This month was filled with snot, the library, some harry potter things and a children’s holiday! The weather certainly turned a lot colder and the days are getting so much shorter. It really messed up my mood sometimes when all I saw outside was rain.
The Reading Challenge
The Numbers
# Read 60 Books
Read this month: 11
Total: 133/60
-
- Goth Girl and the Ghost of a Mouse by Chris Riddell – 3 stars
- Midnight Dunes (Landkist Saga 3) by Steven Kelliher – 4 stars
The Last Keeper (Landkist Saga 2,5) by Steven Kelliher – 3 stars - I, Robot by Isaac Asimov – 5 stars
- The Golden Promise (The Copper Cat 1) by Jen Williams – 4 stars
- The Ship Beyond Time (The Girl from Everywhere 2) by Heidi Heilig – 3,5 stars
- The Iron Ghost (The Copper Cat 2) by Jen Williams – 4 stars
- The Amazon and the Beast (Mythos 1) by Hati Bell – 2,5 stars
- World Reader (Volume 1) by Jeff Loveness – 3 stars
- Where the Stars Rise: Asian Fantasy and Science Ficion. Edited by Lucas K. Law and Derwin Mak – 4 stars
- Casual Vacancy by J.K. Rowling – 2 stars
- The Dragonbone Chair (Memory, Sorrow and Thorn 1) by Tad Williams –
The TBR and Backlist Challenge
# Unread Books
Total unread books on shelf end of October of 2017– 171
Books read in November (that count) – 2
Books bought/received in November (no ebooks) – 5
Total unread books on shelf end of November – 174
I only bought two of those 5 phsyical books myself… The others were from a giveaway and free book through the library… I’ve been good this month. But I also read 4 books from the library and some from my ebooks so I made so little progress here.
# Unread Ebooks
Total unread ebooks at the end of October – 10
Ebooks read in November – 3
Ebooks bought/Received in November – 7
Total unread ebooks end of November – 14
I keep messing up the count on this for some reason… Tralalala
# Beat the Backlist
Backlist books read in November – 7
Total – 69/50
How Was November for Me?
⌘ The first full week of November wasn’t my week. I ended up with a bad cold that felt like my head was going to explode and lost my voice pretty badly. On top of that my IPOD died on me. I took all my bookstagram and blog photos with that plus put a lot of ideas I had during the day down on there. I also lost a bunch of Merijn photos so I was quite upset about it.
⌘ Luckily I have an amazing husband and not only did he get me pretty books to cheer me up but he also secretly took my IPOD to the Mac Help and got it resurrected for me. All the photos were still gone but I now have a working IPOD again and so I could take the pictures the way I wanted to again.
⌘ The week after that I had a touch of flu. And the week after that I had a very painful period. Like it has never been so painful before So I guess November just wasn’t my month?
⌘ The third week my husband had a week off. Because I wasn’t feeling too grant and my husband has been working a lot we didn’t do too much. He also started another internal education at his work so he had to go there on the Thursday. He did really well though on the tests he had to take to be allowed in so he should do well throughout again.
⌘ But anyway we went to Zwolle a morning and of course we went into the Primark and I scored some Harry Potter stuff.
⌘ We also went out to dinner and left Merijn with his grandpa for the afternoon/evening.
⌘ Merijn is doing really well though he is really being a handful. Sometimes he just doesn’t listen at all. He learned how to drink from an open cup himself. And is trying to speak more.
⌘ In the Netherlands we now have a Children’s holiday called Sinterklaas. Similar to Santa. It is cute for kids though Merijn is really too young to really understand it yet. But we went to see him arrive on his ship here in town and he has received some gifts in his shoe.
⌘ We also had his check up and while he is doing really well physically they made me feel like he is behind on talking…. I mean he can say yes, no, mom, dad. In recent days he can point and say that (In dutch die). I know I shouldn’t worry. He’s smart and has been quick with most things. So what if he maybe is slower with talking. He’s only 15 months.
