I'm Nadine. Mother to the Monkey (2 years) and his baby sister (born this January) and married to my wonderful loving husband FreezeM.. I was born August 8 1978, so I'm ... almost 30 (eeeek)! I work part time, although now I am enjoying my parental leave until this summer!
Dry, by Augusten Burroughs My husband got me a new book from my favorite author Augusten Burroughs for Christmas. I can not wait to start reading it.
A must reed for anyone intrested in food and nutrition. The book continues to be an eye opener. I never realized there was so many proof to what food can do to keep you healthy or that it can kill you. *****
Sellevision: A Novel, by Augusten Burroughs I LOVE Augusten Burroughs. His books make me laugh out loud in a crowded public transport. Though slightly embarrising, it is nothing compared to what his characters go through in his books. *****
Update: Working 9 to 5, the Christmas dinner AND I left Hugh Grant
As of today I am officially enjoying maternity leave from work. UNTIL MID APRIL!
After that, I will probably enjoy one or two months parental leave (I get about 300 paid parental leave hours for the birth of our baby girl). So no work for me any time soon! I am all smiles.
At least, if it wasn't for all the Christmas shopping I still have to do AND preparing for the big family dinner we're hosting on the Second day of Christmas (we get TWO Chrismas days here in The Netherlands! How luxurious!). I wonder what mental state I was in when I thought it would be fun to host a dinner for 12.
And I left Hugh Grant. He just couldn't be my gynecologist anymore after his recent ehm.. midlife crisis. Think of all the higher risks of infections! Seriousely though, I switched hospitals and gynecologist. Today I had my first visit in the new hospital. Which is only a FIVE minute drive away from our house. And that is when you hit bad traffic. I could walk it in 15 to 20 minutes. I think. Not trying though.
No celebrity - look - a - likes so far. Though the assistant gyno did look a lot like my blog friend Zandria. It's always nice to see a familiar face! Hi Zan! :)
Anyway, our baby girl has found her way down. Which I knew because yesterday I walked like I had a 600 pound elephant stuck between my legs. Her head is already tightly secured. Which I think is a bit early at 33 weeks, but Zandria the gyno assistant wasn't worried.
So everything is smiles here at casa Nadine. Except for the Christmas shopping. Oh and the nursery thing. The ceiling got fixed! Hooray. And this weekend the hubby and his mother will be wallpapering.
I am starting to babble aren't I?
Anyway, is there anyone out there that understands Portuguese?
Tim ADORES Noddy and can't stop watching this (look down) Noddy movie. But I have no idea what the scary voiced man in the song is singing. For all I know, he could be asking Noddy to kiss his hairy butt.
Tim fell in love with Noddy when we were in Portugal. You can buy Noddy DVD's here, but that's nothing compared to the amount of Noddy toys you find in Portugal. AND Britain. Amazon UK has been a great help to Santa to find Tim some Noddy toys.
Oh and Tim doesn't pronounce Noddy as Noddy. He says: Nuna.
Let me quit writing, while I still make sense. If that makes sense.
Still to do today: Lunch. Christmas shopping. Dinner.
Translated that is: Eat. Shop. Eat.
No too bad at all.
Oh and have I mentioned this blog is only two comments away from its 5000th comment? You totally ROCK!
OK not really. Nesting, tearing off wall paper in nursery, celebrating national holidays like our Sinterklaas celebration, nesting, working, Christmas shopping, decorating the Christmas tree, taking trips to the home improvement store, nesting, putting together a menu for Christmas, more Christmas shopping, more nesting, doing laundry, taking trips to hospital for regular check ups at gynecologist, writing Christmas cards, and nesting.. did I mention nesting?
Part of nesting is running around and creating home improvement 'tasks' for the husband. Fix this, fix that, wouldn't it be great if.... Poor husband.
The good news is, as we speak, a contractor is fixing the ceiling in the future nursery. Painting is planned for this weekend. Putting the wall paper up.. next weekend. It looks like this nursery will be done before Christmas!
Anyways, a few photos to make up for my absence and my shameless way of not replying to your lovely comments. I did not forget you, I read and enjoyed every single one of your comments (except from the spammer: I hate you!)
The celebration of our December 5th Sinterklaas holiday involves a huge bag with gifts brought by a saint called Sinterklaas (also known as Saint Parents and Saint Grandparents). The saint 'arrives' from Spain mid November. Children don't have to wait for all of their gifts until the 5th of December. They get small gifts between the arrival and the actual holiday. Not under a tree, but in their shoes! They are allowed to place their shoes before they go to bed at night, fill it with goodies for the Saint's horse, to find it filled with presents the next day.
Traditional, children used to place the shoe in front of the fire place, because that's what Sinterklaas would use to enter the house and leave presents. But with modern apartments, in most families children just place their shoes in front of the heating instead. Makes sense. No? ;)
