Ski trip and other interesting stuff

We have less than two weeks left in Norway now. Steinar and Rebekka went to the Chinese embassy to apply for visas today. And the tickets are booked for our China trip, we are really looking forward to seeing all of our friends out there, but it is bitter sweet as it means saying goodbye to our family and friends here. 

Rebekka loves her brother so much.

It has been snowing a little bit almost every day this last week. Marianne has had a few days alone with Rebekka and Tobias because Steinar has been to Oslo and he has been to Hafjell, skiing. Steinar is really good at Telemark skiing (according to Marianne who is a bit behind). Marianne would have loved to ski as well, but with two kids under the age of two. Steinar had a great time though. He is the one in the middle (red helmet) he and two friends are demonstrating three different styles of skiing.

Rebekka also got her hair cut this weekend. We have talked about it for a while and finally mumsmum was allowed. 

My first haircut.

We will have a busy two weeks a head. It will be interesting to see if we get to do all the things we want, but I guess we would always have had to little time when it all came down to it. The thing Marianne will miss the most (except for family) are the snow, but I think you would too. 

Steinars brother.

Graphiti

The last week has had it's ups and downs as usual. Marianne and Steinar went out to eat Thursday night leaving the kids with Mumsmum and Mumsdad. We had a great time to ourselves. A few nights later Rebekka had a hard time sleeping, probably due to nausea, and the next morning she threw up. A couple of hours later she was pretty much well again. We've also had some nice visitors, both Aunt Kristine (Steinar's sister) and Aunt Kristine (Marianne's sister) came to bless us with their company. Steinar has also been out traveling, taking a day trip to the capital to sort our visas, but had to return empty handed because the embassy personnel were all on Spring Festival vacation. Luckily Rebekka made a beautiful work of art on Mumsmums wooden floor, although Tobias didn't care much for it.

Rebekka's Work of Art

The Little Prince

A lovely day

We have all been really tired lately, because Tobias preferes to sleep in maximum two hour stretches and then eat for an hour and so on. So the nights have been badly interrupted. Steinar then thought "what if I sleep in another room for one night". So he did, that resulted in him having the energy to take Tobias and Rebekka from about 8 o'clock and Marianne got to sleep a litlebit longer alone.On top of that Mumsmum watched Tobias when Rebekka was sleeping so that Marianne and Steinar could lay down for an hour. Wonderful. AND... At 2 Marianne went to get a massage, so this day has been lovely. The best thing about this day is actually none of the above: Rebekka and Tobias got a baby cousin to day, we rejoice with the family!

Tobias is growing and he is mostely content. If it weren't for his tummy acing some times he would maybe sleep longer and hardly cry. He is often awake and happy, so this is a new baby experience for us.
Rebekka is fantastic, although she sometimes wants to scratch Tobias in the face, but most of the time she just looks at him, and wants to hug and kiss him.
If Tobias is crying she sometimes interrupts her games (especially if she and mum are playing) and insists that we go and comfort Tobias.

Our two wonderfuls.

I tend to forget what we have done the last week, then it helps to have photos. Mariannes sister is very good at visiting, she brings her son and even though Rebekka occasionally bites him they get along fine.

We have the same style.

The process of going back to China has started as we applied for passports for our children on Friday. It feels good and a bit scary to know that it is getting closer.

But I want to smile:) (passport photo)

We don't have time to take that many pictures theese days, but we try. Rebekka is doing so many interesting things so we really want to share that. She and Mumsdad has this thing where they dance with their hands along to the music on the radio. She still likes to play outside and this Saturday a friend came with us for a walk. Rebekka was on the back on the sledge and Tobias was in the stroller. It was a nice walk. Rebekka saw some swings and did not want to leave. We had quite a job getting her indoors again. This happens all the time every day.

Juletrefest/ Christmastreeparty

This week we have all tried to get in to a rhythm of eating, playing and sleeping. It is getting better every day, I think... Rebekka is just wonderful with Tobias. She is happy to sit on mums lap during Tobias' feeding time and softly pat him on the head or bum or wherever. It is also very hard to just let him lay in his bag and sleep, because he is so cute and of course she wants to pat him just a little bit. Another favorite is that Rebekka likes to walk around barefoot so of course we all should like that. If Rebekka has the chance she will try to take off all of our socks. Luckily Rebekka has feet on her tights so they don't come off, I just picture the struggle with forcing socks on her. Getting clothes on her is bad enough, she loves to be either naked or in her pajamas.

Rebekka loves shoes, she often goes out to find our shoes.

Tobias is struggling some with his tummy, not as bad as Rebekka but enough so we know that he is clearly in pain. We will try to do something about that, but we have yet to see what.

I don't know if you can see it, but it is below 15, and a beautiful sunrise at about 9 a.m.

And on Sunday we had a Christmas tree party. That is a gathering where we eat the rest of the Christmas cookies, we hear some last Christmas story's and we sing some Christmas songs and walk around the Christmas tree. (A year ago we had some friends over who had to walk around the Christmas tree with us, they are now eager to see it beeing done right.)

Rebekka is doing her first turn around the Christmas tree, and she loved it.

Happy new year!

Boom!

Well a new year is upon us, we have two kids now and boy is it different. We would love to spend a lot more time with Rebekka, but with two kids who don't sleep as much as we would like, we are tired. Tobias needs to bee fed, and held, and Rebekka really wants to help. This week we will try out our new life without all of the family around us. It will be hard, but I think it will be nice as well.

Tobias being cared for by his sister.

The last week Rebekka has played a lot with her cousin (who will turn 1 tomorrow). When he left on Sunday he took with him his new car (in Norwegian bil). Rebekka has been pointing to the door where he left every time she hears a noise from there saying bi (Witch can mean car or be the name of her cousin).

Rebekka is trying the car.

Together we turn 30, so if you have math skills you can guess how old I am tomorrow!

It will be harder to blog from now on. I thought about doing it while Rebekka had her nap, but I needed to sleep too, and then it was a lot to do untill bed time and now Rebekka is crying not ready to sleep just yet. Well hopefully we will all adjust soon.

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:)