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 :)

SEASONS GREETINGS

Hello everyone!! yeah I know you all thought that we had dropped off the face of the planet right .... no we're alive and kicking and I suppose that I owe you an apology! The last three months have been DRAMA and I know that usually I like a bit of action but things have been rather strange ... BUT I won't bore you with all the details now I'll do a comprehensive blog later and tell you all the juicy details.

For now though we, the van Rooijens, would like to wish you all a truly wonderful Festive Season! We hope that your Christmas was filled with love, magic, happiness and warmth and that your new year is set to be just amazing! May 2007 be the year that ALL your dreams come true and may you follow your personal rainbows all the way to your pot of gold!

We have had just a wonderful Christmas with our son who is an absolute JOY to be around - he has the amazing ability to light up a room with his smile and twinkling eyes. We think he enjoyed his first Christmas although he found the wrapping paper far more interesting and entertaining than his actual gifts! It was also just lovely to see the family lighting up when he arrived in his cute llittle Christmas outfit and he really made all of us enjoy the day all that much more! I don't think we had laughed that much in a while! Thank you boy ... Martijn and I thank all higher powers for such a blessing- despite the sleepness nights haha!

HAPPY NEW YEAR folks and all our LOVE!!

Lizelle, Martijn and Scott

Papa has a brand new look

I have the MOST GORGEOUS husband in the world .. After a number of years of harassment mark (Marts friend) finally persuaded my man to shave his head! I must admit I was sitting there white knuckled wandering if he would end up looking like the local skin head but I was pleasantly surprised when he my man looked pretty hunkish! Have you seen the series prison break? Well if not google it and check out the character Michael Scoffield .. Mart looks hotter than him ;-)
But let me assure you that this expedition into new coiffure did not happen sober - Mart needed some Dutch courage and he won’t admit it but he was pretty damn nervous before the moment – we were witness to a few trips to the men’s room hahaha
Scott still needs to get used to his Daddy’s new look but I’m a fan … Step back Danny and step back Mark – My man is da bomb

cutie pie

The weather in Holland is weird. It’s not the maritime position of the country or the fact that its low lying – its just weird. During the height of summer we had rain ALL the time. Then now at the beginning of autumn we are experiencing the most delightful weather, warm, warm, warm. Last night we even managed to eat outside and stay out till past 10pm …
Taking advantage of the sunshine we went for a walk along the IJmeer yesterday - the sun was hot and there was a lovely breeze off the water and all in all a very pleasant outing. Scott was strapped into the baby bjorn and enjoyed the wind in his face and the little legs were kicking away merrily. When we got home after about an hour I put Scott in his highchair and started preparing dinner. One moment my baby was chatting and the next I turned round and saw him slumped over in his chair – fast asleep clutching his little hippo!! I have never seen anything this precious; my heart just breaks looking at the photo. Thank you Scott for providing these wonderful memories, which we will treasure forever!

Scott and friends

The last few weeks has seen an influx of visitors at the new house on IJburg (I know I've said I'll be posting pictures and they will be forthcoming soon .. I promise ;-), it's been very gezellig and Scott has received inordinate amounts of attention from his ‘girl’friends.
Yesterday Elzelien and Roosje came by for a visit and we mommies spent a delightful afternoon chatting and bragging about our offspring – but look at the beauties – who can blame us hahaha
Rosalie has grown so much and is becoming a real little model and Scott .. Well he is just adorable and continues to charm even the youngest ladies :) Its really so funny seeing them 'talk' and my son tries to grab and bite Roosje all the time - we better watch out that this behaviour does not continue into puberty hahaha the little darling Rose is now full on smiling and dazzling us with her gorgeous blue eyes.. Elzelien and I agree that life is good and that our children are great ... being a Mom ROCKS!!

Wedding Bells

1 September 2006 Danny & Suzanne are married! CONGRATULATIONS and hip hip hooray!!
I can still remember perfectly the day last september when Suzanne called me crying and laughing and screaming that Danny had proposed and that she was getting married - I was standing on the balcony at the Bolestein and being pregnant and highly hormonal I just started crying with happiness! Not much different actually to the actual wedding day when in the town hall of Bloemendaal I had to wipe away the tears when Danny and Suuz said "I do" and tied the knot. It was so special being able to celebrate this truly lovely day with our friends!
As you can see from the photos the bridal couple looked stunning and the Dutch weather even cooperated, after a few good luck raindrops in th emorning the sun shone for most of the day. Suzie's dress was just gorgeous and Danny looked so dapper in his 3-piece suit and perfectly knotted tie. The theme of their day was 'on the beach' and Suzie's dress was the perfect colour of sea!