⌘ Every Wednesday morning there is a book start mornng at the library from kids from 0-4. For more explanation on book start, I wrote about it here. We went on the last Wednesday of November. It was a theme morning for Sinterklaas so there was no reading to the kids. It was so loud and so busy. Merijn isn’t used to that or to other kids so he was very over stimulated. As was I. Even so I do think it is good for him to go more often so I think we’ll do that.
⌘ I know I need to get through the posts that still have bad links for the photos but I still don’t quite feel it. I know I should but I also don’t want to do it half assed and leave all posts empty of photos. So I think I’m going to leave it to next year and just make a schedule for it.
⌘ I was suppose to head up my parents for the week of the 28th of November as they would be working on our toilet. But the toilet work got pushed back two weeks so now I am going to my parents December 11th. Which is okay too I guess.
⌘ Kathy from Books and Munches organized a Christmas Card Exchange and also send out a card with this lovely book mark to thank for participating! So in love with it. Swetlana from the Caffeinated Bookworm also send out her card and also send a pretty book mark. ❤
Starting in 2018, @goodreads is going to charge authors/publishers for giveaways and make them US only. There are two tiers: standard ($119) and premium ($599). #goodreads
— Audrey Coulthurst (@audwrites) November 29, 2017
⌘ Have you seen this? I find this such a sucky things for goodreads to do. Not so much for me since I rarely enter goodreads giveaways but for the indie authors who seriously can’t afford this.
What Happened on the Blog?
Reviews
⌘ Heir of Illaria (Illaria 1) by Dyan Chick
⌘ The Language of Thorns by Leigh Bardugo
⌘ Taproot by Keezy Young
⌘ Envy of Angels (Sin du Jour 1) by Matt Wallace
⌘ Dragon’s Green (Worldquake Sequence 1) by Scarlett Thomas
⌘ The Girl from Everywhere (The Girl from Everywhere 1) by Heidi Heilig
⌘ World Reader (volume 1) by Jeff Loveness
Top Ten Tuesday
Characters That Would Make Great Leaders // Books I Want Merijn To Read in the Future // Books I’m Thankful For // Winter TBR
Other Posts
Book Haul #25 – September and October // Dancing out of October 2017 // Books With Adaptation I’ve Seen And I’d Still Like to Read // I Dare You! // I, Robot – Would I Leave My Son in the Care of a Robot? // Online Bookish Merchandise by Dutch People // Review Slump – Do You Review All Books?
What Did I Watch?
⌘ Once Upon a Time in Wonderland / Season 1 / Episode 6 – 8
Not sure if I like where this is going with the Knave. ._. Will is literally the best thing about this show.
⌘ Once Upon a Time / Season 5 / Episode 12 – 23 / Finished
We finally finished this season. I can really tell that we both aren’t as into this world and these characters. A lot of things just make me roll my eyes and the addition of story at the end didn’t make me happy at all.
⌘ American Gods / Season 1 / Episode 2 – 4
This is still weird but I like Shadow. I just like his actor a lot and the faces he can pull. He can look so exasperated. It follows the book reasonably well.
⌘ The Flash / Season 2 / Episode 1-16
I like this show but the cross overs with Arrow I find a little annoying. We don’t watch it and it just creates confusion when they add in side characters from that show too or references. Also the arc was just weird and didn’t feel fitting for the Flash.
⌘ Scooby Doo: Shaggy’s Showdown / Movie
Honestly this movie felt like a bit of a let down. I wasn’t feeling some of the characterization in this one, particulary of Velma
⌘ Scooby Doo: Curse of the Lake Monster / Movie
This is the sequel of the teen live-action movie. It was okay. Very predictable
⌘ Scooby Doo and WWE: Curse of the Speed Demon / Movie
This was a bit better than Shaggy’s Showdown. I am not familiar with any of the WWE though as a Dutchie but it was mostly entertaining.
⌘ Thomas & Friends: The Great Escape / Movie
When I wasn’t feeling so great I watched this with Merijn instead of going outside. Surprisingly he actually kept his attention to it somewhat the first 30 minutes or so.
