Sleep, Jump, Eat

Enzo is napping in his crib so I thought I would take a moment to post an update. I'm sure I will get this started and he will decide to wake up and I will need to finish later. That is my life these days. It is a lot of start and stop. This week our house is pretty quiet as Felipe is in Oregon for work. I am no longer scared of his work trips as I've figured out how to run things pretty smoothly while he's away. It also helps that Enzo is now sleeping through the night. I smile as I type this because a baby's "sleeping through the night" and a sane adult's sleeping through the night schedules are nowhere near the same. Enzo goes to bed around 7 PM and wakes to eat anywhere from 3 to 5 AM. He then goes back to sleep until approximately 7:30 AM. So, he sleeps, usually, for a good eight hour stretch. But, since I cannot get myself to sleep until at least 9 PM, that means I only get six hours. I will not complain though since it is a far cry from the two hour stretches of the early days. Yes, Felipe is gone. We miss him but he'll be back to play with us all weekend so it is really not that bad.

This was before Felipe left. Enzo getting some undivided papa time.

I think I've mentioned in the past how much we love our walks in Vondelpark. It has been a very mild winter so we've been able to take full advantage. Right now they are doing all sorts of maintenance work to get ready for spring and when Enzo is awake I like to point out the different types of machinery to him. The problem with this scenario is that I don't know the difference from a tractor, bulldozer, or thingy that moves rocks. I know, I'm from Nebraska and I really should know these things.

Not sure what you would call this but it is blue and the man operating this piece of machinery is working to make the park pretty for spring....hopefully not too many people are eavesdropping on our conversations.

The poor guy is going to be playing with his friends and as he sees a crane, he will be like, "look at that huge tractor with a hooky thingy". It reminds me of the David Sedaris book that I read a few years ago where he talks about how his father taught him the wrong sounds for what each animal makes. At the time it made me laugh and I am reliving this with my child, only I am not intentionally teaching him the wrong names for maintenance equipment. I may also be teaching Enzo the wrong animal sounds because I know the English sounds, yet we are in the Netherlands so will his International friends think he is crazy with the sort of sounds that his rooster makes? We have a book that reads "Mr. Brown goes moo like a cow" and I always like to add, "or if you are in Amsterdam the cow says Boo".

He is such a happy little guy. Hanging out in his crib while I put clothes away.

Like I said earlier, Enzo did wake up and it's been a week since I started this post. Papa is back and we've had some firsts since I started this post. Last week we had a playdate at another baby's house and Enzo got to try out their jumperoo. He liked it and I've been pondering a new gadget for him at home so as soon as we got home, we went onto Amazon and ordered Enzo his own. It came on Friday morning and he was jumping by Saturday!

This is him trying out the friend's jumperoo.

Here is a video of Enzo trying out his new toy at home. He still has a few things to learn but so far so good.

The other big news around here is regarding Enzo's new found interest in everything we are eating. I've been reading a lot on the internet about solid food introduction. I really wanted to wait until six months but since he is so curious and showing other signs that he is getting ready, I decided to start introducing a small amount of fruits and veggies. I think I am still going to try and hold out on the rice cereal until 6 months, but we'll see how it goes. For the first food I decided to introduce pear. They are very easily digestible, low acidity, and are low on the list to cause an allergy. I also happened to have one in the fruit bowl. I steamed it a bit to soften it up and pureed it with a little breast milk so that it would still have somewhat of a familiar taste. After the first reaction of "what is this?" he seamed to really enjoy his pear. Below are some photos to document the momentous occasion. Ha ha.

Here we go.

"Not quite what I expected."

"Why are you all staring at me?"

"Okay, that was tasty"

"Give me some more, now!"

Best caption wins!

"That was delicious!"

I think we ended on a happy note.

Oatmeal Apricot Coconut cookies

Thanks to a nice Christmas gift from my in-laws and Enzo starting to gain some independence, I have slowly started to bake again. The other day I made some cookies that I am calling Oatmeal Apricot Coconut cookies. I adapted the recipe from this blog that I found randomly, http://www.thekitchenmagpie.com/chewy-oatmeal-cookies-with-coconut. I don't know if I would call my cookies chewy, but I did think they were pretty delicious.

A rainy afternoon calls for an espresso and cookie in the afternoon.

A few people have asked me for the recipe so to share it, and to help me find it later, here it goes.

Ingredients:

1 cup of coconut oil
1 cup of flour
1/4 cup of almond flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt

1 cup of sugar

1/4 cup of maple syrup
2 large eggs

2 cups of flaked coconut

3 cups of quick oats

1 cup of apricots finely chopped

Directions:
Heat oven to 350 degree Fahrenheit or 170 degree Celsius. Cream together coconut oil and sugar until lightly colored and smooth. Add maple syrup and mix. Next, add in your eggs one at a time, beat until fluffy.
Whisk the flour, almond flour, salt, and baking soda together, then beat into the butter mixture, adding flour bit by bit until it's completely added.
Next add in your coconut and oatmeal, mixing slowly on the lowest setting of your mixer. Last, add the chopped apricots.
Drop by rounded teaspoonful onto a greased or parchment paper lined (my preferred method) cookie sheet and bake for 8-10 minutes or until cookies are a light golden brown.

