a little blog about...

Happy New Year!

2012-01-09T12:00:00.000-08:00

So another year has begun and winter seems to have properly arrived here. All through November and December we had snow which melted and then it snowed again and melted, so there is a thick layer of ice in our driveway. This has now been covered by a layer of snow, and I am hopeful that this will remain till spring arrives.

We went to Denmark for Christmas, which was lovely! Here's a picture of us on Christmas Eve, which is when we celebrate in Denmark

I don't know how much this news has travelled the world, but Norway ran out of butter right before Christmas. It was impossible to get butter in any shops in the whole country (something to do with lower production of milk because it was such a wet summer, and a higher demand because people want low carb high fat diets, as well as some other influencing factors), so needless to say Christmas was practically ruined. You could buy butter on the black market at something like EUR100 per kilo at one point!

We had Seb's parents bring some when they visited in early December, and then I decided to make my own! It's really not that hard. You just whip whipping cream like mad till it splits into butter and butter milk. Then you rinse it in water till the water runs clear and then you salt it, et voila! You have homemade butter.

Here's the butter and butter milk when the whipping is done. You remove the milk and keep it for making pancakes. Yum!

And here is the finished butter.

Ella has started to be mobile. At this stage she primarily bum scoots around but she also manages to move forward on her belly. It won't be long before she crawls.

Here she has made it to Iluka's bath and she got herself completely soaked before we managed to stop her!

The only rational thing to do afterwards was this:

And a photo of our lovely Iluka

Other than that there's not much news. We have a Danish/English friend from university visiting from Jerusalem, where he currently lives. It's always nice to have guests!

And I only have to sleep 24 times before we head off to La Gomera, Canary Islands for holidays. (Weather forecast: sun, sun, sun, sun, daytime 24 degrees, nighttime 17 degrees.) BRING. IT. ON!

Developing Personality

2011-12-18T12:28:00.000-08:00

Firstly, thanks for your encouraging comments on my previous post. It made me feel better about blogging again.

Today's video is Ella, who is developing quite a personality by now! We're trying to encourage her to start eating more solids, she is after all 8 months old now. But she is not really interested and all we can get her to eat is rice crackers... She's cute about it, though. (Check out how she masters the advanceed on/off crying technique!)

Seb has just started papapermisjon, which means that he now works 60% and gets the remaining 40% paid by the government. Sweet! He's at home 4 days a week until June, which is great for him, Ella, Iluka and for me! Yay. Norway is nice for that!

We also had Seb's parents visit, which was lovely. We even had a couple of pretty days with snow.

Miza and Iluka in the snow

Our lovely daughter enjoying winter time

And the two sisters playing together, looking somewhat serious :o)

Mixed Goodies

2011-12-03T07:46:00.000-08:00

Things are plodding along here as usual. Bad nights, crappy weather. It is unseasonably warm at around 5 plus degrees, so it's wet, dark and dreary. Last year in November / December it was -15 - -20 and there was snow everywhere so it really is much warmer and darker.

Here I am cooking with Ella in the onbuhimo baby carrier, a Japanese style carrier that I made myself.

Ella enjoying a bath and Seb a shower in front of the fire place.

The neighbour girls are visiting and Ella and Iluka both love it!

I am wearing a Hello Kitty hat that I made for Halloween :o)

And this is from one of our day trips to a little farm about 5 minutes from where we live. It's very pretty.

I don't feel much like blogging anymore.

Two Gorgeous girls

2011-11-01T05:08:00.000-07:00

Ella just thinks that Iluka is the coolest, most funny and entertaining person in the world! Iluka sometimes thinks that Ella can be somewhat fun to b with but she is mostly too busy to play with her still :o)

Iluka doesn't want her picture taken and recently we have so few of her... Here's a rather blurry one, but she's cute :o)

Ella enjoys her bath

And here she's enjoying chewing on her biscuit. She's not completely convinced about food and still prefers boob. I'm lucky if I can get more than a few spoonfuls of porridge or fruit puree into her. So she wakes up hungry every night. Several times. And I am getting more and more tired.

This too shall pass.

And she can get away with it because she is so cute!

Autumn and Winter

2011-10-23T02:58:00.000-07:00

It's been so long I am almost embarrassed to blog again...

Last week we went on a holiday a couple of hundred kilometres from Oslo. We expected beautiful autumn colours and weather. This is what we got instead:

We arrived on Saturday and there was no snow at all, but it was very cold. Then it started snowing Sunday and it snowed all day! About 25cm fell that day!

Here Iluka and Seb are out for a walk. Iluka wasn't properly dressed and was cold. Needless to say that she wasn't super happy about the whole thing.

She's much more of an indoor girl (a bit like her mum, I suppose... at least at these temperatures). This is a great shot of my three loved ones.

And one of Ella chewing her feet :o)

Ella has just had her first tooth and we didn't even notice it coming until Seb herd a "chink" when she drank from a glass. No red cheeks, no drooling, no nothing. Just a brand new tooth. She's a trooper, she is!

This is where we live

2011-09-23T13:19:00.000-07:00

I have taken a few photos of the place where we live. There's a river about 100m from our house, which is lovely.

And here are a couple of the walk I take when I pick Iluka up from daycare.

This is our sleeping arrangement:

It's nice to have her so close!

And a tender moment between father and daughter! *heart*

Just too cute heart

2011-08-21T12:44:00.000-07:00

Summer in Norway

2011-08-20T02:07:00.000-07:00

It has almost been a month since I last blogged. We have been very busy with all sorts. We had visitors, a German friend from uni with her Italian partner and two kids each a year older than Iluka and Ella. It was lovely to see her and her family, and though Iluka and Luan had some trouble finding a common language, they got on pretty well most of the time. Iluka spoke Norwegian to them and Luan spoke a newly invented language he called Dog English. Very innovative though not very understandable.

We have also enjoyed some rather nice summer days. We went for a walk to find blueberries last weekend. We didn't find any and ended up going to a cafe instead. Such foreigners...

But first we had a little snack here:

And here are Ella and I as we walk the last bit back to the car:

For those of you who know, you may notice that she has got the somewhat easily recognisable Duclert ears :o)

Seb and Iluka went for a bike ride later that day and found both blueberries and chanterelle mushrooms.
Here is one of the cupcakes I made with the blueberries. Yuuum!

And last night, as we had some friends over for dinner, we had a bit of scary thing happen. Ella was on my lap, Iluka next to me, very close to me as she was a bit shy because of the guests, and she got a bit excited about something and accidentally put her fork into poor Ella's eye. It was bleeding from the eye and we got very, very scared. Seb quickly checked it out as best he could, while I took care of Iluka, who was sooo upset about the whole thing.

Luckily the new emergency services opened their new offices about 400 metres from where we live 3 days ago and I took Ella there. It turned out that she had got a scratch on her eye ball and a perforation on the eye lid. But she was incredibly lucky (if you can say that considering she'd just had a fork put into her eye) and she will be just fine.

The patch is falling off here, but look how cute she is!

I have no words

2011-07-24T01:22:00.000-07:00

I have no words for what has taken place in Oslo this week. My loved ones are ok and so am I, though rather shaken. Thank you to the ones who got in touch to share your support.

Holidays in France

2011-07-17T12:59:00.000-07:00

We had a good time in France, spending most of it at the sea in Pornichet in Britanny.

Here we're out for a walk in the forest of Escoublac, it was such a beautiful day!

Ella is still a high needs baby...! Here Seb is trying to read his comic book while entertaining her with the newest version of Playmobil Times. As you can see she is very focussed!

A bit of quality cuddle time with granny.

We went to visit some friends of Seb's who have a daughter the same age as Iluka. They took us out on a boat trip which was really nice. Here the girls are tucked in nice and safely with Marie!

My little starlet in front of the salt marshes of Britanny.

And enjoying the sea. Iluka looooves the sea - the water, the beach, the sand. She played there for hours and hours, splashing in the water, digging in the sand.

And Iluka made everyone wear safety bowls. Unfortunately I don't have a photo of the three of them when they'd found one for Seb :o)

It was a lovely trip, but it is also good to be home again. The weather here, however, is forecasted to be rain, rain, rain all week. (Did I ever mention that I miss Australia?)

Cute Sisters

2011-07-17T12:48:00.000-07:00

My big sister is so funny

She's just great

And hilarious

Don't you think so too?

Mixed post before we're off

2011-06-30T13:06:00.000-07:00

So we're packing tonight and getting ready for our holidays beginning tomorrow. Our first holidays with two kids... the logistics are enough to make anyone dizzy, I believe :o)

I just downloaded the last few photos from the camera and wanted to share some of them before we'll have lots of new ones from the trip.

Playing with Iluka and Ella *heart*

We had a street party with our neighbours a while ago. Ella looks so cute here, she has very expressive eye brows (which you will also see further below)

Marie-Thé also came to visit while Seb was in India. Thank you so much for the help! It was lovely to have you here! Here Iluka and Marie-Thé are playing

Expressive eye brows :o)

And a kjæmpe koseligt picture of breastfeeding *more heart*

Summer is upon us

2011-06-29T10:50:00.000-07:00

Summer is upon us, but that certainly does not guarantee good weather in Oslo... we have had lots of rainy days and just plain bad weather. Sigh.

But we have also had some good ones.

We went to the beach with some friends, it was a nice day! Here's Ella enjoying the shade:

The way back to the car got a bit too long for Iluka so for a little while I carried both girls:

And here's Ella during one of her happy moments. She smiles more than Iluka did at the same age, but she also cries a whole lot more. When she is not asleep chances are that she is grumpy (except just after a feed or just when she wakes up - I usually get a big good morning smile when she's in her bed still). But she really cannot just relax.

This is how she usually lies all the time - never a quiet moment... I don't know why but I hope she'll get happier and calmer at some point. There is so much MANAGEMENT involved with this child!

We're off to France on Friday for two weeks, so there might not be any blogging for a while. Not that I have been particularly regular recently...

Iluka, our wonderful, silly, funny, little cookie!

2011-06-09T12:05:00.000-07:00

Sometimes children play so quietly that you start to worry what they're up to. This happens frequently in our household. One such time Iluka was upstairs and Seb and I hadn't heard her for a few minutes - so we started to wonder (and worry) what kind of mischief she might be up to. When I got upstairs I found her very, very intently putting on Seb's socks. Almost all of his socks! By the time I got there she was wearing 6 sokcs on each foot. Bwaaa haa haha!

Here she is also wearing swimming goggles, the silly sausage that she is!

She also likes to paint and has recently wanted to paint herself too while she's at it. See her black hands

In this photo Iluka is putting her pet elephant to sleep in Ella's hammock

And here she's playing with the helium balloon she got on May 17th (Norwegian Constitution Day). It was one expensive balloon(!), but she played with it lots before it had lost all its helium!

And Ella is starting to really look at things now. The first thing she looked at was a doll we received all the way from Australia (Thank you, Rochelle!).

Ella's colic is getting a bit better, but she still will not sleep much during the day. Nights have been really good, though, and that is the most important thing!

Next week Seb is going to India for work and his aunt will come and visit us to help a bit (Thank you, Marie-Thé!), which I am very relieved about!

Stay tuned!

Ooh, and a very happy birthday to my dear husband today!

Lots of fun

2011-06-05T13:17:00.000-07:00

So here are some more photos from the week when the grandparents were here and Iluka turned THREE!

We had a wee party for Iluka's birthday and there were lots of cakes! All the people who mean the most to Iluka were there (though she did ask if Moster Lykke could come to visit from Denmark, and was sad when she learned that she wasn't coming to the party...) Here we are at the table in the garden enjoying the sun that wasn't giving off much heat on this mid-May day...

Seb and Ella having a quiet moment together. Back when Ella had quiet moments... she's since had colic and is hardly ever really calm during the day. There's been a lot of screaming too, the poor thing. But look how cute they are!

Here are Iluka and Pipa, Seb's dad, taking a walk holding hands. What a lovely photo!

And at the lake not far from where we live, with Miza and Pipa.

And Seb and Iluka marvelling at Ella. Iluka is very, very sweet with her sister - though she doesn't always quite understand the meaning of "gently" :o) But she is also very protective of her. The other day when I picked Iluka up from daycare, some of the other children wanted to rock the car seat Ella was in, but Iluka stepped in and put her finger in front of her mouth and firmly said "Sssssshhhhh! She's sleeping!" It was very cute!