⌘ Wonderwoman / Movie
We finally watched Wonderwoman and I was a little underwhelmed maybe? Some of the fight scenes didn’t do that much for me and whole love in the middle of the war, you know. And maybe I missed a bit more humor. Even so I’m still glad this movie was made. It is important to have more female superhero movies.
⌘ Skyrunners / Movie
This was a sci-fi movie on Disney XD. It was okay.
Best of My Bookstagram
As I mentioned above I took all of my photos with my IPOD. I put my bookstagram on hiatus because of the dead IPOD. Even though I got the IPOD back, I’ve kept bookstagram on hiatus for a bit. I need to take a lot of photos again and so I feel that it is good to take a bit of a break from it.
Best liked
Elsewhere
Blogs
⌘ Kristen from Metaphors and Moonlight talks about wanting more books about disability and medical needs in post-apoc worlds.
⌘ Wendy from Falconer’s Library talks about whitewashing covers.
⌘ Cat from Let the Pages Reign discusses the (perceived) hierarchy of queerness.
⌘ AJ from Read All the Things discusses how a book gets five stars from them. They also ask us to choose from the 8 Harry Potter presiden candidates for when Trump gets impeached. 😀
⌘ Shannon at It Starts at Midnight shares the seasons of book blogging.
⌘ Mishma from Chasing Faerytales shares a list of what YA needs to get right about teens.
⌘ Cait from Paper Fury tells us why the bookworm life is so exhausting.
⌘ Sarah from Dragon and Zombies shares a list where the book titles are taken quite literally…
⌘ Jamie from The Perputual Page-Turner shares a gift guide for those Harry Potter lovers in your life. And shares how she plans for the new year.
⌘ Dragonfly at our Familiarium shared her best and worst books through premise and theme!
⌘ Evelina from AvalinahsBooks discusses why we might find it hard to get into Sci Fi.
⌘ Austine from Novel Knight talks about Beat the Backlist 2017, feedback and the changes for Beat the Backlist 2018.
⌘ Ely from Tea and Titles is going to make a Q&A about diabetes so if you have any questions, please send her some.
Dutch Blogs
⌘ Marcia from Oog op de Toekomst interviewed Tad Williams.
What Is Up Next Month?
⌘ On December 3rd we’ll be celebrating Sinterklaas at the inlaws (which is the day this posts) so I am curious to see how that goes with Merijn as it hasn’t really sunk in with everyone that we actually have a kid this year that sees them opening gifts. I’ll be heading up to my parents for half a week at December 11th so I probably won’t read much. We’ll be staying at home this year for Christmas for the most part I think so I might get some reading in… We don’t even have plans for New Year’s yet. What are your plans for Christmas?
⌘ Reading wise I have a lot of books I’d like to get to. Some review copies. Rereading some Jonathan Stroud books. And Hogfather. And The Bear and the Nightingale maybe. And I am also buddy reading The Girl of Fire and Thorns this month so yeah…
Linking Up
The Sunday post is a weekly meme hosted by Kimba @ Caffeinated Book Reviewer. This is a bit of a recap post of the week (or month) where you can link to the posts you made this week, share news and wrap up your reading. Starting now I will also link up with Monthly Wrap up from Nicole @ Feed Your Fiction Addiction.
A Dance With Books 
Your list of progress for November is definitely better than mine. I’m even ashamed to share mine after reading this because mine is just purely pathetic XD
(http://anneclarence.wixsite.com/thereadinglife)
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Ah I’m sure it is not that bad. 😉 And everyone has a different reading speed and things they have going on in their life. Right now just seems to be a good time for me to read, haha. I’ve had months that were not so great like this either.
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Awwww, your kid is so cute! My brother didn’t really talk at first either, but once he started he was speaking in full sentences. Everyone is different.
I know just what you mean about awful periods. I had one last month that was unexpectedly heavy and I was not a happy camper. Hopefully things will go back to normal this month for both of us.