Enjoy!! 

Of course, I'll throw in a little Enzo update. He is such a cool, little observant boy. Monday, we went to a playgroup and he was inspired by the slightly older babies and rolled over from his back to his tummy for the first time. Of course, when we are home alone, or with dad, he has no desire to repeat this party trick. I also try to play music throughout the day so we aren't sitting in a silent house. To my surprise, he loves Mozart. I've tried Bach and other classical music and he doesn't seem to enjoy them as much as when I play Mozart. I find it very interesting. He also loves dance music, however, he may love mommy dancing around the house with him more than he actually likes the music itself but I will keep believing it's the music.

This photo cracks me up. We were getting ready to leave the house for a walk. I think he has some room to grow in this "comfy" outfit.

He loves his chair! I've resorted to putting him in bibs because he has been drooling soooo much lately. They are also good when he spits up. 

My baby is 4 months!

This weekend Enzo turned four months. I am amazed how much he has grown and how the little newborn baby that we brought home months ago is turning into this sweet, mellow, baby that seems to really like us. I'm not going to lie, I think we kind of like him too. Okay, maybe we LOVE him a lot!!

The 4 month Scrabble photo. He's quickly outgrowing his blanket.

At 4 months, Enzo still loves bath time and walks outside in the park. He still hasn't rolled over but those legs are moving and once he figures it out, we'd better be ready to chase after him. He is constantly looking around not wanting to miss a beat. We have been going to post-natal yoga and he is finally letting me get in some exercise. He loves flirting  looking around at the other babies and mommies. Enzo also loves his own mommy, and while I find it quite flattering I don't want him to turn into a total mommy's boy so we are working on him being more comfortable with others. 

I set up his travel high chair so he could sit up right at the table with us. He loves it! I also find it funny how quickly all kids learn the game of throwing their toys on the floor for us to pick up.

We had a lovely, and exhausting, trip back to the US for the holidays. We started out in Nebraska where Enzo got to meet his aunt and uncle and lots of cousins. He loved all of the attention and I think they were quite smitten with him as well. He loved his little cousin Macy and would give her lots of smiles. She was a big help with bath time and holding him while he napped. After Nebraska, we flew to San Francisco to ring in the New Year with friends. We had a great time but, of course, the stop over was way too quick and we didn't get to see everyone. Next time we hope to see those that we missed! We got photos taken while in San Francisco which turned out really good. Below are some of my favorites. Vero (check her out at http://www.verosuh.com/blog/) shot our wedding and we were excited to see her again and have her capture our growing family. Enzo was such a trooper and the fog lifted just in time.

Our morning was spent making silly faces and noises to coax a smile out of our little man.

These little feet will not be little for ever but for now we will enjoy them.

Humpty dumpty sat on a wall...

You looking at me?

Love this city!

Enzo getting in some cuddles before we finish the shoot.

Sleeping

Waking up. Big yawns.

And smiles! This will count as his 3 month photo. He was one day shy.

Why is a crying baby so cute?!?!

After San Francisco, we ended our trip in Irvine at Felipe's parents' house. He got to meet his great aunt and uncle from Brazil and practice his Portuguese. The weather was unseasonably warm and dry so we soaked in as much vitamin D as possible while we were there.

Now we've been back in Amsterdam for almost a month so we are definitely adjusted. It took a few days to get back on schedule but wasn't as bad as I anticipated. We are missing all of our friends and family back home but we were happy to come home to the friends that we've made so far and it felt good to catch up.  Until next time and I promise not to wait so long! 

Thanksgiving and 2 months

This year marked our second year celebrating Thanksgiving abroad. Last year, we spent the holiday in Tokyo taking in the sites and feasting on the tastiest Kobe beef for Thanksgiving dinner. This year, with the very recent addition to our family, Felipe's parents and sister flew to Amsterdam to celebrate the holiday at our house. It's very strange celebrating a holiday abroad when you try to plan around store opening hours and then realize that everything is business as usual because it's not actually a holiday where you are. So, on Thanksgiving day, we took advantage of the Nike Factory Store friends and family coupons and went shopping. After that, we came home and started making dinner. Since our oven is super tiny and there was no way we were going to fit a turkey in it, we opted for sous-vide duck breasts, stuffing, wilted spinach, and an arugula salad with pears, walnuts, and Stilton Blue Cheese. I also baked a pumpkin pie but that was another learning experience with our oven. You would think one of these days I would learn to check my food often before the timer goes off. So, we had "Cajun style" pumpkin pie that actually looked more blackened than it tasted thank goodness. Enzo was a trooper and slept in his puppy vibrating chair while we ate.

