Oh golly, I still have to update on my trip to Amsterdam in November. I'm going to give you a very unlike-Gloria update, in rapid fashion.
First, I am now 4 1/2 months pregnant with baby number two. This is glorious news and we couldn't be looking forward to having this baby any more but I have been sick, as well, for..... 4 1/2 months. The first 3 months were expected - I was nauseous and felt like I wasn't human for about 10 weeks. Then, though, at the beginning of November, I got a whopper of an illness. Lung infection coupled with asthma, ear infection, and sinus infection which all lasted 3 weeks. The worst being that I couldn't take any medications for the pain, being pregnant. I did eventually take antibiotics after about 2 weeks but these only cleared my breathing difficulties. So, all would have been fine but months before - before I even knew I was pregnant - I agreed to go to Amsterdam (hard...so hard) to see my beloved childhood best friend, Vickie, and help out with her 4 1/2 month old, Lukas. Vickie lives in Shanghai but had a work conference in AMS, and given she is nursing, she needed to take baby along. It was way too expensive and tough to fly the whole family for that 12 hour flight from Shanghai, but it was completely within means for me to make the 1 hour flight (!) to go and play au pair for 3 days. Not only did I get to do this, and meet sweet Lukas (born in Shanghai), but Vickie's company paid for everything - flights, alllll meals and hotel. I literally only paid for a bus ride to the airport and a few snacks and cups of tea here and there. I tell ya...Posh International schools are where it's at when it comes to stipends!
So, of course it was a no-brainer. I'd never been away from Norah that long and I had to get through my normal catastrophic fears that I'm always going to die if I'm away, but I wouldn't have missed this for the world. Unfortunately, the day before was the worst for the ear infections/sinuses/lungs and my Dr. said I would be "foolish to get on an airplane in that condition", while pregnant to boot. There was no way around it though and I would've rather been hospitalized than let Vickie down. So off I went and while I was in rough shape, I could still enjoy Amsterdam and getting to cuddle with Lukas and have an actual catch-up with Vickie was more than worth it. It was a once in a lifetime experience and I would still do it all over again. If you remember from the July 2014 posts, I absolutely LOVE the Netherlands, and Amsterdam may be my favorite city on earth. This time was really fun because I remembered a surprising amount of Dutch and could use it in shops and to help us in restaurants. (a 3 year old's level of Dutch..)
So, please excuse the hiatus - there is much more to come - but this is November for ya: 
Together at last! Friends for 25 years - whoa.
Sweet Lukas. A friend gave them this onesie - he literally was 'made in China'.
Out walking around in cold, brisk, beautiful November Amsterdam. We'd go out in the mornings from 9 - 12, then meet Vickie for lunch, and then Lukas and I would take a nap together in the afternoon. Then we'd walk more before Vickie met us again at 5 and we'd have dinner together.
Our hotel with the red/black flags - Hotel Amsterdam. Vickie's school put us up in the very centre of the city. The hotel was lovely.
Dam Square, just 50 feet from out hotel.
"Fear is a funny thing"
Loved this crooked little middle building with its slanted window frames and skinny doorway.
Dutch Treats (cheese)
Amsterdam is gorgeous in the summer heat but almost seems more perfect in November with leaves changing and falling and everyone bundled in their beautiful hats and coats.
I kept seeing these gutter-looking iron bars going into cellar doors on each house. I didn't understand what they were (why would a drainage pipe go down??) but soon realized they are tracks to bring your bike into the apartments! Genius.
One of the best thing about walking around Amsterdam are the store windows. They're all really quirky and odd and somehow perfect.
Looking down one canal toward the cathedral next to Anne Frank's house - she heard this bell ring, all day, everyday, for over 2 years while hidden away in that house.
Baby Lukas conked out so I kept exploring until I couldn't walk anymore.
"Everything is going to be OK"
I really liked this sign. If it wasn't so big I would've bought it. Wouldn't it be nice to have that hanging in your house to see everyday?
Oh this one I took because I watched these moving guys putting things into the top floor. I realized they had the hoists at the top of each house, and that they'd remove the entire window on the top floor but this ladder is a massive conveyor-type thing that pulls individual boxes up to the top. You stick 10 boxes on and up they go. The Dutch have it all figured out...
