Sinterklaas!

Lots of pictures today, we realise that there haven't been any for a while. 

So first some old ones from when Louise's father was visiting. We had a great time, and the weather was perfect. It was the very late summer we had in the Netherlands at the end of September, after it rained most of July and August. Great weather for some gardening, almost too warm. Not complaining, mind you.

We leveled out all the paths around the side of the house, So now we can get around without getting our feet wet, and more importantly, Noah can get around as well.

Here he is, enjoying some time with grampy. For some unknown reason he is sitting on top of the dog. Don't ask....

 Granpy took some new clothes with him for Noah, including this monster bath robe. Pretty impressive!

 And after all that relaying of the path we all had a well deserved nap.



Then we quickly jump forward in time, to a week and a half ago, when Sinterklaas arrived in Rotterdam. Aunt Anneke came over, to help Louise to get him on the boat, she arrived the day before.

 Here she is feeding Noah.

 This is the boat, just docking now to let Noah (okay, and some other kids) on.

 Here they are, Noah and Mama with the traditional 'Black Pete' hats on.

There is tradional candy at sinterklaas, of which there was plenty of on the boat. Noah is usually not that good in eating by himself, but these seemed to go down quite well:

 Hmmm, what are these things?
 

 I'll give one a try....

Not bad at all...

 I'll just take another one, I think.

 SUGAR, NEED MORE SUGAR!!

 

Luckily he calmed down again (as he dropped most on the floor, he didn't eat all that much). 

Except for the boat with Sinterklaas, there were also a lot more boats to take all the gifts that Sinterklaas brings:

 

And here is Sinterklaas himself:

Sinterklaas came over to meet everyone, but we didn't get a good picture of that in all the excitement.

This is where Sinterklaas gets of the boat into Rotterdam. The crowd was enormous!

 

 Sinterklaas leaves the boat here, but Noah and the other kids had to stay on and get of at another point, as it was just too busy. Well, after all the excitement, there is only one thing left to do: A nap.

 And nice view of the Rotterdam skyline for the adults.

Hope you enjoyed it,

Thijs

Hospital Update

Hi everyone,

We are at the hospital right now, nothing wrong with Noah, just for a check up. The doctor has just had a look at Noah's throat, to see if everything has healed well from last years operation and to check the stability and size of his airway. We are waiting to hear from him, and for Noah to be okayed to go home again as well.

Well the doctor has just been to see us, so the results are in!

Mixed news, as usual. His airway has healed well which is good news.

The not good news is that one of the cartilage rings keeping his airway open has squeezed in on itself.  It was a ring  which was directly below the blockage so it may be part of the CHAOS effect i.e. that it's the natural inclination of the ring to be closed - which is a theory of course.  

This means that Noah's airway is normal above and below where the surgery was performed but exactly below the surgery area the airway is now shaped like on sort of opened figure of 8. (or a minoan figure of 8 shield for the classicist among us) The airway is not big enough to breathe through properly, so he is still dependant on his canule.

We expected to hear that there was a bit of a problem with his airway, allthough this particular news was a surprise. The good side of it is, that they may be able to do something about it. 
What we're all nervous about is that it involves doing the same operate on the cartilage ring  - so a reconstruction.  The whole period with the stent was a very intense period and the three weekly operations were a big drain on Noah. But getting rid of his canule would be great, and sooner rather then later. We'll discuss everyhting with the doctors, and have a good think about everything - weighing the pros and cons.

Mixed news but at least somewhat positive. 

pictures soon again!

Louise & Thijs