Have a good week, and happy reading! 🙂
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Thank you. And that is true. I’ve heard of kids (often guys surprisingly) who didn’t talk until year 3 and were talking in full sentences yeah. He seems to be making progress now though.
I hope so too for the both of us. 😀
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Your bookstagram photos are fab. So glad that you were able to get your iPod back functioning again, we really do reply on our devices so much nowadays. I’d be lost without my phone! And I love Primark too, I scored Harry Potter PJ’s and shoes from there. So affordable and cute!
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Ah thank you! Right? It is surprising how much you rely on it without realizing until you actually lose it.
Oh the pj’s are so comfortable. And oeh the shoes! I couldn’t find them here. ._.
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Sorry to hear November wasn’t really your month. You definitely got enough sickness for at least the next 6 months. 😉
I looooooove your Harry Potter stuff. And that Beauty & the Beast cup is just super cute.
Those Merijn pictures look so cute.
Happy Reading!
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Right?
Thank you.
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It’s so hard when you have a kid and then you’re constantly trying not to compare them to others and yet you still are! And the milestones! It’s a complicated and scary job, but at the end of the day most things turn out okay. We took our DD who is turning 4 in February to an ear exam when she was two because we were worried about her speech. Now I just cannot remember when she didn’t talk constantly and in full sentences. 🙈
All your reading goals look pretty much crushed 👍 Awesome reading year so far it seems!
I hope you have an amazing December and a great week this week. Hopefully none of those little November niggles this month.
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So hard. I try not to but it doesn’t help when you parents then do it for you, haha. When they get it they just start running of their mouth haha. Since typing the post he’s added 3-4 more words so we are getting somewhere.
Thank you. ❤
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Your son’s hair is so cute in that second photo! My nephew was 16 months before he could walk and about two years old before he could talk but after he decided that he wanted to start talking you couldn’t shut him up.
Also, you’ve read so many books this year so far and I’m very jealous of how many you’ve read 🙂
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Hihi I love putting in gel in his hair. Yeah they all follow their own route I guess. I was reasonably quick walking so maybe talking will take him a bit longer, though he did add some more words to his vocabulary this week.
I’m so surprised with how many I read. I had not expected that at all.
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Awe the little guy is adorable. So sorry you had for lack of a better word, a shit month. Glad your iPod is back, that was very nice of your hubby. Hope December is all smiles.
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I hope so too. Thank you. ❤
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So sorry about the photos. I know just how hard that is. I lost some of the kids during my divorce and was heartbroken. I am also sorry that there has been so much crud and illness floating about. It has been the same story here. My daughter has been sick for two weeks and now has no voice. I am hoping it ends soon. Here is to December and hoping it starts off much smoother ❤
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Ah that must have been so hard. ❤
Being voiceless sucks. After a few years of struggling with my voice you'd think I'd get used to it with a cold and yet nope. I hope she gets hers back soon.
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She was a little better this morning ❤ I lose mine often due to nerve damage from my lesion. It is not fun.
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Those Harry Potter goodies look gorgeous – I must find a Primark in the area so I can find some as well 🙂 Sorry to hear your November was not so great healthwise – hope December will be so much better! Your son looks adorable and I hope you all had a great time celebrating Sinterklaas 🙂
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Oh yes! They have so many good stuff right now.
We did have a good time celebrating Sinterklaas, thanks. 😀
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Sorry to hear about your iPod, nice that your husband was able to get it fixed but that would be tough to lose the pictures. Hope that you guys have a great Sinterklaas and all the other festive stuff happening this month.
Curious about your thoughts on The Dragonbone Chair, I read that a few years back.
Have a great week. 🙂
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We did, thank you.
Ah I really liked the start but I thought it lagged so much in the middle part. It was just too long in places. Even so though I really want to read on with the series and start the new series. I think there will be a lot of progress in his writing.
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Oh man… I’ve also had health troubles! And now it’s snowing too. (Do you like snow? I actually prefer the rain xD)
I guess I didn’t have a cold, but I think it was some virus, cause it sort of went into my digestive system.. And my boyfriend has something similar but not as bad right now. This always seems to happen in the cold season… Meh, right.
