Sinterklaas 2014

Friday December 5, 2014

When Jackie awoke this morning to feed Brooklyn at 4:20am she wasn’t feeling too good. She felt nauseous. She hoped it would pass with more sleep. She awoke again at 8:20 to feed Brooklyn. She fed her one side and then handed her off to daddy to try to give her a pumped bottle. She had diarrhea and then puked which is very rare even during all her morning sickness during pregnancy. Most of the time she’d just feel like throwing up but hardly ever did, especially before being pregnant. Brooklyn once again would only chew on the bottle nipple so Jackie gave her the other side and then tried to get some more rest. Since Jackie wasn’t feeling well we didn’t go to Cologne, Germany’s Christmas market like we had previously planned.

Stupid stomach bug on Joe's day off, but Jackie is grateful for him being home with an extra set of hands to care for Brooklyn. This was not the way we wanted to spend our first Sinterklaas in the Netherlands.

Sinterklaas is the Dutch version of St Nicolas, precursor to Santa Claus. He dresses like a skinny bishop & has Piets (black faced elf-like characters) deliver presents on the night of his birthday/feast day Dec 5. 

Our neighborhood has a big celebration as Sinterklaas and his Zwarte Pieten deliver the kids their presents. We were napping in the late afternoon when we heard the trumpet music outside. We bundled up and head out to see the festivities despite being under the weather. Zwarte Piet (sorry if you take offense to the traditional Dutch helper), Jackie and Brooklyn. 

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It turns out Jackie had flu-like symptoms in addition to a clogged milk duct. After lots of massaging the lumps and several painful nursing sessions, she started feeling back to her old self (tired but happy to breastfeed momma).