With less than a month till Christmas we’re starting to prepare to decorate the house. This means shopping for lights, new decorations and possibly a new tree depending on the condition of our existing one. The best place we find to shop for these types of things is the Garden Center, so we took a trip to Intratuin to see what they have! While wandering around I found a big red button, I had to press it 😀 It started a small Christmas story with animated puppets. Shopping in places like this really get you into the Christmas Spirit!!

The last time we were here the Carousel was broken so we gave you an extra go, let’s see if we can get Mummy dizzy!

If you’re reading these posts in order then you’ll remember I was only able to post a few pictures of your first birthday as we were waiting for the official ones. Well they”re here now, well worth the wait, enjoy!

When giving you your antibiotics this morning it was much easier to do so with your milk. As a symbolic gesture I used the same feeding tube we used for your breast milk after your were born, bit of a difference right? You used to only drink around 10 ml in the syringe, a huge difference to the 200+ you have in the bottle now.

It was kind of inevitable really as we didn’t expect you to go back to creche the day after arriving home. This meant you’d have to stay home with Daddy for the day. What fun can we have together, especially when you’re a little sick. For a sick child you were cheerful throughout the whole day, only if I was with you however 🙂

We played for hours, making games out of all the boring chores I had to do that day. You’re starting to put 2 and 2 together and get somewhere close to 4 🙂 Joining the dots when watching Mummy and I doing things you’re able to understand and ‘help’ out. Last night we started you on your course of antibiotics so we’re hoping within the next few days you’ll start to feel much better.

We woke up this morning knowing it wasn’t going to be an easy day traveling back home, especially with you having a high fever. Most of the morning was spent with you sleeping on my chest before heading out for a early (ish) flight to Amsterdam. The day went perfect, for a sick child you’ve been soooo good over the last couple of days. It must be awful for you but you’ve shown great strength, Christmas is coming soon so there maybe a present or two for you under the tree 😀

Granddad has been busy fixing up my old horse for you to play with. Unfortunately you’re not at the point where you can walk with it alone so I had to lend a helping hand. I don’t know how old I was in that picture but you can’t be far off! Maybe this will encourage you to make those first solo steps.

Over the last few days your health has been getting worse and this morning your sinus infection became too much for you 🙁 I tried to cheer you up with the Lego that Grandma & Granddad bought you however it just wasn’t enough! We decided to take you to the hospital to get you checked out and have some antibiotics prescribed! That’ll clear you up I’m sure.

It took the whole afternoon to get your medicine so we tried to make the most of our last evening there, playing with the cats of course!

It was the Friday that we decided to call ‘Christmas Day’ 🙂 As the shops were open we all, even Granddad, headed out for a stroll around and a coffee. I showed Granddad one of the magic tricks you like and he pulled it off to perfection, you were amazed 🙂 It was a nice afternoon out however the turkey was slowing cooking at home, we wouldn’t want to go home to a burnt turkey would we! Personally I couldn’t wait to get home to a proper English Christmas dinner cooked by Grandma, YUMMY!

In the evening it was present opening time! When I was young I would be waking up at 2 or 3 am to see if he’d been, he as in Santa Claus! Nowadays I’m a little more patient and can wait until after dinner! When you’re a bit older I’m sure we’re going to be woken up by the rustling of presents being opened in the early morning, “EMILY!! GO BACK TO SLEEP, THE PRESENTS WILL STILL BE THERE IN THE MORNING!”

Such a funny expression on your face when Mummy tried to feed you a carrot 😀

Today was pretty ‘action packed’, depending on who you ask of course… put it this way it was busy 😀 In the morning I introduced you to the cats, you have a way of giggling at them when they’re walking around you, so cute! In the late morning your Great Uncle Mike came to visit and brought you a cuddly toy and new outfit for Christmas, it’ll be the first of many.

We then took a trip out to the shopping center, stopping at the local supermarket for yet more supplies 🙂 I bribed you with a Gingerbread Man in the cafe but you broke his leg off 🙁 poor guy! We rounded the evening off with a visit to the ‘Running Hare’ pub for a meal and chit-chat. You found a new friend to chase around the play area there, at one point I think you scared him off 😀

When we arrived ‘home’ Grandma & Granddad were already outside to greet us! We quickly caught up, dumped our luggage, had a few hugs and kisses & then it was to the supermarket to stock up on baby food 😀 Mummy and you were in heaven when we saw the baby aisle, so many different flavors of food! On the way home I stopped off for a takeaway, ‘Fish & Chips’! In the evening you collapsed in bed after a long travel day, let’s see what time you wake up, I hate time zone changes!

