New Arrival

I am happy to announce the birth of Matthew who, like a confused tourist with an inaccurate guide book, missed the King’s Day celebrations and arrived a few days ago.

My wife and I are both tired but very happy. Our daughter is already enjoying her role as a protective big sister and often tells me I am being too loud while Matthew is sleeping. I am extra happy because the birth of a son evens the odds in the house. I would have been greatly outnumbered had he been another girl.

It probably comes as no surprise to anyone that I almost made a huge mistake while officially registering his birth at the city hall. When it came to the question about his gender I accidentally ticked the box for a girl. Luckily the eagle-eyed city registrar noticed that Matthew is not typically a female name and asked me if I might want to check the form again. It’s a good thing the mistake was spotted otherwise Matthew would have had a big surprise later in life when he tried to apply for a passport or any other official documentation.

When I moved to the Netherlands almost fifteen years ago I never would have imagined that I would end up calling the country home and staying to start a family of my own but I am very happy that that is exactly what happened.

While we get used to the sleep deprivation and hourly nappy changes again I’ll be taking a short break from writing. There might be a few posts in between here and there (a very big anniversary post is coming up soon) but for the most part, I’ll be away. The blog will return to a more regular schedule once I remember how to operate on minimal sleep again.