Nice weather, been doing stuff...
Kaemon discovers watermelon and icy poles

in the neighbourhood

Not sure how to balance the see-saw with my gut...

Visitors from the other side of the country

my gorgeous men:

planes trains and automobiles

Note the vehicle-appropriate noises and gestures. Budding Genius...

FIRST WORD!!!

Not mama, papa, milk, but..........

if you missed that, that was TRACTOR 3x, and then Ta-ta (the horn). The jury was undecided for a few days, but there is distinct enunciation and we are in agreeance: TRACTOR it is!!!

Oh yes, and a new hair-do! with the second one on the way, the old hairstyle was too high-maintenance!

what we've been doing

NOT MUCH! Been sick, the body is failing... Anyway, great that mum and dad are here, extra hands, all the better to keep Kaemon happy and me sleeping! We went to the beach and had a great day....the highlight was seeing a real tractor, significant, as that is the little man's FIRST WORD!!!

Bedtime

Text book instructions: create rest, a calm environment, and quiet time before going to bed...otherwise kaemon gets hysterical!

CARS

long one but too lazy to edit. he's obsessed with wheelie things, he loves this book from uncly hanoi and aunty afern

Not exactly first words but nearly!

Spoon? what's that?

happy 30th

Douwe's actually happy that he's getting greys and turning 30! For his birthday I filled a boat with friends and pushed them off in the water... After an easter weekend and the following week up till Friday filled with snow, hail, sleet, rain, cold, Saturday morning was blue skies and crisp air.

The HAIR!

A quote from an article about Dermatologists:

"Dermatologists say they enjoy the variety of a specialty that encompasses serious illnesses like skin cancer and psoriasis as well as conditions like uncombable hair syndrome."

Is that what kaemon has??!!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uncombable_hair_syndrome

Prodigy Child

TIme for a makeover

Before

...After...? Just needs a little gel and he's set.

February

brought us: Sufern, food, sightseeing


Exploring the surrounding area where we live

Master Kaemon's First birthday

A visit with the Whitesides!

What a good month.

Coming to get that raisin!!!!

The first contribution after his long absence from the computer screen, and it's a cracker! His father says, exchange the raisin for a football and he's going to make us milions!

Don't knock his style, he's only been walking for a few days!!! Let the record show (as parents will tend to forget these things after a few weeks) that his first steps were 1 year and 1 week after his birth!

We're Back!

Deadlines are past, 14-18 hour working days are over, bring back the days of the lazy housewife!! I've been translating technical documents, assisting the submission of a EU research proposal and it's all over! What's been happening since..... got to first catch up on sleep and then kaemon (he's walking!!) then there'll be a real update!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!!!

In a sea of undies

an oldie but a goodie...kaemon helping his aunty sufern and mummy pick out bargains at the Bonds undie outlet.

just like daddy

Blllllllllth

During the mysterious quiet...

kaemon got into the box of tissues, but apparently he needed them!

Frankenstein walks!

Free! Free! Like a bird!

Last friday I had a delicious experience: I have to really really really thank Marjolein for this wonderful (birthday) present which was not just a delicious High Tea but a few baby-free hours!!

Christmas and New year in one go

The christmas and new year of 2007 will (unfortunately) mostly be remembered not for the food or good times, but bu the rabid stomach virus that was doing the rounds and afflicted at least 1 member of every family that I polled, and the one that introduced me (kaemon) to "spuitdiaree" or projectile explosive diarrhoea.
A few days before christmas, there was a beautiful frosting of everything that made things very christmassy.

Road Rage

Still must learn turning, 3-point turning, reversing, rage control!

On the go

boyz II men

Kaemon developing musical skills

Dusseldorf

Thanks to some lovely friends, we scored a 5* hotel stay in Dusseldorf on "germany's most stylish shopping street". They nearly rejected my pink daihatsu applause from valet parking, it was that posh.

The travel crew:

We mainly wallowed in the luxury of the hotel room, ate delicious food at various places, visited family and generally just hung out...

Baby one more time!

Since last year's birthday song was also a britney title (not a girl, not yet a woman) I thought it appropriate to stick with this theme. The meaning has many facets. 1. (having a) Baby? One more time! 2. Yeah baby, one more time! I would do it all over again, as it was lots of fun: We celebrated with lots of friends, food and presents! Thanks for all the birthday wishes in person or not, all was supremely welcome. 3. There weren't many song titles to choose from.
I insisted on 30 blazing candles on my cake, and I was rewarded with a pyrotechnic display not seen before in this village!

Our new cat

oops we did it again....

We'll be one Chan-Vellinga richer by end of May next year!

Colds, Teeth, Apathy, the chill of winter, this is the mood of winter at the moment... Oh how I wish for a hot christmas with cold prawns and a bbq. Sweating it out and then jumping in the pool. Tha'ts a real christmas!

we went to Chicksands to visit the Whitesides and dropped in on our family in London. Kaemon cried between 3-6 am and after a week, there was a little pearly white to show for it. A little toot. This week he's made up for it by sleeping in.....
ANyway, the visit, was great, eliza had her wild cocktails and karaoke birthday party, which I've not seen the likes of for a long time!
We also met Evan, the newest expansion to the family, and Andrew and John, all kaemon's cousins (and Meg who has adopted Kaemon as an honourary cousin!) So many babies....
Thanks eliza, dave and kids for the delicious food, and company!!

Photo dump: we ate sushi, okonomiyaki (kaemon love), washed windows, had a sick day (oh so pitiful)

October blur

October was full of visits