Laying low

We've been laying low....going for walks in between raindrops, drinking tea in the Conservatory, and walking around town and over the favorite hills of the Vardre and Conwy Mountain.
Here we are near the top of the Vardre. The Vardre is the site of an ancient (c. 700 AD) castle that overlooks the Conwy River valley (which you can see in the background). Fortunately for us, the Vardre is only a few minutes walk from the Lewis family house.
Kissing cousins Rhiannon and Gabriel. Rhiannon has been kissing almost on command these days if we say "Sws i [fill in the blank]". "Sws" is pronounced "soos" and means kiss in Welsh.
Rhiannon looked like a starfish squished flat against Rhodri's back on the way up to Conwy Mountain.
On top of Conwy Mountain with Teid Trefor, Sioned, Steve, Rhodri, Rhiannon and Nain Beryl.
The Minx likes being thrown in the air
Pulling magnets off the refridgerator with Teid is a favorite activity

Nadolig Llawen (Merry Christmas)

We are in Wales for Christmas!
We arrived on Friday Dec 22nd and have had some really lovely relaxing days since then. Rhodri's older sister Nia and her Argentine husband Cristian and their 3-month baby boy Gabriel are here too, along with Rhodri's younger sister Sioned. Its a noisy house with the 2 babies and their early waking hours! We have been having a little party in the Conservatory each morning around 6am. Its waaaay more enjoyable waking up early when you share the 'fun' with another grown-up.
Here is a scene from the early morning party with Nia and Gabriel. Rhiannon has started pointing at things that interest her and usually says "Ehhhhhyyy" in this funny voice that totally sounds like she is interested in something. In fact, usually when we hear that we know she has found the remote control or the bowl of pistachios or something else she is not supposed to play with.
Here is Rhiannon with her Nain Beryl (Grandma in Welsh).
Rhiannon got many wonderful presents, including a little car that has a musical circling scene with a princess, a horse, and a dragon. She totally loves it! She climbs on and scoots around riding on it, and she also gets off and pushes it or pulls it around with her. The seat lifts up too so she can put handy toys in there.
Rhiannon also got a supercute red ladybug (aka ladybird) scarf and ladybug rainboots (wellies)Out for a walk with Nain and wearing her favorite bunny poncho

Walking

This video is already a bit outdated because the past 3 days she has been getting a lot stronger and more confident.

On darkness

The Tromso skyline...
Its weird having it be dark all the time. When we were in Tromso, the sky started to lighten around 10:30am and then started darkening again around 1pm! The sun never did make it above the horizon. Its not quite that extreme here at 60 deg north, but there is a heck of a lot of darkness. Aside from feeling sleepy a lot, it also is hard for Bentley to chase sticks. But I do like the coziness of this dark season so far.

Here is a great idea: heated tile floors in the bathroom! It is soooo nice. Candles or soft white lights in windows is another. And it is SO nice to not be bombarded with "Happy Holidays" over-the-top Santa, overplayed carols and tinsel everywhere. Does that sound too scroogey? Maybe if I understood more Norwegian, I would not feel the same way. There is something so nice (in a way) about being oblivious to language in a foreign land.

Housewarming and a real Birthday

We had a party today! Actually, we had 2 parties. First, we invited all of our neighbors around from 1-3pm (we put flyers in everyone's mailboxes last week). I think nearly everybody came - about 25 adults + a bunch of kids - which we were quite surprised about! At 1pm prompt the doorbell rang and from then on it was one family after another, each bearing a gift of some kind. Superb! We drank coffee and ate gingerbread and it was really nice. I dont think we will remember most people's names but at least we know some familiar faces now. Here are some of the neighbors, including our friend Beate who is wearing a skirt (below).
Second, we invited all of our friends and colleagues over from 3-6pm for a proper Housewarming/ Birthday party. There were about 10 kids, mostly aged 1-5, here for the second party. We turned them loose with the basket of toys and they were off! Rhiannon and Felix (20 months) managed to chew off the top of a red bath gel crayon and were happily feasting away on bath gel (rubbing their hands in a puddle on the wood floor and then licking their hands) until Felix's older brother came and got me. The rolling horsie ran over Tidemann's (13 months) fingers but everyone by then figured it was karma because he had been pulling chunks of hair out of his sister's head all day.
Fortunately there was no overlap in the groups and I even had a few minutes to bake some more gingerbread cookies in between parties. The Chocolate Applesauce Cake that I made as a 1st birthday cake was a hit even though I was missing a key ingredient (allspice). I have a video of us singing Happy Birthday to Rhiannon and also of her eating the cake which I will post, but here is the Minx scarfing down.

