Watching from the sidelines (but some times on the field)

Hiya - Maman signing in
If the past week has been surreal, the day of my arrival can be described as floating in the stratosphere.
As I emerged from the arrivals hall at Schiphol I looked around but could not find my beloved daughter's dark curls amongst the throng of eager heads, nor that of my son in law. I settled in for a bit of a wait, leaning on the handles of my trolley. But alas a scant minute or three later I caught site of the Mart on his cell phone, craning his neck. We had the customary 3-kiss Dutch greeting and I asked where Lizelle was (thinking she was probably waiting outside the bustle- being 9 months pregnant and all). Martijn replied that she was at home - what, for the first time since visiting Holland over the past 10 years or so, she was not at the airport to greet me? But being so heavily pregnant, I reasoned, she is obviously forgiven. Then Mart informs me, as we briskly walk towards the parking pay-station that her water had broken that morning at 07h30 (and we are now at 11h00)... I am reeling... this baby is supposed to arrive a week and two days later! In his efficient manner Martijn tells me that Lizelle had reminded him to pick up some vlaai for me. (This is a little ritual Lizelle and I follow every time I land - we get a type of pastry topped with fruit and loads of cream at the airport patesary). 'Hell no' I said ' let's leave immediately - my child is in labour!'.
I saw Lizelle pregnant for 8 hours and then little Scott Francis van Rooijen made his entrance into the world at 19h26!
He is perfect and adorable and intelligent and charming and has a little dimpled cheek! Proving to be a lady-killer already - all the nurses wanted to take him home!
His mother has taken to her role like a duck to water and his father is fulfilling his role with exceptional flare.
I am grateful that I formed part of welcoming this new little life onto the planet and feel extremely blessed to experience this first phase of Scott's development.
I am sharing some of my favourite pics with you.
From a cold, but (thank God) dry Holland.
The doting Maman.

a kiss from Dad ... my guys!!

At the hospital just before heading home .. we can't believe it - did we create this little miracle? We already love our little boy.

Up and running ...

Big day today for us - the umbilical cord fell off .. the last physical remnant of the time spent in Mommy's womb!! Day 5 already .... and we are getting the hang of things :) Scott and I are discovering each other and we fall more and more in love with each hour. Is it possible that this little angel is mine?? Or in case Daddy reads the blog .. ours hahaha
Scott is starting to show his true colours - his first days were spent on his part looking about and just checking out the world, while I spent most of my time looking at him in awe and wondering if this was real. He has now decided he likes what he sees and has started 'voicing' his needs. He is such a sweetheart - once he has been fed, burped and changed he'll just lie there looking about and being cute .. Much like his mother hahaha
We are establishing our routine quite nicely and after surviving the 4th day baby blues I feel relatively back in control of things. Apparently on the 4th day there is a hormonal shift in the mother and boy did I feel it - crying and feeling literally crap! - completely out of control and helpless - I suppose that the fact that my milk 'came in' was no help either. I have become a milk making machine and I tell you Pamela Anderson aint got nothing on me .. if my career at Canon doesn't take off I'm sure playboy has a space for these babies haha Scott is loving it and eating like the proverbial little piggy!! It does however take some getting used to this breast feeding gig and as a woman you have absolutely NO idea what your body is capable of - just amazing!!
But enough about my lactating bits .. back to the star on the show - he has kept his Dad and me up and this too takes some getting used to. We are starting to recognise the various sounds he makes and have realised that not all crying is bad although boy does it ever break my heart to hear him cry and see the little face turn all red and scrunched up!! And have I mentioned that my sone has these amazing eyes ... so when you want to get annoyed and cranky when at 4am he is making life a bit tough he looks at you and the little hairs stick up all cute and then our hearts melt and we laugh and kiss the little cheeks .. and you know what else - he smells soooo GOOD!!!! As Mart put it we are such animals - we sniff him and kiss him and rub our noses against him constantly - we just can't get enough of our baby boy and actually I hope that we never will!!!

from peanut to angry raisin .. our (love) child is born

On Sunday 22 January 2006 at 19:26 - Scott Francis van Rooijen made his entrance onto the planet Earth - weighing in at 3.450 kg's and 54cm tall. In true familial style he was early and he made it in record time - both parents being impatient and rather single minded :).
I'll give you all a very quick run-down of how the day went ... you know you'll hear more about it later.

At 06:50 my waters broke and by 10 am contractions had started. As most of you know Muriel, the Mater, was scheduled to arrive at 10 and Mart had to go and welcome her on his own .. the poor Mater landed right in the middle of the drama which actually now that I think about it - probably suited her just Fine haha
From 2 pm till 5 pm I was instructed to lie down and breathe ... never before has breathing been that difficult.
At 5 pm my midwife came for a check and discovered that I was fully dilated which prompted an emergency run to the local hospital - Starsky and Hutch style - haha - myself and midwife in the first car my mom and Martijn following close on our heals.
By the time we arrived at the hospital 'pushing' contractions had already started and thus the real labour!!
From about 5:30 pm I started pushing ... Mart was amazing with tandem support and the Maman was ready with cold compress on forehead and junk ...
Scott - the star - did everything he was supposed to do, and then some. And by 19:26 he came into the world - an angry Raisin as his Dad puts it. He was all scrunched up and blue and despite all that, he was beautiful (no we are not just saying that coz he's our son!).
On sunday night i had to stay in hospital just tomake sure all was well with son and Mom and mondaymorning we packed Scott into his ski suit for his first ride home ... Dad drove very carefully :)

Day 3 of life and him and Mom are doing well - I am still a bit sore of course but I have never been happier and I cannot believe this little man is ours and that he is so perfect and that we are now in the presence of the kicking machine that was so recently in my belly :)
As his aunt Sune's gift put it (see picutre of little hat) - welcome to the World - Scott - our little miracle!!

Ramblings & the migration of the nose ...

I should get a dictaphone, actually I've been threatening to get one for years .. Why do I need one? Well because I get all these amazing thoughts and turns of phrase in the wee hours of the night but then I am so tired and body heavy that I can't get out of bed and don't write them down and in the light of day I sound so bland and pretentious ... In one word - it sucks. Oh and of course I don't see little Mart being happy with lights going on and the scratching of the pen in the night
Why is it actually that the good ideas and the bright thoughts come in the dark, when sitting on the toilet or in the middle of a meeting?? Is it cruel fate or just stupid coincendence .. I don't know what I do know is that its annoying beyond reason.

Now onto part two of my title - the migration of the nose.. this is a funny occurrence indeed. WHY does this happen .. I know the medical reasoning for this and I realise what with hormones and excess fluids in the pregnant female body its rather commonplace but my heavens .. my nose is large!! Actually my whole face has become puffy so it looks okay-ish ... kinda! I wonder if my nose will return to normal proportions after the birth of our beloved (already) boy? What if it doesn't .. hell that doesn't bear thinking about!!
And its not only the nose that causes me some consternation - I have also aquired some sausage fingers and my ankles have also moved off leaving my feet to connect directly with my leg hahaha my midwife says to eat white vegetables as this helps with water retention - can you all just see me nibbling on cauliflower as a midday snack when all I want is nougat!!