Our Sun Baby, for Lior means "my light," spends the first day in his existence on Planet Earth in the hospital because his temperature is low, as is as his blood sugar level. He does not seem to mind this one bit (left).

Lior rests comfortably in his mom's loving arms (middle right). He is doing so well that the two are hoping to be able to go home soon (far right).

Yo mama, where is my milk (far left)? Yawn, this milk is making me very sleepy (middle left). Because Lior is such a good eater, he is discharged from the hospital on April 1, no joke.

Lior has a happy twinkle in his eyes because he gets to go home today (middle right). The tag from his leg is removed and he is almost ready to roll (far right).

Mom gets a card from the hospital to congratulate her on the birth of her little miracle (far left). Lior gets to wear his first real clothes (middle left).

Lior looks so small in his car seat (middle right), and fortunately does not have to travel very far to go home (far right).

At home, he is greeted by his youngest sister, Luna (far left). Luna and mom are very happy with the addition of Lior to their small family (middle left).

The sun shines bright during Lior's first day at home. There, he is visited by his grandparents (below left), Tante Daphne, and his siblings Sanne, Ruben, Lenneke, and Aafke (below right). All guests enjoy a delicious piece of Dutch rusk with anise seeds (middle below). As noted elsewhere, this is a "Dutch treat" to celebate a baby's birth. The anise is presumed to be good for the mother's milk and scare away evil spirits

Papa comes over for to meet his youngest son (middle right). He is observed by the latter with much interest (far right). Lior clearly observes some familiar facial features.

Marianne helps mama, Luna, and Lior in getting adjusted to their new life together (far left). While she entertains Luna, photographer Geert van de Ven takes pictures for Lior's birth announcement, which will be ready soon (middle left).

Like his little sister Luna, Lior loves having a bath. The tummy tub reminds him of the good times in his mom's womb (left). Yet, it was not so comfortable there that he wanted to stay any longer. His mom has a big hug waiting for her little darling at the end of the bath to help with the transition back into the real world (right).

On the fifth day of his existence on Planet Earth, Lior is weighed by the obstetrician, who finds that he weighs in at 2340 grams, which is roughly 5.2 US pounds (middle right). This means that he is almost back at his birth weight, which is normally expected to take about two weeks. But Lior is no normal baby, of course! The obstetrician also draws blood for the Guthrie test (far right).

On the seventh day of his existence on Planet Earth, Lior's remaining umbilical stub falls off (far left). Esther-Mirjam has to look twice to realize what has changed on Lior's body (middle left).

Luna is such a wonderful sister. She is very gentle with Lior when he gets to lie on her lap (middle right). And she helps Marianne when the latter changes Lior's diaper (far right).

Esther-Mirjam discovers the joy of taking a shower with her young son (left). Lior finds the combination of his mom's warm skin and the shower's warm water to be quite relaxing, until he decides that it is time to eat!

On the eighth day of his existence on Planet Earth, Lior gets weighed one last time by the obstetrician (middle right). He weighs in at 2460 grams, which is roughly 5.4 US pounds (far right). It is also well above his birth weight, suggesting that Lior is adjusting quite well to his new surroundings. Such a good baby!

Esther-Mirjam's Easter present consists of Lior now being allowed to go outside since he is able to keep his body temperature stable. He gets to wear a warm coat (top left) and is tucked in with a warm blanket (bottom left). Papa comes over to take Luna and Lior for a walk in the new stroller (top right). The walk is used to deliver Lior's information to the family physician and the youth health bureau (bottom right).

When big sister Aafke comes over for a visit, she is put to work. She changes Lior's diaper (left) and gives him a bath (right). The latter is cut short because Lior goes poo-poo in the bath. Uh oh! Afterwards, Aafke has lots of cuddles for her little brother (below left, below right) and dresses him in the outfit he got from her and two of his other big sisters (below middle). Thanks to them, he is one well-dressed baby!

At the tender age of two weeks, Lior visits the regional health offices in Nijmegen to undergo a hearing test (far left). A very kind nurse greets him and explains the procedure to mom (middle left).

A sensor is placed inside Lior's ear (middle right). It sends a signal and then registers whether the ear bounces it back, as it should (far right). Lior sleeps through the whole procedure.

Lior receives a pass for the hearing test (far left) and gets to hang out with big sister Sanne afterwards (middle left). Aafke comes along, too. Sanne and Aafke go grocery shopping with Lior while Luna and Esther-Mirjam go to gym for toddlers, and they have a nice dinner waiting for them when they come back. How lucky Lior is to have such sweet big sisters!