Been a while

2011-05-17T12:34:00.000-07:00

So it's been a while and now I am completely ovewhelmed with all the photos we've taken of the last few weeks' activities. I got myself a bout of mastitis a few weeks ago and was horizontal for a few days. Then we had a while of really lovely weather and then Iluka and Ella's grand parents came to visit for Iluka's birthday last week. There are so many nice photos, and I don't even know where to begin. But I will try to upload more over the next few days... But Ella has been getting a bit colicy, crying non stop for ages, mostly in the evening, but sometimes throughout the day. She seems to be in pain and nothing can calm her down. It usually helps to wear her in the baby carrier, but sometimes even that takes a long time to help. Phew, it's hard.

Anyway, some photos.

Iluka loves picnics, and here we're having one on one of the nice and warm days we've had.

Ella has been smiling socially for weeks already, she started really early with that. Babies usually don't start till around 6 weeks of age (which she is today) but she started much earlier - it's soooooo lovely!

Here she's wearing a little hat that was given to us by a volunteer who worked for Save the Children in Australia.

And here is one of the many photos Seb took of her when trying to get her passport photo done. She was super spotty at the time with 'baby acne' but those spots have disappeared again.

And a single photo from the grand parents' visit - Iluka and my dad went out for a ride on Seb's bike. I love this photo!

Easter and a bit of warmth in the air

2011-04-24T03:31:00.001-07:00

It has already been more than two weeks since Ella's birth and time has flown by (well, some of those nights have felt very, very long...) She is doing really well, eating well despite breastfeeding problems and she is generally calm. Iluka already seems to really care for her, which is lovely!

The weather has been great too, and we have enjoyed our first couple of barbeques already! The season is short here so we'd better make the most of it! It is also amazing how you do not see ANY neighbours all winter, and now that spring has sprung there are suddenly children everywhere in the street! Iluka LOVES having all those children around and says "Jeg elsker pigerne" (I love the girls)

Check out the neighbourhood kids on our trampoline - having so much fun and getting too hot even for the still rather cool spring air.

We had some friends over for a barbeque, which is always nice!

We're still trying to get Iluka to do her business in the potty or toilet, but she needs encouragement and she certainly doesn't want to be bored doing it. She decided to play in her kitchen to save time. She's a busy toddler after all!

Iluka is a very caring big sister and when Ella is upset she really tries to console her and find out what we can do to make her feel better. Here's she's feeding her

Easter also came a went in a blur. I hid an Easter egg in our garden, and here Iluka has just found it

While Seb is still home on paternity leave Iluka enjoyes his company so much. They've been doing lots of things together and here they are doing some arts and crafts. The magazine subscription we got from Marie-Thé is really, really great and Iluka is having a lot of fun with the magazines (thank you Marie-Thé!).

Seb is due back at work this week but will work from home when Iluka is not in daycare. I don't know how it'll go when he returns to work... only time will tell.

Ella brought spring!

2011-04-17T11:01:00.000-07:00

It's already been more than a week since Ella was born and it's flown by! Already now she starts to be more awake and alert - but still not much fun for Iluka... who, I think, is finding it hard to adjust to having to share her parents with this new person. She's very caring and gentle with her, though, so that's good.

And spring has finally come and there is just a little bit of snow still to melt. Iluka and Seb spent some of the day in the garden doing gardening.

And here she's enjoying some time reading with him. It's great to have him around and for the first time ever the other night she woke up calling for him and not for me! I don't know what we will do when he's going back to work...

When Ella was a few days old I took her to the paediatrician at the hospital where I would have given birth if it had not happened at home. I got there for 9am when the doctor started her round on the birth ward. There were lots of women with newborns, all waiting to have their babies checked by the doctor. They had to sit on terribly uncomfortable chairs outside the room where the doctor checked the children - each child probably took about 15-20 minutes. And the poor women, just after having given BIRTH, had to queue up there, waiting and waiting and waiting to be seen, because the doctor did not go from room to room and did not have the time to wait and call each new baby to the check up room one after the next...
And I saw a dad coming to meet his new baby with his 2 year old son. The little boy looked so intimidated and scared in this new environment and as soon as he saw his new sibling he burst into frantic tears. It looked so unnatural, so awkward and scary for this little kid.
And I sat there and I was soooooooooo happy that I had had Iluka at home.

Anyway, here's Ella as she looked when we went out on her first outing.

And here she is in the sling.

And here she is from this morning, 1 week and 1 day old, just after a nappy change.

I had forgotten several things about having a newborn: those EXPLOSIVE poos that manage to reach their necks, somehow. The pain involved in early breast feeding. How quickly they grow out of clothes (I did not buy enough - also due to the first point that I mentioned). And just how plain cute they are!

Ella's arrival

2011-04-10T02:00:00.000-07:00

Ella arrived at 00:58 on Saturday April 9th 2011, measuring a healty 3,9kg and 51cm. Let me tell you how it all happened.

As you will know we planned a home birth and leading up to the event I was soooo happy to know that it would happen at home! I was sure she'd come early like Iluka, but no, she came 2 days after her due date. I was impatient, to say the least, to get her out to meet her and get my own body back.

My waters broke on Friday at 2pm and contractions began around 5-6pm. After dinner and putting Iluka to bed, Seb blew up the birth pool while I timed contractions and made a batch of chocolate to keep me busy.

I spoke to my midwife several times and we agreed that she would come when my contractions were about 5 minutes apart. She came at 10.30pm at which time I was three cm dilated - too early for getting in the pool, which was full and ready by now. Contractions quickly picked up in speed and intensity (!) and at 11.15 I was 5cm and could go in the pool.

Everything got more intense and painful. I had been too cold for a while but then I was suddenly feeling too hot. I got out of the bath for a while while they poured cold water in the bath and when it was a better temperature I got back in. The pain was overwhelming, but in between contractions I, at one point, sat in the water and I cried because I was so happy to have a homebirth.

When the midwife told me it was ok to push, I did so for about 5 minutes, maybe less, and out she came, in the water. It was incredibly quick. And there she was in all her splendour. A new little person.

Everybody was checked and fine and the midwife left around 3am, we went to bed soon after that and then Iluka got up at 7.30 ready for a new day. She was a bit surprised at the little new creature in mum and dad's bed, and she's been very interested in her and very gentle and caring too.

Throughout my pregnancy I have been looking so much forward to wearing this baby in my baby carriers and I got my first opportunity when she was 7 hours old.

Now we're all trying to get used to the new situation. Lack of sleep, a busy toddler and a newborn baby is a combination that will wear out most people, so we're hoping for some ok upcoming nights and then things should start to settle down a litte.

Mixed goodies

2011-03-28T12:44:00.000-07:00

We've been quite busy these last couple of weeks. Spring has more or less arrived and now there's just about 50 cms of snow to get rid off before we see the grass again. Nice! We have positive degrees most days and some nights now, too, and I really enjoy daylight savings.

We've just had a lovely weekend where all of us were in good spirits and Iluka was cheerful and content most of the time. It makes such a difference compared to a grumpy toddler who wants to do the opposite of anything you mention!

Seb and Iluka fell asleep on the sofa together and although the picture is a bit fuzzy, they still look adorable!

They also painted together. Iluka loooves weekends when Seb is at home and at any given point throughout the day you will hear her say "Tu veux jouer Papa? Tu veux jouer avec moi, Papa?" (Do you want to play, dad? Do you want to play with me, Dad?"

Also, in relation to her loving daddy being at home (because mummy is getting SERIOUSLY boring now that she is so pregnant!) she also gets up really early during the weekend! Through the week she sleeps at least an hour later than Saturday and Sunday. Which would be kind of cute if it weren't for the fact that sleeping long on a weekend is so damn enjoyable!)

Anyway, I think Iluka is completely ready to babysit little sister. Look how well she takes care of her doll:

And here I am, looking as glamorous as ever.

I am soooooo over being pregnant and I welcome the baby to arrive ANY time she wishes now. I just want my body back. And to meet the baby of course. And I am very, very happy to know that I will give birth to the baby here, at home. I look forward to the birth and the experience it will be. I am so happy that it was an option for me, and such a straight forward one too. I didn't have to jump through hoops or beg my doctor to let me - it was so easy to arrange (though my doctor had never before been asked about home birth and needed to look into whether it was possible at all). But it makes me feel happy about this birth in a different way than I felt the last time.

But being pregnant is taking its toll and every morning when I get up I hope it'll be today, and every night when I go to bed I wish that it'll happen during the night.

So I have met people's silly remarks about ARE YOU STILL PREGNANT?!?! Or Has that baby STILL not arrived yet?!? and similar comments in relation to not having given birth yet with a bit of a rude glare. NO. Any other questions?

Please bear with me. It's a combination of hormonal changes, being sick of my immobility and being over the general contraints of pregnancy. And I am still more than a week before my due date, so, really, I should not be complaining yet.

I will not even contemplate the idea that the baby might choose to (rightfully, if she feels the need) stay in my belly for another three weeks and it would still be a completely normal pregnancy.

Visitors

2011-03-13T08:17:00.001-07:00

We have had visitors these last couple of weekends, which has been lovely. Iluka has really enjoyed having Miza (Seb's mum) and Moster Lykke (my sister) over! She LOVES having guests!

Here I am with my sister as we're visiting the farm not far from where we live. We go there every so often to say hi to the animals and to eat on the cafe - primarily for the Norwegian waffles, which are a big thing here!

Lots of reading took place, which Iluka thoroughly enjoyed!

And more reading (it looks like she's asleep, but she's just hiding from the camera)

The other day Iluka had played in her room and then came down stairs. Later, when we went upstairs we found that she had put her toys to bed, with dummies and all. She is a very thoughtful little girl :o)

And I have started to make homemade chocolate - yummmmy! This is one of my first and best batches. I have had some not so nice looking ones, though they are usually tasty. But it is hard to find recipes for homemade chocolate on the web, so it's a lot of trial and error...

My belly is getting very big now, very big indeed. I am ready to have my baby and if I could have it my way, I would like her to arrive on this coming Friday. But we will see when she's ready to come...

Home Birth

2011-02-22T12:35:00.000-08:00

Tonight we met with the midwives who are going to deliver the baby when she decides she's ready to come (hopefully in about 4-6 weeks! Yaiks!). We have decided to have her at home, though I did have to convince Seb that it was a good idea :o) I don't know why, but right from when I realised that I was pregnant and started to think about our options, a home birth sounded like the right thing for me. I have never met anyone who had their children at home, and I don't remember where I got the idea.

But a homebirth it will be. We're going to use a birth pool like the one below, the midwife delivered it today so it's ready to be blown up when the birth starts.

Tonight Iluka asked why the women were there and I told her that we were talking about them helping me give birth to her little sister. "Now?!?" she asked, always impatient :o)

I am so happy that it is possible to have my child at home and I look forward to a very different birthing experience. Not that having Iluka at the hospital was necessarily a bad experience, but I think this birth will be better for me and my family. I think Seb is getting more comfortable with the idea too.

I can't believe that I am having another baby so soon. I think Iluka is getting excited, but of course she doesn't understand what it will mean in reality to become a big sister. She often asks "Kommer babyen NU?!" (Is the baby coming NOW?) and although I am pretty fed up with this big belly, now is a little bit too soon. Maybe the snow will have started to melt a bit by the time she arrives - I certainly hope so...

Visitors and winter play

2011-02-13T10:33:00.000-08:00

We had visitors visiting from Denmark, one of my oldest, bestest friends from way back! It was great to have them over, for Iluka to meet their daughter, Kajsa, and just to hang out with old friends!

Here we are having a walk in Oslo, it was a lovely day not too cold at all and I didn't get cold spending most of the afternoon outside. Niiiiice!

Standing at the fjord with the City Hall behind us.

And Oslo City Hall. Seb says he likes it in a don't-do-it-again-kind-of-way, which I think is quite fitting.

We did lots of nice things with them, though their visit was all too short. But it was great to have guests, it is all too often ourselves who are the guests, so it was nice to be able to be the hosts for once. Thank you for coming Signe, René and Kajsa!

Last weekend Seb, Iluka and I went to a lovely farm very close to where we live. You can go visit the farm animals and then have a nice lunch in their cafe. Most people ski there and actually deserve the waffles after their lunch, but we have the waffles anyway. Kids smaller than Iluka go skiing here, and it is not far from the truth when Norwegians say they are born wearing skis!
We just pull Iluka in the sledge, here we are on the lake where lots of people do their cross country skiing.

And we had a quick little picnic with our friends and their two little children. It was a bit too chilly to really enjoy it and the kids were getting tired and cranky.

