2010 - WOW!

It's 2010! Can you believe it?!  Do you realise we're now in the first decade of the 21st century.  It's now 10 years ago that we were all partying like it was 1999.  Historians refer to this period of time as 'the turn of the century'.  We're living at a 'turn of a century' - imagine that!
Shouldn't we be walking around in metallic boiler suits or mini skirts (personal choice applies here!) with flying cars whizzing past and 3D holographic advertisements should spring out at us and be personalised to our consumer choices.  People! Don't you realise? We're living in our future!!!

Yes, I realise I sound a bit freaked out.  It's just that usually the end of an old year and the start of a new one always brings on a reflective mood.  "Where have I been? What have I done?  Any regrets ... " and so on and so forth.  However this year was different.  I'm totally amazed at where I am!  It's 2010.  Ten years into a brand new century.
I live in a different country to where I was born.  I'm happily married.  I have an amazing child.  I have a great new house (more on that later!).  Wow, I never imagined a life so fulfilled and so good.  I know that may sound weird considering all the stuff that goes on but to be honest, my life is amazing.  I never knew I could be this person.    A person who has someone  that loves and supports them.  A person who has friends (yes, even more than 1!!!) that call and visit and that care so much about what's happening in my life.  A person that is welcomed into a big family.   A person that is a mother to the most wonderful child ever! (OK, the last one is a bit biased - but it's my blog so I can say what I want. :))  I have a really amazing and challenging job that I find totally fulfilling.  It's taken all my life,  a new century but finally I really feel that I should be exactly where I am right now and I'm very happy to be here.
Wherever you are in the world and whatever your circumstances are, I wish you an amazing and fulfilling 2010.

It's been a very busy period for our family over the festive season, so apologies for the lack of updates.  We had a lovely Christmas.  Noah's fairy godmother, Lol, joined us.  All that snow made it very exciting up until the 23rd as we didn't know if Lol's flight would be able to fly out to Amsterdam.  Lol lives in one of the worst hit regions of England, so we were very relieved and happy when she arrived safely.   We loved that it was a white Christmas and the whole family enjoyed going out in it.

Here's Noah wrapped up nice and warm. There's practically no room for him in his pushchair he's got so many warm clothes on! 

This is the mad dog chaising snowballs!

 

 A 'Fuut' enjoying a refreshing swim in the snow!

Noah had a huge pile of presents, but he was totally not interested in them, he had his 'In the night garden' book and that was all he needed.  Thanks fairy godmother! :)

We had a fabulous vegitarian Christmas dinner.   1st course - Tartare of 3 types of tomatoes topped with french bean & basil leaf salad served with a parmesan crisp and a drizzle of chive oil.

Our 2nd course was a vol-au-vent filled with wild mushroom ragout, with a side of blue cheese stuffed button mushrooms.  3rd course was butternut squash gnocci dressed with sage leaf butter.  Dessert was my all time favourite "Chocholate & Chocholate filled with chocholate and a slice of fruit to make you think it's healthy"; also known as Chocholate mouse, chocholate pudding with a runny chocholate centre served with poached pear in Champagne Cider!  Trust me - with this menu we did not miss that there wasn't any turkey!
Did I mention that Thijs is a FABULOUS cook? Well, he is! Thanks husband for spoiling us rotten :)

Lol also decorated the Christmas Cake, which we could have had with our coffee, but really .... we were full!

So this is the last winter we will spend here is our lovely home.  But that's OK .....

... We've finally found our new home! We're very excited, and worried and pleased and scared to death! All at the same time!  We've chosen a house just outside the Hague.  It's convenient for both of us, it's big enough for the 3 of us, plus all of Noah's medical equipment and hopefully allows us some private space to be able to go to when we need some space.  It has a lovely big garden and is close to everywhere!  There's a large shopping centre, a town centre, a petting zoo, a working waterway where lots of holiday makers travel during the summer months (a small disaster for motorists when the bridge is up!), all within walking distance of our new home.  It's a very pretty place and we're looking forward to living there.

However, it's what we like to call a "fixer upper", which means the house needs a lot of tender loving care before she'll be our home.  I know, I know ... why are we doing this again you're all asking?!  Again, it comes down to what we need versus what we can afford, and this is the best solution.  Actually, we hope when it's finished it will be wonderful, but then you know we are VERY optimistic people!! ;)  Here's a taste of how it looks now - which was all the rage in the 70's don't you know!
The Kitchen

 

The Bathroom

 

We haven't got the keys yet, so we're still hoping it all goes well.  After that it's going to be a mad dash by the builders to get it modernised and up to the standards required for Noah before the 1st of April.  Otherwise we'll be renting a room with a sea view!  Maybe you can understand why it's scary and exciting all at the same time now.  We just can't seem to live a boring life no matter how hard we try. :)

So time to finish off.  Noah is doing extremely well with his development.  He's coming along in leaps and bounds.  He's much more aware of his surroundings now and is a lot more curious.  He loves when we sing him songs and is fascinated with the hand movements we're doing (we are moving forward with using sign language now).  Noah doesn't seem to want to do the hand movements himself, but he'll place your hand into the right position!  It's very clear that Noah takes after his fathers side of the family, but it looks like he's going to get his geekyness from me .... Pappa brought home his new laptop and Noah was like a duck to water ... a natural!

xxx