Hi,
So last time I blogged, I could still call it 'What happened the last 12 months...' but let's call it 2008, shall we?
So what did happen after I was released from the hospital? Obviously Jay turned 3 and I went just before that to San Francisco for a slightly over a week... JavaOne 2008.
The summer didn't have a lot in store for me, mainly because my MR2 had a small problem with its transmission. The problem being that I couldn't use it. And of course those very few sunny days in 2008 I didn't have a convertible. Anyway, they fixed it and it cost me a lot less than initially thought. That was good.
The summer of 2008 was also the first time the four of us went on vacation all together. We went for a whole week to Asten-Ommel, a small town in Brabant. The park's name is Prinsenmeer. I've got to say that the week was great, to be with the family and all without the daily routines from around the house. But th little bungelow we thought we had booked was a big caravan without wheels and it was kind of like not really well cleaned.
On the uptake, the pool they had was nice with two nice water slides, that Jay dared to do all by himself. Jay and I also went for a trip on the waterbikes. That was fun. One of the nicer trips we took that week was to a zoo nearby, which was just big enough to walk all day and see everything. But it was also very well maintained. And the Cheetah's were great. Also our daytrip to Toverland was great. Jay was barely big enough to be allowed in one of the many rollercoasters and he loved the bobsled and the wild-water ride. Unfortunately Ray was too little for most rides. Well, being only a year and a half old... this was to be expected.
More on the proceedings in 2008 of me and my family later (this year).
Iwan
Showing posts with label Jay. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Jay. Show all posts
Tuesday, June 16, 2009
Wednesday, January 09, 2008
December, the month of holidays and illnesses
Hi,
Like I blogged last time, it would be after our trip to the US before I would blog again, and as it turns out, I was right and it is even 'next year'.
So what happened lately. Well first of all we went to our friends Ravi and Mamatha in the Boston area. This was on December 7th, the Friday after Sinterklaas. By the way, Sinterklaas, the Dutch equivalent to Christmas' Santa, was very generous this year, especially for the kids.
We flew at around 3 PM from Amsterdam airport, Schiphol, and because it was in the boy's prime time, they didn't sleep... for the whole flight that is. Fortunately they're both really well behaving boys when it comes to not sleeping, so hardly any crying and a lot of flirting with the North West Airlines stewardesses. It is always a really big benefit when your kids aren't pestering the rest of the plane and the in flight personal loves them. Trust me, it is. Ray needed his diaper changed pretty much right after we took of the ground and believe me, his diaper wasn't the only thing that needed changing. He'd overspend as much as Olcay and I were planning to do in the outlet stores. Fortunately Olcay had been so smart to take additional clothes along in our carry-on luggage, it was needed. Apart from the kids not sleeping, the flight was rather uneventful. We were picked up from the airport by Ravi and his family and drove to their place. As it had snowed, Jay and I played in the snow for a bit and because he didn't want to wear his gloves he found out the hard way that snow is indeed cold.
It was good to see our friends again, as it had been almost two years since the last time we visited them. Scary fact: Jay was 10 months old when we came to Boston with him, and Ray just turned 10 months when we flew there this time. Coincidence? I don't know.
That Monday or Tuesday Mamatha found out that she had pneumonia and needed to take antibiotics and stay inside. As it was really cold and everybody, especially Jay and Ray, needed to rest and get into a new rhythm we stayed around the house. Ravi had to work anyway. Tuesday and Wednesday Ray and Jay both were feeling not to well, probably because of the lack of sleep, the new daily patterns and the fact that the temperature outside was well below freezing point and inside it was nice and warm. That probably left enough opportunity for a cold-bug to strike. Ravi became ill as well during the week, same cold-bug kicked his butt and on Friday we all felt like we were good enough again to drive to his brother in Berlin, CT. Only Mahika, their daughter had a serious infection in both ears and we had to turn around. Since the weather was going to be really bad (again) it was probably a good thing, and we convinced Ravi's brother to stay at their place. Although that took a lot of convincing skills. Man did they really badly want to see us. That was really heart warming. During the car ride, Olcay became ill. Yup, that pretty much leaves me as the only person not catching anything during those 10 days. But on a different note, Olcay stayed flu'ish untill after Christmas.
The flight back was good enough as both Ray and Jay slept for a while. Fortunately they showed Cars on the inflight entertainment system so Jay was happy. Olcay didn't sleep at all, since she had to make sure that Ray wouldn't wake up. It all turned out to be a decent return home, but for the minor detail that the battery of our care was dead. Jay, probably, had turned on the little light in the back and that had drained the battery to a full stop. It took the ANWB, the Dutch roadside assistence, slightly under an hour to help us out and that was our cue to drive home and have closure for this vacation.
