A Visit From Sint Nic (the skinny, papal-like one from Spain)

Today is the day of Sinterklaas! We have been seeing the "big" man and his Pieten for the last few weeks, but today was his visit to ISA, a grand affair complete with Sint arriving on his white horse, Amerigo, to the screams of all of the children. Tonight is "Pakjesavond" (little present night) where Dutch families exchange gifts.

Last year, I had had enough of the Sint season only half way through. This year, it flew by and I would still be happy to have it last a few more days. This is partially because I finally learned the words to the little Sinterklaas ditties so I was not just humming "la, la, las" like last year. Jude was into it again this year, but not with the same fever as last year. Last year we would watch the nightly Sinterklaas journal on TV while he would jump up and down on the sofa yelling "Sinterklaas!" This year he didn't even want to watch it on television, much preferring Peppa or Mickey Mouse instead! Bummer because it is a good way to learn some dutch (and we could use a break from Peppa)! Also last year we were leaving mid way through December to go to the States for Christmas so I wanted Sint season to be over so I could get into the true Christmas spirit. This year, all of the grandparents are coming to us so the holiday season is (hopefully) going to feel really long.

On Sunday we went to a Sinterklaas/Christmas carols violin and piano concert for children. I sat in the back with Maeve and watched as Jude got up between every song, walked over to one of the many bowls of pepernoten and stuffed his face with the delicious ginger spiced cookies! After the concert, we drove to Westerpark for their monthly Sunday market, this one with a Sinterklaas theme. Both kids fell asleep in the car and we ingeniously rigged a double stroller by putting Maeve's car seat in the basket beneath Jude's stroller seat. Then Pete and I had an hour long date "without" kids strolling through the market and eating lunch! We ran into a friend and were literally like, "sorry, can't stop to chat. Both kids are sleeping and we are not going to ruin this!

Sint Sighting at the Westergasfabriek Sunday Market this weekend

After the parade into the parking lot today, Sint went around the school visiting with all of the lower school students. He left presents for the kids in the boots and

Not Sint related, but isn't she cute?!

More Thanks to Give for Holiday Visitors!

Last week we had a wonderful visit from Uncle Matt, Aunt Krista and cousin Addy (17 months). This was our third Thanksgiving in the Netherlands and our third time having American visitors! We know how fortunate we are for that. So who's coming next year?! Also true to Thanksgiving form, we had sick kiddos on our hands (year one was Jude with the chicken pox). This year they apparently had some bacterial respiratory thing and were both finishing their course of antibiotics (yep, the MD prescribed antibiotics without me even asking for them. That's how we know it was serious!). They are fully recovered now and I give THANKS for healthy kids!!

The kiddos get more and more interactive with each other with each visit, which is so fun to see. And Maeve got to meet Aunt Krista and Addy for the first time!

Pete will always have to work on Thanksgiving and the day after, but the rest of us where able to have some fun. On Thanksgiving day, we had minimal prep to do thanks to the butcher cooking the bird again and no parade to watch in the AM (we tuned into slingbox in the evening to catch the end), so we headed downtown for some sight seeing. Thinking to eat light in preparation for the big meal, we started with oliebollen (fried dough balls) and then a mega brunch at Greenwoods. Whoops! Both girls were sleeping during lunch though, so it was a real treat to enjoy a leisurely meal! 

Oliebollen were a hit

Sleeping Addy

Sleeping Maeve (far left)

After picking up Jude and then the bird, the Durning brothers took over the kitchen prepping the sides. The prep and subsequent sit down dinner were totally chaotic with three tired kiddos. Could have used some more adult hands on deck! So after all of the munchkins were put to bed, the adults settled in for some relaxed apple pie. Well, I thought it was apple pie. A mom friend brought it to a playdate I hosted last week and in line with being totally lazy on the Thanksgiving prep, we decided to just have that instead of making our own pie. Then we cut into our apple pie and determined it was some sort of lemon almond cake. Whoops again! 

Friday we were back on museumplein for a big museum day including Addy's first trip to the Rijks museum.