Northern lights and a lavvo tent

After our bad luck subsided, we went to the Tromso Wilderness Center http://www.villmarkssenter.no/hmeny-E.htm for an evening of relaxing around a campfire, enjoying live music, eating "Finnbiff" (reindeer stew with wild berries) and watching the northern lights! Here is a photo (taken by our friend Abi Smigel) of the lights above the hangout tent. Even though it was cloudy and even raining on and off, the lights were still visible behind the clouds.
Here is the Minx relaxed and warm in my lap inside the lavvo tent. The tent was about 30 feet diameter with reindeer-skin-covered seating around the sides. That is our friend Phil behind us. Rhiannon slept on and off inside of a borrowed stroller and when she was awake she socialized with everyone and sucked on rocks which covered the floor.
Here is the Minx visiting the musician. She kept trying to adjust the strings by fiddling with the thingies on the end of the guitar (i dont know what they are called!)
Here she is socializing with Eva, Michael, Terje and Jamie (though he isn't as interested!). She especially loved looking at Terje (in the white sweater) and getting attention from Michael.

A Very Eventful Birthday!

I am SO glad that Rhiannon will not remember her 1st birthday! It was an absolutely disastrous day. I will spare you all the details, but in short...

Rhodri was out of the country on business and Rhiannon and I were scheduled to go up to Tromso in the northern part of Norway on a "Teambuilding" trip with my group at work. Rhiannon was a little bit under the weather and I nearly canceled our trip but decided to go for it...big mistake! We ended up missing the flight because the taxi I called took nearly 2 hrs to come and eventually I gave up on it and asked a neighbor that I didn't know to drive us to the train station. So when I realized that we were going to miss the flight, I also realized that my wallet was gone! We had to borrow money in order to get off of the train and go through the turnstile into the airport. Fortunately there was a later flight up to Tromso so we got on that, but then the airlines lost our stroller! In the middle of all this, Rhiannon had a diaper blowout and I hadn't packed any spare clothes, so she was a stinky little birthday girl. By the time we got to the hotel (which was NOT a luxury hotel and actually I was expecting there to be no hot water or heating in our room but thankfully I was wrong!), it was 11pm and we had no wallet, no stroller; it was late and cold and dark and we were exhausted and hungry and Rhiannon didn't feel well and both of us were crying! So sad.

I found the silver lining in the kindness of strangers. The nice neighbor Lasse was offended that I hadn't asked him for a ride to begin with rather than calling a taxi. The train conductor mobilized some helpers at the airport to come and help me with luggage to get through quickly and try to make the flight that I ended up missing (of course, when I realized that my wallet was gone I told her to stand down the helpers because we were in no hurry anymore!). A Norwegian couple next to me on the train offered to lend me money to get to Tromso.

Then my friend Emily magically appeared at the airport! She bought us a cup of tea and a chocolate cupcake and we sat for awhile in the airport cafe while deciding what to do next. She ended up lending me money and looking after Rhiannon while I ran around changing flights and things like that. In the end, we made it to Tromso and Rhiannon got to have some chocolate cake on her eventful birthday but it sure was a grim ride.
Coming soon... northern lights and a wonderful evening in a Sami lavvo tent make the trip worthwhile!

God Jul

(that means "Happy Christmas"...I think)
Today Rhiannon got her face painted and received a Norwegian elf hat (the long braids are the telltale sign I guess). She seemed to like sucking on the braid ends. Our neighbor Beate was the one doing the face painting at the shopping center and she took the really cute picture above.

Snuggly bunny outfit

Rhiannon's Aunt Heidi gave her this snuggly bunny poncho as a birthday present - the Minx turns one tomorrow! Usually Rhii only gets to wear it in the car, but on Friday night we went to a party at work and she got to wear it as a special treat. Here she is all ready to go!

Feeding time

The Minx is learning to feed herself these days....

Breakfast scene

Here is the scene in our new house during breakfast time. Right now the dining table is too loaded with stuff that we haven't unpacked yet, so we hang out at the breakfast bar area a lot. That is the fireplace and living room in the background. We have been building a fire in the fireplace when we wake up so the room is nice and toasty and cozy as we start the day. It doesn't start getting light until nearly 9am!

Goodbye Kjorbokollen...

...hello new house! Below is a photo of where our temporary apartment was (Kjorbokollen) - we are happy to say goodbye although we had a good experience there. Our apartment was about in the upper middle of the apartment block (with a balcony).
And here is a picture of the front door and kitchen window at our new house!So this next photo was taken on moving day (Fri), and the Minx wasn't too sure about being held captive inside a large box. I thought it would be fun for her but I guess she thought differently. Anyway, its been a rough few days getting settled in. We couldn't find the hardware for her crib/cot anywhere and Rhodri almost got out the power drill to put in some new holes for new hardware, but we found the goods in the end (they were stuck with some bed slats in the basement room). The two nights she spent in a 'nest' on the floor were very long nights and none of us slept well including Bentley.