This time around I won't bore you with the rest of the proceedings in december. Well maybe I should as it isn't much, so here it goes.
As I said, Olcay caught the flu in the States and that only turned worse in the days after our vacation. Up to a point where she went to see the doctor. She had to try some steambaths etc for three days or else get some antibiotics. This because her whole head was congested and inflamed. This was right before Christmas. Good thing we bought some medicine in the US so there were enough pain relief goodies in the house. The day right after Christmas she called the doctor's office and got her antibiotics. Three pills and all was done. Right before New Years Eve she was up and ready to... comfort Jay while he was a bit scared of the firecrackers and other fireworks that 'made loud bangs'. Leaving me with 200+ firecrackers in the house...
On Christmas day Santa came along and surprised us all with loads of presents. Amina and her daughter where there as well. Christmas diner was really nice and the next day (2nd Christmas day as we call it in Holland) was as good, at my parents with the whole family. Apart from the illnesses and all we had a great December. Most of the time I was off and got to spend with the family.
Iwan
Like I blogged last time, it would be after our trip to the US before I would blog again, and as it turns out, I was right and it is even 'next year'.
So what happened lately. Well first of all we went to our friends Ravi and Mamatha in the Boston area. This was on December 7th, the Friday after Sinterklaas. By the way, Sinterklaas, the Dutch equivalent to Christmas' Santa, was very generous this year, especially for the kids.
We flew at around 3 PM from Amsterdam airport, Schiphol, and because it was in the boy's prime time, they didn't sleep... for the whole flight that is. Fortunately they're both really well behaving boys when it comes to not sleeping, so hardly any crying and a lot of flirting with the North West Airlines stewardesses. It is always a really big benefit when your kids aren't pestering the rest of the plane and the in flight personal loves them. Trust me, it is. Ray needed his diaper changed pretty much right after we took of the ground and believe me, his diaper wasn't the only thing that needed changing. He'd overspend as much as Olcay and I were planning to do in the outlet stores. Fortunately Olcay had been so smart to take additional clothes along in our carry-on luggage, it was needed. Apart from the kids not sleeping, the flight was rather uneventful. We were picked up from the airport by Ravi and his family and drove to their place. As it had snowed, Jay and I played in the snow for a bit and because he didn't want to wear his gloves he found out the hard way that snow is indeed cold.
It was good to see our friends again, as it had been almost two years since the last time we visited them. Scary fact: Jay was 10 months old when we came to Boston with him, and Ray just turned 10 months when we flew there this time. Coincidence? I don't know.
That Monday or Tuesday Mamatha found out that she had pneumonia and needed to take antibiotics and stay inside. As it was really cold and everybody, especially Jay and Ray, needed to rest and get into a new rhythm we stayed around the house. Ravi had to work anyway. Tuesday and Wednesday Ray and Jay both were feeling not to well, probably because of the lack of sleep, the new daily patterns and the fact that the temperature outside was well below freezing point and inside it was nice and warm. That probably left enough opportunity for a cold-bug to strike. Ravi became ill as well during the week, same cold-bug kicked his butt and on Friday we all felt like we were good enough again to drive to his brother in Berlin, CT. Only Mahika, their daughter had a serious infection in both ears and we had to turn around. Since the weather was going to be really bad (again) it was probably a good thing, and we convinced Ravi's brother to stay at their place. Although that took a lot of convincing skills. Man did they really badly want to see us. That was really heart warming. During the car ride, Olcay became ill. Yup, that pretty much leaves me as the only person not catching anything during those 10 days. But on a different note, Olcay stayed flu'ish untill after Christmas.
The flight back was good enough as both Ray and Jay slept for a while. Fortunately they showed Cars on the inflight entertainment system so Jay was happy. Olcay didn't sleep at all, since she had to make sure that Ray wouldn't wake up. It all turned out to be a decent return home, but for the minor detail that the battery of our care was dead. Jay, probably, had turned on the little light in the back and that had drained the battery to a full stop. It took the ANWB, the Dutch roadside assistence, slightly under an hour to help us out and that was our cue to drive home and have closure for this vacation.
This time around I won't bore you with the rest of the proceedings in december. Well maybe I should as it isn't much, so here it goes.
As I said, Olcay caught the flu in the States and that only turned worse in the days after our vacation. Up to a point where she went to see the doctor. She had to try some steambaths etc for three days or else get some antibiotics. This because her whole head was congested and inflamed. This was right before Christmas. Good thing we bought some medicine in the US so there were enough pain relief goodies in the house. The day right after Christmas she called the doctor's office and got her antibiotics. Three pills and all was done. Right before New Years Eve she was up and ready to... comfort Jay while he was a bit scared of the firecrackers and other fireworks that 'made loud bangs'. Leaving me with 200+ firecrackers in the house...