But but but but! I bought 20 books to counter it. 20!!! That’s like my record this year
don’t even know if that’s good or bad 😀
Oh man that cup! I have been seeing that adorable cup everywhere lately and I just sort of really want one too 🙂
Merijn is cute 🙂 boys are often faster with moving and running. If you want them to talk faster, you should encourage them to use their index fingers and thumbs more (like pick up tiny objects, like legos… with supervision, ofc) because that lets the centers in the brain that serve for language purposes engage faster. I know that cause my grandma is a speech therapist.. And I started speaking at 9 months old because of these exercises xD
What, goodreads giveaways only US? Well that hugely shit. I haven’t been participating in giveaways from there for a while now, but that’s awfully shit
not even talking about the prices. What were they thinking…
Oh! Thank you for sharing my post 🙂 ❤
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Bring me the snow. I hope you are feeling better.
A stack of books is always good. 😉
Thanks. He does pick up a lot of small things. Crumbs and all. Every tiny thing he finds inside and outside he tries to pick up. I don’t think I can encourage more than he already does on his own. 😉 But he has added 3-4 more words since I typed this blog post so I guess he is getting the hang of it.
Yup. It is stupid.
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I really like the way you categorize these posts!
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Thanks. 😀
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Your photos of Merijn are always so cute. I’m glad your IPOD is okay. I freak out whenever my electronics break. My whole life is on them. Happy December!
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Thank you. So weird how much we really rely on those things.
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Omg! Merijn is so cute!!! Don’t worry about him talking, it will come. My preemie didn’t talk until 24 months, I thought we might need to learn sign language. He talks so much now and says that darnedest things!
You did really well with reading and blogging this past month. Glad to hear your Ipod got saved. I hope December is awesome for you!
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Thank you. Was 24 months the corrected age? My friend has preemie twins. 🙂 It is amazing the things they pick up haha.
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Oh no! Sounds like November was a really long month with the health problems- I always feel like I’m either super healthy or super sick in November. No idea why!
I’m jealous that you only have 10 unread e-books. They’re my weakness! I just counted how many I had on my Kindle and it wasn’t pretty (hence, why I need to do a cool challenge like you). Hope Sinterklaas goes well – sounds like a really fun holiday for the kiddo’s 🙂
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Yeah November is just so weird. Might the changing weather.
Haha. On the other end though, I have so many unread physical books. 😉 Maybe next year you can challenge yourself. 😉
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Ugh, I feel you on the weather. It gets dark ridiculously early! I’m ready for bed at 5 p.m., lol.
I’m sorry November was such a rough month for you! I hope December is nicer.
I hadn’t heard the part about Goodreads charging authors for giveaways. I can understand why they wouldn’t want to pay for international shipping, but how many authors want to or can pay for giveaways?! Especially indie authors, as you said. That exposure is so important for them.
Here’s my November recap. 😊
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Right? It is so weird, Like Merijn gets out of bed between 3 and 4 in the afternoon and it feels like we barely have any time before it is already too dark to go outside.
The thing is that I don’t think goodreads did even any of the shipping. I think the publishers did that themselves. So I really don’t understand the charging at all.
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Well that’s even more ridiculous, then! Sebastian and I just published a post brainstorming ways we can make the most of this decision. I hope it helps a little!
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omg I can’t with Merijn!!! he is WAAAAAY too adorable. and yes! he is in that age of not listening. Pushing the boundaries. He finally learned he is a separate entity from mommy and wants to see how far he can venture on his own. SO PRECIOUS! Love this age.
Man I’ve tried t read Asimov so many time! You 5-star makes me want to try again 🙂
I think I like this husband of yours! He seems to be a pretty cool guy 🙂
I’m glad November is over for you Annemieke! December will be awesome you’ll see especially because of Merijn! Christmas + kids = JOY! ⌘
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Hihi. It is a lot of fun. Though in some situations less so haha.
