Friday the 13th

It's been an eventful week here for the Durneys so forgive me for being a bit behind. It all started last week on Friday, the 13th. 

It was a gorgeous day in Amsterdam and Jude and I were heading into the city to attend the birthday party of sweet Darcy. 

Stunning Amsterdam day

I met Darcy and her mom through the "Winter Babies" facebook group (formerly the "February/March" babies group). This group was started by a group of women, expats and locals, who met in pregnancy class and wanted to stay in touch. The group has expanded and I learned about it from another mother I met at a playgroup. It is a great resource for asking questions about the babes and for planning play groups. And now, as members of the group are turning 1, it is birthday party central! 

The party was wonderful and well attended by 13 babies and moms. We thought we'd get a baby group photo :)

Trying to get 13 mobile babies to sit together for the shot

Jude has an important question for the birthday girl

Pretty good shot, but where's Jude?

After the party, on a post-baby playdate high, we met up with college friend, Sean and his buddy who were traveling through Amsterdam. We were catching up over beer and tostis at a Dutch cafe and Jude was doing his usual routine of flirting with the wait staff and babbling away with the occasional screech. All of a sudden, a hideous woman at a neighboring table stood up and started yelling at us! Her exact words were lost on me as I was in a complete state of shock, but she essential yelled that Jude was bothering everyone in the restaurant, was clearly an unhappy baby and that we were ignoring him. The real zinger was when she said that you would not see Dutch children in cafes behaving that way (I beg to differ). She was shaking with anger towards us and I could not believe it! Sean's friend who was sitting closest to the table started to defend Jude and was yelled at by the women's partner to "lower his hands." Sorry, clearly you now know that we are American and we call it gesticulating! His friend then quickly asked for the bill so that we could get the heck out of there. We got sympathetic looks from the waitstaff, but they didn't say anything to the woman. As we were settling the bill, a Dutch man leaving the cafe turned to me and said, "Your baby was not bothering me." God bless him!

The experience had me really shaken, though the shock prevented me from reacting until much later when I arrived home to Pete in tears.

Post cafe incident before the emotional breakdown :) 

That night I biked into the city to have dinner with my friend Tennae. I shared with her the drama of the day over Vietnamese food and then, all of a sudden, I got a splinter from the chopsticks. A splinter! From chopsticks! I looked up at her and that's when I realized, it was Friday the 13th!