Wacky Weather

This weekend was filled with wacky weather. It started on Friday with sunny skies which quickly turned dark & stormy. 5 minutes later, back to sun. It went back & forth between sun and rain for most of the morning, followed by snow and hail.

Saturday it hailed and snowed most of the day. It was too warm to "stick", but fun to watch from the window.

It was freezing on Sunday and snowed all day, this time actually sticking.

I think we are now back to the normal gray skies with rain.

It is 8:48 and we are awaiting the arrival of our container. They were supposed to arrive between 8:00 and 8:30. At 10 the "temporary furniture" people are coming to get the temporary furniture. We have had to do a little shuffling so that they will be able to bring our stuff in, through the window, and then later be able to get the temp furniture out. I will take pictures as this should be entertaining.

Riding in the Rain

I ride my bike to the train station every day. It takes me less then 5 minutes to get there. I am able to park my bike in the manned "garage" and then easily catch my train. I think I will eventually have to pay for the garage (.50 euro a day), but they haven't take my money yet and I keep offering it every time I "check out". I have seen other bikes with stickers on the rear fender that makes me think I can by some sort of pass and that is what the website said, but when I asked one day the guy was pretty adamant that that was not possible.

Today it was a great little ride to the train in the morning. However on my way home it was POURING. I had to assume the "riding in the rain" stance, you know....leaning forward a little, head cocked sideways, forehead down and one eye closed....as the rain does not come straight down here...since it is so flat the wind can really get some speed...causing the rain to come sideways.

By the time I got home (keep in mind it was less then 5 minutes), my head was soaked, my forehead was freezing, my coat was drenched and I think I looked a little like a drowned rat.. or at least that is what I felt like. It must have been pretty bad as Kevin got me a towel out of the bathroom before I even had my coat off and was very insistent that I put on warm dry clothes (not that I had any other plans). To give you some idea of the wetness...my hair was as wet as if I had just climbed out of the shower.

Even with the rain (and the whether seems to change on a dime) I still like riding my bike to the train!

Week 24 - Belly Update

Here is the lastest installment of my growing belly. It looks like I am averaging a 1/2 inch every two weeks.





This weekend started out pretty slow. We found one of the Retzlaff boys on Skype so we chatted with him for a while. He is currently in Australia, to be joined by Sara and the girls this summer. Expats talking to Expats via Skype...

Kevin and I picked up the apartment a little then he headed to the video store and liquor store while I took the dogs out for a walk. I was hungry as soon as I shut the door and it only got worse. The dogs' walk got cut short as I was soon nauseous and then cold and clammy not long after. Holy crap the hunger comes on fast! Once home I didn't stop to take the leashes off of the dogs as I quickly made a sandwich. Cannibalisim was avoided yet again.

Kevin was back by then and then headed out to meet his first dog walking client while I headed to the grocery store. Today was to be my first baking experience in Amsterdam. I planned to make apricot bars but needed a couple more things, a "9x9"-ish pan and a mixing bowl.

Once home, I realized i had forgotten the mixing bowl. My feet already hurt so there was no way I was going back..time to make due...with a stock pot! It worked, the sides weren't quite high enough but it was better then the alternative! My only challenge (the receipe was in US measurements and Kristin loaned me a set of measuring cups/spoons) was with the butter. I needed 1.5 sticks ~ 3/4 of a cup. The butter that I found here was marked with 50 mg increments...how in the hell was I to convert that? I winged it and so far the bars look like they turned out. We can verify the taste in about an hour :)

Kevin came home with a dog walking gig...he has had a lot more interest in his dog walking posts then in his math tutor posts...his master's degree has really come in handy :)

We are going to An & Steven's for dinner. They recently moved in to their house in Utrect. Tomorrow we are going to a MeetIn event to see Sinterklass' arrival in Amsterdam.

Sinterklass is a Spanish saint who comes to the Netherlands every year on Nov 14th (by steamboat) and then to Amsterdam on the 15th, with his Zwartepete in tow, on a white horse. You will need to read all of the details on Wikipedia as I won't do it justice and may start to make fun of it and its racial undertones...

Baby Wish List - Revisited

For those who want to send baby stuff ---- NOTE that this is not necessary!

Ok, so the Amazon.co.uk baby wish list is not working. Evidently Amazon.co.uk will not ship baby product outside of the UK. Barry & Josh thank you for being so patient.