I hope you will give him another go. 🙂
Haha I hope it will be great. 😀
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Omg Merijn is just getting cuter by the day. HIS LITTLE HAIR TOO. So fabulous! Also so glad your iPod got resurrected…that would’ve freaked me out too. And that so sucks about all the sickness for you this month. 😭😭 I hope things are better in december.
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Hihi I love the gel in his hair.
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Like I said, don’t even worry about Merijn’s talking. Baz was late to, but by five years old he was carrying on adult coversations with house guests. Ha ha. For most kids I have known, everything they have been late with, they always catch up and sometimes go beyond. 💜
We will hopefully do our usual if Sebastian doesn’t have to go into work at night, which is having Chinese take-out on Christmas Eve, play Scrabble, and open one gift. Christmas morning we will open the rest of our presents and our stockings, and have cinnamon buns for breakfast. We will have lasagna and gelato for dinner. Although we call it Yule because we aren’t Christians. Ha ha. 🎄
Have a better December than you did November! ☺
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Since posting this he’s added a few more words and another d word yesterday as he stormed through the library so I might have been giving in to my mommy worry brain haha.
Normally we do the gifts on Christmas Eve but Maarten has to work until 6.00pm and usually isn’t home until 6.45 then and Merijn goes to bed at 7/7.30 so that leaves no time for gifts so we will probably do them on Christmas morning.
Sounds so very lovely and lowkey. 😀
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Vervelend om te lezen dat november niet helemaal jouw maand was, ik had hetzelfde. Het zal misschien de kou of het donkere weer zijn.. Hopelijk brengt de kerstversiering ons in december tot hogere sferen 😀
Ik praatte als kind heel vroeg, maar stopte rond mijn derde bijna compleet met praten omdat ik voor iedereen bang was XD haha dus elk kind is anders en uiteindelijk komt het heus wel goed! No worries ❤
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Ja dat hoop ik ook heel erg. November is altijd zo’n rare maand denk ik wanneer het ook echt zo vroeg donker word enzo.
Oh ja dat kan natuurlijk ook. Momenteel zijn er wel wat woordjes tussendoor te horen dus het komt inderdaad ook wel goed.
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Ik ben ondertussen goed op weg om jouw tbr-aantal in te halen. Momenteel staan er een 150 ongelezen boeken te wachten en begin dit jaar waren het er ‘slechts’ 134. Tot daar dat ene projectje. 🙂 Wat jammer dat je zoveel last hebt gehad in november. Misschien moeten we samen met Marcia een anti-november clubje opstarten of zo. Ik vind het trouwens altijd zo jammer wanneer ouders onzeker worden gemaakt door dat soort opvolgingsgesprekken. Niet alle kinderen spreken of stappen even snel. Maar goed ook, stel je voor dat we dat allemaal op exact dezelfde leeftijd zouden gaan doen. De kans is trouwens groot dat Merijn dan weer net heel snel gaat zijn met lezen. 😉
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Haha ja dat loopt dan ineens snel op.
Ja voordien kreeg ik dat gevoel helemaal niet maar nu wel een beetje. En ik las dat ze bij anderhalf jaar ook al een flink aantal woorden horen te kennen enzo. Ach ja.
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Oh my gosh, your November sounds like mine in a way. I got a cold two weeks before Thanksgiving, then the flu the week after, then my cold was back during Thanksgiving and it’s still holding on boooo. I’m so glad you’re feeling so much better and I’m counting down until I’m 100% again. Here’s hoping that both of our Decembers are germ free, fingers crossed!
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I hope your cold has gone in the mean time. Hoping that December will be great for both of us. 😀
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I hope you are feeling much better in December which I can’t believe is more than half over and Christmas is in one week. I enjoy seeing your cute son each month–he has a great smile. I dislike the cold and dark times now, so I really appreciate all the holiday lights people display to help brighten the night. Vrolijk Kerstfeest!
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Right? At the end of the year suddenly weeks are flying by and before you know it is the next year already and everything is going at a snail pace again, haha.
Ah Thank you. ❤ Merry Christmas to you too.
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