This café is where Wayne and I had a lunch date on our day-trip to Amsterdam in July. Turns out the lovely walking area of Amsterdam (the Canal District) is not very large and Lukas and I walked around these neighborhoods over and over.
I came in here while Lukas slept to have some tea and a rest. Of course the moment I walked in the door, he woke up. Babies have a way of doing this.
A wooden bike (just like the toddler balance bikes but...with pedals...and for adults). It was so cool looking.
Otherist. A magical/creepy apothecary/I'm not sure-store.
A jewelry shop called - mimi.
View from our hotel room out to Dam Square.
Lunch with Mama bear. When in Holland, you must eat pea soup and croquettes on bread. I had this meal at least 3 times and did not tire of it.
It was frigid cold so we wrapped baby in a little burrito for walking back to the hotel.
This was sort of an odd, very Dutch, "lights festival" to ring in the holiday season but we mostly found it a little weird. There were dancers/acrobats in that red wheel, harnessed in and doing flips and turns. And they were hoisted by a crane, about 150 feet in the air. The 8-story puppet man was also controlled by a large crane. Maybe this is something best enjoyed when on drugs?
An Amsterdam mama riding with her two babes.
This was my saving grace while in Amsterdam and sick - fresh mint tea with honey. Never had it before but now I love it. Shove a bunch of mint leaves in boiling water, let sit - add honey.
A solid gold bicycle and dog-pillows.
The massive department store (think Macy's in NYC) across from our hotel.
Vickie and I went out for a beautiful Thai dinner when she was finished with the conference.
Tiny stove/oven about 8 inches by 8 inches.
The graffiti in Amsterdam is quite impressive.
And on Saturday, we were lucky enough to do something I have thought about since I was a little girl. I first read Anne Frank's diary when I was 9 or 10 and something about the story led me into a (morbid) fascination with the Holocaust and this part of the world. So, Vickie and I secured tickets and were able to take the full tour of Anne Frank's house - including each tiny, windowless room, where they remained for 25 months, in complete silence for more than 12 hours each day (with whispers or sleep for the other 12).
They were hidden in secret rooms on the top 3 floors in the annex - the right-hand portion.
Vickie and I scheduled our flights for late Saturday night so we had the entire day, after the museum, to wander.
We realized on the last day, we never took any pictures together.
And Vickie also hadn't tried Poffertjes - a true Dutch treat. They're teeny doughy pancakes, doused in butter and powdered sugar. This was at a weekend market we happened to find and the price was right!
We downed them very quickly.
Zwarte Piet (?) - or Black Pete - a creepy, inappropriate Christmas character in several European countries.
Looking back at Westerkerk (West Church) - Anne Frank Huis is 4 houses in to the left of it.
And here we are back at Schipol International airport where we found this amazing baby-care room - all free - for parents of babies/toddlers. There are changing facilities, cribs with areas for parents to lie down, microwaves for fixing bottles and even an area to give baby a bath! Go Dutch.
And this is what Wayne and Norah did while I was gone. For the two school days I was away, our friend Aisling took Norah home from school with her and her boys, until dinner time when Wayne picked her up. Then he only had Saturday along with Norah. For one night they dragged her mattress out to the living room and had a campout. The novelty of it made her so excited. They would call me each evening and it was so sweet to hear her say she wanted me to "just come home".
Wayne also sent me this one of our little fierce pirate, waiting for me at home.
And here she is modeling the gorgeous silk PJs Aunt Vickie sent back with me, from Shanghai. Norah felt like Chinese royalty in these.
And my little souvenir for her - stick-on nail decals (that were immediately peeled off).
More to come on December which ended up being a separate 3-week-long cold/cough that has brought me right into January...We still had an amazing December though knowing it would be our last Christmas season in Ireland. For the first time we went to the Christmas Pantomime show (this year was Peter Pan), Wayne and I saw a one-man play and Wayne did the Christmas morning icy-plunge, for the 2nd year in a row. I had a pass this year, being pregnant....thank goooodness.
