Speciaal voor Fam Verber

Ok Bob en Rinke, ik heb Jill kunnen overtuigen dat ze 1 fotoshoot moest doen "in" jullie kerstcadeau... dus bij deze.... Enjoy!

Ben ik schattig of niet?

De hele familie.

Ik lach nog steeds!

Ok, nu begin ik het beu te raken.

Dan maar een tukkie doen!

Sinterklaas

Ik had vorige keer geschreven over Jill's eerste kerstmis, maar was in de drukte van het verhuizen helemaal vergeten te schrijven over Jill's eerste sinterklaas. Ik had al wel wat foto's geplaatst van de stoel die Jill had gekregen van opa en oma voor sinterklaas, maar Jill heeft ook de schoen uit mogen halen bij opa en oma.

Helaas kennen ze sinterklaas niet hier, maar we gaan proberen om Jill toch een beetje het sinterklaas gevoel te geven ieder jaar. Ze doen er dan wel niets aan op school, maar samen met Jos en Kim kunnen we wel wat verzinnen. Sean en ik hadden al bedacht dat hij een neef kan zijn van de kerstman en dat hij alleen bij opa en oma Musters komt. Het zal nog wel even duren voor Jill dit gaat begrijpen, maar we gaan ons best doen.

Hier zijn de foto's van sinterklaas bij opa en oma.

Kerstmis

Voor Kerstmis waren we dit jaar bij Sean's ouders. Vanwege de sneeuw zijn we een dag eerder gegaan, dit was afgelopen dinsdag en vandaag zijn we (ook weer vanwege het weer) terug gekomen. De autorit ging zowel heen als terug goed, al was 4 uur natuurlijk lang, zeker aangezien we de afgelopen maand al zoveel gereisd hadden.
Nadat Jill de hele familie had ontmoet ging het goed en heeft ze alle dagen goed geslapen en gegeten, ondanks de drukte in huis. We kunnen dus weer trots op haar zijn en blij zijn met het feit dat Jill zich overal zo goed aanpast.
We zijn nu eerlijk gezegd ook wel blij om weer thuis te zijn en het vele reizen voorlopig achter de rug te hebben. December was een rommelige maand en we kijken er nu naar uit om ons leven hier te gaan oppakken. Sean heeft nog 1 week en dan gaat hij full-time aan de slag... nog maar even genieten dus!

Hier zijn nog wat foto's van Kerst.

Natuurlijk had de kerstman wat cadeautjes gebracht voor Jill.















Sean's zus Sarah had een "kerstbal" gekocht voor Jill met daarop "Jill's eerste kerstmis 2008".
















Jill ontmoet haar nichtjes.

Jill's nieuwe schema.

Toen we voor het laatst bij het consultatiebureau waren vlak voor vertrek werd ons verteld dat Jill op een nieuw schema over mocht stappen. De voeding van 23.00 u mochten we laten vallen en ze rond de tijd dat ze 6 maanden is wat meer fruit en groenten gaan eten. We hadden dit toen nog even uitgesteld, omdat we niet te veel wilden veranderen vlak voor de jet-leg, maar nu Jill zich zo goed heeft aangepast aan het tijdsverschil durfden we het wel aan.
Vanaf vrijdag hebben we dus ineens de voeding van 23.00 u laten vallen en dat gaat prima. Jill heeft gewoon de hele nacht doorgeslapen en krijgt nu de voeding verdeeld over de rest van de dag erbij zodat ze wel aan de juiste hoeveelheid melk komt. Vanaf komende week gaan we een extra bijvoeding introduceren nu dit goed blijkt te gaan. Sinds een maandje krijgt ze tussen de voeding van 15.00 en 19.00 u een fruithapje, zo rond 17.30 u. Maar nu gaan we het volgende schema eens proberen:

7.30 u fles
10.00 u fruithapje
12.30 u fles
16.30 u groentehapje en wat melk
19.30 u fles

Ik twijfel nog wat over pap. Ik wil hier niet te veel van geven aangezien het alleen maar aanzet en Jill prima op gewicht is voor haar lengte. Maar misschien is het wel goed wat graanproducten te introduceren voor ze vanaf volgende maand een broodkorstje mag.... ik zal dit tijdens haar 6-maanden afspraak bij de huisarts eens gaan bespreken.