On Christmas day Santa came along and surprised us all with loads of presents. Amina and her daughter where there as well. Christmas diner was really nice and the next day (2nd Christmas day as we call it in Holland) was as good, at my parents with the whole family. Apart from the illnesses and all we had a great December. Most of the time I was off and got to spend with the family.
Iwan
Monday, June 04, 2007
Whatever happened to me... the story with Jay.
Just a couple of days ago I blogged about Ray and what happened the last couple of months in our lives. Today is Jay's turn.
As you might know, Jay turned 2 weeks ago, May 24th to be precise.
In the past couple of months he started talking really well, and you can now pretty well understand what he's saying, even when you hear him talking for the first time. His sentences spawn about 3 to 4 words. He picks up on words really fast as well. I remember from friends that as soon as they said something out loud that wasn't intended for children to hear, they pick it up and start repeating it. Well Jay's no exception. So I'm careful about what I'm saying. And it's not only bad words, but also when you say something about someone, you don't want them to repeat it in front of that someone.
What is quite interesting is that he, out of the blue, said 'Gezondheid' after somebody was sneezing. And he's saying 'Dankjewel' (Thank you) when you give something and apologizes when you're angry with him.
Recently he's really mad about his Lego Duplo train, he got more parts at his birthday, so now he's got one big rail-track in his room, with a police station and zoo. And he loves to play with it. This is when he isn't playing outside. With the excellent month of April weatherwise, he had a great spring '07, playing in our garden and in the street in front of our house all the time. Swings and slides are his favorite on the playground.
Oh, and then there is the big water slide in the swimmingpool we're going every week. When is was like 10 months old or so, we took that slide when he was sleepy and ever since he associated that slide with something awful. So he never wanted to go down that slide again. Somewhere in March he saw kids go up the slide and he wanted to go up as well. Although he didn't want to go down the slide, he still wanted to be at the top. One time he wanted to go down the slide and ever since, he's crazy about it and only wants to go down the slide. The faster the more fun, although I believe last Thursday I overdid it a bit. Nowadays we go swimming with the four of us. Jay's splashes with Olcay when Ray and I are taking a swimming lesson.
Since a few weeks, Jay hates it to be left at daycare, and cries heartbreakingly when you leave him there. Although appearantly after a minute he's okay with it. I've seen the same behavior a couple of times at home as well and I believe it is due to the fact that he is now at an age where he understands the concept of being left alone.
All-in-all, Jay's still the happy little fella that brightens your day big time.
Iwan
As you might know, Jay turned 2 weeks ago, May 24th to be precise.
In the past couple of months he started talking really well, and you can now pretty well understand what he's saying, even when you hear him talking for the first time. His sentences spawn about 3 to 4 words. He picks up on words really fast as well. I remember from friends that as soon as they said something out loud that wasn't intended for children to hear, they pick it up and start repeating it. Well Jay's no exception. So I'm careful about what I'm saying. And it's not only bad words, but also when you say something about someone, you don't want them to repeat it in front of that someone.
What is quite interesting is that he, out of the blue, said 'Gezondheid' after somebody was sneezing. And he's saying 'Dankjewel' (Thank you) when you give something and apologizes when you're angry with him.
Recently he's really mad about his Lego Duplo train, he got more parts at his birthday, so now he's got one big rail-track in his room, with a police station and zoo. And he loves to play with it. This is when he isn't playing outside. With the excellent month of April weatherwise, he had a great spring '07, playing in our garden and in the street in front of our house all the time. Swings and slides are his favorite on the playground.
Oh, and then there is the big water slide in the swimmingpool we're going every week. When is was like 10 months old or so, we took that slide when he was sleepy and ever since he associated that slide with something awful. So he never wanted to go down that slide again. Somewhere in March he saw kids go up the slide and he wanted to go up as well. Although he didn't want to go down the slide, he still wanted to be at the top. One time he wanted to go down the slide and ever since, he's crazy about it and only wants to go down the slide. The faster the more fun, although I believe last Thursday I overdid it a bit. Nowadays we go swimming with the four of us. Jay's splashes with Olcay when Ray and I are taking a swimming lesson.
Since a few weeks, Jay hates it to be left at daycare, and cries heartbreakingly when you leave him there. Although appearantly after a minute he's okay with it. I've seen the same behavior a couple of times at home as well and I believe it is due to the fact that he is now at an age where he understands the concept of being left alone.