Next thought...I found a cool dutch website www.babydump.nl. It has a huge selection, the one downside is that it is in dutch. This is where trusty Google comes in, Google has a translator www.translate.google.com. You can either have it translate text or an entire website. There are a couple of downsides, as you go clicking through the site you will sometimes lose the translation, so if you "back" button until you get your translation again it usually works. It may take a couple of tries, be patient. When it comes time to check out you have to be in the actual site and will need to copy/paste text to translate.google.com to make it through checkout.

If this is all too much of a pain in the ass (which we would understand), I think books are cheap to ship from the US (use USPS rather then UPS, DHL or Fedex -- as USPS is much cheaper --- by about 100 to 200 bucks).

Or...we have a paypal account and you could send "gift certificates" and tell us what you want us to buy with it.

Too Much Driving

I had to go to the EMEA DC today. For those who don't know it is 2 hours (3.5 in traffic) south of Amsterdam, in Belgium. Since we don't have a car, I rented a car yestarday and will drop it off tomorrow. I was going to be able to make it to the rental office until after it closed on Tuesday so Kevin graciously went and got it for me. My back was killing me by the time I got home (at 6pm) and the rental office was closed, so I decided to take the car back tomorrow. I will drive it to the airport, drop it off, get a REAL starbucks chai and catch the speedy "intercity" train to Hilversum.

I used our GPS for the trip to Laakdal (the DC). When I got in the car, I plugged it in and dialed up the Zuid (ours) train station as I needed to pick my boss up at 7am. Now I know how to get there on foot and on bike, I figured by car it would be a little more difficult. I had learned from the night before that you couldn't trust our GPS blindly as it sent us down a one way street, the wrong way. The GPS had also sent us down little streets between apartments, rather then main roads. We just thought that it was the GPS. The story gets better (longer but better). I made it to the train station, got my boss and dialed in the address for Laakdal. Well the GPS wouldn't stop "drawing" and then said we were "walking on the A10" when we were actually under it. I decided to circle the block to see if it would figure it out and start giving us directions to the on ramp of the highway. No luck. Starting to get frustrated, and slightly embarssed, I pull out my blackberry and look up the directions on Google Maps. Gotta love google! It gave us directions (which were only a little challenging to follow while driving, I tried to get my boss to be navigator but he didn't take the hint very well :). It took another 15 minutes but we finally makde it on to the highway, headed to Utreect > Antwerp and then Laakdal! For the entire drive the GPS continued to try to get me off of the highway, tell me to make u-turns (on the freeway, with out using the on/exit ramps) and take immediate lefts when in the left lane of the highway/freeway. I finally turned the sound off so I wouldn't have to listen to it. I was getting kind of mad at "kevin's" gps and already plotting how to tell him I was buying a TomTom.

Once at Laakdal (3.5 hours later due to a delayed start and traffic) I emailed kevin and complained about "kevin's" gps. He said it was probably still in Pedestrian mode. Pedeistrian Mode! No wonder its "Arrival Time" was so drastically off (it said I would arrive around 8:30 pm, right up until I was in the parking lot).

When I got ready to leave for the day I took the GPS off of pedestrian mode and it worked perfectly! Traffic was terrible, immediately out of Laakdal. It took me an hour to go 6 km. I had smooth sailing, once I made it through the first 6 km.

All in all, a long day!

Since we had the car, we made a trip to Ikea on Tuesday night to pick up a couple of rugs (for living room, hall and baby's room) and a storage structure for the baby's room. Kevin should have fun assembling things for the next couple of days.

Our baby stroller arrived yesterday as well. Thank you Barry! I think I have it figured out how to run it (collapse, reconfigure, etc). I will have to practice a couple more times before the little guy actually arrives :)

It is 8:40pm and I am going to bed!

One more thing, very dana.

Last night as Kevin was shuttling Ikea items inside I took the dogs out for "final pee" and proceeded to leave our keys in our apartmetn door and then shut (and lock) the outside door. It was 9:30pm and neither Kevin or I had keys. (we have 3 sets).

I proceeded to buzz our 2 upstairs neighbors. "Petra" (who I haven't met yet) finally answered (it was almost 10) and let me in. Man do i feel stupid. Somehow I dont' think this will be the last time I do this. Time to figure out how to hide a couple of "hide a keys" and make Petra "thank you cookies". Maybe this weekend.

