Monday, December 03, 2007

My Handwriting ... tres interesting!

What Your Handwriting Says About You

You are a fairly energetic person. You know how do pace yourself, and you deal well with stress.

You are somewhat outgoing, but you're not a natural extrovert. You think first before you act. You tend to be independent, rational, and logical.

You are balanced and grounded. You know how to get along well with others.

You need a bit of space in your life, but you're not a recluse. You expect people to give you a small amount of privacy, and you respect their privacy as well.

You are somewhat traditional, but you are also open to change. You listen to your head and your heart.>

Sinterklaas 2007




Its the time of the year where we once again welcome Sinterklaas and hope on many cadeaus and that Zwarte Piet (Black Peter) doesn't put us into a sack and take us to Spain. Sint arrived here about 3 weeks ago and the dear man has to visit ALL children before the 5th of December when he once again boards his shp and salis home to Spain. So of course we've been seeing the red clad saint at supermarkets, on TV, doing shopping and of course he has his own news network .. who doesn'tthese days:) and today the good Sint visited Scott at his creche! Martijn and I packed up Saba along with the camera, video ricorder, baby bag and maxi cosi and headed out into the rain to capture the moment. There is a song which is sung at this time of year which totally encapsulated what I felt .. 'Vol verwachting klopt ons hart Wie de koek krijgt, wie de gard "... I was all excited to see the Sint and the antics of the mischevious Pieten. I was imagining Scotts face all lit up in wonder as the Holy man came into the room looking all regal with his staff and the cajoling Pieten making fun .. the reality could not have been more different haha, Scott kept playing with the trains and cars, the Sint came in all the other kids were quiet and in total awe that he was in their classroom and Scott he just .. well he kept on playing totally ignoring the festivities.

A Piet came by to give him some pepernoten and he promptly burst into tears but did take the pepernoten and stuck them in his mouth.

Saba on the other hand was such a little star - she flirted with Sinterklaas, even tried to bite his finger and then proceeded to charm the Pieten and dazzled one and all with her gorgeous smile - I was so proud of her - totally unafraid and awfully adorable!

Well we have no nostalgic moment captured on film or frame but Scott was super happy with the pressie he got from the Sint so that we did take a snap of because him being happy is what its all about right? Better luck next year ... Daaag Sinterklaasje dag dag , dag dag Zwarte Piet!

Wednesday, October 31, 2007

Joseph Norman

My Uncle Joea died this morning 31st October 2007 ...

What a year this has been, first my cousin and her four kids are murdered by her husband, then my friend David dies, My fathers older brother passed and now Joey. I feel so sad and so far away from my family right now. I always thought I had a pretty good attitude towards death - as in, it happens so embrace it - now I just think that they are no longer on this planet and I am going to miss them so much.

I love, I can't get myself to say 'loved' just yet, my uncle Joey so much. He looked like an old cowboy to me - his wrinkled face and strong hands, he loved to read and would lecture me when he was drunk. He called me Zella and would sing Green berets to me when I asked haha he spoke a made up language which he said was German and for the longest time I actually believed that it was. He and Stretchy bought me kit-kats and salt & vinegar chips as treats and he made a mean tomato bredie. He could sometimes be a bastard haha and I loved that he called my Mama, Grace. He loved me fiercely and often told with great pride the story of how he looked after me for a while while we lived in Nigel and how I called him 'Daddy'. The Boys, Joey and Raymond (Stretch) looked after me, put up with my mischievous childhood antics, scolded me, hugged me, kissed me and shouted at me. They helped form my expectations of men and through their love for me I developed a sense of self respect. I wanted to make t hem proud and happy of their 'Alal'.

Uncle Joea I love you and will miss you so much - may you Rest in Peace

Tuesday, August 28, 2007

summertime

2007 has not been the hottest summer ever :) despite all the experts saying that due to global warming we would be seeing teperatures near the 40 mark, we have had disappointingly few really nice sunny days. And as you can imagine when the sun did make an appearance we took full advantage of it! Setting up a bath in the garden for Scott and eating lots of icecream haha. The boy just LOVES water - he can play all day and its a fight trying to get him to come inside for lunch or his nap. Elzelien and Roosje also came by last week for a visit and it was great seeing the two little brown bodies playing and enjoying such a simple thing!

Little Saba sat in her little chair and watched with great interest and gave us all her gorgeous smile regularly! She is such a sweety - every day she get cuter and we enjoy her more and more.

Keep your fingers crossed for continued nice weather!

Saba and the hospital

As some of you may know about two months ago Saba was in the hospital with meningitis .... Martijn and I had the fright of our lives and for a while there I knew true fear. I'll give you the story in precie ....