Speaking of chilly, the last couple of mornings it has been around -24 degrees when we get up and it hasn't gone above about -17. So we stay inside a lot and do things at home. Yesterday Iluka and I needed to get out though, and took the car to go to an indoor playground. But all the way in the car, even while wearing her big winter suit, Iluka was complaining about being cold, as the car took forever to warm up. She feels it even more intensely than we do, I suppose, and she is not a fan of below -10. So bring on spring. Bring on milder weather.

Indoor and outdoor play

2011-01-23T06:04:00.000-08:00

We've been doing quite a few things lately, it feels like we have been busier than usual. I think I was just so tired and exhausted for a long time that I didn't feel like doing anything at all, but now we seem to go out a bit more.

This weekend we went to a little riding school with other farm animals to attract little ones. Iluka was a bit overwhelmed with the friendliness of the sheep, but once she got used to it she thought they were fun

We said hi to some goats, and she immediately sniffed and said "Det lugter af ost" (It smells of cheese). She has a very acute sense of smell and can name so many smells. Today when we drove and Seb used the window cleaning liquid she sniffed and said it smelled like markers (Det lugter af tusser) - her nose is as good as her dad's!

She even got to go for a wee ride on a pony.

We also sometimes go to an indoor playground which Iluka loves. It is very quiet during the week when we're there and we have the whole place to ourselves. Here she's jumping in front of the climbing wall

And here she is running around the playground bit

This is a great alternative when the weather is too cold outside or when I need low impact effort with high impact fun.

A New Year

2011-01-15T01:59:00.000-08:00

We returned well from France and have been getting back into our routines in the last couple of weeks. Iluka is happy to be home and we have played a lot in the snow now that the temperatures are less severe.

Nothing much has happened, and I have rarely taken out the camera, though I often think about it. The thing is that things seemed more photogenic in Perth, I felt more like sharing it. Everything here is grey and cold and dark a lot of the time. I am not a fan of this climate and don't feel like taking photos most of the time...

I promised Iluka a children's kitchen for Christmas and had a look at what was available on the market. I wasn't happy with any of them and decided to make one for her completely from scratch. I bought the wood for it, paint, fabric etc and this is the completed project:

Iluka likes it, which is nice, and I hope it'll bring her hours of fun. It was fun to make for me, and I feel very lucky that I have time to do this kind of thing while Iluka is in daycare.

The belly is growing all the time and I start to really feel the physial constraints of pregnancy. I feel the baby move many times a day and I can feel how she grows and needs more and more space. It's amazing to feel her, to feel her reacting to Seb and Iluka's noises. She will arrive in less than three months. Madness.

Christmas 2010

2010-12-26T07:28:00.000-08:00

So I have been inactive on this blog for a looong time. We have spent Christmas in Paris, and we have visited family/friends who live in Belgium near the Luxemburgish border. For some reason none of the photos from the grand parents' place have turned out very well, so these are all from our travels to Belgium.

We did lots of fun things, despite the weather making things a bit difficult for us. We didn't get stuck in snow anywhere, though, and we consider ourselves lucky for that. Also, we thank them for their generosity, we had a really lovely time there!

Bethanne made cookies and a cookie house, which we all participated in decorating. The girls had lots of fun!

Here we are playing with playdough, and Seb made a very cute set of ears for Mahalia

We went for a walk in Luxemburg, but unfortunately the weather was so foggy that we didn't get any good shots of the city. But apparently it's a beautiful place. We had a (substantial!) lunch in a lovely little restaurant.

And we visited the cathedral where the girls checked out the Nativity.

And here the girls are watching a video with Seb, and they are all very focused.

It's been lovely to get away from the very cold of Oslo, and we have enjoyed the much milder weather here. Iluka is having a blast with her grand parents (my dad has spent Christmas here with us, so that is lovely too!) and enjoys all the people who at any given point in time are ready to play with her!
Next year, these are the things I will consume freely after having given birth: foie gras, wine, cheeses of all kinds, wine, coffee, beer, cheese and wine.

Scotland - but we could be anywhere, reallly...

2010-12-06T11:12:00.000-08:00

So here are some more photos of Scotland, but we could be anywhere really. We didn't really see anything as such, mostly just looking after kids and hanging out with friends...

As requested, here's a photo of my belly as it looked two weeks ago at 19 weeks-ish.

Here are Saimi and Iluka as we're taking a walk at Lin of Dee. We didn't get far before bot girls decided that they didn't want to walk anymore and chucked tantrums simultaenously. Some day we will again be able to enjoy this beautiful spot near Braemar...

The one is in Stonehaven just south of Aberdeen.

Taking a look at Dunnottar Castle south of Stonehaven. It's a lovely place and we saw lots of rabbits and poos, much to Iluka's delight!

And at Riitta, Joe and Saimi's place we were all sitting in the living room when we realised that Iluka was missing and terribly quiet. We found her in their bedroom, she had closed the door behind her and was playing on Joe's drum set :)

Otherwise, not much to relate. Next week we're going to France for Christmas, which should be nice! And hopefully warmer than here. Iluka's cheeks get all red, raw and dry with the cold here unless we apply some serious cream for cold weather and sensitive cheeks! Below -10 to -15 I just have no desire to go outside... The other day the temperature snuck up to -6 or -8 or something, which made a big difference. But bloody hell I miss the warmth of Perth. This climate is not for me, despite being half Inuit and all. Nope, I am not made for this climate!

2010-11-29T12:27:00.000-08:00

Holiday in Scotland

2010-11-25T09:36:00.000-08:00

So we had our holiday in Scotland and it all went very well. It was lovely to go back and see the old places and to hang out with old friends! The good looking photos are on the other camera and I haven't uploaded them to the computer yet. They will follow in a future blog entry. The ones here are a funny mix, as you will see:

This first one is of a visitor we had in our garden, a woodpecker. He came to eat from my bird feeding thingy.

The next one is from our living room. Iluka had just had a bath in the morning and wanted to put on her trousers, socks and slippers herself. When I got into the living room she had dressed herself like this, and she said "Jeg varmer lige lidt op" (I am just warming up a bit) standing in front of the fireplace wearing my hat, her boots on her hands and one sock:

Now from the trip:

We stayed in a cottage in Braemar with our friends Riitta, Joe and their daughter Saimi and returned to Aberdeen and stayed with them a couple of days there. Iluka and Saimi got on very well and had a blast together (when they weren't fighting over something or other :o) This is just after we arrived in Braemar and they had just met:

And from a little walk we did with the girls. Íluka is fishing for herring, she said.

And we found a little hut someone had built before us. Seb with the girls:

We had such a lovely time and it was nice and mild compared to Oslo! I have never before gone to Scotland thinking that it'll at least be nice and warm...! When we retunred to Olso, the house was freezing cold. When Seb wanted to put something in the fridge upon our return, he thought it was broken because it was so warm - but it was working just fine!

Winter

2010-11-16T05:30:00.000-08:00

Iluka started daycare a couple of days a week a few weeks ago, and although she has been asking to go to daycare for months now, when it finally became reality she was a bit less enthusiastic... it took a little while for her to feel comfortable with the people there, but now she starts to like it more.

The other night there was a Lantern Party, which the daycare centre organises once a year. The kids make and decorate lanterns while they attend daycare, and then on this evening they have a small parade with them in the dark. It was very cute to see all thise little kids with their lanterns. It was a cold night, so the soup provided was warmly welcomed, and it was yummy. Somebody had also baked hundreds of little cookies for all the kids (and adults). I didn't quite understand everything that went on but it was something about celebrating a bit of light during this darkness. They all sang a song they have been practising for a while. Anyway, pictures didn't turn out so well, but here's a picture of a couple of the lanterns.

and Seb with Iluka eating a cookie

Today Iluka and I went out to enjoy the snow and the sunshine. It's a beautiful day and not too cold do play out there when you're properly dressed. We bought a sledge the other day and she loves it. We went for a little walk up the river that's right next to our house, up to a little area with a hill for sledging and other play equipment. The light was stunning!

Physical activity is so different for Iluka when she has to be as dressed up as this... everything is twice as hard to do, like just climbing the steps to a slide...

But she looked so cute with those rosy cheeks (a rosy I never saw her have in Australia)!

We're off to Scotland for a week so I might not post for a wee whiley. We're going to see a dear friend of mine whom I haven't seen in years. It'll be great with a trip up nostalgia lane and visit Aberdeen and Scotland again after a few years.

Something to remember

2010-11-11T06:12:00.000-08:00

This is what I woke up finding in the kitchen yesterday morning. Seb had gone out for his morning run, and I was left thinking that it was lovely of him to make pancakes on a dreary Wednesday morning. I wondered if there was some reason why he would have made pancakes, but raking my brains I could not figure it out.

When he came back from his run he said "Happy Anniversary my love!"

And of course that's what it was! We have been married for three years. Three lovely years and my husband has made me very happy so the least I could do was remember this day. I have the loveliest husband in the world and he means the world to me!

On the day we got married it was 32 degrees, beautiful spring weather, so very different from yesterday here: about -3-4 degrees and a short, dark day.
Here we are on our wedding day *heart*

Thank you for making me so happy, Seb. This one is for you!

A little new human

2010-11-06T13:00:00.000-07:00

We had our ultrasound scan of my belly this week. In Norway they only do the one at 18 weeks, so it was the first time we saw the baby - and now we know there's just one. Phew :o) The baby is healthy and seems to be just perfect.

Like last time with Iluka, we asked what sex the baby is, and they told us we're expecting another wee girl. So Iluka will be having a baby sister. People have asked if we wanted a boy or a girl, and this time around I really didn't mind much. With Iluka I was hoping for a girl, and this time I thought a sister would be great for Iluka. I have this idea that siblings of the same sex have a higher probability of wanting to be close. Seb has this idea that boys are harder to raise in many respects than girls, but he thought that it would be intersting to have one of each as a sort of experiment. Now we will have two girls, the experiment will be to see how different they'll turn out :o) Maybe this one will look more like me, darker eyes and hair for example. But Seb says his ginger genes are strong as... so only time will tell.

Here are photos of the scan pictures we received.

A nice profile pic

One of her little hands

And one where you can see she's putting her hand in the mouth.

She was wide awake when the scan took place and she turned around up side down and up side up and back to front and she kicked and clapped and waved at us. She's just under 20 cms long now! Madness!

2010-11-02T12:52:00.000-07:00

It's been a while since I last uploaded a film of Iluka, so here's a little one filmed just after dinner this evening.

There's not much to relate, really. I am re-reading a great book called Parenting for a Peaceful World by Robin Grille. I just agree with so much of the stuff he says, it makes sense in so many ways for me as I try to parent my own daughter in a way that feels right for both of us. I will include a paragraph from today's reading:

"Strong limits are essential, but if children are shamed for their fledgling and awkward attempts at autonomy, they are prevented from taking a vital step to maturity and confidence. In the period glibly called the "terrible twos", and for the next couple of years, toddlers are discovering how to set their own boundaries. They are learning to assert their distinct individuality, their sense of will. This is critical if they are to learn to stand up for themselves, to feel strong enough to assert themselves, and to resist powerful peer pressures later in life. If we persist in crushing their defiance, and shaming children into submission, we teach them that setting boundaries for themselves is not okay."

I find Iluka's defiance so overwhelming sometimes. And, a lot of the time, so bloody irrational. I struggle to be as patient as I would like to be, and I guess that patience is something you work on all of your life.

The other day as Iluka and I were leaving the shops with all my shopping in the bags (including frozen goods - not that they defrost particularly quickly in Oslo..) she just would not get in her seat to go home and she chucked a huge tantrum. With Robin Grille recently reread, I felt more able to (relatively) calmly deal with the situation. But raising a toddler can sometimes be so frustrating... I hope Iluka will be out of the "terrible twos" by the time the second bubba reaches that stage!

What a lovely day!

2010-10-24T11:45:00.001-07:00

I cannot remember for a loooong time having had such a lovely day. I am well again, and today's achievements prove it:

We got up around 8.30am, when Iluka usually gets up these days. Seb and I were trying to figure out what to do on this Sunday, looking for a museum or something that didn't open too late. We didn't find anything, so we decided to stay at home and hang out instead.

I bought a pumpkin the other day, and for the first time made a Halloween pumpkin head. Here it is as it looked this evening when we put tea lights in it (note the mirror image, where you see the happy pumpkin's evil twin):

With the pumkpin meat (or at least with a fraction of it) I made pumpkin muffins. They were nice

And especially Iluka really liked them!

I also saw that our neighbours were out in the garden. They have two little kids, and since I still hadn't introduced myself to them, I went over there with a few muffins and said hello. They were lovely.

