A note from Doetinchem

We're starting on our 3rd week of occupation in Casa del Doetinchem. We arrived as battle weary troops, having survived the '60 boxes to pack on moving day' manoeuvres and the 'only 2 toilets & 3 people with stomach flu' campaign - luckily 1 of the persons was wearing pamper, and I'm sworn to secrecy as to which one of us wore the pampers!! ;)

I describe our stay as an occupation, because with Noah's medical stuff, and all the extra furniture, toys, clothes and etcetera that you may need for the most changeable month of the year, I cannot describe our stay as a "visit"! Luckily we have little Noah as our secret weapon to diffuse any hostilities, I think that Oma, Opa and Tante Anneke are totally disarmed and are even enjoying being able to see our little charmer whenever they want.

Of course, should the out-laws put up any resistance, our secret weapon is also armed for biological warfare - a few nappy changes should do the trick! :)

Seriously though, it's been lovely here. We have some time to breath the fresh air, and take walks in the park. It's great fun because the park has their own Highland cattle - which have ginger hair just like Noah!!

We're pretty stressed and run down from all the activities that are going on at the moment so it's nice to have a change of pace. It's still busy, because we have to travel back and forth to Leidschendam for the build, and we don't have as much nursing support here but it's at least a more relaxed environment.
Noah surprised us all because he started eating. Not like a bird, but from a spoon. Within a week he was eating a full bowl of baby cereal. He hasn't quite mastered getting it all in his mouth yet though!!

With fabulous timing after a week of settling in we set off to enjoy a family party in Eindhoven. The star guest was little baby Max, who at 6 weeks showed superior intellect (he was practicing his smile), and with his Kurt Douglas cleft chin is sure to be a future lady killer. Ladies, you've been warned! Welcome baby Max, and congratulations to his mum and dad on producing such a little star.
Here's a proud dad with a freshly burped Max next to his cousin Noah. (Sorry but I couldn't help messing with the photo effects).


For our second weekend we'd planned a trip to Holten where we were able to do some long overdue catching up with friends. We were surprised to realise that it was almost 3 years ago since we were all together and it happened to be in the same park and even in the very same bungalows. It was lovely to see the new additions to our growing group of friends and wonder at how much all our lives have changed in what is really such a short period of time. I can't believe I don't have any photos - too busy chatting!!
We loved catching up with everyone, and visiting one of the local attractions, Twickel castle which was closed ... so I had to make do with shopping in Delden, oh well! :)
Thijs and I also enjoyed 3 full nights of sleep as nurses came to take care of Noah - bliss. It seems that our systems are not used to rest and relaxation though - Noah got ill, followed quickly by me and Thijs. So all 3 of us are not enjoying a heavy cold. Noah is for the moment on extra antibiotics and on his machine for the night and some extra oxygen for the day. Oma is sneezing fantastically loud every now and then, so she could soon be joining our merry band of 3!! Casa del Doetinchem is looking more and more like a hospital ward with all these sick people loitering about.

Talking of hospitals - we're going to see the ENT and lung specialist on the 29th of April. That's the date we'll be able to hear what they are planning with regards to Noah's operation. Watch this space for more news when we hear it!

So as you see, the world keeps turning and the huge woodpile outside our new home was not about to move itself to the recycling company. So a merry band of 8 worked their little booties off schlepping wood and taming the wilderness that was our garden.

A sunny Saturday in April is apparently THE day to take your recycling away. Thijs, Willie and Marinus enjoyed long queues and short tempers of bureaucrats all in the name of recycling! Thanks lads.

Back at the house Opa Lex, Anneke, Sandra, Maarten and Judith attacked the garden. Lex and Anneke have previous experience in excavation from their Greek adventures.
Here is a before shot of the back garden, take particular note of the right hand side of the picture which is full of bushes and overgrowth.

This Greek excavation proved to be a useful experience as the team got to work pruning and digging - they eventually uncovered a previously unknown patio from beneath the debris!


This is a picture from the top of the stairs looking out onto the side of the house, before ...


and after ..... no more shrubbery!


Here's some of the team taking a short break in the sun ... can't wait till we can do the same :)



I have only seen the pictures, but I'm really surprised to see how much more garden there is.
With this lovely weather we've had, it's been great sitting outside in Opa and Oma's garden, even though Noah is ill, he can still get some fresh air. This was one of the main reasons for wanting our new house, and now we have such a lovely big garden too look forward to.

Hooray!! Thank you so very much guys and girls :)

It wouldn't be a blog update from me if there wasn't a grump to write about would it?! I'll try to keep it short though, especially since it's already been sorted out :)
There was one problem with the house this week which was due to the Electricity / Gas company installing their meters too far away from the requested location. This now eats into the space required for the stairs. The main reason that the meters needed to be moved was to allow the stairs to built so that a stair lift can be installed should Noah ever need one. So this could have been bad if we couldn't resolve it.
Luckily Dennis, our designer, was able to go immediately to Leidschendam to confer with the builder to come up with a workable solution. Sadly the stairs need to be re-done, costing time and of course money.


You may be able to tell that I'm very cross about this, but I'm also relieved that we have such good people around us that helped us work around inept monopolist companies! Grrrr.

With a bit of luck, and a prayer of two, in just two more weeks and we hope to be moving into our new home. So that's it for the moment. We will try and rest and recover and be very patient. Hmmm, must work on the patience bit! I'm just being silly, I must admit to being very excited, I can't wait to see the finished house. At the moment it's a shared dream, it's a bit scary until it's a reality.
Again we are so thankful for all the good people that surround us. Noah's team that have traveled to Doetinchem to look after him and given us a needed break. Our family who step in and help us all the time. Our friends near and far who lend a hand or support when we need it most. Dennis and Ferro for working so hard on such a short schedule to turn our "fixer upper" into our new home. We really couldn't do this without you, so thank you all for the kindness you've shown us - we really do appreciate it. Even if we are tired, grumpy and snotty nosed on the outside :)