This is a little guest blog post written by me, Michael. This is our first Mother's Day and I'm proud of Maya's mom. I couldn't find a proper card here in the Netherlands so I decided to write her a letter instead.



A letter to Mommy Grace

With your nurturing and encouraging approach to motherhood I know next year Maya will be able to great you herself :D

Happy Mother's Day!

These past two weeks have been a whirlwind of events but I'm glad now things are slowly getting back to normal. We've been home since Monday, and today is the first time that we're totally alone - just the three of us, and I must say it feels like we've been doing this for longer than five days. We've somewhat established a routine. Things can only get better from here, right?

Oh, I miss days like this! The peace and quiet. No one hovering or checking on you every hour. I was about to go crazy at the hospital and absolutely hated the nighttime when Mike had to leave when visiting hours were over. I have been longing to go home after staying there for 3.5 days but we booked to stay for 3 days at the kraamhotel (birthing hotel?) many months ago which followed the hospital stay so going home was further delayed. It's only here at home that I got to sleep for a straight 3 hours. Truly, there is no place like home.



Being a mom is one of the best things in the world. It's hard to explain or describe the feeling. Is it even a feeling? I just know that I feel complete.

You know what's funny? I have become an emotional sap after I gave birth to B but, during the whole pregnancy, I could count on one hand the times that I cried. I had an emotional meltdown when she came out. Then when I watched her sleep during her first night with me at the hospital and the nights that followed. Then when I found out she was losing weight because I didn't have enough breast milk yet. Then when the three of us were together for the first time day and night at the kraamhotel. Then when she had her heel shot. We'll both be a crying mess when she'll have more shots in a couple of months. I'm already dreading the day but it'll be for her good health.

I won't say that it's not difficult having a newborn in the house. There were times when she cried for an hour long and we're frustrated from the lack of sleep. It can get really tiring when she does this in the evening as most of our energy is spent. But just one look at her and all I can think of is it's all so worth it. It hurts how much we love her and now I can't imagine a life without her.

What? January is almost over and I'm only just updating? Bad me!

So here's what I've been up to...

This month has been quite hectic for us after all the December merriment and unexpected hospitalization. Thank you, by the way, for all the well and kind wishes. I did get to go home on the morning of December 31st just on time to celebrate New Year's eve with Mike as we watched fireworks through our window and toasted with pear juice. New Year's day was spent with his family as we gathered in his Grandpa's home as per tradition and had dinner with his parents and sister.

Then M&M and godson, Kevin, came back from their long vacation in the Philippines so we spent a day with them to catch up and semi-celebrated Kevin's 2nd birthday.

I think after that weekend, my body was telling me to slow down when I came down hard with the cold for a week so I stayed home and in bed to recuperate. It was an overwhelming couple of weeks. December is just the prelude to the crazy month that is January.



Then came Monique's birthday which we celebrated at her place, followed by a weekend getaway in Eindhoven, perhaps the last vacation we'll have before B comes, with the family.

The day after we got home from the said weekend, Mike and I celebrated our 7th wedding anniversary. He left for work at 7 in the morning and came home at 10 in the evening with a dozen big white roses and large strawberry milkshakes. He had to go to a training for work that day when all he wanted was to take me out on a dinner date. He was rather bummed about it but I did give my consent for him to go so I didn't have room to complain though it sucked when the day came and I found myself entirely alone especially when it started getting dark and we were supposed to be celebrating our marriage of 7 years. I didn't let it deter me though so I welcomed him with a candlelight picnic in our living room while I played our wedding song on repeat in the background. We cuddled and reminisced. I may have shed a big happy tear or two. His bosses and colleagues surprised me with a bouquet of pink flowers to congratulate and thank me for letting them borrow Mike for the day. So it wasn't so bad. My dining table was happy for the new centerpiece. They compensated his not being home by allowing him to take a day off two days later on short notice, which brings us to his 28th birthday.



I treated him to a movie, Avatar, (finally saw it and loved it!) and a Mexican dinner in the same restaurant where I spent my 28th birthday last year. He's been raving on wanting to eat Mexican food for weeks so I thought it's the best choice. I did have a morning fail because I wanted to surprise him with breakfast in bed but I overslept so I took a raincheck for the weekend instead. I'm carrying his child in my belly so at least I have an excuse. Justify much? Haha. :D

After ALL that, we got a breather. No planned engagements or anything in the weekdays and weekend. We decided it's time to finish what's left to be done upstairs. Our bedroom walls are finally (!) painted. Goodbye sunshiny yellow and hello olive green! Hopefully by this weekend, everything that we CAN do will be done and we can focus on sanitizing the rooms and wait for B to come. One and a half month more to go!

