Deck the Halls ....

4 days to Christmas and it looks like snow .. at least that’s what I hope. The sky is grey and the air is still but unlike Lorelei Gilmore I am unable to smell snow but I do harbour the hope in my heart that we’ll have a white Christmas :-) Keep your fingers crossed and I promise that should the flakes fall I'll capture them for everyone!

I must admit however that I am feeling a bit ambivalent this year – I wish I were in SA in the sun with a prospect for a short trip to the coast but at the same time I feel the need to nest and get ready for the arrival of our child – hormones perhaps hahaha

Last week Martijn, my hero, came home with a gorgeous Christmas tree (real - Nordman) and made my evening! So last Saturday we decorated and what a great feeling that gave – stringing up the tinsel and fishing out all the Christmas decoration I had almost forgotten about …
Martijn saved me from frustration by untangling the lights (HOW do they get all tangled up like that – its not like they do much else but lie in the box all year!!!) and once all was on the tree and lit up ... beautiful.
Wish you could all come by for a glass of gluhwein and a look but here are some photos ..
Enjoy and MERRY CHRISTMAS from Mink and Mart

Mart and the angel ...

look at my man hanging up the angels :)
good preparation for when little van Rooijen arrives - imagine that! next year we'll have a third member in the van Rooijen family, so awesome!

serious work ..
ok so where exactly does that ball go :)

Decorations
the only thing missing were the carols playing in the background - definately a purchase for next Christmas!

Quickening

Child of mine

Oh the sound of your heartbeat my child ..
Your dad says it sounds like a locomotive
Our little engine of love
Your movements are so fluttery yet you make yourself felt
Your presence in-utero already so present
Our love for you already so strong

lizelle

Excitement …

Not since I was a little girl on Easer morning – when I saw this huge basket packed with gifts – have I been this excited!! Everything is coming together now for the arrival of the little one :o) the baby furniture has arrived, I have started getting the first ‘gift’ boxes from chemists and baby stores and my midwife’s smile just gets broader and broader. Mart and I have also attended our first ‘samen bevallen’ (delivering together) class = with 3 other parents to be we learnt what is happening in the mom’s body and what happens in labour and delivery as well as getting our first breathing exercises. It’s very weird that we are already starting to prepare for labour!!! Lord above – labour.. but with just over 8 weeks to go before due date I suppose its necessary! I do think it’s a good way to help the Dads understand what the process involves and what part they play. We have 3 more to go and apparently there is a birth video at some stage – I’ll tell you all about that and the Mart’s reaction to it hahaha

Back to the fun things now .. on Sunday we went by a colleagues house and she gave us bags full of clothes, bibs, blankies, sheets, nappies (for drying baby apparently) and duvet covers for baby …. Unbelievable and kind!
I can’t wait till I’m on maternity leave to wash all the little clothes and iron them and put them into the cute new cupboard – Dad-to-be has also been bitten by the excitement bug and is buying stuff for his son – I don’t know who I will find more adorable hihihi.
I’m trying to find a good programme to show the photos we have taken thus far – I’ll continue experimenting and send to you all ASAP.In the meanwhile see some photos of the belly and of Mart and I .. baby room pics to follow soonest!!


Hands on belly
this is one of my fave photos

I think it is rather symbolic - both of us holding our child - a bit romantic but hey who can blame me :)

Third Trimester….