All-in-all, Jay's still the happy little fella that brightens your day big time.
Iwan
Monday, February 26, 2007
So much for an up to date blog on the proceedings at home
So here I am with my good intentions to blog about Jay, Ray and Olcay and my well being in their company on a very regular basis now that Ray is born. But it has been more than 2 weeks since my previous blog. I'll make it an effort to blog more often from now on.
What's been happening lately? Not too much I must say. Let's see, last time I blogged, Olcay and Ray came home and we're one happy family at home again.
Ray is doing fine, although breastfeeding was a bit of a problem, resulting in Ray not getting enough nutrition we moved to the bottle approach and that is going really well. Although he's one little sleepy boy, so typically somewhere halfway the bottle he's vast asleep and we have a hard time waking him up.
Olcay's hernia is retreating, ever since the burden of the big belly (BBB) is gone, she's healing quite fast. That is something to cheer about, so here comes; HURRAY.
Jay is being the big brother all over and he's doing really well. One of the things to keep in mind is that he was already used to not getting all the attention from Olcay because of her illness. So that's not much of a change. And he's accepting me to hold Ray more or less. The fact that Ray is only 3 kg or something like that allows me to practically move around with him in my hands without noticing this. So I can still play with Jay. But it is really comforting to see Jay walking up to Ray giving him a kiss when he's crying.
Bit of a downside is that Ray still doesn't understand that he needs to sleep all night, well one bottle of milk is ok, but after that he's crying... big time. Such a little fellow, such a big mouth. At least it was like that the last two nights, which is killing. But my friend Ravi told me it can be worse. His daughter woke up hungry every 2 hours, Ray at least sticks with 3-4 hours in between bottles.
That's about it. As I've said in the beginning, not much happened the past 2 weeks or so. But from now on I'll try to blog more regularly.
Iwan
What's been happening lately? Not too much I must say. Let's see, last time I blogged, Olcay and Ray came home and we're one happy family at home again.
Ray is doing fine, although breastfeeding was a bit of a problem, resulting in Ray not getting enough nutrition we moved to the bottle approach and that is going really well. Although he's one little sleepy boy, so typically somewhere halfway the bottle he's vast asleep and we have a hard time waking him up.
Olcay's hernia is retreating, ever since the burden of the big belly (BBB) is gone, she's healing quite fast. That is something to cheer about, so here comes; HURRAY.
Jay is being the big brother all over and he's doing really well. One of the things to keep in mind is that he was already used to not getting all the attention from Olcay because of her illness. So that's not much of a change. And he's accepting me to hold Ray more or less. The fact that Ray is only 3 kg or something like that allows me to practically move around with him in my hands without noticing this. So I can still play with Jay. But it is really comforting to see Jay walking up to Ray giving him a kiss when he's crying.
Bit of a downside is that Ray still doesn't understand that he needs to sleep all night, well one bottle of milk is ok, but after that he's crying... big time. Such a little fellow, such a big mouth. At least it was like that the last two nights, which is killing. But my friend Ravi told me it can be worse. His daughter woke up hungry every 2 hours, Ray at least sticks with 3-4 hours in between bottles.
That's about it. As I've said in the beginning, not much happened the past 2 weeks or so. But from now on I'll try to blog more regularly.
Iwan
Saturday, February 10, 2007
Brotherhood of the unexpected
Hi,
Last night was Ray's first night at home, and with that my first night with him. I'd already forgotten that when they wake up it takes roughly an hour before they're fed and put back to sleep... really sleeping. So that was an eye opener. But all-in-all it was an okay night. Jay woke up but after putting him back to bed, that was nothing more than an incident. This morning at 6:30 he came back to us and we took him in bed. After some baby-watching he slept for a while and we woke up around 7:15. Sesamestreet bought us another 30 minutes.
Today we had the nicest and sweetest experience with Jay giving Ray kisses and wanting to help Ray when he was crying, because according to Jay, Ray was in pain. That was really great. So we're happy that he in fact is very big brother like already. One pitfall we don't want to find ourselves in, is expecting Jay to be older than he is. That is hard, because all of a sudden he really is a 'big boy'. But we'll manage.
It's gonna be a week of happy family the next week, so little sleep and loads of diaper cleaning.
Iwan
Last night was Ray's first night at home, and with that my first night with him. I'd already forgotten that when they wake up it takes roughly an hour before they're fed and put back to sleep... really sleeping. So that was an eye opener. But all-in-all it was an okay night. Jay woke up but after putting him back to bed, that was nothing more than an incident. This morning at 6:30 he came back to us and we took him in bed. After some baby-watching he slept for a while and we woke up around 7:15. Sesamestreet bought us another 30 minutes.
