Sightseeing my own country
This week Henry's father, Jon, and his aunt Michelle came to visit so we spent every day going to various tourist destinations to the Netherlands: Delft, Amsterdam, the Hague, Antwerp and Rotterdam. It made me realize how sightseeing Dutch towns quickly turns into a blur of the same stuff like windmills, canals, shopping streets and old churches. I kept worrying that it wasn't exciting enough for Jon and Michelle because, after walking around the city center for an hour or two what else are you going to do if you don't like museums? But then again I have to remind myself that what I like about travelling is just seeing the people walk around and going about their dai

Why is the most child-friendly country in the world...
The Netherlands is a total nightmare for trying to get day care for your baby. I signed up on my town's day care waiting list in February and they can't even guarantee a spot this January, much less this November when my maternity leave ends....Books read (will put in reviews later)Donor Boy by Brendan HalpinThe Night Watch by Sarah WatersThe Elegance of a Hedgehog by Muriel ?Eternal by Cynthia Leitich SmithGirl in Hythacinth Blue by Susan VreelandThree Cups of Tea by Greg MortensonDreamhunter by Elizabeth ?House of Many Ways by Diana Wynne Jones Henry's face upon seeing his new brother:

The slowness of d...
The slowness of days when everything is in 2 hour chunks. That's what I've realized about taking care of a one month old--everything happens in cycles of 2-3 hours. That's how long it takes to feed Niek, let him doze for a bit while I do housework, then get about a half hour of time to myself before he wakes up and needs to be held or changed. By this time he's ready to feed again. And feeding takes at least 40 minutes. So it's really hard to go anywhere, since disturbing this cycle will cause an unhappy baby--which he will demonstrate by screaming until he turns purple. I guess I'm reconciled to short trips to do grocery shopping, but anything beyond that is really s

nothing like a baby to wake you up
....and nothing like a baby to make you reprioritise things--like having a few moments of calm, or even sleep. Suddenly all the worries and apathy I had a few weeks ago are all just a blurry dream of someone else's life--the life that used to be mine. Anyways, it's been a rough three weeks since Niek was born but I'm starting to get used to it. The first week was definitely the hardest since I was in constant pain, couldn't walk or sleep. The second week was also pretty bad since I was trying to recover and also prepare my talk that I had been invited to give in Rome the weekend of September 4. And then this week was hard since my mom left and I really was alone with the baby all day