40 weeks

Here I am at 18, 29, 36 and 40 weeks. Hopefully this is the last of the photos...I don't think this blue shirt will stretch much bigger!

På tur

I have been trying to catch Rhiannon's class going "på tur" for several weeks now but today I finally saw them! "På tur" literally means "on tour" but in practice it means that the kids get to go on a field trip outside the gates of the barnehage. Usually they go to a nearby "lekeplass" (playground) for a change of scene. Here are all the 2 year olds (or nearly 2 years old) going for their weekly tur. They are all holding onto a rope which is barely visible on the left side of the photo. Rhiannon is the one in a pink rainsuit in the middle of the pack. Every Thursday morning (regardless of the weather, unless it is colder than -15 degrees C), Rhiannon gets to put on her reflective vest and wear her backpack filled with her "matpakke" (packed lunch), "sitteunderlag" (sitting pad) and other goodies.

Velcro fruit and Vigelandspark

Still waiting for New Baby and making the most of our days together...
My good friend Annabel and her two kids Kyrstyn and Skylyr sent Rhiannon some presents for a "Big girl that loves to cook", including fruits and vegetables that can be cut into pieces and re-attached with velcro. Now we have to pretty much hide the velcro fruit from her because she is obsessed!Wearing her new favorite apron, chef's hat and backpack while cutting fruit and veg for Heidi and Grandma
It was a lovely day for visiting my favorite sculpture park downtown Oslo. My friend Elin came with us to enjoy all the pretty colors and tree-lined pathways through Vigeland's bronze and granite statues.The monolith in the background was being cleaned (hence the scaffolding) but the red Virginia creeper vines (or whatever they are called in Norske) were gorgeous.

With Heidi and Grandma

Yes, we are still waiting for the new Lewis to arrive! But in the meantime, we have really been enjoying having Grandma Debi and Aunt Heidi here. Rhiannon is very good at pronouncing "Grammm-MA" and calls Aunt Heidi "Haw-dee", which sounds so cute when she says it. Here she is asking for more tickles from Grandma...And exploring around the fjord beach at Hvalstrand with HeidiReading one of many books with Grandma

Birthday party for Fia

Its been a big day here in Asker! First we picked up Grandma Debi and Aunt Heidi from the train station and then we went to Sofie's birthday party! Rhiannon got to wear her favorite bunny poncho. All dressed up in party duds with Rhods.
On the way to the car with lovely autumn colors behindAt Sofie's birthday party with the other kids (who we didn't know)

It turns out that a 2-year-old Norwegian children's birthday party consists of: (1) opening presents as they come rather than all at once, (2) eating pølse (fancy word for hot dog) wrapped in tortillas, (3) playing a little bit, (4) singing Happy Birthday in Norwegian to a totally different tune, and (5) eating various kinds of cakes, Jell-O, and rolls with brown cheese on them. So now you know!

Rugby in the house

Well, we have just enjoyed an evening of watching 2 exciting World Cup Rugby matches! First we watched England beat Australia 12-10 and then we watched France beat New Zealand 20-18. Two major upsets! Rhiannon was awake for the England-Australia game and by the end of it, she was pointing out Johnny Wilkinson (England's fly half) and saying "kick" and "Johnny", much to the chagrin of her Daddy!
Here is a little photo that I borrowed from the BBC website of our man Johnny getting ready to kick....

One year of Norway

Yesterday (Thursday) we marked the 1-year anniversary of us moving to Norway. We didn't have any kind of celebration but we did acknowledge the occasion with a little Pellegrino and lemon toast to this great year we have had.

In the meantime, no baby yet. I think Baby is going to be sensible and wait for Grandma Debi and Aunt Heidi to travel out here from California this weekend! They arrive Sunday afternoon and so I think that Baby will just continue to sit tight until they arrive and adjust to the 9 hour time difference, and then decide to join the fresh air on Tues night or Wed morning. That is MY prediction.

I have continued to thoroughly enjoy the increasingly vibrant autumn colors and lovely weather. Okay, I have been doing some boring stuff too like cleaning and shopping, but only AFTER I have been outside wandering for a couple of hours. On Wednesday I went into the nearby village of Vollen to enjoy some yummy baked goods and a gorgeous fjord view from the Vollen Bakery with my friend Elianne and her two boys Jack (8 yrs old) and Felix (2.5 yrs old). Here they are...
And the view from our table out the window

All day at Ånnerudtoppen

Today I worked all day at Rhiannon's barnehage (nursery school), called Ånnerudtoppen. There is a new rule that each family has to put in one day of helping out each year, but there are only specific days to choose from during the year. Today was the first day available, so I figured I might as well put in the time now while I can! Here is the Minx looking particularly Minx-like.Rhiannon and Sofie reading books together on the couch. Rhiannon calls her "Fia"Rhiannon and "Fia" watching the goldfish togetherPlaying with Playdough -- Rhiannon is second from the leftHere are all the strollers with sleeping babies inside them during naptime. Rhiannon's is the one with the white netting on it (second in)Rhiannon and "Fia" dancing around crazily
Let's just say it was a loooong day, although I really enjoyed it!