Saturday we went to the pancake house in the bos for brunch. We took turns biking and it was a beautiful, sunny, crisp late fall day for it.

Cuties

Addy was a fan of the pancakes!

Saturday was also Opa's birthday so we enjoyed a group google chat. 

Getting crafty

Sunday was spent at our mall. While that sounds lame, it was a lot of fun! The Piet train was in full swing, Sinterklaas himself was at the Bijenkorf department store (Sinterklaas! I know him!), there were Olibollen to be had, shopping at Hema and the brand new Amstelveen Christmas Market complete with ice skating rink was set up. We hit the market last and everyone was spent so I look forward to going back later in the season to soak it up.

Mouth stuffed with kruidnoten!

A failed cousin photo attempt

Thank you for the visit M, K & A! We know it is a long way to come with a kiddo and are so glad you made the trip.

Maeve At 6 Months

When Pete's wise aunt (the mother of 4) found out that I would be keeping a blog, she warned me that whatever I did for Jude, I would have to do for our other children as well. So I am trying to keep to that advice and documenting our sweet girl turning 6 months old today!

"Everyone wants a Maeve" was how I described her to my friend in London. She is really an ideal baby and has added so much sweetness and joy to our family these last 6 months. She is just a chill and perfectly content to play quietly on her own, whether it be bouncing herself like crazy in the Bjorn, or playing on her mat and exploring her toys and her toes (new as of last week and just so cute!).

She is the most smiley baby I have ever seen. Early on, I would catch her smiling at our old black and white curtains in our rental. I worried something was wrong with her! She makes strangers' days by giving them a beaming smile if they so much as look at her. I can't get enough of her sweet smile and the sparkle in her eyes. She loves when we talk to her and especially when we sing to her. Really, any attention we give her, she loves. She loves to giggle when we rub our faces on her.

From week one, she has been congested, likely due to the toddler germs constantly circulating around the house. This has only gotten worse with the colder weather and her time at day care. We affectionately call it the "day care lung" or "the consumption." She has difficulty breathing at night and her room is a fog den from the humidifier we have going 24/7. During the day, she doesn't seem to mind, but she is still waking up at least 2 times a night and feeding at least once per night. As long as she is congested, we won't be starting on any sleep training so the sleepless nights will continue. I really don't mind that much though. She is so easy during the day with naps (on the go or in her crib, put in awake) that I can't complain.

We started solids here at 4 months as advised in the Netherlands and she just eats everything up! I am relearning about weaning and making baby food (it's only been 2 years, but I forgot everything we did with Jude). She'll try to steal food out of our hands and will growl if we aren't feeding her fast enough.

'

She shed the dark hair she was born with and light brown fluff has taken its place. I'm guessing her hair will be light brown like Jude's. Her eyes are blue with specs of brown so we'll see what becomes of them. I haven't seen any dimples in her cheeks,  but they may be buried in there somewhere! She is 50%tile for height (on the Dutch curve) and +1 for weight and head circumference- whatever that means. No, seriously, what does that mean?! Their growth charts here are so confusing! No teeth yet, which I am happy about! Sadly, she inherited her dad's feet/toes. We can't all be perfect.

Activity wise, she has rolled from her belly to her back on a few occasions and gets all the way to her side from her back, but has no interest in rolling. We don't doubt that she's strong enough, she is just content the way she is. She has started sitting unsupported just in the last few days if we sit her up. We busted out the jumperoo tonight and she seemed to like it. She has a lot to say in the form of "bahbahbah" and is pretty good at squealing and squawking to get our attention.

I have been doing my best to "protect" her from Jude. He tries to sit on her in the bouncy seat, he grabs her head and squeezes it, he pulls pacifiers out of her mouth and runs toys over her. She just sits there and takes it, completely unfazed. I need to accept that I will not always be there to protect her and to just let Jude do what he is going to do and let her start fending for herself. A mom friend today said that her older son does all manner of mean things to his baby sister when he doesn't think his mother is looking. :( Poor baby sisters...

We love you sweet girl! Happy 1/2 a year!