Wednesday, 4 January 2012

Welcome to "Expat Life With a Double Buggy"

Life With a Double Buggy:
Harder Than it Looks!
This is the first post on my brand new blog, Expat Life with a Double Buggy. This blog is about being a parent whilst living in a foreign country. It's about the experience of my children being born in a country different to the one I was born in. It's about bringing them up in a culture different to the one I grew up in. It's a blog about the joys of motherhood. It's a blog about the trials of parenting.

There are a number of reasons for the change in direction, the major one being the birth of my third son last October. Needless to say most of my time is now taken up being a mother - as it has been for a couple of years in reality.

My focus since setting up A Letter from the Netherlands has changed dramatically. Life in the Netherlands has changed dramatically since having children.

The second reason I have decided to write about parenthood (particularly experiencing it in a country I wasn't born in) is the fact that my eldest started school in 2010 and that has been a journey in itself, not just for him but for me too. Going to school in the Netherlands is not quite the same as going to school in England. It's not miles apart but there are enough differences to throw me off track and get me embroiled in cultural differences.

Writing about my experiences as a mother in a foreign country may help some, and just entertain others. This blog is the start of a new direction; it's part of a new journey I'm taking and I hope you join me on it!

A Happy New Year to you all - may it be one in which beautiful memories are created!

P.S The name for this blog originates (surprise surprise) from us swapping our single pram for a double buggy with the arrival of our baby in October 2010. You'd be surprised just how tough getting about with a double pram can be...... even in the most mundane of ventures outside the home. Watch this space for more on that.......

2 comments:

  1. Hi Amanda,

    You probably don't remember, but I wrote a guest post for your other blog some time ago when you were on maternity leave.

    I'm no longer an expat, so have not been keeping up to date with blogs, nor blogging myself. However, I had a peek at my expat list on Twitter yesterday and saw you mentioned a baby; I thought your baby can't be a baby any more … but you've had another baby! Congrats!

    Funnily enough, my little boy (aka master numbat) also arrived in October. (I moved back to Australia early in my second trimester, so I got a very small taste of midwife care before I left.) My friends have dispatched large amounts of Nijntje goodies and we are learning Dutch nursery rhymes to keep my Dutch up, so he has some idea (hopefully) of my old life. I will be reading to see what my life would have been like (without the two older children, of course) had I stayed in NL.

    Cheers,
    Nicole (formerly expat numbat)

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  2. Hi Nicole! A nice surprise to hear from you - and to hear your news. Congratulations!!!! :-)
    Yes, added to my collection of boys and we're now done with three little ones. I figured - write what you know so a new blog.....

    Hope to keep hearing from you on posts... be interesting to hear about the differences!

    Good luck with the motherhood journey,

    Amanda

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