5 minutes later...

And this went on all day!
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Tempestuous weather ahoy!

Weather in Amsterdam is psychotic!
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What's my name?

Maternity leave is over... Back to regularly scheduled craziness!
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Lilac!

Finally the Lilac bush is about to bloom! Love!
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Travels with a baby - Doorwerth, Netherlands

Place to stay: Golden Tulip Arnhem Doorwerth

We had a fantastic stay at Doorwerth. Like I said it was our very first trip with Jr. and we wanted to go not too far from home. The hotel is located in a park zone and has a lovely terrace where we sat and had beers in the afternoon sun. There were also tennis courts as we noticed... and contemplated being interested in tennis as we drank our beers. (No really, we'll seriously be all over that because I just ordered expensive tennis raquets for both of us!)

Anyway, for just a bit more we upgraded to a suite and Jr. had his own room :).

Activities: Walking or biking

We decided to take it easy and just walked around with the baby carriage. The weather was fantastic and the surrounding parks beautiful. The hotel is a convenient 20 minute walk from Kasteel Doorwerth. All around the castle there are numerous bike and walking paths available that lead you through the surrounding forrest. We didn't go too crazy, just walked to the castle had lunch on the terrace and walked back. After all we wanted to be 'on time' for beers at the hotel! I'm sorry... so how exactly did our life ''change'' after having a baby??

I think we'll be ok, our next trip is already planned too! Another one in the Netherlands because we're still a bit chickens, but after that we'll tackle something a bit more adventurous.

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Vaccination by travel!

Our trip was fantastic! We went for long walks in the forest, lunched by a castle, got a bit of a tan, had beers in the sunshine, ate dinners at restaurants and we even had a night cap at the bar. Most importantly, Jr loved it all! I think we have successfully injected this boy with the travel bug! Later details...

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First trip with a baby!

Wohoo! The day has come to embark on our very first trip with our little Jr. He is 2 and a half months and we thought it's about time to introduce him to the jet setting lifestyle that we as his parents will expect him to indulge in with us. We starting of nice and easy by spending the weekend in the south near a forest. We are super curious to see how this will go! Ten minutes into the trip and so far so good! :) Verzonden vanaf mijn draadloze BlackBerry®-toestel

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Special kind of high

Does anyone else make hot chocolate by melting a bar of chocolate in the microwave?? Add a pinch of red pepper and feel the magic!
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Oh the colors!

Why yes! I always match my coffee mug with my tulips!
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...Violets are blue

I thought it was pretty expensive, then I realized its for per box. And how cute, farms are actually part of out "city". Love it! No backing up garbage trucks at 6am here!
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My favorite!

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What it's really like being pregnant.

I will tell you.

First of all it's NOT what you see on TV. After having been pregnant myself I now totally see the blatant lies that they show on TV, like the classic scene where a woman runs to the sink to throw up and it's only been 2 days since she did the deed. Hi- it takes 2-4 days for the sperm to even reach the egg! Just in case you're wondering girl sperm travels faster then the boy sperm. Probably because girl sperms are not afraid to stop and ask for directions...

Morning sickness? Not necessary.

Anyway. The point is that it's not like they show on TV and it can be a completely different experience for different women. What annoys me the most however is that pregnancy is portrayed as so terrible and difficult. That is just a huge convoluted lie! I did not have morning sickness what so ever. In fact, I called my doctor asking her if everything was ok because I was not doing any dramatic projectile vomiting. The doctor laughed at me and told me to stop watching too much tv.

I LOVED being pregnant! Not only was I not sick in the mornings but actually I felt better. I used to wake up sometimes with a bit of nausea in the morning and have to grab a drink or a banana to feel better, while pregnant this morning nausea actually went AWAY.

Big belly? Slimming!

Another point is that if you read all kinds of pregnancy magazines or websites they all talk about how women don't feel sexy and how they feel like a whale with their big bellies. NOT true! First of all, I don't know how or why, but a belly has a wonderfully slimming affect on the rest of your not so skinny parts. Like it totally slimmed my big butt! It looked small compared to my belly! I could not get enough of myself while pregnant. Not to forget that my skin looked better then it ever had, the extra blood circulating added wonderful glow and color. I did not wear any make up what so ever on my skin (just mascara) because I did not want to mess it up.