Last week we passed the magical line – I entered the fabled Third Trimester of pregnancy. I received emails from the sites I’m registered to Congratulating me on this and at Monday’s visit to my midwife she smiled broadly and looked so proud of me ..
I read up some about this particular time in pregnancy and this is the moment where we can all breathe a collective sigh of relieve as our little baby is now Viable! Viable you ask? .. Basically this means that with each passing day our baby boy has a better chance of surviving outside the womb … the lungs are capable of breathing independently and the baby’s weight is enough to sustain life! Of course our planning is that he stays where he is till 31st January! But it is a good feeling knowing that should anything happen now our little one will be okay outside my body!
Oh BTW the third trimester starts after 28 wks :-) if you are interested in reading more about what will be happening to my body and Baby in the next 11 weeks click this link:
http://www.americanpregnancy.org/duringpregnancy/fetaldevelopment3.htm

This week is extra exciting as the furniture for the baby room arrives tomorrow YAY – I am so excited! We ordered everything more than 2 months ago – that’s Holland for you - and Mart sold some of his artwork to pay for it (we are alraedy starting to sacrifice hahaha for our child) and now finally it is arriving … we’ll take some photos this weekend to share it with all of you.

Ode to Autumn ....

Those who know me well know that I am definitely a spring/summer person - I love the first rays of warm sunshine in the spring - the smell of fertile earth and the promise of all this new burgeoning life. I especially love the sound of the birdsong in the morning as the little mites return from their winter sojourns ... Please do note however. That I am NOT crazy about the birds themselves (carriers of disease and general vermin) but their song is rather sweet :) I also anticipate that moment upon waking when you are still partially in dreamland but become aware of sunlight and warmth and then you get that delicious jolt as you realise it's SUMMER and the day is glorious and you have nothing planned but fun ... Hmmm I do LOVE summer! Well this year I experienced a feeling similar to that but the strange thing is ... its autumn ...? Granted it took me by surprise and it has required a few days to realise that the feelings I was experiencing was actually bordering on happiness .. It must be because the autumn in Holland this year is simply stated ... Beautiful. Full sunny days and mild, mild temperatures... No need for coats yet and stocking are safely in the drawer (unheard of for end October/Beg Nov). I read in the Spits (free newspaper on the bus) that this is the mildest autumn on record since 1901!? Now I ask you - how weird is that .. The summer was awful and we are experiencing temperatures of 20 degrees in November! Could there be justice in this world after all, a righting of events?
The romantic in me thinks that because I am carrying new life the seasons are mild for my comfort :o) ..... Do I have any takers on that theory? No matter - I am going to enjoy this fully - I walked to the busstop this morning and felt about 6 years old , I kicked the fallen leaves and laughed at the little gusts of wind that sent them spiraling all around my ankles! I think I will be saddened when the leaves have all fallen and the trees look grey, lonely and bare ....

Belly update ...

Quick belly update - here I am at week 25 + 5 hahaha look at how I have grown! I can't believe it myself and its weird but I still think of myself as the 'old' Lizelle sans big belly. I had to laugh this weekend as I kinda battled getting off the couch .. What will I be doing at week 35???
I must admit though that I love being pregnant - feeling our baby move and just being amazed by what is happening in and to my body - I love the big belly and what it stands for. How lucky are we to be able to create this little life and how privileged am I to be carrying it!! As we enter week 27, I feel sad that time is moving so fast - on one hand Mart and I cannot wait to meet our son but on the other hand I'll miss this closeness we are now sharing - I have never been this connected with another human being (except with my darling Mater that is but I canna remember that...) and truth be told I am rather dreading when its over. Ok enough of this philosophizing on a Monday morning hahaha we are happy and life is good and we are so lucky we can share our story with you!

Changes ....

WOW 25 weeks into the pregnancy! 15 weeks to go before baby van Rooijen makes his appearance - I Cannot believe how quickly everything is happening. In the last three weeks my body has completely changed - from a relatively small belly I have suddenly ballooned and this week I have been subjected to my first public petting .. Weird! Funny isn't it how people just walk up to you and touch your belly hahaha Mart hates it and has made me promise that I'll tell people to back off! I'll try my best ...
Baby is VERY active which I love - he responds to touch so when mart puts his hand on my belly, baby moved towards him ... So cute! My placenta is anterior so its still difficult to feel the little one from the outside - apparently this should improve in the coming weeks as my uterus grows - I can't wait till Mart and our baby can establish a little ritual of touching and feeling :o).
Along with my changing body - the seasons are changing here in NL. Autumn is here. After a rather marvelous Indian summer the weather has turned decidedly chilly and walking to the bus in the mornings leaves one's nose feeling rather cold hahaha. I'll take some photos of the changing leaves for the next blog ....