Walking, waiting

It is so lovely to be off work on Maternity Leave and to be able to get out and enjoy the autumn! I am so lucky. I also have a new friend - Elin - who is the mother of Rhiannon's best buddy Sofie at barnehage. Elin is also pregnant and off work, so we usually go for walks together in the morning after taking the girls to barnehage. Here is one of the lakes that we walk around which is right next to the Asker Golf Course. It is so good that Rhiannon and Sofie will get to be "big sisters" together!Bentley is quite happy too since it means that he gets to scamper through the forest for 1-2 hours a day!

More hoppe-ing

Last night was the community "dugnad" - the quarterly (mandatory) event where all the neighbors get together to clean up the neighborhood. Rhodri went as the Lewis household representative, and Rhiannon did some more hoppe-ing on the neighborhood trampoline. She was saying "hoppe, hoppe, hoppe" as she was hoppe-ing.

Hoppe, hoppe

We have been enjoying the autumn weather and the turning leaves. We haven't seen any really stunning colors, but its a wonderful time of year nonetheless. Yesterday (Sat) Rhiannon was desperate to play outside but only if she could wear her favorite Bunny Poncho. Then once we were outside, it turned out that she didn't want to play just anywhere - she was insistent on playing on the trampoline. She gets really excited and says "hoppe, hoppe!" (pronounced "hopp-eh") . She hasn't quite figured out how to actually get off the ground but she loves trying!

Fun with wheelchairs

As I posted previously, we have had my Grandma Bucky (81 yrs), Great-Aunt Hobbie (86 yrs), and their younger friend Jo (71 yrs) visiting this past week. I can tell you that they definitely don't act their ages! Yesterday we went to the Norwegian Folk Museum and Jo reserved a wheelchair for Hobbie. Hobbie doesn't actually NEED a wheelchair, its just that we thought it would be more comfortable for her and more fun for everyone if we had one. We were right about the more fun part...
Whenever there was a bit of an uphill section, Hobbie had to get off the chair and walk up the hill. So we went looking for the Stave Church (of course, an uphill walk) and when we were about halfway there, a lady walked past us and said that the Church was closed but would reopen in 30 minutes. She advised us to go back the way we came and look at the Exhibit Hall. Hobbie got back in the wheelchair and had an exciting ride down the hill while Jo tried her best to not let Hobbie go flying - a close call! There was a lot of giggling while they sped downhill through the gravel.

The wheelchair fun didn't stop there. A flight of stairs led up to the Exhibit Hall, but fortunately we found an open-air elevator to lift Hobbie, Jo and the wheelchair up to the entrance. Somehow the big red button got pushed about a foot from the top and the elevator stopped moving. The doors wouldn't open and none of the buttons worked, so Hobbie, Jo and the wheelchair were effectively stuck. We flagged down several people who tried to help, and eventually a Maintenence Man was called. There was a LOT of giggling at this scene!
Here is the view from the top of the stairs, with the doors that wouldn't open and the troublesome duo trapped behind them.
Finally the Maintenence Man appeared and worked his magic so that the ladies would be free. After this episode, I rode the elevators first just to make sure they worked okay.
This morning we said goodbye to Jo, Hobbie and Bucky. Rhiannon really took to all 3 of them and I know she is really going to miss them.
When I have been putting Rhiannon to bed, I name all of the people that love her. "Mama loves you, and Daddy loves you" etc etc... I go through pretty much everyone she knows. Last night though, she interrupted me by asking "Bucky?" "Yes, Bucky loves you", I said. "Hobbie?" "Yes, Hobbie loves you", I said. "Jo?" "Yes, Jo loves you". She was quiet after that and went straight to sleep.

37 weeks

Actually I was 36 weeks when the left (current) picture was taken last week and I was 37 weeks when the right (last time) picture was taken. Either way, its getting closer! And bigger!

Special visitors

We have had some special visitors this week - my Grandma Bucky (Rhiannon's great-Grandma), my Great-Aunt Hobbie (Bucky's sister) and their lifelong friend Jo -- pictured below from left to right. They arrived on Wed afternoon (Sept 12) and are staying with us for a whole week. Its been so great having them here, especially since my last day at work was Friday. Now I am officially on Maternity Leave - woo hoo!Rhiannon loves her frog umbrella and was thrilled to be able to use it this morning when we went for brunch at a nearby hotel. We have had such gorgeous autumn weather lately but this morning we woke up to drizzly rain.Great-Grandma Bucky brought Rhiannon this horse purse all the way from Cascade Corrals in Stehekin, Washington. Rhiannon was SO excited about it that she had to take it with her for a ride on the JCB tractor.
Yesterday we went up to the Holmenkollen ski jump and enjoyed the crystal clear view over Oslo and the Oslofjord.
Grandma Bucky spotted this bougainvillea plant here at the Holmenkollen Restaurant and it does look rather out of place in this non-tropical locale!

