Early one morning while peeking into Duvan's room, we noticed that he was inspecting his blanket. He had it clutched in both his hands and were lifting it to check it out. Jan snuck in with the camera, being as quiet as he possibly can be. But Duvan is becoming very alert, because the slightest sound of the camera focusing to take the pictures caught his attention and he looked around to see where it came from.

When Duvan is getting tired, nothing keeps him as distracted as a piece of paper. It works almost like a switch, turning him to interested and content while holding the paper, and to crying and moaning when it drops out of his hand. :)

While lying on his back, Duvan kicks his legs way up like this. It's so cute! He'll cross his legs and rub his feet together and it looks so cute!

The last two weeks of January were moving weeks for Mom & Dad. This meant that all Duvan's favorite seats, playgyms and toys that will not fit on the plane had to be packed for shipping. He got to lay down in all kinds of interesting places. We captured a few of those!

Marésa layed him down in this box with the styrofoam beans. He loved it and was absolutely amazed at the beans flying down at him.

All these boxes make for comfortable fair!

We'd love to share with you the music of Duvan's laughter. There are few things in life that bring as much joy to our hearts than hearing him laugh like this!

Giggles (30 seconds, MP3, 79kB)

The night before our departure, we got to hang out with very dear friends, and so did Duvan! They all love to hang out together, Duvan loves the attention, and the girls love to shower him with it. There is no pretense between babies, no social order to which they have to conform (other than the ever-present hands of parents preventing one's finger to accidentally end up in another's eye), so their interaction is a joy to behold. Madeleine, who calls Duvan "Dee", greet him in a very high pitched and endearing "Hiiiiii". Both the girls are very loving and shower him with hugs and kisses, which Duvan normally find most amusing (and bewildering at times :)). Micheala, who calls Duvan "Dee-dee", always wants to know where he is and what he's up to, making sure that he's okay. Madeleine and Micheala is best buddies, and love to hang out with each other, going "Ma-ma!!!", "La-la!!!" at each other. They are so incredibly cute.

Some interesting exchanges between Madeleine, Duvan and Micheala took place during the photo shoot.

Our last day in the US was pretty hectic and while we finished packing and cleaning the apartment, Duvan visited with Lis and Maddie. Here Duvan is practicing standing, while Maddie gets to walk with Tannie Marésa.

We made it to England, and we've spent the last 2 days recuperating from a month of putting our lives in boxes and saying the hardest goodbyes we've ever had to say. Here Marésa and Duvan are hanging out outside of Schalk & Jana's house.

Duvan sitting on Mommy's lap.

Duvan is standing up really well! He can easily hold his own weight, and loves to stand up like this. He's so tall!

The change in time-zones resulted in a zoned out Duvan yesterday afternoon. He hung out for about an hour on the floor all by himself, quietly playing with his clutch cube.

It's very cute to watch Duvan play with this cube. In his efforts to get the whole cube into his mouth, it swings straight over his head instead. :)

Well, it's been a while since we've last updated Duvan's website, but hopefully this long entry has satisfied even the most anxious of readers! Feel free to comment that you were here!

Hi all! We thought we'd show some shots from Duvan's travels over Europe. We're so thankful for the time that we had with each other while traveling. Duvan is a true traveler. He was so easy to travel with, and a real pleasure wherever we went. He enjoyed all the interesting views from his stroller or the Snugli, and we were able to also get a lot of good bonding time with him! The last couple of weeks in the US were really busy, so we really appreciated the extra measure of time together.

Praise the Lord for such an amazing time in Europe. God's grace abounded in our travels! We were protected in health and safety, all round! We were blessed going in and going out!

We've decided to dedicate an entry to some of the shots from our travels in Europe and the UK. The more we think of this time, the fonder we grow of the memories we have from this trip. It is right up there with the rest of the BIG vacations we've had!

Meet Duvan in typical traveling gear! Ready to take on the Old World, he's sitting in his tourmobile, dressed for the cool weather, toy in hand for when the sites get rather adult-like and boring.

In Trier, Germany on the 5th Duvan started blowing bubbles with renewed interest. He was very vocal about it as well. It was the cutest, he would have this expression of concentration in his eyes (which he has most of the time he's "talking"), while making loud "Ah-boooo"'s, but with a closed mouth! So it came out more like a vigorous "Ah-bbbrrbrbrbrbbrbr"!

Bathing is always fun, no matter where we are! Here Duvan is exploring the water streaming from the shower head. He kept wanting to take a hold of it. It was so cool to share this new sensation with him! He's started learning to explore with his fingers, but could not understand why this warm fluid kept evading his grip!

Well, we should have mentioned "upper body control" as a milestone above ;), Duvan is really starting to get the hang of sitting by himself. Here he is the chairman of our morning family meeting in Luxembourg City, directing the planning of the day's itinerary...

Duvan must think that all of Europe is a very bouncy place, for wherever he went in his stroller, the world was bouncing up and down! The rough cobblestone in all the streets made for a bumpy ride in the stroller, which he quite enjoyed! Luxembourg City was the first time we experienced cold weather, which meant extra bundling for Duvan. Those attentive, bright eyes kept popping over the top of the blanket as he bobbed down the street, head bouncing up and down and the semblance of a smile on his lips.

In Reims, France later that evening, we hung out in the hotel room. Duvan was very talkative, and did some more of his closed mouth "Ah-booo's".

We were amazed at Duvan's ability to sit up that evening. All the time in the stroller has really strengthened his back! This shot is the photo finish of a new personal best for Duvan of 4 seconds unassisted sitting.

Mid morning in Paris, while Mom and Dad had breakfast, Duvan worked in his first nap of the day.