We started the with snackies at Danny's mom and then drove to the town hall for the ceremony; we then made our way to the beach at Zandvoort for champagne and cake which was delish! we hung outa bit, chatting to the bride and groom and getting to know the rest o fthe guests and then we had a BBQ dinner and i can assure you it was gorgeous! Surf & Turf and all sorts of 'lekker' things were enjoyed and of course this all on the beach... absolutely lovely.
At 8 pm the PARTY started - we were treated to a live bossa nova band where the singer mesmerised us with her sensual voice and the drums took my breath away; I am rather chuffed as well that my freind Danny honoured me by having one of the first dances with me .. thank you Dan - that was my cherry on the top for the day :-). After the live music the DJ spun some tunes that got us all, including Martijn, dancing. Oh we were also treated to some rather nifty dance moves from Harry, Danny's brother, who a later found out is a dancing star hahaha quite a treat indeed.

Thank you sexy Suuz and Danny Dan for having us at your special day and as we wrote in our card we wish you both all the love, joy and adventure that comes with marriage - be good to each other and keep the fun alive. We are always here for you and we love you LOTS!

moments

While at Danny and Suuz' wedding I couldn't help thinking back to our wedding day and marvelling at how much I love and appreciate Martijn. While standing in the town hall I realised that I would do it all over again - I felt Mart's hand on my waist and felt a small kiss on my ear as the notary pronounced Dan and suuz man and wife and inside I shone.
Later in the day I dragged poor Maarten, a friend of the bridal coouple onto the beach to take some photos of my husband and I :o) ... what is it about wedding that make us so sappy, warm and fuzzy?

Grandpa comes to visit Scott

After living in the Netherlands for over 10 years I can Finally say my Father is in Town! Grandpa William has come to visit Scott! My Dad arrived on the 10th and after 3 weeks of heatwave madness the poor man arrived to ... you guessed it - RAIN!!! Oh well I suppose we are famous for inclement weather after all and for a dose of rue Dutch culture there is nothing better haha. My father and his wife Prudence will be spending two weeks with us, a short stay but now that they have taken this first step who knows we may see them on this side more often!
Scott is totally fascinated by his Opa - he laughs and chats and the initial confusion of who this person was speaking this weird language to him the two are inseparable. I am so glad that we are able to have my family over to Holland and that they can take part in Scott's life. There are days when I get a bit despondent thinking about my parents missing out on the new things Scott does and just seeing him develop and grow, at those times I question what I was thinking leaving sunny SA and coming over here but then reality reasserts itself and I realise that if I wasn't right here right now I wouldn't have my gorgeous husband or our beautiful boy!!
anyway back to the story of Grandad and Scotty (as my father calls him) - after a quick hug for Mart and I at Schiphol my father took his grandson in his arms and has thus far (5 days later) not let go - it is so great to see this side of my dad and see how my son responds.
This week we'll b travelling to Zeeland in the south of Holland and next week to Cologne and if time permits we'll take t he folks over to Texel .. I'll keep you update on our short holiday.

MOVING DAY

Tumultuous, tumultuous - all I can say is aaarrgghhh!! But we're in our new home - we are now safely and happily ensconced on IJburg. Before I begin to wax poetic about our haven and beautiful shelter let me give a shout out and special THANK YOU to the following hero's of the day - who tirelessy helped us moved ...Again ... Dan the man,Marky Mark and Ro- thanks for the muscled boys. Renate - Thank you for helping clean this spider invested, dust ebcrusted house :) All your help is so very appreciated!

We've met the neighbours avec children and had our first BBQ - life is good. The house is really coming together nicely and I LOVE our stuff - no this is not the material girl talking - we purchased all these things a year ago (that's Holland) and when it finally arrived I was a bit nervous that I wouldn't like them anymore ... being a Libran and a woman this isn't an impossible scenario .. But it all looks grand and we are feeling right at home!
Alexandrine Tinnehof 5 is officially opened for business.

Veggies YUCK!!

Remember a few posts back I was waxing all poetic about Scott the genius boy child who instantly ate his fruit and who gave us no grief ... Well I was made to eat those words yesterday. There I was playing perfect mom and cooking my son his dinner - delicious carrots and potato. I slaved in the heat and my head started swelling as I imagined what I must look like industriously preparing a healthy preservative, colourant free meal for my child. Scott like an angel was sleeping and so Mart and I sat down to our dinner (home made pasta arrabiata hmm). Right on time our child woke up and I all excitedly brought in the veggies - all that was missing was a drumroll and the sliver domed serving platter haha - we sat Scott in his high chair (a new development) and with great aplomb I gave him his first veggie bite .... YUCK .. Gross and all round gaga. He hated it .. hahaha so there I sat all disappointed while Mart laughed at the faces being pulled by the boy and eventually I too had to smile when I saw that little face ... We'll stick with the store bought veggies for now!

