First Snow

Finally, winter has set in. Our terrace and front yards are covered in a light layer of snow.

Moving

End of an era. We are fed up of the high rent, the anti-social neighbours and the lack of functional space. We will however miss our first home/paddy's 1st ever home.
We are moving...just across to the next block as of 23rd September.
Yay! Huge living room + view of lake!

Paddy's new hobby

Paddy is rambunctious and needs his daily run to keep it together.
Finding this big stick near the lake was a godsend for us.

As you can see, Paddy, loves his stick

this is his best "look into my eyes and don't take my stick" impression.

dragging it along, no matter how heavy it is

not giving it up...ever

learning to curtsy for the stick.

letting mummy seat on me so I cannot get the stick

more new things

all images from www.orlakiely.com

finally they have arrived! my orla kiely order. justified by the fact that i need the rain boots to walk paddy in the nasty weather here...and of course...the bag was also on offer! more than 50% you know!!

My new toy!

Thanks to the fire & a very understanding boss...

this is what i get to work on/bring home/stroke

 

Paddy is Teething!

Paddy is growing up so fast...he has just lost his 1st tooth and it was bothering him the whole day, making him whimper like he never ever did before.

Some ice cubes and soaked food later..he's back to his old cute self again!

Shopping List

Things to buy when back home in Singapore:

Wacom Bamboo Fun Tablet

Paddy the cute

Day out in Holterberg

So warm, so quiet, Paddy tried to hang himself to sleep over the chair beams.
Finally awake again, after sleeping 3 hours.

Enjoying the grass in Holterberg with GJ on a sunny day!

Foward Ho! Her Royal Cuteness...Evi Polling

Incredible, that you could be outside in shorts in April in Holland.

Bloemencorso

To accustoms Paddy to traveling and people, we decided to take him to the Bloemencorso (read: giant flower parade in Lisse, where GJ's station is.) Jinn came along and I am so proud of Paddy. He only barked once at Leiden Central and that was because he had to PEE...other than that, he was comfortably sleeping at my feet or being the object of affection for all the tourists!

In fact, he loved his first day of bright sunshine and warm weather...a bit warm, but still..he LOVED IT!

Paddy's in Transit

Paddy's a Traveling Dog

On the Bus

At Delft Station

In the Car

Let sleeping dogs lie

In various poses:
the I'm-a-pig pose
the I'm-listening-for-an-earthquake pose
the I'm-raising-a-right-angled-paw pose

Proud Parents

Paddy's First Dogsit

Thanks so much Ren & Giulia for dogsitting so I could go to Brussels for a baby shower and GJ could go to his AJAX match!
Wonderful God Parent that Ren is, he even taught Paddy to sit and lie down! (my dog is a genius...)

Paddy Week 1

He is the cutest, quietest dog ever....so far, we have not had much trouble with him. He learnt not to pee and poo indoors since the first night and after the 1st week of being SUPER EXHAUSTED, we learned to let go and let him sleep through the night on his own.

The upside is we discovered a new mint flavoured chew toy (bye bye puppy breath) which we can fill with snacks, which makes him go crazy and chase it all around the house.. (exhausted/exercised paddy) making our lives and his much easier.

Getting Paddy

Well....some people know, we always wanted a dog! A golden retriever or a Labrador preferably.

This all started when I went off to work on my bike and passed this most amazingly beautiful chocolate lab puppy, who wouldn't stop looking/cooing at me for the longest time.

Which got me thinking..hey let's look on marktplaats (Dutch Ebay) for a puppy ...JUST FOR FUN!

Guess what? There was a advertisement, to pick up some puppies for free! SUPER EXCITED...

BUT THAT TURNED OUT TO BE A HOAX (STUPID CRUEL PEOPLE)....

But within that 12 hours of waiting to find out if we could get a puppy, I basically managed to plan the scheduling of having a puppy, find out all the information we needed and REALIZED....hey! IT IS DOABLE!

GJ & I were disappointed, but we decided we shall look further and see if anything comes up.
Now, the going rate for a pedigree lab is EUR850-1000, which is ridiculous, given that our first car cost just as much.

We wanted a pet, not a show dog/breeding dog.

On Good Friday itself, we saw and advert in the morning about new pups ready to be taken home from a farm, they JUST turned 8 weeks (PERFECT!)

GJ whipped out his phone, made a few calls, and VOILA...we could visit en route to his parents for Easter celebrations.

An hour of driving on god-forsaken country roads! we came to the farm and got a VERY WARM greeting from Paddy's mother and choose Paddy for the following reasons!

1) We wanted a boy, he was the only one...
2) He was the most composed dog, 2 of his sisters were ADDish... and the other one hid in the corner
3) He is quite blond, a little tubby, has a little tummy and was quite cool and relaxed about EVERYTHING (sounds like GJ!)
4) When he was in GJ's arms, he leaned over and dived into my cleavage...which...ticks all he box about having a dog that is like a carbon copy of GJ!

We followed the farmer, paid the deposit and it was 2 LONG DAYS of waiting to pick up Paddy!

Finally on Tuesday, after a half day of work, we jumped into the car with supplies and blankets to pick up Paddy. We got a long talk with the farmer's wife about Paddy's upbringing and his passports, schedules etc. Then it was off in the car with Paddy.

He was terrified as we placed him in the car on the blanket on my lap in the front seat. It was his first car ride/blanket/high speed movement/people other than the farmers/without his family! Luckily, the farmers were smart enough to withhold his food that day, which saved us a session of cleaning vomit.

However, Paddy being Paddy, decided to grace us with 15 farts along the way home. Which given the position he was in, was ALL directed at GJ, but trust me...it stank....
Amidst the fog and stink of dog farts, it was a miracle GJ got us home without much hard curves to avoid scaring Paddy!

Now the adventure of Paddington can begin!

Welcome the Newest Addition to Klopsteen 8

We are proud to announce, on 25th of March, we picked up Paddington (named after the tube station, not the bear!) from Langbroek, UT from the Van Dijk Farm!
Born on 25th of January, Paddy is precisely today 9 weeks old and weighs no more than my handbag!

His god-parents/ voluntary dog-sitters are:
Ren & Charmaine

Proud Puppy Parents,
Wendy & Geert-Jan

Things on my dining table now

OMG its GROWING

Against all odds, the curse didnt take place this time, something actually stayed alive in my house.
In fact, the paperwhites have GROWN so uch, they are touching the lamps above the tables.
Judging by the fact that they were only 3 inches high when we bought them. GASP

GJs Birthday

We finally had a birthday party for GJ at home, his family came, including his sister and her ADORABLE 2 kids.

Evi, trying out for vouge

Little evi again, on an outdoor shoot. poor thing.
The wind was mighty strong that day, and this cute thing in her new french navy peacoat, got blown over.
Then playtime was decidedly over.

Lieke, my favourite, was all energy and fun.

Spring Time Arrangements

I wanted some bulbs (narcissus and hyacinth) in house for the CNY.
Bought a bird bath at the local garden centre, filled it up with bulbs on offer, moss and stones.

Of course, we decided to adopt another ficus plant. In the hope that this one lasts for more than 2 months.
At current posting time, he is still well and alive, not molting or dead because no water was given.