Day 21 - Independence Day

Let freedom ring! The movers came today and we are officially free from our prison life (if prison life meant someone who cleaned your room and brought delicious food at your every whim, then yes, prison). Wait, why did we leave there again?? Oh yeah, because I am blogging right now from my very own couch with my feet propped up on my very own pillow. While there is still a LONG way to go, it feels incredible to look around and see our belongings that we haven't laid eyes on in eight weeks. As movers were unpacking, we were saying, "Oh yeah, I forgot about that!" and "Where are we going to put all this stuff??" Luckily, it's all in the house now, and while there are still some boxes to unpack and lots to organize, it's definitely starting to feel more like home. I've included some "before" the move pictures and will hopefully soon post some "after" pictures as we finish rooms and get things in their proper place (as opposed to the magazine rack I found in the kitchen or the wine rack in Liam's room -- hmmm, maybe we're on to something? . . . )

To make things a little easier, here is the layout on our place : it is 4 bedrooms, 2 1/2 baths, and is a split level. Because all ground floors are called Level 0 in Europe, I'll explain like that:

• Level -1 : Kitchen
• Level 0 : Entrance to house, half bath, Dining room, exit to garden
• Level 1 : Living Room
• Level 2 : Master bedroom and bath
• Level 3 : Office, walk-in closet, and Liam's room
• Level 4 : Guest room and hall bath

I hope that makes sense! NOW you can enjoy the pictures and maybe get a better understanding . . .

Us, in front of the house

Level 0 : front entrance,
looking down into the kitchen.

Level 0 : Front hall bath off foyer
(seriously as small as an airplane bathroom)

Level -1 : Kitchen (this size
kitchen is rare in the NL -- the owner
renovated it with all new appliances
and changed the layout)

We also lucked out with a tall fridge on the left
(the one that looks like cabinets), a freezer
under the oven, and a small mini fridge
(our "bottles and beers" fridge : ) Refrigerators
(and especially freezers) are hard to find in homes

Level 0: View from dining room to garden and
living room (one floor up). That whole wall
where the door is opens up accordian-style

View from garden of the back of the house --
long window on bottom is the kitchen and
big windows above are living room. Top left
windows are office and top right are Liam's room

Level 1 : Living Room,
looking down to dining room

Living Room -- that whole wall of windows
opens up! Beautiful to do right now . . .

Level 2 : Master bedroom

Master bath

Level 3 : Office

Walk-in closet attached to office (this is
another rarity in Europe, where most places
have zero closet space -- no joke)

Still Level 3 : Liam's room

Liam's room has a sink, which sounds odd
but I think will come in such handy!

Level 4 : Hall bath and laundry room

Level 4 : Guest room with French balcony

Going back down the stairs, this is the
landing on Level 3 (guest quarters above us,
Liam's room to my right and the office
behind me)

Down more stairs, this is the landing on Level 2
(master bedroom / bath), with the office to the
right above and looking down into the living
room and Level 0

I hope that helps give a small glimpse into our house for those of you who have been dying to see it! After looking at about 15 houses in two days back in April, we are very happy with our find. Keith is most excited about the "normal" stairs (because most stairs here at either spiral and/or very, very steep and narrow), and I love the size of the rooms and renovated kitchen (go ahead with the cooking jokes ; ). Oh yeah, and the walk-in closet, too . . .

Seeing little Liam ( who's not so little?! )

Today was also made great because we got to see our sweet Liam once more . . . at the end of the afternoon we made our way to the midwifery for a check-up and ultrasound. This was a feat in itself because our appointment was at 3:20 (one that we had scheduled two weeks ago without of course knowing the movers would want to come the same day). We couldn't very well leave them in the house alone, so who should come to our rescue but Super Deena (the same friend who made and brought us chicken soup when we had "the poison"). She took the train and bus out to our house and stayed for about an hour and a half while the movers finished, THEN continued to put things away for us . . . we owe her big time, so what is something nice I can do for her? (Seriously, she has saved our butts twice now, I'm open to suggestions!)

ANYway, so we got to "see" Liam today and the U/S tech kept talking about how big he was, but he just looked adorable to me. : ) Right now he is head down with his spine curving up my left side and his legs and feet bunched up on my right side. I could have told her that though considering how often I've felt his kicks and jabs in certain spots. When I told Deena how she kept saying how big our baby was, she told me to take it with a grain of salt because they think all babies are big here . . . her friend had a 7 pound baby girl here, and the nurses were calling in other nurses to "come see the big American baby!" Seriously?? Then they're probably going to think our "little" Liam is a chunker! Here's a couple pics of him, though you might be like me and find them hard to make out . . . there's not a great one of his face because he was being shy and had his hand in front of his face most of the time (although he looks like he's making a duck shadow puppet, so he could just be entertaining himself) . . .

This is his arm and hand, pointed right at his face (profile shot) --

see what I mean about the duck hand? : )

His foot is the big bony blob on the left and 

the long white thing is his other leg with his heel at the top 

(did you ever doubt he'd have big feet like his parents??)

At my next appointment we discuss delivery -- already?? I'm not ready for him to come yet, so he can keep his happy self right where he is for now!

After a LONG day, I am just glad to order a pizza and sit on the couch with my hubby to watch some American TV (if you don't know about Slingbox, you should -- it's amazing).

By the way, Happy 4th of July, Happy Birthday to our good friend Pete, and Happy Anniversary to Pete and Courtney! Missing you guys and hope you celebrated big with little man!

Varwell!
~Jessi