Did I move to antartica by mistake?

For someone who was only in snow 2 times in her entire life until the move to Holland, I am now making up for it. There are record levels of snow, record levels early this year. We have more than 12 inches of snow, making some interesting challenges unknown in LA...



If you dare drive, before driving you have to 1) excavate your car from under an avalanche of snow 2) run defroster for a few minutes while trying to pull frozen doors/trunk open to load kids/stuff 3)scrape ice off windows 4) drive very slowly on snowy slippery streets



Finn and Leah in snow in the stoller


There is so much snow, you cant push a stroller or even ride you bike...a first in bike-obsessed Holland. To take Leah to the market, I pulled her on a sled. She also had a lot of fun sledding down little hills. Finn will have to wait until either the snow melts or he can sit up to leave the house. Not sure which will happen first!

Happy Finn photo

St. Martin's Day (Dutch trick or treating)

First, great news with Finn... he went for a checkup today, and the pediatrician gave him a clean bill of health.  He is 100% better, smiling, and growing like crazy!



In the US, October 31st is Halloween.  Kids dress in costumes, and "trick or treat" door to door to collect candy.  While they dont celebrate Halloween in the Netherlands, Dutch kids have another holiday where they get to collect candy and give parents nightmares of dentist bills...

November 11th is St. Martin's day.  Children make paper lanterns and go door to door singing St. Martin songs for a treat.  Leah made her own lantern (lampion in Dutch), and learned a little song roughly translated as:
    "11 November is the day that my light, that my light burns bright"

An even more popular song, popular with kids but maybe not the parents:
    Saint Martin knick knack
    Your mother is a fat sack
    Your father is a thinnie
    Give me a pepermintie

I wont go into the whole history of the holday, but for those historians wikipedia has this great article on it:

Finn in the hospital

Finn's hospital room

First, and most importantly, Finn is now home and is almost back to full health! He is doing better and better each day.

Last Friday morning, Finn was more sleepy than normal, and was not able to keep any of his milk down. I made an appointment for that afternoon with our family doctor. In the course of the day he also went through about 4 changes of clothing and a complete bedding change. By the time we got to the doctor, he had not kept any food down and was looking pale and lethargic. After a brief examination and a consult with the local hospital pediatrician, he told me to take Finn to the hospital for further examination, as he was very dehydrated. I had to call Rob at work to say "Meet me at the hospital, I think they may be admitting Finn!"

Finn's feeding tube

At the hospital, we found out that in just the course of 24 hours Finn was dangerously dehydrated. Its scary how quickly an infant can become dehydrated!! He had an intestinal virus, and was not keeping any fluids. He had a feeding tube from his nose to his stomach to slowly rehydrate him over the course of 24 hours. By Monday morning, he was looking much better, and could come home.



Now, we have to be very careful to keep him hydrated with a sort of "baby gatorade" called ORS (oral rehydration salts), and make sure he drinks enough. He is alert, smiles at mama and papa, and cries nice and strongly when he is hungry.

Healthy Finn enjoying a bath

So....it did take me a while to update the blog, but this time I had a reason. Promise, less time to update next entry.

Grandma and Grandpa meet Finn

Click here to see full-screen slide show of the visit



Grandma and Grandpa arrived on September 20th to meet their grandson Finn - 2 weeks old in they're arrival day.

Leah, a 2 1/2 can understand both Dutch and English, so she has no problem understanding her Nama and Napa. Leah's term from grandma and grandpa are Nama and Nampa. She only speaks in Dutch at this point, so she is giving Nama and Nampa a crash course in toddler-dutch. She has learned in English "Nama book" for a story from Nama and "Nampa fix" for handy Nampa to help her put something together.






So far in the visit, we have gone on a few family outings. Highlights have include a trip to the zoo and to the beach.

Birth of Finn!!

We welcomed our son (and little brother to Leah) Finn Simon Kaptein on September 7th 2010 at 2:45 PM. Please enjoy the slideshow with commentary on Finn's birth!!!

Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow

We are having the snowiest winter in 40 years in the Netherlands.



The fun side is sleding and playing in the snow. We went sledding today, and its like Nature's Roller coaster! Yes, I am a bit of a kid on the sled, but hey, this LA girl only went sledding once or twice before, so I am entitled!



Leah loves stomping in the snow, and had so much fun she did not want to go home!




The roads are icy enough that I sometimes bring Leah on errands in the sled instead of the stroller!