My Favorite Vacation Picture

I guess it is quite obvious why I would pick this picture to be my favorite vacation picture from our trip to southern France.... isn't it cute?


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Stroller in the Forest

Since I was by myself this past weekend I took Lorelei with me to the forest. Obviously she had to be either in the belly-pouch-carrier-thing, or in the stroller. I opted for the stroller so that I could partake in any strenuous activities that Tobias (or me actually) made up during our time in the forest. We ended up playing baseball with pine-cones. Tobias' bat is laying on the ground in front of him.

It is kind of hard to take pictures of Lorelei doing something in the forest because she basically sat in the stroller the whole time. Ok, I took her out to feed her, but that was about it. So, I figured I'd take a picture of her in her stroller. That way we have "proof" she was there. Lorelei loves to be outside and she loves leaves and things like that. I gave her some leaves to play with and to tickle her neck with and she loved it. She also loves the sounds of the forest. I am not sure she liked the bumpyness of the tree-roots though...

I had a great time in the forest and I am quite sure both my kids did too!

Note: Baby-bear is on top of the stroller holding on for dear life :-)


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Lorelei Lee Lewis

Lorelei has been comforted by me playing the piano for quite some time. Sometimes she would be crying and I'd just put her down in the play-pen, play some piano and she'd calm down. Well, now that she can sit she has discovered the piano for herself. She gets so enthusiastic about it. She'll hop and bop in her chair while banging on the keys... Of course not very coordinated yet, but it's a start, and hey, you have to start someplace, right?

Another good thing about this development is that Tobias, who hasn't been showing a whole lot of interest in the piano recently, gets more interested too. He tries to help Lorelei and show her how it works. Sometimes he'll put on a demo-song for her and she enjoys that. Also in the past few weeks I have seen him sit down at the piano or even heard him say "Papa, I'm going to play some piano...". So, who knows, maybe they stimulate each other this way...?

Isn't she lovely?


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Milestone: Standing Up

My goodness, another milestone: Lorelei can now stand up.... and she does is all by herself too! In fact, this picture was taken two weeks ago (already!), on my daddy day. I had just taken Tobias to school and put her in the play-pen. She was just playing and I was making myself a cup of coffee. I come back from the kitchen and see this! Unbelievable! She had gotten up all by herself, was standing in the box smiling and havind a great time! Of course it took a lot out of her and when she let go she fell backwards... She did not yet have the strength or coordination to sit back down on her bum or her knees....

That did not take long though. Last week she could do that as well and now there is nothing she rather does than going to the play-pen or to her crib, when she is in her room, and pull herself up, stand and the "walk" back and forth from one end of the play-pen to the other and back. And she is having loads of fun, and spending loads of energy doing so.

Another one of her favorite things to do is crawl and she is getting faster by the day, no, by the hour, no, by the minute! It does not matter too much how many toys are on the floor to play with or even if we are on the floor to play with her... she heads straight for one of two things:
1. The kitchen, where the cat-bowl is
2. The fire-place
These of course are two places we don't want her to go :-). The kitchen because dangerous stuff happens there like hot pans sitting on a stove and such. The fire-place because we have a tiled elevated area around it with quite sharp edges, and of course dangerous stuff will be happening there once we start firing it up again coming fall and winter. But hey, that makes it all the more fun for Lorelei (apparently).

It is so good to see her moving around the house, though, and see her new developments every day, including milestones such as this one!


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Milestone: Crawling!!!

Recently I reported that Lorelei was getting ready to crawl.... Well, as of this past weekend she is doing it! It is so much fun to see and she is having so much fun too... She can actually cover quite some distance and, she is getting faster every day! Unbelievable, but true and so nice... Our girl is growing, developing and it is all just such a treat to see and experience.

Today is my daddy day and I had to iron some of my shirts. This usually takes me quite a while and I do this on the landing to Tobias' and Lorelei's rooms. Well, I put Lorelei in her room with the door open and gave her some toys. She was having lots of fun and started to babble. She is doing that more and more and that is good to hear too. Mostly it is something like "wawa" or "dada", but the amount of sounds and the clarity of her voice are increasing rapidly. Also, she laughs while she is playing. And all the while I am just ironing my shirts. Since she can crawl now it is not such a big deal anymore if she drops a toy and it rolls away. She'll just crawl, get it and play with it some more wherever it landed.

I can tell you that she makes ironing my shirts a lot more fun :-).


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Strolling in the Stroller

So, Lorelei can sit up. This has many advantages, including the fact that she can now sit in her "new" stroller. It is the same thing, without the basket-bed-thing on it. She was almost pulling herself out of that thing, twisting an turning and everything. Also, it was getting quite small for her (or actually she was just growing out of it :-)).

Since it takes some effort to convert the stroller into this thing, it kind of felt like "closing an era". I think I have written many times the mixed feelings I have when closing eras.... This time was no different, although I have to say that, even though I can't believe or comprehend how fast it goes, there was somewhat of a relief too. She has grown into a big healthy baby and the fear of an RS-virus relapse is now pretty much gone. Of course it is summer so it is not the RS season, but I can tell you that every cough, fever, or booger still causes (relatively) severe concern....

Anyway, back to the stroller: she loves it. She can see everything now and that is so nice for her. It is still a bit big, but so much more fun. And there is the matter of convenience for us since it collapses into a somewhat smaller nuisance to take in the car with us... :-). The buggy board still works, so Tobias is happy too!


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Biking!!!

Biking is "the thing" in the Netherlands. Some claim that Dutch people learn how to bike before the know how to walk... This is not true, but biking is a big part of the Dutch culture. I have posted a picture before of me on my bike with both Tobias and Lorelei, but at that time I was carrying Lorelei on my belly. Like I said, that was not as comfortable. Well, now that Lorelei can sit by herself she is ready for a real bike-seat! So, I pulled it from the garage, put it on my bike and we went riding. Me with two children (one in front, one in back), and Lisa by herself. We had a nice ride during which Lorelei laughed a lot, but ended up falling asleep :-).

Looking forward to more of those rides!


For news on Lorelei's brother Tobias visit: Tobias Quinn