Baby Bump

Sunday morning, January 26, 2014 
Joe was back home from his work trip so it was time to find out if our second month of trying to make a baby was successful...

Joe was pretty proud of himself so he used to occasion to try out his new (old) pipe Jackie got him for his birthday and have a manly fire. 

We began taking profile photos of Jackie's body to document to changes of the baby growing inside Jackie. 

Week 6, February 6 (good photo before the baby changes)

Week 8, February 23

Week 9, February 28 (excuse the morning sickness nausea unhappy face)

Week 10, March 12 (Jackie's attempt to take while Joe was out of town)

Week 11, March 16

Week 12, March 24

Week 13, March 27

Week 14, April 3 (in Taiwan with morning sickness starting to subside)

Week 15, April 11

Week 16, April 21

Week 17, April 29

Week 18, May 4

Week 19, May 8

Week 20, May 16 (after our move to the Netherlands)

Week 21, May 24

Week 22, May 29

Week 23, June 5

Week 24, June 13

Week 25, June 20

Week 26, June 26

Week 27, July 3

Week 28, July 11

Week 29, July 18 (excuse the crappy selfie, daddy the usual photographer was out of town)

Week 30, July 26

Week 31, August 1

Week 32, August 9

Week 33, August 15

Week 34, August 22

Week 35, August 29

Week 36, September 5

Week 37, September 12

Week 38, September 19

Week 39, September 26

The baby bump over the past 9 months

Week 40

Due Date Friday October 3

Geldrop & Den Bosch

September 27, 2014

We needed to get out of the house today. We are just too anxious waiting for the baby to decide if it’s time to come out of the womb yet.

Jackie had read that there was an exhibit on the liberation and Operation Market Garden from the big battle in this area 70 years ago at the Castle Geldrop, 20 mintutes away. We drove over to the Kasteel Geldrop, which is basically a big mansion originating from the 17^th century with a moat around it. 

Unfortunately I did not read that the exhibit was not open until 2pm so we could not visit it then. We walked for awhile among the park gardens. They were setting up for a wedding event later that day. There is a playground and small animal petting zoo-like farm area.

There is an excellent lunch restaurant we both decided to stop at. Joe enjoyed a cappuccino with a brie, ham and sun-dried tomato Panini while Jackie had some tea and a cup of leek soup.

Next we drove up to Den Bosch (the short form name for the town of ‘s Hertogenbosch), which is about a 30 minute drive north of our home in Eindhoven. It is the capital of our province, Noord Brabant in the Netherlands.

We parked and walked to Saint John’s Cathedral (Sint Jans kathedraal) which was constructed from 1220-1530 and is best known for its Gothic architecture.

It was a richly decorated interior.

Saint John’s Cathedral (Sint Jans kathedraal) main nave

Saint John’s Cathedral (Sint Jans kathedraal) transcept 

Saint John’s Cathedral (Sint Jans kathedraal) choir 

Saint John’s Cathedral’s (Sint Jans kathedraal) large pipe organ is a monumental piece from the Renaissance. 

Saint John’s Cathedral (Sint Jans kathedraal) beautiful stain glass windows

Saint John’s Cathedral (Sint Jans kathedraal) nave ceiling 

There was a nice Maria Chapel to the Madonna.

We both agreed it would be great to come back here one Sunday for mass.

Saint John’s Cathedral (Sint Jans kathedraal) Gothic exterior 

Saint John’s Cathedral (Sint Jans kathedraal) Gothic exterior around the ambulatory chapels behind the choir in the back of the church 

Saint John’s Cathedral (Sint Jans kathedraal) beautiful side entry door at the north transcept

During restorations in the past few years, 25 new angel statues were created, one with a modern twist. The last angel is wearing jeans and holding a mobile phone. The phone has one button, to dial directly to God.

Den Bosch survived WWII relatively unscathed which its historic heritage intact. The old city is surrounded by continuous ramparts still intact. Hidden below the old city is a canal network. There were boat tours through the subterranean waterway system.

We walked back to the car enjoying some ice cream cones.