Tobias

Tobias, four days old

The last week has been quite eventful. We started out with a night in the hospital waiting for the contractions to kick in for real. The next morning we went back home to wait, because things had calmed down a bit. After half a day with more and more painful contractions for Marianne, we went back to the hospital just before dinner was served back home. Three hours later Tobias could rest on his mother's chest, while we all sighed with relief and thankfullness. We are greatly blessed.

Tobias is a healthy boy, robust and hungry. He seems to eat and sleep well. Unfortunately, he also has strong lungs, just like his sister :o) Rebekka is very proud of her little baby brother, and allows us to borrow him occasionally. She's surprisingly gentle with him, gives him hugs and cuddles. Since her cousins have been visiting, she has had a lot of practice bossing them around, telling them what is forbidden to do. Looks like we only have to raise Rebekka, and then she'll handle Tobias :o)

Check out my new baby!

After Tobias' birth last Tuesday, Marianne and Tobias spent two nights in the hospital, while Steinar and Rebekka visited and went back to Mumsmum and Mumsdad's (as we say in Norwegian) place to sleep. Thursday afternoon Marianne and Tobias came home to a Christmas prepared  house, a few hours before Marianne's brother and family arrived.

A nativity scene as an advent star in Mumsmum's window

Our gorgeous family on Christmas Eve

Dadsmum knited this amazing folk costume

We had a brilliant Christmas at Mumsmum and Mumsdad's, with great food and company. The kids got a bunch of gifts and the parents had more than enough chocolate and Christmas cookies. We didn't dance around the Christmas tree, though, but it is a perfectly sound and silly tradition among most Norwegians, just not at Mumsmum and Mumsdad's :o) The tree had to serve only as decoration this year.

We've also had quite rough weather in Norway the last days. A hurricane hit the coast two nights ago, and even in the eastern parts we lost power several times during the night. Fortunately our family and friends are all safe and sound, but other people have been evacuated, lost boats, houses, cars and whatnot to the hurricane. No wonder Norwegians talk about the weather...

Beautiful clouds and turbulent weather

Christmas is aproaching

It is nice to be in Norway at winter time. Last year we would not have thought that this Christmas would be spent in Norway, but we don't control everything. Luckily. We spoke some Chinese the other day, to and for Rebekka. She just lit up and copied what we said and clearly remembered something. That was nice:)

Dady and Rebekka playing

I have read in the newspapers that Australians are sick of the Christmas song "All I want for Christmas is you", well all we want for Christmas is for our baby to be born. But as it is with a lot of things, we don't get to decide. We just enjoy playing with Rebekka while we wait.

Rebekka has had a lot of company this week, Steinar's two younger siblings have visited us here, and all though it was raining for some parts of the visits we got to show them some of Marianne's hometown. Rebekka loves company, so when we have visitors it doesn't take long before she wants to play.

Have you ever tasted snow as good as this?

In Norway you decorate for Christmas late in December (23rd if you have the time), so it is still mostly advent decorations here. But the red is starting to come out slowly. It is very nice to look at a snowy landscape and be inside with nice red flowers and slowly getting the feel of Christmas. On Sunday we left Rebekka with Marianne's parents so we could go and listen to a Christmas concert. Norwegian Christmas songs are great! I hope all of you will have a blessed holiday! 

It really helps to blog:)

Rebekka loves playing in the snow.

Last week we were missing snow, and the next day we got it:) It was so wonderful and we have truly had some winter wonder days here. It has gotten milder again so it has melted a bit, but hopefully the cold weather will return and we will have a fantastic winter.

Below 10 degrees, crisp and clear.

Blue sky and white trees, can you beat this?

For those of you who wonder why I write so much about the weather, well in Norway that is always an appropriate topic. In Yinchuan and other places around the world it would be a boring topic, but here the weather changes so much that I will say most Norwegians talk and cares about it.

Rebekka and her cousin looking out at the snow.

Rebekka's sleep is a bit shifting, but mostly a lot better than when we left China, so that is really nice. Her Norwegian is also improving a lot. She can say a lot of words, or we can guess a lot of her words easier than before:) She has also kept one English and one Chinese word she says bye bye, and waves and she points to the ear and says arwo, with tones! (close enough).

Rebekka and her dad playing in the snow.

 Steinar is a bit tired and stressed, he has a lot to do tomorrow, and his wife is giving him almost no time to prepare. And since the baby is not here yet, he has to go (In Norway the father gets two weeks off immediately after the baby is born). But it will be ok tomorrow. Marianne's dad will help her with Rebekka and Steinar will be gone the whole day to talk to students and others, what a great chance.

This is so much fun!

