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.
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.
(No speed limits were broken)
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*
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’
This is one of my favourite pictures of you/us so far! That smile!
You’d fallen asleep by now. Mummy had the honor or opening the rest of your presents! She did not complain one bit, she likes presents….
It seems everyone wanted a picture with you in that outfit!
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!
You’ve been a busy girl lately with meeting more and more family members. Today was the turn of my God Father, you’re Great Uncle Mike! And no, he didn’t make you an offer you couldn’t refuse… Well, to be honest you slept for most of the visit!
(Great Uncle Mike)
We had a lovely time chatting about our experiences so far with you, he can’t wait to see you again soon! Preferably when you’re awake.
(A gift from Uncle Mike & Les)
You’ll be able to wear this once it’s a little warmer here in NL, maybe those 4 days of summer we’ll get next year!
So today we’re going to UK for Christmas, to meet and stay with Grandma & Granddad for Christmas. It’s not as simple as you’d think and required a lot of preparation and thought, this is the first time we’d travel with you, a seven week old baby.
(Fully loaded and raring to go! Survival gear…. CHECK!)
The first part of our journey began with the bus, 341 direct to the train station. Apart from the bus not arriving for 15 minutes you enjoyed yourself, staying very quiet and quite contempt throughout the journey.
(Your first bus journey… you were asleep..)
So your next first was the train journey from Hoofddorp to Schiphol Airport. We were going to take the bus all the way but the times worked out better for the train, plus it got you another first of day! Congratulations Sweatpea
(Surprisingly you were asleep again for the whole journey, all 5 minutes of it)
The next, your first plane journey, was the one I was most worried about. I remember saying once, ‘What worse that a crying baby on a plane?’… ‘Your crying baby on a plane!’. We were both extremely, in a good way, surprised with how you were, an Angel. You slept from take off to when we picked up the hire car an hour or so after we landed!
They told us there was going to be a total of 5 babies on the plane. When you’re older you’ll know the phrase.. ‘a cats chorus’.. this was the first thing that went though my mind when I heard that, sorry!
(The big blue metal bird of KLM that’s taking us to the UK)
(On the way to the plane, no turning back!)
(Mami lulling you to sleep as we board)
(Hoping a feed before take off will help you sleep for the remainder of the flight) (Not too sure what the French man next to us was thinking… ‘why me?’)
So you slept through:
99% of the flight & the landing
Customs and passport control (You didn’t get to pull your face to match your passport picture!)
The chaos that is baggage pickup in Manchester airport
First steps out into the fresh rainy air of Manchester
Bus to the car hire place and the eventual pickup of the car
BUT WHEN WE GOT IN THE CAR, YOU WOKE UP!!
Let’s hope the journey to Romania at the end of December will go the same way. If it does then you’re well on your way to getting a ‘real’ unicorn when you’re older!
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.
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.
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!
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.
Is that a toy I see?
Here’s Mummy with even more shopping! None for Daddy though 🙁
All 3 girls together!
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!
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!
In Romania, the godparents for our wedding also become your godparents.. and any future brothers and sisters you might have. This bares them with great responsibilities for which the only one you’re interested in at the moment is the providing of a loving cushion 😀
Mihaela, aka Nasa, has come all the way from Romania to spend a week with us. She’s here to give us some support while we adjust to having a daughter, which in turn means I’ve been kicked out the bedroom, Nasa and Mummy will take care of you during the night.
As she has a son herself she was able to give us many tips and advice in caring for you. You’ll meet her son (Stefan) one day and most importantly your Nasu (godfather), he’s stayed behind in Romania to hold down the fort, his name is Razvan.
As you can see she’s a natural mother and she helped out tremendously throughout the week. Both Mihaela (Nasa) & Razvan (Nasu) will play a big part in your upcoming Baptism. Mummy is already busy planning this, you’ll learn this about her when you get older 😀 I’m surprised she hasn’t married you off already 🙂 Hopefully if everything goes to plan we’ll be holding it in Romania early next year.
Nasa provided help in picking out a swinging seat 🙂
As a proud father I couldn’t wait to show you off at work, introduce you to all my colleagues and celebrate. As tradition dictates in Holland I decided to bring in some ‘beschuit met muisjes’, which translates to ‘biscuit with mice. You’ll have to trust me here, no mice were harmed in this celebration!
I decided to go for the chocolate option, to fulfill my sweet tooth!