Mama bought a very appropriate t-shirt for her stunningly beautiful baby boy (middle right) with the Dutch phrase "Mama's Kanjer" (far right), which translates to something like "Mama's Stunner."

When mama is busy cleaning Lior's poo-poo, our Sun Baby stuns her by going pee-pee all over his bedroom wall (far left).When she takes one look at his innocent face (middle left), she cannot but smile at her son!

When Opa Ben and Oma Alie come over yet another time to help Lior, Luna, and Esther-Mirjam with the final things that need to be done in the house, they take a break from their hard labor by hanging out in the garden. That is, Opa Ben gets to play with Lior (right), while Oma Alie is put to work with the photo camera. Life is tough for a grandmother!

The visitors are starting to trickle in. They include Tante Astrid and Ome Albert (left). Luna shows them what a loving big sister she is by giving her baby brother a soft, sweet kiss on his cheek.

Tante Astrid and Ome Albert bring a personalized present for Lior, embroided bath towels (middle right). And a very special friend sends t-shirts that read "I am the big sister of Lior" and "I am the little brother of Luna" (far right). Too cute!

The Sent family is almost fully settled into its new home, just in time to receive visitors for Lior. The front shows the "Hurray, a boy" sign in the window (below middle). From the hallway, you can access the living and dining room (below left and right).

The hallway also gives access to the kitchen (left), from where you can walk into the back yard (right, below middle). A staircase gets you to the second floor (below left), where you can find a beautiful bathroom (below right).

The second floor also houses the bedrooms of Luna (left), Lior (right), and mom (below left). As you can see, Lior still hangs out in his mom's room! Yet another staircase (below middle) takes you to the study/guest room on the third floor (below right). For now, it is used to store yet to be unpacked boxes!

The Sent family is settling into a comfortable routine (right). Lior is a very sweet baby who drinks and sleeps very well. He cries only every now and then. And his sister is so wonderful with her little brother.

The Sent family loves to exchange hugs and kisses (left). Only Luna has to be warned every now and then that her little brother is not quite as strong as she is. And she does not quite understand why he does not like her drink and cookies!

Lior's first trip outside of Nijmegen is to Apeldoorn, to visit Hans's children at the home of his ex-wife, Anneke. Ruben loves no longer being the only son (below left). Sanne does a wonderful job of calming Lior (below right). When she sings to her little brother, he calms down instantly. Anneke very kindly invites Lior and his mom and sister to stay for dinner (below middle). That is, Lior sleeps through the dinner on her bed, while his mom and sister enjoy a delicious meal. They are so grateful to Anneke for allowing them into her home. She is a very special person!

Lior entertains a steady stream of visitors and shows them what a good baby he is. Ome Dennis, the son of Tante Astrid and Ome Albert (see above), comes over for a visit (far left). Also, the secretaries from Esther-Mirjam's department, Wilma and Helma, manage to find time in their busy schedules to drop by (middle left).

Evert and Reinie are the neighbors of Oma Alie's mother. Sadly, Oma Dies passed away many years ago. Fortunately, Evert and Reinie have kept in touch and come over for a visit (middle right). Also, Ome Albert, a colleague of Esther-Mirjam's from Rotterdam, very kindly makes the long trip to visit mom and son.

When Lior visits the Youth Health Bureau, he weighs in at 3220 grams, which is roughly 7.1 US pounds and almost 50% more than he did at birth. He measures 52 cm, which is roughly 20.5 inches and 4 cm more than he did at birth. What is the secret of his success? He eats very well and gets lots of snooze time (row above, left, right).

Now, do not be misled into thinking that Lior spends all his time sleeping and eating. He also likes to look at the world with his big, bright eyes, from the comfort of his mom's lap (left).

When Aafke and Ruben come over for a visit, they get to take a bath with their little brother (right). Oh, does that feel good! So as not to upset the American visitors to Lior's website, Aafke wears a bathing suit for the photo shoot! (See Sandra Toney's posting in the guest book.)

Hip. Hip. Hurray!
One month old!

We have a tiny problem where it comes to celebrating Lior's Month Day, which is that he was born on the 31st of March and not all months gave 31 days. So mom decided to celebrate her son's Month Day on the last day of each month. During the first celebration, Lior is giving the world around him a good look. And he is sure good-looking while doing so!