Dear postal service,

Thank you for delivering the stamps to our mailbox. They’re just what we ordered.


As a customer to your service I thought I’d give you some feedback or advice. Hope you don’t mind.

You are in the mail business. Delivering things to people’s mailboxes is your trade. It is therefore a little puzzling that getting an envelope with stamps in it to our house should take you THREE FULL BUSINESS DAYS! Just as a reference: if I order a t-shirt or other random item from another random online store, I usually have it in my hands by the following day. And their business would be t-shirts or other random items, not MAIL.

Just thought I’d mention it.

Best wishes,
Really Ninja

Let's try this out shall we?

Yes it seems that I may update this through my iPhone as well! It's a bit bothersome to type like this though so it'll be only for very short posts. :)

Bibs et al, part V: TWO NEW ARRIVALS!

From New York (USA)

From New Jersey (USA) - Lookit! Little ninjas!

Elderblossom (Vlierbloesem)

A few years ago I was at the organic food shop and decided to try the elderblossom syrup. It was nice: not too sweet but sweet enough to tempt me. So I’ve been buying it ever since. A bottle goes a long way and I can adjust the taste (sweetness) to my mood. Perfect. Fed it to my parents as well as my little nephews and niece and everyone liked it.

Now what?

Just this weekend I read in the paper (Saturday’s-not-very-important-but-everyone-reads-it-all-the-same section) that on the terraces of Holland (particularly Amsterdam) it is all the rage to have a glass of elderblossom bubbles. With sparkling water or wodka or even champagne. It is said to be soooo refreshing, soooo different, and soooo hip ‘n happening.

What?

Yes, I was so ahead of my time, it’s unbelievable. I, Really Ninja, turned out to be so hip ‘n happening that I didn’t even notice it – which is the best kind of hip ‘n happening of course. Ahahahar! Who’d have thought? Usually it only happens because I refuse to let go of something for so long until it becomes hip again. For example: converse shoes.

So what does this elderblossom rage mean?

It means that Every. Single. Bottle. of elderblossom syrup in organic food shops around is sold out. Empty shelves. Big gaping holes where there used to be neat rows of bottles waiting for its rather peculiar specialist audience wanting to make its own soft drink. The shops were never out of of elderblossom syrup!

It must be the scourge of every avantgarde hip ‘n happening person: by the time everyone else catches on, you absolutely need to move on. How tiresome.

I bought grenadine instead this time. Will wait for the rage to blow over and buy some new elderblossom when everyone else is tired of it. Won’t be long, methinks. These things rarely last.

Latest picture

This was last Saturday. :-)

Ah... in that case: update

It has appeared to me that some people use this site to see how me and the kiddies are doing these days. Ah. Well in that case: here's a little update.

We are doing fine.

Haha! Okay, more of an update perhaps:
We are doing absolutely fine. :)

We were at the hospital a week and a half ago where the ultrasounds (echos) showed that the kiddies were happily and healthily growing along. Their size is now about average or even a little over average compared to other kiddies, even singleton kiddies. Their weight was at the time about 2.2 kilos when 2 kilos is average. I'm talking 2.2 kilos each though and they are growing about 200 grams a week so by now they're about 2.5 kilos each making it 5 kilos for my poor old body to haul around.

That would make you think that I'm huge but actually, although I do resemble an elephant seal to some degree by now, I am not that big. When comparing myself to other preggers women, most of whom have 'only' one kiddie to carry, I am still relatively modestly expanded. (Will post picture at some point, I will.) That doesn't mean I am still fully mobile though. It is starting to take its toll and walking to the supermarket and back can be quite an excursion, on a bad day. Still, as long as I have and take all the time in the world, I'll be fine. Besides, biking is still easier than walking so I can get around better that way. Except climbing on the bike can be a nuisance because my belly is in the way.

The kiddies themselves are moving around a lot, especially by the end of the afternoon and into the evening. The movement varies from little plops similar to bumblebees flying into flower petals, to full-fledged migrations (or seemingly so) with what appear to be knees, shoulders and elbows, heads and sometimes maybe even spines travelling across my stomach like miniature continental shifts or tsunamis. Sometimes they rest for a little while and then it starts over again. It is quite funny. At least it tells me that everything is okay in there.

So currently I am at 34 weeks (out of 40) that means just about 8 months. My official due date is August 6 but with twins they're likely to be early. I certainly hope so because if they really grow 200 grams a week each... It is unlikely that my body is going to carry them to the full 40 weeks. The average for twins is at 37 weeks meaning that I still have about 3 weeks to go. And then I get to find out what it is like to be a mum for two little girls. Eek! :)

So that's it: today's update. Hopefully I'll be able to get back to making pictures etc. again soon. They're likely to be of things close by or even in my home for the time being because I'm not really going places at the moment but that's okay. The weather is good, the shops are close by if I need anything, there are people to help me if I need it, and overall life could be a whole lot worse.

Cheers!

The Laundry Exercise

As of today I’m (not entirely) on leave. Officially. That means that I’m (not entirely) done with working and (not entirely) focusing on resting and the months to come.


Aw don’t tell me you noticed that ‘not entirely’ thingie there… Okay, I’m still finishing up some reports this week so I’m not entirely on leave yet. sigh

So anyway, leaving aside the ‘not entirely’, what does a person do when all of a sudden not working? Don’t know about you but I always end up doing laundry. Every holiday or vacation starts with the Laundry Exercise for me. Except this time I’m doing kiddie laundry; I’m washing all the stuff I bought for the kiddies as well as the things I got from other people. We’re talking clothes, sheets, bibs, everything.

And it turns out it’s a lot already.

This Wednesday I’ll be going to the shops with my mother and buying all the stuff I still need because apparently I need even more stuff than what I already have. It’s amazing.

And that new stuff will need washing too.

Then again, I though I’d get my washing machine into gear. It better get used to working long hours.