Kevin met Petra this morning, she was more forgiving today then she had sounded yesterday.

Good Night!

The Original Haarlem

Kevin and I made a quick visit to Haarlem on Saturday. When it comes to walking around we are limited in duration by my hips, back and feet. I was able to handle an hour walk with Maggie in the morning and then about 2 hours in Haarlem. We walked through their very busy Saturday market, around the cathedral that Kevin had wanted to tour (it was closed to visitors for the day) and lunch in a cafe. We tried to go to one of the lunch places that Rick Steves' recommneded but they were either closed or the line was too long. We found a nice cafe that hit the spot though. It was very windy and the shopping areas were really crowded. We did wander through their Saturday market and had fresh stroopwafels, they are even more delicious then the ones you buy in the store!



Saturday night I was able to talk to my aunt, dad, grandma and kevin's sister on Skype. I love technology! With Kevin's new computer we have a great camera (gotta love a mac), so everyone got to see live video of my belly and I was able to see Mary Ellen and Elaine. I think I have Grandma and Dad convinced to get cameras. While on the "phone" with my dad, Lorena "called" to say they were watching 100 elk in their front yard.



After staying up too late on Saturday we were late getting up on Sunday. Alexander met us at our apartment at 9 to take us on a bike tour of Amsterdam. We went early enough that most of the city was still asleep and we had the streets to ourselves. Which was a good thing as we spent a lot of time looking up at buildings (each is different and has its own personality). This city is deceivingly small, if you look at Amsterdam on a map you think it is much larger then it really is, however you get can from one end to the other in about 20 minutes (accounting for no straight routes). I recognized where we were most of the time but was disoriented in how we got there and which direction we were facing. It is a good thing we will have more time to explore the city as I think we have only just scratched the surface.

We got home around 1 and I took a much needed nap from 2:30 to 4:30.

Week 22 - Belly Update

I can't believe that I am already 5.5 months, this is going much faster then I expected.

Our little guy has become quite active. He is sitting behind the placenta, so I mostly feel big bubbles. He will sneak an elbow or knee out every now and then.

At our third ultrasound (for details on why I have had three you can read an earlier post) the tech was able to tell us that that he is on track to be a 6.5lb baby. I was very excited to hear this as Kevin was a 10lb baby and I was not happy with that thought.



Below are the latest photos. I am only posting them every couple of weeks as it seems to take that long for my belly to expand a noticeable amount.





Below is a photo of Kevin's bike. He is very proud of it. He took this in the park that was between Eemnes and Hilversum. I think they officially call this a forest, but I can't bring myself too.

A very busy weekend...

Our busy weekend started on Friday.

We still don't have internet banking enabled on our bank account, it is a long story...On our trip to the bank last week we had learned it had not been enabled so we asked the ABN woman to enable it. Turns out she didn't get it enabled, rather our account was locked and preventing all access. It took Kevin an hour at the bank to get the account unlocked and start the transfer of our rent and deposit, and still no internet banking. It looks like internet banking will have to wait until we can change our mailing address here in Amsterdam, which we can't do until we register at the Town Hall...

After going to the bank, Kevin met our housing agent and landlord at our new apartment and signed the lease. The landlord woudn't sign because I wasn't there to sign. We were able take possession and I would then sign the contract later and then the landlord would sign it.

Kevin was then headed to the Internet/Cable/Phone store to set up our services. He needed a signed copy of the contract (by all parties) so our landlord and housing agent told him how to get around it...I love that the Netherlands if full of rules and everyone is very helpful in telling you how to get around them.

Kevin was able to get the services and drop the hardware off at the apartment.

We planned to "camp" in our apartment SUnday night, as our temporary furniture would not arrive until Monday. More on that later.

I met Kevin in Eemnes with chinese food. On my way back from the chinese restaurant I saw a couple of trick or treaters. I was suprised as Eemnes isn't exactly an hotspot for Americans, our friends tell us that Halloween is catching on here.

Saturday we planned to relax, pack and clean. It really ended up being a lot more relaxing. Kevin took Duke for a run and I took Maggie for a walk to the bakery...

