Happy Fourth of July!

Here's Thijs in the Fourth of July outfit picked out by Petra and Karena.

And here he is doing his mummy impression after his bath.

And all, um, pooped out after a busy afternoon...

9 July 2001: Grandma and Grandpa are here! Most of the pictures from the first few days are on the photo camera, so it'll take a while to get them up. Here are a few, though. Here's Thijs in his stroller, watching the Paddington Bears fly by.

They don't know it, but Erik's colleagues got the Paddington mobile for Thijs.

Usually he prefers personal contact, though. Especially when he isn't feeling so hot.

11 July 2001

We went to dinner tonight at our favorite restaurant in Amsterdam (Giulia's). Thijs was great -- he slept most of the meal and was cute and quiet when he was awake. The table full of Japanese girls behind us thought he was absolutely adorable.

Giulia's is Thijs' favorite restaurant, too (he visited plenty of times while he was still in the womb). Here he's struggling to stay awake in Grandma's lap.

Grandma and Grandpa seemed to be enjoying it, too!

After dinner, Giulia showed Thijs off to the whole room (staff and guests). He was a big hit, of course.

Here's a picture to prove that we're all here at the same time.

13 July 2001

Taking care of Thijs starts even before the first cup of coffee. Just ask Grandpa!

Once Erik & Thea (well, okay, just Erik) stumble out of bed, John and June have a chance to get in a bit of sightseeing.

By the time they get back, Erik has had a shower and Thijs is wiped out.

Later in the day, we all went for a walk. Thijs really wanted a hot chocolate at Coffee Company...

...Dad said no, so Thijs went to Grandma.

By the time we got home the little guy was a bit overstimulated and cranky. Fortunately, Grandma has a special talent for calming him down.

15 July 2001

Thijs is one month old today!!!

Today we visited Zaanse Schans (an open-air museum with windmills) with Grandma and Grandpa. Thijs is only in a few of the pictures, so we made a separate page for them. Click here to see our page with pictures from Zaanse Schans..

Thijs wore the "I am a little sailor" outfit that Madame Lapiche sent him. Tres mignon!

17 July 2001:

Grandma and Grandpa go home tomorrow. They've been getting in a bit more sightseeing before they go.

As you can see, Grandma and Grandpa have different ideas about what exactly sightseeing is (Grandma is on a boat, Grandpa is in a urinal).

Despite taking some time for sightseeing, they still spend plenty of time with Thijs! (Don't worry, he washed his hands first).

22 July 2001

Ali came by to visit today, but Thijs slept through the whole thing.

Some of the positions he finds comfortable are just amazing!

He also got his first bottle today. Milk comes out of the bottle much more easily, so both he and his Dad ended up covered in Milk. Thea insists that bottles work much better between midnight and 6am, but Erik isn't buying it:

Thea had a visit to the Midwives today for one last checkup. Everything is fine and we finally got a picture of Veron (the midwife who delivered Thijs) holding him. We were a little too preoccupied to get pictures of her when he was born:-). She hasn't seen him since a few days after birth and was surprised at how much he's grown.

30 July 2001:

Thea's friend Maggie is returning to the states after six years abroad because her husband is retiring from Lucent. We met them at Centraal Station to say good by -- Maggie was fantastic with Thijs!

After we got home, Thijs played on his new "Winnie the Pooh" playmat. He's really good at hitting Winnie, and he's fascinated by the baby in the mirror.