For the full experience check out shutterfly (link on the right)

Scott is 6 months

HIP HIP HOORAY to little Scott !!! Our child is 6 months old... I cannot believe it. Six months ago we brought him home all swaddled and small and sat watching him open his eyes and we oohed and aahed when he yawned and now hahaha he's a big boy who is grabbing at things and eating solid food! Where does the time go and am I ever gad I used the blog as a record of the months. Just looking at his first photos and now at the little man he is becoming - I am just amazed at how wonderful nature is and how precious our time!
Scott is a real chatter box (3 guesses where he gets that from haha) and is so very curious. He really looks at everything, taking all details and then thinks that he has it down and can do it as well - I can see many battles of will in the future with a son that thinks he knows best while Mommy knows she knows best ;-)! I really miss all of you in SA and you Sukie is the Emirates - I so wish that you can join Mart and I the fun times we have with Scott, I wish you could see his little personality developing and share the milestones with us. Mart and I are planning a trip to SA in Jan so that you can finally meet him.
I keep saying that Mart and I must have done something very right to have this little miracle in our lives and with each day and new experience I feel it again and again. We are so privilaged to have such a positive, lovely child and we promise to enjoy and respect him always!!
HIP HIP HOORAY to little Scott

HEATWAVE

Holland is HOT and I don't mean in the hip, happening, trendy, NOW! Sort of way - I mean literally melting into a puddle of bodily fluids hot! But your African blood can surely handle that I hear you say (sarcastically) but I'm a Jozie girl (I haughtily reply) and am used to dry heat! Its so darned humid here - the humid where you have cold shower and still sweat ...
Scott is handling it very well though and Mart and I tend to just sit and do as little as possible while drinking loads of energy drinks. Sleeping is also a nightmare and as usual I am the main fare for all the Uithoorn mosquito's .. I'm sure if you look into "The Mosquito's guide to the Netherlands" they have my address as a 'must see & do' ... The little buggers!
Oh before you think this is a rant .. let me reassure you that this is just a record of the hottest 3 weeks I have EVER experienced in this country - 3 weeks with temperatures above 30 degrees are surely worth a mention :-)
and if you don't believe me have a read ...
http://www.expatica.com/source/site_article.asp?subchannel_id=1&story_id=31657&RSS

The van Rooijens have a house

YIPPEE and YO HO HO we have finally got the keys to our new house - happy happy, joy, joy as Stimpy would say hahah.
We are the very proud owners of the Alexandrine Tinnehof 5, 1087 CM in Amsterdam!
On Monday 10th July it happened; we went over to the offices (converted container) of the developer (Era Bouw) to meet Mr Bes, whom Martijn instantly took a dislike to haha, we had a bit of a chit chat while waiting for the inspector … once he arrived – I don’t know his name but he was wearing all black in sweltering heat and not sweating therefore I think he was an alien – we headed out to inspect the house before taking receipt of the key!
The kitchen has been placed and looks pretty cool – we have the funkiest lights touch-tone – just one soft touch and they go on and another soft touch and they’re off haha can you see me touching the lights for a full 10 minutes?
Oh the painter also came by to check things out and probably see how much extra he can charge us – cynical? Who me? – Anyway he seemed a nice enough guy, a true Amsterdammer hahaha with tattoos absolutely everywhere – I’ll see if I can get some shots of Jan to share with you all …. We start the work on the place soon; I’ll keep you updated on the happenings!
http://scott2006.shutterfly.com/action/pictures?a=67b0de21b33ef8cd65c4

Interlude

Let me give you a quick rundown of our morning activities .. I wake up round about 7 and wake Scott, we change his nappy and give him his morning feed :). I then put him in his playpen or in his little 'wipstoeltje' and then I go and have my shower...
This morning as I was rushing about getting ready for work I looked across at Scott sitting in his little chair watching the Tweenies on CbeeBees (ChildrenÂ’s BBC) and I just had to stop and look in wonder at my child. He just looked so adorable. He was wearing a little shirt (from Lael and Emelia) and his little Khaki pants starting to look like a proper little man now! MY BOY!!!
Its weird how at moments like that my heart breaks because he is so sweet and my heart swells with pride at the same time as I see this perfect person - I wonder if I'll explode with the emotions I feel ... I look at Scott and I feel that my actions need to be truer and that the bad thoughts I have will somehow taint me in his eyes. He truly makes me be a better person. Martijn and I must have done something very right in a former life to be blessed with such a lovely boy.
I love being a mom and I love my family!