Instead of rising early for Black Friday, we slept in and had leftover stuffing with poached eggs and pumpkin pie for breakfast. We took Enzo to his first brewery, however, we did not get to take the tour as it was fully booked. We opted to sit in the pub and have a beer instead which was just as nice.

As you can see, Enzo slept right through his first brewery/pub experience.

Saturday was a beautiful sunny day which usually means it is also quite cold. In the morning, we went to the local market and had yummy pancakes for breakfast. I opted for the one with Gruyere and Serrano Ham, delicious! After that, we took a family walk around Vondelpark and then headed up to the roof for some photos.

Not sure what we did before self timers.

Enzo with Nonna and Nonno.

Enzo snuggled in to Nonno's shoulder.

Mom and Dad trying to get Enzo to smile for the camera.

Aunt Camila and Enzo. 

Enzo also turned 2 months today. We had chocolate cake to celebrate! I really don't know where the time has gone. He is growing before our eyes and changes so much from day to day. He is such a happy baby and seems to be pretty good at going with a flow.

Relaxing with Aunt Camila in the morning 

These smiles are showing up more and more. I just love them!!

Life is hard when you are a few months old.

Sleeping on mommy's lap after a healthy meal of milk.

Let the 2 month photo shoot begin.

Feeling Thankful

The holiday season is officially upon us. The streets of Amsterdam are decorated with festive lights and the people of Facebook have been counting down the days until Thanksgiving with their days of thankfulness. I will not be posting a daily blurb about what I am thankful for but I have been counting my blessings these last few months so will dedicate today's post to a few of the things that I am thankful for.

1. Top of my list today, of course, is for my little Enzo James. This week marked 7 weeks and has already brought so much happiness and love into my life. I'm thankful for the little smiles that he now gives me when I go to pick him up, for his sweet cheeks that I want to kiss every time I see them, for his 10 fingers and 10 toes that he is starting to discover on his own, and for showing me a love beyond anything I could have previously imagined.

Someone is finally starting to enjoy the after bath ritual as much as the bath.

 

This little one is growing faster than I can count. Last week he weighed 13 pounds and is growing in length too!

A close up of my little sleeper.

Those are those cheeks that I'm talking about. Love. 

Trying to capture those toes is a little more difficult. But you get the picture. This little piggy...

You looking at me? Yoga with mommy.

All this activity makes me sleepy.

2. Speaking of love, I am thankful for my husband, love of my life, and father to our son that has helped make our family feel so complete. I'm thankful for a partner that challenges me and supports me fully. I love that he is my Z to my A and that while we often see things so differently, this is what makes our lives that much fuller. I love that we still have fun together and I couldn't ask for a better travel buddy, foodie restaurant critic, and comforting shoulder to lean on. I'm thankful that we have been given the opportunity to live abroad and that he works so hard to give me the chance to devote my undivided attention to our son and being a good wife.

Latest family photo. We ran into our neighbor while walking through Vondelpark and he was kind enough to snap a quick photo.

3. We would never be able to live abroad without the support from our family. I am thankful that I have a family that has supported me in life as I have spread my wings and taken flight. While we may not get to see or talk to each other daily, there is not a day that goes by without them passing through my thoughts. I'm thankful for my nieces that are so full of surprises and make me smile every time I see them. I love going back to Nebraska to a full house of craziness. Here in the Netherlands they would say it's "gezellig". I can't wait to to go back this holiday season and introduce Enzo to the family. Between my family and Felipe's family, this boy is going to be loved like no other. It makes my heart happy. I'm also thankful that this Thanksgiving our in-laws are able to travel this way to spend the holiday with us. I look forward to spending time hanging out, drinking some good wine, and finally introducing Enzo to his Auntie Camila.

4. You are born into a family, however, I always think of my friends as the family that I have chosen. I am so very thankful for my chosen "family". I'm thankful to have so many amazing people that I have been able to keep in touch with, even as I have jumped around from place to place. I love being able to pick up the phone, make a visit, or send a string of emails and be reminded why that special person has chosen to stick with me through my bouncing around. I have such a varied group of individuals that make up my circle. I love the crazies that will dance with me into the wee hours of the night, the foodies that will geek out to different recipes and restaurants with me, the winos that have spent more hours in the Napa sun than I can count, the creatives that continue to inspire me and make me strive to be a better designer/crafter/artist, and the runners that talk me into continuing to push myself-if someone would of told me 10 years ago that I would have a few half marathons under my belt I would have laughed and now I'm trying to figure out when and where my next one will be. All of you-big hugs from Amsterdam. I love you all.