We didn't want to cook, so we decided to try to find the one pub in town. I had seen it while on the bus, of course it was raining in the evening... We took the dogs with us so we tied them up outside the pub and went in an ordered. When the owner figured out that it was our dogs out side, he offered for us to bring them in. We were a little tentative, knowing how disruptive they can be. We decided to risk it anyway, they must have been very appreciative as they were perfect little angels. We had wished we had found this pub earlier...the fries and meatball/satay hit the spot!

Sunday morning we rapidly packed and cleaned the apartment. A co-worker offered to help us shuttle our crap with his CRV. We happily took him up on the offer. We should have taken a picture...the thing was stuffed.

We unloaded our stuff, took a quick look around the apartment and then headed to IKEA. We knew we needed a guest bed of some sort, so we figured we would camp on it tonight...We were really excited to be in Amsterdam.

Kris dropped Kevin and I, and our stuff, off and we began assembling furniture...we bought a bed, a desk, shelves for the bathroom, bedding and dishes for the kitchen. We should have bought a screwdriver too. IKEA furniture comes with everything you need, except for a screwdriver and a hammer. We ended up sleeping on the bed, on the floor....

For dinner (the grocery store was closed, as are most things on Sunday), we went to our new favorite italian restaurant, at the end of our building. It is fast, inexpensive and tasty! I picked up a take out menu, as their pizza's are delicious and faster then any other delivery!

Our apartment is better then originally thought. We have a storage space, but it is mroe then a storage space. It is three rooms (on the top floor) with a sink and toilet. We are going to make one of the rooms a guest suite. This way our guests won't have to listen to the crying baby! Now there is no reason not to stay with us when you come to visit. It would be ridiculus to get a hotel when we have that extra space. It really is quite nice (and free!). Kevin is going to use 1 room for a "bike" shop, 1 for storage and the 3rd for a guest room. Our aparment officially has more floor space then our house. There is a kooky little third bedroom (that a twin bed MIGHT fit in), this has become the dog room. This way we don't have to have the crates in the living room, as we just threw their beds on the floor in there.

Monday found us with a very long To Do list. First things first, I headed to the doctor (by bike...I love that) to get my asthma under control. I have been having an asthma attack every couple of hours. I stopped taking my Advair, due to the pregnancy, and it has gotten progressively worse. My new doctor is confident the inhaler he gave me will help, and it won't harm our growing son. Excellent!

Kevin began shuttling stuff upstairs (to storage), the suitcases (thankfully we won't be needing all 5 anytime soon), dog crates and the new bed to the guest suite.

The furniture arrived, was moved in and assembled in less then an hour. I took a trip to the grocery store, which included a stop at the bakery (for bread and croissants) and italian deli (for meat & cheese) and the grocery store for laundry soap, dinner and coffee.

When I got back, Kevin took the dogs to the park and I took a nap. He then went to get his new iMac and try to figure out how to set up the internet, while I went to get coat hangers (we have closets but no hangers) and my asthma prescriptions. I am getting faster about locking my bike! I think I break out in smile every time I get on it...

Dutch midwives and our new neighborhood

Friday I left work early so that Kevin and I could go to the bank to activate our new cards (you can't do it over the phone) and then go to our first midwife appointment.

The bank went well, we had to have someone show us how to transfer money to our "chip", but now think that we can do it on our own :) Your bank card (it is called a current account since they don't use checks here) has access to your current account and to a chip on the card. You can put "cash" on the chip and then use the chip like it is cash with out having to enter your pin. This is handy for small purchases and train tickets.

We caught a fast train to Amsterdam central and then a tram to get us close to the midwife. I have choosen to use the Geboortcentrum (The Birth Center), as it was recommended to me by an American friend of a co-worker. The Geboortcentrum is on a street that has become dedicated to everything about babies. There is a store where you can by baby stuff and maternity clothes...of course it is a little pricey for the clothes..but the baby paraphenlia seemed to be reasonably priced. We had followed the GPS from Leidseplein to the Geboortcentrum, so we were a little early (even with my what seem to be hourly pee breaks...I think I drank too much water at lunch), so we had coffee and pie at the cafe next door. It was filled with pregnant women and the pie was excellent, I can tell this is going to be a regular stop before or after my appointments.

Our midwife was very nice and her English was very good. I had brought my medical records from my OB/GYN in the US, hoping to not have to do all of the blood tests again. No such luck, we couldn't find in the records where it said my blood type, the amount of sugar or iron in my blood, RH factor or immunity for Measles or Rubella. In the US, I was able to do the blood tests and ultrasound in the same office as my OB. Not here. I need to go to another clinic (maybe hospital) to have the blood tests. She is also sending me for another ultrasound as I didn't have the records showing the measurements of all of the organs.