Our Trip to Texel

Hello Hello :) remember a few weeks back we went to Texel and we forgot to take the camera along? well that didn't happen a second time haha last weekend we hit the road again and headed out of the city ... not that Uithoorn is really a city - more like a village - but you know what I mean. Mart and Scott came to pick me up from work and we were off. This time we, or more accurately I, took loads of photos - from the moment we started our journey, in the car, having dinner at Mc Donalds, onto the ferry and into Opa and Oma's tiny cottage!
We had quite a lovely weekend, shopping, eating, sleeping and seeing the great-grandparents again. Scott lay all naked in the sun and loved going for walks in the fresh air - have a look at the Texel reportage in photos on: http://scott2006.shutterfly.com/action/

We also had a 'first' this weekend ... Scott had his first bit of fruit :) Apple & Banana hahaha it was such a great experience seeing the little man tasting something other than milk. Saturday we tried the first few bit/slurps haha and his face was just too precious - utter disgust - and a bit of an annoyed look at Daddy and me for making him eat something so obviously vile! That quickly changed though as he got a accustomed to the taste and by Sunday afternoon he was happily eating an entire jar - my gorgeous clever boy! I mean I know kids all over the world start eating solids but seeing Scott sitting there with his bib on and making lip smacking noises and looking so immensely pleased with himself just thrilled me tremendously hahaha I love my boy soooooo much!
Now Mart and I fight to feed him - just enjoying his little face and seeing his eyes following the spoon, which he also tries to grab constantly- so damn cute!! This week I'll be making him some lovely veggies to try - I'll let you all know how that goes :)

Scott & Rosalie

Rosalie is one month old hooray!! A few posts back I showed you the gorgeous lashes of little Rosalie (Roosje) ... here you see a better photo of the sleeping beauty! We have finally met her a few weeks back and introduced her formally to Scott! As you can see by the photo he has already assumed the protective pose hahaha She is such a little angel and didn't cry once during our visit. Mom Elzelien is doing well and Paul is the ever-so-proud dad :) its so funny to see out friends as parents - probably the same way they felt about us the first few weeks after Scott's birth! Scott presented Roosje with a pink basket filled with pink girlie things which was perfectly offset by his boyish Cheeky Monkey shirt .. what is it they say about sugar and spice and puppy dogs tails :)
We look forward to the next visit, hopefully at our new home on Ijburg!
Kisses Roosje from all of us :-)

Model Scott

Lights, camera and ACTION - Sunday Scott had his own little photo shoot haha Barbara (girlfriend of Mart's colleague) is a professional photographer and she offered to take some photos for us of our gorgeous boy. These photos will be his first portfolio in case we want to write him into a casting or modelling agency :)
Anyway - we arrived at the studio in Zaandam (just north of Amsterdam) bright and early on Sunday morning - as Scott's assistant I had packed a couple of outfits and got acquainted. After a few cups of coffee while Barbara set up shop we started the shoot. Shame our little boy is still so small that we had to help him with sitting up- so there was his dad and I trying to stay as much out of the shot without man-handling the little man - hard work I tell ya!
Scott was so fascinated with everything and, cute as he was, refused to smile - so there we all were, jumping, dancing, clapping and making silly faces at him while Barbara was snapping away trying to get a small smile but stubborn child just looked at us rather disdainfully and didn't oblige at all hahaha BUT after the shoot when we were packing up Scott turned on the charm, smiling and flirting up a storm! He certainly gained a new fan in Barbara and her and Roelof invited us to lunch in the Vondel Park (Amsterdam) to meet their baby Leica a little terrier who is also cute as a button!
We had such a lovely day with our son - amazing how this little person can just take over our lives and make us smile so much!
Thank you to Barbara for offering your Sunday and thanks to Roelof for being a serioulsy relaxed dude :o)
Of course once we have the final pics of the photoshoot I'll put them on the blog!

Check out family shot and one of cutie dog Leica.

For Mama

Something was amiss - the sun was shining and Scott was so happy this morning, yet I woke up feeling out of sorts and slightly blue – and then it dawned on me - today 6 years ago my beautiful grandmother passed away.
I’m still surprised by the depth of pain I feel when I think of Mama and just how much I miss her. There are moments when it hits me again – she is no longer here with us, I find myself saying oh I must tell Mama this or I must show mama that … when unrepentantly I remember her soft hands or remember the way she smelled. I miss lying behind her back in that tiny bed and touching her soft hair. Here is a peek into a personal moment … Mama loved to have her back scratched before going to bed haha and the grandkids would fight with each other to have the honour – I invariably ‘won’ the fight cos I was the youngest (and cutest haha) and I would always scratch very carefully around the mole on Mama’s back – my own way of taking care of the special woman who always took care of me.

I especially missed Mama when I was pregnant and on the day Scott was born.
I would love to hear her voice saying his name and see her holding my son in her arms – I can just picture her singing to him and saying that like his mother he too has lucky lips and then singing very jauntily … lucky lips are made for kissing lucky lips are never blue … just like she did for me when I was little. I wonder if this tight feeling in my chest will always remain when I remember my mama?
28th June 2000 in memoria – I love you Chrissie and I miss you so much!
I will tell Scott about his great-grandmother who is watching over him and whom I know is guarding over our child as his own personal angel … Thank you for being my inspiration.