While Waiting

We are waiting with excitement for Greenie Girl to arrive!  Yesterday marked the 39th week so any day can be the day.  Richard Carey has taken holiday this week so we are spending lots of time playing and just being together.  

In the last few weeks, I've taken time to deliberately just be with each of my boys and girl.  I have soaked up dates with each of them, just in awe of what a gift they are.  

My girl and me.
My friend Montse is an aspiring photographer and took a few belly shots for her blog. This is my favorite.

I love this picture, this moment, this chubby little Louis hand, right beside his favorite apple plate.

Oh how Louis loves this Elmo CD player.  Excuse me.  Louis corrects, "DVD player."

On Wednesdays, Bateman is dismissed at noon and Louis is still in preschool.
It gives us some nice time... this day for a bagel date.

Sweetness.

Nesting right alongside me, this pair of birds have made quite the nest right outside our balcony.  We watched for weeks as they flew around the neighboring trees to gather twigs and construct this nest, which actually has a dome covering.  Their names are Truman and Roos.  Haven't seen any babies yet.  I'm thinking we'll have our babies the same day.

Sweet Girl's crib is all set in our room, and I finished a little mobile to hang above.
We're all ready, Little Miss.

Bateman's Homeroom Mom's Note Through Google Translate

Hello everyone,

They're back our great friends with Liza a small number of eggs found in fine put the lotion again.

Check it out!

Until tomorrow,

Greeting Fraukje



What we got from the note: Laughter and perhaps we should take those lessons...

Zandvoort aan Zee

A few weeks ago, the temperatures reached 17!  Celsius that is.  :)  It was in the 60s and absolutely beautiful so we got on the fast train, literally, to the beach.  Within an hour, we were soaking up the rays on the sand.  The boys absolutely loved it.  For lunch we had fish-n-chips in a beach restaurant.  On the way back we stopped in Haarlem to visit the Teyler's Museum which is the oldest museum in the Netherlands.  There were dinosaur fossils, interesting invention gadgets, and beautiful artwork.  What a treat!!

School Days

Big Boy has started school.  It's been 5 weeks now, and although I can't say he's totally adjusted, I think he's doing well.  Here are pictures from his first day of school.  He was quite excited!  We all went to drop him off.  We were able to stay through circle time for the first 30 minutes of class.  Bateman answered a question while we were there.  He seemed comfortable and confident.  As RC and I were leaving, he ran up to us and said, "I'm going to do my best!"  Warmed my little heart! 

After the first day, he was certainly exhausted and he was unsure that he wanted to go back.  Louis missed him a lot that day and probably would have been quite happy if he had never gone back!!  Mama, too.  :) The next few drop offs were tough for Richard because Bateman shed tears and it was obvious that the initial excitement had worn off.  Very soon, though, he was looking forward to going and was almost forgetting to tell Daddy goodbye in the morning.  Five weeks into it, he is doing well.  His teacher, Anne-Marije is a doll.  I really don't think there could be a sweeter teacher for Bateman to have.  We had a one month meeting with her last week.  She says that he is eager to learn, that she thinks he understands most of what she's saying, but he's responding in only English right now.  She recommended that he be exposed to some more Dutch through SesamStraat :) and some online read-aloud Dutch books so he can get more exposure and eventually increase his confidence in his speaking. All seems to be going well.  I just have to be ready for my exhausted, hungry little man every afternoon because his little brain is certainly working overtime!   So proud.