No, we’re not going to OZ but we are heading to the UK for a few days to see Grandma & Granddad. You may be saying “But Daddy we just got back from Romania, are you crazy?”. The answer to that is yes, you should know that by now. You should also know we’re not the most organised of people and we forgot to renew your passport 😀 We’re going to be spending Christmas in the UK in November this year! You know the drill… prepare for travel day!

Bonus videos from throughout the day:

Mummy has been trying a number of things to help you transition from pureed food to solids. This includes things like toasties and like in the video below, an omelette. Unfortunately all that hard work seems to have gone to waste 🙁 You’re a stubborn little thing, one who knows what she likes and wants it to stay that way! I really believe if we had pureed the omelette you would’ve eaten it in a heartbeat!

Based on your reaction to the balloons at your birthday party we grabbed one for you to play with at home, Minnie Mouse couldn’t come with us from Romania. Mummy gave me the honor of picking one and just my luck I picked the one with removable legs 😀 I should of just gone for the simple round one! You had some fun with it, mostly with the legs once you discovered you could rip them off 🙂

Sinterklaas has arrived in Hoofddorp today after his official arrival in The Netherlands this morning. He’s very quick you see and traveled extremely fast from Apeldoorn to come see us. We had a wonderful time, I chased after him so you could high five him, it brings luck? Or something like that, Lol! We got to follow the train throughout the center while listening to the band play, a colorful event is all I can say 🙂 Let’s see what he brings you on December 6th, have you been a good girl?

You may only have three hairs but those hairs need tidying up 🙂 Today, since you’re now 1, we took you to the local barber, the same place where I go to have my beard and hair trimmed every now and then. We were lucky as Stella had just finished up so she had some spare time for a quick trim!

They had a special seat in the shape of a car to make you feel more comfortable, it even had a steering wheel for you to grab and play with. I asked her if she used special scissors but she didn’t. This meant you had to stay very still so she didn’t cut too much off. You wouldn’t want to end up looking like a boy like Mummy did once… 😀 I’ll probably get a kick for that but it’s a true story, one for when you’re older.

It’s Friday night and we thought it would be nice for all of us to go out together. Luckily right next door to your creche is a kids activity center called ‘Speelkasteel’. It’s mainly aimed at older children but we found some things for you to do, you loved the ball pit, probably reminded you of your birthday party. When you’re a little older and we’ve made some space for it I’d like to get a smaller version for at home… put you in… come back in a couple of hours… Lol 😀

Unfortunately the Hamster ride at Albert Heijn is broken, seems children like to stick things in the money slot, jamming it up 🙁 Not to worry though as we found a different but brand new one in the Hoofddorp shopping center. We gave it a try to see if it makes you just as happy! The answer…. not so much 🙁

While on the flight home we met the mother of one of your creche friends, Kyana. It’s a small world as she was one of the stewardesses on our flight. We had a nice chat about your time in Romania celebrating your 1st birthday and also how much you enjoy Happy Kids. She then surprised us with a small gift bag from the crew along with a lovely worded postcard, you lucky girl!

It’s been a perfect 4-5 days here in Bucharest but sadly it’s time to go home. Don’t worry though as Oma, Uncle George and his girlfriend are coming over for Christmas and New Year!! We’re going to have a full house with lots of fun and games! The smell of Romanian home cooked food will drift around the neighborhood 😀

Bonus:

Here are some beautiful pictures of some Romanian mountains as we flew by:

On our last Sunday in Romania we spent the day outside with Oma, a trip out in the car coupled with a shopping trip and bite to eat. The weather was still quite hot so we were able to still sit out, I think you were still hungry as you ended up nibbling on your tablet. It’s an excellent gift idea from Mihaela, one that keeps you occupied to no end… let’s see how it works tomorrow on the plane.

In the evening our god children, Danny & Cristina, arrived with both Ianis and Stefania, the flat was extremely full! Oma decided to treat us and made everyone a few pancakes each! I’m not sure how wise it was to use prunes with 2 babies eating them… but what I can tell you is that they were lekker! We had some fun with your party balloons, crawling races and just general mayhem that occurs when you have 5 children in the flat… Oops… I mean 3, I was counting Uncle George and Dani!