Guus Bosman

software executive and technologist

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dailylife

Adrian at five weeks

Sat, 03/21/2015 - 5:28pm

Adrian has a growth spurt it seems, and he's eating a little more than usual.

This morning he was about 9 lbs 14 oz (4.48 kg). Like I said, not sure how reliable that number is but it's going in the right direction.

The skin of the boys is starting to clear up, and both their eyes are opening.

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dailylife

Leo at five weeks

Sat, 03/21/2015 - 5:28pm

Leo is growing nicely. After a growth spurt last week he is eating a little less fervently at night and sleeps better. He's slept twice with his head on my hand, very cozy.

This morning he was about 10 lbs 14 oz (4.93 kg). Not sure how much I trust that number since it's 14 oz more than last week -- and most babies grow between 5 and 7 oz per week. Our scale isn't super accurate for small increases, but in general it seems like they are growing well.

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dailylife

One month old

Thu, 03/19/2015 - 4:29pm

Wow, one month old! Actually, it's 32 days today. In my mind, the first three months with babies are the toughest, sleep-wise. So we're one-third through that period, sometimes called the "fourth trimester". And every now and then they start to sleep longer than three hours between feedings, in particular the stretch after 3.00 am is starting to get longer which is great.

The boys are doing great and are slowly becoming a little bit more aware of their surroundings. Tante Ettie gave us several baby books and when we put them in the crib the look at the bright colors with interest. A little while ago Nora insisted to go into the cribs "met de babies" and she read to them from those books, very cute.

I just had a great nap and am drinking my first coffee in two weeks so I feel great. Like I wrote before, the hardest time with the babies is around 3.00 am if they don't fall asleep well. But otherwise it's great and very special to spend time the five of us.

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dailylife

Dirt

Wed, 03/18/2015 - 9:58am

When we were looking for a house two years ago, we wanted some outside space with the vague expectation that Nora would enjoy that.

I have great memories of our backyard in Opperdoes, where Ettie, Joost and I played in the sandbox.

Well, Nora is now three years old and loves dirt. When she goes for a walk to likes to play with puddles of water and mud, haha.

And yes, she also loves playing in the yard. The weather has improved tremendously in the last 10 days and it's pleasant outside now. One of Nora's games is to take a stick and transfer a little bit of dirt from one side of the path to the other.

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dailylife

Terry Pratchett

Thu, 03/12/2015 - 12:37pm

Today is a sad day -- Sir Terry Pratchett has past away, at the age of 66. I love his books and I was really sad to hear about his passing.

Reading Terry Pratchett books started many years ago for me. In the mid-1990's, my father and I would borrow books from the library in Middenmeer, and soon we had read them all. In Dutch, in excellent translations.

Later we'd discover more books in the library in Wieringerwerf, and Discworld books became welcome gifts for birthdays and St. Nicholas celebrations.

In 1997 Jaap and I made a trip to China, and at the end of that great vacation I bought an English version of Wyrd Sisters and we started reading the books in their original language also.

It is hard to put in words how much fun and enjoyment I've had from Terry Pratchett's books over the past twenty years. How nice it was to look forward to new books, and how special to follow the developments of his writing style and subjects over the years. His first books are very different from his more recent ones -- though all great, without exception.

The wit and the humanity of his books and their characters speak very deeply to the character of Sir Pratchett.

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dailylife

Three weeks old

Mon, 03/09/2015 - 6:14pm

Leo and Adrian turned three weeks old yesterday and things are going pretty well.

I might be overly optimistic, but the time between their feedings seems to be increasing a little bit. Yesterday was a 23 hour day and they did 7 feedings -- an average of 3,5 hours. That's an improvement over the 8 to 9 feedings they did only 10 days ago. And this morning they skipped a feeding! When I woke up at 7.30 am I realized we never did the 5.00 am feeding. That's probably just a random occurrence -- but it was a very welcome five hour stretch of sleep.

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dailylife

Leo at two weeks

Fri, 03/06/2015 - 12:08pm

Leo is a fast and effective eater -- he is often satisfied after 15 minutes and then falls asleep. Well, for most feedings that is. The ones between 6.00 pm and 3.00 am are more complicated as both boys tend to fuss and need more rocking and pacifying.

Leo gained a good amount of weight since his birth and he is strong. At the pediatrician, he rolled over already.

Here are some pictures from a few days ago, when he was two weeks old.

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dailylife

Nora's 3 year check-up

Tue, 03/03/2015 - 4:49pm

Today Nora went to the pediatrician for her 3 year check-up. Except for a flu shot a few months ago this was Nora's first doctor appointment since a year ago.

We've read a lot of books about "going to the doctor", including Ани, who goes for a check-up too. So Nora knew roughly what to expect.

There were no shots this time and Nora did well during the visit, but I could tell it made quite an impression on her. Before we left, when I put her in the car seat, she asked me: "papa, wat gaat dokter Kim doen?". She was weighed, they took her blood pressure and length and checked her eyes and various developmental milestones.

She got quiet when the doctor talked to her in English -- even words she usually does know -- but that was no problem.

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dailylife

Adrian at two weeks

Mon, 03/02/2015 - 4:49pm

Adrian takes his time with feedings -- he just loves to hang out with mama. He gets a very warm face when he is done eating and happily falls asleep. He is often the one who wakes up first for the next round.

He has a distinct cry, it goes "laaa, laaaa".

Here are some pictures from him from yesterday when he was exactly two weeks old.

He gained a few ounces since he was born, and his body feels a little stronger and bigger already.

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dailylife

First package

Sun, 03/01/2015 - 10:24pm

Leo and Adrian received their first package this week. Thank you very much for the nice presents!

They are two weeks old now, a first milestone in their development. They graduated to a bigger diaper size yesterday after some incidents. We used the Newborn size diapers I ordered 3 years ago but now we still have some left over.

It was a very icy day and our front steps are slippery so the mailman left our Amazon package for today down the stairs: another huge box of diapers, but now in the next size up (size 1). We go through a huge amount of diapers per day. It's great to be able to order everything without having to leave the house -- we even bought a new garbage can online.

When Nora was born I went back to work after two weeks -- that would be tomorrow. Thankfully that's not the case and I'm staying home for another three weeks.

So far I can say that twins are harder because there is more work but it is not twice as hard as one baby, thankfully. It is also very helpful that we have been through all this before: it is less scary and we care less about the small stuff.

They are super regular and wake up by themselves every three hours to eat. Getting up in the middle for the night is not as hard as it sound, as long as you can take a nap or two during the day. The scariest part is that you never know if they'll truly fall asleep after a feeding. If one of them has hiccups or something bothering them, it might take a while before we can all go back to sleep. That will get better over time -- they are still very little of course. It's very special to be around them, and I am very happy. It's great also to spend more time with Nora: she usually hangs out with us in the bedroom and we talk and read books a lot.

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