Then Iluka went to bed, which has recently been my cue to also go for an afternoon nap. But today I felt I had extra energy! It is a completely new feeling for me, after weeks of feeling exhausted.
So I sat down to start sewing the living room curtains that still need doing. I finished one set, so there are two to go.

Then while Iluka was still in bed I prepared a roast chicken Jamie Oliver style which turned out to be delicious! My best roast chicken ever, I think.

So all of that was very successful.

Iluka was very concerned about her teddy bear going to the loo, and she took him, sat down and read him a story. Here I am clearly interrupting...

Lastly, this is an older photo of Iluka and Seb relaxing on our picnic blanket in front of the fireplace.

Hey, it's great to feel better. Just great! YAY!

Mixed times

2010-10-10T12:15:00.000-07:00

I have been ill for some time now - three weeks to be exact, and I am getting pretty tired of it! A course of antibiotics improved things considerably, but I have still not recovered fully... I cough and cough and cough.

Anyway, we have had some good times in the last few weeks as well. I haven't blogged much, and I hope that my energy levels will be back to normal soon so I can resume blogging on a more regular basis.

Today Iluka and Seb started the day by baking a Norwegian apple cake with apples from our garden. They have turned out to be really tasty, actually. And the cake was yummy!

We brought the cake and a pasta salad on a wee trip up the hill. Iluka loooves picnicing and would do it daily if it were up to her.

We have started bathing her in the living room right next to the fireplace, where it's nice and warm, needless to say she loves it :o) She's in turn giving her pirate a little bath in her cup.

Her languages are developing really well and it's amazing to witness. Her Danish is still her preferred language, but French is not far behind anymore. She constructs quite advanced sentences by now, and one of her favourite these days is: Når jeg bliver en stor pige, så må jeg gerne [indsæt et eller andet]. That is: "When I am a big girl, then I will be allowed to do [insert some action here]". It's usually something she is already allowed to do, but she doesn't want to do. Like for instance, she is very much against any sort of aggression when we watch some of the DVDs we have. Even Barbapapa is too aggressive for her sometimes. So for example there's a story of some hunters hunting wildlife (which Barbapapa puts an end to of course), and she doesn't want to watch it, so she will say "When I am a big girl, then I will be allowed to watch this film."

Here we are reading her first Norwegian book, which in English is called Spot, I think. It's very cute!

This is a photo from when we still had boxes and boxes lying around while unpacking. Iluka had some good times with those before we got rid of them. Here she's having a nap with her Nounou she received from grandad and the Totoro I made for her :o)

On another positive note, she has stopped pooing in her nappy!! YAY! For two weeks straight she has done all of them on the toilet. That might be the best thing that happened since... I can't even remember such a great thing happening. She even holds them in when we're in the car, and she can go to any public loo and deliver there. I am such a pround mum. Now we just need to work on the pees...

Lots to catch up

2010-10-01T08:33:00.001-07:00

I have a lot of events to catch up on on the blog! Not that much has happened recently, though... I came down with a nasty infection in my airways and am on day 4 of antibiotics. Cough cough. In the midst of the misery I went on a trip to Denmark to the loooovely wedding of my oldest friend from waaaaay back when! What a lovely day and evening! *heart*

Now I am feeling loads better than I did before, hence the blogging!

We live right by a lovely river where Seb goes running in the morning, and Iluka and I have gone walking and cycling. Here Seb and Iluka are exploring the area.

And we have been baking good and not so good bread, and Iluka loves helping! Actually, looking at this picture again, I realise that we're not baking, we are making ris a la mande - a Danish dessert that we have for Christmas, and which in my pregnant state I suddenly needed.

In this photo we are talking to morfar (grandad) on Skype while Iluka is playing in one of the numerous boxes we've had in the house since moving.

A couple of weekends ago we went cycling up the river and up up up the hill. It was hard up (but nice and easy on the way home!) and up there we had a picnic on a little pontoon on a lake. The sun came out as we ate and it was lovely and warm.

And this is down by the fjord on another gorgeous autumn day! Autumn has been much prettier than summer was. Most of July/August rained, but we've had fantastic summer days in September! It's cold though, and most mornings are sub-zero now. We light the fire throughout the day now to heat up the house. It will be a rather different winter from the ones we experienced in Australia... but at least the house is designed for the cold, unlike the ones in Perth!

I miss Australia...

Ja tak og nej tak

2010-09-14T11:25:00.001-07:00

Iluka has developed this wonderfully cute new habit. She mostly says Ja tak and Nej tak (equivalent to yes please and no thanks) to all questions that involve yes and no. So we might ask her 'Are you hungry' or 'Were you at the play ground today?', and she will reply 'Ja tak' or 'Nej tak', depending.

The other day we were at the doctor's and Iluka was at her best behaviour. When the doctor asked her 'Is there a little baby in your mum's belly?' she answered 'Ja tak' :o) Which in fact is the truth.

But already now, at 11 weeks, the little baby in the belly doesn't feel all that little anymore... I have already had to put on maternity trousers. Phew, it'll be a long 9 months :o)

But that's the news for this week!

The Garden

2010-09-08T10:18:00.000-07:00

While we're still making the inside of the house look livable, I will post some pictures of the garden.

We have a few fruit trees, the sour plums

And the sour red apples

Beautilful, but not very sweet! Maybe they're just not ripe enough... Iluka loves to pick and eat them all nonetheless.

Here we're still at the temporary appartment where we stayed when we first arrived in Oslo. Iluka put on this protection to go pick nettles - a few weeks prior to this she touched a nettle for the first time and obviously didn't like the feeling. Who can blame her?

Still settling in to the new house. We like it here and cordially invite guests to come and visit us! We have a spare guest room (it still needs a bed, so give us at least a few days' notice if you plan to arrive soon :o) ) and would love to have lots more people come see us here than we did in Perth! Just send us an email!

Moving In

2010-08-31T11:49:00.000-07:00

I am very happy to have moved in today! The new house is rather a mess still, but we can settle in here! Hooraaayyy! I don't have any photos (and haven't taken any for weeks, which is also the reason why I haven't blogged for a while) but they will follow. Actually, I found one:

The house is lovely, I have lit a fire in the fireplace, which I am sitting in front of as I write. It's quite cold outside (and it's August!!! - I am crying a little bit inside as I think about this fact... I will miss Oz summers!) and I have been cold all day with the door open and the removalists bringing in full boxes and taking out empty ones. Now there's a lot of stuff everywhere, and Iluka is so happy to recognise her old things. "Hey - that's myyyyyy [insert object] muuuuuum!!!"

We are very, very happy to be here. Iluka loves the new place and so do Seb and I. We have a brand new bed upstairs which is waiting for us. I doubt I will still be awake when my head hits the pillow - I am exhausted!

So good night and stay tuned for more news on the new house!

The face (and the trip to Denmark)

2010-08-18T12:07:00.000-07:00

We had a great trip to Denmark! It was lovely to see everyone and I am glad that Iluka got some time to spend with family and friends. We spent three weeks there, but it still felt like we didn't get to see nearly as many people as I would have liked. I hope that will happen over the next few times we visit! It turned out to be a lot harder than I imagined to travel with a toddler without the support of Seb. Everything is so much harder when you travel with a two-year-old...

We went to visit my sister and her family. It was great to see them again, and the boys have grown so much! In this picture we're visiting a nature playground in the forest near my sister's

We also went to see my friend from way back when we were just 5 yeras old. This is her daughter, Kajsa, and Iluka as we're having lunch at the museum.

We spent some time at my dad's and had lots of ice creams! Here we are at Randers Rainforest, where we saw lots of plants and animals. It was a great outing on a cold and wet day.

We spent a lot of time in granddad's garden - watering, weeding and generally having lots of fun.

One morning we went to an animal park that also had other activities. This is the first time Iluka is on a horse. She was fiiiiine as you can see before the ride started, but then as we got started she was a bit more nervous. Not least because the saddle wasn't on properly and she felt like she was sliding off it all the time. But I think she liked the experience!

Tomorrow we're getting the key to the house we're moving into. I really look forward to settling down a bit and getting some rest and setting a routine and rythm. The last two months we've lived out of a suitcase, and I look forward to having our stuff when it arrives in the container from Australia.

Sailing in the fjord

2010-08-15T11:52:00.000-07:00

Today, I went sailing in the fjord. It's actually the second time this week that I go sailing but on two different boats! It's great! I didn't know anyone with a boat in Perth so I have been really enjoying that.

It also happened to be the best weather since we arrived in Oslo mid-July: sun, warmth and wind.

Today's boat belonged to Carlos, the boyfriend of my colleague Sandra.

It is a pretty wooden Swedish boat from the 60's.

We left at lunch time, sailed then had a great picnic on the boat then a swim and a nap then sailed a bit again. It was just perfect.

And tomorrow, I am going to the airport to pick up Ditte and Iluka who are coming back to Oslo after 3 long weeks in denmark. Yeepeeee!

Week-end in Denmark

2010-08-11T13:29:00.000-07:00

As I said on the previous post, I spent last week-end in Denmark with Ditte and Iluka at her sister's.

Despite being the neighbouring country, it was still a bit of a trip as it took me 6.5 hours door to door from my office to Lykke's (Thanks Norwegian air for the 2 hours delay on a 1-hour flight...). Nevertheless, it was well worth it. It was the first time that I was more than a few days separated from Ilu and it felt very very long.It was great to be with my girls again, even for only two days .

It was also the first time I saw Lykke and Mikkel's new house: a lovely place with a big garden, just next one of Denmark's biggest lake. As usual, we were beautifully received and enjoyed Mikkel's cooking a lot. The boys, Villads and Storm, have grown up a lot and got on really well with their little cousin, despite her tendancy to boss them around! :-) It was still quite frustrating for me not to be able to really interact with them but I guess I only have myself to blame for my anorexic Danish skills.

Since I could not decide which photos to illustrate this post, I have decided to follow Martha and Vincenzo's example and post a gallery.

Apart from that, despite Ditte's absence, we are slowly settling in: I now have a NOK-filled bank account, I am signing the lease for our house tomorrow and I have just bought an old car that, hopefully, will be as faithful a steed as our legendary Australian mitsubishi.

Very sad news

2010-08-08T21:54:00.000-07:00

I went to spend the week-end with Dit and Iluka in Denmark and it was great. I will speak a bout it later but today I wanted to share a sad news:

One of my friend's baby passed away last week after two short months of life, spent mostly in surgery and intensive care. So, whatever you believe, have a thought or a little prayer for him and his parents.

Rest in peace Will.

Sunday hike in the forest

2010-08-01T07:53:00.000-07:00

First of all, thanks for all the nice comments on my first/previous post (including the ones from the friendly anonymous). To paraphrase Dit: it makes my heart go warm and fuzzy!

Today, I took the metro to the last station and from there, did a 15km walk in the forest. It was great: a nice path in a real forest absolutely covered with blueberry bushes. It didn't feel at all like I was only a 10 minutes train ride from the city centre.

One of the first thing I saw was a massive ant-hill. Check-out my back-pack for the scale! And this megalopolis was absolutely teeming with busy citizens! I did remove my bag quickly after the shot for fear that they would run away with my picnic.

I sat on a big granite boulder next to that pretty lake for my picnic. I even had some rays of sun: luxury!

Which bring me to the subject of the next picture: I sometimes can be incredibly clumsy! As I was opening my can of mackrel, the pull tab broke and cut my right thumb forcing me to eat with a tissue wrapped around my finger. Smartly, before eating my cheese, I decided to crush the empty can and managed to cut my other thumb! Well, believe me when I say that cutting and spreading cheese on bread with two thumbs wrapped in tissues is not that easy!

Aside from the blueberries and the raspberries, there were many mushrooms of all sorts. Unfortunately my mycological knowledge is quite limited.

The only ones I can confidently identify as edible are chanterelles. I was lucky enough to find a few at the start of my walk but that was it. I guess I am probably not the only one looking for those. At least I don't have to share them with anyone! :-)

This last picture is to re-assure my dear wife that I am not letting myself starve to death because I am all alone. This was my lunch yesterday: pretty huh?

My first blog EVER!

2010-07-29T12:23:00.000-07:00

Hello! It's Seb here. Dit and Iluka are away to see the family in Denmak and since I am alone, since it is bucketing down outside and since I am a bit bored without my lovely family, Dit suggested that I should blog!

Occasionally, over the last 4 years, I have been tempted to take over the blog but Dit does such a great job at gathering happy little moments in our daily life and narrating them that I never went ahead. Until today!

