NZ Herald

I’m an uncle!

Femke gave birth to her at 7.25pm today. She’s 3485 grams and 51 cm.

I heard her make cute noises on the telephone. I’m already in love with her. Can’t wait to see her.

Ever since September 2011 New Zealand has been struck by earthquakes. Here’s a map where they displayed by location and severity.

Today it was hit again by a 6.3 earthquake on the Richter scale. Right in Christchurch where my sister Maaike lives. Luckily I received an email this morning saying everything was alright. She said she witnessed the collapse of the Christchurch cathedral.

Source: BBC News

None of her friends have been reported missing or worse dead. Apparently there’s no water, electricity or sewerage. The house is unsafe to live in and they are camping out in their garden. Hope for the best…

Tuesday I had a skype meeting with my little sister Maaike. She lives in Christchurch, New Zeeland.
My other sister Femke is expecting offspring somewhere in April next year. You see the conundrum Maaike is in? She’s a sister and far away, not able to witness the pregnancy and birth of the little runt.
So what did Maaike think of? She adopted Lenny the sock bear. Lenny sends emails to little one. And little one sends emails to Lenny.

I thought I would welcome the child Femke is carrying, the same way as I would with all of my friends. But no. Since she told me she’s got a bun in the oven I feel a connection with it that is stronger than with the children of friends. That kid is going to be smothered in my love, whether it likes it or not.

My sister Maaike lives in Christchurch New Zeeland. She and her boyfriend got hit by an earthquake of 7.4 on the Richter scale. Luckily there was only some debris damage from falling bricks from the chimneys. No bodily harm.

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The wedding was great. My sister and her hubby Gerrit were really happy, lots of family there and a beautiful day. There was a church ceremony with friends of Gerrit singing Serbian songs. My youngest sister was over from New Zeeland with her boyfriend whom I actually did not like. But you can’t like them all. I put up the link to his page so you can see where not to go.

Ow yeah, and mum had moving food.

I’m off to a wedding. My sister Femke

is going to be married. And for the occasion my other sister and her boyfriend

are coming over from the beautiful land of the kiwis.

Am I going to take a lot of pictures.

This weekend I had a family reunion at my parent’s place in Limburg. A reunion on my mother’s side. Because of the hassle with the A73 (Dutch) I decided to go early. I took the exit just before the tunnel at a place called Swalmen. Driving onto a provincial road I got almost jumped at by a dragon.

An ugly one at best. Arriving at my parent’s house is always accompanied by a nostalgic sentiment; mostly triggered by smell. It’s always good to come home. With family members slowly dropping in I found out that the tunnel I avoided, because all signs said it was closed, was actually open. Hell and damnation, excuse my French. You have to drive down very busy village roads taking ages to arrive where you want to arrive.
Anyway, soon talk erupted and it was fun catching up with everybody. After a nice walk we sat down to eat. It is customary for everybody to create some of their favourite dishes and bring it along. Needless to say when you have a family who’s origins lie in Limburg, the food was good.

After PNG I returned to a physical state where sickness doesn’t touch me. Until now. It felt like I was having a flu the last few days. I never have the flu so I started thinking. This doesn’t come naturally so I stopped it.
So I did what every male does when faced with a dilemma like this (even though I frikkin’ spent 4 years getting a BA in physiotherapy and have been working in the health system ever since); I rang my mum. And my mum, like I reckon every mum, has the Answers. When mums speak you don’t actually have to think. Their words somehow seem to connect straight into a very old part of the brain. The instructions were; eat your fruit, drink tea and go to bed early. Right, easy enough.
But how did I get this debilitating illness? Another instruction took care of that as well. You haven’t been getting out a lot during weekdays. So you are not getting enough sunlight on your skin. UV will give your body the opportunity to create vitamin D, which in turn keeps your immune system healthy. A walk outside of at least 10 minutes a day will give your body what it needs.

You know what? I wonder what kind of study you have to do before you can become a mum.