Birthday Update - 8th Oct

Another year older!! Saturday past was the day I turned 32 .. lordy lord I cannot believe it! This birthday was quieter than past years - understandable as I am to be a mother and should start setting an exaple LoL! We spent the day with Martijn's family -s we had to evacuate the flat early as we had an Open House ... Oma took care of us with lunch and cake and tea! Later that evening we met up with our friends in Amsterdam for dinner at my favourite Indian restaurant - Bombay Inn - just off the Leidseplein .. hmm delish!
After dinner we headed to ge-spot, a bar near L plein - funky music and pretty okay vibe... warrants a second visit :)
Oh yes and of course I received some wicked pressies - I was the DIVA! ... I do love Birthdays :o)

The pregnancy thus far ...

What can I say it has been amazing. The first three months in the life of baby van Rooijen were rather tough on me .. I was nauseous ALL the time .. I have a theory that they call it morning sickenss becaise it starts in the morning and lasts all day! And sleepy .. Lord help me was I ever tired!! Martijn loved it though cos I was too tired to argue, moan or talk hahaha. Downside of the pegnancy however are the temper tantrums - when I heard that hormones would be all over the place I thought 'come on how bad can it be...?' oooh did we ever find out - lets just say plates of spinach flew through the room - not my finest moment! Shame poor Mart, he is too good for me and boy does the man love me - even I wouldn't put up with some of my antics ;-)!

At about 16 weeks I suddenly started feeling great .. my energy levels were up, nausea was less and I just felt generally fantastic. Round about then little baby started making itself felt - wow what an exciting thing. I couldn't have imagined just how amazing this experience was going to be .. feeling the firs movements, hearing the heatbeat, seeing our baby move and knowing that each week brings something unique.


My belly took some time to emerge but now at 23 weeks its finally here - I am chuffed! Our little one has started kicking mightily and seems to be testing the boundry of his little world already! We've taken some photos of the developing belly and will post ASAP .. in the meanwhile have a look at the first images of our son :)

Hi there friends and family,

Wow can you believe in this age of advanced and fast moving technology that it has taken Mart and I (both geniuses in the IT world haha) so long to start our own blog site :)? But as some smart person once said, 'better late than never'...

Where to start this new venture into the world of cyber space communication .. I suppose we should give a short update/recap of our lives the last year for those who have forgotten or whom we have forgotten to inform :-$!

Chronologically:

• Mart asked for my hand in marriage last August - I naturally said YES!! Who could possibly resist such a hunk of love :).
• We then by chance stumbled upon a new housing development in Ijburg, Amsterdam and fell in love with one of their courtyard homes and proceed to buy a new house!
• We set a wedding date - 9th April 2005 - and were amazed and honoured by the friends and famly who joined us and the wonderful day it turned out to be. WOW we never thought that our happinness could be that multiplied and we thank all of you (and you know who you are) for the support, friendship, patience and pure love that you showed us on our special day!
• We returned from South Africa, happy, relaxed and looking forward to our married life and then just when we thought our happiness could not get any bigger our cup 'ranneth' over and we found out that we were pregnant (YIPPEE)!! Baby van Rooijen is due round about 31st Jan 2006 .. mark that date in your diaries.

Now that we are sort of caught up with were we find ourselves, the aim of this blog is to keep you updated on our lives and to read your comments as we share our experinces, joys and lives with you all.. I really look forward to that :o)
Sendus your comment and let us know what you would like to be updated on .. wanna see photos of our home or Amsterdam, want to join in o n Birthday fun and pictures? write to us then and let's chat!