So, the week-end before last, we went to see the opera, a rather cool building that looks like a large half-sunk shipwreck in the harbour. You can walk up to the top on the steeply inclined roof. I could just see myself on my roller skates going down the roof at high speed and landing in the fjord! (I might be a tad too old for this kind of stunt though...)

And here, a persepective worthy of M.C. Escher with the opera roof floating above the fjord and the ship!

The next day we went to a lake, just above Oslo and had a bit of a swim. Iluka loved it (Surprise...) even though the water was pretty chilly.

Last Saturday was a lovely day and did our first norwegian bbq (or, should I say, burnt our first sausages, inexperienced that we are with primitive coal bbqs!) on Bugdoy peninsula. We went there by ferry, saw a big cruise ship anchored in the harbour and admired the very massive and blocky architecture of the city hall.

And to conclude, the two cute Iluka of the day:

The "Special natural smile / check out my cool lego creations"

And the "Me making funny noises in my plastic cup and standing in a colander in the hallway"

Oslo

2010-07-22T11:06:00.000-07:00

Where did Iluka go?

Deeeeeeer!

We've been enjoying our first couple of weeks in Oslo. The weather isn't much different from Perth winter weather, except it probably rains more often here than it does there...

We're still looking for a place to live, but July is one of the slowest months of the year to do find paces for rent. I am going to Denmark this week for couple of weeks or three, which should be nice. I look forward to catching up with people! I still don't know when I am going to be where yet or for how long... it's all a bit up in the air.

Iluka and Seb enjoing cuddles while out having a glass fo wather and a beer respectively.

Iluka has started showing more interest in using the loo but we haven't had any success yet...

Holidays

2010-07-11T22:43:00.000-07:00

We have now made it to Olso, and I am sitting in our temporary flat, which is nice and central. Iluka is still aleep and it's past 8 in the morning. I like it when she sleeps in :o)

The trip from Perth to Paris went really well, nearly no dramas with Iluka at all, she was such a trooper. The timing of the flights were really good, which meant that our jetlag lasted only a day or two. Really, it couldn't have been much easier.

On our way from Australia to Norway, we stopped for a couple of weeks with seb's family in France. The weather was warm and we visited their holiday house in Périgord in the southern part of the country. What a lovely place! And we ate some great food, lots of cheese and we spent some time with the in-laws. Iluka really loved it there! Thank you all for such a lovely time! Merci!

One evening we went to a local... fair type thing. You bring your own plate and then you buy food from local merchants. We had lots of local delicacies, mmmmm. Iluka went with her cousins on a little ride:

And here we are eating the yummy food with Seb's niece, nephew and his aunt.

The kids enjoyed splashing in the little pool in the garden

And we went to a great little outdoors water place with several pools and a little lake, and there were also trampolines and slides and other things that were right up Iluka's alley. Here I am very focused on seeing what our bumper-boat opponent is up to!

Here we are at the river just after a swim *heart*

More to follow!

Australia - Greatest Hits 2

2010-06-20T06:44:00.000-07:00

So we went ahead and got married when we knew our parents were coming to visit in November anyway. Here are the happy newlyweds *heart* on November 10th 2007.

As our last trip together without children and a type of honeymoon, I suppose, we went to New Zealand over the Christmast holidays. It was absolutely beautiful, and it was there that I first felt Iluka move in my belly.

We did lots of fun things like kayaking

And visiting icy glaciers

I got bigger and bigger with the baby growing inside. Here I was the morning my waters broke - huuuuuge. Or at least I sure felt huge!

After a fairly straight forward delivery, we met Iluka for the first time. She arrived a bit early and was covered in vernix. A few hectic, hard, challenging, tiring and exhausting days, weeks and months lay ahead of us.

Phew, she sure turned our lives upside down! :o)
*heart*

Australia - Greatest Hits 1

2010-06-20T06:07:00.000-07:00

Let me share with you the greatest hits from our time in Australia. It will be chronological, I think.

First things first: we got Josie not more than a week before we moved to our new house. I said to Seb: "Hey Seb," I said, "Why don't we go to RSPCA to look at the cats there, you know, just to have a look and see how it all works" and we both fell in love with Josie immediately. Here she is, on the very first day she moved in. I think she felt comfortable enough!

I also started to get my driver's licence, which I had never taken in Europe. Here's one focused lady trying to figure out the whole thing. I still remember that going 60kph felt like pure madness high velocity!

Here we were out camping over the holidays - the Christmas holidays! This is Christmas Eve. I will miss warm Christmases almost as much as I have missed cold ones while being here!

In August 2007 we went to Brisbane. In this photo we were having dinner with some friends of ours. My main point with this photo taken here is this: it was in Brisbane that Seb and I made two major decisions: to get married and to start trying to make a baby.

In November 2007 we got married. Here's the wedding invitation.

More to follow.

Last weekend

2010-06-20T05:13:00.000-07:00

Our last weekend in Perth has come to an end. We have been frantically trying to fit in seeing friends and packing up the house into our waking hours, and although Seb has had more waking hours than usual (he went out with colleagues on Friday and didn't go to bed till 5am!!!) it has been pretty busy! He's at our house sorting things out before the packers are coming tomorrow morning to pack everything that will be shipped to Norway.

We were so lucky that our friends went back to France for a couple of months, so we could stay at their house while ours gets packed and shipped (well, not the whole house, just most of the stuff in it!) They live just up the road from us as well, so it's really ideal! What's more, we can borrow their bikes and car and everything too. Fantastic!

I haven't uploaded the photos from the picnic we did at the zoo this morning with many of our friends. We decided to do our last get together at the Perth Zoo, and the weather was lovely and the company fantastic! I feel so torn about leaving Perth, because we have met some wonderful people!

But I look forward to our new adventure in Norway (Iluka keeps saying Noooorway, Noooooraaayyy - but it sounds like Noooo Waaayyyy! Noooo Waaaaayyyyy! :o) ) I'm sure it'll be fun.

For a photo I chose this one. Iluka loves sitting in that arm chair with me reading books. We can both just squeeze into it sitting next to each other. Here she has put all the soft toys in it, all squeezed in just like when she and I share it :o)

Last weeks in Perth...

2010-06-13T21:56:00.001-07:00

These last couple of weeks have been rather hectic, with us trying to organise evertything before we fly out of the country in less than 2 weeks.

All this hard work has had both Josie and I crash on the sofa in the early evening!

Iluka loves playing in little tents and the like these days. We were playing under the duvet, and she just wouldn't let me leave. It was super hyggeligt!

This morning Iluka looked out the window, and all stunned she exclaimed that it was raining! (well, no, in fact she didn't even remember the word for rain...! - she just looked out the window and went: "wow, wow... uhm wow, udenfor! Maman, udenfor!!!" (udenfor is outside)) That girl hasn't experienced rain a lot in her life and when it rains we take the opportunity and go out and play in the puddles. Since mid Nov till today, she has seen rain on 13 days! (Oh dear, 13 days out of nearly 200 - how are we going to cope in oslo?!?)

The other day Iluka found my sports bra and wanted to wear it. Then she put in two of her little teddy bears to carry them in a baby carrier just like I carry her in the slings :o) Very cute.

The face she's putting on there is her new smile-to-the-camera face.

And the women from my mothers' group. For my leaving do we went to my favourite Japanese restaurant. Of eveything and everyone in Perth, I will miss the other mums the most! The mums from MG and the French mums (and dads) we have seen a lot too. I cry when I think about leaving them behind. In fact, I have shed tears on a regular basis these past couple of weeks. I am sad to leave Perth, which I suppose is a good thing. It has been very special for me here!

The beautiful coast line

2010-06-04T05:19:00.000-07:00

The coast line down south of Perth is stunning. Here is a selection of or photos from the trip:

Iluka is considering which puddle to jump into first

With a rainbow (matching her leg warmers - she spoke about rainbows all day after that)

Looking at exciting stuff

Having a cuddle

And watching the surfers on the big waves

Lots of animals!

2010-06-02T06:49:00.000-07:00

We went on our last holiday down south this last weekend. We got accommodation on farm stays where Iluka got to meet lots of animals close up. By and large she loved it, though at one point she was feeling so tired and overwhelmed, that she kept saying "maisoooooooon, maisooooooon.... maaaaiiiisooooooonnnnnnnn" (hooooome).

We fed lots of birds

and some friendly kangaroos (who had to eat in this little cage, otherwise all the birdies would have eaten their food. The roos are let out at all other times and will eventually go back out into the wild)

they were very friendly kangaroos

Iluka thought the alpacas were funny

And I thought this morning in the Australian country side was beautiful. It gets really cool at night now, cold even. Australia is amazing this time of the year.

My darling daughter

2010-05-23T06:43:00.001-07:00

Tonight Iluka and I were having a lovely cuddle. I appreciate them lots now, because they are so rare. She then pulled herself away from me and looked me in the eye and said "T'aime" (Love you) That was so lovely, it brought tears to my eyes!

Iluka received a lovely present for her birthday, this owl jumper. My friend made it and it is just gorgeous! Thank you!

A while ago we were at a barbeque with Seb's colleagues. Iluka had a great time. And so did I! Good thing Seb was driving!

And today we went to drop off and pick up some stuff at Seb's office.

My baby is TWO!

2010-05-14T07:55:00.000-07:00

Iluka turned two today, and I think she's had a great day!

Where has the time flown?! It seems so recently that she was born, and when we watch the video clips we've taken over the months and years, it's incredible to see how far she's come.

I love her so!

She opened all her lovely presents before breakfast - thank you so much for your thoughtful pressies! She was truly spoilt!

After breakkie she and dad went back to bed to read a bit under the mosquito net (and note that we took out the big feather duvet yesterday, winter has arrived in Perth!)

There was even time for a kiss - at two years of age kisses are few and far between!

Iluka insisted on wearing the dress she received, and she held on tightly to the helium balloons most of the day.

Here she's playing with her magnet fishing pond, she really liked that!

I think she is getting her last tooth just now, hence the slight rash and the dribbling.

Old vid

2010-05-11T05:50:00.000-07:00

I just refound this old clip from when Iluka was about 9 months old. Josie had exhausted the mouse enough so that I could play with it a bit. (I'm sorry, but I don't know how to turn it around, you'll have to tilt your head or your screen)
Sadly, I think Josie exhausted the poor mouse to death a while back, and it is now burried in our garden.

Happy Mother's Day!

2010-05-08T06:45:00.000-07:00

It's my second Mother's Day (as a mother) tomorrow, and it turns out it's good news I am moving from Australia to Norway! I am moving from the second best country in the world to be a mum to the best one - according to Save the Children's annual report State of the World's Mothers. You can see the report or a summary here
That's pretty cool.

Also, I received the first Mother's Day card from Iluka, they made it at day care, here it is:

(It may be hard to see, but there's a real tea bag attached and the card says I am entitled to a nice cup of tea - and that is never a bad thing!)

But the most important question is: are YOU part of Koala Klub?!?

A bit of love

2010-05-04T05:57:00.000-07:00

For Rent

2010-04-30T07:30:00.000-07:00

Yesterday we got home to this view:

Suddenly our move seems to draw so close, it seems so much more real, and in many ways it saddens me! It has been a great experience living in Australia, and Perth will always have a special place in my heart. We had our daughter here and we got married here.

On a more silly note, here's Iluka wearing her sunglasses on the cushion I made for her. You can't see the whole thing, but you will get the idea. She loves it and brings it into the living room often. You might see my kangaroo skin underneath it. It is soooooooo soft. Niiice!

Lots of stuff happening

2010-04-27T05:52:00.000-07:00

We've been busy with lots of stuff recently. Kids' birthdays parties, wild life parks, having friends over, seeing people and enjoying the beautiful Australian autunm. This season is so special here, so pretty and it is finally so nice and cool! There is lots and lots of sun and some days the blue sky seems endless.

As you will see I have some rather random photos to share today:

Iluka and I sharing my trousers. She had so uch fun there!

I don't remeber why I am doing what I am doing in this photo, but it is so spectacularly silly that I just had to share!

I had a friend of mine visiting from the UK and I took him to Caversham Wild Life Park where you can meet the kangaroos and other Aussie wild life up close. Iluka had almost as much fun as Matt and I did! Here she's feeding the kangaroos and you may notice that she is very focussed.

We've also been going to birthday parties. This one was for a wee cutie just a few weeks older than Iluka. They actually look quite alike and someone mistook them for twins a few weeks ago. At the party there were these balloons that we blew up and sent skywards. The kids would then chase after them to see who could catch it. We all had a blast!