Today we had the nicest and sweetest experience with Jay giving Ray kisses and wanting to help Ray when he was crying, because according to Jay, Ray was in pain. That was really great. So we're happy that he in fact is very big brother like already. One pitfall we don't want to find ourselves in, is expecting Jay to be older than he is. That is hard, because all of a sudden he really is a 'big boy'. But we'll manage.
It's gonna be a week of happy family the next week, so little sleep and loads of diaper cleaning.
Iwan
Wednesday, January 03, 2007
2007 starts better than 2006 ended
Hi,
This is my first blog of 2007 and as the title suggests, 2007 has started better than 2006 ended. But to be honest, that wasn't a major achievement.
The reason for this title is that Olcay has stopped the morphine injections since January 1st and she's doing pretty good. There seem to be some withdrawal symptoms surfacing, but compared to the pain a month ago those are nothing. So in other words, she's doing relatively great. Our goal now is to be medication free by the end of the month. So we'll have about a month without painkillers before the baby is born.
So what else? Jay has a new bed and loves it. Best thing of all, he didn't mind sleeping in it and sleeps through the night nicely. Although sometimes he wakes up in the middle of the night but that is because he needs a diaper change.
About the holidays I can say that they went by in a blur. I was too busy emptying the study, moving all stuff to the guest room and painting the study to become the baby room. This time its theme is 'universe' so I painted our solar system on the wall. Sometime at the end of the month the new curtains and carpet will be delivered and then we're all set. Until then, Jay will have two sets of beds and closets in his room.
Btw, yesterday I finished the baby room, although there's still a lot of stuff in it that needs to be taken care of... i.e. thrown away.
The new study is a complete mess. That will take some time and effort, but with the new Ikea closets and drawers it'll look fabulous. Best of all, it'll mean that a lot of the mess currently in the lounge is gone as well.
I think that's about it for what happened over the holidays. Of course we had a great X-Mas, although I was feeling a bit ill that day. Our X-Mas was celebrated on the 23rd with the whole family around. Gifts for everyone, but mainly for the little ones. They where spoiled so badly, Jay didn't know what to play with because there were more gifts to be opened. Since a very long time I did the cooking again it everybody liked it, so that was a success. We had a great time. The 31st my parents were over at our place, and my dad brought some fireworks... which was the first time for Jay to experience. He loved it. Hearing the BANGs all day and seeing the rockets explode all night. He didn't want to go to bed, so we kept him up until 10 in the evening. At that time he was wasted so slept soundly through the main fireworks.
That's really about it.
Iwan
This is my first blog of 2007 and as the title suggests, 2007 has started better than 2006 ended. But to be honest, that wasn't a major achievement.
The reason for this title is that Olcay has stopped the morphine injections since January 1st and she's doing pretty good. There seem to be some withdrawal symptoms surfacing, but compared to the pain a month ago those are nothing. So in other words, she's doing relatively great. Our goal now is to be medication free by the end of the month. So we'll have about a month without painkillers before the baby is born.
So what else? Jay has a new bed and loves it. Best thing of all, he didn't mind sleeping in it and sleeps through the night nicely. Although sometimes he wakes up in the middle of the night but that is because he needs a diaper change.
About the holidays I can say that they went by in a blur. I was too busy emptying the study, moving all stuff to the guest room and painting the study to become the baby room. This time its theme is 'universe' so I painted our solar system on the wall. Sometime at the end of the month the new curtains and carpet will be delivered and then we're all set. Until then, Jay will have two sets of beds and closets in his room.
Btw, yesterday I finished the baby room, although there's still a lot of stuff in it that needs to be taken care of... i.e. thrown away.
The new study is a complete mess. That will take some time and effort, but with the new Ikea closets and drawers it'll look fabulous. Best of all, it'll mean that a lot of the mess currently in the lounge is gone as well.
I think that's about it for what happened over the holidays. Of course we had a great X-Mas, although I was feeling a bit ill that day. Our X-Mas was celebrated on the 23rd with the whole family around. Gifts for everyone, but mainly for the little ones. They where spoiled so badly, Jay didn't know what to play with because there were more gifts to be opened. Since a very long time I did the cooking again it everybody liked it, so that was a success. We had a great time. The 31st my parents were over at our place, and my dad brought some fireworks... which was the first time for Jay to experience. He loved it. Hearing the BANGs all day and seeing the rockets explode all night. He didn't want to go to bed, so we kept him up until 10 in the evening. At that time he was wasted so slept soundly through the main fireworks.
That's really about it.
Iwan
Today's cookie: When The Food Is Good, The Party Is Great.
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