Winter baby at the beach



You will notice the next blog (or a few depending) will not have anything to do with the pictures. The pictures will (of course) will show the star of the family doing what she does best - being very cute!

I will be writing about my experiences in "Dutch Integration Class".

New rocking horse


I have not written much about it, but it has taken up a LOT of my time for the last 6 months or so....well, to start with...when I was 6 months pregant with Leah, the Dutch law was changed. All non-EU people living in the Netherlands have to pass a compulsory "integration test".

Leah and her babysitter Janneke


I went to the city hall to discuss my options. If I attended a course, the government would pay for both course and exam. If I did the course via self study, I would have to pay for all the study materials and about 400 Euros for the exams...so I decided to take the government-paid version.

Fast forward to July...Leah is now born, I am going back to work, and ready to enroll in my course... (OK, getting late here, more on this next blog)

For anyone curious to read more on the topic, click here:

Leah is 10 months old

Click here to see a slide show of Leah age 6-10 months

Leah is amazing us every day with her developments! She is 10 months old, and seems more a toddler and less a baby all the time. She now has 4 teeth, which have to be brushed daily to her dismay sometimes. She has mastered the art of standing, so no coffee table or 1-foot high surface is safe anymore. She managed to climb up the first step the other day, so all stairs going up and down are now gated.



We keep all of her toys on a toychest downstairs. Last week she figured out that climbing into the toy chest is a much more efficient way to get to the toys!



Leah has inherited her parent's love of books. She loves to go to the bookshelf and pull out all of the books and crumple the pages.