We are having a few visitors before Christmas, which is nice. Marianne's sister was here last week and Steinar's youngest sister is coming Wednesday evening. In the weekend Steinar's brother and his wife + some friends will come. It will be busy, but so nice to spend some time with family. Marianne won't have time to lay in the hospital for long:) That is if the baby decides to come.

It is getting colder:)

As a lot of you know Marianne was complaining last year that it was to bright outside and not cold enough. Well Norway has been very dark but the cold has not quite set in yet. It is barely below zero, and in December, this is disappointing. It did however snow a little bit yesterday and if it stays cold and snows about 30 cm more, I think we will be happy:) Yes we are picky about the weather.

It's colder, but still green.

Rebekka has been a bit sick this weekend, but we had to go visit her cousins. So finally all the cousins on Mariannes side got together. They all had times where they were a bit upset because of to little sleep or not getting their way, but all in all we had a great time.

Rebekka and her younger cousins.

Rebekka is also getting very good at baking. So when we come back to China we will have to keep making buns. She is a good helper a lot of the time with bringing cups to the kitchen, setting the table or "helping" with the laundry. We are very proud.

Not much has happened with the parents. We are still waiting for our baby boy and trying to spend our time and energy right.

Ready for bed.

We had snow!

This weekend we went to the mountains to be together with Steinar's family. unfortunately we had heard that there were no snow. We then decided that it did not matter, because they had a swimming pool, so we were going to have a great time.

Rebekka met a Troll.

We left Marianne's home town with its beautiful fall weather, and drove into a slugged snow storm. In Norway the east (where we came from) has very stable weather and has few problems related to that. In the west how ever (where Steinar's family lives) they are currently having a storm. With the consequence: the mountains were closed. They did however find a way and about four hours later than planed they could arrive to the huts.

We woke up to snow (but someone had made a pattern, maybe the first two to get up?)

In hindsight I think we were all happy about the storm, because the next day we had a lot of snow to play in! We had a great time and the rain over the night took away a lot of the snow so the roads weren't to bad when we were traveling home either.

The snow was cold and interesting.

A snowman in front of our cabin.

In between the weekends we usually just hang out and try to relax and get a rhythm to our days. Rebekka is adorable as always. Marianne is tired and in some pain due to kicking and pelviolysis and Steinar is trying his best to take care of the whole family while organizing and doing other important stuff as well. This video is from today. This is usually how our meals go:)

Is it Tuesday already

We are back in the hometown of Marianne's parents. It is nice to not have that many plans left before the baby comes. Maybe Rebekka will have time to settle a bit, and maybe us grownups will be able to rest some and get some kind of routines in our lives before it all shuffles up again.

Dad and Rebekka is having a lot of fun.

This is the city where we met, and went to university.

We have been on the road a lot. This is a map of Norway, it shows all the places where we have slept since we came. Altogether we have been on the road at least 40 hours (Steinar has about 16 more hours than that) and that is not counting the long stops we have taken playing, eating and walking. So now we only have about 9 more hours (the coming weekend) and then Marianne and Rebekka will be staying here and relaxing.

Purple is where we have slept, green is where we have driven. The purple closest to Sweden is where we are.

Rebekka and Mom driving the car.

This last week Rebekka has had a big week, she has been playing with a cat, and a calf. She is so cute with the animals. And she also got to try to be Bambi on ice:)

Isn't he cute!

Ice is so much fun!

On the road again

After relaxing with Marianne's parents for almost two weeks we are back on the road. This time we are going north to the middle of Norway to see some student friends of us, and Marianne's aunt and uncle who lives on the island where Marianne's mother was born and raised (Mariannes holiday paradise from childhood).

Just picture this a nice summers day, paradise. 

Summer by the fjord.

We are still OK driving, so that is fine, but Marianne ruined Rebekka's sleep by blogging about it last week, so we are back to 2-3 awakenings at night now. A bit tiring and frustrating, but that's life.

Mum and Dad might get tired, but I am happy:)

Last week we forgot to take pictures of Rebekka, so this week we have taken a lot of pictures. We went for a walk and tried a swing, Rebekka is really enjoying the company of both her parents. She is also glad to have a belly to cuddle with. We try to tell her about her comming brother, but we don't know how much she understands.

I still love the swing.

Rebekka, her mum and the baby.

Rebekka is loving the puddles that comes after rain (Her daddy might love it to):

A good night sleep

As a lot of people know Rebekka has not been a good sleeper. Ever since she was born this has been an ongoing struggle for the parents. She has had a few nights where we have accepted it as a full night. So when we were thinking of coming back to Norway we planned a night without Rebekka to get a much needed good night sleep. As you also might know Marianne is pregnant with (hopefully) less than six weeks to go, so a good night sleep is not really realistic, but just knowing that you wont be woken by anyone outside yourself is helpful.

