First steps

Today DP had his weekly 'papa dag', the day he takes care of Suzy.
It was one of the record early summer´s days and they went to a park to have a play in the sandpit (sandbox for American English readers)

When I got home DP waited till I was quite close, and then encouraged Suzy to 'do her new trick'. And indeed she took two unassisted steps from his knees to mine.
With how small her steps are it was over in a flash.  I could hardly believe my eyes. Is weird, we could see this moment coming for months. And for the past weeks we suspected she could, but just wasn't willing to let go of whatever she was holding onto.

With standing unassisted it is a bit different. how long do you need to stand to prove you can do it? Even if it was 10 seconds before falling on her bum again it still felt like it was happening more or less by accident.

I had prepared myself for the possibility she would be taking her first steps at daycare, mimicking other children. I had thought of other scenarios, say, steps away from me.
I'm a tiny bit sad I wasn't there in the park, but loved she would take "my" first steps to be with me.
And I hope DP feels extra happy he has his papa day

So Tired

Suzy is sleeping better and better at night, and we are almost done with the night feeds.
But even when we are not woken up by little hungry cries DP or I still wake up somewhere between 4 and 6 am. And sometimes I have trouble going back to sleep.

And then, someone commented on Bionicmamas dot com's blog there is such a thing as the fog of middle childhood. O dear, I don't feel like I can do this even just one more year. Let alone 7.

DP's birthday today. It was a beautiful day, summer weather all of a sudden. Apart from the many cakes we bought there was very little preparation. His parents made the 3h trip to here and enjoyed seeing Suzy and the boys together. We took a little walk (to begijnhof, see begijnhofamsterdam.nl) and on the way back his father was getting so fatigued we were afraid he would fall. DP parked his parents on a public bench on the corner of our canal and ran home to grab a bottle of wine, some glasses and a box of salty peanuts. Of course everyone was sitting outside and they were blending in with the locals just fine. It's just so shocking to see that walking 500 meters was fine, but 500 meters back was simply too much for FIL.
Lasagna (home made from scratch the day before) for dinner was great for the whole family.
Quarter to baby bed time they were getting ready to leave, and I realised that Suzy had not been on FIL's lap yet, so I thought I'd rectify that. He looked so happy and expectant, she grabbed his glasses, (I got them) but as soon as they sat down Suzy started screaming like a banshee. Poor FIL. I hope he enjoyed today despite it. DP is bringing them all home, Suzy went to sleep as soon as she saw her bed and so will I.

Happy Birthday DP. I love you. I never tell you that, but I do. I'm thankful we made it another year. A tough year, a beautiful year. May all your dreams come true (or stay true)
xxx