Jordbærene er her

Ja dere leste riktig. Vi har allerede sylta og fryst vår første ladning med jordbær. Dessverre er det slike som er i overkant vasne og smakløse, men vi bor jo ikke i Norge og må ta til takke med det vi har her:) På lørdag hadde vi derfor vafler med ny-rørt jordbærsyltetøy. nam nam.

Vi blir stadig imponert over våre to små. Tobias er en tålmodig skapning som kan ligge å pludre alene i lange tider. Rebekka elsker å pludre sammen med han, noe han setter pris på, så sant hun ikke overdriver kosingen. Rebekka kommer stadig med nye ord vi ikke visste at hun kunne, hun har blitt bedre på å herme etter oss og kommer med bøker hun vil at vi skal lese sammen. Hun peker på bildene og forteller oss hva det er. Noen ganger er hun uenig med mamma, for mamma du sier plomme, men jeg ser et eple altså.

Magetid.

Steinar trives på skolen, selv om lekse tiden er litt redusert for han nå i starten. Han henger med og får god kontakt med sine medstudenter. Marianne koser seg med de to små og prøver å få soving leking og kosing godt fordelt. Rebekka er ikke alltid enig i at det er mat tid, men det går stort sett bra.

Oi det er mye å gjøre.

Nå bor vi for oss selv som vanlige folk gjør, og så lenge vi er to om det er to barn null stress, vi fikk vasket gulv, tatt oppvasken og nesten snudd døgnet med Rebekka, selv om hun var syk. Nå er det andre boller.

Vi har kjøpt "bil" til jul fra Onkler og Tanter, vi satser på å finne et horn etterhvert. Vi har også kjøpt fryseboks, men den har vi ikke tatt bilde av.

Vi har truffet så mange kjente og det er hyggelig for oss store. Rebekka synes det blir litt i meste laget, men det er gøy at folk ser på henne og at de gir henne oppmerksomhet på avstand. Tobias bryr seg generelt lite, så lenge det er Mamma som holder han. Han er foreløpig ganske så knyttet til Mamma.

Når ikke Mamma vil ut, så vil kanskje bamsen det.

Denne uka har vi vært i butikker, gått litt turer, prøvd å bli friske (Marianne, Rebekka og Tobias henger litt igjen) og prøvd å komme inn i en rytme som passer med Kina (vanlige folk spiser middag kl 18 her, vi nordmenn synes det er litt sent).

Jeg ser deg:)

På mandag begynte skolen igjen for Steinar, men vi hadde jo heldigvis ordnet oss med hushjelp/barnevakt som skulle være her ca 3 timer hver dag. På søndag ringte hun og sa i fra at hun ikke kunne komme i det hele tatt denne uka.. Hun ble imidlertid overtalt til å komme på tirsdag i alle fall, så i dag har jeg fått tatt oppvasken og gulvet + vinduene :) Så får vi se hvordan resten av uka blir. Det værste er å få med seg to unger opp og ned 4 etg. når ikke Rebekka vil gå selv, eller hun vil gå men ikke særlig fort.

Rebekka kom inn i stua og sa hade her en kveld.

Rebekka lærer fortsatt nye Norske ord og Tobias er flink til å ligge på magen på gulvet, det hender stadig at han tipper tilbake på ryggen, ganske arti i grunn, siden Rebekka ikke lå noe særlig på magen før hun var 4 mnd.

Vel hjemme

Da har vi kommet hjem, og koffertene er nesten pakket ut :) Det ble en lang reise, men det blir det gjerne når man har to barn under 2 år = 2 seter på flyet til deling. Nå er Steinar og Rebekka på politistasjonen for å si i fra at vi har kommet. Så da ble det tid til blogging mens man ammer.

Rebekka, Mormor og to søskenbarn lager middag.

Vi hadde en fin men slitsom siste uke i Norge. Vi traff alle våre søsken og barnas søskenbarn den siste uka og noen av de ble igjen for å leke hele uka. Så Rebekka fikk vært ute hver dag, selvom Mamma og Pappa var travle med pakking.

Tante og søskenbarn i akebakken.

Turen hjem begynte med at vi måtte omfordele noen kilo bagasje, da ett kolli ikke kan veie mer enn 32 kg (så da var visst 47kg litt i overkant). Vi la igjen ca 10 kg med Mamma og Pappa, så det blir sendt eller fraktet senere. Fra Düsseldorf, hvor vi mellomlandet, skulle flyet gå ca kl 19. Noe som ville vært fint, for da kunne jo Rebekka lagt seg. I stedet fløy det halv ti, noe som hadde ført til en alt for overtrøtt Rebekka, som ikke skulle sove. Men Mamma hadde sterkere vilje enn Rebekka, så hun sovnet ca 22.30.

Rebekka fikk også ake med tante.

Siden vi i utgangspunktet kun hadde 1 1/2 time i Beijing mistet vi naturligvis flyet vårt, men det gikk et nytt et ca. 1 1/2 time etter at vi hadde landet, så vi tok det i stedet. Det ble også en del forsinket, for i Beijing betyr ikke nødvendigvis at du har kommet deg inn i flyet og det har kjørt ut på rullebanen, at det skal ta av med det første. Så vi ble en halv time 3/4 time forsinket.

Bye bye snø og Norge

Men nå er vi vel hjemme og har kommet oss igjennom en jet-lag natt (kava oss opp i 11 tiden = 5 norsk tid), Rebekka har hilst så vidt på Deborah og i ettermiddag blir det mer Kinesisk mat på oss:) Jeah!

Vi måtte prøve dåpskjolen igjen.

Last post in English

Well that can only mean one thing: We are coming back to China. We are really looking forward to coming to China, all of our friends there and the local food. But it is never fun to say good bye. We will especially miss these guys, because they hold a big place in our hearts and they change so quickly.

All of Rebekka and Tobias' cousins.

Other things we will miss are snow, food, fast internet, singing/talking in Norwegian and TV-shows. But we know we will have all those things again. And we are so curious as to what is ahead of us in China.

Look at my brothers thumbs. He seems oddly proud of them.

As Maragaret would say: I am a glamour-puss. 

This week has been busy, there was a funeral, and a baptism, we had a lot of visitors and people are starting to say good bye. We have taken a lot of pictures, and enjoyed a lot of time with family.

We had to bake a cake. 

And these two are coming to China on Monday:

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