Maternal Health Nurse visit #7 - 6.5 months

Today Mum and I had an additional appointment with the maternal health nurse, Elaine. Mum was a bit concerned as I after the bronchiolitis and the trip to Europe, my weight did not increase as much as expected.
But nurse Elaine assured Mum that all was still fine, as I was percentile wise still around the 25th percentile.
My weight was 7330 kg, length 69.6 cm and my head circumference is 42.2 cm. I am getting smarter as my brain is growing at a good rate, hihihi.

The maternal health nurse was pleased with my progress and my interest in food and in play.

Bronchiolitis

I told you all that I was very jetlagged because of that massive trip to Europe. Well, as of last Friday I have been sleeping through the night again. Mum found that the only remedy was: bright sunlight in the middle of the day. She did this on Thursday and Friday and Friday night I slept through the night again and every night since then.

I still have a cough and a runny nose ,which started after the plane trip and Mum, Dad and I were all a bit sick last week. Mum blames the aircon on the plane. Mum and Dad are better now, but as of last Monday my cough is gradually worsening. Last night I also presented with a little fever and Mum and Dad decided to take me to the Hospital Doctor to have it checked out. I appear to have bronchiolitis, which means that I have a virus and because my immune system is not ready yet, I am having a hard time recovering now. The virus will last about 3-10 days, but the cough might last for 4-5 weeks, so that is not too good.

My cough is getting worse when I play on my tummy, so Mum is now putting me on my back, but because I like to practice my rolling, I am constantly flipping over. We are practicing sitting without support, but I can only last for about 45-60 seconds and as soon as I cough I fall over.

Hopefully I will feel a bit better soon, the weather is improving it is going to be30-34 degrees this weekend, so hopefully the warm weather will bring some better days for me as well.

Jetlagged and vaccinations month 6!

So this is what they call Jet Lag! Since I got back last Thursday night I have been sleeping for five days now and have been awake for five nights in a row. Mum and Dad are not really loving it!

In addition to that, it is 30 degrees in my room during the day and it cools down to maybe 25 degrees at night with a humidity of 95-100%. Coming from -5 degrees in Netherlands into tropical Melbourne heat like this, has to make you sick.
The aircon on the plane was directed at our seats the entire trip, so now Mum, Dad and me are all coughing and have runny noses. One happy family!
Thank god I will get some more vaccinations today to boost my immune system a bit more before I start at child care centre next month.

 This is me at 4 in the afternoon

This is me at 4 in the morning

6 Months old - Progress on my solid foods!

I have now been eating solid foods daily for about 4 weeks and my spoon skills are getting brilliant. Occasionally I get too enthusiastic when I see the food on the spoon. I start turning my head around and instead of my mouth I put my nose in the spoon, which according to Mum is hilarious!

In Netherlands I have mainly eaten those little jars of babyfood from the grocery store, as it was too difficult, whilst travelling to prepare, blend and mix everything fresh.
I must say the fruity ones and carrot jars are great, but some of them are disgusting, even Mum agreed with me that the cauliflower and green beans tasted horrible.
Since we are in Australia I have been eating a lot more fresh fruits and veggies.

Until today I have tried all of the below:
* Rice flour with breast milk (before I go to bed)

Fruits:
* Apple (delicious, especially the apple sauce Oma makes)
* Pear
* Mango
* Banana with little bits of mandarin juice
* Mixed fruits
* Blueberry
* Nectarine
* Strawberry (this really makes a mess)
* Apricot
* Plum

Vegetables:
* Pumpkin
* Corn
* Green Beans (Disgusting from the jar)
* Brown Beans
* Cauliflower (same as the Green Beans)
* Potato
* Sweet Potato
* Capsicum
* Cucumber

Drinks:
* Water (not a real success story yet!)

As I have turned 6 months today, Mum said she will now start adding meat and fish as well. Dad says that these are important proteins and great for muscle development. Dad's work has something to do with proteins, so I think I will really have to like this meat and fish. I will let you know soon enough whether it was any good. 

Last cuddles & going home

My last day in The cold Netherlands and tomorrow we are off to warm Australia again.

I cuddled a lot with everyone, because I will not be seeing them for a long time. Luckily we have skype so I already told Oma that Mum will put me in front of the camera so I can smile and wave at both my Dutch Oma's.

                      Uncle Rob even allowed me to wear his cap, don't I look cool!!!