And now, I'm dreaming about being in the tropical Philippines to be with my family. My brother, Ian, is there right now and will be celebrating his birthday together with my other brother, Gary, on Saturday. I'm so so jealous and could only wish we were there too. It would have been another great family reunion. Sigh. I miss my family.

By the way, here's a fact about me: Do you know that we (my siblings and I) were born in consecutive numbers? (29 - Ian, 30 - me, 31 - Gary). Cool, huh? However, I'm the only one born in a different month.

So after the wallet-draining December, the month of birthdays and celebrations in our family follows. Cue Alanis Morisette song: I'm broke but I'm happy!

I hope everyone is having a great start of their new year.

I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas with friends and family!
Ours was spent with Mike's parents and in our home having our own little family bonding. :)

xoxo,
Gracey

Our Christmas vacation is officially set up. We're spending it with Ian in the UK this year.

Woohoo!

I'm totally excited and mentally/physically preparing myself for it. Christmas is a pigging out season (at least for me, anyway) and knowing my brother's culinary stunts will mess up my resolve for weight-watching, I seriously have to do some prepping for that before I come back like a huge stuffed turkey. I may have to boycott eating altogether because I'm planning on celebrating the holidays in style. You know, pretty dresses + heels + make-up and all that girly stuff - so I'd feel and look like a grown up for once. It's one of the few excuses I have to dress up. I never get to do that that much these days. My life is boring as we speak.

But I digress.

There really isn't much to tell about myself. Unless of course you're interested about my plans on re-vamping my wardrobe. If you look inside my closet, it's a vision of eclectic mix. It's boring, though. Add to that sad and pathetic. Okay, I do have some good stuff, but the majority is pure junk. If the fashion police finally decides to raid my closet, they will definitely chuck everything out and I'll end up snatching my favorites before they notice. I have to do something about that. My thoughts are gearing towards hoodies and colorful cardigans, skinny jeans and sneakers. Maybe get another haircut? Ooh, what about dye? If only I could pull off skinnies. I may have to find me a sharp butcher knife (we don't have one, unfortunately) and slice off a thick part of my thighs because lipo is expensive and this way is a whole lot easier and quicker. Messy but, you know, quite as effective. Haha! Sorry for that gory detail and clearly it was a joke. (Gah, my sense of humor just plummeted. That is if I have one.)

If only I had longer legs though, it wouldn't have mattered.

And, no, before you think it, I'm in no way depressed! I'm practically cracking myself up writing this. I just tend to blabber nonsense a whole lot lately and this is why I thought staying quiet was a good idea. No point subjecting you to mental torture while reading my nonsensical thoughts.

But you're all very sweet and welcoming and probably checking back for updates often so this is the least I could do.

Thank you, my darlings! You make my heart swell. :)

It was a really good weekend of pure relaxation, shopping, dining out and family time. I believe it was the first time we all went out together for that long, and I'm pretty sure that everyone had a great time. At least, I did. :)

Culture

One thing that struck me about the city was, it felt like I was in a different country. The hotel we stayed in was situated on a hill. A hill! Who would have thought there actually is a place like it in the FLAT Netherlands. Add to that the forest-like surrounding that we don't get to enjoy in Rotterdam. There were lots of green and birds were twittering outside our hotel room. It was a haven.

The Golden Tulip hotel is modern with a rustic appeal. They don't have swipe cards for keys, to start with. And, is it a European thing to not have an air conditioner in hotel rooms or am I just used to them in my tropical homeland where air conditioner (at the very least a fan) is a necessity as a heater in the west? It's not very comfortable to sleep in a closed room in a 28-degree room temperature and no ventilation because opening a window welcomes an army of mosquitoes and insects that I, in no circumstance, have no intention to welcome. So I do miss the luxury of an air conditioner as I think all hotels should have, but I guess that's a European thing.



I learned that Nijmegen is the oldest city in the Netherlands. It might have been mentioned by my teacher in my Dutch integration course three years ago but I don't remember if he did. So it's good to learn/re-learn some things once in a while.

We walked through...


de Waalkade..


het Valkhof..


de Grotemarkt ..

and many terrasen where a majority of young people hang. It was fun watching them "kids" being all preppy with their popped up designer PINK shirt collars, curly hair and huge sunnies which was a preferred fashion style by the guys. The girls who looked like they just started high school were typical in their skimpy skirts and tight-hugging tops, and a couple of them wore the same clothes and hairdos. Do they really do that nowadays? Similar outfits from head to toe? I realized later that it's a city of students. No wonder!

Shopping



Something I like about going to another city is checking out stores that are not in Rotterdam. They're mostly the quaint shops in small streets that I'm always eager to discover. They seem like they're hidden in purpose and only the real seeker finds them. The parents gave us freedom to roam around the city on our own for a few hours so we went to home & gift shops, children's store, and bead shops. (I could really get lost in those shops and stay there for hours. Mike was ever so patient.) I got a couple of beads and some little thingies for my future swaps.

