Up close & photoshopped

grandpa loved this soccer pin up picture so much he asked uncle Chel to do some work on it. Check how the people in the background disappeared from my angel hair! Amazing ;-)

I did some real modeling work for this cool baby brand called Little Label last week. Mom's real eager to get her hands on some of those shots... so patience dear readers. maybe when we're back from my first real holiday! Mom says we're gonna fly in a real plane and I'm gonna meet some new friends to play with in a country far away and sunny! Sounds good to me...

Sporty party

Last Friday mom and I were invited to a huge BBQ&sports party with lots of mom's friends, colleagues and their kids, like auntie Karen and Ute and Max and Alyson and Goldie and all. The weather was great so we stayed until quite late since I had the best time on the hockey/soccer court practicing for my Olympic Crawling qualifications. Everybody was super impressed with my speed ;-) I ate lots of new stuff like wraps with duck but it was all good & the music too. I went to bed after 22.00, completely exhausted but super satisfied. I love outdoor parties!

Farm Fest

Yesterday when we arrived in Riverland we went straight to a harvest fest at this eco-farm near the grandfolks village. I'd slept only 45 minutes in the car so I was still a bit wasted but boy was I impressed by the taste of farm life! We got lots of treats like local super fruit and there were tons of tractors and other big-wheeled farming machines. There were pretty horse carriages and a huge hey barn especially for kids to play in with a section for cuddling rabbits and other baby animals. Mom and grandma were distracted by all the demonstrations and displays of vintage farm life crafts -I must say the traditionally dressed goose shepherdesses were very cute- but I was more interested in checking out all the giant wheels and getting dirty.

Muddy Waters

He he I finally won mom over to let me play in the mud pool at the playground in the park. Once I discover the pool (it's always there after some rainy days) it's no fun for mom anyways cause all she does is try and keep me away from it. So this time she finally decided to undress me and let me have it as much as I wanted. Well not really, if it were up to me I'd spend the rest of the day there but alas... I'm all clean and dry sleeping it off now & this afternoon we'll go to some kind of kid-show in the Vondelpark so more fun coming up!

Baby blogger

Oeps sorry, I'm terribly behind on my blog. Truth is I'm becoming such a hand full mom doesn't even have time to call grandma and grandpa lately. I've been living up to my wild boy redhead status; last week I gave grandma a black eye, then I almost broke mom's nose diving on her while wrestling on the big bed and I got myself a nasty swollen eye dropping mom's alarm clock on my face, but apart from that we're all fine. I'm pretty much on the verge of making my first independent steps & want to climb the stairs all day so ... yeah we've been busy. I'm off to bed now, maybe this weekend we'll have something special to blog about. Mom says little Tesla is coming to play with me tomorrow. Keep you posted!

Preview

We didn't want to keep this from you any longer: Joff & Kyle did a real photo shoot with mom & me the other day and this is a small selection... there's much more - we'll see which ones grandma chooses cause it's for her birthday - and they also still need some photoshop work, on mom especially ... hehe

Aqua crazier

Hmmmm, after having a taste of my new pool this Aqua Play thing seems a bit small.... ;-)

Back on track

Just to let you know, I'm totally back on track with my measurements. Mom took me to the childcare center again this morning and everything was just groovy. I'm back on my old growing curve (which is pretty much middle of the road) after I was a bit on the skinny side last time. I'm now 81 cm and weigh 10.85 kg. My eyes are superb and the lady doctor listened to my chest and everything sounded great there too. I may still not be walking but I'm making steady progress in that direction. Everyone seems to agree that I'm a bit top-heavy and my legs are short compared to my body which runs in the family.
ps. this pic was taken yesterday at the tropical garden party for grandma's birthday. It was a swell party but we were all a bit overwhelmed by the heat. But I should not complain, I got to splash around in my baby pool and walk around naked all day ;-)

Pool party!

He he it's been tropical these last few days and I just love to get wet whenever I can. So mom got me my own pool, a big one! Boy I hope it's gonna be a long hot summer;-)

My first fashion moment

Mom had a big surprise for me yesterday. She dressed me up in my nice jacket and took me to a fashion show in the old Olympic Stadion. I was super impressed by the whole scenery and event -I'm known to like parties after all- and all the fashion people there loved my red curls (mom just had to show me off to her colleagues, "just once" she said. Yeah, right!). We hung out 'back stage' a bit with DJ Femke and Martin the dancer who always tells the fashion models how to move properly. Then we got real fancy front row seats, only, I had a hard time staying in that seat since I was tempted to run behind the pretty models on the 'catwalk' (the Olympic running tracks in this case). I thought that's what running tracks were for! Anyhow, mom says I stole the show a bit ;-)