Chacco will probably be glad that I am leaving as my high chair was on his spot at the breakfast table, and he therefore missed out on heaps of bread.

Meeting up with The Oomen Family!

Mum and Dad met up with Joost and Maaike and I was introduced to two lovely ladies: Hanna and Fleur. They are twins and 3 months older than me. They are already crawling around and standing. They showed me all the good tricks and I was observing them very closely, because I need to start doing this soon as well. Hanna was not feeling too well, but Fleur was all smiles. I really liked Fleur a lot and was smiling back at her all the time. Unfortunately because Hanna was sick, I could not play with her, but I will probably have better luck next time. Maybe when they come to visit me in Australia?

Bruges - Ice sculpture festival

Today we did some shopping in the morning and in the afternoon we went to the Ice sculpture festival in Bruges. Because Mum loves Steak Tartare (for all the Australians reading this blog, yes it is the dish with the raw meat!) and Bruges is a very good city to eat it, I decided to start crying for food in front of a beautiful little lunch restaurant. Mum and Dad desperately went in to actually feed me and got the last table available. After accidentally looking at the menu, they decided to do an early lunch and enjoyed the best steak tartare ever! (hihihi, I don't cry often, but sometimes it is for a good reason)

 

 In the afternoon we enjoyed the Ice Sculpture festival. Inside it was -6 degrees, so I had to wear to winter coats again. I was just getting used to temperatures above 0 degrees outside, but it was definitely worth it. The sculptures were beautiful and I have travelled the entire world in ice and seen all the seven wonders of the world on one day. On top of that they also had.....

                                               

                                                                    cars and animals 

                                                     Mum showed me around in the iglo

                                                                  Balinesian dancers

                                                   

Mmmmmh, this is a cuddly and furry bear!!!

BRRRRRR it is freezing cold, I hope the bear does not get angry because I am wearing fur on my coat.

Bruges

We also went to Bruges in Belgium on the last weekend in Europe. Mum loves this city, especially around Xmas time. I also found out why they love this city, not because of the shopping or the water, but the enormous beers!

We stayed at the Olympia Hotel, which was about 500 meters walking distance to the city center.

It was raining quite a bit, but I stayed nicely dry in my pram with raincover and just slept whilst Mum and Dad enjoyed the city

 Dad spotted some visitors in one of the waterways we passed, they were......

 3 beautiful swans

 Mum was so happy she could have a Hoegaarden, that she quickly breastfed me before digging in.

 Dad forgot that a large beer in Belgium is 1 liter, so a Large Leffe Double will make sure he will not forget

                              Let's see what is so special about this Hoegaarden beer!

I behaved beautifully during Mum and Dads dinner and all the people both staff and visitors complimented Mum and Dad on having such a beautiful well behaved baby (and it was not because of the beer!) 

 By the time we finished dinner it was already dark and the whole city was filled with Xmas lights.

Ardennes

After our Maastricht visit, Mum, Dad and I decided to spend some time with just the three of us. We went to the Ardennes in Belgium for 4 days. We walked around in the snow and I visited my first castle (chateau) Bouillon.Before we got to the castle we had to walk under these cold icy things hanging from the ceiling. Mum walked really quick afraid that one of them might fall on top of me. 

                                     We made it through without any injuries.

 This is on top of the castle looking down on the city of Bouillon

Dad did not fit through all the corridors because he was a bit bigger than the people in the Middle Ages.

                                             Look I am a cuddly snowbunny
Aunty Sarah ( from the cute bunny named Ollie) gave me this bunny suit, she must have known that I would be needing a wintery suit in December

During my playtime with Dad my feet found out that he has hair on his face, oh my god!!! 

Maastricht - rolling over from back to belly!

On January 1st-4th Mum and Dad took me to visit Maastricht for three days. Mum and Dad used to live here, before they moved to Australia. We had a nice appartment close to the city and a few of Mum and Dads friends came by to catch up an also to see me.
As the new year had just started I thought I would show Mum and Dad and all of you my new trick:

                                    

We had some nice walks around the city, did some shopping and Mum ate some food and drank heaps of Hot Chocolate, so I could enjoy in the fun a bit as well.

                         I slept in my tent again, which was great camping indoors!

Especially in the morning I am so happy to start my day again, I can not stop smiling and making noises.

                                         Luc allowed me to jump on his lap!

                  I also had some relaxing bath time with Dad after all the visitors had left

 and my chocolate moment with Mum