The Road by Cormac McCarthy

2010-04-22T04:20:00.000-07:00

This is a book review, really. Or my thoughts on the book The Road written by Cormac McCarthy. It's the first book I have read by him, but I think I will try more.

I started and finished this book within approximately 28 hours, it was so intense and gripping I couldn't have left it any longer! And I certainly woudn't have wanted to. Throughout the whole thing I was in such suspense, I couldn't relax, and it took me a good 4 or 5 days to get that out of my system. I can only sit down and write about it now because I have had a few weeks to digest it in my mind.

The story is set in a post-apocalyptic world where everything is dead, except humans. We follow two characters, a father and his son, as they travel by foot to find 'the good people'. There really isn't much more to it than that, and yet this story reveals so much about human nature and the ugly bits as well as the beautiful bit we have inside us.

At one point I was reading one of the most intense scenes and Seb told me it was dinner time. I could barely put the book down, and when I did I was still so immersed in the sotry that I couldn't taste my food. I cried throughout that whole meal because I was so frightened and worried for the two characters (not to mention human nature in general). No other book has done that to me. As I write this now, my eyes get teary.

If you're a senstitive soul, I advise parental/friend/partner support as you read it (if you choose to read it at all). Seb was there when I needed him throughout and after I read it, and he understood what I was going through because he had just finished it himself. I have never read anything quite like it!

Mixed

2010-04-17T05:10:00.000-07:00

Here are some snap shots from our trip to the hospital the other week. Iluka is dressed up for surgery as we play in the play room.

And after the surgery, Iluka needed a nap. I had the start of that nap with her on the hospital bed, and Seb had the other part - here they are the two loves of my life *heart*

Today we went to a two-year-old party and Iluka was very pleased with the cup cakes!

And we're starting to sell the stuff we're not taking with us to Norway. Among those things there is this evaporative cooler - any takers?

It's called Whisper Quiet, but I can ASSURE you, it's NOT whisper quiet...

Happy Days

2010-04-09T00:06:00.000-07:00

Our palm tree is flowering now and it brings noisy parrots and stingy bees, plus i messes up the lawn both now while they flower and later when the nutty things come off. Thankfully, we probably won't be having any palm trees in Oslo.

We went for a walk around the lake the other day, here Iluka and I are looking at the birds.

We visited the local playground where Seb and Iluka played in the sand a bit

A while ago I made Iluka a nice big cushion type thing to relax on ("Ej, Iluka, du er helt oppe og koere, maaske skulle du lige laegge dig ind paa slappe-af-puden" hvilket hun gerne goer!) It turned out she loves it with all its psychedellic prints (Seb thinks it's a bit too much of a crazy mix of fabrics) and she loves reading there with the fairy lights switched on. If she's upset about something, she'll go there to calm down a bit, it's very cute!

I don't have a picture of the pillow itself, actually. But I will take one and show it some other time.

The weather has cooled down a great deal here with temperatures reaching mid twenties during the day. Autumn is beautiful here with lots of blue sky days and a fresh breeze. Since the big storm hit us a fw weeks back we've had about ten more drops of rain, but soon it'll start to be wet for real, I think.

I reloaded the photos, I hope it works this time.

Happy Easter after all

2010-04-03T04:45:00.000-07:00

Iluka is doing really well, she is such a trooper! She's been absolutly fine through the whole thing, from when we first went to Accidents and Emergencies, to fasting and having surgery the next day and then coming home with stitches in her mouth. She hasn't needed additional pain killers at all and she's been her happy self through everything. I am so proud of her!

We're enjoying the Easter break with the chocolate and days off that it brings :) We've had gorgeous weather as well! Autumn in Perth is really beautiful, not too hot and not too cold with lots of sunshine. We went swimming at the pool today, which was nice.

But yes, everyone is fine, Iluka is doing great. I think it might be time to watch an episode of Murder, She Wrote. Lately we have been too busy to watch anything. I don't understand how people can fit TV time into their days...!

1st of April not so fun

2010-04-01T06:01:00.000-07:00

I've had a really busy day! And then I picked up Iluka at day care. She had dinner at home before we went for a walk down to the local playground, where we go almost every night and play on the slides and dig in the sand. She's climed the ladders there thousands of times, but today she lost concentration or something and fell.

There was blood and she was unhappy and we went home immediately. When I got a chance I looked at the damage, and her front tooth had been knocked up in her gum, so I took her to the emergency department at the hospital. There we waited and she was generally in good spirits. The doctor said they needed to call a dentist, the dentist was 45 mins away and we waited some more. She was pretty fine, playing and laughing and running around.

The dentist saw her and it turns out Iluka will need surgery tomorrow morning... general aneasthetic and all on a fasting stomach. They will have to remove her tooth, but her permanent tooth behind it should be completely fine when that comes in a few years. So I guess that's good news.

But this whole ordeal wasn't that much fun, just leading up to Easter weekend as well. But she'll be just fine!

And for the ones who had a guess at the picture below, I think google image gave me a wrong image when I googled the city of Oslo. Because that's where we're going. A whole new adventure ahead. I am quite scared actually, a lot more so than when we came to Australia. I haven't lived in a non-English speaking country my whole adult life. It will be quite a change!

New Life Ahead

2010-03-30T19:36:00.000-07:00

Seb has accepted a job offer in a new place. Maybe I will make it a bit of a game.

Here's a picture of it, as far as my Google Image tells me anyway. Any guesses?

We'll be moving end of June, probably, so less than 3 months. Madness!

Weather change

2010-03-22T04:35:00.000-07:00

Thank you all for the support in regards to that evil woman from my last post! I appreciate the comments! :o) Since mid-November we haven't had any rain. No, that's not true, we had 0.2mm on Feb 7th. So that's practically 4 months without any rain whatsoever. This morning it was a nice day, warmish (30 degrees) and a bit heavy. The weather's been heavy for a few days and they have promised chances of a shower for days, which, frankly, I had stopped taking seriously. So we were going to cycle to mothers' group. Glad we didn't! While we were there the skies opened, and it wasn't just rain! It was hail stones the size of golf balls! We saw a poor bird get knocked out and lying helpless on the ground (Miranda went to rescue it, bless her!)The playgroup building we use for mothers'group was starting to flood and water poured in through the closed windows. It was quite a sight!

My rain gauge measured 50mms of rain between 4-6pm. That's pretty amazing, especially for the first rain of the year!

Weird

2010-03-16T02:23:00.000-07:00

I was at the supermarket getting some groceries and Iluka was running around, generally behaving really well! When we got to the check out there was no queue, so I didn't predict trouble. She got her eyes on something she really wanted, though: a bottle of water (bless her!) and when I told her she couldn't have it and took it from her she chucked a big tantrum. I put my screaming and kicking daughter in the stroller as I packed an paid for the stuff I'd bought. She was loud, I will certainly admit to that, and I probably looked rather embarassed.

Anyway, so we got outside and I was ready to debrief a bit with her about what had happened, when a woman came up to me, sneaking up from behind. Here's roughly the conversation that followed:

Woman: You should just tell her she should never make that noise again!
Ditte: I think I will deal with this the way I want to deal with it
Woman: I know she's not yours, but still...
Ditte: What? She is mine. This is my child and I will deal with her the way I think is best
Woman: Yes, but your way OBviously isn't working
Ditte: *stunned silence*
Woman: And you should tell her that she can NEVER make that noise again
Ditte: She is expressing her anger because she doesn't understand yet why she can't have that water
Woman: Yes but she is disturbing other people with that noise
Ditte, sarcastically: Well I am soooo sorry. I am sooooo sorry
Woman, leaning over towards me: No, I am sorry for YOU

And then she stomped off.

This was about 30 mintues after another woman had just commented on how well behaved and cute she was in another shop (which she really was).

And when we got home she was playing in the garden a bit while I was cooking. Suddenly she came in and said this: (she hasn't really put two words together in a sentence yet!) Savner far (= missing daddy)

That was so cute I shed a tear. I miss him too.

This one's for you, Seb

2010-03-15T06:53:00.000-07:00

Seb's away in Brisbane this week, and I know you're missing your daughter *heart*

These photos were taken the other day after the zoo while we were waiting for lunch.

Tassie 4

2010-03-13T05:16:00.000-08:00

We stopped at the most gorgeous little place for lunch in Tullah.

We met a very friendly dog, who joined us for a swim. Iluka first asked to go "shoppe" (soppe = put your feet in the water) but that was quicly followed by "mave" (which means 'bar mave' = naked belly) and that was sooned followed by "be" (ble= nappy, which means to take her nappy off). So it ended in a full swim :o) She sure does love water!

The dog just wanted to play and asked me to keep throwing the stick a million times!

That night we were incredibly lucky to get a camp space at Cradle Mountain! (only because someone had minutes earlier called to cancel their spot for the night - otherwise it was completely full for the night!)
On our way in to the camp ground we met these two cuties: a mummy wombat and her baby. Wombats are super cute and very, very compact. If you happen to run one over with your car, you car is going to take some serious damage (not to mention the poor wombat, of course!).
I love how you can just meet and see wild life in Australia!

At Cradle Mountain we went for quite a hike, 2 or 3 hours with a bubba on your back is quite a lot (for us anyway). Seb had her on the way up and I took her for the way down.

I loved wearing her lots again! When we're at home she won't let me anymore... But she loved the hikes, and she had a number of sleeps on us in the carrier!

She's growing up so quickly!

Tassie 3

2010-03-13T05:02:00.000-08:00

Here's the campervan we rented. It was great travelling in a campervan, so much easier than our trip to Northern Territory where we had to set up camp every night. This was great!

The pretty view from the lake where we spent our only rainy evening. By morning it was all dry and nice again.

We went on a half day train trip with an old steam train between Queenstown and Strahan. We saw this river, where there's abosolutely no life left because it has been polluted by mining. But the train ride was really pretty.

And we went to a beautiful flat beach where Seb went for a swim. Iluka and I looked at shells and dug. She loves digging!

No particular story with this picure, she's just kind of cute

And while seb is cooking, Ilu is keeping herself busy with her blocks and crayons

Tassie 2

2010-03-04T22:01:00.000-08:00

We went on a boat trip, and because of my extensive sailing experience the captain let me steer the boat for a bit (me and a few of the other passengers got to steer...)

On one of our walks at Lake St Clair we bumped into this echidna. What a weird little thing.
Australia is different from Europe in that you actually get to meet wild life out in the wild. We met this echidna, wombats, kangaroos, wallabies, possums and lots of birds.

Iluka had one of her naps on my back *heart*

And when she woke up she got to sit on papa's shoulders

That day we had our only rain of the trip and we were stuck in the campervan that evening. It looks like we had lots of fun, but I do remember Iluka getting quite annoyed that we weren't (yet) equipped with rain gear suited for Tasmanian weather

After dinner Iluka and Seb were chillaxing, reading their books. Iluka did actually lie there and read her book like that for a little while.

I just realised that there were no picures of the land scape in the photos I chose for today. I think we'll make a picasa webalbum for a mroe extensive selection of photos.

In my next post I will also show you my new Ukulele. A wee while back I bought a super cheap one to see if I liked playing it, and I did! So the other day I got myself an upgrade to one I could actually tune a bit, and I made it a cover. I will show you all that very soon. :o)

Tassie 1

2010-03-04T21:44:00.000-08:00

We flew to Hobart on a midnight flight (remind me not to do that again...zzz) and picked up our campervan on arrival. First thing we did was go up on a hill, park and we all slept for 2 or 3 hours. Nice!

We drove up on the mountain right next to Hobart, and this is the view from there:

There are some crazy rocks on that mountain:

(Needless to say that Seb took lots of pictures of rocks!)

We did the island in clockwise direction, and here we're out on one of our walks. I was so pleased that Iluka would once again go in the baby carrier (for along time she has simply refused, boohoo!).

Here we were in a tiny little wild life park and Iluka and I are saying hi to a wombat. Wombats are the cutes, coolest little animals, and they're maybe my favourite Australian animal :o)

Kangaroos are also cool, and here we're up and close, checking them out

More to follow!

Tasmania

2010-02-26T22:27:00.000-08:00

There haven't been any entries to my blog recently because we're travilling around Tasmania! And it is a beautiful place! We have rented a campervan and it's great to be travelling like this! I can't upload any pictures here, but when I do, there will be some pretty one I can assure you!

Just a quick heads up! I will tell you more when we return to Perth!