On Sunday 8th July we were rushed to the hospital as it transpired that Saba had meningitis - Her temperature had shot up during the course of the day, her skin became completely white with purple patches and her breathing was very shallow. When we arrived at the hospital and they heard how young she was it was like a scene from ER, all systems go. The doctors did all tests necessary including inserting a catheter and giving her a lumbar puncture which according to Martijn ( I couldn't handle seeing this) was a nightmare - when they came out of the examination room Mart had red eyes and was pale as anything.

I stayed in hospital with Saba for the 7 days, it was so awful seeing Saba hooked up to an IV and being pumped full of antibiotics and fluids ... I seesawed between wanting to scream and grab her and take her home and crying for fear that we would lose her before we even had the chance to know her. Shame to add to her misery, she also caught a virus in the hospital and had awful diarrhea so we had to give her extra re-hydration salts through a tube in her nose. God it was a scary time...
when she was stable and had gained some weight we came home which I found rather frightening also - i kept worrying that she would get sick again. Poor Scott was also so confused, being shipped off to the grandparents and having his mama and new sister gone for a week. That first week home was tough with two screaming kids ... Then Saba started screaming - ALL day. After 2 weeks of this I was convinced that she was in pain so made a plan to go to the doctor and have her x-rayed, you hear about nerves being pinched and all that. Mart went online to check out babies with colic and found an osteopath - we went to him a month ago and found out that because the little princess was born so fast the back of her head, where the bones shift over themselves to facilitate birth, had not completely 'opened' so she was experiencing pressure in her skull and had a permamnt headache! So can you see me all crying and emotional and feeling guilty that we hadn't sought help earlier! Anyway Eric (or as the Dutch pronounce it Earrick) manually manipulated the bones and Saba has been a lot happier - we have to do exercises with her everyday and so far we are seeing improvement every day!

A month ago we also had to do a hearing test for Saba - as meningitis is infamous for causing damage to the ocular nerve - and 2 weeks we got the all clear - Saba's hearing is great and our little girl has a clean bill of health!! YAY! she is also becoming lekker fat at 5.7 kg and nice and tall .. 61 cm which is way above the curve for her age hahaha she is gonna be a knockout!

Despite the above hahaha we have been good. Getting along with life as parents of two.

Scott is also doing well - flirting to beat all hell and winning hearts left, right and centre hahaha he is so beautiful and I can't believe that he is my son. He has a wicked sense of humour and also quite a temper. We are entering the terrible two stage and now we have to be consistent with discipline. He makes us so happy and proud as well though and its so weird seeing him do more and more things by himself, yesterday I caught him trying to put on his own jacket. He also wants to eat on his own which means we have to scheduled an extra half hour at mealtimes :) he also LOVES his sister and constantly kisses her (Mart and I are jealous as we have to BEG for affection) and whenever he can he strokes her hand or foot or face saying áai'- dutch for stroke ... breaks my heart that he is such a sweet sweet

Monday, June 18, 2007

photographic memories

Look at this precious photo of Scott and Saba. He snuggled up to his little sister completely on his own, which left Mart and I with tears in our eyes, humbled and proud at the same time ... we never imagined that we would be responsible for such lovely creatures!








For more photos of Saba in her first week on planet Earth go to: www.scott2006.shutterfly.com


She aint heavy she's my sister


The first meeting between Scott and his new baby sister was a bit strained haha not surprising of course because our poor boy went to opa and oma for a sleep over and when he came home there was a new little person in the house and everyone was making quite a fuss of her. He sort of ignored Saba the first two days but then suddenly on Thursday he leaned over and put his head against hers and made the sweetest noise. Now every morning when she wakes we take her to Scott or bring him to her and make a big deal of him being a big brother, Scott even tried feeding her some of his porridge yesterday :)

Mart and I feel so very privileged to have two beautiful, healthy, happy children.

The fact that our princess is already firmly established in our family makes me feel so warm inside and just seeing Scott being so sweet and gentle truly breaks my heart - this first week of Saba's life has been wonderful and she brings an extra light to our home!

Tuesday, June 12, 2007

Saba Chrissie Nwabisa van Rooijen

Here she is at last our sweet girl! Saba was born on Monday 11th, June 2007 at 19:32 CET. She weighed in at 4.165 kg's and is healthy and happy.
After 41 weeks and 5 days the midwife came by at 4 pm yesterday to rupture my membranes and in so doing hopefully induce labour. When the waters broke we saw that little Saba had pooped in the fluid and that it was thus necessary to head to the hospital.

