Brothers

Shot this yesterday afternoon during a particularly sweet exchange between the boys. Sebastian is very chatty already and as you can see, Zander is fascinated with him.

Meanwhile, back at the zoo...

Zander may have a new little brother, but Sebastian isn't the only show in town. In fact, we have a baby elephant in the house as well.

But before he was born...

Sorry to go backwards for a moment, but who doesn't like to see a big belly?

Zander was a good big brother, even back then. I am fairly positive you could have confused me with the broad side of a barn, but hey, that's what happens when you're pregnant.

That said, I was lucky enough to be part of a pregnancy article in the Middle East edition of Shape magazine (which means I couldn't have been quite as rotund as I think I was). Not only was I in a photo shoot, I also got to review two amazing mom-to-be spa treatments. There are perks to being pregnant and in publishing!

Here I am at 6 months pregnant, demonstrating the sideways lunge. In a surprising turn of events, I am also demonstrating what happens when a make up artist gets a bit over zealous with eye shadow and blusher...

Introducing Sebastian

Here he is, TL2 in the flesh. Sebastian was born on the afternoon of April 25th, making him exactly two years and one month younger than his big brother.

As with Zander, I was induced when I had Sebastian, but thankfully instead of 16 hours of labor he arrived after only four hours -- and only three big pushes. It was a much smoother process than the first time around, and I was up and taking a shower within two hours of giving birth.

Zander, Tonny (Bas' mom) and Leizl (our nanny) came to the hospital that evening, and immediately Zander was intrigued by his little brother.

For those of you keeping track, this is the same hat Zander wore on the day he went home from the hospital. And both of them seem to have a mutual dislike of the beanie. Oh well. Mama thinks it is cute.

How does a year pass so quickly?

More than a year has passed since I chased Zander around his room with my mobile phone, hoping to finally show off his prowess in the walking department. As they say, we've come a long way, baby.

Our little man will be two tomorrow, which just doesn't seem possible. Zander is growing into a joyful, silly and wonderful kid. He has a wicked sense of humor and loves to tease (especially his mother).

The past year has been a busy one for Zander. Besides embarking on a 3-week road trip around Europe (Holland, Austria, Switzerland, Hungary, the Czech Republic and Germany), he has learned the fine art of charming everyone he meets. His current passions include trucks ("doot doots"), music (particularly Big Band/Swing and um, Radiohead) and story time.

But these days, he's got something else to get excited about. You see, he's about to be a big brother. Yes, I realize that when I was pregnant with Zander I completely forgot to update our blog until a mere month or so before he was born. And this time around...I've done the same thing. Chalk it up to being busy or prenatal porridge brain -- either way, at least I'm predictable.

Zander is particularly fond of my belly. The bigger it gets, the more Zander likes to give my bump a friendly pat whenever it passes him by. And most of the time when I ask him to kiss his baby brother, I get a nice kiss on my navel. I've never seen a kiddo who is so ready to be a big brother!

TL2 (the in-utero name of our soon to be born son) is due to make his appearance in late April/early May. Watch this space for updates. No, really!

Zander, a hairbrush and a tour of his room

Apologies if you've already seen this on Facebook. But I am very excited to share this video of Zander on the move!

So its been a little while...

So here's Zander. He's nearly 1 now and I'm just getting around to updating the blog. Sorry, people. Why didn't anyone tell me that being a parent and working full time was a lot of work?!

You may notice that our son looks nothing like me. Sigh. Except for his light brown eyes, he is essentially a clone of his father. Which is good, because I think he's pretty attractive. :)


Well, some updates. About two weeks ago I had my back turned for a split second and when I turned around again Zander was racing across the room after our cat, Eliot. Running, mind you, not walking or crawling. After months of having mama, papa or Gima holding his hand, apparently Z was ready to try this two-legged forward motion thing on his own.

Since then he has only gotten better. He does what my sister calls a "Frankenstein Walk", with his arms straight up in the air while he toddles around the apartment with one of us chasing him to make sure he doesn't blind or otherwise injure himself.

Some kids seem to be pretty timid, but our little man likes nothing more than being hung upside down, tossed around in the air and "dropped" (though I promise that he is safely held by a parent at all times). I've actually started calling him Danger Mouse because really, the kid isn't scared of anything.

A few weeks ago he was standing in his room, holding his papa's hand and he raised his arm in my direction and said, "Mama!" First word and all, so that was exciting. A week later he did the same thing for his dad. And then this week he looked in Eliot's direction and said "Ehhyaa." So with the exception of Gima, the main personalities in his life are now accounted for. Gima keeps trying, though.

As for Zander's parents, Bas' company is growing and thriving, and while he's still on the road with some regularity he is also home quite a lot -- which makes everyone happy.

I am also very busy at work, though we have a few weeks of quiet time after several intense months of utter insanity. In a few days the ter Laares are taking advantage of the lull, though, and heading to a resort about an hour away for a week of well-deserved R&R.

After that, of course, we have some serious celebrating to do: Gramma Carol comes to town to celebrate her grandson's first birthday! Bas' mom is here with some regularity (in fact, she was just here a week ago, and a good time was had by all), but this will be my mom's first trip outside of America. Everyone is very excited and we have some fun surprises in store for her.
Sorry for the unbelievably long delay between posts. Will try to update again soon!