Linda's Canadian Adventure

I know things do not revolve around looks, but I’m only a woman… A few months ago I saw (at the cash register of the grocery store) a magazine with Heidi Klum on the front page. The headlines were: “Heidi, 6 weeks after the birth of her fourth child” with this picture.

I thought: “Oh no, another million women will be disappointed with their figure”. Now that I’m almost 5 weeks after giving birth to my first child I look in the mirror and I’m not disapointed! The belly is flat again, well, the skin could be tighter, and the pounds are almost off. So, secretly I think: I’m just like Heidi!

Alex’s first hike

Mike, Alex and I did our first hike together last Saturday to the top of Burnaby Mountain. Now that we live at the bottom of this modest mountain we can start this hike right at our front door. It was a milestone for Alex and I and we did it well. Alex slept the whole way in his carry-pouch and I took is slow and had no  problems to the top. The last part of the trail is called “cardiac arrest” so it was steep.

After his first hike Alex had his first bus ride and his first ride on a skytrain.

In awe of his new mobile.

Alexander’s world is getting more interesting, he loves to look around. He can see well closeby, but he loves to look at lights and bright colours further away. Changing is less of a nuisance because he is looking at the mural Jody painted in his room. He can see the contrasting colours very well.

It probably is a century old dilemma, can you spoil a newborn baby? Usually Alex is a very calm, quiet baby, but once in awhile (and more and more often) he can scream his head off. I can’t leave him to cry for very long, I want to know what’s wrong and what I can do about it. He can’t be hungry, the diaper is clean and dry and nothing seems wrong. A lot of times he will only fall asleep in your arms and he’ll sleep in his bed afterwards. The question is: are we spoiling him already? I read books here and there about parenting babies and they contradict each other.  “apply the 5 s-es: swadling, sound, swaying, side and sucking”. Another book says: “Let the baby cry for 15 minutes and apply a strict feeding schedule”. The truth lies somewhere in the middle and I go by my gut.

Yesterday we went to the public health nurse and they weighed him. He weighs more than his birth weight so that is going well. He did what he always does at home when you take off his diaper: pee!!

Grandma is good at putting Alex to sleep

We got this jacket from Aunt Trudy and we use it daily whenever we go out.

We sleep well like this!

Met twee weken begint Alexander de wereld in zich op te nemen. Een paar uur per dag is hij wakker en heel alert, hij kijkt dan met z’n grote ogen graag om zich heen.

Life is all about baby, baby, baby now, but Alexander is very well behaved and he is a very sweet baby. I have to feed him about every 3 hours and change his diaper as well. The breastfeeding is well established and it’s going well. Changing diapers and clothes is not Alex’s favorite and he cries most of the time. At night the feeding and changing continues. Usually he falls asleep right after, but that can be a challenge in the middle of the night and it can take awhile and involves some crying. It is all part of it and I don’t mind. I’m not very good at resting and taking naps during the day so once in awhile I crash and I try to sleep. Over the weekend we did a lot of work around the house. The kitchen is now nearly finished and it looks a lot better. My mother is staying with us at the moment and helps me with everything. Mike’s grandmother set us up with a diaper service as a present. We use cotton diapers and they are collected and washed every week. It works great.

It is funny to notice how I’m slipping into a mother’s role. When you have to take care of a wee baby all day you gain those skills very quickly. Because he’s my own baby I can do things the way I want to. Mike didn’t work very much the past week so we could get used to each other with the three of us. Mike’s parents have been helping us with the house and they are very happy with the baby as well.

Yesterday we had our first check-up at the pediatrician. He didn’t get back to his birth weight as he was supposed to, but everything else was fine and we don’t have to worry about it. I am recovering very well, I was up on my feet quickly and I feel better by doing so. I feel so much better than during the pregnancy! No more nausea, not exhausted and heavy any more, very nice!

Proud mother!

