December

December started with the preparation for Saint Nicholas. Thursday afternoon we had a Saint Nicholas party at our home for a group of about 14 Dutch-speaking children from the park. Unfortunately the Saint could not come in person but someone did knock very hard on the door and left a big bag with gifts for the children from the Saint and of course lots of candy. All the children enjoyed themselves tremendously.

5 December it was Oscar's birthday and we went out for dinner, when we arrived home, we found another bag with presents from Saint Nicholas, which we opened together.

11December we went together with our neighbors Family Steens and Mike with son Ricky on a day trip through some of the wadi's in Oman and afterwards we drove to the beginning of the red dunes where we stopped and had a nice BBQ. The children loved being in the sand. When we were just underway we encountered a Camel who allowed us to photograph him up close. It was a long day with a lot of driving but was extremely nice and all of us enjoyed ourselves.

 

 

The next day we went to Muhrif park with the children. The park is very nice and has a couple of play areas and also a few fair attractions. Unfortunately these only opened late in the afternoon. Melissa and Quint liked it very much. We will definitely go back again.

 

 

In the afternoon we called Magda with the blood results. Quint gave the samples about a week before. And when we get the results we call Belgium to see if we have to adjust the Medication. Magda asked if we were planning to write a letter to the donor family. We definitely were thinking about this and wanted to do this around the transplant anniversary. In November we bought a book with the title "the most difficult letter I have ever written". In this book there are different thank you letters published from the organ receivers to the donor relatives. It is very difficult to start writing such a letter but we have to do this. Magda told us that the donor family asked how the organ receiver was doing and because of this she asked us. We were very flattered that the family asked how Quint was doing. According to Magda this happens sometimes. Now that we know this we hope that writing this letter will be a little easier. We will start after the holidays.

Meanwhile we are following the story of Tiba she was operated again on the 10th and she has a though time. The story is so recognizable that we read all the events with a lot of emotion. We hope she recovers quickly.

December 14 Quint had a high temperature but was very active and was eating normally so we did not worry too much. The next day he still had fever and he got a few red spots on his face and bum. During the night the fever went down but the vesicles were still there so we went to the doctor. Quint was checked and she saw a few vesicles in his throat but they did not cause any pain. Most likely Quint had the hand, foot and mouth illness. The doctor prescribed a few creams and suggested to monitor the spots closely and keep him away from other children so we kept him inside for a few days. Luckily after a few days the spots disappeared but he now had a lot of diarrhea. Because in the park there have been many cases of gardia we had his stools tested for this.

This week Quint expressed his interest in the toilet. He saw his sister on the toilet doing her thing and he wanted to do the same. A friend of ours loaned us a toilet seat for small children and on this Quint was put on the toilet. And he did make a little poop and was enthusiast calling look look, bah bah.

Quint also is starting to use new words. In Holland he took over the word 'huppekee' from grandma. With everything he said hupekee.

Now he constantly says..come or come with me. He knows what he wants and makes himself very clear by taking your hand and taking you were he wants to go.

Meanwhile Oscar had to go on a trip for a few days and when he returned we went out again.

On the 23rd to the zoo in Al Ain. Quint was watching TV the other day and started to say meow when he saw an elephant so it is time to educate him on animal noises by taking him to the zoo. It was a beautiful day and all animals were lying around. So we had to improvise the sounds ourselves. Especially the lions that were not moving at all.

Tomorrow it is 24 December and we will open a few Christmas presents and in the evening we will make it an enjoyable evening. Oscar has to work the next few days so we will do it today.

Because it goes very well with Quint we will go to a resort in Oman called al sawadi and spent a few days here. For the first time as a family a mini vacation. Hopefully Quint will have less diarrhea and our trip can take place.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Further more we wish everyone a Merry Christmas and a Happy and very healthy 2009.