Some Updates

I posted this picture to Instagram one of our first weeks here:

I remember thinking how crazy the Dutch language is. At the ISA party Friday evening I met a Stijn and Pete tells me that he teaches one, too! The "ij" is a special sound all it's own and the name is pronounced like "Stein" with emphasis on the ei. We have a lot to learn!

Major Disappointment: I was informed by our new friend Britt that I was incorrect in saying that we have a heated towel rack. Turns out, that is just the heater in the bathroom! I was thinking that it was odd that the bathroom didn't have a heater and how cold that room would get this winter. Ha! Oh well, we will still use it to warm our towels!

On the recommendation of the doctor from the baby clinic, I picked out a Huisart (family doctor) for our family. It is two women in practice together a short walk from our apartment. I tried to call to see if they were accepting new patients, but the voice prompts on the phone were only in Dutch and I had no idea what they were saying. So I turned up with Jude and they scheduled us for an appointment to meet the doctor. We went a week later and found the Huisart to be very kind. She was really apologetic that the website and phone system are not yet in English. I told her that that was ridiculous and why should they be!? I inquired about doctor's visits for Pete and I and she was quite clear that we did not need to make any. I asked about yearly physicals and they do not exist here. I asked about pap smears and she told me that they are performed every 5 years in the Netherlands and that the government would be sending me information in the mail on when to go. She also shared that mammograms begin at age 50 here. She is willing to see me for a skin cancer check and would refer me onto a specialist if she sees anything suspicious. Generally, though, the medicine here is not at all preventative and many ex-pats struggle with this. They will be our go-to if Jude gets sick (pediatricians are specialists at the hospitals that you get referred to if needed). We have heard, though, that if you show up sick to the doctors here, you will be told to go home, get rest and drink fluids. Medication is rarely prescribed and I am ok with that (I think?).

And finally, we went across the street and met our Future Friends! They were sitting out in their front garden over the weekend so we stopped over and dropped off some baby gifts and met baby Felix. I ran into the mother today and we hit it off and were invited over for dinner sometime. Great success! Actual Dutch friends! They have a lot to live up to as our last foreign neighbors were pretty special to us!

Najaar: Sun and Shorts in September!

Najaar literally translates to 'after year,' but is the Dutch term for Indian summer. After August's horrendous weather here (cold, rain, grey skies), I thought that the warm days of summer were long gone and had started to brace myself for real Amsterdam weather. This month though has been so lovely! Multiple days in a row of 70+ degrees with plenty of sunshine. I will not take this weather for granted!

On Friday evening ISA sponsored a faculty welcome party at the Melkhuis in Vondelpark. We had such a great time catching up with staff we'd met before and also meeting some new folks. It is a really strong community and one that we are happy to be a part of. On Saturday, one of Pete's science department co-workers hosted us for lunch at his house in a charming village on the Amstel River- Ouderkerk aan de Amstel (translation: Old Church on the Amstel).

Science Department Babies

On Sunday, we attempted to go to the town of Delft. By attempted, I mean that we set off on bikes to the train station at the Amsterdam airport because according to Google Maps, this looked like a much better idea than walking to the bus station and taking the bus to the airport. Well, we got a little lost in horse farms. Backtracking in the strong winds took their toll on us and especially on Jude who wasn't having it. So we turned around an opted for a stroll in the Bos instead. Definitely disappointing, but we will try again (via bus!) to go this weekend.

Horse Farms outside of the Amsterdam Airport

Getting lost was uncool, mom and dad!

On Monday, I headed into the city with Jude. I got to enjoy 45 minutes uninterrupted at the Rijks museum while he napped, followed by lunch in the outdoor garden and a stroll through the center of Amsterdam.

Museum Monday 

Rijks Museum Gardens

Entrance to the Museum of Amsterdam

Electric car charging stations are all over the city. Old meets New.  

Tuesday and Wednesday we had playdates in Vondelpark with our new friends. That park really comes alive on sunny days! Jude took great naps in the stroller both days and I parked us near a bubbling fountain with enough white noise to keep him sleeping long enough to start in on a new book for the Amsterdam Mamas book club (which will never compare to my NYC bookclub, but I'll join anyway)! Glorious!