Aqua crazy

Mom's almost sorry she got me this Aqua Play set. I love it so much I loose track of all time and I get very very wet all over splashing around with it. I cry every time when mom says it's time we go inside (for dinner or something) and change into dry clothes. That's what you get if you give water to a water rat ;-)

Rain or shine

Mom is learning the 'how to do with babies on rainy days' the hard way. We went to the zoo again, and no worries there cause there's lot's of indoor animal fun like the aquarium -wow, freaky!- but on our way home on the bike we got caught in massive rain. Luckily mom had a towel and a big Hema plastic bag in her bike-bags that she skillfully pulled over me so at least I stayed a bit dry. The next day we scoored a great rain coat so that won't happen again! Christiaan e-mailed us a more sunny pic from a while back. Oh well, mom says I better get used to it and grow up to be a real Dutch boy, playing outside come rain or shine.

Cool goats

And here's the goat farm pics!

Out and about week

We had a great week: last Sunday we went to a cool birthday party of mom's friend Nathalie, on a pretty farm with lots of kids. The weather's been great so we went to the baby pool in the park real early last Wednesday, which is extra fun 'cause it was still being filled with water. I also saw the baby physiotherapist that day; my motoric development is a bit slow but at least I do everything right and I get lot's of action climbing and walking, especially now mom put all my toys higher up. I should be walking loose by the time I'm 16 months so we still have time. Anyhow, we also payed our weekly visit to the Artis zoo, and today, that was really the best, we went to the eco goat farm in the Amsterdam Forest (see pictures in next post). They had a real vintage Porche tractor to play with and the goats were super sweet, they even join the kids in the playground and constantly try to eat our hair, mom's bag or even my buggy!

Check point 14 months

So yeah, we went to the childcare center today for my check ups. It turned out in a bit of a drama. Measurements were pretty okay: I'm 80 cm now which is neatly average, and I'm 10,7 kilo which is a full kilo more then last time but still a bit skinny. (I was real sick two weeks ago but apart from that I eat real well so no real sweat for mom) The walking is about to happen any day now (see one of the sideways movies below) so no worries there either, although the doctor wants me to see a baby-physiotherapist one more time just to make sure my muscles have enough strength. But then I sort of completely had it and went into a fit right there in front of the doctor (that showed her how much strength I have, ha!) and that was before my vaccination shots....drama drama. The 'fit' lasted until mom managed to get me home and in bed. I was supposed to go to daycare but mom wisely decided differently. Unfortunately I slept only 1,5 hours and that's way not enough... so the rest of the day I was a bit wasted, yet refusing to take another nap. I just ate the whole day, and we went out biking, had some snacks in the park with little Max (who hit me in the face with his book, one of those days indeed). Mom looked a bit worried about the whole affair but she suspects I'm having trouble with my teeth again, but still, how do moms really know? Anyway, we had a good time still, playing soccer while eating, oh and mom even let me check out the record player for real, with a really old 45" jazz record, groovy! ahum... literally ;-)

The real thing-treat

To celebrate my full recovery mom took me to a place called Artis where, for the first time in my life, I saw real elephants and lions and monkeys and much more crazy animals. Boy was I impressed! I never realized they were that big! The zoo also has super cool playgrounds and I got a knitted monkey called Artis de Partis who's already one of my favorite stuffed friends. Back home I had to sleep on it extra long, all these new impressions are exhausting, but I hope I get to go again soon because mom says we saw only half of it!

My man Bas!

While I'm still fighting a nasty virus we're happy to share some good news with you: Bas saw the light today!!! Auntie Esmee was in labor in the hospital for about 7 hours and there he was. So mom quickly decorated the house with lots of blue stuff and welcomed the happy family home. He looks tiny but he's 4300 grams so that's quite huge! Well done y'all! I'll come visit as soon as I'm free of this nasty virus, soon I hope... Wanna rumble with my new best friend! ;-)

Down & out

Yesterday when mom picked me up from daycare she noticed I was hot and it turned out I had a nasty fever which lasted all night and all day today. Auntie Esmee had to come babysit in her 'almost 2 weeks overtime-condition' so mom could run out to the pharmacy to get me all kinds of get-well-goodies. The rest of the day I slept and hung on mom's lap basically. I was way too wasted to play but by the end of the day I had an aroma therapy bath and it seems I got some energy back... Let's hope tomorrow everything is back to normal again cause being sick is kinda boring! And of course I gotta be well when auntie Esmee gets her baby! Yeahee!!

All about balls

There's a soccer craze sweeping over our nation so there's balls everywhere. Mom's not really infected with the virus but still... here's a couple of cute ball pictures ;-)

Country boy

Yo! Look what grandma got me! My very own king size tractor! Mom's afraid she can't compete with that -our garden in Amsterdam being way smaller and everything- but this is just the challenge I need to start walking ;-)