My old employer Daidalos is changing its name to Dayon and as an old employee I was asked to write a little story about my time there. Ofcourse I was happy to oblige (in Dutch).
Daidalos becomes Dayon
Reply
Category Archives: Enjoy
The effect of 100% discount
Publishing a children’s book is one thing. Nowadays with all the help you find online, anyone who does a little bit of research can do it. The problem is to generate awareness. This is where I have not succeeded. The past ten days, the digital version of our book could be downloaded for free, which resulted in a grand total of one download.
Apparently I need to make people more aware. Maybe experiment with a promotion. Google Adwords regularly sends me offers of 75 euros for a marketing campaign and who knows, maybe that will have an effect. I will have to give it a try when I feel our book is perfect.
The old shoebox: 36 years later
Then: Father Kees and son Adrie
Now: Grandfather Kees and father Adrie
The first two weeks
The first two weeks have flown by. The first four days we were guests in the hospital. This was by far the worst time for both parents and child. We needed to get used to Alex and Alex needed to get used to living and to his parents. There were a lot of insecurities and Ana was still very much affected by her operation. The vast number of family visiting (even though it was meant so well) did not help us to relax.
But after a few days things went a lot better! Ana’s milk supply began to take off and Ana’s drip was removed. When we left for home (Alcorcon) we were all very happy. After this we have to learn fast, coping with a lack of sleep and coping with a responsibility we have never known.
At his birth Alex weighed 2500 grams. When we left the hospital he weighed only 2300 grams. A week later Alex had reached 2640 grams and today he weighed a very good 3000 grams!
My two weeks of holidays have passed. A part of my time of was spend arranging the mountain of paperwork that needed to be processed. The other part was spend with my new family. Very little sleep, lots of worries and uncertainty, but without doubt the most impressive and beautiful thing that ever happened to me.
The coming month I’ll be in Las Palmas, doing my job. But it feels different that it used to… my mind and thoughts are still in Madrid.
100% discount!
Our new book is also available in an electronic format and because we are celebrating we offer a 100% discount until the 4th of September if you get the book in the webshop. The only thing you need to do is use the coupon code ‘ALEX’ when you complete your order, and you will get the 100% discount.
The available e-books are ‘Thomas and Valentine‘, the Engels version and there is a Dutch version, ‘Thomas en Valentijn‘. All versions are available in ePub, eBook and PDF format.
Thomas and Valentine
978-1-4478-1373-6
978-1-4478-1835-9
A seasoned book freak will probably recognize the numbers above. They are ISBN numbers. These numbers however are not just regular ISBN numbers, they are my ISBN numbers. Who would have ever thought. I have become an author! Just send the tickets for the book ball to me.
Ana and I have written a children’s story and today is the first day you can buy the book. On the website of Lulu you can find the paperback version of the book (ISBN: 978-1-4478-1373-6) which can be purchased for only €8 plus shipping and handling.
Dutch: Thomas en Valentijn
English: Thomas and Valentine
There are also digital versions available for only €3.50. Especially for your Kindle, Nook, eReader, PC, laptop, tablet, etc. These can be found in my own online store in Dutch or English. For owners of an iPhone or iPad there is an English version available in the iBookstore (ISBN: 978-1-4478-1835-9).
With this book you come into possession of the heartwarming story about Thomas, a brave young farmer who builds a friendship with a strange unknown animal. … But his wife has other plans.
A story about loss, intrigue, love, despair and happiness. A new classic for you to read to your children which they will want to hear again and again. An elegant, traditional story that will make you wonder why it has not been written before.
Birth of Alex
On the 15th of August at 23:07 our son Alex was born in the hospital of Alcala de Henares. He is a beautiful small baby with dark blond hair and dark blue eyes. His weight is 2500 grams.
The first night Alex spent in a special section called ‘Neonatos’ because he had become a little hypothermic at birth and made a weird sound during breathing. All night I was with him holding him skin-to-skin. The strange sound was gone after half an hour and the hypothermia was quickly under control. Alex had to remain under supervision until the next day just to be sure all went well.
The 15th was a chaotic day. Alex was scheduled for the 24th, but during an audit they found that the birth was already in progress. Ana had not noticed a thing. I was called and I quickly booked a ticket to Madrid. I arrived here around midnight. Half an hour later I was in the hospital where Alex had just been just born.
Of course I first went to see my little son. As the father I was the only one allowed to see and touch the child. I quickly made a picture and went to see Ana. Seeing Ana was a shock. She was white as a ghost. Luckily seeing the picture of Alex lifter her spirits.
The next day Ana had to get to work directly. She needed to stand up, just hours after having her Caesarean and this was not an easy task, but she had to do it. Her first glance gave her the strength she needed and there appeared a little smile on her face. After a few days we could leave the hospital and go home. Right now we home trying to find a daily routine (and in Ana’s case recovering from the operation).
Some pictures of our son:
Accelerated countdown!
There were still nine days on the counter, but everything suddenly changed. The birth takes place today or just maybe tomorrow morning. I leave with the first flight to Madrid. Probably I will have to miss the birth … but maybe I’m lucky.
Bilingual
It is a faith that cannot be avoided. Our little one well be raised in both Dutch and Spanish. Luckily it seems that raising a child bilingually can have positive results. For us it was easy to reach this decision.
- My Spanish, be it fluent is still far from perfect. Even though a Spaniard will be able to understand me without problems my speech is full of mistakes. It would be horrible if the little one copies my personal adaptation of the Spanish language.
- Half of our family (grandpa, grandma, uncle, aunt, niece and nephew) are Dutch (and Australian) and the little one needs to communicate with this family in Dutch.
The division of responsibilities is simple. I will speak my mother tongue Dutch and Ana will speak Spanish, but only when we are addressing our child. I will remain talking in Spanish when talking to Ana. I am curious if this bilingual education of our child will also have an effect on the mother. Hopefully she will put in some extra effort to at least understand the topic when I am speaking in Dutch.
Of course English is also a very important language, but to not confuse the little one we’ll keep this language for later. I have a wealth of English books and movies so I don’t foresee any problems here.
I never paused to think about it, but using various languages offers additional advantages. I can talk to my son in Dutch without his mother understanding. I can even talk to his mother in English without the child understanding. Clearly knowledge is power.
Countdown, only 2 weeks left!
Time is passing by very fast. Ana is still in Madrid, taking things slow, avoiding stress and trying to relax although the heat in Madrid makes it difficult at times to be comfortable.
Her pregnancy is proceeding very well. The only thing that is a bit strange is that the doctor mentioned that Pek looks like a small baby. He should weigh more that his current weight. To correct this little underweight Ana had to loose weight and at the same time eat more. Sound a bit strange to me, but that must be because I lack a medical background.
I am still very distant and that is a pity. I wonder if Ana’s belly has grown even more. Two more weeks and than it will happen.