１２月６日 日本から帰ってきました

日本から戻ってまいりました
９ヵ月ぶりの日本・・・・

おじいちゃんのお見舞いで朝から晩まで病院だったので
どこかに行けたというわけではありませんが
空港に降りた瞬間、
たこ焼き、おうどんを食べずにはいられませんでした（笑）













手術の前の日に無事到着

思いがけない私の訪問に
おじいちゃんは
ほんとうにうれしかったよう❤

そうですよ
わざわざオランダから
おじいちゃんの手術のために帰ってきましたよ




本当は具合が悪いはずなのに
私を見た瞬間
★目がキラキラ★

孫の力とはすごいのさ




日本に着いたその足で病院へ

その日はほとんど寝ずに
次の日の手術のため朝早くから病院

日本に滞在中は
ほとんど寝ていなかったので

帰りの機内ではお食事以外はほぼ爆睡














行きも帰りも同僚が
とても良くしてくれました
感謝です




術後の経過を見るまでもう少しいたかったけど
リアムくんが私を待っているので
とりあえず今回は帰ります

早くおじいちゃんが
良くなりますように・・・★

12月5日 Sinterklaas!!!

This morning Liam was crying around 5:30. I got up, looked and... Yep... Turned over again... So this time I quickly grabbed my camera to shoot some pictures, before releaving him from his awckward position...

Next time I should record a video... ;-)

Today is 5 December. On that day, we celebrate "Sint-Nicolaas", or more colloquial: "Sinterklaas". It's a bit similar to Saint Nicholas, in that way that also presents are given to the smallest (who believe in him)... But it has a totally different background. To find out more about this festivity for the children, read about it here.

Sinterklaas and his helpers, the "Zwarte Pieten" (Black Peters):

Sinterklaas on his white horse (in Amsterdam):(Pictures borrowed from the internet)

My mom wanted to celebrate Sinterklaas with us, although Liam won't understand it yet at all, but hey, that's what grandmas are like... However, Yoshie is still in Japan, so we are postponing it. Tomorrow she is coming back, so if she feels okay tomorrow evening, we can celebrate Sinterklaas together!

Another tradition around this date is eating "pepernoten". Literally it means "pepper nuts" but it has NOTHING to do with nuts. The basic ingredients are flower, brown sugar, butter, milk, sirop and special Speculaas spices (a.o. cinnamon, coriander, nutmeg, ginger, clove). Usually it can be bought in the supermarket, but it's not difficult to make it yourself... I want to surprise Yoshie a little bit tomorrow, so I got started. Here are the ingredients:

With a ready mix for speculaas, it's even easier:

This is what it looks like after it's all mixed together:

Before:

After:

Tadaaaaaa!

Now hopefully we don't get tempted to eat them all, before Yoshie is even back!!!

A popular show on tv at this moment is "Popstars". Similar to "Idols", new talent can be discovered via this show. Liam seems to like it too:

Hey, that chick in the middle is quite hot!

Ooooh, that one on the left is even better!!!
Wish I was 20 years OLDER...

Here's a video of my mom (so Liams Grandmom) playing with Liam. In my opinion it's more like Liam is getting hungry and is just biting in everything that is held in front of his mouth...
Or maybe he used to be a lion in his previous life...

Another video of Liam trying to crawl. Still not moving much (except for turning in circles) but every day he is learning a bit more... Baby steps...

Tomorrow afternoon Yoshie is coming back again. I hope everybody enjoyed the continuation of the blog by me. Sorry I had to write in English. I can't write in Japanese, unfortunately... Yoshie will take over from me again and continu with the blog in Japanese... Thanks for your patience!　
どうもありがとうございます。

Cheers!

さようなら。。。

Mario (「バニー」)


......................

12月4日 Holding the bottle myself...

Liam looking outside, from his bedroom...

Hey, that's Pooh Bear and Tigger!

That's more interesting!

Look at me! I can hold the bottle myself!

Huh? What's that? The bottle's empty!!!

Daddy... I don't want an empty bottle.
You can have it back!

12月3日 Baby Chair for Liam

Liam woke up at 8:30, had a bottle of milk and fell asleep again. Till about 11:00!

Good morning Liam!!!

Time to take a bath... But first on the scale!

Liam now weighs 7925 grams, almost 8 kg!!!

Nice to add to this story is that this mechanical weighing scale, working according the balancing principle (so NO batteries necessary!) is already over 36 years old. As a matter of fact, his own daddy was also weighed on this scale, when he was still a baby!!!

In the late afternoon, after Liam fell asleep in his box, and grandma fell asleep on the couch next to him, I quickly went to Gardo, the baby store close by. They had a nice baby/child seat on special price: from € 119,99 to € 79,99 and because it was the last one, I got another 10% off! It's the Xadventure Urban. The baby can be strapped in it, so it is safe. It can be set to 4 different heights and it can recline in 3 positions... Now let's hope Liam likes it!

So far so good!!!

Now let's put on the tray table...

Hey, what is that thing for???
Ah, I get it... I can put my things there. Like my cell phone...
So now I have my own office desk!

Dinner time...

Without the tray table, he can sit a little closer to the real table.

In the evening, Liam fell asleep again in his box. But this time he turned to his side!
This is the first time I see him sleep like this!

That's all folks... (for today)

12月3日 バニー IN CHARGE!!!!

Yesterday, Yossi went back to Fukuoka, Japan for a couple of days, to visit her family and in particular her grandfather, who is at this moment in hospital. Until she gets back, I will try to find some time every day to post a few pictures of Liam, also to keep her and her family up-to-date about the "home situation"... I am sure she misses Liam　（リアムくん） very much... And バニー of course also ;-) ... In the meanwhile, I hope her grandfather will get well soon!!!

This morning, Liam woke up at 8:30. He was crying. Hungry? No... Well not as the main reason. The main reason was that he was turned in his bed, lying on his belly!!! Unfortunately no picture...

In the early afternoon, I took Liam and my mom (who is staying here with me to help out a little bit, since I also have a Prof Check coming up this weekend) to Beverwijk, a nearby city, where they have some baby shops (Baby Dump, Prenatal) and a "Woon Express", a furniture shop that is very much like the famous IKEA.

Err... Daddy? Why are you putting me in here?

Hihi, are we going out again??? Yeah!!!

This is me and my chauffeur, uh I mean... My grandma!

I like this! All these interesting things to look at!!!

Daddy is looking for a new hall rack. How about this one?

Or maybe this one?

I wonder what mommy would think of this bed... Daddy seems to like it!

Hey, that's a nice little seat!! It's just my size!!!

<-sigh->

Okay... Enough with the testing. Can we go now???

Nice colors!!

Hey, ain't those the colors of the Dutch flag?!?
Mmmmmm... Maybe not, but then it should be!!!

Err... Granny... I am still a LITTLE too small for this bed!

Honey, if you miss your little boy, here's a video, so you can actually watch him play and hear him making sounds (and cry)!!! (Don't worry about the size, 42 MB, it's on my Google account!)

A real modern high-tech cyberspace wiz kid:
On daddy's lap, listening to music with iTunes
and watching a cartoon on YouTube, while daddy is blogging...
Honey!!! Come back soon!
Mommy!!! Come back soon!