Reunion with our Childbirth Classmates...

Well over three months after our child-birth class with Wendy Blumfield ended, we were invited to her house, this time to show the results of all the hard labour:)! It was wonderful to see everyone again, without rounded tummies this time, but with all our healthy baby-daughters!

Enna-Marie's Talking, Smiling, and Thumb Sucking...

Our daughter started giving us her big smiles, as well as making sounds as if she is responding to us when we talk to her, and has discovered the art of thumb sucking... she has become so active and very alert as the weeks pass.

At Week 7:



















At Week 8:




















At Week 9:

Maarten's Birthday

Maarten has just turned 34 on 6 February, first birthday being a daddy so it was special. He celebrated it in 3 different places. Here are some pictures:

At our friends Minoo and Roger's place, this was Roger's birthday party but Minoo, May and Menchie wanted to surprise Martijn and Maarten as well. Roger's birthday was on the 4th, and Martijn's on the 7th, so it was a celebration altogether for the three of them.





















With his officemates and friends...
















And at a reunion with our marriage group at the World Centre, with 3 brand new babies: Rocco, Shiori and Enna-Marie...(we started the class with only one child and that was Aliyah, the daughter of Negeen and Victor).

Enna-Marie at Five-and-a-half Weeks

At exactly one month we took Enna-Marie to the Tipat Halav, which is the Israeli version of the immunization bureau, for her second immunization (the first one was given right after birth). Although she definitely didn't like getting the shot, she also was over it quite quickly :)

Her height and weight were measured at 55 cm and 4.6 kg respectively, which means she is above average and growing and developing well!

She is now five-and-a-half weeks old, and here are some pictures of her that were taken in the last few days. Enjoy!

Slideshow

Updated on 23 January with a few more pictures...

Flash Slideshow

Oma comes, Lola goes...

It's been a while since we last updated our blog with pictures! That is because we are enjoying Enna-Marie so much, that we don't have time for anything else :)

Monday night Maarten went to the airport to pick up Oma Ineke, who is now with us and will stay for just under three weeks. It is wonderful to see her again and spend some quality time together. It was also wonderful for Enna-Marie to have the luxury of having both Oma and Lola with her at the same time!! Too bad she was not conscious of this precious bounty :(

Yesterday was a sad day for us, as Lola Ping's six and a half week visit had come to an end. In the days leading up to her departure we visited the Shrines a few more times, took some pictures with her in Akko, and just enjoyed the fact that she was still here with us. It has been so wonderful to have her with us in the days leading up to Enna-Marie's birth, during the birth, and then in the weeks after. We miss her already, but know that later this year, when we visit the Philippines, we will see her and Lolo Max again :)!

Here are some pictures of Lola Ping's last week in Haifa. The first picture is of a gathering of some Filipino friends, the second one of her in front of the House of Abbud, and the third of Menchie and Lola Ping in front of the Most Great Prison in Akko.

















The next few pictures are of Oma Ineke and Lola Ping during the last few days...

Enna-Marie's First Visit to the Shrine

On Sunday afternoon, January 1st, we took Enna-Marie for her first visit to the Shrine of the Báb. It was a quiet day, there were not many visitors, and so chances of us disturbing others in their prayers were minimal. It was a very special moment for us as parents to take Enna-Marie to the Threshold and say a few prayers for her spiritual and physical growth! We only stayed inside for a few minutes, as we were not sure how long she would be able to maintain the silence :)

Here are a few pictures taken that afternoon.

Fruitjoy - My Alltime Favourite Ad

I recently saw my favourite advertisement of all times again, and thought you might enjoy watching it as well! :) Just click play to start... and don't forget to turn up the sound for optimal effect!

Look Mommy!!, I can scream :)

Although the above picture surely shows you what Enna-Marie is already capable of, we have to say that she has been quite merciful to her parents so far. Now that Menchie and Enna-Marie have been home since Thursday, we have been able to start our life as a family in earnest.