Rebekka at about six weeks (what we think our boy will be when we come to China)

So from Friday to Saturday the parents went to Oslo leaving Rebekka in the care of her grandparents. It went so easy, and Rebekka did not wake up that night, she woke at 6 but Marianne's mum said, "no it is still night" and Rebekka was at least quiet until 7 what a luxury. After we came back that luxury has continued. She has woken at 6 some mornings, but we have not had to get up at 11, 12, 3, 5 or any other very bad times during the night. So maybe Rebekka is very much like her older cousin Alva who was a bad sleeper until she was 1 1/2 years old and started to sleep the night trough. PTL! Now we can get ready for the next midnight-screamer:)

Rebekka and her grandmother enjoying each other.

As you all can see this has been an exciting week, we have had a calm stable week, and forgotten to take pictures, so all these are old, but you can enjoy them anyhow.

Calming down in the east of Norway

This week (we start our blog week with Wednesday) we all started with traveling. Steinar two days by car, and Rebekka and Marianne took the plane over to the east. It was a trouble free trip, but so nice when we all could join together again knowing that now we were going to spend the next days together without so many "shoulds".

Rebekka and her mum with new glasses:)

Mariannes sister and her husband joined us here in the weekend and Rebekkas grandparents had a great time with the two kids, one a little more active than the other.

Mariannes parents and some grandchildren.

Today we have been to the health station, catching up on Rebekkas vaccines and doing some measuring. If you are thinking about us, you might remember Rebekkas sleeping witch is very varying and Mariannes hips and back are starting to feel the pregnancy. Steinar is probably feeling the pressure to take a load bigger than he would like, so we need help with the balance:)

Rebekka with a new hat and sweater. 

Rebekka is cute as always and is starting to say ball instead of baa. And she is a good helper with cleaning up toys and setting the table:) Her Chinese is fading, but that will probably return when we go back to China.

Still travelling

We left Førde to come to Mariannes brothers house at Karmøy. It is windy here. I know Yinchuan is windy to, but here the wind is beating on the wall (and Steinar has been taking a boat) so we feel it in a different way. The travel to the east of Norway will be interesting for Marianne and Rebekka, as we are flying. Steinar has to go to Førde to pick up the car that "broke" on the way to the west of Norway. The mechanics has really taken their time, and we still don't know if they even know what the problem is. At least in China it seems that they fix things fast.

Rebekka on the swing.

Rebekka loves to find places to sit.

Rebekka is really enjoying spending time with her cousins, and it seems like they enjoy her to. The weather in Norway is very different from Yinchuan, so we do dress Rebekka differently. It is harder for Marianne, who is still growing, the jackets don't really fit all the time, so she has to let fashion be fashion and just dress in what ever makes sense according to the weather.

It is colder, and definitely more wet.

Rebekka is borrowing her cousins Grandmother for a bedtime story.

We are still eating a lot, hopefully we will stop that soon. Yesterday we met some friends, had homemade lasagna, and chocolate mousse + extra chocolate... We were so stuffed when we went to bed, it was almost hard to fall asleep.

Baking with uncle.

And the video is of Rebekka and her dad playing one of Rebekkas favorite games.

Rebekka has fallen in love

With a swing. She loves being outside, well, that's not exactly news, but every time we are outside, she has to go on the swing. Saturday she stayed on for 45 min, the only reason she got off was that some cats came by and needed to be looked at. She has also found a substitute for her rocking horse.

This is some of our last days with Steinar's family. It has been great weather (thankfully) so we have been able to be outside most days. We do have clothes for Rebekka, but us parents don't have clothes for sideways rain. Yesterday we were inside almost the whole day, and that was a trial. Last week Rebekka's cousins were off school, so they were really good taking her outside to play.

Rebekka and her big playmate.

Making buns.

I am almost as fond of traditions as Gail, so we were thinking of starting a Jessie tree. So we had to bring out our creative sides and make a tree with leaves (For you who don't know what it is, it can be googled). I think it will turn out very nice.

Our Jessie tree.

Rebekka and Steinar in folk costumes, at the wedding.

Steinar's brother and his beautiful wife.

Most people, when they return to their home countries, miss a lot of the food. It has been really nice to drink tap-water and to eat Norwegian bread, chocolate, jam and so on. But we are missing the feeling of not being stuffed. We eat so much and we eat all the time, because in Norway we have at least 4 meals a day, and coffee with something good in between. So we might be fat when we return:)

May I please have some chocolate?