Hair thinning?

My hair, my curly crazy hair, usually falls out in big globs that I stick to the wall of the shower so that I can take it out and not clog the entire bathroom, has actually stopped shedding during pregnancy! I would pull at it and not ONE hair would come out.

Gaining tons of weight?

One of the biggest surprises I got during pregnancy is that I was actually eating less then I do usually. Having said that, I must mention that I eat A LOT normally. I remember in the beginning of my pregnancy I read a sample menu for the day suggested by one of the popular pregnancy online portals and I literally laughed out loud. What they were suggesting a pregnant woman should eat, I ate twice that under normal circumstances. As I got pregnant I actually noticed that I ate 2x LESS. Now having established that I usually eat a lot, when pregnant I still ate more then what the portal recommended. Not having a ton of room in the belly automatically regulated my portions, and I realized that I'm a chronic over-eater! I gained 4 kg during my entire pregnancy. After delivery I weighed 5 kg below my PRE-Pregnancy weight. Now, I'm just trying my best not to gain back this weight that I lost.

Crazy and emotional pregnant lady?

Once again. False! I was so happy and nice the whole time I was pregnant. If you don't believe me ask my husband. He kept suggesting that maybe I should just stay pregnant all the time. I actually felt normal for once! I felt happy, calm and energetic. Again it made me realize that the 'normal' me is in fact the crazy one! Please is there anyone out there that can bottle this feeling and sell it to me!? I guess in my case whatever extra hormones I was getting were balancing me out. Just to give you an example, I always sit there yelling at the tv giving my comments. When I was pregnant instead of saying "that ass should never be put in satin pants" I would say "awww what a nice confident lady". I had... gasp... only NICE things to say about everyone. And if you know me, that's the equivalent of a cataclysmic event rivaling the end of the world.

ANY side effects?
Yes, I did have one negative side effect. My nose was stuffed the entire time. And I know you're not supposed to use nose sprays longer then 7 days but I used them just about the whole time because I could not breathe. Go figure, but a stuffed nose is a symptom of pregnancy. There is even a name for it: rhinitis of pregnancy. No one ever talks about it and obviously it does not have the same cinematographic effect for it to be featured in movies, but it's real.

Anyway the point of this very long story is that you should never ever listen to anyone about anything basically. No, seriously, it's just another reminder for us to make our own deductions and realize that our experience doesn't have to be the same as everyone else's.

In case you're wondering if I'm still "nice" after 2 months of not being pregnant anymore... unfortunately I must report that that particular 'shop' has been closed. I realized it the other day as I was watching some random show and just had zero love for everyone on TV. Yep, the 'pregnancy bliss' has unfortunately disappeared... But it's ok, I'll survive... though some others may not. ehem.

Now I'm not saying that you can't get pregnant and have all these bad simptoms (at once). I'm just saying let me be the one person who tells you that it's possible to have a nice pregnancy too. So go ahead and get pregnant and don't let anyone put any negative expectations in your head!!!! ;)

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Spring update

Serious blooming going on all around!
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Spring- effective immediately!

Gorgeous days are in effect! Wow! And to think, I took a pic of this very spot all covered in snow for a christmas card. Same tree but from the oposite side.
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Sempre Primavera!

Spring is on the way!!!!

This is how it all started back in 2005. By "it all" I mean the "Sempre Primavera" movement that served as the catalist for some pretty unbelievable changes in my life. I mean, one day I'm standing on a busy street corner in NYC talking angry nonsense to my friend in Chicago saying how we are in the prime of our lives but why is it so BORING and NOTHING ever happens??? Well, my wise friend told me to start a blog and document everything just to see if I was indeed right; nothing ever happened or I just didn't pay attention?

Well in March of 2005 I started a blog and by coincidence or not "things" began to happen...

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Dirty hairy.

Taking a walk in my "little town, Netherlands" is an adventure full of mystical creatures... This friend stopped playing in the mud just to come over and say hello!
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Back in the day when Shrimps roamed the earth...