Jude's first swing ride Monday 

The scene today at the splash pool in Vondelpark. The city parks fill the pools on days that gets to 21 degree Celsius. I love the juxtaposition of the autumn colors behind the pool. 

Making New (baby) Friends

My biggest concern with moving to Amsterdam and staying home with Jude was whether or not we would make friends to hang out with during the day. I have been fairly aggressive in attempts to meet other mommies and amazingly I have been successful. There is a large organization called Amsterdam Mamas, which provides information and support to international parents in Amsterdam and around. By subscribing to their newsletters and their Facebook group, I have learned of many activities for babies in the city. One activity is Baby Sensory class, held every Friday afternoon in the Zuid (South) neighborhood of the city. I was pleased with the trial class a few weeks ago and have been going ever since. Anywhere from 3-8 other babies age 0-6 months attend each week and the instructor has a different theme with props every week. This has been a great place to chat to other moms and I hope to make some good friends from it. The class starts and ends with the same songs with signing and our babies are supposed to be lying down facing us while we sign to them. Yeah right! Jude turns to his belly immediately every time and all of the babies are looking everywhere except at their own moms! We try not to take it personally. Often, us moms just find our selves looking at one another and laughing over what our babies are doing!

This week's theme was "In the Garden" and the babes loved the rabbit puppet!

I found out about a playgroup in the Jordaan at The English Bookshop through an internet search and have been twice now. A small group of moms sit with their babes in the basement of the bookshop sipping tea. Two weeks ago, I met a sweet mother of three who generously offered up her nearby apartment for a pit stop on my day of exploration with Jude. We took her up on the offer and hope to have regular play dates. I would go more often to The English Bookshop, but it is close to 45 minutes away. In searching out something closer to home, I learned about the Amstelveen Mother and Baby-Toddler Playgroup. It is a bit of a misnomer, however, as the group meets in a town called Uithoorn, 30 minutes south of Amstelveen. So still not close to home. I ventured down there this week and meet a mother of twin 7 month old girls who lives near me so I hope that we can connect more locally.

In October, Jude and I will start a 6 week Baby Massage course offered for free through the Amsterdam Government. We are also on a waitlist for a baby Montessori course. 

The opportunities are diverse and plentiful and Jude and I are having a blast making new friends! 

The Sweet Spot

I'm starting to think that Jude at 5 months old is in the sweet spot. (Mostly) gone are the early months of fussing and all of the accompanying exhaustive rocking, swaddling and shushing. He is sweet and smiley the majority of the time. He consistently falls asleep at 7pm and wakes once between 2-4 for a night nursing before waking around 6-7am. We could probably do away with the night feeding, but I don't mind it, especially since I have the option to take a nap during the day with him.

As the books say, his little personality is starting to show itself. He is a very social baby. This is probably a combination of nature and nurture. He was blessed to have family and friends travel from far and wide to meet him in the early months before we took off for Amsterdam. He loves being with large groups of people and observing conversations. Bus and tram rides here are a lot of fun for him as there are so many people to look and smile at. He especially loves the ladies and they love him back, approaching us and speaking Dutch to him in baby voices. I wish I knew what they were saying! Jude is determined and has an amazing focus. Even from early on, he seemed very alert and aware of his surroundings. Now, you can see the wheels turning as he figures out how to get the toy he wants and how it works. My midwife had told me that he was going to be an active baby based on his in utero gymnastics and she was not wrong! His favorite position for months now has been standing with support in your lap and dropping it like it's hot every so often. He hates to be in the seated or cradle position. He's not crawling yet, but I feel/fear that it is coming very soon. On the floor, he can combine rolling and pushing with his feet and cover some serious ground. Baby-proofing is going to have to happen sooner than we thought!

Standing is my favorite! Especially on dad's lab benches!