So far the care seems very similar to the US. She had prefaced the appointment with the comment that in the Netherlands, being pregnant is not treated like a disease or illness (as sometimes in the US) so they are less invasive (fewer tests, etc). We laughed at this afterwards, as she is running the same tests they did in the US (not more or less) and asked all of the same questions about our health and habits. One difference...I can have sushi here (as long as it is fresh)....

One funny language translation tidbit...as she was giving us the details about the blood tests, she said I didn't have to be "sober" for them (this after asking if I drank or used drugs). We all had a good laugh as what she meant was I didn't have to fast before hand. Not fasting is good, as I don't think I could...I eat more now then I did 2 weeks ago. Breakfast at 6:30 of cereal and juice, ham & cheese croissant and an apple at 9, lunch, yogurt and another apple at 2ish and then dinner when I get home. If I don't eat that frequently I begin to have cannibalistic thoughts.

After the midwife appointment we decided to walk to our new neighborhood and have dinner there. There is a great little Italian place very close to our new home, hopefully they provide takeout!

After dinner we walked to the Amsterdam Zuid train station and caught a train back to Hilversum. While we were waiting for our bus to Eemnes we saw to incidents we never expected to see.

We were sitting in the bus transit area, when we watched 1 bus back into the front of another bus. We kept thinking he would stop…nope…CRUNCH. About 5 minutes later, as we were boarding our bus, we saw another bus go to parallel park in front of the bus that had just been hit. He cut it a little to close…CRUNCH. After riding the buses here for the last 2 weeks (and watching them stop and turn on a dime) I never would have thought they would hit each other…I had stopped flinching when they would come close to bikes, cars or other buses…Kevin and I are both back to flinching..

We have a home!

We got the apartment we wanted! We will move in on Nov 1st and we can't wait!

In Kevin's wanderings yesterday he made it to Beatrix park, where he saw a group of people standing around smiling while their labs (and other dogs) played off the leash...This park is only 8 minutes from our new place...it will be great for the dogs daily walks!

Our apartment is large enough to have a fold out couch (in addition to our current furniture) so we can house guests! Don't worry, we will provide earplugs for everyone who comes after March 10th. In fact we may have our first guests just bring a costco size container!

First come, first serve!

Now for our container to arrive...it will be to Rotterdam on Nov 19th and then take another 2 weeks to clear customs and make it to Amsterdam. Until we have our own stuff, the relocation company will provide us with furniture.

I found a midwife today, our first appointment is on Friday. In the Netherlands, after your baby is born a "maternity assistant" comes to your house for 3, 5 or 6 hours a day for 8 days. She helps new parents figure out what they are supposed to do with there little bundle of joy... in addition to doing things like changing your sheets, laundry, cooking, etc.

Today was the first day that I felt our son move, consistently. I had been feeling it every now and then, but today was much more regular. Wierd.

Sunday, Monday & Tuesday - Nothing special.

First things first...we haven't heard back about the apartment yet. We had to raise our offer on Monday and are still waiting for a reply. Yes, we will let everyone know what happens :)

Sunday we took the bus and train into Amsterdam to have lunch with Diane and Alexander. Diane has known Kevin and his family for about 25 years. She has been living in Amsterdam with her husband Alexander for the last 10 years. We used a combination of the GPS and the bus maps to figure out how to get to her apartment, this proved to be slightly more challenging then we expected as the Amsterdam Marathon was on Sunday and it runs past her apartment and wrecked havoc on the bus routes. We made it and had a tasty lunch and good conversation. We also got to see the runners come past.

In the afternoon we caught the train back to Hilversum to have dinner with An, Steven and Vincent. We stayed out too late on Sunday and I ended up not being able to physically get out of bed until 8am. I was able to make it to work by 9:30...note to self, bed time is 9:30 at the latest!

I got a great haircut on Saturday, while he was trimming my hair he found two gray hairs...my first. I can't really blame them on my son yet, so they must be Kevin's fault.

Kevin went into Amsterdam today and explored the neighborhood we want to live in, on foot and in the rain. We are going to be really bummed if we don't get the apartment in Old South. Kevin had sent me an email at one point, when he was standing in front of the building.