We drove to Arnhem for a two-hour shopping on Friday morning and I was so happy we decided to go there. We walked aimlessly around the city and were lucky to find shops that I love and been looking for. Mike saw this side street with an antique store sign that I didn't want to go to at first because I wasn't in the mood for antique window shopping, but the store across it proved to be a star. It got me all wide-eyed and open-mouthed with matching palpitations and serious blushing. I almost screamed when I looked at Mike while mouthing THEY HAVE GREEN GATE!!!!! I tugged at his arms, hugging it would be more appropriate, because I couldn't contain the joy that he pointed me to that direction. It may sound silly but it was a really happy moment. We love that city and we're planning to go back there sometime in the summer.

Drinking & Dining

I would be lying if I say that I didn't enjoy the whole weekend of not worrying about what meals to cook. But we kind of had enough, you know. We miss home-cooked meals and choosing food not on the menu. Mike, who LOVES meat, swore off steak after eating it twice in a row for dinner. It seems like all we did was eat and drink, but I'm not complaining! We were celebrating the good life. 35 years of marriage is a milestone!



We ate our first dinner at the cafe on the corner of the Grotemarkt across from H&M. Forgot the name, well actually, I didn't pay much attention because I was starving but their food was heerlijk and we sat outside in the sun. It was gezellig. The calamares we had for starters was quite good. The only downside is the fries they served in one medium bowl. That serving is good for two but not for four hungry adults. Jammer.



Cafe-Brasserie Vlaams Arsenal - Good food, affordable price, great service, cool and modern ambiance. Their Belgian fries were so good, we ordered a second cone.



Gallische Eetcafe - Good food, okay price, not so much with the ambience and though the service was fast, the waitresses were not so friendly. Their Obelix steak was really good! The chocolatix was also yum.

To DO

We watched Cassandra's Dream in this small theater near the Belgian resto we dined at. First time I stepped into a theater with a capacity of only 25. The movie was okay, not something I'm used to but it was quite entertaining. I'm not so sure if I really like it or not but it was an experience.

There are a couple of museums in the area. Ma and Monique went to the African Museum 20 minutes walk away from the hotel on Sunday. We didn't really feel like going so Mike and I spent the whole afternoon playing table tennis that wiped us out that evening. Mike said I was a fanatic after I won 9 sets out of 10. But he beat me in Chinese poker afterwards. To each his own!

Photos can be found here.

Mama,



Thank you for the love, the never-ending support,
For everything that you have done for me, for Mike, and for the whole family.
I am forever grateful.
When I become a mother someday, I want to be just like you.
I'm ever so proud to be your daughter.
You're the best mom in the world!
I love you, more than words can say.
I love you forever.


Ma,



Ik ben zo blij dat jij de moeder van Michael bent.
Zo lief, zo zorgzaam, zo veel meer..
Jij bent er altijd voor mij, voor ons,
En ik kan je niet genoeg bedanken.
De eerste keer dat ik jou ontmoette,
Wist ik dat wij goed met elkaar zouden gaan.
Geloof me als ik zeg dat jij de beste schoonmoeder bent!
Ik hou van jou.


Nanay,



Eto yung ginawa kong kanta para sa'yo.
Miss na miss kita!

Nung ako ay bata pa
Ako'y iyong pinaghehele
Di nakakatulog 'pag ika'y wala sa aking tabi
Naaalala mo pa ba
Minsan nung ikaw ay umalis?
Katabi ko sa kama ang iniwan mong damit.

Pumapasok sa eskwela
Ikaw ang kasama ko
Naghihintay kang mag-isa sa may waiting shed
'Pag medyo kulang ang baon
Sayo agad tumatakbo
Laging handang magbigay ng limang-pisong papel.

Ngayon at ako'y malaki na
At nakatira sa malayong lugar
Pero 'wag kang mangangamba
Dahil ikaw ay nasa puso ko, 'di yan magbabago.

Dahil mahal kita, yan ang tatandaan mo
Nanay mahal kita
Mahal na mahal, mahal na mahal kita

Kahit san man ako makarating
Iniisip kita lagi
Kahit 'di tayo parating magkasama
Alam mong mahal na mahal kita, diba?

Dahil mahal kita, yan ang tatandaan mo
Nanay mahal kita
Mahal na mahal, mahal na mahal kita
Nanay, mahal kita.


To all mothers out there,

I salute you!

"A mother's love is faithful always trusting
A mother's love will stand the test of time
While others have their fun
A mother's work is never done..
.... a mother's love." - from a song

xoxo <3