the world and with programs like this it is easy to see why.

Children dress up like Piets for the parades

Shouting "Pieten, Pieten" to get the attention of Piets to get papernoten.

Sinterklaas on his horse, Amerigo

Now that Sinterklaas has arrived, Dutch children will be putting their shoes out with carrots for the horse and will get little treats in their shoes in the morning. Chocolates in the shape of letters, marzipan characters, almond paste filled pastries, papernoten and mandarin oranges are popular Sinterklaas treats. On December 5th, St. Nicholas Eve, Piets will deliver presents to the children in a burlap sac, much like our Christmas..

Paris: Deuxième Partie

Wanting to have a night out while in Paris, I decided to look for a babysitter for Saturday evening. Friend Jen suggested the Bowdoin alumni database after I contacted her to see about students studying abroad there. I wrote to three alumni and all responded right away. Bowdoin connections run deep! Emily came to the apartment and we found out she that is a corruption attorney. Probably the one and only time we'll hire a corruption attorney to babysit :) We enjoyed a meal out with Paul and Andrea with plenty of delicious French wine!

Sunday we headed to the Catacombs, but unfortunately the line wrapped around the block so we walked to the Luxembourg Gardens instead. It was a beautiful, crisp fall day and locals were taking advantage of the beautiful park. Paul and Andrea were in engaged here last year so we captured a picture of the love birds at the scene of the crime. 

A group of school children were singing in the park (except for that one defiant little boy who was kicking at a pigeon instead!) 

The neighborhood outside of the gardens was gorgeous. Here, Paul shared some wit with Jude, who apparently wasn't sure he got the jokes.

Wanting to slow the pace from the previous day, we made our way to the Marais where we spent the rest of the afternoon until our train left. While many shops are closed in Paris on Sunday, the Marais was bustling with life. Especially the street selling the best falafel in town (thanks for the tip, Heather!). We loved the brass street bands! We were sitting in the Place des Vosges park playing with Jude and Les Mis came into my mind. Then as we wandered under the arcades, we passed the mansion where Victor Hugo lived while writing Les Mis!

Inside out modern art museum

How great is that washboard player! He would come out into the audience and dance with ladies!

Place des Vosges

A sweet American mother/daughter duo goofed off to get Jude to smile while taking our photo. 

Loved these chairs!

Au Revoir Paris! Until next time!

Paris: Le Premiere Partie

Ahhh... Paris! What a wonderful city! It felt great to come back as a family of three after all these years. To revisit familiar places and discover new ones. We traveled with friends Paul and Andrea who found us a characteristic (and eclectic) AirBnB apartment just north of the Marais. We arrived in the evening and while I put Jude to bed, Pete ran out and brought back some wine, cheese and baguette for our in-house picnic. When Paul and Andrea got back from their dinner out, they stayed to watch Jude while Pete and I strolled the neighborhood and found a local bistro for dessert.

The apartment

Charming!

Canal Saint Martin

On Saturday it was up and at 'em early to get a full day of sightseeing in (not a problem with a traveling babe)! A quick croissant and quiche breakfast pickup at the local boulangerie and off we went on the metro (super easy to navigate after years of living in NYC). We made our way to L' Orangerie museum to see Monet's Les Nympheas, the scale of which impressed us both. 

Why do croissants taste so much better in France??

Then we strolled the Jardin des Tuileries and up the Champs-Elysees until we found one of the Velib (Velo libre) bike share stands. A few friends had told us that cycling was the way to see the city and Paris' bike share program is very popular. We decided to give it a try for the rest of the day.

Jardin des Tuileries

Champs- Elysees

First we cycled to the main attraction, the Eiffel Tower. We went up it on our last visit and didn't feel the need to do it again this time around. We had hoped to buy some food and picnic on the lawn as we did years ago, but the grassy areas are now closed off for winter. We fought the mobs to snap some shots and then continued by foot to Rue Cler for a crepe lunch.

After lunch, we mad our way to the Rodin museum via Les Invalides and Napolean's impressive tomb.

I have fond memories of the Rodin museum gardens from our last trip. It was our last stop on a whirlwind museum-visiting day and it was so peaceful to sit and relax amongst Rodin's sculptures. Jude seemed to like the gardens too!

After a few unsuccessful attempts to borrow the Velib bikes again due to broken or empty stations, we finally found two in working order after strolling through the area around the Rodin. Then it was off to bike to Notre Dame. Here the bike lanes ended and we wound up in the bus/bike lane, which was a bit too chaotic for my liking. We found a cute park next to the cathedral and had fun see-sawing with Jude before calling it a day!