Dream Kitchen

We got Rhiannon a play kitchen for her new bedroom (which is still just a playroom for her).

We haven't installed the batteries for the "Dream Kitchen" to make kitchen-y noises yet...we are saving those for a rainy day! From the minute Rhiannon is awake now until we have to drag her to the bathtub before going to bed, all she wants to do is play "kooka". The whole DK experience got off to a shaky start though because Rhiannon saw me putting it together with a hammer and power drill, so of course she thought that hitting it and trying out all of Daddy's tools was how she was supposed to play!

Now she very busily rolls up her sleeves, pretends to cut up fruit, put pizza in the microwave and of course dump everything onto the floor. She seems to prefer to sit on the medicine ball while she is cooking though.

Change in the air

We have had really wonderful weather lately -- right around 65 deg F during the day with a lovely breeze. Our plum tree is full of sweet juicy plums (finally) which we have been enjoying. But the leaves are starting to turn on some of the trees...change is definitely in the air! Lately the Minx has been really keen to wear the supersoft Bunny Poncho that Aunt Heidi gave her nearly a year ago -- tears are usually shed when its time for the Bunny Poncho to go back on the coathook.Aside from the normal work / barnehage routine, we have been busy converting the 'gym' into Rhiannon's new bedroom so that the new baby can use the Nursery room. We bought Rhiannon a 'big girl bed' which is basically a top bunk of short bunkbed (with rails on the side) but with cupboards and shelves underneath. It will probably be at least a few months before she is ready to sleep in here, but we want to get her primed for her supercool 'big girl bed'. The first thing she did when she saw it today was climb into the cupboard while carrying her baby doll with her.

Baby doll goes for a ride...

...on Rhiannon's new JCB tractor! Isn't riding in the front end loader bucket way more fun than being pushed around in a stroller? Baby doll doesn't really have a say in the matter, but its a step up from being stomped on.

We decided that Rhiannon needed a really cool toy and Rhodri couldn't resist after seeing it in the toy shop last weekend. It has a backhoe too, but I think we will wait awhile before installing that part. We figure we can maybe get Rhiannon to plow the snow for us this winter!

Kooka, horses and more

This morning Rhodri got to sleep in, so Rhiannon and I cooked some zucchini bread. Rhiannon was more excited about wearing the salmon-styled oven mitt and playing with the egg-beater than stirring and pouring, but that was a cleaner way of "Rhiannon kooka" anyway (that's what she was saying all morning). Here she is in her new apron after having abandoned the salmon oven mitt.This afternoon we went to a farm for a company-sponsored picnic and horse-riding for the kids. We missed the horse riding part, but we got to go pet some of them and watch them roll in the dirt, chase and buck and make horsie noises. Verrrry exciting for the Minx.
By the time we got home, it was after 5pm so we just laid on the floor and played with Bentley. Actually, I didn't lay on the floor. I took this photo. But Rhodri, Rhiannon and Bentley spent awhile on the floor together.

Back at it

Well, we have settled back into life here after our wonderful vacation. The air has definitely turned in this part of the world and it is clearly not summer anymore. Temps have been in the low 60's during the day and mid-40's at night, but we have had plenty of sunshine ever since we got back. I haven't taken any photos this week though, so here is one my favorite photos from the archives...she is 5 months old here and on her way to the bath.
I think Rhiannon is excited to be back at barnehage. She had been calling for her new teacher Mona (pronounced "Moona") over the vacation, so Rhiannon was happy to see her again. The first few days I took her in the morning she cried for a few minutes, but on Tuesday we didn't even make it all the way inside before Rhiannon had climbed onto the back of another kid's tricycle and was off! And now that the new school year has started, Rhiannon is no longer the smallest or youngest so I think she likes that.

She continues to speak a mix of Norwegian, Welsh and English. I hope that she will soon start to realize that Norwegian is for speaking at barnehage, Welsh is for Daddy and English is for Mama but at the moment its a mix of everything (at least at home). She is pretty effective at communicating though, even if she doesn't know the word for what she wants.

Not a promising start

Today we bought Rhiannon a doll. We have started telling her about the "new baby in Mama's tummy". Apparently at barnehage (nursery school) she loves carrying a doll around and pushing it in a stroller. We thought we should promote the whole 'being gentle and loving with new baby' idea. Well, her first afternoon with this doll didn't go so well. After this video clip was filmed, Dolly got thrown into the wading pool by a certain little Minx and is presently getting dried out...


Rhiannon first says "Bike! Bike!" and points to the sky because she thinks she is hearing a motorcycle. Then when she grabs the doll, she says "Na-non", which is her way of saying "Rhiannon".