Welcome to the world Celestine

Welcome Celestine!


3 Cousins


Leah is no longer the youngest Kaptein grandchild. On November 8th, Celestine Noa Kaptein arrived in the world, weighing in at 9 lbs. Femke had a home birth, as the majority of Dutch ladies prefer. She was attended by a midwife, and had a completely natural birth (no pain medication), as is also the Dutch preference. On the very day of little Stine’s birth, the whole family was invited to admire the new member. Femke, amazingly strong woman that she is, was downstairs drinking tea with us less than 6 hours after the birth!

High Tea




The ladies Kaptein went out to celebrate the birth this weekend with a High Tea. Well, OK, only those Ladies who have teeth. We had a delicious high tea at a local restaurant. The papa’s stayed home to spend a fun day with the kids, modern papas that they are.

Stine and Tante Laurie


Little Stine is doing wonderfully. She is now 3 weeks old, and in perfect health. Leah is explaining all the ins and outs of babyhood to her, and how to get your parents to jump when you want them too.

Leah experienced her first snow today

(written by guest blogger Rob)



Leah experienced her first snow today, November 22, 2008. At first she didn't notice while observing traffic. When enough accumulated on the strollers canopy window she stared at in in amazement (see picture). Seeing the beauty of it all she started laughing as Leah can, as if the whole meteorological phenomena was only there for her entertainment. She did not even feel the flakes on her hand.



Hard to believe that a month ago she was swimming with Grandpa in 90 degree temperatures!

Reunions with friends and family

It took a few days for me to adjust to being in LA again… The strangest part for me to adapt to was that everyone spoke this weird language, English – why arent they all speaking Dutch?



We are trying to fit a years worth of socializing into just 1 week. We have so many close family and friends who want to greet us and see Leah for the first time. They are all amazed at Leah’s constant smile and sunny personality. If she knew how to write, I think she’d be asked for her autograph!



We have had a constant stream of visitors this week, as many as 10 in one day. I think we had over 60 people coming over to visit is. It really makes me appreciate all of our incredible friends and family! It feels a little like I was only away for a few weeks and calling everyone to catch up.



To help fit everyone in, we even had 2 Leah “open house” days where people could drop by casually to see her on the weekends. We have also had wonderful meals out, learned all the happenings of the last year (including 4 pregnancies that I know of so far!)



Next blog will be about the Mexico cruise….until then Hola amigos

California sunshine

We have been having such a wonderful time visiting with my family in LA! The time is just flying by. We are all enjoying the California sunshine and the hospitality of Hotel Flieder. Definitely worth a repeat visit! It was a full house, with my parents, the 3 of us and Jeremy down from San Francisco.



We had a direct flight to LA on KLM, the most child-friendly airline in my opinion. Leah had her own little baby-bed to sleep in. I wanted one too!



At LAX we had such a happy reunion with my parents. Leah was smiling and giggling with grandma and grandpa The last time they had seen her she was barely a month old. She was mainly sleeping and eating at that point. Now she is so eager to observe and play with people and “speak” to them in her very own language.



We had Leah’s baby-naming at our family Temple the Friday after we arrived. Leah is now named Leah N’Tanya after my Mom and Dad’s parents for her Hebrew names. There was a beautiful service, where Rob and I brought Leah up to the Bima for the blessings of the Rabbi and Cantor. We gave a little speech about her Grandmothers Leah and Dorothy and why they were so special. Many of my friends and family friends came to the naming to celebrate with us.



We met Jeremy at my parents house the next day, also a very joyful reunion. We all shared our stories of the past year and introduced Leah to her uncle.