Aloha! E komo mai at joosten808.com, the website of Jeroen, Michelle and Isabella (and, even though she still lives in the Netherlands, a bit of Larissa, Jeroen's oldest daughter and Isabella's big sister, also).
This website has been created to let the folks back home know about our whereabouts, how things go now we're together and to share our adventures with them. For more basic information about all this, please see the 'about' section, were we explained a bit more about our story.
By the way, in case you wonder, the site is in both Dutch and English. We try to keep it multilingual but some things may be available in only one language. Our apologies if some part is not available in your preferred language.
Since January 2010, we're also active on Twitter (@joosten808) and the tweets we make will automatically be posted on this website (it also works the other way around, blogposts will automatically be posts on Twitter). The new messages that are posted on our site through Twitter are recognizable by the beginning of the title: "New tweet:". Because we can only write our Tweets in one language, we've chosen to do this in English as more people speak English than Dutch. By the way, these tweets are only an addition to our site because it is easier to keep you guys updated with it. It is, however, not a replacement of the regular posts, we will still make those.
We hope you'll like our website. If you have any comments on the articles posted, please don't hesitate and leave a message ;)
I was a bit shocked earlier today. At around 5 PM, Isabella and I were playing in her play area (she is currently in a phase in which she doesn't want to do anything alone, so I just joined her for now) and all of the sudden I heard *BOOM*, I turn around and see Isabella coming to me (I was a feet or so away from her) with big tears and crying. I took her with me so I could comfort her and at first I thought she fell on her hands as she stood on her knees a bit before it happened, with her face to the wall. But, after I was comforting her a bit, I noticed blood coming out of her mouth.. I can tell you that this was a bit of a shock to me.
Because I couldn't see exactly where the blood was coming from, I thought it would be wise to get rid of some of the blood so I removed it with some tissues. After that I could see that she had a cut of about half an inch in her upper gums, about the same width as her lower teeth. Apparently she went with her teeth through her gums, I can imagine that must have hurt.
After this I let her suck on some icecubes first so the cut would stop bleeding and the pain would become less, and it seemed to work. The bleeding stopped and she stopped cyring also. Even though I thought it wouldn't be so bad, I still went down to see my mother-in-law to check what she thought, if I should call the clinic or not as the cut was pretty big for such a small mouth. I then called the advice nurse and she told me it would be better to check in at the E.R. to see if she needed stitches.
Once at the E.R. we were helped pretty fast, and the nurse who helped us first was really impressed by Isabella's beautiful eyes, even so much that he asked permission to make a picture of her eyes so he could show it to his girlfriend. Well, I can tell you that those things make a dad pretty proud (even though these things happen quite often, we hear so much nice things about her eyes) :) But ok, after this we went to an area where a doctor would research her, and after this happned the doctor told us that it would be better not to stitch as the cons would weigh more heavy than the pros of stitching, one of the things was because she was currently teething in the upper side of her mouth, and the stitches could do more worse than good in that case. The doctor was also assured that she would be ok, because she didn't lose consciousness, and she didn't cry anymore and the bleeding also stopped, which were all good signs.
She is currently asleep, but she remained a bit sad the rest of the evening. I am glad to know she is ok, but I can tell you it surely shocked me at first when it just happened. I hope she will feel better in the morning :)
Isabella just turned 1 year old, what did that time go by fast. A year ago both her and Michelle were in the hospital, Isabella even had to stay for almost a full month as she was born two months too early. And because she was born so early, she had a bigger risk in going back to the hospital (50% more chance than full-term babies).. but, fortunately she stayed healthy as can be, and she is currently catching up to the full-term babies also.
So yesterday, on August 25, she turned 1 year old, but her birthday was celebrated by the family of Michelle's side (my family is at the other side of the world, so they couldn't be here unfortunately) about a week ago as there were some family members (who live on the mainland) visiting Hawaii that week and Michelle's mother preferred to do it in that week so they could join also. Michelle's mom arranged a Hawaiian buffet, which was very good, and there were about 50 people, it was really nice.
Here are some pictures of that birthday party:
Of course we have filmed a bit with the birthday cake, but you can find that a bit more down :)
A week later, on her real birthday, Michelle and I celebrated it again, but a bit smaller than the week before ;) First we were on Skype in the morning with her Dutch grandmother. Great invention, about 8000 miles away from each other and still being able to speak and see each other (and free too haha). After that Isabella went for a nap, and after her nap we had to go to the doctor for a her regular checkup...
Yeah, believe it or not, but they planned that nicely on her birthday at the clinic (and we can move the date, but you can easily wait another month before it is your turn again). The doctors visit isn't so bad actually, but she also had to get 3 more vaccinations.... and that was very sad, to see her cry on her first birthday :( ..at the clinic they were able to translate it to "getting your health as a present on your birthday", but we saw it more as a sadist thing, to get the shots exactly on that date... I guess it is just the way how look to it :) Oh well, fortunately she didn't cry too long, she is a pretty tough little girl when it comes down to these things.
After the doctor we bought a cake for her, one that was also completely meant to be hers. If we had some left overs after she was done with it, then we could get some, but it was first meant to be hers... well, we found out what she thought about that hahaha!
Before we gave her the cake, we put together a big present for her, in her play area, which she totally loved (thanks grandma and auntie in the Netherlands), and after that we had the cake.. and yes, we filmed the part of the cake, and we made some pictures as well. So, instead of talking too much, here are first some pictures, and below that a fun video.. have fun :)