Keep your fingers crossed.

Today I went to my first pregnancy yoga class. It had to be the most gentle class I had ever been too. I would say it was more like easy stretching with a short nap at the end. Yes, I took at 15 minute nap at the end. I think I might go back, just for that feature!

Apartment Post #3

So it seems that I am still learning how to post and our internet connection is REALLY slow.

I couldn't get Picasa to upload more then 4 photos at a time. These are the remaining Milletstraat pics.

Apartment Hunting Post 2 -- Pics of Oude Zuid Apt

This is the apartment we made an offer on. It is on Milletstraat.

Weekend Adventure & Prego Pics

We had originally planned to spend both Saturday and Sunday in Amsterdam, but we got off to a slow start on Saturday. I slept until 8, Kevin had gotten up earlier. We decided to modify our plans and ride our new (used) bikes to Hilversum so that I could get a haircut and save Amsterdam for Sunday. We didn' take the shortest route in to Hilversum, but then we are still learning our way. We were only 10 minutes late to my haircut apppointment, which isn't bad considering we only left 45 minutes before hand.

Before we left Eemnes, I did some quick grocery shopping for the weekend, not knowing when we would be home and not wanting to risk the grocery store being closed. Tonight I am going to try to make Beef Sukiyaki, from a mix. We will see how well I can interpret the directions.

After the haircut we grabbed coffee and lunch at a cafe and then headed back to Eemnes (around 2pm). I love the little cookies you get with your coffee! Oh and the cheese..I love cheese here!

For those who are tracking, below are this week's prego pics. Notice my belly has grown a half of an inch in 2 weeks :)

Apartment Shopping

Thursday we went apartment hunting in Amsterdam. We found 2 that we really liked, neither had deadly dutch stairs. We made an offer on the one in Oude Zuid and are working through the negotiations. Monday we will call and place an option on the one in the Pjip, in case we don't get the one in Oude Zuid.

Apartment in Pjip.

We Made It!

The last week in Portland was very hectic! Thursday the movers showed up to box everything up. We headed to the Hotel Monaco to for the rest of our time in Portland. The dogs loved all of the attention that they got at the hotel.

Friday we went back to the house to begin cleaning as the rooms were emptied. It was a little weird to see the rooms empty and clean. The house was much cleaner then when we bought it.

We didn't finish cleanning and making dump runs Friday so we had to go back on Saturday for a little more cleaning, touch up the paint in a couple of rooms and then the last dump run. I can't believe we actually got it all done.

We dropped the dogs off at Andrea & Luis' Saturday morning. We wouldn't see them again until Monday, in the Netherlands. We then headed back to the hotel to check out and head to the airport. We tried to get an upgrade to business class, but no such luck. I am so spoiled from my Nike travel!

The flight was good, we were able to board quickly. There was a couple sitting several rows in front of us that were very high maintenance - with a cranky toddler. It is a good thing we are already pregnant! We were able to deboard really quickly and beat the crowds to immigration. Our bags were also the first off of the plane...we flew through the airport. We met our driver and he took us to our temporary apartment in Eemnes..a very small town outside of Hilversum.

We settled in, showered and waited for An & Steven to come with our groceries. This really meant we kept falling asleep on the couch...I didn't even hear them ring the doorbell, she had to call me to wake me up. It was great to see them!

We went to bed around 8:30/9 and tried to sleep through the night...no luck. We both woke up at 2:30 and were up until 5. I went back to bed and kevin feel asleep on the couch. I woke up and 8 and decided I should go to work. I had warned them that I didn't know when I would be in...particulary with the buses and jet lag.

Work went well, and I have started to get settled.

Kevin did a little exploring in Hilversum, looking for a phone store and a bike store. Both were closed until 1pm. He then headed home to wait for the taxi, to go to the airport to pick up the dogs.

The dogs had had their own little adventure. They had gotten out of Andrea's backyard not long before Josh & Peter went to pick them up. The neighbor had Duke and Maggie was running from everyone. The neighbor was minutes from calling the shelter and Josh & Peter and to chase Maggie down. Once they got to the airport they discovered that the crate we had gotten for Duke was too small (it was huge!) so they had to buy a larger one from Northwest Airlines (not the cheapest place to buy dog crates). They then sent them on their way. I think all 4 of us could live in Duke's new crate.

