Teeth suck

Tim had a rough weekend. The slow & painfull arrival of his second tooth gave him a high fever and made him feel miserable for two days… nights! He cried and cried and cried. Pick him up: he cried. Lay him down: he cried. Change his nappy: he cried.

We’ve been blessed with this perfectly healthy baby boy. Seeing him in pain just crushed my heart. Crushed. Not stepped on. Crushed. Like someone just ripped it out and shattered it in a million little pieces (I’m reading that book right now! ;) And it’s just a tooth for crying out loud (no pun intended)! I KNOW he’s not ill. I KNOW he'll survive. I KNOW we all have teeth. I never heard of anyone ever died growing a teeth. But after this weekend, I cannot imagine how parents with a seriously ill baby cope.

Catching up on sleep, sometime Saturday morning…

On a brighter not: Tim is feeling A LOT better today. I'm overjoyed to see him smile and coo again. And, when he feels better, his mommy and daddy feel better. I don’t longer have to use jars of make up to hide the dark underneath my eyes. I can concentrate on work again. And school. I don’t feel like falling asleep the whole day.

Two shiny white choppers down... just a 'few' more to go.

Luke Perry vs. Goethe

Growing up, I absolutely loved reading. Children books first, novels later.

Strolling in the library, my eyes scanning the many bookshelves, hoping to find that perfect new read. Every new potential great book was a discovery and made me smile. And almost every time I had to leave one of those discoveries at the counter, because I exceeded the limit of books, yet again.

The sense of freedom I had when strolling through the library completely disappeared at High School. With Dutch, English, German and French classes, I had to read over 30 books in my fourth year of High School.

Strolling became booklists, telling someone about the book became a test, relaxing became homework, curiosity became study, my weekly Luke Perry (what ever happened to him?) became an uncomprehensable amount of Goethe. I hated it.

When I finished High School at 16 (in 1996), I tossed my library card away and swore I’d never get a new one.

But, never say never!

Last week, 10 years after I burned my library card, I got a new one. Because in the last two years I found my love for books again. As strolling the infinite book collections of Amazon and Bol became a bit too expensive, I just had to break the promise I made to myself in 1996.

I’m so excited, but also a bit sad. Because of being forced to read I missed out on 10 years of reading. I wonder if that was what this school system had in mind when they invented forced reading. I mean for my it kinda defeated the purpose.

But, let's make up for lost years. Tell me, what book - Dutch or English, written in the last 10 years - should I get from the library, and why?

Pizza dream

Yesterday was one of those days where you can’t seem to stop for a minute to relax, eat or even take a breath. My day started at 5.30. Getting Tim ready to spend the day at my sister in law, a 15 minute walk to get there (In the rain! Bwah!), rushing to work, working my butt off without a lunch break, pick up Tim, arriving home at 4.30.

Leaving no time to eat, I rushed to school, drank an Aquarius sports drink (which I always do at a school night) and ate a few Sultana biscuits. I enjoyed school as it was all about “ Crisis Communication”. I love that class!

Anyway, on my way home, I passed our favorite pizza place. It is right around the corner. I was ecstatic (REALLY) to see it was still open. I was SO hungry!

I didn’t go in, but went home to get some money. To my surprise the hubby hadn’t had dinner either. So we decided to get a pizza. Mmmm. I had a Tuna pizza (does anyone eat that except for me?) and the hubby had a..I can’t remember not a tuna pizza. He hates tuna.

The point is: it’s true you shouldn’t eat pizza just before you’re off to bed. Pizza dream is not a myth.

I slept terribly. I dreamt about witnessing a murder, being caught by the murderers and having them chase after me because I caught them. I woke up at least 361 times. Luckily today, Tim is sleepy too. So he’s already napping (9.30 AM wow!).

So as I’m typing this I’m listening to some - very easy listening - jazz, still in my PJ’ s, , looking at our bed, which I swear has a magnet. A sleepy people magnet. I think I will lay down for just one minute. Zzzzzzzya.

A men’s job

The hubby assembling Tim’s new high chair:

Step 1: reading instructions

Step 2: Look Tim! Daddy has a 7!

Step 3: 77… very Sesame street.

Step 4: Almost ready...

Step 5: Final approval.

Step 6: Now it’s official! Tim’s first meal in his high chair: Tuna pasta. He LOVED it.

What do you call French fries in French?

We’re back from our trip to the Belgium Ardennes! Tim's first road trip was a bit more adventurous than expected. Normally it should be about a 3,5 hour drive from our house in The Hague. But due to the heavy storm (rain, thunder and HAIL) we drove in after an hour, it took us almost 6!

We spend a week in a cute cottage near a village called Coo. If you think that name is funny, a little bit further was a town called Bra! What would you call people living in Bra?

We stayed in a part of Belgium where they speak French and zero English. Je ne parle pas Francais! C’est un PROBLEM! But surprisingly we did fine. You’d be amazed how much you can say without actually using your mouth! And in the end, Fanta is Fanta, everywhere!

We had a great time. The Ardennes is a big hilly forest area. So we really enjoyed being out. We saw waterfalls, huge trees, many wasps, hills, medieval castles and boroughs. We visited a few museums and even hopped across the German to visit a cute little village. Tim really liked everything, especially touching trees and other forest things (can you tell we're city people? ;).