So where were we?  Ah, yes, I was pregnant and not really enjoying it very much...  24/7 nausea, hours spent praying to be sick because surely that would be better than the nausea?  Tiredness like I have never known, if I achieved one thing each day I considered it a win - otherwise I was at one with my sofa.  Gestational diabetes, I'm just not even ready to go into the misery of that.  A last minute scare, a hospital stay, a fairly grim induction and delivery at 38 weeks. 

Which brings us pretty much to here, today.  I am a Mummy.  Mummy for the last five weeks and five days to a beautiful baby boy who lights up my world.  My little monkey (or any one of the other 1000 bizarre nicknames we bestow on him each day), all 4805g and 60cm long of him, has made something of an impact on our world.

When I started to write Number Seventy Five I was using it as a way to document the purchase of our first home, a catalogue of how we were turning a random apartment in a random country into our home.  Back then home meant me and the Lovely husband (and the Cat), now home has expanded and we two are three (plus the Cat).   Which means the focus of Number Seventy Five will probably also evolve.  There will be less of the "material" transforming into a home, although I do have nursery pictures to show off and a lesson to share in why you shouldn't embark on a full bathroom renovation while heavily pregnant, and more of how we are building a home as a family, bit by bit.

It's probably going to be a bit Mummy focused around here for a while because right now, that is what is making our house a home for me.  Also because I found that over the months of my pregnancy I had to do a staggering amount of research into how to have a baby as an expat in the Netherlands and how to prepare for the little monkey.  There wasn't a huge amount of information on the internet in one place so it makes sense for me to catalogue my findings here in case they benefit anyone else treading the expat path to parenthood in Amsterdam.  For those of you who used to stop by for the expat stuff, it will still be coming just with a different slant.  The house stuff will still feature, but there is going to be baby stuff too.  I hope you'll stick with us.

We get the keys on Friday.

Really.

After all these months of waiting, we finally get the keys.  We first viewed Number Seventy Five on December 27th 2008.  We took our time and made an offer a couple of weeks later (ok, the lovely husband took his time, I was an absolute wreck of impatience).  After a week or so of to-ing and fro-ing over details we signed a commitment to buy.

And then we waited, and waited...

Part of our agreement was that we would not take posession of the house until mid-July.  It seemed so far away, but now we are here.  On Friday morning, at 9am we make the handover and our whole world will change.  We have never owned property before, jointly or separately.  We have never lived anywhere with a view to making it anything more than our "home for the moment".  I am scared, delighted and thrilled all at once.

There are some minor issues to resolve - expect many ranting posts on the intracacies of Dutch planning permission (*deep, deep breath*). 

Some of the furniture is still not arriving on time.  Yes, Chair Company I mean you.  You are right at the top of my list.  You are so far up my list you should be suffering from oxygen deprivation around about now.  Which is really the only remaining excuse for your continued show of staggering incompetence.  While I am starting to look forward to our weekly calls, if you call me on a Monday one more time to apologise for the delay (which I have yet to be given a reason for) and promise me that the chair will be here next week and still fail to deliver I will not be held responsible for my actions.  It is not acceptable that it takes 9 weeks to deliver a chair you claimed you had in stock, when I paid in full.  You have been warned...

Still, irritations aside.  I'm excited.  We are surrounded by boxes and stunned by how much clutter we need to get rid of but its all moving in the right direction.  The big furniture move is on the 18th, between now and then we will be ferrying small items, painting walls and getting a floor laid.  Posting will be sporadic but I will be back with a vengance and a helluva lot of photos as soon as I can.

I'm back. But frantically busy. I should go away more often though it seems... I have been tagged by the lovely Flora for a meme. Bonnie stopped by to see how I became an expat in Amsterdam. Jonathan liked my Woody Allen in New York experience so much it has been included in a database of honeymoon experiences (I wonder if I should mention to him that I wasn't actually on honeymoon at the time? The honeymoon was a whole other adventure...)

I'm feeling the love people, feeling the love.

In other news, I am thinking of switching the little old blog to squarespace instead of blogger so that I can put some ideas I have into practice which are not achievable on blogger. Any thoughts?

Other than that, its going to be a busy couple of days, just look at my to do list:

So please forgive me if posting is a wee bit sporadic for the next few days. Normal service will resume...

I am away this week for work so no posts this week.

I'll be back when my nose lifts from the grindstone...