So off we went and sure enough the contractions started and just kept getting stronger. Starting with 5 minute intervals that quickly shortened to 3 minutes and by the time i was hooked up to the heart monitor and contraction checking thingie ma bobbie i was getting a contraction almost every minute! After 2 hours I was completely dilated and after 15 minutes worth of pushing out popped our little pink princess!

They say that the second delivery is fast but even we were not prepared for the speed of this - she was born in a quarter of the time of her brother.

I'll post some more later for now we're just enjoying our new family member.

Wednesday, June 06, 2007

Pregnancy week 41

Well I am 41 weeks pregnant - that in lay terms ladies and gentleman, boys and girls is approximately 10 MONTHS!!! This girl of ours is just not budging I tell you - on one hand I say come when you're ready little Saba but then when the ligaments start hurting and my feet triple in size i just think 'get moving child' hahaha
Scott at this stage was already two and a half weeks old and I suppose I sort of expected this pregnancy to be similar so when week 39 came and went and I was still highly pregnant I was sort of disappointed and a bit frustrated .. which is not a good combo with hormones so poor Mart had a few rough days there with she-bear in da house! Once I had resigned myself (last week) to the fact that every pregnancy is indeed different and that our daughter was obvioulsy going to stretch her stay inutero I sort of became quite calm and accepting. The good thing this time round though is that we have everything prepared, clothes are not only washed but ironed and her bed is ready and made and we have nappies etc all ready for her arrival :).

Because I am overdue and am slightly concerned that the placenta is deteriorating we have agreed with the midwife that on Friday (08.06.07) my waters will be broken and we'll manually start labour ... AARRGGHHH!!!! Its weird to think that she'll be here this weekend - so much for letting nature take its course and all that. I am a bit ambivalent about this decision but I also just want everything to go well as we are having Saba at home after all.

Anyway hopefully the next blog will be a birth announcement! Keep those fingers crossed and send me strength :) ... here's to you little Saba looking forward to your arrival!

Sunday, April 29, 2007

Gardens & Global Warming

April 2007 should and probably will go down as the warmest April the Netherlands has seen in centuries if not Ever! We have had approximately 38 days of warm sunny days - we all love the heat but the downside (isn't there always one!) is that we have had no rain. For those of you who have been here you know that that in itself is mighty strange for NL, if ever you needed an example of global warming this I believe is it.

Well because we would be silly to stay indoors during this weather we decided to get the garden done. So the Mart got onto the case and soon found a colleague whose brother was a professional gardener and he came by last week to check out our yard and give us a quote.
After the initial shock at the price (our garden is only 6x4.5 meters) and getting reassurance from friends that this was indeed normal to pay we gave the guys the go-ahead!
Well i tell you it was worth every cent .. on Tuesday evening the wood and bricks arrived, on Wednesday two VERY young guys started work and by end of day one we had a terrace hoorah! On day two the planter was built and the grass laid and by end of day two ... WOW our suburban jungle had been turned into a real little garden hahaha pure bliss!
We now have a lovely hard wood terrace and some grass for Scott (& Saba later) to play on and as we are not known for our green fingers we have limited ourselves to a modest planter for colour and a coupe of pots on the terrace. So should you wish to come over for a relaxing sit in our back yard we are as they say open for business hahaha the last three mornings have seen us sitting in the sun and dinners outside are now obviously the thing to do. The little man is walking about in the sunshine and singing and chatting and helping Daddy water the garden! Thanks to the 'klussers' for making us our own piece of green in Amsterdam :)
Check out the before and after shots and if you want to see the 'between' have a look on shutterfly!

Before After

Friday, April 20, 2007

Pregnancy Part II

I am almost 9 months pregnant (36 weeks)- where did the time go and how come this pregnancy went so damned fast! I can still remember the shock i felt when I realised we were expecting a second baby - I was still breastfeeding Scott and he was still so small. Now here we are 4 weeks to D-day and our little girl is already such a part of the family. Today I was sitting in the sun upstairs in the lounge and she started moving about - my whole belly was jostling and bouncing and I felt this lump in my throat that this pregnancy was coming to an end. I am so lucky to be able to enjoy this time and to experience this change in my body - we are not sure if we want a third baby so I am trying to savour every moment of the last weeks just in case this is the last time. I went to the midwife on Mondaya nd Saba is in position, head down and ready for launch! I can't believe it .. 4 more weeks!!
I am also slightly annoyed with myself for not enjoying more - its difficult to take some alone time when you have a one year old running about and discovering all his abilities - actually why am I moaning? That too has been a pleasure - being home with Scott in this special time and being able to just be pregnant! The afternoon naps have been great and I love nothing better than having Scott lean against me while watching another episode of the teletubbies ... his little head resting against my big belly! He would also try to stick his tiny finger in my navel and laugh hahaha not to mention hitting what he must see as a big skin drum! I tried teaching him to kiss his sister but he just tried to bite me... what can I say he is a true boy!