5. Because this is so very much part of my present situation, I am so very thankful for the network that I have found so quickly upon moving to Amsterdam. I have made friends that have made being away from family and "family" doable. From my museum/coffee buddy that has helped me out when Felipe was out of town to my other new moms that give me a place to exchange stories and know that what I am going through with Enzo is "normal" and much needed adult conversation while Felipe is at work. I look forward to our walks in the park, coffees, and lunches.

6. Moving on from the people that I am thankful for, I'm thankful for living in a city with such cool architecture and parks that provide loads of inspiration. I love walking through Vondelpark with all of the different cool trees and right now it is especially beautiful with the different colored leaves. I can't wait to show Enzo this cool city and also introduce him to this big beautiful world that we live in.

7. One last one (marking 7 weeks of my little one), I am so thankful that my family and I are all healthy. It is often easy to take for granted a clean bill of health but life is full of surprises and there are so many people out there that are handed an unfair hand of cards. We are lucky and I am grateful for that.

Life with Enzo

My apologies in advance. First, I have not posted in a really long time and, secondly, this post will most likely be all over the place. Such is life with a baby. On October 1st, 2013, we welcomed Enzo James into this world at 8:17AM. I was a little worried about the experience since it ended up being a planned cesarean, but I couldn't of asked for a better way to welcome my sweet boy into this world. We delivered at St. Lucas Andreas via a "gentle cesarean" and the doctors and nurses were amazing. They talked me through the whole thing and when it was time to bring Enzo out, a green cloth was dropped and I was able to watch the doctor bring Enzo into this world. He would of liked to stay in there a little bit longer because as they were pulling, he was pulling in the opposite direction to get back in. Once out, they brought him to my face so I could meet him. It was magical, puffy face and all, he was the most perfect baby I had ever seen.

First look.

The pediatrician then took him, along with Felipe, to check out his vital signs and then brought him back to me while they continued to "seal" me up. Once they laid him on my chest, we didn't exactly have the "look into my eyes" bonding moment. The bright light from the other side of the curtain caught Enzo's attention and he was set on focusing in on that-probably wondering how he could get back to his warm cozy place. We spent 3 days in the hospital before we were released to come home. I think they would of liked to keep me a 4th day but I was done with the hospital room. All of the nurses and staff were wonderful but on the second night I had a roommate. I knew that I would probably be getting a roommate and was lucky to have the first night to myself. My roommate was super nice and actually had some good tips as this was her second baby but this made the night a bit stressful since I was scared that I or Enzo would wake her or her baby up. My room was also furthest from the window so lack of natural sunlight started to get to me as well. I could go on, but the bottom line is that I was ready to get home and be a family. Update-I just tried to post and lost everything but the above paragraph. Below is the abbreviated version of an entry that has been a week in the making and today Enzo turned 1 month. Hopefully, I will get this out before the end of the day.

Traditional Dutch treat. Champagne, beschuit met muisjes, and some fruit to celebrate

 Enzo sleeping peacefully in his "day of birth" outfit. I had not been told that the tradition here is to put your baby in a special outfit the day he is born so that he will look his best for visitors. Since I did not know this, and didn't have many visitors, this little green and white onesie had to do. 

Mommy, Daddy, and Enzo ready to go home.

One of the best things about having a baby in the Netherlands is the Kraamzorg. The Kraamzorg is a nurse that that specializes in helping the mother and newborn in the first week and is part of the standard health care system here in the Netherlands. Within an hour of arriving home the Kraamzorg came. Frankly, I don't know how mothers survive that first week without her. Her advice was invaluable and she was very strict to make sure that I was getting the rest I needed to recover. From the moment she walked in, after we discussed what to expect, she got busy making up Enzo's bed, cleaning bathrooms, and vacuuming. The first week, I also had the midwife visit us twice for check-ups and the consultatie bureau came to our house for the hearing test and heel prick.

 Machine used for hearing test. He passed!!

The heel prick. He was a total trooper and didn't cry.

Enzo also has gotten to meet all of his grandparents. He has been completely spoiled and we are adjusting to life without the extra set of hands.

Nonna and Enzo.

 Grandma and Enzo

Enzo getting some Vitamin D

He's getting more and more alert. 

3 generations of Zardo men. Enzo, Nonno, and Daddy

As I mentioned earlier, Enzo turned a month today. The time has flown and I can hardly believe we've had this little love that long but also don't really remember the days before he came into our lives. So far, he loves baths but hates the part where you have to get out, dry off, and get dressed. I don't blame him because I don't really like that part either. He loves looking out the window, walks outside in the pram and even more so being carried in the Ergo Baby Carrier, being cuddled, and eating. He had his month check up on Thursday and everything looked good. He now weighs 11 pounds and is 23 inches long. Needless to say, all newborn clothes have been packed away.

Enzo's first bath

Introducing him to Scrabble at a young age.