Houston, we have a walker!

Yes, its true. The Minx took her first few steps this morning - our first morning here in the house that we will be living in for the next 3 years! So its been a full weekend with the move on Friday and then unpacking Saturday and today. It is wonderful to be here finally reunited with all our stuff. However, the moving company somehow forgot to pack our car!?! So that is another story but the big news is that we have a new walker in our midst.

This morning she was still in her pajamas, playing on the rug in the kitchen with a collapsible Russian shot glass, when she turned around and took two solid steps towards me and then just stopped. She didn't fall, didn't sit...she just stood there and then looked up and me with this funny expression. Then she sat down and was very pleased with herself.

Posting an ad

First of all, Happy Thanksgiving everyone!
This is the poster that I am going to put up today in various places around Asker (with my name and phone number in tear-off strips at the bottom). We dont want to be driving back and forth twice a day to go to the dagmamma in Sandvika anymore - its terrible traffic. Rhiannon doesn't love being there anyway because she still cries every morning when I take her. The text says "I need a dagmamma in Asker to take care of me as soon as possible!"

Really motoring now

Miss Rhiannon seems to have gotten the knack for pushing her wagon. She seems to really enjoy crashing into things - probably because of the satisfying sounds that the wagon makes as she rocks it back and forth.

Hundehotell

And where did Bentley go while you were gallivanting in Barcelona? Lucky Bentley got to go stay at a 'Hundehotell' in the forest near Asker. There were 8 other dogs staying there, each in his/her own little room, and during the day all the dogs got to play together on 15 acres of fields and woodland! I was worried at first because Bentley was crying when I left him, but I called later that day and was told that he was really having a good time. He got extremely muddy because all the snow has melted but the rain has continued, and they gave him a bath so that when I picked him up yesterday he was fluffy and clean. The down side? It was SOOOOO expensive for him to stay there! ~$65/day which included food!

Down the hall

Rhiannon's Grandma in Wales ("Nain" Beryl) sent this little wooden wagon to Barcelona as an early Birthday present. She was very keen to get going! Sioned, Rhodri and I thought she looked hilarious from the back because of the way she moves her feet...

Weekend in Barcelona

We went to Barcelona for my birthday weekend in order to get a change of scene. Norway is very dark and rainy-foggy right about now....
Rhodri's younger sister Sioned met us there and we rented an apartment near Sagrada Familia. We bought a 2-day bus pass (the double-decker, open-topped tourist type that Nia Lewis (Rhodri and Sioned's older sister) would have been horrified to be caught in!) and toured around the whole city.

The Minx on the bus with Sioned and Rhodri

Fascinated with Barcelona

One of the Gaudi-designed buildings in the city

Out at a restaurant for my special birthday dinner - way past Rhiannon's bedtime! She slept for most of the meal in her stroller but woke up and wanted to join the action.

Kisssing Auntie Sioned

A few surprises

So many new toys!
Grandma Debi and Grandpa Carl sent a box full of new toys to Rhiannon and there was Great Excitement! Of course, she instantly found the 'whoop-whoop' pretend car keys with the batteries already installed (thanks a LOT, Parents!). She also enjoyed chewing on a puzzle piece with the tiny nipple-like thing in her mouth. I think Rhii was pretty burnt out on playing with the same toys for the past 5 weeks because lately she has been prowling around looking underneath the couches for tidbits that may have been forgotten about.
The above photo is from the archive - taken on a small boat in the Sea of Cortez off the coast of Baja California, Mexico (yes, a far cry from Oslo Norway!). The other surprise from today is that I discovered something about Bentley...he is a cold-water swimmer! We always used to try to get him to swim at the beach in San Diego and he didnt like going where he couldnt reach the bottom. But today, I took him to the fjord beach around sunset (~4pm) to let him get some wiggles out. There were literally chunks of ice floating in the fjord water and he was diving in to swim after little sticks that I threw! So I guess he must just prefer ice cold water to swim in. Who knew?

More exploration

This past weekend, we went exploring again. This time our friend Abi came with us since she is in town for work right now. On Saturday we went to Holmenkollen, which is the huge ski jump that towers over the city of Oslo and is visible day and night from all over the area. We went up to the very tip top and had a look around before taking Bentley on a scampering walk through the adjacent forest. We finished off the day with some tea and cakes at the Holmenkollen restaurant.
This picture doesnt show the scale very well until you look at the very tip top of the ski jump and see the room that can reportedly hold 60 people in it!
Me, Rhodri w/ Rhiannon, and Abi outside of the Holmenkollen restaurant overlooking Oslo.
On Sunday Rhodri left so Abi and I took the Chiefs exploring on the Bygdoy peninsula along some gorgeous paths through skinny trees. We encountered lots of other dogs -- mostly off-leash -- and Bentley was so good with them. Although it was Sunday and almost everything is closed, we did manage to find a cafe nearby so we could warm up with tea and snacks.