Nou, ons moppie zal zo weer wakker worden dus tot later!

De kerstboom optuigen

Gisteren hebben we besloten om toch een kerstboom te zetten. We waren eerst van plan om dit niet te doen aangezien we er toch maar half/half bijzitten dit jaar. Maar juist daarom is het toch wel leuk om een boom te zetten en zeker omdat het Jill's eerste kerstmis is mag een boom toch eigenlijk niet ontbreken.

We hebben wel een klein boompje uitgezocht aangezien onze versiering ook op de boot zit. En om heel veel nieuwe ballen te kopen vonden we zonde. Gelukkig heb je hier een dollar store waar alle items 1$ per stuk zijn en nu is de boom nog voor 6 dollar aangekleed en niet eens mislukt.

Jill vond het schitteren van de ballen reuze interessant en heeft goed meegeholpen met het optuigen van de boom.



En voila het eind resultaat. Volgend jaar wordt het denk ik een grotere uitdaging want dan kruipt/loopt Jill en moeten we uitkijken dat de boom niet omver getrokken wordt. Dat heeft haar moeder namelijk ook wel eens gedaan....

Jill's meubels

Nu onze spullen in een container op de boot zitten is het een beetje behelpen. Gelukkig hebben vrienden en familie hier ons huisje al redelijk comfortabel ingericht en het is dus best uit te houden voor een paar weken.
Ik keek vanmorgen eens rond en besefte me dat Jill nog de meeste meubels van ons allemaal heeft. Ivy is 3 maanden ouder dan Jill en Kim had wat speelgoed, een wipstoel en schommel bij ons neergezet, omdat Ivy er niet meer in past.

Hier is Jill in haar speelhoek, ze heeft het prima naar haar zin.



Ook haar slaapkamer is redelijk ingericht. We hadden natuurlijk het campingbedje bij ons, maar een oud meubelstuk dat nog in het huis stond van de vorige bewoner doet prima dienst als commode.



Maar ondanks dit alles zullen we straks toch blij zijn als de spullen er weer zijn, vooral een badje missen we. Jill gaat nu al ruim een week in bad in de keuken. Komt bekend voor he mam? En toen we bij vrienden in Haarlem logeerde voor vertrek ging ze zelfs in het badje van de poppen! Arme Jill... ooit gaat ze het nog eens tegen ons gebruiken!

Wandelen in de sneeuw.

We zijn nu een paar dagen in Vermont en vandaag was het voor het eerst "warm" genoeg om met de hele familie een wandeling te gaan maken in het park tegenover ons nieuwe huis. De wandeling was kort want het was al met al nog wel onder nul en dat kan Jill natuurlijk niet lang volhouden. Maar Jill was goed ingepakt en had alleen een koud neusje toen we terug thuis kwamen.



Terug kijkend op de laatste paar dagen kan ik zeggen dat Jill het echt super goed doet. Donderdag was een lange dag voor Jill, maar ze deed het echt heel goed in het vliegtuig. Ze heeft niet veel geslapen, al met al 2 uurtjes, maar met wat entertainment heeft ze ook bijna niet gehuild. Ze was bij aankomst wel ontzettend moe en heeft daardoor bijna meteen de 1ste nacht helemaal doorgeslapen. Jill werd om 4.30 u even wakker om wat te eten en sliep toen weer door tot 7.30 u. En vanaf vrijdag zat ze toen meteen in hetzelfde ritme als in Nederland. Overdag slaapt ze best heel goed en eet op de tijden die ze in Haarlem ook had. 's Ochtends is ze nog wel wat eerder wakker, net als wij, maar verder merk ik er weinig van dat ze een jet leg heeft.

Jill heeft ook Ivy ontmoet, het dochtertje van Jos en Kim, die ook met Nederlands en Engels zal worden opgevoed. Het was heel leuk om te zien hoe ze op elkaar reageerden.