thankfully, Mart and I are more prepared for Saba than we were for Scott with the room painted, the maxi-cosi (very girly) bought and I have washed her first outfit. Thursday we get the cot and move the furniture around so that the room is completely ready - I'll make an album of the before and after when everything is done.
For now though I am going to marvel at my gorgeous stomach and enjoy feeling this new little person moving about. I am going to enjoy our home without worrying about how tidy it is and I am going to give Scott ALL my love and attention while I still can!!

Sunday, April 01, 2007

Spring has sprung

Its the first weekend of April and the sun has come out! Its warm and lovely and today we took the little man for a walk around our hofje (courtyard), it was so great seeing Scott getting all happy being outside and we also got a chance to say hi to the neighbours who in true Dutch fashion all came out to sit in the first rays of sun.


I am so happy that we chose to live in this little hofje with its small play area - I can just see Scott running about in front of the door with all the other boys and girls.


It is also really great that the long winter months are coming to an end (finally) and that the promise of sunshine and summer is imminent! Our first summer in our new house and the coming of our little girl in two months time! What a good life - Super exciting!

Here are some pics taken today of Scott and one with him walking with his lovely Papa. along with his super pregnant Mommy - shame look at the ltle man standing alone :) Goodness how we love our son!














Wednesday, February 28, 2007

Saba's first photos



Hi All,

Here are a few ultrasound images of our little girl. Enjoy :)
I suspect a lot of you want to know the meaning of the name Saba so I've googled it and have come up with the following -

From the Hebrew : woman from Sheba; morning
From the Greek : 7th daughter
From the African : the seven guiding principles


this is a 3D pic .. a bit weird to look at but you can see her little arms and face - SHAME!!!

Happy 1st Birthday Scott

Our baby boy is ONE!!! I cannot believe it - a year has passed already - wasn't it just last week that I posted the blog about Scott's birth??
My darling boy is growing and becoming a bigger treat to be around every day. Mart and I have been rather emotional these last few weeks hahaha unable to express our pride, joy and total awe of this little human being that we have made. Just seeing him become his own person is such an experience and to be a part of his world makes our days amazing beyond our wildest expectations.

We were lucky to be able to spend his birthday with all his grandparents and just seeing how much everyone loves this little man is at once humbling and makes Mart and I brim with pride.
Thank you to everyone who made this important milestone in his young life so special - thank you for the love and attention and the gorgeous little pressies for our boy.

Thank you Scott for continuing to be our little sunshine and filling our days with such delight. We love you our son and it sure is a great pleasure watching our Scotty grow :)

Mama has a brand new belly :)


Hello hello,
GUESS WHAT???? yep from the title of this post you've probably put two and two together .... we have a new baby on the way YAY!! I am 6 months pregnant and HUGE. We have been a bit secretive about the whole thing as Grandmother, sorry Grandmaman, wanted to keep it a bit of a surprise for the SA folk and with the situation at Canon being so unpleasant (demon manager) I wasn't feeling myself lately :) BUT check me out now with my belly!

Mart and I are soooo excited and Scott doesn't get it yet but soon he'll be sharing Mommy and Papa with his little sister ... YES we're having a baby GIRL haha we are so blessed I tell you.
This pregnancy is totally different to Scott's, I am much larger and probably because Ii have a 1 year old crawling about I'm a lot tireder, its a good thing I'm not at work anymore otherwise I would'nt know how I'd survive. It is wonderful though to be experiencing this again - although sooner than the original planning - Saba (that's her name) is very active and is a strong mover :) she is healthy and growing like anything. Except for being tired I am healthy and happy. The situation with Canon is causing some stress though and I have unfortunately had to call in sick as I was having pain in my belly and other stress related symptoms - I have however made a promise to myself and to Mart that I will not allow the stupid lies told by my manager to upset me at this time.

We expect to welcome our little princess into the world on 30 May 2007 so mark the date in your diaries. The family (on both sides) are super excited to be expecting a little girl but I must admit I'm a bit nervous - Scott is just so easy and such a sweetheart I don't reckon we can be that lucky twice ... can we? I'll post some ultrasound pics soon so you can have a look at our new baba and will keep youposted on how the pregnancy goes :)