Zoo

2010-02-09T05:58:00.000-08:00

We've got a yearly pass to the Perth Zoo, so we go every so often. Not surprisingly, Iluka loves it! There were a few highlights this last time:

The gibbons were causing a right racket when we arrived, and they were yelling loudly high up in the treas. (I got a video, but haven't uploaded it to the laptop yet). Iluka was most impressed, however, when one of them had a pee from right up there in the tree. She has spoken about it several times since!

She also loves the lions and makes a great "Wrrraaaaahhhh" sound. Admittedly, the llions really are spectacular. They are so big!

The best thing she saw all day was probably this:

And no, not the rhinos, but their poo (she says either caca or lort, depending on her mood). She's fascinated by poo and pee these days and can spend a great deal of time talking about it. I guess it is quite a fascinating subject for a toddler how that all works.

Beach

2010-01-31T04:36:00.000-08:00

We have been going to the beach quite a lot this summer. And so should we, because when we go back to Europe, we will miss these beaches a lot! There are few beaches in the world as gorgeous as the ones here, so we should make the most of them.

Iluka loves digging, so we've been digging big holes. It's a good workout too :)

And after the swim and play, we go rinse the sand and water off in the showers by the car park. This particular day was quite chilly and windy, so Iluka was getting quite cold and she is wearing dad's t-shirt.

Happy Australia Day!!

2010-01-26T05:54:00.000-08:00

I've had such a great day on Australia Day!

Sleep in till 8am (!) then lots of (unusual/unexpected) cuddles from Iluka, breakfast with mother's group at the beach, nap at home, play at playgound, drinks and (distant) fireworks at friend's place.

As you may see in the picture, we're a bit tipsy and very happy. Iluka is asleep and arguably very happy too :)

Happy Australia Day!

Gardening and accidental gardening

2010-01-24T04:23:00.000-08:00

So we've been doing a bit of gardening this year. This is my tomato plant, a funny species where the tomatoes don't turn red, but rather stay sort of orange. Iluka has pinched a few already, and has taken a keen interest in them!

So have the catarpillars though... Here's one almost as big as the tomato he's eating. Tsk tsk

Seb's chillies are ripening beautifully, and they're really nice and flavourful! We had our first one in a dish today

I may have mentioned the bokashi bin before - our green waste system. It's an airtight bucket, in which you put your kitchen waste. You also put in some germs that help decompose the kitchen waste. Then you bury it in the garden and it is a great fertiliser and soil enhancer for the garden.

Well, we burried a bucket load between our roses a while back, and then one day we noticed a plant growing there in that spot. It had a fruit on it, and we first thought it was a type of courgette. But as it grew we realised that it is in fact a rock melon (cantaloupe), which is great because I love melons! There are a few more fruits coming now, and it's very exciting. I love accidental gardening!

Mixed

2010-01-16T00:56:00.000-08:00

Phew... it sure is summer here now, and we're expecting a few days with above 38 and even 41 degrees... I am not looking forward to that, and I start to look forward to living somewhere cooler when we return to Europe later this year...

Iluka has started having her hair in pig tails. I can't believe it's really long enough for that, and she looks so much like a little girl rather than a baby now!

This morning I sat down and wrote down all the words she says on a regular basis, and it added up to more than 100 words! Wow, that was more than I expected. Most words are in Danish, some are in French and very few are in English at this stage. The only word she says in all languages is 'no'. Otherwise her words include: more, oops, blueberries, cheese, bread, lovely, hanging out clothes to dry, swim, dig, sweep, moon, seagull, pigeon, recycling, stone and train. A funny variety :)
Here's a photo of us this morning as I was drafting the list of words

It turns out that I have a condition called alopecia areata where I lose my hair in patches. This is my biggest patch. Nobody know why the body does that (it's the immune system that attacks the hair follicles - this immune system of mine should rather be focusing on the cold that is developing right now!), how it develops, how to cure it, how it will behave in the future. They can inject me with steriods and the hair may regrow, but when they stop injecting, it may just fall out again. It's weird, but so far it hasn't affected me much.

This afternoon we had lunch outside and Iluka sat at the table in her high chair without the table bit attached to it for the first time. It was nice to have her at the table with us, and a new era has begun. She's growing up to be a big girl. In just 4 months she'll be two years old. My goodness!

Memories

2010-01-10T05:17:00.000-08:00

We've finally received the new laptop, a PC instead of that old Mac, so I don't have any of the new photos uploaded yet. These two are old ones from around 3-4 months ago.
We went swimming at the local swimming pool twice this weekend, and it's lots of fun. Her hair is longer now, and she's bigger, my hair is shorter (oh, and I have hated this hair cut ever since I had it done!!) now, and I am more tanned.

This is the last time Iluka fell asleep and had a nap on me. I did think to myself when it happened, that it might be the last time that it will ever happen, that she falls asleep on me. It's the most beautiful feeling, and I didn't want to wake her up. She's getting so big. Nearly 20 months...!!!!

A bit of shuteye heart

2010-01-05T05:21:00.000-08:00

2010-01-01T22:10:00.001-08:00

A couple of weeks ago Seb and I got a case of gastro, and that day I had absolutely no energy and Iluka had to fend for herself most of that day. We spent a bit of it on the sofa watching DVDs.

We're growing a couple of things in the garden, these chillies are doing really well and will yield more chillies than we can possibly eat (especially because since my pregnancy, I haven't really liked hot foods as much as I used to). I am also growing tomatoes, which will be ripe very soon. I will blog about those later.

Iluka loves joining us in the garden! She likes sitting in this pot getting very dirty!

Here she's showing us how dirty her feet have become

And then I tumbled upon this old photo from before she was old enough to sit on her own. Her cheeks are champion cheeks!

Happy Christmas!

2009-12-25T05:06:00.001-08:00

Christmas Day is almost over, and I am stuffed, cheerful and exhausted, so it's been successful!

We spent the morning at home, Seb made pancakes and we took it fairly easy. We opened the presents after breakfast, and thank you to the ones who sent presents all the way to Australia! And particularly to the ones who made them themselves *heart* We didn't even get her a present, but she was showered in them nonetheless!

She loved her new books and bag and dvds and apron, so thank you.

Then Iluka had a nice and loong mid day nap, and then we went to our friend, Wendy's place. She lives right by the beach so it was a lovely few degrees cooler at her place than at ours. We went down to the beach to have salads, cold meats and drinks. Seb had a swim and flew his kite, Ilu played in the sand and on the playground, and it was a lovely afternoon. We then went back to Wendy's for Ice Cream Extravaganza. Yummy!

The Christmas party was a fancy dress party (udklædning) and we were to wear sparkly outfits. I made outfits for the three of us, Iluka and I in nearly identical dresses, and Seb in a underwear type top :o)

Also, Iluka made us a nice piece of art work for Christmas. When we got home from the party, this is what we noticed on our sofa, tsk tsk:

We've stepped off the Christmas race a lot since being in Australia, Seb and I didn't get each other presents, and while Iluka is still so small, I didn't see a reason to get her anything. I wish Christmas would be more about spending time together, doing special things like baking or decorating or doing arts and crafts, rather than gifts. Or maybe we could find other ways to show each other that we care about and think about one another, like writing poems, or drawing pictures or making things... I hope I can continue that as she gets older, but it might be difficult when she sees other kids getting things. Christmas, in my opinion, has gone a bit crazy...

I hope you've all had a nice Christmas, nonetheless! This could be my last ever summer Christmas. And as much as I really do miss a proper cold Christmas, I am sure I will look back to our Christmases here with nostalgia!

Camping and more

2009-12-20T05:30:00.000-08:00

We decided to go camping about 100kms south of Perth this weekend, and headed out on Friday with tent and everything else you need for camping. Which is a lot of stuff when you have a toddler to take with you. A LOT of stuff!

Well, we got it all in the back of the station wagon and then we left.

We got to the camp ground, which had 16 individual sites, and we got a site with small steps down to the river. It was lovely and Iluka loved it.

We quickly noticed the flies, however. And soon after that we got acquainted with the March Flies (horse flies - the ones that bite!) Big beasts that would take a bite of you any occasion they got. But they're pretty slow, so if you stayed alert, you could smack them before they bit you.

Iluka loved the river, surprise, surprise, and got herself nice and dirty right from the start

I also swam with her and really enjoyed the cool water as a change from the very warm air.

To cut a long story short, we decided to just stay one night, as the flies were driving us crazy. It's the wrong time of the year to go camping there, and next time we go we will stay nearer the ocean. That should be better. And we will also get self inflatable mattresses, as those 5mm foam ones were too thin for us at our age!

A little while back Iluka and I were enjoying our garden, she was playing in the wee pond we have and she was having a great time. I got some really sweet photos that day. Here are a couple:

And then there's a ferocious tiger in our chair outside. Or is it Josie having a big yawn?

Juice

2009-12-06T04:55:00.000-08:00

We've got a juicing machine, which we got from the company where Seb works. They had one in the office for staff to use at lunch hour, but due to lack of space (and use for that matter), they threw it away, so we grabbed it! We have all been enjoying freshly pressed juice, mainly fruits but also some vegetables. Honestly, I haven't been very adventurous. Please post a recipe for a fruit or veggie juice if you have a good one.

Ilu loves her juice as you will see in this video.

I've been sewing Christmas presents, and they need to go out very, very soon if I want them to make it to Europe before Christmas.

We're counting down to Christmas with friends. We're having a barbeque at the beach followed by an Ice Cream Extravaganza (I can't say that too many times - it still sounds amazing!) organised by Wendy. Should be fun! Our last Christmas on the beach... and although it REALLY doesn't feel like Christmas, I am sure I will miss is somewhat when we return to the Northern hemisphere. But I miss cold Christmas too, I really do!

Iluka at day care

2009-12-03T04:27:00.000-08:00

When I went to pick up Iluka at day care yesterday afternoon, she didn't want to go home at all, and we had to stay in the playground for a little while before I could persuade her to come with me - I guess it's a good sign she likes it there and that they treat her well.

On the video below, in the sand pit I ask her if she likes to be in day care, and she goes 'jaaa', then I say that she doesn't want to go home at all, and she says 'nej'. She also uses her favourite word, 'dejlig :o) (Or come to think of it, her favourite word is probably 'mere' which means more, and she uses it lots when we eat. In fact I was torn between two videos to upload just now, the other one while we're having freshly pressed juice - I'll upload that next time! It's fun)

Anyway, the parents-in-law are leaving tomorrow, just as Iluka is getting more comfortable hanging out with them. She takes a while to warm up to new people and she has a very clear idea of her personal space and when you come too close. I am glad she is assertive, though it can be frustrating for people who would like to spend some time with her.

A while back I mentioned that I wanted to blog about becoming more environmentally friendly, and it has been on my mind a lot since then, how and what to blog. I now know what to blog, but I need to take pictures to go along with it, so till then, it'll have to wait. But it is on its way, I can assure you.

Victoria

2009-11-27T17:01:00.000-08:00

We continued our journey down the coast line and stayed in a village called Apollo Bay for a couple of nights. This is the house we rented, with a view to the ocean - it was wonderful!

This is an example of the beautiful landscape along the coast. Very hilly and very green.

More green, and lots of tree ferns.

As we drove along we met a koala who was crossing the road. I had enough time to run and and give him a cuddle. He was very calm and stopped to enjoy my scratching behind his ear, when I stopped that, he moved on into the dense forest.

Of course we also took some time to enjoy the sand and the sea. It was a bit too cold to swim (although Seb did go!)but Iluka still got to play with her new sand set and enjoy the sand. Her favourite word these days is 'deeeeejliiiiiig' (which means lovely) and she uses it whenever she's near water or sand - or sees a picture of water or sand. It's very cute!

More to follow!

Melbourne and Victoria

2009-11-23T15:46:00.000-08:00

Last week we went to Melbourne and Victoria, where we met up with my parents-in-law. We spent few nights in Melbourne and then we went on a road trip through part of the state of Victoria, beginning with a drive down the coast to Apollo Bay.

Here we're all having lunch together in Melbourne

It was very windy at the coast that day, and rather cool. But it was a beautiful day!

Iluka even got to go for a swim where a river met the ocean. As you will know by now, she LOVES water!

Then we reached a dense forest where we took a little walk. It was lovely and green and lush.

We saw lots of wild life, and I even got to touch a koala who was crossing the road just as we came past (Seb's mum got a photo of that, I think). He stopped to enjoy it when I patted him on his head, and as soon as I stopped patting him he started walking again. Koalas are so cute!

More to follow!

Movember

2009-11-12T05:34:00.000-08:00

Movember, formerly known as November, is a moustache growing charity event held each year in November to raise funds and awareness of men's health issues and more specifically depression and prostate cancer.