Ok, deze week meer, want ondanks dat Jill weinig last schijnt te hebben van een jet leg bij mij gaat om 20.00 u het lichtje nog wel uit....letterlijk en figuurlijk.

Language change

So here we are in Burlington after one hec of a week. Since there will be a bunch of people now in Holland who will have to use this blog to stay up to date about Jill I decide to switch my blog to Dutch. So sorry for all you out there who read the blog in English, but fair is fair. When we lived in Holland I wrote in English, and now that we are in Vermont I will write in Dutch... at least you will be able to look at the pictures :)

Oh.. one last picture of mommy and Jill for now!

Big changes

At the moment Jill is staying over at grandma and grandpa's house while our house gets packed into boxes. So Jill will be blogger silent for a while until our life is somewhat back to normal. Probably by the time we have time to post again she will have changed a bit.... so till later everybody!

Jill is 5 months (and 1 day).

Yesterday I forgot to post that Jill is 5 months now! The fact that I forgot just shows how busy we are at the moment with the (fast) upcoming move. I am starting to get a bit worried about next week when Jill will sleep at 4 different places in one week. On Monday and Tuesday she will stay with my parents while the moving company packs the house. On Wednesday we will stay with friends in Haarlem for a night when our bed is already in a container on its way to Vermont. Thursday she sleeps on the plane (wishful thinking) and Friday she will sleep in her new bedroom in Burlington.... This together with the fact that she will have to deal with a 6 hours time difference doesn't make me look forward to that crazy week.
So far she doesn't seem to feel that there is anything going on. She continues to be a very sweet girl who loves eating fruit! We are onto apple now and that is definitely her favorite so far.

So I just have to try to stay calm and that will help Jill, and actually all of us, through next week.

Big girls chair

Besides Santa Claus we also have Sinterklaas in Holland. He comes on December 5th and brings the children presents together with his horse and helpers (zwarte pieten). You can read more about him and the tradition if you like on http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sinterklaas

Since we won't be in Holland this year for Christmas we celebrate Sinterklaas with my parents this coming weekend. But the one gift we had to go get ourselves for her was the high chair. It is a nice small one made from wood and when Jill gets a little older she can also use it without the tray and just sit at the table with us.

Of course we had to test it out for a photo shoot, but Jill is just a bit to small still and can't hold her head up for too long yet to use the chair. O well in a week from now it will be on a boat on the way to VT so by the time it gets there she will be able to use it for sure.

This picture is a little out of focus but still really cute.





















Look at me! I am a big girl now!

Yummie pear

The promised picture of Jill after eating pear...

Some fruit after all

Last week I wrote about some practical issues of why we wouldn't start giving Jill fruit or vegetables just yet. Well I changed my mind as some book I have writes that it is good to get babies used to different flavors, and you don't have to replace a full meal with it yet.
So we started with pear. Jill and I went to the store and got her pear juice, pears and a strainer. First we started with pear juice from a spoon, but that wasn't a big success, not only did Jill not like it at all (it was indeed pretty bitter) it was too liquidy. So onto pear pushed through a strainer. She loves that! After 3 nights she sees the spoon and opens her mouth. It is still a bit messy, but she is getting the hang of it. I got 2 more pears and so after a couple of pear nights we can then move onto something new.. I am thinking melon.

I will post some messy pictures soon, but usually my fingers are also sticky and not able to operate a photo camera.

Ohhhhhh

my family!



Not too many words needed for yet another cute picture of Jill and Sean. It is incredible how much Jill looks like Sean. So far everybody (!) told us when they first see Jill "oh, she looks like her daddy". So I am starting to realize my genes didn't really do much so far when it comes to looks. Maybe she has my nose? Or is that wishful thinking?

Nice walk with the girls

It was finally dry for the first time in like 2 weeks. So Sean and I went for a little walk with Jill and Clover. Whenever we go to the woods we take the Baby Bjorn because it is easier to walk with.
Jill loves sitting in it too. In the beginning she just looks around at the trees etc and by the end of the walk she is usually sleeping.
I think the picture of Sean and Jill sleeping is adorable.....

