back from meeting family and travelling in India

Mortsel-Istanbul transit

We had a nice pre-Xmas dinner in Belgium and on the 23d we left for India via Istanbul.

We spent 3 weeks in India, the first week at Parul's cousin's wedding in Pune (close to Bombay). Mira was an attraction for the whole family.

Kedar and Urmila's wedding (India trip 0607

In between the various functions at the wedding I (Jeroen) had the chance to visit a Tata power dam with my kaaka (uncle). Tata runs a few social projects for the local villagers, I was very impressed. Did you know that Tata Steel, for example, began the eight-hour work day for employees in 1912, long before the US or Europe, and a year after Britain accepted the 12-hour day. Read the article about Tata, integral part of Indian life.

Tata Power visit PUNE

Happy 2007

 

New photo album

Mira december

A selection of pictures of Mira turning 6 months old, learning to eat solids and wearing sunglasses.

Thu 14/12/06 - On Wednesday evening the Francophone public broadcaster RTBF interrupted its normal programmes with the news that Flanders had declared independence.

(see also this article ). While some people are amused, most were shocked, however Belgium is still one country.

Meanwhile Mira has gone through a series of difficult nights because her first tooth has finally declared independence. She's been playing with it with her tongue all day long!
She's also started 3 'meals' a day- kiwi, banana, apple, potato, carrot, zucchini... We try and give her bite sized pieces, instead of mashing it all, and she can drink water from a cup (slightly assisted of course).

diamonds kill in Antwerp

At a dawn raid on Thursday, December 7, the Antwerp police raided the house of Indian diamantaire Nikhil Manilal, who at the time was at home together with his wife Sujata and his father. When confronted with the police detectives he was struck by a heart attack and collapsed. Only when it was apparent that the 46-year old diamantaire had passed away, some ten to 15 minutes later, an ambulance was called.

The version of this news is quite different from the one on the Belgian news, stating that an ambulance was called within one minute of the attack.

The Indian diamond community is outraged and already spoke to the prime minister about the incident.

Sint

De Sint is langsgeweest en omdat Mira een half jaar braaf is geweest kreeg ze een lekker houten speelgoedje. Het is nu 11 uur vrijdagavond en ze ligt onvermoeibaar naast mij te spartelen, soms os ze echt niet in slaap te krijgen. Maar het goede nieuws is dat ze vandaag voor het eerst echt gegeten heeft met een lepeltje, ik bedoel dus dat wij haar het lepeltje in de mond staken en zij de appel ook echt opat. Het concept eten dringt tot haar door, want daarvoor was het enkel sabbelen op een lepel of kauwen op wat eten en niet de twee samen.

The meatrix

Really funny movie about a disastrous truth:

http://www.meatrix.com

12 November 2006, wedding anniversary brunch

Time flies and so much has happened in these two years. We had some friends over for a brunch last Sunday to celebrate this. Here you can see Dorien and Lisa trying to feed Mira a giraffe and an apple at our brunch :) Sarah took a few nice pictures too.

Wapenstilstand/ Armistice Day

Mira got her first shots yesterday- a Polio and Tetanus cocktail. She took it quite well, much better than the anxious mum :-)

We picked up our new (second hand) car today. Finally...

Album with some pictures of our 5 month old daughter

Mira oktober Click to see the album

After a few weeks without a phone nor internet (thanks to the liberlalised phone market in the EU) we are back online. Our daughter turned 5 months and started to roll over on both sides and can almost sit up straight. Going to the creche three days a week is a joy, apart from the colds she keeps getting there. Right now she is sitting next to me in a bumbo baby chair making lots of lionlike noises, roaring and squeeling. She is 6.8 kilos!

Amy came to visit from Australia, just like she did last year in September, when we had just found out Mira was on her way. This time she was here for a shoe fair in Paris and a holiday in Croatia. You can see her pictures here

4 maanden Mira en papa's verjaardag

Yes I am 6,2 kilos and proud of it



Verjaardag van Jeroen, Christophe aan de BBQ.

Covering the world

People often comment on how much I have travelled, or how I must be used to being in foreign countries and not having a fixed home.
but I've only covered 12% of the world :-)
So much more to see...
Parul



create your own visited country map
or check our Venice travel guide

My map looks quiet different and yet there is a lot of overlap : )
Jeroen



create your own visited country map
or check our Venice travel guide

eerste fietstocht

  

creche

This week Mira went to the creche for the first time. As of next week, she will go there every Tuesday Wednesday and Thursday. So far, its been good, even being fed by a bottle full of breast milk instead of drinking at the source!

23 July Rosemary and Naomi 's Wedding

Mira congratulating Naomi and Rosemary on just getting married.







Parul, Mira, Elina from Latvia and Rosemary's mother at the entrance of the restaurant where they held the wedding party. 

Three months of parenthood

We're mamma and papa for three months now, can't remember what it was like before Mira :-) 

thumb sucking is in

 

Back to work..... soon

I've been at home since May, and will go back in a week. I am looking forward to it, though a bit wary about Mira's adjustment to the creche. I'll work 4 days a week, Jeroen's mum will babysit one day and she will go to the creche for3 days. We're doing a dry run next week!
Here are some adorable photos from the last month. She is now more than 3 months old!

hazenslaapje

Lilse bergen

Mira in de Lilse bergen July 2006

Sanjeev and Anna came to visit during the heatwave in July, on their way to the US where she is going to study.

We spent a day at the lake in the Lilse bergen with them, picknick, swim and sleep.

bathing is so nice

Mira never misses an occasion to be in a good mood when having a bath in a tummy tub, a Dutch invention.

climbing holiday Arolla -> Briancon

kersen plukken cherry picking in Hex

We had a lovely day cherry- picking in Limburg, an hour's drive from Antwerp, and came back with 8 kilos of cherries!