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!

One of the advantages of become older, except for becoming wiser, is the multitude of gifts you receive. However you’ll soon learn the amount received decreases with age 🙁 When you reach my age the only way to get more is to have children *wink wink, hint hint* By the time you read this post your gift list will be complete 🙂 Our lucky little girl received the following:

• Tablet from Nasa & Nasu (Mihaela & Razvan)
• An interactive counting book from Nasa & Nasu
• A generous gift of 100 EUR from Oma
• Play cubes and an activity center from Uncle George
• A cuddly night lamp & white fluffy coat from Catalin & Bianca (Mummy’s cousins)
• 50 EUR from Grandma & Granddad
• 2 pants and a lovely blue dress set from Grandma & Granddad
• A musical & dancing pink owl & 400 RON from Tanta & family (Your Great Aunt)
• A pink Unicorn and a pretty red coat from Dani (Uncle George’s friend)
• A large ‘1’ shaped picture frame from our Godsons, Dani, Cristina, Ianis & Stefania
• A Marks & Spencers denim dress and bespoke painting from Iulia & Puiu (Mummy’s friends)

TODO: Add more pictures

Today we’re celebrating your 1st birthday for the 3rd time, this time in Romania. We hired a professional photographer so I can only upload a few pictures that I managed to take in-between running around 🙂 I’ll make a future post with the official pictures when we get them, or just update this one.

While we wait for the official pictures here are some taken during the bread ceremony 🙂 It was very sweet and you ate quite a lot… in all honestly I ate a lot as well 🙂

Today we had some errands to run before the party tomorrow, one of them being a visit to the doctor for a quick checkup. We headed on out after your morning nap for which you woke up from in a cute way!

I was giving you some words of encouragement before your examination.. relaxing you with my phone anyway 😀 The conclusion was you have enough oil until your next service and she agreed with us… you’re crazy!! 🙂

In the evening, after your nap, we took a trip out to the local supermarket to do some stocking up, both for at home and for your party on Saturday. That’s right, there’s only one more day to go before we celebrate, for like the 4th time, your 1st birthday!

Of course when we got to the supermarket we had to have a go on the kiddie ride or two, it would be rude not to 🙂 There wasn’t a hamster like in Albert Heijn but we found one with a cute dog instead! There was also Barney the dinosaur however you were a little weary of him… hence the expression on your face. (Who wouldn’t be weary of a purple dinosaur?)

The next day Oma continued to spoil and pamper you, within a few seconds of you moaning or crying she was there 😀 If not quicker! We enjoyed a lazy morning playing with your new blocks, however you seemed to prefer playing with the fridge magnets 🙂 You even broke a few but luckily Oma didn’t mind. You and Mummy also enjoyed breakfast in bed, her breakfast though, you were there begging for a bite or two 🙂

Unfortunately we didn’t have room to take your baby-walker but we did have the next best thing… Oma 😀 She had some run leading you around the flat!

One of the other most important things, your high chair, we also couldn’t bring. So we had a choice, either you eat on the floor (Oma wants to protect her couch), or we buy one… from what you already know of us so far from reading this blog I assume you’re trying to work out which one we chose 😀

However the good news is that we didn’t have to do any! Your God Mother (Nasa) was kind enough to buy you one! You’re extremely lucky to have Mihaela as your Nasa, she’s been running around helping with everything to prepare for your big day. You’re going to thank her with a big kiss and hug right? I hope it won’t be like your baptism 😀

After a long day travelling we finally arrived at Oma’s for some well deserved rest, for us of anyway, you were still very active. So as we got settled into the flat we left you to have some fun with Oma. She and Uncle George bought you some brand new toys to play with while we were there, I helped you unwrap them all 🙂

Uncle George and his girlfriend Mirela returned home from work in the evening to join the fun, you loved all the attention you got!

Oh, I almost forgot to mention. They say that miracles only happen once in a lifetime but today we got another… you slept on the plane 😀 It’s a miracle our little miracle fell asleep *kiss kiss*.

Today we’re up early (4:45 am) to prepare for our flight to Romania. We’ll be there for a week to celebrate your first birthday, the party is planned for Saturday! Having hopefully read all the posts up until now you should know what comes next…. travel montage!

You remind me of Blake, he loved boxes 🙂 You probably won’t remember him from when you were younger, but you will see him later this month when we visit the UK. He and his brother Bailey went to live with Grandma and Granddad. I’ll make sure you get time to play with them both, I’m sure they’ll love you!

As per Dutch tradition we prepared a present for all the kids at creche, each in their own party bag announcing your 1st birthday. It was hard to know what to buy but in the end we went for a lion that squeaks and a healthy fruit juice. What more could a baby ask for right? 🙂

Mummy picked out a nice dress for the creche, one we bought at M&S when we were in London a couple of months back. At creche they organised a small party for you with music and singing.

The ladies at the creche also bought you a bath pig and small baby book, ‘you’ bought them a tasty kiwi cake from Multivlaai in return 🙂 You even got to keep your handmade birthday hat with your name on it, no-one could ever miss the birthday girl 😀

In a previous post the cake I mentioned which we kept nice and safe is now going to be demolished! However you were very hesitant and delicate in touching / tasting the cake. I expected a lot more… er… craziness with cake flying all over the place 😀 I think you were a little overwhelmed by the size of the cake and amount of chocolate in-front of you, sensory overload!

You wouldn’t believe how hard it was resisting the temptation to dunk your head right in the middle 🙂 Mummy reminded me I shouldn’t make you cry on your birthday so I’ll wait 🙂 I’m a patient father 😀 By the way the cake was a Tiramisu, extremely tasty! As they say, a moment on the lips… a lifetime on the hips.

When I look at you in your new shoes I always hear the song ‘These boots are made for walking’ in my head 🙂 The good thing about these new shoes is they keep your feet flat, you tend to stand on tiptoes normally. Mummy made a good choice and hopefully they’ll encourage you to stand up by yourself.

We all went out to break in your new bike, no new speed records were set but you loved it. We took a ride out to the local supermarket for some shopping, at the start you were holding the handlebars and trying to peddle, by the end nearing home you were just chilling with feet and arms dangling by your side 🙂

Your fever has dropped and you’re in a better mood, so let the celebrations begin! I underestimated the amount of time it would take to fully wrap your bike like I did, over an hour! We unwrapped it together in less than a couple of minutes!

You loved your bright pink bike and the best thing about it is the fact it’ll last you another year, transforming into one that you can ride yourself, once you can reach the peddles of course.

Your second present was your first proper pair of walking shoes, a color to match your new bike! These were extremely hard to get on and luckily they seem quite hard to get off as well 😀 You however found the laces quite attractive and soon tried to unravel them, I however know how to tie a double knot 😀