It’s Sunday morning and I’m looking for an activity that we can do together, something that’ll hold your attention for more than 5 minutes, I’m going to try Lego. I have to admit you might of got a little help from me for these creations, I can however testify to the fact that you destroyed them all! And if you’re wondering, it kept you occupied for all of 10 minutes, until you started to wander off looking for the remote control. I made it clear to you that while we played the TV would remain off! Something you continued to protest over for… well… the whole time 😀

As I mentioned before you were determined to find the remote control to turn on your cartoons. When you found it I got a whole story on why you should have it and why you should watch cartoons 😀

Just like Mr Miyagi (‘Wax On… Wax Off’), we’ve decided to use our secret weapon in our continued war with you and your socks! I can honestly say that I believe we’ve won, it’s over! Many socks have been dropped, lost, eaten or worse… but no more! You have to remember that these are for your own good at creche. We don’t want you spending hours crawling around in bare feet before they notice, this way everyone wins.

It’s like a perfect storm! You’ve had a good day at creche, you still have energy, you’ve enjoyed your evening meal and Mummy does something that just tickles you silly! In this case it involved throwing and trying to catch plastic eggs in their box. You just couldn’t get enough of them, ‘egging’ Mummy on to throw them more and more 😀 She even tried the grapes but you didn’t see the funny side of those… 🙂 In the future we’re going to have to try this again to see if you remember just how much fun you had. It’s a shame you don’t want to eat her omelette though!

The exact moment I take out my camera you stop the crazy thing you’re doing, it’s like you’re saying… “look at me! I’m an angel!” 😀 Our family meal together is always eventful in some manner, this time you went a ‘little’ crazy shouting at us. I continued to film you anyway as it’s always interesting to imagine what’s going on in that little mind of yours, if only you could tell us!

This was supposed to be your Christmas present but as soon as Mummy saw it that was never going to be the case. So not only do I need to hide her presents I also need to hide yours! Don’t worry though as you’re still going to have plenty of things to open under the tree, I’ll put padlocks on them to keep you both out!!! 😀 Plus it’ll be Sinterklaas in 2 days so if you’ve been good you might get something.

Mummy likes to keep you warm but I think her latest buy could’ve been used to scale a mountain, or two 🙂 We’ll be taking this back for a smaller size this week. However one thing we agreed on was how cute you looked in it!

When we’re in Albert Heijn (supermarket) we always see the small shopping carts for children, there tends to be a mad rush to get them. Unfortunately you’re a little too young to use them, plus they require you to walk 🙂 So… for at home Mummy decided to buy you something to practice with, just so you know what to do when the time comes. It came with a carrot, paprika, eggplant, mushroom, 2 eggs and a box of cereal. The cereal box didn’t last too long… you ate it.. 😀

I’m not sure how but you somewhere ended up inside the shopping cart, this time it wasn’t me:) You can blame Mummy for that one!

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 🙂