I'm sorta helping someone with their dating. This made me think back to when I was out there dating. A lot of people find it a chore, as in, it's so annoying to go out there and kiss "frogs". I actually enjoyed it. Well, I found it entertaining at least. Like the time I went out with poor Shrimp. (Btw, Nicholas back then was a fake name for my darling Vito, I used to not trust the internet back then.)

I've actually been meddling in peoples love life ever since I have successfully completed my own "dating program", and the crazy thing is people have been letting me meddle! And some people (who listened to what Aunty Ale was telling them) actually found their special someones!!! One already had a baby and one I was extatic to find out is now pregnant! Gosh, so nice to see people spin out their very own fairy tales. Though I don't know what I enjoy more, fairy tale enablement or simply telling people what to do...

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Baby Einstein

How young is too young to start influencing (pressuring) your child to become a rocket scientist?

Too young!? Beh! I started already! So far he seems to be listening.
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How to deal with being a new mom.

Freak out for 2 weeks straight, indulge in random (yet totally NOT random to me) crying, call friends that just had babies and realize that it's all totally normal... so have an "ohhh!" moment.

Then get to work:

1. Book a hair appoitment and get highlights (9 month of peroxide abstinence can throw a girl for a loop let me tell ya!)

why? Because getting your hair done is the best way to deal with a crisis situation. And having a baby equates in stress level to a crisis situation.

2. Book a weekend away.

why? To get yourself on track to normalicy. Having a weekend booked is like saying, yes we had a baby but we're not about to slow our bad selves down! (Is it still ok to talk in bad slang if you're a parent?)

3. Book another weekend away.

why? Just to reinforce point #2.

4. Start planning a road trip on another continent.

why? because after all these weekends away, we'll need a vacation as a family ;)

Ta da! We're on track to something here!

Well these steps work for me. If you found this bit of "parenting advice" useless, that's ok. This is something that's working for me, and the real advice is: we're all different, what works for me may be different from what works for you. Think about what would help you to get used to being a mom and then do it! Don't feel silly about taking care of yourself, if you're happy and pampered, you'll be able to make your baby happy and pampered.

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Stuff dreams are made of.

Here is our little Junior!

My goodness, never ever in a million buzzillion years did I imagine ever daring to do something like this! I never even wanted to buy a house because it was too much of a "commitment''. (Also it was a scary commitment because I refused to hold down a job for longer then two years.)

It's only because I met someone with whoom I feel like anything is possible. Someone who makes my dreams come true, even the ones I was afraid to have.

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Rice anxiety

Rice anxiety- when you panic and make way more rice then necessary.
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DON'T talk to me.

My name is Ale and I have a phone phobia.

Ok, I do talk on the phone for work, but even then I stick to clearly defined times, agenda and attendee lists. For any communication needs outside of work I NEVER use the phone. My Blackberry has an unlimmited internet plan and guess what? ...Yep, NO MINUTES. Any minutes that I use are counted individually. Basically, I don't want to use my 'phone' for calling or receiving calls.

It all started with screening of the calls and not answering if the call came from an unknown source. Then it flowed over into never checking voice mail. (That actually can be classified as a completely self standing phobia, I literally feel ill if I have to call my voice mail.) Then I realized that even if my friends called and I happen to have missed the call, I would usually get an email or a text and could respond asap anyway. No the only kinds of voice mails I receive from my friends go something like this: "Oh...the voice mail clicked on... well, I won't leave one I guess, since you won't check it... Ok, I'll text you."

Now I just don't answer the phone period. My Blackberry is set up with facebook etc, so there is literally absolutely no reason for voice conversations. I recently talked to a friend on the phone actually, and it felt really weird and awekward, like two people finally getting naked together only to realize they're not as drunk as they thought... anyway we quickly ended the call saying, I'll text you the info.

Sorry, why did I start writting about this? Oh yeah, I'm sitting at my dinning room table and I heard my phone ring in the kitchen, I just stared in its direction and experienced anxiety... so I decided to write about it... I'm scared, I don't want to go look at it... What if... VOICE MAIL envelope is there????

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а дельфины добрые

This Russian song about dolphins was one of my favorites when I was little.
It's a really positive song about how we can all live in harmony. :)

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It's official! I'm on maternity leave!
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