His dark brown baby hair is gone and has been replaced with fine, light brown hair. His eyes are still a mystery- looking different with every outfit he wears, but mostly seeming to be some shade of blue/green. Most people think that he looks like me, but agree that he has Pete's eyes. He is well above the 50%tile for height on the Dutch growth charts. Drinking all of that milk (and consuming other, less nutritious dairy products...) during pregnancy seems to have paid off!

Trying pears

Exploring faces

Is "Housewife" still a thing?

When the nurse from the Baby Clinic came to our apartment a few weeks backs, she asked a number of demographic questions about our family. She asked for Pete's occupation and then mine. I replied that I was staying home with the baby followed by a long explanation of my former job as a genetic counselor. She replied matter-of-factly, "So, housewife." This took me aback and I wanted to reply, that no, I wasn't a housewife, I was a circumstantial stay-at-home mom, but realized this wouldn't fit neatly onto her form so I nodded and said, "Yes."

Do people still use the expression "Housewife"? I haven't heard it in ages! If that's what I am, than I stink at it! For instance, Pete does more of the grocery shopping and cooking than I do. Though yesterday, Jude actually slept in his crib at nap time (and not on me in a carrier) so I managed to iron all of Pete's shirts and clean the mirrors. I was so proud of these accomplishments that I was tempted to celebrate with a glass of wine before realizing that it was only 11AM!

I shipped over from the States all of the essentials for my hobbies: sewing kit, knitting needles and yarn, screen printing kit, block printing kit, and cheese making kit, thinking that I would have so much time staying home with Jude. Ha! Hopefully once we are more fully settled in, I will find more time to devote to hobbies as opposed to say typing complete letters into google translate to figure out what the heck our mail says! For now, I'm just happy keeping Jude smiling and keeping up to date with the blog!

Dang Recycling!

These days, recycling isn't my fave. "Wait, how can that be?!" you may ask yourselves. After all, I am a former member of Sustainable Bowdoin, held an on-campus job where I drove a beat up pick-up truck to collect recycling from campus apartments and served as an Eco Rep for a first year dorm. Best of all, I posed for the Bowdoin Orient with my dear friend Cory, in recycling bins to spread the word about sustainability on campus. Let me explain. The Dutch seem to take recycling pretty seriously. Every neighborhood has a mini recycling center (shown below) with bins for glass, paper and textiles. Throughout the day, citizens dutifully bike or drive their recycling to our center. The problem is that our center is a stone's throw away from our apartment, facing Jude and our bedroom windows. That means that when all the winos come to deposit their empties, they drop them in the hole and they fall some distance and shatter in the receptacle. This is really loud. And someone always seems to be depositing glass right when Jude has gone down for a nap. Sigh. Also, recycling plastic is a new thing here. Doing so is still voluntary so I had to walk to city hall to pick up the designated bags and schedule of when pick-up occurs. Oh, and pick up is literally a pole in our neighborhood with hooks on it to hang the bags. Finally, cans are thrown into the garbage and not recycled. Apparently, all cans here are made of part steel and they are sucked out by strong magnets prior to the garbage being incinerated. Fascinating stuff!

In between our apartment and the recycling center is a cute little square with benches. We did not, however, realize that this is where the riff raff of Amstelveen hang out late night. We have been woken up one too many times by hooligans leaving the bar kitty corner to our place or by teens with no where better to hang out. One of Pete's former students who is Dutch came over for dinner last week. She taught us the Dutch expression for "Shut your pie hole"- "Hou je kop!" Not sure I'll get up the courage to yell from our balcony, but good to know just the same :)

Boatin'

Our first day in Amsterdam, we saw the rental paddle boats in the canals and I thought, "Oh, that would be a fun way to explore the city." Luckily, Paul set me straight and told me that within 10 minutes of paddling around the canals, that I would completely regret the decision! Instead, he shared with us that you can rent your own boat for not that much more money. We looked forward to the day when the weather and our schedules would align for a day on the water with he and Andrea. While waiting for that to happen, we got an invite to spend Saturday afternoon boating with my new friends from the blind date, their babes and husbands. The rain held off and it was a fun day of boating, drinking and some dancing. 

How cute is that little life jacket!?

Brothers gotta hug!

Dance Party!