And my husband is taking part!

He has had a beard as long as I have known him, and I have never before seen his jaw or chin. Both have now been revealed, and for the first couple of days i could so not get used to it!

He shaved his beard, and this is what he looks like now:

Support his Mo and donate online on his Mo page using your credit card or PayPal account:

http://au.movember.com/mospace/270598/

This charity event happens in other countries as well, but only a few in Europe still. It's fun, though, to see all the men participating, and by the end of November we get to see some really funny mos (= moustaches)!

Iluka also wanted to take part and do her bit to raise awareness of men's health, and because she can't grow a mo, she did this:

Cheerio!

My first market

2009-11-08T05:10:00.000-08:00

Today I had a stall at my very fist market. Despite not thinking I would, I got quite stressed about it, but it was a fun experience, and though the whole thing was quieter than I had hoped, sales were quite good.

Here Iluka is helping me set up:

And some photos of the stall

Iluka loves speaking on the phone, and she's quite indiscriminate as to what that phone actually is, so here we're speaking on the shoe :o)

And a close up of the boubou.

I'd write more but I am exhausted. We had dinner at our lovely neighbours' place (in fact, Seb is till over there drinking wine as I write this) and after a bit of wine and a long day with the market and all, I am completely spent! So good night!

Going Swimming

2009-11-01T04:28:00.000-08:00

Iluka loves water! Loves it!

We went down to the river the other day and as soon as she saw it, she was so ready to go in it. It's actually already really warm, especially near the shore.

Here she's having a blast!

And holding hands with mum *heart*.

I have started working only two days per week as of this month. Three days was getting a bit much. Now we have a long weekend every weekend, which we will use to go camping and go on trips more before we leave Australia. Yay! This summer will be full of adventures and fun. YAY!

20 year old cat

2009-10-24T04:55:00.000-07:00

This is a video of the 20 year old cat who lives across the road. We couldn't figure out how she got into the garden and ate Josie's lunch (I leave some food out for Josie during the day when I am at work). This is how:

On this website http://cats.about.com/cs/healthissues/a/agechart.htm they convert 20 years for a cat to a 96 year old human. Pretty fit for a 96 year old, methinks!

A wee video

2009-10-18T07:12:00.000-07:00

Nothing much to say. It's late, I should have gone to bed ages ago, but I didn't.

Big firsts and other goodies

2009-10-12T03:25:00.000-07:00

Iluka had er first pee on the potty the other day. I initiated this one and put her feet in warm water to get it going and it worked :o)
Then today she was looking for something, which turned out to be the potty and she wanted to have a pee. And she had a pee on the potty again! Yay!

Here's a photo of her first pee, with a very proud mum by Iluka's side!

Then she also had her first hair cut - while watching cartoons on youtube.

Here she's just sleeping in a weird and uncomfortable looking position

My sister gave her a super cute hat, which unfortunately is already a bit small, but she looks like such a little farmer's girl. (Still wearing her wool pyjama trousers and crazy patterns all over)

And then there's the whole ordeal with the stray cat who's become a friend of the house. She's a shabby, unhealthy looking, deaf cat who's so skinny and hungry she can't belong anywhere. Josie, surprisingly, has been quite friendly, but the stray cat doesn't think much of Josie. I put a note on the cat and if nobody claims her, then we'll take her to the cat place.

Mathilda's Market

2009-10-08T05:41:00.000-07:00

I have been accepted to sell my goods at Mathilda's Market in November. Here's their logo and a blurb they would like to go with it to advertise for the event:

Mathilda's Market showcases and sells beautiful handcrafted and limited production baby and kids goods. Carefully handpicked stallholders bring the most divine and original clothing, accessories, homewares and toys for the little ones. Exquisite wares are lovingly made by some of Australia’s most talented crafters and designers – many of them parents themselves. It’s a shopper’s heaven for those who want to stylishly dress their children or decorate their kids’ home environment, but don’t want to buy mass produced, chain store items. At Mathilda’s Market you’ll see the funkiest and most gorgeous of outfits for the kids, chic bedroom decorations and furnishings, bright and brilliant toys, must-have accessories, pretty and practical bags and shoes, dreamy vintage-inspired creations, handcrafted musical instruments and jewellery, fabulous dress-up costumes, striking linen ... and so much more! As most of the stallholders don’t have a shop front, you are guaranteed to find something truly unique. Come and see our stand at the upcoming Mathilda’s Market on Sunday 8 November, from 9am to 1pm at Oasis Leisure Centre, Progress Way, Belmont. With lots of stallholders and yummy food this will be a fantastic day out for young & old. For a sneak preview, have a look at the website (www.mathildasmarket.com.au). I look forward to seeing you there!

You can see some of the stuff I have made on www.calinoucreations.blogspot.com

PS. I understand if you're too busy to come around on the day. Don't feel bad.

Northern Territory Trip Part III (Uluru) (as you have never seen it before)

2009-10-07T06:10:00.000-07:00

We have reached the most well known part of our trip to the Northern Territory - Uluru, which was in fact spectacular!

We drove down from King's Canyon in a rather bad sand storm, the horizon was red with dust and sand in the air. We were worried about rain (as you may remember our tent had just blown away and was quite damaged when we got it back) but there were no cabins available so we wished for good luck as we put up the tent.

On that first evening we witnessed a storm and a half, and we drove out to Uluru to see it. It was spectacular, and as it turns out, very few people get to see it under the rain with water falls coming down its sides.

Luckily the weather cleared up over night (and we didn't get wet at all almost) and when we woke up the next morning it was a gorgeous day! We went back out to Uluru, but our main activity that day was walking in the Katatjutas, which is Uluru's bigger but not as well known cousins. We did a great walk there with boubou on the back, and then we went to see the sunset at Uluru as you do.

To show the colour contrast, this photo is quite neat. My turquoise trousers, the dusty green trees, the blue sky and the red, red rock.

You are still allowed to climb Uluru, though all signs, guide books and brochures ask you not to do it in respect of the traditional owners of the land. To the Aboriginal people it is a sacred place and climbing it is very insulting. Lonely Planet compares it to people climbing all over an alter in a church or trampling on a loved ones grave. But people don't care and climb it nonetheless.
Here's a picture of where you climb it, please note the grandma getting ready to go at the bottom :o)

We watched the sunset from the car park dedicated to this purpose (Sunset Viewing Car Park) and got a few nice shots of Uluru getting redder in the light of the sunset. It was very pretty!

That evening we had dinner in a local establishment and Iluka probably broke her first heart. A boy a little bit older than her was really interested in her and wanted to dance and play. he came over lots of times, but every time she burst into tears with all the attention. At one point he came over walking on his knees, maybe to look less imposing - but nothing helped. She wouldn't play with him. She's going to break some hearts, I can feel it :o)

So this is pretty much the end of the trip. I might add a part IV with mixed photos from the trip. I am sure I can find lots more good ones.

It truly was a lovely trip!

Something's Missing

2009-10-05T05:34:00.000-07:00

It's bizarre. Something is missing:

It's positively not here

Not there:

Not snuggled up anywhere. Someting is going on. What is it?!?

Oh yes, spring has arrived, and the cat is nowhere to be found

The End of an Era

2009-10-03T01:41:00.000-07:00

So it seems we have come to the end of an era - Iluka doesn't want to be breastfed anymore, and this morning I shed a tear over the last time that I fed her. For a while she has been less than interested and I have been persuading her twice a day for a while now. But in the last couple of days I haven't been able to persuade her, and what I thought was just a phase has turned out to be the end.

Ironically, this morning, as she had gotten out of our bed (where I normally giver her the morning feed) she turned up with the following brochure (just as I was quietly shedding a tear over that last (non) feed):

The Key to Successful Breastfeeding.

I haven't seen this brochure since the very beginning when such a brochure was needed. I don't have a clue where she found it, but she gave it to me this morning when I had just told Seb that this was the last feed for her.

What a funny coincidence - as if she just wanted to say that she thinks it's been very successful, but now it's time to move on. After all she is 1 year, 4 months, 2 weeks and 5 days old. I had hoped to carry on for a few months, but heh, it's her decision as much as it is mine.

Northern Territory trip Part III (King's Canoyn)

2009-09-28T05:08:00.000-07:00

Our next part of the trip was King's Canyon.

We drove on this dirt road for 150kms - that is a looooong way on a dirt road. What is more, this dirt road is categorised as a 'major road' in Northern Territory!

Here we're having a break, Iluka was in such a splendid mood right here *heart*

Next we made it to King's Canyon. It was beautiful and there was a gorgeous walk to the top of the canyon, which we couldn't really do safely with Iluka on our back inthe carrier. So we took turns and Seb did it in the afternoon and I did it the next morning. It was wonderful to go on a long walk all on my own, it was actually really quite something.
(Please note how tiny the people are on top of the canyon! They are tiny!)

Here's the view from our camping spot - well our first camping spot - at King's Canyon. We had stayed there one night when it got really windy. We couldn't put the tent pegs into the stoney ground so when we left that morning to do some sight seeing, we put lots of things into the tent, the chairs, the table and some big rocks, to keep it in place. (Well, we had the table and chairs in the tent already because there were so many flies we couldn't eat comfortably outside!)
Anyway, that morning the tent flew away. So while Seb was out walking the canyon I got back to our empty camping spot with a grumpy and hungry child as well.
Someone had saved the tent (or what was left of it) and then we moved to a spot with grass so we could actually peg the tent.

On the picture you see the showers above the King's Canyon range just as the sun is rising. Very pretty, eh?

The flies were so annoying, and Iluka got quite upset sometimes because they would just go straight for her eyes and she didn't really wave them off, she just got frustrated. Here she's looking at a little girl right in front of her - they were so cute just looking at one another.

Stay tuned for more pictures from Uluru (Ayer's Rock) - lots more to come!

Northern Territory trip Part II

2009-09-28T04:46:00.000-07:00

I shall continue with photos from our trip to the Northern Territory, there will be more parts because there are lots of photos!

Our first part of the trip was in the Macdonnell Ranges just west of Alice Springs. It was the least touristic place and for that reason maybe my favourite part of the holidays.

There were some beautiful spots including a few water holes.

And deep gorges

Iluka's favourite bits were going into the cold water (it was so cold it hurt my feet but she loved it!) Every time we stopped at a water hole she was soooo happy and could spend hours playing in the water.

One of the first nights we stayed a the camp ground on the photo below. It was a gorgeous spot and there were just 15 camp sites or something. We had a chat with some lovely people and this was probably the loveliest night of all. The area is so unspoilt and wild, and we saw our first dingoes here.

Here we are set up on site number 10, the whole kitchen set up to cook and Iluka and I ready to eat (you can only just spot her hand in the chair facing backwards.)

I would highly recommend the Macdonnell Ranges if you ever get the chance to visit NT! Absolutely gorgeous!

a little blog about...

Happy New Year!

Developing Personality

Mixed Goodies

Two Gorgeous girls

Autumn and Winter

This is where we live

Just too cute *heart*

Summer in Norway

I have no words

Holidays in France

Cute Sisters

Mixed post before we're off

Summer is upon us

Iluka, our wonderful, silly, funny, little cookie!

Lots of fun

Been a while

Easter and a bit of warmth in the air

Ella brought spring!

Ella's arrival

Mixed goodies

Visitors

Home Birth

Visitors and winter play

Indoor and outdoor play

A New Year

Christmas 2010

Scotland - but we could be anywhere, reallly...

Holiday in Scotland

Winter

Something to remember

A little new human

What a lovely day!

Mixed times

Lots to catch up

Ja tak og nej tak

The Garden

Moving In

The face (and the trip to Denmark)

Sailing in the fjord

Week-end in Denmark

Very sad news

Sunday hike in the forest

My first blog EVER!

Oslo

Holidays

Australia - Greatest Hits 2

Australia - Greatest Hits 1

Last weekend

Last weeks in Perth...

The beautiful coast line

Lots of animals!

My darling daughter

My baby is TWO!

Old vid

Happy Mother's Day!

A bit of love

For Rent

Lots of stuff happening

The Road by Cormac McCarthy

Mixed

Happy Days

Happy Easter after all

1st of April not so fun

New Life Ahead

Weather change

Weird

This one's for you, Seb

Tassie 4

Tassie 3

Tassie 2

Tassie 1

Tasmania

Zoo

Beach

Happy Australia Day!!

Gardening and accidental gardening

Mixed

Memories

A bit of shuteye *heart*

Just too cute heart

A bit of shuteye heart