Good luck aunt Sarah!

Jill got this present from her aunt Sarah when she was born. For a while the stuffed animal was too big for her to play with, but now Jill is developing an interest in it. Perfect timing to wish aunt Sarah good luck today!


Big kisses and a big smile from Jill!

Welcome Noor!!

Today we got the happy news that Noor was born! We are also happy to hear that things are going well with mother and daughter. Jill can't wait to meet Noor!

Congratulations to Sabine, Erwin and Teun from all of us!

Formula and other food

Right now Jill gets Similac for her formula. I decided to give her this instead of the more familiar brands here like Nutrilon and Frisia, because this it is a brand that is also for sale in the US. So after our move we can just continue giving her this. However Sean's mom told us that Parent's choice is just as good but half the price. Don't get me wrong, price is not a decisive factor, but I was shocked about the prices of formula in the States. Similac here is 8,95 euro per can, in the States $21!!! And if Parents Choice is indeed as good but only $11 per can.... hmmm. Also Jill will be close to 6 months when we start buying formula for her over there and she shouldn't be super sensitive about it anymore and will also get nutrients from other food by then. So I have to give it some thought and ask the pediatrician during our last visit with her over here if I could switch brands like that.

Last time we went to the pediatrician she told us we can start giving Jill some blended veggies and fruit if we want to. Also the late evening feeding of 11 pm can be dropped once a baby is 4-5 months old. Sean and I talked about it, but we decided to not switch her feeding schedule right now. We move in less than 4 weeks and she is doing so well on formula and her current schedule of feedings at 8, 11.30 am, 3, 7 and 11 pm that we don't want to risk messing her up. The jetleg will most likely affect her for a little while already and with one feeding less like the pediatrician suggested it will be harder to get her back on a "normal" schedule. A practical factor that made us decide to wait with veggies is the fact that we don't have a blender here. Sean's parents bought one for us in the States so we will start this there too. Babies technically don't need any other food until about 6 months anyway, but since most parents like starting with other food she suggested we can if we want to, but we don't have to.

So decision made, we will start with the messy food when we get to the States, I am looking forward to it though. It has got to be so cute to see her eat of a spoon (and have most of it disappear on her bib, face, floor etc.)

Here is another nice close up of Jill taken by Sean while she was "talking" to me.

Baby Bourne instead of Baby Bjorn

As of today Jill has 2 passports, one Dutch and one American one!
Doesn't she look cool and proud!

Dad, can I have a pony?

We are making fun of the fact that some day in the future Sean will get the question: "Dad, can I have a pony?". It would be hard to resist those beautiful sweet eyes.....

So we already had a practice session to see if Jill actually likes horse riding. I guess we shouldn't encourage her too much, but I have to admit it would be really cool to go riding with my daughter some day.

The dog in the picture is my parent's. Now that they are on vacation we have him to take care of. He is a bit older and sweet, but most of all big, so perfect for doggy riding.

Practice

Jill tends to tilt her head to the left when she sits up. So we started to practice sitting up more by herself to improve her strength.

We also mentioned it to the pediatrician during our visit to her on Tuesday. She didn't seem to be to worried about it, we just have to do some exercises to make sure we train both left and right side. Jill also had her 4 month shots at the visit. Luckily she is done with them now for a couple of months, because both her and I don't like the shots. She cried and screamed again and Sean was with us for support this time, which helped. During the day she just slept a bit more but didn't seem to be affected by them in any other way.

So see here the result of practice session 1 "sitting strait".

Jill 4 months!

Today Jill is 4 months old. She continues to do very well and is a very sweet and happy baby. She is also very active and definitely lets us know what she wants! But that is ok, that's our Jillie-Jill

Right now Jill is taking her morning nap, but later I will post some pictures of our 4 month old girl!

Our little rock baby

Jill with a proud daddy who is hoping she will go to concerts with him later... like she will want to go with her 50 year old dad when she is 18!

Learning something new every day!