Later that day during lunch, Duvan was the hit with some of the local kids at this cafe in the mall at the Louvre. Imagine 2 excited little toddlers around your baby, happily talking away at him in French... We just smiled sheepishly at them. :) Duvan (and his Mom) perfected the skill of discreetly nursing in public places. Here we hung out for a while around the table, enjoying each other's company.

Duvan awoke from his afternoon nap in the Notre Dame in Paris, and very interested in what his Mom had to say.

We celebrated our anniversary (a month later) with dinner in a restaurant on Painters' Square in Mont-Martre. Duvan had some laughs left, even though it was drawing toward the end of a long long day.

This stretch is now so characteristic of what Duvan does most of the time. He finds almost anything interesting enough to warrant exploring it with his hands and mouth. Everytime Marésa would take a sip of water, he would give it his everything to get a hold of her glass.

Our last morning in Europe was in Baden Baden, Germany. We had a very relaxed and slow morning, and got to hang out a lot in the hotel room. Duvan took up talking again during our trip, and was making the cutest baby noises while lying on his back. It was all "Ah-bah-bah-bah, Ah-boo, ah-bbrbrbrbrb, [shreek] ah-bah-bah-bah".

After nursing for lunch, we checked out of the hotel, and Duvan had the most content look on his face. This is the good life, being filled with Mommy's Best.

Duvan spent a lot of time in this carseat this vacation. The moment he got into the seat, he started chewing on the belts, which really alarmed us. We soon realized though that we were not going to be able to keep the belts out of his mouth for the whole week, and he proceeded to thorougly claim the ends of the belts as his own.

Back in the UK we spent a day in London with our dear friend Jana (Schalk could not make it due to work commitments :(). Duvan enjoyed a lot of Snugli-time that day. Here he's posing with Mom in front of London Bridge.

Close to Mommy is a great place to be friendly to everyone around!

...and a great place to catch a well-deserved nap.

On our way home in the Underground, Duvan was babbling away in the cutest manner. This expression really captures the essence of his concentration while talking away. These beautiful sounds are passing by so quickly, we wish we could record it for you, but unfortunately did not have the video camera handy!

Well, watch this space for some updates on Duvan's milestones, coming soon! He's doing so many new things now, we stand amazed at him every day.

Phew, it's been a busy couple of weeks since we arrived in South Africa! Duvan's had to meet a lot of people that awaited his arrival with great anticipation. He has handled the extra triple measure of attention really well, and has now come to enjoy it quite a lot (causing a little bit of concern to his parents). A memorable moment from day one was when the whole family had gathered in the living room. There were nine new faces in the room. Duvan sat on Dad's lap and started with Oupa Japie right next to him. He then worked his way systematically through the whole room, intently staring at one person after the for 10 seconds or so, before moving on to the next. He appeared intent on working out each person, one at a time.

The biggest challenge to Mom & Dad has been evaluating and fielding all of the concerned questions from grandparents and great-grandma about his antics. For example, when Duvan gets tired, he scratches his head and pulls his ears. This mannerism caused great confusion on the first days though, as everyone thought he definitely had an ear infection, or alternatively has a skin condition that makes his head irritable and could not condone our indifference to these sure signs :). The sudden extra dose of stimulation did make for some tough nap sessions. Mom & Dad didn't care too much though, and helped Duvan go to sleep by joining him for the naps!

Unfortunately, the sleep trouble has extended into the night. It took Duvan a couple of nights to settle down, and the alien new environment means that Duvan has lost the precious skill of self-calming. He really needs us to hold him when he wakes up at night ans has a hard time falling asleep again. He'll muster up all the energy he has in the middle of the night to guard us from putting him down and leaving him alone again. We're sharing a room for now, which also means that if Duvan's not sleeping very tight, a creak from our bed wakes him up and reminds him to call for us. :)

The longer nights and 2 months of seeming endless running means that we're all enjoying the warm comfort of a cosy home. Our parents have made our return very comfortable and spoil us with the best cooking Moms have to offer. We were also blessed with the use of a beautiful hardwood crib that Jan's uncle had made for one of his grandchildren. So we are all very comfortable and enjoying our time off!

Those big brown eyes will win you over in no time at all.

Here Duvan is taking his first bite of solid food. He amazed all of us at how well he did, evidence that he was ready! Grandma had the honor of feeding him first, while Mom & Dad watched and learned from an experienced mother. At first Duvan did not really know why the spoon kept coming back to his mouth (or why it left behind a lump of tickened milk when it left), but he swallowed all that it brought.

Later, he had figured that the spoon brings goodies, and started opening his mouth in anticipation! This simple moment made our hearts swell with pride.

Here he's watching Grandma's coaching.

Increased body control translates into increased capacity for satisfying one's curiosity. A new voice in the room warrants immediate investigation.

One morning Marésa and I finished up in the room while Duvan was taking a nap. We were as quiet as we could possibly be, and spoke in the softest hush that we could possibly produce. Marésa had just whispered in my ear "We need to hurry, Duvan will wake up in 10 minutes...", when we both looked over to the crib and saw two bright brown eyes intently staring at us over the side of the crib. :)) He was lying on his stomach, and arched his back at an impossible angle to see over the side, quietly watching us trying to slip out of the room. It was precious!

All clean and ready to go!

Here Duvan is on the floor, playing with the living room curtain.

Without the luxury of a bath seat for Duvan, we started bathing him in a little plastic tub. This was his first time in the tub, and he had a blast! He sat in it like the ruler of the white palace, chatting away in his newly acquired bathtime chatter.

At the Van Tonder's Duvan also enjoyed the royal treatment befitting a king! (Nope, he didn't really sleep like this :)).