Clapping along with Toby

Our friend Rosie in San Diego sent us this video of her son Toby clapping his hands. Rhiannon and I watched it together and she was clapping right along! I think she must recognize her old pal Toby. Look for when she points to the screen and says "Baby"!

A very late night

Saturday night, Rhodri and I went to a formal-dress evening for work at a fancy hotel in downtown Oslo. We didn't get home until 3:30am! It was quite a fun night with good food, wine and entertainment but I was ready to call it a night around 1am. We had our 16-year-old neighbor babysat for us and of course Rhiannon was asleep the whole time anyway so that she could wake up bright and bushy-tailed at 6am! Luckily (for me), it was Rhodri's turn this morning to get up with her while I got to sleep in for a few more hours. We had a nice slow day otherwise and it even snowed a couple more inches today. Then this afternoon, we were invited to one of our neighbors house for coffee and cakes at 5pm and that was really nice.

Morning in the crib

Lately I haven't been hearing Rhiannon wake up from her morning nap. One day recently I went in to see if she was still sleeping after 1.5 hours and this is what I found...

Our first dinner party

...But it was for brunch, not dinner. We figured it still counted as a dinner party because all 10 of us sat around the dining table.
[l to r]: Rhiannon, Rhodri, Tamara, Eithne, Laura, Emily, Phil, Magnus and Billy (only a sliver of his face and his waving hand unfortunately).
Our friends the Heelans came over this morning an hour earlier than we expected! This was because of an Irish-American communication error...Phil said "We will call at 10am" and I thought he meant he would telephone me at 10am to confirm they were coming, but he meant to "call by" at 10! So anyway, it was a happy if a bit chaotic scene with Phil, girlfriend Emily (who was my rescuer on the Dec 10th unlucky day), brother Billy Heelan, Billy's girlfriend Tamara, mother Eithne Heelan and sister Laura Heelan. There was also a friend Magnus who was taking them all skiing after the meal.
Rhiannon really liked playing with Laura

Lots of snow at last

Finally we had a good dumping of snow here...it snowed all day Saturday and all day today as well. Yay! Up until now we have had just a few inches at a time and then the snow would melt the next few days. Rhodri came home on Saturday night so we got to enjoy the snow all together today. One of our neighbors gave us this Rhiannon-sized sled so we pulled her around in it. She liked it at first but when we got to a place where the snow and wind was going straight into her face, it wasnt so fun...
Rhodri tried to pull her through some deeper snow but she toppled over when the sled went into his footprints. It wasnt the last time this day that she got a face full of snow! Poor thing.
Bentley was a crazed and bounding snow dog. He jumps really high in the air trying to catch snowballs being thrown over his head

Little handyman girl

In the mornings, I get Rhiannon dressed for the day and then I leave her to play in her room or out in the office area at the top of the stairs while I get dressed. Today she was a busy little Minx, first pulling all the reachable books off the bookshelf and then she found her 'suitcase', hooked her thumb through her overalls, and walked out to find me! Doesnt she look like a little handyman Rhodri in her Carhartt overalls? A true Daddy's girl...too bad he wasn't here to enjoy it. I think the handyman persona soaked into her skin because this evening before bathtime she discovered a wood hammer and set about hammering everything in sight. Fortunately I stopped her before she did too much damage to Bentley's nose.

No time for soft toys

I keep trying to introduce a "lovey" or a snuggly stuffed animal or something else that is soft and cuddly for the Minx, and it is a No Go! She wrinkles up her face and pushes it away. And its not like I just started this campaign - I have been trying since Day 1 to no avail. She seems to just be happier dragging around a box full of stuff and knocking over her rolling horsie to examine the wheels. Today it looked like she was trying to change the tire on the horse! Her other favorite activities these days include pulling CDs out of the CD shelf and pulling apart anything that can be pulled apart. She also has been quite cuddly lately -- nuzzling her head into Bentley's fur or into Rhodri's or my shoulder and then patting us on the back and cooing.

Recap

Just thought I would quickly recap where we are in terms of recent posts...
- Both Rhiannon and I are feeling better (yay!).
- We are still looking for a dagmamma and/or trying to get Rhiannon into a barnehage in Asker. The commute to Sandvika isn't that fun, even though it is only really 15-20 min each way. All of my tags have been pulled from the posters I made, but nobody has phoned me yet.
- Rhodri has been traveling way too much - Dubai last week and now in Gibralter until next weekend. We miss him.
- I am working half-time and enjoying it (mostly) so far
- Bentley has settled in and is really enjoying the snow! He frolicks in it and runs really fast through deep patches
- We are looking forward to having visitors one of these days. So far we have late March-early April booked for the Grandparents, but otherwise the schedule is open. We would love to see some familiar faces!

Cool mittens

Rhiannon got these cool mittens for her birthday from a co-worker of ours. It has been hard to put mittens on her until we got these. She loves having her hands inside them.

Under the weather

Booooo
Rhiannon and I have both been feeling under the weather. No exciting pictures to share, unless there is a demand to see some close up photos of green boogers! Rhiannon's spirit has stayed mostly the same though.... She would cough, making a terrible awful sound and I would make a soothing "oooh poor you" sound in response, then her eyes would twinkle and she would say "doobie Doobie DOOBIE" and smile mischieviously! So I have not been too worried.

Now thats more like it

Finally some snow! It snowed about 1 inch on Friday night and here is the view from the kitchen window on Saturday morning. Yay! Of course we went for a big walk down an unknown (to us) public footpath and discovered a new neighborhood with lovely snow-covered trees and hills. Everything is so beautiful under a fresh coat of snow. Here is our communal soccer pitch where Bentley plays with his doggie friends.

Back at home

We are back home in Asker now. It was wonderful travelling on New Years Day - the airports and trains and roads were empty. Although it was hard to leave Wales, I think we are all happy to be home...especially since there were some packages waiting for us here!
Below, Rhiannon digs through a Birthday/ Christmas care package from her 'homies' back in San Diego. She was reaaally excited by the white styrofoam peanuts that crackle when she tried to eat them.
One of her favorite 'toys' from the package is an orange sweater! She dragged it around with her for the rest of the afternoon and kept pretending that the sleeves were mobile phones. "Hello?!" Rhiannon talks to a sleeve