the De Vos family

starting all over

The first few years living on my own were rough. When I think back to the "closet" I was renting for 300 guilders (about 1/3 of my income back then), I wonder why I even did it. Of course being 18 years old and just insisting on being very grown up, it made a lot of sense back then.

Those years of just making it every month and not being able to afford a lot, made that I just loved the things I had. For example, I started collecting points at the Blokker for my own diningware, "koffietijd servies" (Coffee time diningware).

I collected a couple of plates, caserole pan, the teapot and some cups. After a couple of years, Blokker canceled this line and since I had no money, I had just half the collection. But I loved it, and so did I love my washer (ouch, that cost me 3 months of plain living). It didn't matter it was not fancy or imcomplete, it was mine. I worked hard for it.

When we left The Netherlands we let Martin's cousin rent our home for a while, just in case we hated it here, or the job was not good. But we stayed and so in January of 2006 we had to give the apartment back to the landlord. But all our stuff was there and I was here. I remember a couple restless nights, because it was very hard for me to let our families clean it out. Especially since I could not decide from here what was to go or to save. Martin was much easier (I guess partly since he doesn't care about stuff, and partly since it was mine anyway) and so after some discussion, we let our family pick what they liked and the rest went via some charity to Poland.

Now we are moving back... and I don't care about any of my stuff here. Since we were just gonna stay a while, everything was bought cheap and sort of tasteless, except my sewingmachine and the kitchen table. And even though I tried to make this apartment a home, it never quite got it. Now we are going to leave it all behind and start over again, hopefully with a lot more taste and home to it.

what happened to the years?

Lately, I start to realize that I am not 25 years old anymore. Don't laugh! I know you know, but I didn't.

It started when I was peeking at some blogs, you know reading without leaving a comment. And there it was: I noticed that friends of my baby sister - who's in my mind still 16 - are getting married, like her and her. Married?? They are waaaaayy too young, that is just plain stupid. But my "baby" sister is not a baby anymore, but 24 years old and so are her friends. That is a year older than I was and that was over 6 years ago...

So not as stupid as I thought, I at least thought I was quite a woman and not a girl anymore. And it still seems the right choice, right honey?!!!!!

But was that more than 6 years ago? I remember it so well. The red dress, dinner, friends over at our place. I guess I stopped counting when we left The Netherlands. Like this Ithaca-world is sort of magic, like the door to Narnia. The friends who came expierenced it too, we picked up our friendships like there was no gap.

But time really went by: I am turning 26 again in 3 months. Am I actually having a midlife crisis?

camera

Remember how I made Martin go back for the camera on Sunday?

Then came Monday late afternoon. We are getting into the car to go to the doctors, and Martin asks me: "did you just put the camera on the roof of the car?"
No, of course not, why would I bring a camera to the doctors? Well, it must have been there since I returned to the car on Sunday afternoon at Taughannock Park. I remember putting it on the roof, because I was putting the kids in the car and folding the stroller...

The camera must have had quite an adventure. Driving 55 mph to Cornell, going home, sleeping a night under the stars, driving to work twice today, and still I hadn't noticed.

Luckily, after I charged the batteries, it worked and survived.
And at the doctors they dtermined another (pretty bad) earinfection for Adrian. As soon as that clears, we're going to see a specialist.

walking

Yesterday was a wonderful day - the sun was shining and with a sweater life was very comfertable. Lucklily, I had seen this coming. The weather channel is very usefull when I actually take time to look at it. I had emailed Annemiek ahead and she was available for a walk at Taughannock State Park. This park is the only park in the neighborhood that is somewhat stroller friendly.

After we all got in the car (dropping Martin at work first), I made Martin go back inside for my camera. I really wanted to post some pictures of the boys again. So, Annemiek and I met at 3 pm and walked 1 mile in  almost 1 hour and 15 minutes. I guess toddlers really slow down, but we had a nice chat and the boys love the leaves, sticks, waterfall, and the bridge. The batteries of my camera died after one picture, luckily Annemiek had hers. So now you all can go and peek at her blog for some pictures.

Slowly, but surely we get our act together towards the move. Thanks to Frans and Karin (Karin is a colleague of my mom) for sending us advice and some experiences. It just helps.

We decided to only move a portion. The car, the dining table, and boxes with personal items, The rest will be sold, so I started selling on craigslist.
This weekend our landlord is going to be in town and after talking to him we should be ready to make some final decisions on the US side. Hopefully he will take our furniture and rent the apartment from now furnished. That would save us lots of work, but we'll see.

We are not anywhere close to making any decisions on the Dutch side (housing, work for me, child care, etc). I stress about that part though, but it is too early to apply for jobs and without a job no daycare is needed. And housing, ooooh well, as soon as I have a job and know where I will be working, then we decide where to buy a house. I keep checking Funda for ideas and maybe I will fall in love with an affordable one.

Last, but definately not least, I have to go to the pediatrician with Adrian this afternoon, since it looks like he has another ear infection. He cried from 1 till 6 am last night and I am not allowed to touch his right ear. If that is the case, he will most likely be send to a specialist. We'll keep you posted.

the other side

Just looking at our move from the other side of the "pond":

"kan wel vertellen dat ik ernaar uitzie om ECHT ECHT ECHT tante te worden en mijn zussie, zwager en nephews in de buurt te hebben"
~ can say that I really look forward to become a REAL REAL REAL aunt and have my sis, brother-in-law and nephews in the neighborhood

sometimes you just need a little note to realize that is sort of the same for them. Us missing grandparents, sisters and brothers, and not really knowing your nieces, but for them it is the same. They don't really know my kids..... Hmmm, this is going to be interesting.