My colleagues were all over the moon, here are some of the warm messages they sent:
“Congrates with your latest baby Girl, enjoy them as much if you can… because before you now they are grown up ” – Fred
“Congrats! Beautiful girl! (Have 4 boys to exchange, let me know how much camels you are willing to offer in order to opt-in for 1 of them 😉 )” – Bernard
“Congrats Thomas, a beautiful baby !” – Ywe
“Congrats Ian for the big and beautiful baby! The first few months will be taught at times but she will bring a lot of happiness to you as well!” – Gabor
“Oo man, no one really asks if father is doing well, right.Good to know that you are all fine and good luck for coming days.” – Samet
“Congrats Ian, all the best to you and your family. Enjoy parenthood, where all of a sudden everything revolves around this little bundle of joy!” – Rolf
“Congrats Ian! Lovely pictures! Enjoy and a bit of strength to get through some rough nights ;)” – Berteun
“Congratulations, Ian! What a beautiful name you gave her!” – Yuri
“Congratulations to the both of you! Wonderful pictures and excellent choice of treats, thanks!” – Jens
“What a beautiful baby girl and an evidently happy and proud dad!!! Congratulations!!” – Ellen
“Wauw!!! Congratulations, what great news! Wish you, mom and babygirl Emily all the happiness and love in the world.” – Tamara
“You must be the happiest on earth. Congratulations!” – Bjorn
“Great news. Congratulations to Laura and yourself” – Erwin
See for yourself, this is the picture I used to welcome you to my friends & colleagues:
So as you can imagine being stuck in hospital is kind of ‘icky’ right? Mummy couldn’t wait to get you home and into a nice clean bath and it was a great success! So much so that you fell asleep in minutes! With mummy brushing your hair and the warm water, you felt really at home!
We’re really looking forward to when you’re a little older and we can play with a rubber ducky together. For now Mummy and I will enjoy the relatively calm and soothing baths together!
This is you and me exactly 21 minutes after you arrived! Picture this, a brand new dad with a baby girl left in a room together having being told ‘bond with your daughter’. What’s the best way to bond, selfies!!!
Mummy was being looked after by the doctors in the recovery room and I was eager to reintroduce you to her. I think these were the longest, and most precious, 30 minutes of my life.
Such a big girl at 3.6 kg and around 50 cm tall… well… lying flat 🙂
You had such a strong pair of lungs on you as you cried, stopped, cried and then stopped. I can imagine this was a huge shock to you after being in mummy’s tummy for 9 months.
Daddy
P.S. I think you were waving to the camera in the first picture!
So as I mentioned before we expected you early evening, however you had other plans! Mummy wasn’t ready so doctors performed an emergency c-section. Little did I know that within 20 minutes I would be holding you in my arms!
Daddy’s camera was set incorrectly… I do that a lot my sweet… but you’ll soon learn that 🙂
That’s mummy tummy, your arrival is imminent!
<SKIPS BLOODY PART>
Here you are getting your first checkup, minutes after being born! 2 legs, 2 arms and a strong set of lungs! CHECK!
Daddy gets to touch you for the first time! you’ll notice I’m the one with the beard
Daddy gets the honour of cutting your ambicial cord, sort of a tradition I guess? I actually started cutting and then stopped to ask ‘this isn’t going to hurt her is it?’ And if you can’t tell… I’m smiling from ear to ear behind that mask. Oh btw, you had 2 ears as well! 🙂 You’ve probably noticed those things by now.
And Mummy. What a brave young woman, lying there waiting for her little girl to be cleaned. She couldn’t believe her eyes! One moment you were inside kicking and punching her, now she was holding you in her arms. An unbelievable experience. We hope one day that you’ll feel what she felt that day (expect the painful bit of course), make us lots of grand kids!
This was to be your delivery room in the ‘Spaarne Gasthuis’ but your story took another path, but we’ll get to that later.
We arrived here early morning on the 2nd November 2018, eagerly awaiting your arrival. At first we were told you’ll be here early evening however you arrived much sooner than expected!
So Emily, today we got to see your face for the first time… well… the first time it was so clear anyway. This picture started a few debates but the general consensus was that you have Daddy’s nose. I apologize in advance… please don’t hate or hold that against me. In a few years you might be lucky, we’ll see my dear.
Anyway, you look beautiful, so calm and relaxed inside Mummy’s tummy! As Mummy always says… ‘we can’t wait to kiss those little cheeks’… <insert kissy noises here>.