Oma Tineke

Mike and Linda are very happy with the birth of our son:

Alexander George Chang

(You can also call him Alex)

Born on Boxing Day, December 26, 2009 at 5:17 pm

He weighed almost 9 lbs

To everyone who didn’t know yet: Yes, Mike and I are expecting a baby! Most people have know for awhile, but I had to do an official announcement. I am 19 weeks today so almost halfway! To answer some questions:
1. Yes, it was planned and wanted
2. No, we are not getting married, we’ll get to that some day
3. No, we don’t care what it will be and we like to keep it as a surprise
4. The due date is: December 31st! Have the champagne ready!
5. We are thinking about names, but for now we call it: B

In the first 3 months I was very nauseous and tired. It has improved a lot, but my new bedtime is 10pm. I always thought I could prepare for this for 9 months, but so much has changed already. My body has changed entirely, it completely out of wack. My eating patern is completely different, I feel different and I suddenly smell a lot. Of course it is all worth it and I feel privileged to be able to have a child.

We went for an ultrasound today and here’s the result. I don’t know anything yet about the health of development of the baby, we will discuss that with my ob/gyn next week.

B’s first picture. He/she didn’t want to lie still so a perfect profile picture was not possible, but you can clearly see the head and the spine. Our baby already has a mind of its own and we like it!

B is waving! On the left an arm, on the right a hand.

Already a few weeks ago, but here’s a story and pictures of New York. We went to New York for a few days. My friend Karen who lives in Vancouver was raised in Brooklyn and New Jersey and was visiting her mother in New Jersey for a couple of weeks. We came for a few days and stayed with her mom as well. New Jersey is not far from Manhattan, just a bus or train ride away across the river.

We took the ferry to Staten Island so we could see the statue of liberty up close. We didn’t go to it because the line-up was gigantic.

Karen showed us around downtown. Here are Karen and I in front of the Brooklyn Bridge.

I like the older buildings more that the new sky scrapers. I found some Dutch architecture close to Wall street.

It’s busy on the streets everywhere, people, cars and lots of taxi’s. The people are very divers, it doesn’t matter what you look like, everything goes. Everywhere in the city there is something going on. Mike was very impressed by this and is ready to move here for a year. Unfortunately he’ll have to go alone because I’m not joining him. No, this city is not in my top 10.

The building site of Ground Zero. Nothing much to see except that it was a large site. It’s is strange to be here, everybody can remember this day and what happened.

Times Square is a mad house, it’s so busy. All the Broadway Theatres and tv studios are here. We went to a Broadway show and that was the highlight of the trip for me. We saw ‘Guys & Dolls’, a classic musical in the ‘Nederlander’ theater. It was funny to see Lauren Graham (Lorelei from the Gilmore Girls) on stage dancing and singing. She can sing, but she can’t really dance.

It was Fleet week so the city was filled with marines and navy people in white suits, very nice! I had to have my picture taken with a couple of them.

A rest in Central Park. Even in the park it was very busy. The carriages with horses or bikes were passing by all the time. There is always something to do in the park: music, street performers and roller disco’s.

The memorial for John Lennon close to where he was shot. People are here all day long and we had a chat with the self proclaimed ‘mayor of Strawberry fields’. He makes sure the stone looks nice with rose petals and he’s here all day long with his dog. A band is playing Beatles music and tourists are coming and going.

Mike wanted to see Harlem and the Apollo theater. It has been in the news lately because it was the starting place of Michael Jackson’s career and that’s why we were here as well.

We went on top of the Empire State Building.

A last view of the city from the Empire State Building. Very cool to have visited New York, but I’m not in love with the city. I’m too spoiled with the European cities with lots of culture and history. There is culture and history in New York, but everything together and everything is done in the American way.

Last week my grandmother died at the age of 93. She had gotten very ill the last few weeks and it went downhill fast. She was taken care of close to my dad so he and Linda spent a lot of time with her. I didn’t have a close relationship with her, but she’s been the only grandparent I’ve ever known. It was strange I couldn’t even go to her funeral.

My Grandmother and I when I was in Holland in September