I figured out how to get home on the bus..although I had missed it by 5 minutes, so I had to wait at the Hilversum train station for 25 minutes, for the next one. Once home Kevin and i tried to go to a restaurant for dinner. Who knew they would be closed on Monday night...like I said - little town. Luckily the grocery store was open (they are closed on Sundays and close around 7 or 8 pm).

After a tasty dinner of spaghetti, I gave the dogs a bath...they were definately not themselves.

Tuesday our very helpful Crown agent picked us up and took us to The Hague where we applied for residency and I got my SoFi (tax) number. There was a slight issue with my passport as it is issued in my maiden name and has been ammended to show my married name. To the dutch this is like I have two different names...very troublesome.

After getting the SoFi number we headed to the bank to set up our checking account. US citizens can only open an ABN Amro account at a specific branch, we are told the US government is afraid we are going to hide our US dollars in Euros...

After we made it back to Eemnes we had a snack and then headed in to Hilversum to get my monthly bus pass and see if we could make it to a phone store. The phone store had closed at 6, so we grabbed dinner and then headed home. On the way home, we missed our bus stop (kevin didn't beleive me when I said which one it is). We got off 3 stops later and then caught the next bus back.

Once back (at 8:30), I headed straight to bed! We both slept through the night...now if I could not feel like I need a nap, as soon as I get up.

Wednesday I headed back to work. I met my new boss (he was out on Monday), learned more about what I am going to be doing and got more settled. I was able to set up our dutch health insurance and also worked out. I hadn't worked out in more then a week...and I could tell.

After work I was able to time the bus schedules right and made it home very quickly.

Kevin had a very adventurous day. He took the dogs for a run around Eemnes and found a bike shop. They didn't have very many second hand bikes, so he later showered and headed to Hilversum. He bought a very nice 2nd hand bike, a gps and a sim card for his phone. He rode his bike home...through the woods and in the rain.

Tomorrow we go house hunting.

We learned this morning that our dear friends had lost their twins. They were only a couple of weeks ahead of us. Neither Kevin and I can imagine the loss they must be feeling and our hearts go out to them.

Its a boy!

We went in for our last US pre-natal visit on Monday. Our doctor asked if we wanted to try to get an ultrasound before we left the country...silly question. Of course we did!
We are having a boy! Now we just need to find a good name.
Below are the good pictures from this visit. There were a lot of pics that looked pretty scary (skull, ribs, etc). These are the cute ones.

In the mean time, our move date if fast approaching. As I am typing, the moving company is packing the house...I really want a nap but the bed is already packed and I am afraid if I laid down on the couch they might wrap me up in a paper, with it.

Kevin is making runs to the dump....hopefully only 1 or 2 more and I am trying to stay out of the movers way.

First Prego Pictures

In one week we will be living in another country! That is really weird to think about...

Below are pics of me and my growing belly, for those who are keeping track. I am 18 weeks and no I don't know the sex yet :) We will find out once we get to Amsterdam and I find a midwife.

We have a move date!

We are moving to Amsterdam on October 11th. Our house will be packed on Oct 9th and 10th, and the dogs will follow us on October 12th.

It is official, we really are going.

I dropped my passport off at the Dutch Consulate this morning, it should be back in a week.

The house was listed last weekend.

Now if I could just get my birth certificate back from Washington.

The crib arrived yesterday, for those who don't know, Kevin's dad built us a crib. Kevin is now assembling it.....we have a crib. I guess this baby thing is really going to happen too.

We purchased a mattress for it and pack'n'play yesterday at a huge consignment sale.

Kevin and I finally came to an agreement on strollers (honestly, I finally came around to his way of thinking). We are going to get a single jogger/bike trailer combo and then go with a awesome regular stoller (no graco, big ass lazy boy, 4 cup holder stroller).

Things are moving forward....

It looks like we are making progress on our move to Europe.

My car is 99% sold, they are going to come back tomorrow with a cashiers check. Two sisters are buying it for their 20+ younger brother. I wouldn't trust my brothers with that car, let alone buy it for them and trust them.

Our house went on the market today, which means the kitchen is done and the house has never been so clean or sparse.

We have made many trips to Goodwill and the dump. I can't believe the amount of junk we accumulate!

Now take stuff off of the counter and clean out under the sink, in the bathroom.