The first night at home with Enna-Marie was a bit of a challenge for us, as it was still all new to us, and we hadn't really "prepared" her for night time. Consequently, we spent from 01.00 to 05.30 in the morning feeding her, rocking her to sleep, changing diapers and calming her down after she had woken up again after only a few minutes of light sleep.

The next evening we tried a different strategy. First of all we decided to feed her really well before sleeping, so that she would get off to a good rest and have no reason to stay awake. Second, we decided to have a little night-light in our bedroom, so that we could turn off the main light and let her get used to the dark of night, while we would still be able to see her and check on her every so often. Third, we changed her from the cradle to the crib. The cradle was swaying a little too much to our taste, and we were constantly worried that she might roll over and get herself caught. We have now placed her crib in our bedroom, and placed our bed against it, so that, while she still occupies her own space, she is close to us and can see us. So far, that has worked wonderfully well! During the three subsequent nights since, she has only woken us once every night for a feed, and then again in the morning when its time for Maarten to get up to go to work anyways.

Close-up

The first two pictures show a close-up of Enna-Marie, with her eyes open wide, and the third picture shows her in Mommy Ping's arms, closely checking out her lola (grandma).

Coming home!

This morning Mommy Ping and I went to the hospital not to visit Menchie, but to pick her up and bring her home. We had to go through a bit of paperwork first, which took quite some time, but eventually we obtained the necessary signatures and documents for Menchie and Enna-Marie's release.

Although we're glad to be home as a family now, we should mention that Menchie and Enna-Marie were taken care of very well by the doctors, midwives and nurses at Rambam hospital, and that we will actually miss seeing them. They were really wonderful, and helped make Menchie and Enna-Marie's stay such a good one. Two thumbs up for them!

Coming home was great! Menchie felt like she had been away for about a month, and it was so nice to finally see Enna-Marie in her new and more permanent environment. At about three o'clock she started to get a little fussy, and we realized it was time for yet another feed. Menchie and Enna-Marie are already a good team when it comes to feeding, they both seemed to have overcome the initial difficulties very quickly!

After feeding it was my turn to burp her, and then on to the first test of fatherhood: changing the diaper! According to Menchie and my mother-in-law, I gloriously passed the first test, and in the meantime I've already had a second chance to practice. Already I feel I am getting better at it :)

This afternoon and early evening Menchie and I took some time to read through all the congratulations messages we had received from our friends over the last few days. It is so nice to read the well-wishes from our friends everywhere, it really makes us feel like Enna-Marie is already part of our global family, even though most of you have yet to meet her.

Here are a few more pictures taken today.

The first three are with some of the nurses working in the nursery and maternity ward who have taken care of Menchie and Enna-Marie so well for the last six days.





















On your marks, get set, GO! Enna-Marie is all dressed up and ready to go home!



















And last but not least a picture of Enna-Marie at home in Haifa!

Friends visiting at the hospital

Here are a few pictures of some friends who have visited us over the past few days...

Ben en George visited us on the second day of Menchie's stay in the hospital.. Ben is from the Philippines and has served at the Bahá'í World Centre for more than 13 years now. George is our Dutch friend from the States who has been here almost two-and-a-half years. George will be leaving soon to get married to Ria, who is also a Filipina :)

Evelin and Santana and baby Rocco Nicolas, who is now four months old, came to visit us the next day. Evelin is from Estonia, and Santana from Mexico. They met here in Haifa, got married, and had beautiful (and already big) baby Rocco!

Jennifer and Shahin visited a few hours later. They are both serving at the Health Centre, and shared some valuable insights about breastfeeding and burping, and as you can see from the pictures they made sure the burping was practiced properly by me :)



Sisay and Victor visited the day after. Victor is all by himself now, since his wife Negeen went to the United States, together with their daughter Aliyah, for a family visit. She will be back in Haifa at the end of January. Sisay is from Ethiopia, and has served at the Bahá'í World Centre since 1998. With us is one of the nurses who took care of Enna-Marie, she's actually Persian.

It was wonderful to have all these friends visit us during the days in hospital. Martijn and May, and Shingo and Amelia and babygirl Shiori also came for a visit, but we don't have a picture of that :(