I think you could sense that I needed extra help with Mummy being away so you were being extra good this weekend. You even helped me sort out the shopping when it was delivered in the evening.
You tried your best and that’s good enough for me! You especially loved it when we came to your milk 😀 That made you happy!
Daddy
This weekend Mummy went to Romania for a quick visit, leaving you in my capable hands. We had a lot of fun together, starting with a nice relaxing sleep in 🙂
Then we had some fun on the changing table where you said ‘Hi’ to Mummy in a cute video. You were missing her
We then went for a walk around Hoofddorp, visiting a few places where I’ve never been before. We had some interesting chats, very one sided as you were too busy looking into people’s back gardens, you get that from Mummy!
You eventually fell asleep so I took you home, safe and sound 🙂 And in one piece…. 2 arms and 2 legs 😀
On the rare occasion the sun comes out you have make sure you quickly take advantage! Today was your first visit to the ‘Haarlemmermeerse Bos’ along with Papa’s Beach house! I’m sure in the summer we’ll be spending a lot of time there, playing in the sand and enjoying a nice ice cold… milk?!
We can’t wait until we can all cycle around like a family, less strain on our backs for sure!
Can you guess what this is Emily?
Yes, this is an imprint of your foot on my glasses! While feeding you this morning you decided to give me a swift kick to the face 😀 Your legs are getting more flexible and stronger… I’m going to have to wear a helmet while feeding you soon! 🙂
Want to see one of the funniest pictures of you? 🙂 Who’s our little chubby? 😀
Daddy
For the moments when both hands are needed we devised a nice little work around, one that makes us all happy. We bought you a cute little pink seat, one where we initially intended to feed you in, however we found more uses 🙂
As you can see it worked well!
Daddy also found other uses…
Ok, we didn’t really use it so you could watch TV however it us well for feeding you and sitting you down when we needed both hands. You love to sit in it and watch what we’re doing, wishing that you could help us too! One day my sweet, when you’re a little bigger!
Daddy
Daddy loves the occasional game so when you took an interest in the controller I couldn’t stop myself from taking a picture!
When you’re old enough we’ll play together, I’ll make sure of it. If you prefer the PlayStation I’ll also make sure I convert you to Xbox 😀 Or we just play both… I’m sure in the future we’ll have to plug ourselves in 🙂 You never know… Mummy might join us!
Daddy
After your Baptism we took you around to your godparents for a bath, you were starting to stink up the place! 😀 I’m joking of course, it’s another Romanian tradition we decided to follow, it’s called ‘Chrism bath’, or Baia de mir. We added the following to your bath:
As you can imagine you were very slippery, Mihaela did a great job in keeping you above the water 🙂
I wish you to be beautiful like the flowers, to shine like the gold, to be kind like the milk, and to run money like honey runs
Daddy
Another month has passed and you’ve reached your 3 month birthday! This one is a little more special as we have a special visitor, all the way from Romania! Oma has been spending some time here, to help us before Mummy goes back to work. I think you can agree that some of the clothes you’re wearing seem to be somewhat Romanian themed 😀
We had a lovely time eating your cake however you did have a small lick 🙂
Daddy
So far this has to be one of my favourite pictures of you! The expression and clenching of your fist while drinking, it’s amazing. You can really imagine the thoughts running through your head… ‘my bottle… try to take it and there will be a fight!’. Don’t worry sweetie, we’ve learnt never to take a bottle away from you…. we even cringe when it’s empty… you never know what your reaction will be.
*shaking out of fear*
Daddy
You’ll never guess who Mummy met on the plane while flying back, yes…. Oma! 😀 It seems like she couldn’t get enough of you over Christmas and the New Year. Oma is traditional in so many ways… this means for somethings it’s great however for others… it drove us crazy 🙂
One thing I have to say is that when it comes to crying… she’s developed the fastest reactions you’d ever see. Before my brain has even processed the fact you’re crying, she’s up on her feet running over to you 😀 She hates it when you cry, however you’re a baby… and that’s what babies do right?
I wish I had a picture of her face when either Mummy or I left you crying for more than a few seconds… if a look could kill we’d both be dead by now 😀 Anyway, she’s a loving Oma who’s always willing to put herself out as you can see below. You have to remember at this age you tended to sleep for a while, well over an hour. Her dedication and concentration in keeping you still and asleep is legendary!
Daddy
Here you are in your Uncle George’s arms 😀 I’m laughing because he was very wary about picking you up, in case he broke you or something. I can safely say, bar the puzzled look on your face, you were returned in one piece. Uncle George likes relax topless while in the house, providing you with extra comfort while resting on his chest. As you can see at the moment there are a few similarities between you and him… and that’s all I’ll say… otherwise he might beat me up! 😀
Daddy
I’m not sure what ‘slang’ will be in fashion when you’re reading this, so this might sound weird but your Oma has ‘Mad Knitting Skillz’ 😀 Here is a good example of one of the many… and I mean many tops she’s made you. As a traditional Romanian Oma she always believes you’re cold. So it’s a combination of turning up the heat until we’re all sweating and dressing you in colorful hand knitted clothes!
Here is another good example of her handy work she prepared you last year.
Daddy
One of the first things you’ll learn about Oma is that she has a unconditional urge to help. In January Mummy stayed in Romania for a while and without Oma, it would of been a lot harder. It’s lucky you weren’t older at the time, otherwise you’d always have a plate full of meat in front of you 😀 We’ll come to that in the future 🙂
This was the perfect setup for keeping you busy… on a mountain of cushions with Oma making ‘baby’ noises at you. As you can see from the pictures you were totally engrossed by the multitude of noises she was able to come up with 😀 It wasn’t always about the noises, she was very inventive when it came to finding objects to distract you. A plastic bag here… a random piece of paper there.