At the moment Jill seems to learn something new every day. It is very interesting to see that she goes through "ups and downs" in learning. Some weeks she seems the same every day and some weeks she seems like a different baby every day.
This week she seems to discover many new things. She found out she can make very high pitched noises and thus like to scream and this makes her sometimes even scared herself. She is much more sensitive to sounds also, because during our daily walk with Clover she started crying yesterday when a loud scooter past us and today she did the same when a dog in the park started barking right next to the stroller.
The other thing she is discovering this week is rolling from back to front. She can't do it all the way yet, but makes it unto her side and then gets frustrated, which results in her new screaming noise.
Today in her bouncy seat she tried to sit up more strait and then realized.. he those moving things (her feet) are attached to me as well.
So it is really fun to watch her at the moment and see her try it all.

What are those things?
Trying to sit up strait

Finally

after close to 4 months I fit my wedding ring again! I didn't think my fingers or feet were every going to be the size again they were before pregnancy.

Can I eat this and this and this.....

At the moment Jill will put anything she gets a hold of into her mouth. My fingers, her fingers, her toys, her stuffed animals you name it. My mom was wondering if Jill was starting to teeth, because she also drools all the time. But I think that is a little early being only (almost) 4 months... but I also had teeth really young. So who knows?

Sleepover

Jill and I went down to grandma's house for a sleepover this past week. It was a lot of fun and Jill did great.
My dad had been in Australia for work for close to a month so Jill and I decided to go test out her new camping bed and of course spent some quality time with grandma. It was amazing how much stuff I had to bring! Food, clothes, bedding, stroller, bouncy seat and not to forget Clover and all her stuff too. Sean even stayed home the morning I left to help me put all the stuff in the car. But it worked (thank god we bought a bigger car last year). The drive down was a challenge since it was really rainy and the total length of traffic jams (like 570 km) made it even in the top 10 of busiest mornings ever. Great do I have that on my first drive down there alone with Jill. Of course I checked the news and none of the traffic jams were really where I had to go but it still took me 2 hours. But it went great and Jill slept pretty much the whole drive down. Except for a small part about 1/2 hour away from my parents when we got stock in a small traffic jam. I was singing kids songs over and over and that eventually calmed her down. Good thing it isn't summer and people drive with their windows shut!
So after this adventure the fun started and my mom and I just mainly spent time talking, entertaining Jill and we also went shopping for about 2 hours in the afternoon of the 2nd day. Jill loved all the attention and kept talking back to grandma ALL the time, even when we put her to bed she kept talking. It was too cute and nice for my mom.
Jill slept great during the night in her new bed and I was really proud of her doing so well on her sleep over. Now we are confident and could do this more often.
The bonus was for my dad because he came home from Australia on Thursday morning and Jill was at their house waiting for him. He hadn't seen her in 5 weeks! So after some quality time with grandpa we left and made it home to Sean who worked from home to make sure he was home when we came back. He missed Jill and we even video chatted from my parents house so he could see her in the time (2,5 days) we were gone!

Here are some nice pictures of Jill's sleepover.

Testing my new bed!













Lots of quality time and attention from grandma!










Being creative taking a bath (wouldn't also fit in the car).. in the kitchen sink!

Pretty soon!

Today during our walk with Clover I observed that Jill is getting pretty big for her stroller/pram. So I decided to try out the other insert we have for the stroller. You are not supposed to use this until your baby is around 6 months and can sit up pretty independently, but soon Jill just won't fit in the pram anymore. Luckily you can decline the buggy insert so Jill can lay pretty flat still. I think it will work, we'll try to stretch it till she is about 4 months, that should be doable and by then it is colder and she can comfortably "sit" in the buggy.

Can't get enough of these smiles on camera

Sometimes I already have a hard time remembering how small Jill was when she was just born. Of course you see that she needs bigger clothes, gets heavier etc. but to really know what she looked and felt like back then can be hard since I see her every day. Well here is some pictures of her today and when she was 3 weeks in her bouncy seat. What a difference it makes! The 3 week picture is not the best shot we ever made of her, but it is still nice to see it.