Happy 2nd birthday Nico!

Today Nico is 2 years, 2 weeks and 2 days old.

77 days to go till Bean stops playing havoc with my internal organs and starts working on my external bits (nipples, eyelids, ear drums,...)

Checking out the quilt that Oma Yoke made for his 2nd birthday.

On his actual birthday (29 October) we got him a little monkey moonchair, which he snuggles into to watch DVDs.

Last Sunday we celebrated Nico's 2nd birthday at home.

We had friends & family over, and of course more food and drinks than we could handle.

Fletcher, Elisa, Eliah, Nico and Finn discovering the bubble machine

and how not to shampoo a carpet.

Eliah couldn't find falling snow flakes to eat,

so had to make do with bubble solution.

Elisa trying (and failing) to teach Nico the value of sharing his ride with the girls.

Ohmygosh look at all the colours!

Nicolas had a genuine try at helping me ensure that there would be no leftovers.

Briar got the idea - one plate in each hand...

Felt some pity for the parents, so we let the offspring out loose on the driveway with chalk and bubbles to work the sugar and colouring out. Failed abysmally with Catherine who didn't go to sleep till midnight despite her arm-flail (tm) workout.

Nico's got so many toys that we've decided to gradually open the rest of his birthday presents - at the rate of about a present every two days and so far he's loving the ones he's opened. You can tell by the fact that they're scattered throughout the house.

Still loving staying at Oma's, learning Dutch songs, feeding the chickens and going for swimming lessons. Oma (sorry - Oma Yoke) has discovered the hard way that regular disposable nappies are meant to absorb and retain large amount of liquids. Seems I missed out on the sight of a Nicolas dragging a water-logged nappy inside his swimming shorts. Lucky for her, Nico didn't eat prunes or kiwifruit the night before.

Nico's been staying at Oma's every Monday night while Mummy and Daddy learn how to cook Thai dishes. His favourite so far is the money bags - like fried wontons. Separation time seems to get easier as time goes by. I'm sure that the fact that he's occupied with dessert when we say bye-bye has got nothing to do with it.

Bean is being way more active than Nico was. It's pretty distracting and dare I say disturbing to look down at my beer gut and see ripples on its surface every so often. Must not think of Aliens... Must not think of Aliens...

She's growing so well that when Nico comes up close to my legs and hugs me, his first words are not Mama, or even Cheese. Instead he says Baby - that'd be because that's all he sees when he looks up...