Daddy
So on Boxing day we handed over the reigns to Grandma & Granddad, the usual driver taking the first turn! I don’t think you were too impressed at first however you soon fell asleep after admiring your new surroundings.
We were pleasantly surprised with how they took, if you ask me I’m sure they got lost… Maxi Cosi doesn’t come with GPS as standard. Anyway, in the end Mummy and Daddy got a welcome and deserved break! Not that we didn’t miss you of course… one day you’ll understand when you have children of your own. And trust me… speed limits will be broken when I’m pushing my Grandchild around! *vroooom*
Daddy
Hi Emily,
So it wasn’t just a milestone for you, it was also a big one for Mummy & Daddy:
We have to apologize a little in advance before you see the next pictures, as I’ve said a few times before, you’ll understand when you have your own children. The thing about having a baby is they can’t fight back when you want to dress them in the cutest of outfits, albeit when I show them to your boyfriend, you may say ’embarrassing’! As Mummy says a lot, ‘you’re such a cute baby’
The British have some traditions, not as many as the Romanians but a few. One of these is Christmas dinner, a full roast with all the trimmings! Unfortunately you were old enough to experience the delights of Grandmas cooking, she makes a mean Christmas lunch! Next year I promise to give you a taste, I’m going to start you on the Brussels Sprouts !!!
Below you’ll find a gallery of our Christmas Lunch, Daddy tried on multiple occasions to scare you with a cracker… I failed… you were just too sleepy.
So that was our first Christmas as a family. We can’t wait for the next one as you’ll be 14 months, old enough to be fully aware of what’s going on. It’s going to be a lively one!
Happy 1 month Birthday Emily!
It’s unbelievable how time has flown since your arrival, we can’t believe it’s your 1 month birthday already! You’ll notice we dressed you up in Christmas clothes to celebrate the occasion, I don’t think you would’ve appreciated being in your ‘birthday suit’ for this picture.
Mummy picked your favourite cake out… well… her favourite cake which I’m sure you would’ve loved if you were able to have some! We won’t freeze a piece however they’ll be plenty of time in the future for a piece or 2 of Red Velvet cake together.
From this picture it really looks like you took a fancy to the cake!
If you had longer arms I think you would’ve had a handful of it!
I think you were so proud of these socks… they were so cute!!!
HAPPY BIRTHDAY, LA MULTI ANI & VAN HARTE GEFELICITEERD.
Mummy & Daddy
Hi Emily,
Our little girl is growing so quickly in front of our eyes! Let’s celebrate your 4 week anniversary with a collage of your progression.
You’re becoming so expressive nowadays, with your facial expressions and small tantrums! I can see you now in a few years stamping your feet in the shop when Mommy & Daddy refuse to buy you that princess doll you wanted! Well, the doll you just saw which somehow became everything you ever wanted in life!
We can’t wait to see you grow into a beautiful young woman that we know you’ll become.
Mummy & Daddy
Hi Emily,
4 weeks have passed and your maintenance is due already! Today you’re going for another checkup to see how much you’ve grown over the last few weeks.
So you’re now 4.32 KG, 700 grams more than when you were born. This doesn’t surprise me one bit as you’re a hungry little girl! We can set our clock by you! Every 2 hours you tell us it’s feeding time by letting out a scream, the cutest horsey noise you’ll ever hear.
You’ve grown by a whopping 4 centimeters, even above the average for Dutch standards. I don’t think anyone can argue that you’re Daddy’s ‘little’ girl! You even have my belly in that picture… albeit a little less hairy!
No, we’re not fitting you for a hat. However at least we know now what size to buy you if we’re going to! The conclusion was that you must have a lot of grey matter in there! Lol. A combination of the smartest parents on earth!
You didn’t cry at all during your visit, Mummy kept you very safe! As you can see you’ve started to grab things a lot more, you’re a ‘pincher’! What we need to do however is to remember to cut your nails!
Daddy
While in your Mummy’s tummy you traveled a lot! Well, you didn’t have much choice as you followed Mummy around everywhere she went. You can even tell your friends that you’ve been to Singapore! We have a funny story about that… one day you should ask us about it 🙂
So at this point in your life you’ve only experienced 2 places, the hospital and your home. Today both Mummy & Nasa took you out into Hoofddorp, our home town. It’s getting rather cold here so they needed to make sure you were warm:
I think they succeeded! You’ve not going to get cold in that for sure. You’ve never remember this trip but trust me, you were an Angel! You slept for the whole journey, so any time you having trouble sleeping, we’re thinking of just taking you outside for a nice long stroll.
As you grow up you’ll become rather familiar with Intertoys, none of these were for you however I’m sure as you grow up, you’ll have your fair share of toys!
Daddy
Hi Emily,
There’a Dutch tradition where you celebrate by announcing to your neighbours of a new arrival. Daddy wanted to make sure that everyone knew how proud we were to have our new bundle of joy in our lives!
Yes,we like cats…. unfortunately the cats haven’t really taken to you yet! We weren’t too such how Blake & Bailey would react however it was somewhat of an anti-climax… a sniff here and there and no more. This soon changes when you shove a crying baby in their face, they run a mile! I’m sure once you’re older you’re going to have a lot of fun chasing them around… however something tells me the feeling’s not going to be mutual!!!
As you can see from all the cards we received, everyone was so pleased for our news! There’s a mixture from friends, family and neighbours here… all wishing us the best… Don’t worry, you’ll be able to read all of these in the future as we keep everything! Including your umbilical cord!
Love
Daddy