A leap year full of fun and happiness! With you as an amazing mother for Emily the year went by in no-time. So many things we did I tried to capture a couple in this blogpost.

Emily’s first swimming lesson

On January the 10th Emily had her first swimming lesson, I joined her in the water while you made pictures from the side of the pool and made sure Emily was in and out the water on time while being dressed warm enough for the cold outside. 

Our first family vacation

The last day of January we excaped winter for a marvellous 27 days in the sunshine state. I know I wasn’t the best in packing my own suitcase when we went on vacation in the past but this time you need to to take care of Emily’s, yours and I at least half of mine. I could not think of any thing we had forgotten. Not to forget how you managed to keep Emily calm on her first flight was truly amazing for me. 

And what a fun we had, all those pictures with the Disney Characters, how many noses did she squeeze? 

Emily’s first transatlantic trip

Thursday April the 7th was our first red-eye-flight as a family. A combined trip starting in Germany and ending in the Netherlands. Emily got her first jet-lag, what a challenge but within 5 days you made sure she slept from 9pm-7am again even while she slept in the same room as we did. 

On the flight back home we figured out that Emily had met with close to 50 new people. But the biggest challenge was for you, managing a jet-lagged Emily while I was back to work again. 

Your first mothers day 

The first day in almost 10 months just for you…and you deserved it!

Emily’s first Birthday

As of today we had a 1 year old daughter and you baked her the perfect cake! It tasted much better as the ones we ordered and Emily clearly liked it, I can’t think of a spot where she didn’t had a piece of whipped cream…

​Our first move as a family

Sometimes there is a moment in life where puzzle pieces you did not knew they existed fall in place. We got the possibility to move into a huge house in the suburbs at the moment where we felt the Condo we lived in wasn’t the right place for our family. Just after we terminated out rent contract we had one of 2 multi-day power outage but because you knew a actor what our little Emily needs we were able to get through these challenges. 

While getting everything wrapped and boxed Emily still had enough distraction while you knew exactly what she needed and wanted to do, again I was amazed. 

The move went as smooth as possible with support from some of our great friends while you made sure Emily was distracted enough to not crawl in the way in a house without our personal stuff during the move.  

Emily’s first sleigh-ride 

About 10 years ago you brought your old sleigh with you when we moved in together in Dordrecht, I always made jokes about it. Then this year October you started shopping for winter clothes for Emily, this time I shook my head. Last year we hardly had any snow. But this year Saturday December 17th Emily was riding your somewhat 30 year old sleigh in warm clothes while the stores are sold out…

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​Emily’s first time sick

And just know during the holidays while we planned to relax and do absolutely nothing Emily got her first Stomach-flu. Never had she been sick before (I don’t count that cold) but the night before Christmas Eve she got sick. I don’t know how but somehow you knew exactly what Emily needed and made her feel calm and comfortable every time she threw up…

Not to forget I got sick too and I guess that those 36 hours I was completely useless, maybe even less helpful as our 16 months old? You don’t have to answer I think I know what you will say…

And these are just a couple things you did this year, you did so much more then just these things. And that’s why I can say that both Emily and I are extremely lucky to have you around in our lives. Without you we wouldn’t be the family we are today, you are truly our number 1 Superhero! 

Let’s make sure that 2017 is another amazing year to look back at just 365 days from now! 

Happy new year! 

Good morning warm Kissimmee! At 6:30 our alarm went of and within only 15 minutes both Mama and I were up taking care of the remaining to do’s. After all was done it was time to wake Emily but she was already having fun with her stuffed animals. Soon we had her fully dressed and while I packed the car Emily was walking around outside. 

At 8:00 we drove of the driveway at left in the direction of the the airport. We arrived at SIXT at 8:45 and within 15 minutes we walked in the Premium Rouge check inn. We upgrade our seats from economy to premium rouge something similar to short haul business class. We got to take our suitcases for free, free onboard food and drinks, priority boarding and lounge access. Although the lounge access was not really useful that was in the other terminal. 

At 9:25 we exited the people mover and walked in ‘our’ terminal. Lucky enough the complimentary lounge from our credit card was in our terminal and so we could still relax a little bit from the craziness of the Walt Disney World airport. Emily had the kids corner all by herself and we enjoyed free drinks, freshly baked pancakes, strawberries and more while waiting till we could board at 11:15. 

In the end the boarding was delayed by about 25 minutes but as soon as it started we were alllowed in and found our seats (1A & 1C). Very spacious seats and no one in front of us. 

Emily slept on Mama’s shoulder as soon as the plane started rolling. As soon as we were airborne the crew told us that we could use the two empty seats beside us so Emily would have her own seat. She woke up just before our dinner was served! Mama and I both went for chicken and Emily enjoyed it…she eat half of mama her food. 

The flight went smooth we landed at 2:55 in Toronto and we could already see that winter had come to Ontario, everything was white. But the roads looked clean, nothing to worry about. Emily’s stroller was the first one being brought tot the gate, at security the officer was waiting for us, the suitcases were already on the belt, the car was parked inside the terminal garage and in 50 minutes we were already not the highway 401 going back home.

Emily fell a sleep during the car ride and this we decided to grocery shopping as we had nothing to eat at home. Mama went shopping while I went through the Starbucks drive thru! So far so good…

But then we drove into our court and saw the snow covered driveway…all others were clean already! That meant I had something to do even before we entered the house: shoveling 20 centimeters of snow from our driveway. This was something I had never done before and it’s too funny that I get to this after we woke up with 20 degrees Celcius in the morning. So I started right after turning the furnace on to warm up the house! 

At this moment our next door neighbor Ron drove into the court and told me to stop shoveling right away. He pulled out the snow plow he borrowed from Sean and cleaned out the rest and on top of that he also threw some snow shovel basics in for the next time! 

After about 2 hours the result was a almost perfectly clean driveway, ok there was some stuff already frozen to the ground but we need to hope that’s gone after tomorrow. 

In the meantime Mama started preparing dinner while Emily was playing with her toys and hugging her stuffed animals! I guess she did miss home after all…

Unfortunately vacation is over and tomorrow I’m expected in the office again. We had a great time meeting friends, in the sun, meeting Mickey and his pals, shopping and having time off. Oh and for sure we’ll be back!