Cooing with Daddy

A Saturday morning scene in our apartment...(aka "Why our downstairs neighbors hate us")

Post-It fun

I discovered that if I want to keep the Minx entertained for a few minutes, a pad of Post-Its works very well! She loves peeling the papers off one at a time and crinkling them, then moving on to the next paper to peel off. Here she is caught in the action with a slightly 'duffy dose'...the poor thing is a bit under the weather today.

She also has been really into reading books lately, but only if if it is on her terms. She wants to turn the pages by herself with no one looking over her shoulder, and she seems to prefer reading books that are upside down. Silly ol' Minx.

Cooing stage

The Minx has been in a cuddly and cooey stage lately. She loves to curl up and press her cheek against another person (or Bentley) while making this really cute cooing noise. We have also received reports from her dagmamma that Rhiannon is always trying to hug and coo against the little boy Hennig that goes to the same dagmamma. We havent seen for ourselves but we can imagine.

Dee dee!

Check out Bentley's face during this episode!

Frozen puddles

No, this photo has nothing to do with frozen puddles - it is another archive photo from when the little Miss was a mere 3 months old.

Anyway, we've had a pretty quiet weekend. The Chiefs (Rhiannon & Bentley) and I went for another exploratory walk on Saturday near Asker and Bentley learned all about frozen puddles! We walked for well over an hour and saw nobody during that whole time. Bentley was free to frolic and scamper over fallen trees and the like. He was very good about coming back when I whistled (or at least doing a run-by at full tilt). I would see just a flash of white and black against the backdrop of browning fallen leaves and varied greenery. But I did see his hind legs go out from under him a couple of times as he sped over icy patches of ground. Good thing he didn't crash into us!

Skidding practice

I just spent all day in the car skidding through obstacle courses on ice! How cool is that? There were 12 of us in the class and we each had to drive our own car around and around this 3-track course that had hills, sharp corners and moving obstacles! The 3 instructors kept telling us to drive faster and faster to simulate real-life driving situations. Superb! Too bad I didnt have "Max" (our real car) with me. He would have done a lot better than the Skoda rental we have right now. This course is put on by the Norwegian Automobile Association but paid for (and required) by the company.
Here are the moving obstacles that are remote controlled to jump out into the track

Just the 3 of us

Rhodri is away right now so it is just "the Chiefs" and me. We have been coping, but Rhiannon keeps looking for him and saying "Da Da" all the time. True, she has been saying "da da" for weeks and weeks, but now it definitely means Daddy and she definitely is looking around for him. So sweet! I also had to buy her some warmer and bigger clothes! Here is she modeling her new soft wool long johns with a khaki dress and matching hat and shoes.

Intl playgroup

This photo doesn't quite convey the fantastic chaos going on in this room every Wednesday morning! We go to this International Playgroup where there are about 30 families from all over the place. We pay a small fee so that snacks and beverages can be provided, and the only organized part of the morning is when everyone sits in a circle and sings songs.
The first day Rhiannon was quite overwhelmed (and so was I to be honest!) but now we have some friends there and it is a highlight of our week. There are English, American, Swedish, Latvian, Romanian, Indian, French and Australian mothers and 1 Colombian father who comes with his triplets! There are huge bins of toys that live in the room and there is a thick duvet against one wall for nursing mothers and non-mobile babies to hang out on. Rhiannon's favorite toy has been a little tricycle that she pushes around the place, but it is quite a popular item so she is quickly learning how to share....

Different chapter now

Big changes taking place over here...
No, not just the fact that it snowed yesterday and the temperature never did get above freezing today even though there was not a cloud in the sky! No, the big change is that now Rhiannon is being cared for half the day by a dagmamma named Ann Mari. There are 2 other [Norwegian] kids at the house too, and they are both 4 months older than Rhiannon. Its been a difficult week or so, even though we have been slowly ramping up the number of hours that she stays there. Yes, lots of tears. But today Ann Mari said that Rhiannon stopped crying right after I left and had a good time playing and singing with her and the other 2 kids.

She hasnt been sleeping that well and she has had a bit of a 'stormy' temperment of late also. We are of course being extra cuddly and affectionate, and I think that is helping. I feel so lucky and grateful to have been able to care for her full time until now.